Surrender of Ulm
In September–October 1805, Napoleon's Grande Armée of 200,000 men swung in a vast arc from the Rhine to the upper Danube, manoeuvring entirely behind the Austrian army under General Mack that had advanced into Bavaria expecting a frontal attack from the west. By 17 October, Mack's army of 60,000 found itself surrounded at Ulm — its supply lines cut, its communications severed — without a battle having been fought. On 20 October 1805, Mack surrendered with some 30,000 men — the remaining troops had escaped in earlier breakouts. The capitulation was the largest mass surrender in European history to that point. Ulm demonstrated Napoleon's mature operational method: the strategic envelopment (the manoeuvre sur les derrières) that bypasses the enemy's strength and positions an army across its communications, forcing surrender without the costly frontal assault. Six weeks later, at Austerlitz, Napoleon destroyed the Russian reinforcements that had not arrived in time to save Mack.
- Year: 1805 CE
- Category: Military
