Mikhail Kutuzov, commander of the Coalition force, enticed Mortier to send Gazan's division into a trap and French troops were caught in a valley between two Russian columns.

Like the wars sparked by the French Revolution (1789), these further revolutionized the formation, organization and training of European armies and led to an unprecedented militarization, mainly due to mass conscription.

Under the leadership of Napoleon, French power rose quickly as the Grande Armée conquered most of Europe, and collapsed rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812.

Responding to the report and rampant anti-French fever in Vienna, Francis dismissed Charles from his post as generalissimo and appointed his Francophobic brother-in-law, Archduke Ferdinand, as commander.

Recognizing the opportunity, Marshal Michel Ney hurried the rest of his VI Corps forward to re-establish contact with Dupont, who was still north of the Danube.

After clearing Austrian pickets from a bridge, the French attacked and captured a strategically located abbey at the top of the hill at bayonet point.

[16] To the east of Stein, 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) down an old road, lay Krems, with its small population of a few hundred, at the confluence of the stream of that name and the Danube.

[20] From Dürenstein to Krems the river makes its wide curve; the mountains and the steeply terraced slopes prevent clear line-of-sight between the two towns.

This corps was to secure the north shore of the Danube, block any of the Austrian or Russian groups from reinforcing one another and, more importantly, prevent Kutuzov from crossing the river and escaping to Russia.

[24] Before sending Mortier on his mission, Napoleon instructed him to protect his north flank at all times against possible Russian reinforcements,[25] advice he reiterated in subsequent written orders.

In this decision Kutuzov abandoned Vienna to the French, who were converging on the Austrian capital from the north, west and southwest, for the security of uniting with reinforcements from Galicia.

Kutuzov, who had learned the military arts under the tutelage of the legendary Russian Generalissimo Suvorov, had overall command and would have ample warning of any large-scale French movement.

[30] In addition to the Russian generals, the council included Austrian commanders Lieutenant Field Marshal Johann Heinrich von Schmitt and Friedrich Karl Wilhelm, Fürst zu Hohenlohe.

Russian commander Mikhail Miloradovich would approach Gazan's division from the east, supported by Pyotr Bagration's corps, and pin the French in place.

In the early morning of 11 November he and Gazan departed from Dürenstein to seize Stein and Krems, presuming the Russians had either abandoned the settlements or left only a small rear-guard behind.

Thinking this force was the rumored Russian rear guard, Mortier ordered Gen. Gazan to counterattack and push east towards the town of Stein.

By mid-morning the French momentum had stalled; Mortier committed most of his remaining forces to driving Miloradovich back, leaving a single battalion—perhaps 300 troops—to cover his northern flank, and sent the rest to attack the Russian right.

Caught between two strong forces, Gazan attempted to push his way back through Dürenstein, to reach the river where the flotilla could evacuate his exhausted troops.

The French assault, heralded by cannon fire, caused Dokhturov's troops to turn their attention from Gazan's beleaguered force to face these new assailants.

[27] For the Coalition, the Russians were secure on the north bank of the Danube, awaiting reinforcements from Galicia; the bridges between Linz and Vienna had been destroyed, making French access to the Austrian capital more difficult, but not impossible.

[50] In terms of French staffing, Mortier's failure to guard his flank, especially in the face of Napoleon's direct advice, adversely influenced his relationship with his commander.

An experienced officer and excellent tactician, he might well have made a more effective Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Coalition Army at the Battle of Austerlitz than his eventual replacement, Franz von Weyrother.

In Schmitt's absence, Weyrother, the architect of the Austrian catastrophe at Hohenlinden in 1800, was chosen to develop the general battle plan of Coalition action at Austerlitz.

Schmitt, undoubtedly a far better tactician than Weyrother, and possessor of superior training and mapping skills, would have developed a more realistic Coalition plan for Austerlitz.

Schmitt's presence would probably not have been enough to turn that defeat into a victory, but it would have mitigated the magnitude of the Coalition's losses; Austerlitz was considered one of Napoleon's finest triumphs.

A few other small forces refused to capitulate and seemingly melted into the Bavarian mountains and the Thuringian forests, to reappear in Bohemia in time for Austerlitz.

In 1741, during the War of the Austrian Succession, several hundred local villagers had held off the French and Bavarian armies, intent on capturing Vienna, by painting drain pipes to look like cannons, and beating on drums, thus suggesting the presence of a large force.

[64] In the Russian novel War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy devoted several pages to the battle, its prelude, and its aftermath, and the delivery of its news to Francis II (Holy Roman Emperor) by Prince Andrew.

[65][66]: 97  Between Dürenstein and Rossatz, at the edge of the Loiben plain, stands the "Little Frenchman" memorial (see image) erected in 1905 to commemorate the battle; it bears the names of Mortier, Gazan, Kutuzov, Schmitt, and others on a copper-engraved plate.

[62] On 6 November, Édouard Adolphe Mortier commanded the following forces: Total: fifteen battalions, six squadrons, six guns, approximately 12,000 men, not all of which were involved in the fighting.