Beyond The Water's Edge - CLOSED

The Battle Of The 3 Emperors
A short story about Napoleon's Bonaparte's greatest battle,Austerlitz

Austerlitz 1805
Early morning.

Lt D'offens walked with his troops lagging behind him.He barked orders and immediately the troops straigthend themselves up.He shaked his head,today was not going to be a good day.He wore his shakov and tightfisted the grips on it,he then walked on as he saw the Artillery,the famed cannon of Napoleon Bonaparte,their Emperor.

Over where D'offens walked,Napoleon Bonaparte ,dressed in his dark blue coat,wearing the famous Bicorn hat ,stood with his Marshall's.He could see the Austrain and Russian Infantry lining up in the enemy camps.Marshall Soult,dressed in a blue and white coat,with yellow decorating on the back,his black bircorn hat saddled perfectly on his head,his arm behind his back holding a sword.Many of them were dressed in a similar way.

''Sire it seems strange doesn't it?'' asked Soult.

''What,them?Soult,they are worth nothing.The leaders of the army are fools and weak tacticians.Hannibal himself led his army across the alps and managed to subdue rome for 16 years,a shame he was defeated,but he was a good general,damn ,Soult,I would have served the general no matter what''.

''Of course Sire,but the army over there outnumber's us''.

''You worry too much Soult.The Austrians ,we fought them in Italy,in Marengo,Our Marshall's have defeated them before,the Russians,they are foolish,but they make excellent troops,after all,they come from the north''.

''But Sire,if you may what is it we're supposed to do?'' replied a voice,calm and relaxed.

Napoleon smiled as he swept his back and saw Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout,he was a damn good Marshall,Napoleon thought,and one of the few remaining good generals since the revolution.

''All is certain,Davout.Do not worry.Do you have the seven thousand troops I placed you in command?''

''Of course Sire''.

''And they are all properly....'' Napoleon muttered.

''Yes,sire,they are all trained and eager for a fight''.

Napoleon smiled again and shaked his head.

''The Imperial Guard wants a fight aslo,But I will not do it yet,the men are eager,the whole army is eager!''.

Jean Lannes,another of Napoleon's Marshall's and a personal friend walked up to Napoleon.

''Sire,I agree with Davout,the men have been waiting for too long''.

''Lannes,Massena and everyone here!'' Napoleon turned his back to face his marshalls and Military officers.The Guards stood still at the camp.

''My fellow Marshalls,this battle should be recorded in History!Never before have I seen such brave french courage take over!In the Middle ages you defeated the english!In the 17th century you were powerful,but now I see this,this,is a true example of what the french truly are!Never again should we be called cowards!I may be the Corsican tyrant as they call me in England,but what they say are lies!Lies!Do you not remember Agincourt?500 Englishmen against 40,000 Frenchmen!A wonder the English won.But that should not be of mere importance as 500 Spartans faced an army of 1 million Persians,Remember this day!We will win!Those soldiers of the Russian army are brave and deserve respect!''

Napoleon talked on,but he had not noticed that the soilders in the camp,everybody was listening to what he was saying.

''But they are led by babbling infants and weak leaders!We have won victories!I would rather go into battle than face cowardice!If none of you want to join me,then go!If you want to join me in this great battle we are going to face today,then come!Come!And defeat the enemy!For France is eternal!We are her sons!Now to battle! Napoleon roared

Then a great cheer came from the french army.Napoleon was shocked.The soliders had listened to what he was saying.Napoleon swept his back again to face the enemy in front of him.The soldiers, artillery and everyone was getting ready.

''See?Soult?This is the first step in winning a battle''.

The Marshals bowed at Napoleon.

''General Legrand!''

''Yes sire''

''We go to plan,form up your troops,and to the rest of you,be prepared!I don't want the enemy seeing us strong!We will show them that!Now to a bloody day!''.

Another cheer came up.The Marshals left,except Soult.

''Sire we will win''.

Napoleon laughed.

''Of course we will,Soult,who says we can't?''

The End.