of Schonbrunn. The Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire--which
was its shadowy penumbra--seemed to vanish like ghosts before him.

Out of Pomerania into Moravia, to the plain of Olmutz, the great
Russian army under the Czar and Kutusoff, came roaring. There they
were united with a heavy division of the Austrians, under the Emperor
Francis. The latter had fled from his capital, and staked his last
fortunes on a battle in the field. The allied army was 80,000 strong.
Napoleon, with 60,000 men, commanded by Soult, Lannes, Murat and
Bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of Vienna, as far as
Brunn, and there awaited the onset.

Just beyond this town, at Austerlitz, the French were arranged in a
semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the
outer arc on a range of heights. Such was the situation on the night
of December 1, 1805. The morrow will be the first anniversary of our
coronation in Notre Dame--a glorious day for battle!

With the morning of the second, Napoleon could scarcely restrain his
ardor. The enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. On the night before,
the Emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and
the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before
him. Looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly
arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a
Moravian fog. Presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in
splendor. The onset of the French was irresistible. The allied centre
was pierced. The Austrian and Russian emperors with their armies were
sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. Thirty thousand
Russians and Austrians were killed, wounded and taken. Alexander
barely escaped capture. Before sunset the Third Coalition was broken