army in Bavaria, he changed his mind. Thus on 21 October 1805, as the British defeated the French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, Alexander set off to meet Frederick in Berlin.
James Wylie once more had the chance to witness the reception given by one monarch to another. Bands played, fireworks lit the sky, and banquets and balls were held to entertain the tsar. In the first week of November it was agreed that, should Napoleon fail to consent to the terms of the Third Coalition, Frederick would declare war on France.
There was one informal act to follow, in the form of a personal pledge. On the last night of his visit Alexander, Frederick William and Queen Louise, heavily cloaked against the wind, walked through the streets of the darkened city to the garrison church. There in the candlelit crypt, Frederick William and Alexander leaned forward to embrace each other above the tomb of the Prussian king’s ancestor, Frederick the Great. Alexander, who was always emotional, sobbed openly as the two men swore to eternal friendship and to lasting peace between their realms.
On 20 November, Napoleon, who had already taken Vienna and occupied the palace of Schönbrünn, captured Brünn (Brno), the capital of Moravia. The combined forces of Russia and Austria were by then stationed in the small town of Olmutz, about forty miles away from Brünn near the border with Hungary. On 24 November the combined commanders agreed to launch an offensive, aimed at attacking Napoleon at Brünn, before liberating Vienna.
Alexander was now ill, suffering from a bad attack of fever, with Wylie constantly in attendance. As always he proved the worst of patients. Delirious, as his temperature rose, he refused to be bled to reduce the fever or to swallow medicines. Restless as ever, the moment he felt slightly better he tried to leap out of bed, but Wylie restrained him, humouring as a father would a child, a role he increasingly adopted with a man who, while only ten years younger than himself, was nonetheless excitable as a young and petulant boy. Recovering, but still so weak that he actually submitted to Wylie’s advice, he proceeded by coach, rather than on horseback, to the town of Wischau (Vykov) twenty miles to the south. Here he received an emissary from Napoleon, who could not have been worse chosen, proving to be General Savary, formerly chief of the gendarmerie who had been instrumental in kidnapping the Duc d’Enghien prior to his execution. Savary brought a message from Napoleon asking for a meeting to discuss terms of peace with Alexander.
Incapacitated as he was at that moment, suffering from a return of the fever, Alexander sent his own envoy in return in the form of Prince Peter Dolgoruky who, considering Napoleon to be an upstart wearing a dirty shirt, affronted him to his face. Napoleon, for his part, called the Russian prince ‘a perfumed booby’, 25 and went back in anger to his headquarters near Brünn.
The weather was now very cold, the icebound roads pot-holed and dangerous. Alexander’s favourite chestnut mare stumbled and came down on her knees, giving him a heavy fall. Two days later, still badly bruised, he rode to a nearby village to meet the Emperor Francis of Austria.
Napoleon had by now retreated to within a few miles of Brünn. Military genius that he was, having guessed at his enemy’s intention, he had chosen his position expressly to entice Prince Mikhail Ku-tuzov, the Russian commander, to outflank him in an attempt to cut off his line of retreat to Vienna.
The two armies were so close that on the still, moonlit night of 1 December, they could see each other’s camp fires. At three o’clock in the morning, Alexander was woken by his anxious staff as commotion broke out in the French camp. But it proved to be only the soldiers cheering their emperor on the anniversary of his coronation, an event they believed to be a lucky sign.
As dawn broke a fog descended, making the enemy invisible to the
James Wylie once more had the chance to witness the reception given by one monarch to another. Bands played, fireworks lit the sky, and banquets and balls were held to entertain the tsar. In the first week of November it was agreed that, should Napoleon fail to consent to the terms of the Third Coalition, Frederick would declare war on France.
There was one informal act to follow, in the form of a personal pledge. On the last night of his visit Alexander, Frederick William and Queen Louise, heavily cloaked against the wind, walked through the streets of the darkened city to the garrison church. There in the candlelit crypt, Frederick William and Alexander leaned forward to embrace each other above the tomb of the Prussian king’s ancestor, Frederick the Great. Alexander, who was always emotional, sobbed openly as the two men swore to eternal friendship and to lasting peace between their realms.
On 20 November, Napoleon, who had already taken Vienna and occupied the palace of Schönbrünn, captured Brünn (Brno), the capital of Moravia. The combined forces of Russia and Austria were by then stationed in the small town of Olmutz, about forty miles away from Brünn near the border with Hungary. On 24 November the combined commanders agreed to launch an offensive, aimed at attacking Napoleon at Brünn, before liberating Vienna.
Alexander was now ill, suffering from a bad attack of fever, with Wylie constantly in attendance. As always he proved the worst of patients. Delirious, as his temperature rose, he refused to be bled to reduce the fever or to swallow medicines. Restless as ever, the moment he felt slightly better he tried to leap out of bed, but Wylie restrained him, humouring as a father would a child, a role he increasingly adopted with a man who, while only ten years younger than himself, was nonetheless excitable as a young and petulant boy. Recovering, but still so weak that he actually submitted to Wylie’s advice, he proceeded by coach, rather than on horseback, to the town of Wischau (Vykov) twenty miles to the south. Here he received an emissary from Napoleon, who could not have been worse chosen, proving to be General Savary, formerly chief of the gendarmerie who had been instrumental in kidnapping the Duc d’Enghien prior to his execution. Savary brought a message from Napoleon asking for a meeting to discuss terms of peace with Alexander.
Incapacitated as he was at that moment, suffering from a return of the fever, Alexander sent his own envoy in return in the form of Prince Peter Dolgoruky who, considering Napoleon to be an upstart wearing a dirty shirt, affronted him to his face. Napoleon, for his part, called the Russian prince ‘a perfumed booby’, 25 and went back in anger to his headquarters near Brünn.
The weather was now very cold, the icebound roads pot-holed and dangerous. Alexander’s favourite chestnut mare stumbled and came down on her knees, giving him a heavy fall. Two days later, still badly bruised, he rode to a nearby village to meet the Emperor Francis of Austria.
Napoleon had by now retreated to within a few miles of Brünn. Military genius that he was, having guessed at his enemy’s intention, he had chosen his position expressly to entice Prince Mikhail Ku-tuzov, the Russian commander, to outflank him in an attempt to cut off his line of retreat to Vienna.
The two armies were so close that on the still, moonlit night of 1 December, they could see each other’s camp fires. At three o’clock in the morning, Alexander was woken by his anxious staff as commotion broke out in the French camp. But it proved to be only the soldiers cheering their emperor on the anniversary of his coronation, an event they believed to be a lucky sign.
As dawn broke a fog descended, making the enemy invisible to the
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