Silver medal 10 oz Battle of the Three Emperors stand

The Battle of the Three Emperors is one of the most famous military conflicts in world history. Because it took place on Czech territory, the Czech Mint has paid tribute to it with a silver commemorative medal.

Napoleon Bonaparte dreamed of world domination. He planned a military campaign for 1805 that was to end with the conquest of Great Britain, and to cover his back, he decided to attack Austria and Russia, with whom the island kingdom had formed an alliance. The French victories in the east were crushing – Vienna was occupied, the armies of the Austrian-Russian coalition were decimated, and the remaining units retreated to Moravia, where a decisive battle was to take place before the onset of winter... On 2 December 1805, the fields behind the village of Slavkov near Brno were occupied by the armies of three emperors. French Napoleon Bonaparte, Austrian Francis I and Russian Alexander I commanded their men in person. The French army was numerically weaker – seventy thousand men faced a ninety thousand strong enemy force – but this disparity was more than compensated for by Napoleon's tactical genius. To lure his opponents, he withdrew from his advantageous, higher position and left it to them. He then deliberately weakened his right wing, counting on this to provoke an attack. The low morning fog served him well, hiding his main forces... When the enemy army moved, it did indeed attack Napoleon's right wing, which began to retreat. It seemed that the French line was collapsing, but then Napoleon's main force emerged from the fog and attacked the enemy centre. The Austrians and Russians, who had been caught off guard and thought they were winning, suddenly found themselves on the defensive... When the bloodiest battle in the history of the Czech lands ended, thirty thousand dead and wounded remained on the battlefield. While Francis I and Alexander I had to acknowledge their crushing defeat, Napoleon rewrote the map of Europe and consolidated his rule over the entire continent.

The obverse side of the medal, designed by medal maker MgA. Martin Dašek, features Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander I and Francis I. The composition is supplemented with a laurel wreath and the inscription 2/12/1805 BITVA TŘÍ CÍSAŘŮ (Battle of the Three Emperors). The reverse side presents a scene from the battle, where infantry clashes with cavalry. The inscription gives the name of the village of SLAVKOV, known throughout the world as AUSTERLITZ.

This great event is commemorated by a large medal – the silver coin weighs ten troy ounces.