Assured of his centre, Napoleon now launched Soult’s corps down the south-western spurs of the plateau upon the flank and rear of the allied left:  this unexpected onset was decisive:  the French, sweeping down the slopes with triumphant shouts, cut off several battalions on the banks of the Goldbach, scattered others in headlong flight towards Bruenn, and drove the greater part down to the Lake of Tellnitz.  Here the troubles of the allies culminated.  A few gained the narrow marshy gap between the two lakes; but dense bodies found no means of escape save the frozen surface of the upper lake.  In some parts the ice bore the weight of the fugitives; but where they thronged pell-mell, or where it was cut up by the plunging fire of the French cannon on the heights, crowds of men sank to destruction.  The victors themselves stood aghast at this spectacle; and, for the credit of human nature be it said, many sought to save their drowning foes.  Among others, the youthful Marbot swam to a floe to help bring a Russian officer to land, a chivalrous exploit which called forth the praise of Napoleon.  The Emperor brought this glorious day to a fitting close by visiting the ground most thickly strewn with his wounded, and giving directions for their treatment or removal.  As if satisfied with the victory, he gave little heed to the pursuit.  In truth, never since Marlborough cut the Franco-Bavarian army in twain at Blenheim, had there been a battle so terrible in its finale, and so decisive in its results as this of the three Emperors, which cost the allies 33,000 men and 186 cannon.

The Emperors Alexander and Francis fled eastwards into the night.  Between them there was now a tacit understanding that the campaign was at an end.  On that night Francis sent proposals for a truce; and in two days’ time Napoleon agreed to an armistice (signed on December 6th) on condition that Francis would send away the Russian army and entirely exclude that of Prussia from his territories.  A contribution of 100,000,000 francs was also laid upon the Hapsburg dominions.  On the next day Alexander pledged himself to withdraw his army at once; and Francis proceeded to treat for peace with Napoleon.  This was an infraction of the treaties of the Third Coalition, which prescribed that no separate peace should be made.

Under the circumstances, the conduct of the Hapsburgs was pardonable:  but the seeming break-up of the coalition furnished the Court of Berlin with a good reason for declining to bear the burden alone.  It was not Austerlitz that daunted Frederick William; for, after hearing of that disaster, he wrote that he would be true to his pledge given on November 3rd.  But then, on the decisive day (December 15th), came the news of the defection of Austria, the withdrawal of Alexander’s army, and the closing of the Hapsburg lands to a Prussian force.  These facts absolved Frederick William from his obligations to those Powers, and allowed him with perfect good faith