Austerlitz - Battle of the Three Emperors

On December 2nd 1805, Napoleon won the battle of the three Emperors at Austerlitz, defeating the Austrian and Russian armies that outnumbered him. The evening before the battle, his troops lit up fires to celebrate the first year anniversary of his coronation as the Emperor of France.

Napoleon walked among his soldiers and told them: "This is the most beautiful night of my life!". Seeing the fires from afar, the Austrian and Russian officers assumed Napoleon's troops were burning down their camps which is what armies did before retreating...

This wrong assumption contributed to Napoleon's plan in fooling his opponents that he was indeed going to retreat. In reality, he wanted to draw them into a trap. They walked right in... The battle of Austerlitz is considered the greatest victory of Napoleon whose strategy is still taught in military academies around the world some 200 years later...