Aulic

El – Mukaddasi (vol.I. p. 101), in an article kindly copied by my friend, the Aulic Councillor, Alfred Von Kremer, says,

The Land of Midian 2003

Another habitual visitor was thin-legged, short-sighted Aulic

Through Russia 2003

The Aulic Council, drawing on the bitter experiences of 1796 and 1800, were basing their whole strategy on the assumption that Napoleon would inevitably make his main effort in the Italian theater once more, although the present siting of the French army along the Channel coast should have ruled out such an assessment.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

This truth the Aulic Council failed to appreciate, confusing French expediency for French intention.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

Despite his two-to-one superiority in numbers, the Archduke Charles chose to ignore the insistent directions of the Aulic Council that he should undertake the main offensive, and uncomplainingly yielded the initiative to Massena.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

For sheer dogmatic perseverance the Austrians cannot really be criticized, mounting as they did four major offensives one after another in the space of seven months, but the Aulic Council fatally miscalculated the true aim of their endeavors.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

The Aulic Council, like Bonaparte, had decided to make their major effort in the Italian theater, similarly relegating the German theater to a supporting role.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

The significance of its central location, which would enable it to intervene in either Germany or North Italy as need arose, was lost on the experts of the Aulic Council until the crossing of the Alps was actually an accomplished fact.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

The august Aulic Council, an assembly of gray-beards with supreme authority under the Emperor over all matters pertaining to strategy, interfered perpetually with the generals in the field.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

The Aulic Council was insistent, for reasons of Austrian prestige, that the main imperialist effort should be made in the North Italian theater, and to that end the Archduke Charles was allocated 95,000 men and ordered to prepare for a crossing of the River Adige with Mantua, Peschiera and Milan as his initial objectives.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966