18.11.1805 Napoleon's troops arrived in Brno

In November 1805, twelve thousand soldiers of the French army led by General Murat marched into Brno. Later, Napoleon I himself arrived, accompanied by his personal guard. He stayedfor ten days.

At the beginning of the 19th century, war touched Brno twice, both times Napoleon's army settled in the city. In the first "war with the French", 12,000 French troops led by General Murat marched there in November 1805, when the Austrian army had left the city shortly before. On 20 November, Napoleon I himself arrived, accompanied by his personal guard. He stayed for several days, which he spent negotiating with Austrian envoys and preparing for the decisive battle with the Austro-Russian coalition.

"Napoleon stayed in the Governor's Palace on Moravian Square, the generals and officers found lodgings in the palaces of the nobility and the more ostentatious town houses. Ordinary soldiers stayed wherever they could - in the houses of the bourgeoisie, in monasteries, but also in manufactories," describe the authors of the book Fabrika: The Story of the Textile Barons of Moravian Manchester.

Heavy monetary and in-kind inquisitions were imposed on a city overcrowded with soldiers, and food prices soared. At the end of November, Napoleon left the city. "Napoleon stayed in Brno for 10 days. During this time, he also held talks with envoys of the Austrian Emperor and the Prussian Minister Haugvic. At 2 a.m. on the night of 28-29 November, Napoleon left the city and went to the troops stationed in the Brno area before the decisive battle," says the Internet Encyclopaedia of the History of the City of Brno.

Napoleon returned to Brno for a few days after the victorious Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. A lesser known experience is that Napoleon also stayed in Brno for a few days in September 1809 during the second "war with the French". The Moravian capital had been occupied for two months by French troops and the army of their German allies.

On Napoleon's birthday on 15. On August 15th, the commander of the city, Marshal Davoust, organized a grand celebration attended by all the Brno royalty. The Emperor himself arrived in Brno a month later on 16 September 1809. he stayed in the Governor's Palace as he had four years earlier. During his second stay, he inspected the Špilberk fortress, received a deputation of Moravian Estates, and conducted a parade of troops on the battlefield of 1805.

Before leaving, he then recommended that the fortifications of Špilberk Castle be dismantled, and Brno lost its fortress-like character. The inhabitants of Brno could only breathe a sigh of relief at the beginning of November, when the French regiments left Moravia.

Sources:
Kateřina Tučková, Andrea Březinová and Tomáš Zapletal, Fabrika: The Story of the Textile Barons of Moravian Manchester
https://encyklopedie.brna.cz/
Dalibor Kusák, Brno and its Surroundings
www.welt.de