Cannons roared and horses’ hooves pounded across the battlefield on which French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte won one of his most famous victories as hundreds of people took part in a weekend re-enactment of the Battle of Austerlitz.
Known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, the clash which was fought on December 2, 1805 saw Napoleon’s Grande Armee defeat a larger Russo-Austrian force through tactical brilliance.
The annual Czech event, taking place near the southern Moravian town of Salavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, saw hundreds of enthusiasts dressed in historical costume armed with muskets and pistols and wielding sabres as they re-enacted the clash, which historians regard as one of the most important battles of the Napoleonic wars.