Which Napoleonic battle of 1805 is depicted in War and Peace?

The Napoleonic battle of 1805 depicted in War and Peace is the Battle of Austerlitz.

Tolstoy’s novel opens during the Napoleonic Wars and follows Russian aristocratic families whose lives become entangled with major military events. Austerlitz, fought on 2 December 1805, is one of the book’s key early battles. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky serves in the Russian army and experiences the battle firsthand.

Austerlitz was a major French victory over a combined Russian and Austrian army. It is often called the “Battle of the Three Emperors,” because Napoleon I, Alexander I of Russia and Francis I of Austria were connected to the opposing forces. The battle is sometimes confused with Trafalgar, another famous 1805 engagement, but Trafalgar was a naval battle fought weeks earlier.

Tolstoy uses Austerlitz not merely as a military episode but also to question romantic ideas about glory, heroism and historical greatness.