8. The Need for a Bridge Across the Danube
The Austrians did not immediately blow up Vienna’s bridges as the French neared the city – a decision they came to regret thanks to an idiot commander in charge of one of those bridges. As peace discussions between the French and their Austrian and Russian opponents took place, the authorities in Vienna refrained from blowing up the city’s bridges because they did not want to cast a pall over the negotiations. They also figured that if the negotiators reached a settlement, then the destruction of the bridges would prove unnecessary. So Vienna’s bridges were prepared for detonation if the French tried to seize them, but left standing. One such was the Tabor Bridge, entrusted to a Count Karl Joseph Franz von Auersperg.
