An Epic History TV / PMF Productions collaboration.
In 1796, at the height of the French Revolutionary Wars,
a young French general took charge of a ragged, demoralised army in northern Italy.
It was his first command. Many expected him to fail.
Instead, in just one month, he won his first brilliant campaign.
With astonishing self-confidence, boldness and energy… he led his army to victory after victory…
transforming the war in Europe… winning praise from a grateful Republic… and forging a legend…
This is the story of Napoleon Bonaparte’s first campaign, and the dawn of a new age.
August 1796.
The war between France’s infant republic and the coalition seems to be tipping in France’s favour.
In the Vendée, General Hoche has brought the three-year royalist revolt to an end.
This appalling civil war has cost an estimated 165,000
lives, and is the bloodiest chapter of the French Revolution.
Bourbon
Spain allies with France – they will combine forces against their common enemy, Great Britain.
In Germany, the armies of General Jourdan.. and
General Moreau.. have crossed the Rhine, and are advancing on Vienna.
While in Italy, Napoleon’s stunning victory at Castiglione has sent the
Austrians scurrying back to the Tyrol.
Napoleon can now resume his siege of Mantua, the ‘key to Italy’.
But he’ll have to start over…. The Austrians have used the interlude
to drag away his heavy guns, and demolish his siege works.
In summer, the pestilential marshes that surround the city are lethal.
The Austrian garrison has been decimated by disease - mostly malaria.
General Sérurier, commanding the French siege, also contracts the disease.
He returns to France to recover, and is replaced by General Sahuguet.
Sickness and a shortage of equipment once more plague the French army in Italy.
Even the heroic General Masséna asks to be replaced, citing ill health and exhaustion.
Napoleon rejects his request.
Despite these problems, the Directory in Paris orders Napoleon to attack,
as part of a grand strategic offensive against Austria.
He is to breakthrough to Innsbruck.. join forces with Moreau’s Army of the
Rhine.. then together, invade Austria, and force Emperor Francis to sue for peace.
Napoleon faces an enemy of roughly equal size.
So he plans to use speed, and concentration of force,
to fall upon Austrian troops in the Adige Valley, and clear the path northwards.
His opponent, Austrian Field Marshal von Wurmser, is under immense pressure to relieve Mantua.
His staff believe that recent fighting has left the French army shattered,
and incapable of offensive operations.
So the Austrians plan to make their own advance.
Rather than try to force his way past French troops in the Adige valley,
Wurmser will keep Davidovich in a defensive role… while he leads a
wide outflanking march.. via the Brenta valley and Bassano.. to reach Mantua from the east.
There, he will link up with its garrison.
And when Napoleon comes south to face him, he will be caught between two Austrian armies.
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The Austrians begin their advance on 1st September.
French forces begin their advance the following day.
Masséna pushes up the Adige valley, with Augereau taking a tougher, mountainous route on his right.
General Vaubois marches around Lake Garda to join them, with one brigade crossing by boat.
The forward Austrian outposts are driven in.
And by the 4th, three French divisions are
converging on Davidovich’s heavily outnumbered force, near Rovereto.
General Victor leads the main attack straight up the road, driving back the enemy centre.
Meanwhile French light infantry swarm up the sides of the valley to outflank the enemy.
It’s a tactic the French will use again and again,
to force the Austrians out of strong positions in the narrow passes.
The Austrians are driven up the valley, towards Davidovich’s main camp at Calliano.
As Napoleon remarks, this position should have been impregnable – sheer mountains,
either side of a valley floor that’s just a few hundred yards wide.
A small castle and wall add to the formidable natural defences.
But its defence has been left to a single,
shaken Austrian regiment, which is given no time to prepare.
When the French hit them with speed and numbers, they give way.
Masséna’s troops breakthrough to the main Austrian camp,
where soldiers – expecting a much longer respite – are preparing dinner.
The arrival of the French sparks chaos and confusion.
The Austrian escape route is immediately jammed with fleeing troops, wagons and guns.
The French round up around 3,000 prisoners, alongside 25 guns and 7 standards.
Napoleon had thought that he faced the whole Austrian army around Trento.
But now, speaking with prisoners and locals, he learns that Wurmser and
half his army have set off down the Brenta valley – destination unknown.
With typical speed and decisiveness,
Napoleon tears up the plan to join Moreau at Innsbruck.. and orders a pursuit.
If he can catch and destroy Wurmser before he reaches safety, the war in Italy will be won.
When Wurmser receives news of the fiasco at Calliano,
his troops are already strung out along the Brenta valley, with his vanguard approaching Vicenza.
There is nothing to gain by turning back.
He orders Davidovich to hold the passes north – assuming they are
Napoleon’s objective – and pushes on to Mantua.
But Napoleon is not going north.
He orders Vaubois to pursue Davidovich and keep him blocked in.. while Augereau’s division leads
the rest of the army down the narrow, funnel-like Brenta valley, in pursuit of the Austrians.
The Army of Italy is brimming with confidence and momentum,
and marches much faster than the Austrians.
A small force at Levico offers token resistance, before it’s bundled down the Brenta valley.
The next day, French light infantry rout a
3,000 strong Austrian rearguard at Primolano, taking most of them prisoner.
Wurmser decides to make another stand at Bassano, where the valley opens into flat plains.
With Colonel Lannes leading the charge, the Austrians are driven back,
then chased into town by Murat’s cavalry.
Amid panic, chaos and blocked roads, the French take another
2,000 prisoners, including an Austrian general, and 30 guns.
Wurmser is in disarray - down to 12,000 men, outnumbered two-to-one,
with part of his force retreating in the wrong direction towards Trieste.
His only hope is to reach Mantua.
The two armies are in a footrace - but for the first time in the campaign,
Austrian soldiers outmarch their exhausted French counterparts.
Wurmser leaves a small garrison at the fortress of Legnago, to slow Augereau’s pursuit.
Forging ahead, Masséna manages to block the Austrians’ path at Cerea.
But General Ott makes a determined attack and clears the road,
taking 700 French prisoners and seven guns. It is a rare defeat for Masséna.
With the help of a local informant, Wurmser then finds an intact, unguarded
bridge across the Tione River, and reaches the outskirts of Mantua on 13th September.
His army has been saved from destruction, by the skin of its teeth.
Napoleon has failed to prevent Wurmser reaching Mantua.
But he knows that if he can bottle him up inside the city,
it will put intolerable strain on its supplies.
For that reason, Wurmser wants to keep his army outside the city walls,
free to manoeuvre, and crucially, forage for supplies in the surrounding country.
The next morning, as Augereau accepts the surrender of the Austrian garrison at Legnago,
Masséna tries a surprise attack at Due Castelli.
But it’s overambitious. His men have not had time to recover from their long march,
and the Austrians fight bravely.
The following day, Napoleon launches a much larger, co-ordinated attack.
Sahuguet’s division advances on the right.
His troops are soon in heavy fighting with Ott’s brigade around the Villa La Favorita.
Augereau’s division, under temporary command of General Bon, advances along the Mincio River,
trying to turn the Austrian right flank.
When Wurmser sends reserves from his centre to strengthen both flanks…
Masséna’s concealed division launches its attack.
Victor and Rampon lead the way with their veteran demi-brigades.
Austrian cavalry hurl themselves at the French but are beaten off.
Heavy fighting rages on the outskirts of Mantua for much of the afternoon.
Finally, Wurmser’s centre begins to crumble, and the French take San Giorgio.
Much of the Austrian right wing is cut off.
Many are forced to surrender, while others flee into the lake.
With the Austrian line shattered,
Wurmser orders his men to fall back.. to the safety of Mantua’s citadel.
The troops that were to have rescued Mantua.. are now trapped alongside its garrison.
By early October, the French have cut off the city, and resumed their siege.
Conditions inside Mantua deteriorate rapidly. Disease, wounds and malnutrition
kill – on average - nearly 100 Austrian soldiers every day... for six weeks.
Civilians are reduced to eating rats and horses.
Napoleon, meanwhile, returns to Milan, sending his aide-de-camp Major Marmont to Paris,
to present 22 captured Austrian standards to the Directory.
But elsewhere, the war has not been going so well for France.
Archduke Charles, younger brother of the Emperor Francis,
has defeated General Jourdan’s army twice in two weeks.
It, and General Moreau’s Army of the Rhine, are forced to retreat back to the frontier.
These setbacks mean Napoleon will get very few of the reinforcements he’s so urgently requested.
He and his men are exhausted. Many of them are sick.
They must contain an enormous and increasingly desperate garrison in Mantua...
With the certain knowledge that the Austrians will try again soon to save the city.
And there are diplomatic concerns which also trouble Napoleon.
In Rome, the Pope stirs animosity against the French,
citing their treatment of the Catholic church in the territories they administer.
These now include the Cispadane Republic, formed in part from
the Duchy of Modena – which Napoleon has abolished for colluding with the enemy.
There is also the lingering threat that Naples
may re-join the war at a critical moment, to stab him in the back.
So to secure his southern flank, Napoleon concludes a comprehensive
peace treaty with Naples, without bothering to consult the Directory.
Its actions like this that feed the whispers in Paris – this popular,
young general’s ambition seems limitless… might he not one day prove a dangerous political player?
But such talk will be moot, if Napoleon fails in Italy.
That autumn, as Austrian troops march once more to the relief of Mantua,
he will face his most skilled opponent yet – Feldzeugmeister József Alvinczi –
the first man to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte in battle.
A big thank you to PMF Productions for their help creating this series,
and charting Napoleon’s movements across Northern Italy. We highly recommend their YouTube channel,
featuring their own detailed series on Napoleon’s Italian campaigns,
which you can find by searching PMF Productions, or using the link in our video description.
Thank you also to artist Keith Rocco for kind permission to use his artwork in this series. You
can find more of Keith’s brilliant Napoleonic art via the link in our video description.
And thanks most of all to the Epic History TV Patreon supporters,
who make this channel possible. Visit our Patreon page to find out how you can support our work,
help choose future topics, and get ad free early access to new videos.