After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the royal families of many European countries were in a precarious position, and the original king of France, Louis XVI, was actually sentenced to death after being defeated by Napoleon, which many European countries with the king as the authority did not want to see. Many countries in Europe voluntarily formed an anti-French alliance in an attempt to eliminate the French Republic. At this time, a genius like Napoleon appeared in France, and successfully preserved the fruits of the Revolution.
Napoleon made his mark at the Battle of Toulon in the First Coalition against France, and at the age of 24, Napoleon was promoted from captain to brigadier general. In the spring of the following year after the Battle of Toulon, Napoleon was appointed commander of the Italian Legion with the rank of Brigadier General.
In order to defeat the first anti-French alliance formed by Austria, the Kingdom of Sardinia, Russia, Prussia and Britain, the French Directist Government decided to launch a proactive military operation to fundamentally remove the external military threat. The first target of the active offensive was the Austrian occupation of northern Italy.
From the beginning of April 1796 to February 1797, Napoleon was ordered by the Governor's Government to lead his army in continuous warfare in Italy. With an outnumbered enemy and no logistical support at all, a series of victories were achieved, defeating three famous Austrian generals, and the Austrian army was all expelled from northern Italy. He then invaded Austria and marched towards Vienna. Austria was forced to sign a contract with Napoleon, at a high cost, agreeing to give Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the west bank of the Rhine and the Nioya Islands, to France.
The great victory of the expedition to Italy finally gave the nascent French Republic a foothold. Napoleon's name also spread quickly in the country, and he immediately became a hero known throughout the country.
In 1798, Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt with the aim of conquering Egypt and preparing a base for an attack on British territory in India. In the early days of the War in Egypt, Napoleon once again won a huge victory, and the news came back, and the whole country boiled over. In the early days of the Egyptian war, the Russian Tsar united with the other anti-French countries of Europe to form a second anti-French alliance, which was bound to eliminate the French Revolution. The royalists at home are also eager to revive their rule. The five-member French Governorate was weak and incompetent, and France was once again in danger.
After Napoleon, who was far away in Egypt, learned of the domestic situation, he secretly led a small number of his entourage back to China after more than 40 days of difficult sea voyages. As soon as he set foot on French soil, he was lifted up by the people who had heard the news, and the streets were crowded with cheers, as if greeting the savior. People chanted "Long live Napoleon" and others shouted "If you want, we are willing to endorse you as king." The Governorate, which was in session at the time, received a report that General Napoleon had returned home and was about to arrive in Paris. So the purpose of the meeting, the members of the committee all stood up, and the whole venue suddenly erupted into a storm of applause.
Napoleon carried out the bloodless "Mist Moon Coup", and on November 10, 1799, Napoleon, who was only 30 years old, established the executive government and served as the first consul of the French Republic. The other two consuls were merely ornamental, thus beginning his 15-year dictatorship.
Misty Moon Coup
At this time, the anti-French alliance is approaching step by step. The forces of the mighty Kingdom of Austria had driven the French army of northern Italy almost to the French border and had crucified it to the northwest corner of Italy, and the French army was cowering in the fortress of Genoa, in a critical condition. And British troops were also preparing to land on France.
Napoleon carefully studied the map and decided to lead his army from Switzerland through the Great St. Bernard Pass through the Alps, into Italy, to the rear of Austria, to seize the Austrian warehouses and hospitals, and then force the Austrian army to fight. By that time, France's national fortunes had reached its lowest point, the field army was exhausted, the treasury was empty, and the conscription could not be fully supplied. Napoleon formed a reserve corps, which incorporated all the local troops that could be collected, a total of 6200 men, into four infantry divisions.
Napoleon crossed the Alps
Napoleon ordered the French forces inside the Italian fortress of Genoa to hold out until at least 30 May 1800 in order to hold the Austrians back. At the same time, he secretly led the reserve corps and spent nearly a month crossing the Alps to the rear of the Austrian army.
The Austrian commander, Melas, suddenly learned that his retreat and supply lines had been cut off by a sudden French force, and ordered the Austrians who had captured the Genoese fortress to block it (the French army there held out until 4 June, five days longer than Napoleon's orders). This Austrian army and a forward division of the French army encountered a fierce battle in Karst Moo, and a fierce battle broke out that lasted nine hours, and the Austrian army was defeated and forced to retreat.
The French continued their advance towards Alexandria, where the Austrian headquarters were located. On the afternoon of 13 June, the vanguard of the French left flank met an Austrian near a small village called Marengo, 5 km southeast of Alexandria. After eight hours of fierce fighting, the Austrians could not support the retreat in the direction of Alexandria, and since it was late and the enemy situation was unknown, the French stopped advancing and camped near Marengo.
Throughout the day on the 13th, the Austrian high command in Alexandria was considering countermeasures, and after intense discussion, Melas decided to take advantage of napoleon's lack of concentration and take the initiative to attack napoleon and reopen communication with Vienna.
Napoleon arrived at Marengo after dark. At this time, he was still unclear whether the next step of the Austrian army's intention was to retreat from Alexandria or to engage in a battle on the spot. If the Austrians withdrew from Alexandria to Genoa, they would be able to receive support and supplies from the British Navy.
Napoleon sent a staff officer to check whether the bridge over the Bormida River was intact, and the Austrians would have to cross it if they withdrew. The officer returned and lied that the bridge had been damaged (who was later said to be a double-agent). Napoleon concluded from this that the enemy was evacuating Alexandria, and that the dead silence on the marengo plains that night gave Napoleon the illusion that Melas had slipped away.
He hastened to arrange the deployment, sending the general Desai and leading a division to cut off the road from Alexandria to Genoa. At the same time, a division and a cavalry brigade were sent to conduct search and reconnaissance, also to prevent the Austrians from fleeing in other directions. With only 1,800 men left in his own hands, Napoleon was taken advantage of by the enemy and attacked by superior forces.
At 9 a.m. on 14 June, 31,000 Austrian troops stationed in Alexandria rushed across the Bormida River like a tidal wave. Not only were the bridges over the river not damaged, but two new pontoon bridges appeared. The three Austrian armies marched side by side, directly attacking the French positions with overwhelming force, and soon forced the French forwards to retreat to Marengo.
The managers of both sides directly command the battle on the front line. Napoleon decided that Desai, who had already moved south, quickly returned to reinforcements, while leading his army to stubbornly resist the fierce attack of the superior strength of the Austrian army. At 10:00 a.m., the French finally could not resist and were defeated. When Napoleon saw that his troops were in a situation of frontal setbacks and two wings were surrounded, he immediately ordered his 1,000-man Guards to meet the victorious Austrian troops, and he led half a brigade to personally participate in the battle on the right flank. At the same time, he will also devote all the reserves for use to combat.
The Austrian commander-in-chief Melas also set an example for the whole army. His war horse was killed by two double shells in a row, but finally captured Marengo. The French organized four counterattacks and changed positions several times, but under the attack of the enemy's artillery and the cavalry charge, they gradually lost their support, and finally they were outnumbered, and finally gave up Marengo.
At 2 p.m., the French army finally collapsed, the whole army fell into chaos, and the plains were covered with French corpses. Many people cried out in panic: everything has failed. By 3 p.m., the remaining French troops had fled. Melas was ecstatic, believing that the overall situation had been decided and that the battle was over, and immediately sent a messenger to Vienna to report on the austrian victory in the Marengo Plain, the loot captured and the number of prisoners captured, which have not yet been counted. He then gave command to chief of staff, Tsakh, and returned to Alexandria.
The Austrian chief of staff, Chach, did not order an immediate pursuit of the French, but allowed the Austrians to rest and use the whole batch. After drinking and eating, 5,000 troops were sent, lined up in dense formations, waving military flags, and blowing military music to pursue the fleeing French army.
The commanders of the Austrian army were also well-known generals, and they had previous experience in judging that the French army had failed, but they ignored one factor: this time the opponent was Napoleon!
Napoleon did not hurry to flee for his life when the pursuit was suspended, but gathered the remnants of the army and regrouped, gave an impassioned speech to the soldiers, encouraging them to persevere, and told everyone that Desai's troops would soon return. Infected by his composure and bravery, the soldiers shed tears and assured him in unison that they would never take a step back and die here. This was napoleon and his remnants with only five cannons left.
At 5 p.m., at the last moment of a thousand gunshots, The Commander of the German Commandery finally commanded the troops to rush back. Napoleon and Desai and the other generals immediately met urgently to discuss countermeasures. Desai suggested that before launching a counter-offensive, it was necessary to concentrate artillery fire on the enemy to prevent the Austrians from continuing to advance. Napoleon took this advice and immediately ordered that the thirteen guns brought by Desai and the remaining five guns be gathered together and first fired at the enemy. At the same time, desai was instructed to lead his troops to hide behind a nearby hill, while placing the brigade on the left. Just wait for the time to come and immediately launch a counter-offensive.
At this time, the Austrian army was already a proud army, and it was completely unexpected that the French army would pounce back like a wolf, and under the fierce bombardment of the French artillery, the formation of the Austrian army was suddenly chaotic. Desai took advantage of this opportunity and immediately led his troops to pounce from the front. O's writing was cut into two pieces at once. The French general Desai, who was a pioneer, was hit in the heart by a bullet in the melee and killed on the spot. In less than half an hour, the Austrian army had changed from a triumphant division full of vigor to a rout army that was fleeing in a daze. Some of them were shot from shotguns, some were cut down with sabers, and the Austrian soldiers who did not fall either desperately fled for their lives or surrendered with hundreds of hands raised.
Steel Painting "Death of Desai"
This sudden defeat of the Austrians immediately led to a total collapse, and they were forced to abandon Marengo and rush to the Bormida River, scrambling for their lives. The French pursued the Austrians continuously until nightfall.
After the battle, Napoleon said bitterly: "If you can embrace Desai now, how good this day would be!" According to those close to Napoleon, during the years of conquest, they only saw Napoleon shed tears twice. One was at the Battle of Marengo, when General Desai was killed by the enemy, and a few years later, at the Battle of Asperne-Essling, Marshal Lanne was killed in Napoleon's arms by blowing off his legs from a shell.
On the morning of 15 June, melas, seeing that the tide was over, sent envoys to ask Napoleon for peace, and the two sides signed the Treaty of Alexandria. The whole of northern Italy returned to The French, all military facilities in the Hexi region, including the fortress, were ceded to the French, and the Austrians surrendered Genoa, which had been besieged for several months.
On 24 June, Napoleon set out for his country, and after his troops set foot on French soil, everywhere they went, people gathered and rejoiced, and people in every town along the way built the Arc de Triomphe. The Austrian Royal Family and the people of Vienna, having just received the news of Marengo's total victory, suddenly received news of the fiasco, and suddenly changed from elation to dejection, and staged a farce that caused a great sensation.