The Campaigns Of Napoleon Bonaparte 1796-1797 ✦ [ INSTANT ]

Napoleon’s first goal was to separate the Austrian army from their Piedmontese allies. In a lightning-fast two-week offensive (the Montenotte Campaign), he won a series of engagements:

His strategy relied on the : Dividing superior enemy forces. Striking each wing separately before they could unite.

France gained the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and the left bank of the Rhine. The Campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte 1796-1797

When Napoleon arrived in Nice in March 1796, he found 38,000 soldiers who were poorly fed, unpaid, and lacked shoes. He famously promised them "honor, glory, and riches" in the fertile plains of Italy.

In May 1796, Napoleon pursued the Austrians across the Po River. At the , he personally helped aim cannons and inspired a daring charge across a narrow bridge under heavy fire. Napoleon’s first goal was to separate the Austrian

French forces entered Milan in triumph, beginning the looting of Italian art and gold to fund the French Republic. The Siege of Mantua

The decisive blow against the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. France gained the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and the

A desperate three-day battle in the marshes where Napoleon famously seized a flag and charged the bridge.