June to 14 November 1796
Mantua and the Austrian relief armies
Beaulieu leaves about 14,000 men in the fortress of Mantua and retreats north to Trento. The French invest Mantua on 3 June 1796. The city stands on the Mincio, almost surrounded by lakes and marshes, and with Peschiera, Verona and Legnago forms the Quadrilateral of fortresses. In late July Field Marshal Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser comes down on both sides of Lake Garda with 49,000 men. Bonaparte lifts the siege on 1 August, then defeats Quosdanovich at Lonato on 3 August and Wurmser at Castiglione on 5 August.
The Battle of Castiglione, 5 August 1796, painting by Victor Adam, 1836Wikimedia Commons, Victor Adam, Public domain (Victor Adam - Battle of Castiglione - 1836.jpg)
In September Wurmser tries again through the Brenta valley. Bonaparte defeats Davidovich at Rovereto on 4 September, follows Wurmser down the Brenta and defeats him at Bassano on 8 September. Wurmser escapes into Mantua, which now holds nearly 30,000 Austrians, and disease and hunger begin to thin the garrison.
In November Feldzeugmeister József Alvinczi makes the third attempt. He advances from the Piave with the Friaul Corps, about 28,000 men, while Davidovich comes down the Adige from Tyrol with 19,000. Alvinczi holds off Bonaparte at Bassano on 6 November and repulses him at Caldiero, in front of Verona, on 12 November, while Davidovich routs Vaubois at Calliano on 7 November.
Bonaparte leaves 3,000 men in Verona and in the night of 14 November marches Masséna and Augereau, about 18,000 men in all, down the west bank of the Adige to Ronco, behind Alvinczi’s left flank. Alvinczi has about 23,000. Across the river lies marshland that troops can pass only on the dikes along the Adige and along the Alpone, a stream about 20 yards wide that flows in from the north. From Ronco a road follows a dike for about 2.4 km to a bridge over the Alpone and the village of Arcole beyond it.
The crossing of the bridge of Arcole, painting by Horace Vernet, 1826Wikimedia Commons, Horace Vernet, Public domain (La Bataille du Pont d'Arcole.jpg)
Sources
- David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966).
- Martin Boycott-Brown, The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon’s First Campaign (2001).
- Phillip R. Cuccia, Napoleon in Italy: The Sieges of Mantua, 1796–1799 (2014).
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