The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Michael von Melas' surprise attack, drove the Austrians out of Italy and consolidated Bonaparte's political position in Paris as First Consul of France in the wake of his coup d'état the previous November.
The Battle of Novi saw a combined army of the Habsburg monarchy and Imperial Russians under Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov attack a Republican French army under General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert. As soon as Joubert fell during the battle, Jean Victor Marie Moreau immediately took overall command of the French forces. After a prolonged and bloody struggle, the Austro-Russians broke through the French defenses and drove their enemies into a disorderly retreat, while French division commanders Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon and Emmanuel Grouchy were captured. Novi Ligure is in the province of Piedmont in Northern Italy a distance of 58 kilometres (36 mi) north of Genoa. The battle occurred during the War of the Second Coalition which was part of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Louis-Gabriel Suchet, duc d'Albuféra, was a French Marshal of the Empire and one of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is regarded as one of the greatest generals of the Napoleonic Wars.
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland due to its very large and powerful military, which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.
The War of the Second Coalition was the second war targeting revolutionary France by many European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria, and Russia and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples and various German monarchies. Prussia did not join the coalition, while Spain supported France.
By 1799, the French Revolutionary Wars had resumed after a period of relative peace in 1798. The Second Coalition had organized against France, with Great Britain allying with Russia, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, and several of the German and Italian states. While Napoleon's army was still embroiled in Egypt, the allies prepared campaigns in Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
The Napoleonic Wars continued from 1799 with the French fighting the forces of the Second Coalition. Napoleon Bonaparte had returned from Egypt and taken control of the French government, marking the end of the French Revolution. He prepared a new campaign, sending Moreau to the Rhine frontier and personally going to take command in the Alps, where French forces had been driven almost out of Italy in 1799.
The Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1801) were a series of conflicts fought principally in Northern Italy between the French Revolutionary Army and a Coalition of Austria, Russia, Piedmont-Sardinia, and a number of other Italian states.
The siege of Genoa saw an Austrian army led by Michael von Melas besiege the port of Genoa, which was occupied by a French garrison under the command of André Massena, from 19 April to 4 June 1800. It formed part of the larger Marengo campaign during the War of the Second Coalition. The Austrian army isolated Massena and half of the French army in Genoa, while driving the other half from the area. Once Genoa was under siege, Massena conducted a very active defense with frequent sorties. Besieged on land by 24,000 troops led by Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz and at sea by a Royal Navy squadron under Lord Keith, famine reduced the defenders to starvation. By the time Massena surrendered the city on 4 June, 30,000 of Genoa's 160,000 inhabitants had died of starvation and disease. While the Austrian army was focused on the siege, a French army under Napoleon invaded Italy from the northwest, triumphing at the Battle of Marengo.
Michael Friedrich Benedikt Baron von Melas was a Transylvanian-born field marshal of Greek descent for the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Italian and Swiss expedition of 1799 was a military campaign undertaken by a combined Austro-Russian army under overall command of the Russian Marshal Alexander Suvorov against French forces in Piedmont and Lombardy and the Helvetic Republic. The expedition was part of the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars in general, and the War of the Second Coalition in particular. It was one of 'two unprecedented Russian interventions in 1799', the other being the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland.
Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz was a military officer in the armies of the Habsburg monarchy. Of Hungarian origin, Ott fought in the wars against the Kingdom of Prussia, Ottoman Turkey, and the First French Republic in the last half of the 18th century. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he rose in rank to general officer and twice campaigned against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. He played a key role in the Marengo campaign in 1800. He was Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian Hussar regiment from 1801 to 1809.
The Battle of Modena saw a Republican French army commanded by Jacques MacDonald attack a Habsburg Austrian covering force led by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated but in an accidental encounter, MacDonald was painfully wounded by two saber cuts. The action occurred during the War of the Second Coalition, part of a larger conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Modena is a city in northern Italy about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Bologna.
The Battle of Genola or Battle of Fossano was a meeting engagement between a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Michael von Melas and a Republican French army under Jean Étienne Championnet. Melas directed his troops with more skill and his army drove the French off the field, inflicting heavy losses. The War of the Second Coalition action represented the last major French effort in Italy during 1799. The municipality of Genola is located in the region of Piedmont in northwest Italy a distance of 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of Cuneo and 58 kilometres (36 mi) south of Turin.
Pierre Garnier, comte de Laboissière was a French army general who commanded an infantry division during the War of the Second Coalition. After enrolling in a military academy in 1769, he joined a dragoon regiment in 1772 as a sous lieutenant. In 1779, he was promoted to captain. In late 1792 during the War of the First Coalition he was given command of a cavalry regiment with the grade of colonel. While serving in the Army of the Rhine he was captured by the Prussians. After a prisoner exchange, he was promoted to général de brigade in October 1793. Laboissière was promoted to général de division in February 1799. He fought at Stockach and led a division at Novi. In the summer and fall of 1799 he fought in several actions near Genoa. Later he commanded troops in Switzerland. Napoleon appointed him to the Sénat conservateur in 1802, awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Légion d'Honneur in 1804 and made him a comte de l'empire in 1808. He died in Paris in April 1809. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 15.
The First Battle of Marengo or Battle of San Giuliano saw Republican French soldiers under General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau launch a reconnaissance in force against a larger force of Habsburg Austrian and Imperial Russian troops led by Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov. The French enjoyed initial success, pressing back their opponents. However, large Austrian and Russian reinforcements soon arrived, causing the French to withdraw into Alessandria. This War of the Second Coalition meeting engagement occurred near the town of Spinetta Marengo, located just east of Alessandria in northwest Italy.
Andreas Karaczay de Vályeszáka or Andreas Karaiczay de Wallje Szaka or András Karacsaj de Válje-Szaka served in the Austrian army beginning in the Seven Years' War. In 1788–90, he fought in the Austro-Turkish War at Khotyn, Valea Seacă, Focșani, and Rymnik. In 1789 he was promoted to general officer, appointed Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian cavalry regiment, and became a friend to the famous Russian General Alexander Suvorov. He fought in the French Revolutionary Wars until 1795 when he retired because of "war fatigue". Suvorov recalled him to action in 1799 when he fought at the Trebbia, Alessandria, and Novi. He led the Austrians at Second Novi. After being badly wounded at Stockach in 1800, he retired from his military offices in 1801.
The Second Battle of Marengo or Battle of Cascina Grossa saw French troops under General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau clash with a force of Austrian soldiers led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Heinrich von Bellegarde. The early fighting between Emmanuel Grouchy's division and Bellegarde was inconclusive. However, late in the day Moreau committed Paul Grenier's French division to the struggle and the Austrians were driven from the field. This War of the Second Coalition battle occurred near Spinetta Marengo which is just east of Alessandria, Italy.
The Convention of Alessandria was an armistice signed on 15 June 1800 between the French First Republic led by Napoleon and Austria during the War of the Second Coalition. Following the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Marengo, they agreed to evacuate Italy as far as the Mincio and abandon strongholds in Piedmont and Milan. Great Britain and Austria were allies and hoped to negotiate a peace treaty with France, but Napoleon insisted on separate treaties with each nation. The negotiations failed, and fighting resumed on 22 November 1800.
The Third Battle of Novi saw a French Republican corps commanded by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr defend itself against an attack by a Habsburg Austrian corps led by Paul Kray during the War of the Second Coalition. Saint-Cyr led the right wing of the French Army of Italy which defended Genoa. Saint-Cyr advanced his troops into the lowlands but withdrew into the hills near Novi when Kray appeared with a superior force. Saint-Cyr did not have enough horses to move his artillery, so he tried to lure his Austrian opponents into attacking his four hidden guns. Finally, Kray advanced and fell into the trap; the French guns opened fire and Saint-Cyr's men counterattacked, inflicting serious losses. Wisely, Saint-Cyr did not follow his retreating foes into the plain where the Austrian artillery and cavalry waited.
Habsburg monarchy 
L. Gouvion Saint-Cyr 
Jan Dąbrowski 
