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Topic: Montenotte Campaign
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Montenotte Campaign

Years: 1796 - 1796

The Montenotte Campaign begins on April 10, 1796, with an action at Voltri and ends with the Armistice of Cherasco on April 28.

In his first army command, Napoleon Bonaparte's French army separates the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont under Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi from the allied Austrian army led by Johann Peter Beaulieu.

The French defeat both Austrian and Sardinian armies and force Sardinia to quit the First Coalition.

The campaign forms part of the Wars of the French Revolution.

Montenotte Superiore is located at the junction of Strada Provinciale 12 and 41 in the Liguria region of northwest Italy, fifteen kilometers (nine miles) northeast of Carcare municipality.

However, the fighting occurs in an area from Genoa on the east to Cuneo on the west.

In the spring of 1796, Bonaparte plans to launch an offensive against the combined armies of Sardinia and Austria.

However, the Austrian army moves first, attacking the French right flank at Voltri, near Genoa

In response, Bonaparte counterattacks the center of the enemy array, striking the boundary between the armies of his adversaries.

Beating the Austrians at Montenotte, the budding military genius strives to drive the Piedmontese west and the Austrians northeast.

Victories at Millesimo over the Sardinians and at Dego over the Austrians begin to drive a deep wedge between them.

Leaving a division to observe the stunned Austrians, Bonaparte's army chases the Piedmontese west after a second clash at Ceva.

A week after the French drubs the Sardinians at Mondovì the Sardinian government signs an armistice and withdraws from the War of the First Coalition.

In two and a half weeks, Bonaparte has overcome one of France's enemies, leaving the crippled Austrian army as his remaining opponent in northern Italy.

β€œAnd in the absence of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history.”

― Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra: A Life (2010)