Battle of Rivoli
Fought on 14–15 January 1797 on the Rivoli plateau above Lake Garda, Rivoli was the decisive engagement of the Italian Campaign and a classic of Napoleonic operational method. General Alvinczy's Austrian force of some 28,000 attempted to relieve Mantua by advancing down multiple valley routes converging on the plateau; Napoleon, recognising that this separation gave him interior lines, concentrated 23,000 men and defeated each Austrian column in sequence before they could unite. The Austrian flanking column that arrived late in the battle found itself enveloped and surrendered almost entirely — some 6,000 prisoners. Mantua's garrison, its relief force destroyed, surrendered on 2 February 1797 after a blockade of eight months. The fall of Mantua removed the last Austrian stronghold in northern Italy and compelled Austria to negotiate the Peace of Leoben (April 1797) and subsequently the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797), by which France gained Belgium and effective control of northern Italy. Rivoli ended Austria's attempt to recover Lombardy and confirmed Napoleon as the foremost general of his generation.
- Year: 1797 CE
- Category: Military
