Battle of Mondovì

View of the Battle of Mondovi by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti (1764-1831)

Date	21 April 1796
Location	Mondovì, Piedmont, in modern-day Italy
Result	French victory

Belligerents

French First Republic

Kingdom of Sardinia

Commanders and leaders

Napoleon Bonaparte

Michelangelo Colli-Marchi

Strength

17,500

13,000

Casualties and losses

600

1,600, 8 cannons

The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Ligurian Alps behind them, while the plains of Piedmont lay before them. A week later, King Victor Amadeus III sued for peace, taking his kingdom out of the First Coalition. The defeat of their Sardinian ally wrecked Austrian Habsburg strategy and led to the loss of northwest Italy to the First French Republic.

This was the last battle of the Montenotte Campaign in which General of Division MG Bonaparte's Army of Italy thrust between Feldmarschall-Leutnant Colli's 21,000-man Austro-Sardinian army and Feldzeugmeister Johann Beaulieu's 28,000-strong Austrian army. In the initial battles, Bonaparte savaged Beaulieu's army and drove it northeast. Then the French general turned his main attack to the west against the Piedmontese. Colli conducted a series of well-fought rear guard actions, including the Battle of Millesimo on 13 April and the Battle of Ceva on 16 April. Nevertheless, Bonaparte drove the Sardinian army relentlessly westward toward the fortress of Cuneo and the plains of Piedmont. On 18 April, Colli retreated into a strong position behind the Corsaglia River.

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