Battle of Rivoli

Battle of Rivoli
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli, by Philippoteaux (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles)
Date 14–15 January 1797 Location Rivoli Veronese, present-day Italy Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
France	Archduchy of Austria
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte André Masséna Barthélemy Joubert	Jozsef Alvinczi Peter von Quosdanovich Josef Philipp Vukassovich
Strength
19,000	28,000
Casualties and losses
3,200-5,000	12,000-14,000

The Battle of Rivoli (14–15 January 1797) was a key victory in the French campaign in Italy against Austria. Napoleon Bonaparte's 23,000 Frenchmen defeated an attack of 28,000 Austrians under Feldzeugmeister Jozsef Alvinczi, ending Austria's fourth and final attempt to relieve the Siege of Mantua. Rivoli further demonstrated Napoleon's brilliance as a military commander and led to French occupation of northern Italy.

See Rivoli 1797 Campaign Order of Battle.

Alvinczi's plan was to rush and overwhelm Barthélemy Joubert in the mountains east of Lake Garda by concentrating 28,000 men in five separate columns, and thereby gain access to the open country north of Mantua where Austrian superior numbers would be able to defeat Bonaparte's smaller Army of Italy. Alvinczi attacked Joubert's 10,000 men on January 12. However Joubert held him off and was subsequently joined by Louis-Alexandre Berthier and, at 2 a.m. on January 14, by Bonaparte, who brought up elements of André Masséna's division to support Joubert's efforts to form a defensive line on favorable ground just north of Rivoli on the Trambasore Heights. The battle would be a contest between Alvinczi's efforts to concentrate his dispersed columns versus the arrival of French reinforcements.

The morning of Saturday January 14, found Alvinczi engaging the division of Joubert. He had united three Austrian columns between Caprino on the right and the chapel of San Marco on the left; the brigade of Franz Josef de Lusignan was advancing to the north of Monte Baldo; and the troops of Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich and Josef Philipp Vukassovich were pouring down the roads on either side of the Adige. Before daybreak as the French were moving on the road from Rivoli to Incanale Joubert attacked and drove the Austrians from the chapel of San Marco.

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