Battle of Rivoli

Background

By the winter of 1796–97 Bonaparte's Army of Italy had beaten the Austrians at Lodi, Castiglione and Arcole, and was besieging Mantua, one of the four Quadrilateral fortresses guarding the routes from the Alps to the Po. Three Austrian relief attempts had failed. Inside the city Field Marshal Wurmser had about 18,500 men, only some 9,800 of them fit for duty, and his last rations were due to run out on 17 January.

Vienna gave the fourth attempt to József Alvinczi, a Hungarian veteran in failing health, with a rebuilt army of about 45,000. He split it. Provera, with about 9,000 men, and Bajalics were to strike at the lower Adige and Verona and push towards Mantua, while Alvinczi himself led about 28,000 down the Adige valley and across Monte Baldo, east of Lake Garda. His aim was to overwhelm Joubert's division in the mountains and break out into the open country north of Mantua, where his numbers would tell.

Provera attacked Augereau near Legnago on 7 January and probed Verona on the 8th. Bonaparte reached Verona on the 11th and judged these to be diversions. On the 12th Alvinczi's columns struck Joubert at La Corona, and the next day Joubert fell back to the Rivoli plateau. On the 13th Bonaparte concluded that the main blow was coming from the north. He ordered Masséna's division at Verona and Rey's division to march for Rivoli, told Joubert to hold, and rode ahead.

The armies

Alvinczi's main body of about 28,000 marched in six separate columns. On the right, Lusignan's brigade of about 4,500–5,000 swung wide to the west to come in behind the French. In the centre, Lipthay, Köblös and Ocskay, about 12,000 between them, crossed the slopes of Monte Baldo by tracks too poor for more than a little artillery. Quasdanovich's column, about 7,000–9,000, took the road along the west bank of the Adige with most of the guns and cavalry, aiming to climb onto the plateau through the gorge at Osteria. Vukassovich, with about 3,000–5,000, came down the east bank to fire across the river. The plan needed six columns, separated by ridges and rivers, to arrive together in winter weather.

The French were outnumbered at the start but held the interior lines. Joubert's division of about 10,000 was already on the plateau. Masséna's division of about 7,000–10,000, Rey's of about 4,000, Victor's reserve brigade and Murat's and Leclerc's cavalry came up during the day, bringing the total to about 19,000–23,000. Bonaparte's men were veterans of a year of victories. Joubert had about a dozen guns and Masséna and Rey six each, and on the plateau they could be massed where needed, while the Austrian centre columns had almost none.

The battle

CDB90 records Rivoli as a single engagement, number 107 (RIVOLI), with the Austrians as attacker. Times below are approximate, and the sources differ by an hour or more.

The ground. Rivoli sits on a plateau above the Adige gorge, bounded by the Tasso stream. North of the village the Trambasore Heights form a horseshoe facing Monte Baldo, with the chapel of San Marco at their eastern end, above the gorge. The Monte Magnone ridge separated Quasdanovich on the Adige road from the columns on the mountain. The only road onto the plateau from the Adige climbed through the gorge at Osteria.

The night (13–14 January). Bonaparte reached Rivoli at about 02:00, after Berthier. Joubert, who had been preparing to fall back again, was ordered to hold north of Rivoli, and three Austrian columns were camped on the southern slopes of Monte Baldo. Masséna's division marched through the night from Verona; its first troops arrived at about 06:00, though one account has the division arriving only at about 10:00.

The French dawn attack (04:00–09:00). Vial's brigade seized San Marco at about 04:00. At first light Joubert attacked the three centre columns and took the hamlet of San Giovanni, supported by heavy guns on the ridge.

The Austrian counter-attack (09:00–11:00). At about 09:00 Lipthay struck Joubert's left and broke the 29th and 85th Demi-Brigades. Masséna's men were fed in and restored the line. On the right, Vukassovich's batteries across the river and Quasdanovich's attack drove the French out of San Marco and Osteria, and the Austrian column began to climb the gorge onto the plateau.

The crisis (about 11:00). Lusignan's column appeared on the ridge south of Rivoli, across the French line of retreat. Bonaparte sent Masséna's 18th Demi-Brigade to hold him, and turned on Quasdanovich.

The gorge (midday). As Quasdanovich's column emerged from the defile, a battery of about 15 guns fired canister into it at point-blank range; shots blew up two Austrian ammunition wagons. Austrian dragoons stampeded back through their own infantry. Joubert's infantry hit the column's flank, Leclerc's cavalry charged, and Lasalle with 26 troopers of the 22nd Chasseurs took a whole battalion and five colours. Quasdanovich fell back out of range down the Adige. In the centre Ocskay renewed his attack and drove back Vial's brigade, until Murat's cavalry charged his flanks and threw him back to his morning positions.

Lusignan trapped (afternoon). Brune's brigade held Lusignan in front while Rey's division, arriving from Castelnuovo with Victor's brigade, struck him from the south. Lusignan's column broke on Monte Pipolo; he escaped with fewer than 2,000 men, and the rest surrendered. By about 14:00 Alvinczi had ordered his centre back towards La Corona; Quasdanovich's remnants retreated up the Adige at about 17:00.

The pursuit (15 January). Bonaparte left Joubert and Rey to finish the job and went south that evening with Masséna to meet Provera. On the 15th Joubert attacked the Austrian centre again, routed it and drove it north, taking over 5,000 more prisoners.

Aftermath

The Austrians lost about 12,000–14,300 of their 28,000, most of them prisoners; the French lost about 3,000–5,000. Alvinczi escaped north up the Adige with about 13,000 men.

The battle decided Mantua's fate. Masséna's tired division marched south again with Bonaparte and reached Roverbella, with Victor, on the evening of the 15th. Provera had reached the outskirts of Mantua, but on 16 January, at La Favorita, Sérurier's besiegers threw back Wurmser's sortie while Masséna, Miollis and Augereau's troops closed round Provera; he surrendered with about 8,700 men. Mantua, starving, capitulated on 2 February. Wurmser and his staff went free with the honours of war; the rest of the garrison became prisoners.

With the last Austrian army in Italy gone, Bonaparte forced Pope Pius VI into the Treaty of Tolentino and then crossed the Alps towards Vienna. The armistice of Leoben in April and the Treaty of Campo Formio in October ended the War of the First Coalition.

Rivoli has been called Bonaparte's greatest victory to that date and the most decisive of his Italian battles. Paris's Rue de Rivoli is named after it, and in 1808 Masséna was made Duke of Rivoli. Accounts turn on Alvinczi's failure to bring his dispersed columns together before the French reinforcements arrived, and on the marching of Masséna's men, which Bonaparte himself praised to the Directory.

Wargaming it

Rivoli is a compact battle with a puzzle at its heart. About 28,000 Austrians attack about 20,000 French who arrive piecemeal, on a plateau a few miles across, so it suits brigade or regimental level, with battalions as units and turns of 20–30 minutes, on a single table. The fight at the Osteria gorge alone makes a good small game.

The terrain does most of the work. Monte Baldo's slopes, the Trambasore horseshoe, San Marco above the gorge and the Adige's two banks divide the field into pockets. The Austrian centre columns arrive with almost no artillery; Quasdanovich has the guns and cavalry but must climb one narrow road; Vukassovich can only shoot across the river. Ridges and rivers keep the columns apart.

Timing is the game. The French player has Joubert alone at dawn, Masséna's men arriving through the morning and Rey only in the afternoon. The Austrian player must coordinate six columns, perhaps with written orders and random arrival times, while Lusignan's flank march either arrives in time to cut the French retreat or walks into Rey.

The what-ifs are sharp. What if Quasdanovich had got onto the plateau before the French guns were massed? What if Lusignan had arrived an hour earlier, or Masséna an hour later? A campaign game can link the day to Provera's march and La Favorita, forcing the French player to win Rivoli fast enough to turn south.

Maps and pictures

Paintings and prints

Paintings and prints of the battle, from the time and the century after, by year: free-to-use pictures from the battle's category on Wikimedia Commons. Each opens its file page there, with the full caption and source.