Battle of Montenotte

Apennine Mountains

This battle was the first of the series of great successes in Northern Italy that were established by Napoleon. This battle took place in Lombardy, which is in Northern Italy in the 12th of April, 1796. Napoleon was the head of 45,000 starving troops. Napoleon found himself and his army between a large Piedmontese (natives or inhabitants of Piedmont, Italy) army of 25,000 under General Baron Colli and an Austrian force of 35,00 under Jean Pierre Beaulieu. At the begining of Napoleon's Italian Campaign, his army stretched along the coast from Nice towards Genoa. The Apennine Mountians was between him and the other two armies. Napoleon hoped to use this sepereation to force a gap between the other armies, defeating them both. This battle went the exact way Napoleon wanted it to go. This battle was his first victory being a commander of an amry. From this it showed Napoleon's begining of his talents that would make him famous.