14 June 1800, near Alessandria in Piedmont,
Napoleon finally defeated the Austrians under Michael von Melas in a last-gasp
victory at the Battle of Marengo.
“Victory! Victory! The avenging dawn now rises to make the wicked tremble! And liberty returns, the scourge of tyrants!“ (Carvadossi in Puccini’s “Tosca” after hearing the news of Napoleon’s victory at Marengo)
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| Likewise memorable: "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" by Jacques-Louis David (1801) |
With his whole army cut off and
conveniently forgotten in Egypt, Napoleon turned up rather unexpectedly in
Paris, pulled off a coup d’état, proclaimed himself First Consul in November
1799 and set about to clear up the French Republic’s unfinished business in
Northern Italy. During the following winter, the Second Alliance’s only
commander who would have been able, by and large, to stand up to Napoleon, old
Alexander Suvorov, a military genius in his very own right, was recalled to
Russia. Suvorov’s successor, the Austrian field marshal Michael von Melas was
busy mopping up what remained of French troops and French satellite states in
Italy, finally captured Genoa in June, providing him with a base to get
supplies in from the sea and, if necessity arose, a way to escape on the ships
of the Royal Navy that lay off shore. Napoleon, in the meanwhile, had led 40,000
men across the still snow-covered Alps into Northern Italy, re-established the
Cisalpine Republic in Milan, but was too late to save Massena in Genoa. The
Austrians were divided in three major groups across the region. One ensured the
surrender in Genoa, one was at Turin and one retreating from the Riviera. The
French covered Northern Italy, severing Melas’ lines of communication with
Vienna and tried to prevent the Austrians from assembling forces for a
counter-strike. At Montebello on June 9th, Lannes managed to bounce back Ott’s
18,000 Austrians with his corps of 8,000 men despite the French being certainly
spread to thin over the a comparatively huge area to exercise effective
control. Melas, however, sat in Alessandria, 50 miles southeast of Turin, and
was paralysed by the news from Montebello. Nevertheless, he had assembled
31,000 men and 100 guns there when the French arrived and he just had decided
to break out towards Piacenza.
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| The final stages of the battle by Louis-François, Baron Lejeune (1802) |
About nine o’clock in the morning, the
Austrians had unexpectedly crossed the river Bormida and pushed forward to the
French lines positioned across the plain with the centre at the village of
Marengo. It took them three attempts, but around noontime, Marengo was taken
and the French centre broken. Napoleon himself lead the Consular Guard into the
gap to stop the Austrian advance but was likewise thrown back. However, it
bought his commanders the time they needed for an orderly withdrawal from the
field and regrouping what was left of their divisions, all under the direct
threat of excellent Austrian cavalry. And astonishing feat all by itself. When
the French retreat was accomplished, Melas, over seventy and slightly wounded
during the morning, decided the battle was won and retired to take refreshments
with his senior staff, admittedly after very hard fighting. Things were not
quite over, though. While Melas’ chief-of-staff Zach was tasked with pursuing
the fleeing French, another French corps of 6,000 men under Desaix, actually en
route to occupy Novi, appeared on the field and charged the Austrians immediately.
French artillery deployed at close range and a timely cavalry charge led by
Kellermann and Murat finally finished Zach’s advance. By 6 pm, Napoleon had won
the Battle of Marengo.
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| Napoleon riding Marengo (1814) by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier |
A day later, Melas entered into
negotiations that ended the War of the Second Coalition in Italy while
Napoleon’s position as autocrat was more than strengthened. In fact, the course
of the battle that he had almost lost, was re-written three times over the next
15 years, according to the favours the generals enjoyed at Napoleon’s court at
a given time. And while it took another hundred years until La Tosca jumped to
her death from the walls of Castel Sant’Angelo with the cry of "O
Scarpia, Avanti a Dio!" after Napoleon’s victory at Marengo had
turned her world upside down, at least according to Puccini, a horse and a
chicken made the battle truly memorable. As legend has it, the French baggage
train was somehow misplaced during the course of events and Napoleon’s chef
Dunant, desperate about what to serve his master to celebrate his victory, sent
soldiers to forage and they came back with a chicken, tomatoes, eggs and
crayfish and Dunant conjured of it a dish that is known as Chicken Marengo to
this day. The horse the Corsican rode during the battle, a somewhat smallish
grey imported from Egypt the year before, was named Marengo afterwards and it
served the future emperor from Austerlitz to Jena-Auerstedt, Wagram and finally
Waterloo. Marengo was captured there, came to England where he died at the ripe
old age of 38. Two of his hooves were made into a snuff box and an inkwell
while the rest of Marengo is now on display at the National Army Museum in
London.
And more about the Battle of Marengo on:
And a recipe for “Chicken Marengo” can be
found here: