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Field army of the French Army stationed on the France-Italy border
The
Army of Italy
(
French
:
Armee d'Italie
) was a
field army
of the
French Army
stationed on the
Italian border
and used for operations in Italy itself. It is best known for its role during the
French Revolutionary Wars
(in which it was one of the early commands of
Napoleon Bonaparte
, during his
Italian campaign
) and
Napoleonic Wars
.
History
[
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]
Bonaparte's reforms
[
edit
]
Poorly supplied (uniforms and shoes were rare), and only getting reinforcements irregularly, the Army of Italy was sometimes reduced to looting to survive. When Bonaparte arrived (he took up command on 27 March 1796), indiscipline was rife.
Chouan
songs were sung by the troops, and a company of the Dauphin was formed. All the while improving the supply system as much as possible, Bonaparte also reestablished discipline. He condemned officers who had cried
Vive le roi !
, (English: "Live the king!"), dismissed the 13th regiment of hussards for indiscipline and dissolved an entire regiment when it revolted at the end of March. Purged in this way, the Army of Italy was subsequently the most
Jacobin
of all the French armies.
Its first victories improved things ? allowing better resupply and easing pay problems through "war contributions" from the conquered lands ? but memoirs (though not official communiques) speak of individual or collective failures right up to 1797.
Reserve army
[
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]
Much of the original Armee d'Italie became the Army of Egypt. Another army, originally called the armee de Reserve, was formed at
Dijon
on 8 March 1800 (17 ventose year VIII) and took the title Armee d'Italie on 23 June 1800 (4 messidor year VIII) when it was merged with the remains of the original Armee d'Italie. The new army's first commander was
Massena
, followed by Bonaparte (as First Consul and "Commander in person") and
general Berthier
(its 'General en chef' from 2 April to 23 June 1800).
[1]
It was under Berthier that this army beat the Austrians at the
Battle of Marengo
on 14 June 1800 (25 prairial year 8).
[2]
Commanders
[
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]
- from 7 November to 25 December 1792: General
d'Anselme
, with neither the title nor the prerogative of a general
- from 26 December 1792 to 9 February 1793, interim:
marechal de camp
Brunet
- from 10 February to 4 May 1793: General
Biron
- from 5 May to 8 August 1793: General
Brunet
; from 2 June subordinate to General
Kellermann
- from 9 August 1793 to 20 November 1794: General
du Merbion
- Army before Toulon (
Armee devant Toulon
):
- from 5 September to 6 November 1793: General
Carteaux
- from 7 to 12 November, interim: General
La Poype
- from 13 to 15 November, provisionally until the arrival of General
Dugommier
: General
Doppet
- from 16 November to 28 December: General
Dugommier
with the title of General and commander of the Army of Italy (
general en chef de armee d'Italie
)
- from 29 December 1793 to 21 November 1794: General Pierre Jardat Dumerbion (with Napoleon Bonaparte and Andre Massena as subordinates)
- from 21 November 1794 to 5 May 1795: General
Scherer
- from 6 May to 28 September 1795: General
Kellermann
,
[α]
commanded the merged Army of Italy and Army of the Alps (
armee des Alpes
), with the designation of the Army of Italy
- from 29 September 1795 to 26 March 1796: General
Scherer
, resigned
- from 27 March 1796 to 16 November 1797: General
Bonaparte
- from 17 November to 21 December 1797, interim: General
Kilmaine
- from 22 December 1797 to 3 April 1798: General
Berthier
- from 4 April to 27 July 1798: General
Brune
- from 28 July to 18 August 1798, interim: General
Gaultier
- from 19 August to 31 October 1798: General
Brune
- from 1 November 1798 to 31 January 1799: General
Joubert
, as part of the overall command of the Army of Rome (
armee de Rome
). From 11 to 25 December, the army's commander was effectively General
Moreau
.
- from 1 February to 6 March: General
Delmas
- from 7 to 11 March 1799, provisional: General
Bruneteto Sainte-Suzanne
- from 12 March to 26 April 1799: General
Scherer
, as part of his overall command of the Army of Naples (
armee de Naples
)
- from 27 April to 4 August 1799: General
Moreau
, as part of his overall command of the Army of Naples
- from 5 to 15 August 1799: General
Joubert
, commander of both the Army of Italy and the Army of the Alps, killed at the
battle of Novi
- from 15 August to 20 September 1799: General
Moreau
- from 21 September to 30 December 1799: General
Championnet
- from 31 December 1799 to 5 January 1800: General
Suchet
[α]
- from 6 to 15 January 1800, interim: General
Marbot
- from 16 January to 16 June 1800: General
Massena
[α]
- from 17 to 24 June 1800, interim: General
Suchet
- from 25 June to 21 August 1800: General
Massena
- from 22 August 1800 to 7 March 1801: General
Brune
[α]
- from 8 March to 27 August 1801, interim: General
Moncey
[α]
Campaigns and battles
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]
1805?1814
[
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]
Armee d'Italie participated in the
war of the Third Coalition
(1805), in the battles of
Verona
and
Caldiero
in northern Italy, under
Andre Massena.
During the
war of the Fifth Coalition
(1809), Armee d'Italie was commanded by
Eugene de Beauharnais
, and fought the Austrians at
Sacile
,
Caldiero
,
Piave
, and
Raab
. In 1813?1814 Eugene fought the Austrians with his army in northern Italy
(Battle of Mincio)
.
[3]
References
[
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]
- ^
"The consular magistracy was essentially civil, the principal of the division of powers and of ministers' responsibilities made it undesirable that the first magistrate of the Republic should be immediately in command of an Armee; but no disposition, just as no principle, would oppose that which was present ... As it turned out, the First Consul commanded the armee de reserve, and Berthier, his major general, took the title general en chef." :
Memoirs of Napoleon
, vol. VI, p. 196
- ^
Alexandre Berthier, Relation de la bataille de Marengo ...; Paris 1805. // Le Capitaine de Cugnac, Campagne de l’armee de Reserve en 1800; Paris 1900
- ^
Napoleon's Italian Campaign 1805?1815
. Frederich C. Schneid. 2002. pp. 161?200.
[
ISBN missing
]
Sources
[
edit
]
- C. Clerget :
Tableaux des armees francaises pendant les guerres de la Revolution
(Librairie militaire 1905) ;