At this moment, after the treaties of Basel. France was still at war with England. Austria, and Sardinia. England was no longer a factor in the military situation on the Continent ; Aus tria had been attacked only in Southern Ger many, while on the Italian frontier France bad done nothing except to make intermittent attacks on Sardinian territory. Italy was made up of patches of Austrian territory and of petty States under Austrian influence, which offered a rich spoil for the conqueror. The main body of the Austro-Sardinian army was at Montenotte, oc eupying the pass between the Maritime Alps and the Apennines at the headwaters of the Bormida and the Tanaro, two ailments of the Po. One road followed the latter northwest to Turin, the other road followed the Iformida to the northeast to Milan; between the two eras an almost im passable mountain country. A successful blow would compel the Sardinians to retreat on their capital, Turin, and the Austrians on Milan, their headquarters in Italy, wit bout hope of reuniting their forces. This arnn• of 52,000 Men was smile what scattered and could not he used in full force at any one point, and many of the men were sick. The Vrenell Army of Italy was no better off. There were 42,0110 poorly equipped. worse clad, and unpaid men scattered in detac•lunents along the Riviera from Nice to Savona. Their new commander. Buonaparte. was a slender, delic•ate looking youth of twenty-six. who was known only for some skill shown in handling artillery at Toulon and in Paris. Rumor said he owed his ap pointment to a discreditable intrigue between Josephine and Certainly there was little to promise one of the greatest military campaigns in all history. the most dazzling success of mod ern times. Bonaparte (as he now• spelled his name) from the moment of his arrival took hold of things with the grasp of an experienced gen eral skilled in the management of men. Ills address to his army kindled their imagination: "Soldiers, you are half-starved and half-naked; the Government (Ayes you much. but ean do noth ing for you. I am about to lead you into the most fertile valleys of the world; there you will find flourishing cities and teeming provinces; there you will reap mono•. glory, and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy. will yon lack courage'!" Reenfo•c•ements arrived which raised the army to about 50.000 men. whom Bonaparte concen trated at Savona. The campaign opened at Alontenotte on April I Ith. •Three successive ;it tacks compelled the Sardinians under Colli to retreat toward Turin. Whit(' tilt' Austrian com mander, Beaulieu, fell back toward parte pressed on against t Ali, and, though he had no power to negotiate, compelled him to sign the armistice of Clwrasco (April 2tith), which gave France military eont•o1 of Piedmont and left Bonaparte free to attack Beaulieu. From this mo ment Bonaparte showed the Directory that they had no ordinary general to deal with. Ile did not wait for orders. Ile did things and then re ported; he preferred no requests. but presented denmn& coupled with an ultimatum. ateh• after the signature of the armistice Col B011111,0 rte reassembled his forces, which had scattered to forage and plunder, and prepared to attack Beaulieu. who had re treated across the Po and the Ticino. Beaulieu expected Bonaparte's attack near Pavia. The French commander turned his dank, seized Pia cenza on Alay 7th. and emnpelled Beaulieu to retreat across the Adda, leaving Milan to the French. Bonaparte pursued the retreating Austrians and defeated 0(.111 at the bridge of Lodi across the Adda. on May Bah. After this battle it is said the troops gave Bonaparte the endearing name of the Little Corporal; from this time they were devoted to him. Bonaparte promptly oeenpied Han and there dis played his eharaeteristic qualit Ws, Ile appealed the popular enthusiasm, and led the Milanese to believe that he was I lwir dcliveer. lie estab lished a temporary administration. welcomed ar tists and writers. and showed an interest in the University of Pavia. till the other hand, he ex toiled a war contribution of francs and seized and sent to Paris numerous literary and art treasures. The young general did not daily. In a few days he was again pushing on against the Austrians, and on June 3d the siege of antua was begun. This strongly fortified tow n was the key to Northern Italy. \\Idle the siege was in progress Bonaparte paid his respects to the Dukes of Modena and Parma. to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. and to the Pope, each of whom be compelled to buy peace with large sums of money and with treasures of art and literature. The Austrians raised army after army for the relief of Mantua, but in vain. The first, under Wurmser, advanced from Tyrol in three divi sions. and compelled the raising of the siege of Mantua by Bonaparte, who marched to meet the Austrians and defeated them at Castiglione on August 5th. Wurinser made a second attempt by the valley of the Brenta, but was defeated at Itassano on September Stli, and driven into Alantua, the siege of which was resumed by the French. Alvinczy, by the way of the Brenta, and Davidovich, by the way of the Adige, brought the second Austrian into Italy, planning to concentrate 1i0,000 men at Verona. Bonaparte had to meet them with about 40,0(10, and at Cal diem, on November 12th, he met a severe check; hut, driven to desperation, he put forth super human efforts, and after three days of fighting defeated the Austrians at the bridge of Areole and forced them to retreat. Alvinezy, from the wreck of his army and with reenforeements, cre ated the third Austrian army and advanced southward between Lake Garda and the Adige. Bonaparte hastened to meet him. seized the hn port:int strategic position at Ilivoli, repulsed Alvinezy on January 14. 1 7 97. and hurled him back into Tyrol. Turning hack on Mantua, Bonaparte captured at La Favorita two days late• an important detachment of Alvinczy's force which by a flank movement had almost sue ceeded in reaching 'Mantua. \Curnise• sur rendered Alantua on Febru:a•y 2d. In this fa mous campaign of 17 96 Bonaparte relied on three important maxims to which he hold fast .throughout his career: divide for foraging, con centrate for fighting; unity of command is essen tial for success; and time is everything. Quick ness to divine his enemy's plans: a thorough knowledge of geography which produced eom binations that were executed with bewildering audacity; an ability to get a maximum amount of marching and lighting out of an army of young veterans who were poorly shod and clad and ill-fed; and the loyal support of his subor dinates. Augerean. Alasstma, Joubert, Lances, Marmont, Victor, and .Ingot, combined to enable Bonaparte to conquer Northern Italy for France. The campaign of 1797 was an net of colossal alidneity. \Vith less than 50,000 men Bonaparte drove the Archduke Charles and the Austrians from Italy. the passes of 11u• Alps in March, and pressed on directly for Vienna without waiting for Moreau fq.v.) to co;?pe-ate.
At Leoben, Wit Id n one hundred miles of Vienna, he signed preliminaries of peace With Austria 011 April 18th.
Bonaparte the conqueror began to take wider views of the part he was to play, and played it with a boldness and a skill that dazzled Franco into eomplaisaney. Ile organized the Italian conquests into the Cisalpine Republic and e011 stiluted the Genoese dominions into the Ligurian Republic; lie sent Augereau as his secret agent to conduct the military operations of the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor (see FRENCH IZEVO. ; lie lived and acted like a monarch in Northern Italy; and finally, disregarding the ex press orders of the Directors, he negotiated with Austria the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 17, 1797). Austria gave up her former Belgian possessions and Lombardy, and received most of the territories of the extinguished liepuldie of Venice. Bonaparte now returned to France. but the Directors were afraid of him and sought to rid themselves of him by dispatching him mm sonic out-of-the-way or hazardous enterprise. it was evident to him that a direct attack upon France's one remaining foe, England, could not succeed, and he suggested instead the campaign in Egypt. The Oriental dream was always before his eyes, and throughout life influenced his policy. Be saw in India the source of England's power. and lie determined to attack India. lie negotiated with Tipu Sultan, a determined foe of theEnglish, and, as the easiest route to India was by the Bed Sea, lie proposed to conquer Egypt as a stepping stone to India. An expedition was fitted out with the utmost secrecy at Toulon, and on May 19. 1798, he set sail with a large fleet carrying 35,000 men. Ile stopped on the way to capture Malta. On July 1st he landed in Egypt and occupied Alexandria on the next. day. Advancing into the desert, he encountered and defeated the famous llameluke cavalry in the battle of the Pyramids on July 21st, and three days later entered Cairo. Desaix was detached to conquer Cpper Egypt, and Bonaparte devoted himself to consolidate his conquests. On August Ist-2d, however, Nelson destroyed his fleet in Abukir Bay, and Turkey deelared war and planned to recover Egypt. Taking the offensive at the be ginning of 1799, Bonaparte invaded Syria, cap tured Jaffa, and laid siege to Acre. 3unot fought an engagement with the Turks near Nazareth, and Kleber found himself attacked by thirty thousand of then) at the foot of Mount Tabor on April 15th, but was rescued by the opportune arrival of Bonaparte. Returning to Acre, Bona parte found that he was unable to take the place by storm, and having lost five thousand men in fighting o• from the plague, he ordered a retreat. Arriving in Egypt, lie met another Turkish force, which had landed near Alexandria, and defeated it on July 25th. News from France told of the infidelity of Josephine, and of the evil plight of France under the decadent Direc tory, which was being attacked by the newly formed Second Coalition of the Powers of Europe against France. On the night of August 221-23d, leaving Kleber in command, Bonaparte escaped from Alexandria, and evading the English ships, landed at Frejus on October 9, 1799.
On reaching Paris he speedily took council with the members of his family and after a scene with Josephine forgave her, though he did not forget her offense. Councils with Talleyrand, Sieyes, and other important amen of affairs fol lowed, but most of all with his brother Lucien, who was HOW president of the Connell of Five Hundred. Plans were speedily devised. and on November 9, 1799. the famous coup d'etat of the 18th Brumaire took pimp. The Directory was overthrown, the Council of Five Hundred dis persed, and a provisional go•e•nneent composed of Bonaparte mid two of the late Directors, Sieyes and IZoger Ducos, installed. Sieyes (q.v.) expected to be the managing head of the new combination, but the first meeting found that Bonaparte had everything in his own hands. In a fe NV weeks the Provisional Government drew up and promulgated the Constitution of the Year VIII., which, in spite of its elaborate provisions for the Legis lature;mild the other parts of the Government, really intrusted all power to Bonaparte, who became First Consul (December 21, 1799). Having arranged the more important de tails of the administration and restored internal peace by the pacification of the Vendee, he turned his attention to the military situa tion. The victory of Massena at Zurich on Sep tember 25-26, 1799, had freed France from the danger of invasion by the Second Coalition, but Italy and Southern Germany were once more in the hauls of the Austrians, and Massena with a French army was shut up in Genoa. Bonaparte suddenly and with the utmost secrecy gathered a new army for the invasion of Italy. Instead of taking the expected cormi•se of advancing along the Riviera as in 1796 and raising the siege of Genoa, lie took his army, whose existence was un known to the Austrians, across the Great Saint Bernard Pass and occupied Milan on June 2, 1800. The surprised Austrian General Alelas endeavored to gather his forces and save himself. A detachment under Lannes defeated an Austrian detachment at Montebello on .Lune 9th, but on the 14th Bonaparte found himself forced to face the main Austrian army of 31.000 men at Marengo with only 18,000, and with difficulty saved himself from complete defeat. The opportune arrival of Desaix after the battle was really over led to a renewal of the fight, to the astonishment of the Austrians, who were driven from the field. The campaign of Marengo was a masterpiece, but the honors of the victory itself belong to Desaix, who bought it with his life, and to Lannes, Bessieres, and the younger Keller mann. :delfts evacuated all of Italy west of tua. but Austria was not ready to make peace un til she had been defeated by Moreau at Hohenlin den (q.v.) on December 3d, and Macdonald had crossed the Sphigen and threatened Vienna. Ne gotiations were then opened between Cobenzl and Joseph Bonaparte, and on February 9, 1801, the Treaty of Luneville was signed. England was now the only remaining foe of France. England forced the French to evacuate Egypt and cap tured Malta; while Bonaparte forced Naples and Portugal to abandon the English alliance. The faint-hearted Addington Ministry in England signed preliminaries of peace with France on October 1, 1801, and on March 27, 1802, Corn wallis and Joseph Bonaparte signed the Treaty of Amiens, which gave France complete peace for the first time in ten years. The diplomatic genius of Bonaparte shines brightly in these treaties, which enabled him to make real gains for France such as all the wars of Louis NIV. had failed to obtain. He carefully hid many things in these treaties for future use, which enabled him to appear as the pacificator and re organizer not only of France. but of Europe, and as the founder of a great colonial empire. Seeds for future war were as carefully sown. which were to bring forth fruit at the appropriate sea son.