13th June, 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, has just pulled off one of history’s boldest manoeuvres - he has marched his army over the ice-covered Alps. .
to arrive behind the Austrian army in Italy. He has captured Milan, and defeated every enemy force he’s met so far. Everything is going as planned.
Now, Napoleon spreads his forces in a wide cordon to prevent the escape of General Melas’s Austrian army. General Chabran and 3,400 men guard the River Po. General Lapoype, with 3,500 men, is sent to reinforce him.
General Desaix, with 5,000 men, moves south to block the road to Genoa. This leaves Napoleon with just 22,000 men - advancing west onto the plains of Scrivia. But the First Consul has been misled by the over-optimistic reports of scouts and spies.
Melas is not planning to retreat. He has concentrated 30,000 veteran troops around the fortress city of Alessandria. They are well rested, supplied, and have a great superiority in cavalry and artillery.
And they are preparing to attack. Oblivious to the looming threat, on 13th June, General Victor and his two divisions lead the French advance on Alessandria. In heavy rain, his men drive a small Austrian rearguard from the village of Marengo… back towards a fortified bridgehead on the Bormida River.
But the French find the crossing heavily defended. And so, soaked and exhausted, with darkness falling – they halt the pursuit. Weeks ago, Napoleon had predicted that the decisive battle of the campaign would be fought on this very ground: the plain east of Alessandria.
But now, he is convinced that Melas will not risk battle. What he and his men cannot see beyond the Bormida - because they have lit no camp fires - are 30,000 Austrians, assembled for an assault. Within hours, Napoleon will discover that his army is fighting for its life.
Dawn, 14th June. Napoleon’s forces are spread across 8 miles of open country and scattered vineyards. General Victor’s two divisions are the farthest west - holding Marengo and the main road.
Behind him, General Lannes … and several cavalry regiments. Napoleon, with the Consular Guard and Monnier’s division, is yet further back. Melas’s forces are concentrated west of the Bormida, behind the Austrian bridgehead.
His chief of staff - General Anton von Zach - has planned a two-pronged assault. General Ott’s division will cross the river and advance north to Castel Ceriolo. Melas, with the bulk of the army, will attack directly up the main road.
On a clear morning, at 8am, the Austrians begin their advance. French outposts are driven back. At the Pedrabona Farm, Gardanne’s division comes under heavy bombardment.
He falls back to join the rest of Victor’s troops, which are deploying behind the Fontanone stream. This narrow, steep-sided waterway runs the length of the battlefield, and is swollen by recent rain. The only easy crossing is a small wooden bridge at the main road.
And on the far bank, Victor’s men, are shielded by trees and sturdy farmhouses. As the Austrians approach the Fontanone, they are hit by a hail of musket fire. Scores go down as they struggle to cross the stream.
General Hadik leads a charge, but falls, mortally wounded. After several failed attacks, the Austrians fall back with heavy losses. North of Victor’s position, General Bellegarde’s brigade crosses the Fontanone around 11am.
But General Lannes’ division takes up position on Victor’s flank. They drive off Bellegarde, and re-establish the line along the stream. It is now a hot, humid summer’s day – as Austrian attacks continue, and fighting rages along the Fontanone.
More and more Austrian cannon are pulled up, and begin to pulverise the French line. Throughout the morning, Melas’s army is hindered by narrow crossing points and marshy ground. General Zach’s failure to anticipate these bottlenecks has cost several hours.
Nevertheless, by noon, the Austrians have 30,000 men and 92 guns in position. They still only face Lannes’ and Victor’s tiring divisions - 16,000 men and 16 guns. The French urgently need reinforcements – but as the Austrians begin their next attack – Napoleon, and the rest of the army, are nowhere to be seen.
The greatest danger is on the French right, where General Ott’s division has occupied Castel Ceriolo virtually unopposed, and now threatens Lannes’ flank. Then, the Austrians find a gap near the French centre, and rush three battalions across the Fontanone. Around the same time, 1,500 Austrian dragoons circle around the French left, but are charged and routed by General Kellerman’s heavy cavalry.
The Austrians do succeed in taking La Stortigliona farm, threatening Victor’s left. An Austrian cavalry charge over the Marengo bridge is also repulsed by Kellerman. But the odds are too great.
Some French units are completely out of ammunition. They have just a handful of cannon, and their line is breaking. Facing encirclement, Victor’s divisions are the first to give way, losing 400 men captured in Marengo.
Another 300 French soldiers are left behind in Casa Bianca, where they hold out stubbornly for several hours. Covered by the 96th Demi-Brigade, and Kellerman’s watchful cavalry, Victor’s division retreats half a mile to Spinetta and its surrounding vineyards. The Austrians pour over the Fontanone.
Lannes pulls back to maintain the French line. The heroes of Montebello are on the brink. When the Austrian attack began, Napoleon was 7 miles away at his headquarters in Torre Garofoli.
Although he could hear the distant thunder of cannon, he did not grasp its full significance, and remained focused on blocking the Austrians’ escape. Only at 11am did reports arrive, to reveal the gravity of the situation. Napoleon knows there is not a moment to lose.
He scrawls an order to Desaix – who he’s sent to cut off the Austrian retreat, and is now 4 miles away: “I had thought to attack the enemy; they have attacked me; come, in the name of God, if you still can. " He sends the same order to General La Poype. Then he races to the front with his only reserves - Monnier’s division, and the Consular Guard.
By 3pm, Lannes and Victor have retreated almost a mile. Austrian cavalry shadow their withdrawal, forcing the French to stay in close formation. Austrian guns send roundshot crashing through the packed ranks.
Remarkably, the French battalions are still holding. When Napoleon arrives, he sees the main threat is on the right, where Ott is poised to turn the French flank. To counter this, he sends Monnier’s division to Castel Ceriolo, forcing Ott to draw off troops.
But that still leaves General Schellenberg’s 4,000-strong division. So Napoleon commits his ultimate reserve - 900 men of the elite Consular Guard. Against the odds, the Guard repels enemy cavalry.
. . and holds its own in a close-range firefight with Austrian infantry, buying time for the rest of the army to fall back.
Napoleon describes them as his “granite redoubt”. The legend of the Guard is being born. But they are now isolated, and about to be overwhelmed.
When Austrian dragoons hit their exposed flank and rear, ‘the redoubt’ crumbles. The Guard is forced to flee. Some surrender.
Many are cut down. By the end of the day, the Guard has suffered more than 50% casualties. With the retreat of the Guard, Napoleon has no more cards left to play.
The French army retreats steadily through the vineyards, battered by constant Austrian artillery fire. Casualties and stragglers mean there are just 6,000 men left holding the French line. General Melas is satisfied that the French have been beaten.
Having been injured in a fall from his horse, he now hands over command to his Chief of Staff, General Zach. Then he returns to Alessandria, to draft a report describing his great victory. But he has underestimated French resilience – and the fickle fortunes of war.
General Louis Desaix. Just 31 years old, brave, brilliant and modest. Napoleon describes their friendship as one “his heart has for no other.
” That morning, his orders were to lead Boudet’s division - 5,000 strong – across the Scrivia river, to cut off the Austrian escape. But the recent rain had raised the water level, and delayed his crossing. When Desaix heard the sound of battle to the north, he’d halted his men and sent a courier to get news.
Napoleon’s desperate order to return does not reach him until midday. Immediately, he about-turns his division, and marches to the sound of the guns. Desaix arrives on the eastern edge of the battlefield at 5pm.
. . to find the French army in full retreat.
Napoleon is at San Giuliano, 5 miles east of Marengo, where thousands of wounded soldiers are gathered. The mood is grim, and despondent. But news of Desaix’s arrival spreads like an electric shock.
“Here they are! Here they are! ”, the troops exclaim.
Napoleon is rejuvenated. “We have gone back far enough today. ” he tells his troops.
“You know that my custom is always to sleep on the field of battle. ” The Austrian army is advancing on all fronts. But they are now scattered and disordered.
And they have diverted forces north, and south, in an attempt to encircle the enemy. What’s more, General Zach has advanced to lead the pursuit – handing overall command to General Kaim. Several other Austrian generals have been wounded – chains of command have become dangerously muddled.
Using Desaix’s fresh troops, Napoleon now prepares a last-ditch counterattack, with all the supporting forces he can rally. General Marmont concentrates all the available guns – 18 of them – to blast the Austrians. Then, with the 9th Light Demi-Brigade in the lead, the attack begins.
The rapid fire of these experienced skirmishers staggers the Austrian advance. General Zach orders up more artillery, and sends forward his elite grenadiers. The 9th Light falls back.
To the Austrians, it seems the French are retreating once more. Suddenly, they are blind-sided by the rest of Desaix’s fresh troops, emerging without warning through the vineyards. Desaix joins the 9th Light, and leads them forward in a bayonet charge.
At this moment, he is shot through the heart and killed instantly. Seeing their commander fall, the 9th Light cries “Vengeance! ”, and surges forward.
General Kellerman thunders in with 400 heavy cavalry. They crash into the Austrian left flank. To add to the chaos, an Austrian ammunition wagon is hit, and detonates in a tremendous explosion.
The combined effect is devastating. Panic spreads. Morale collapses.
In just a few minutes, hundreds of Austrians lay down their arms, and surrender. Thousands more flee, spreading terror among troops in the rear. General Zach, trapped in the rout, is among the 2,000 Austrian prisoners.
In an instant, the entire momentum of the battle has swung 180 degrees. Thousands of French troops, who’d been retreating moments ago, stop, and join the attack. As the Austrian centre collapses, General Ott’s division becomes dangerously exposed.
His men soon join the rest of the army in their race to escape. Later that evening, General Murat adds the coup de grâce, launching a final French cavalry charge that seals victory, and drives the enemy back to their bridgehead. The Battle of Marengo was one of the greatest comebacks of the Napoleonic era.
Thoroughly defeated by mid-afternoon, the French are completely victorious by nightfall. But it has been an exceptionally costly affair. The French lose a quarter of their army as casualties … the Austrians, more than a third.
Napoleon himself contributed little to the victory. If not for the skill of his officers, the steadiness of his troops, and above all, Desaix’s last-minute arrival, he would surely have been defeated. The taste of victory is soured further when Napoleon learns that his friend Desaix has been killed.
He tells his secretary, ’Yes, Bourienne, I am satisfied. But Desaix! Ah, what a triumph this would have been if I could have embraced him tonight on the field of battle!
’ Instead, he dines alone. . .
according to legend, on a hastily-improvised dish of local ingredients. . .
that becomes known as Chicken Marengo. General Melas, shaken by his unexpected defeat, is unsure how to react. Some of his officers urge him to continue fighting.
Others advise him to escape. French forces are closing in from all directions. Hoping to buy time, Melas proposes a ceasefire to bury the dead.
Napoleon refuses, unless Melas is also willing to discuss terms for the Austrian evacuation of northwest Italy. With little bargaining leverage, the old Austrian general accepts. Over the following days, Melas and Berthier negotiate a comprehensive armistice.
In exchange for safe passage back to Austria, Melas agrees to evacuate Piedmont, Genoa, and Lombardy. France will once more dominate northern Italy. Napoleon has achieved his victory and cemented his position as France’s new head of state.
What’s more – the near-miraculous manner of his victory assures him, more than ever, of his own special destiny. The gods of War and Fortune are with him. What limit can there be to his accomplishments?
That winter, Moreau inflicts a second crushing defeat on the Austrians. . at the Battle of Hohenlinden.
Defeated in Italy - and now Germany too - Austria finally sues for peace. The subsequent Treaty of Lunéville sees the French frontier advance to the River Rhine. In Italy, French client republics are officially recognised by Austria, and the following year, France annexes Piedmont.
France is now larger and stronger than at any time since the reign of Charlemagne, a thousand years ago. She has just one remaining enemy – Great Britain. In 1801, British victories at Alexandria.
. . and Copenhagen.
. . drive home the fact that France cannot challenge Britain at sea, nor abroad.
Britain has seen her continental allies defeated, and Russia is now actually threatening war. She has no prospect of building another coalition to challenge France on land. Both sides are exhausted by war.
The result, after months of negotiation – peace! For the first time in Europe in ten years. How long it will last.
. . nobody is quite sure.
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