January 14–15, 1797 · Lake Garda, Northern Italy Theater
January 14–15, 1797
Rivoli was Napoleon's masterpiece of the Italian campaign — and one of the greatest examples of interior lines in military history. Alvintzy advanced with 28,000 men in six separate columns through the mountains around Lake Garda, attempting to reach Mantua from multiple directions. Napoleon, with a central position and a smaller force, identified the main Austrian thrust at the Rivoli plateau and concentrated his entire army against it before the other Austrian columns could arrive. He destroyed Alvintzy's main body, then turned his army and defeated a second Austrian column that arrived behind him. A third Austrian column, arriving to find the battlefield lost, surrendered in its entirety. Mantua fell two weeks later.
Commanders