[The History of Napoleon Buonaparte by John Gibson Lockhart]@TWC D-Link bookThe History of Napoleon Buonaparte CHAPTER XV 8/46
The details of his campaign against Kray must be sought elsewhere.
A variety of engagements took place with a variety of fortune.
Moreau, his enemies allow, commenced his operations by crossing the Rhine in the end of April; and, on the 15th of July, had his headquarters at Augsburg, and was in condition either to reinforce the French in Italy, or to march into the heart of the Austrian states, when the success of Buonaparte's own expedition rendered either movement unnecessary. The Chief Consul had resolved upon conducting, in person, one of the most adventurous enterprises recorded in the history of war.
The formation of the army of reserve at Dijon was a mere deceit.
A numerous staff, indeed, assembled in that town; and the preparation of the munitions of war proceeded there as elsewhere with the utmost energy: but the troops collected at Dijon were few; and--it being universally circulated and believed, that they were the force meant to re-establish the once glorious army of Italy, by marching to the headquarters of Massena at Genoa,--the Austrians received the accounts of their numbers and appearance, not only with indifference but with derision. Buonaparte, meanwhile, had spent three months in recruiting his armies throughout the interior of France; and the troops, by means of which it was his purpose to change the face of affairs beyond the Alps, were already marching by different routes, each detachment in total ignorance of the other's destination, upon the territory of Switzerland.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|