Jean Antoine Gros. "Napoleon Bonaparte on the Arcole Bridge". Notre Dame Cathedral: Coronation of Napoleon

Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge: Fact or Fiction?

It was November 1796. The Napoleonic army was bogged down in battles with the Austrians in northeastern Italy. Both sides carried big losses, but it was impossible to retreat, so as not to lose the fruits of previous victories.

On November 4, quite out of place, General Vaubois was defeated and withdrew to Rivoli. On the 12th, Massena's division, which retreated to Verona, also failed.

And then Napoleon decides to take a risky maneuver and bypass the Austrians from the south, crossing the Adige River at Ronco. The most important point in this plan was the so-called Arkolsky bridge across the Alpone River, overcoming which would allow the enemy to enter the rear.

But the first attack on the bridge, made on November 15, was unsuccessful. The troops of Augereau's division were thrown back. But the Austrian counterattack quickly bogged down. An extremely dangerous stalemate has developed.

In this critical situation, Napoleon needed a miracle. And it was here that he allegedly decided to stand at the head of the troops seized by indecision and by his example to carry them along.

What happened next is now widely known as the feat performed by Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge on November 15, 1796.

This feat is quite widely covered in historical literature, and the later the narration, the more picturesque and romantic they are. Here are just a few of them:

Horace Vernet:

In the battle of Arcole, it happened that Napoleon, noticing the momentary confusion of his grenadiers under the terrible fire of enemy batteries located on the heights, jumped off his horse, grabbed the banner, rushed to the Arcole bridge, where heaps of the dead were lying, and exclaimed: “Warriors, are you already not the brave men who fought at Lodi? Forward, follow me!” So did Augereau. These examples of courage influenced the outcome of the battle.

Albert Manfred:

In the legendary battle on the Arkol bridge, he was not afraid to put the fate of the army at stake, and own life. Throwing himself under a hail of bullets with a banner forward on the Arcole bridge, he survived only because Muiron covered him with his body: he took upon himself the mortal blows intended for Bonaparte.

Dmitry Merezhkovsky:

After several futile attacks that have filled the bridge with corpses, people refuse to go to certain death. Then Bonaparte grabs the banner and rushes forward, first alone, and then all behind him. General Lannes, wounded twice the day before, protects him with his body from the fire, and from the third wound falls at his feet, unconscious; defended by Colonel Muiron, and killed on his chest, so that the blood spattered into his face. Another minute, and Bonaparte would also have been killed, but falls from the bridge into the swamp, from where only by a miracle the grenadiers save him. The bridge was not taken. So Bonaparte's feat is useless? No, he is useful in the highest degree: he raised the spirit of the soldiers to an unprecedented height; the leader poured his courage into them, as water is poured from vessel to vessel; kindled their hearts on his own, as they light a candle on a candle.

Such bravura descriptions, almost poems, could go on and on. All of them are similar to each other, like two drops of water.

Let's ask ourselves, where did the information come from that Bonaparte grabbed the banner and dragged his soldiers along to the Arcole Bridge?

Let's look into the memoirs of Napoleon himself, written by him "in the third person."

Napoleon writes about himself:

But when Arcole held out against a series of attacks, Napoleon decided to personally make the last effort: he grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there. The column he commanded had already crossed half the bridge; flanking fire and the arrival of a new division to the enemy doomed this attack to failure. The grenadiers of the front ranks, abandoned by the rear, hesitated. However, carried away by the fugitives, they did not want to abandon their general; they took him by the hands, by the dress, and dragged him along among the corpses, the dying, and the powder smoke. He was thrown into a swamp and plunged into it to the waist. Enemy soldiers scurried around him.

The soldiers saw that their general was in danger. There was a cry: "Soldiers, forward, to the rescue of the general!" These brave men immediately turned at a quick step towards the enemy, threw him over the bridge, and Napoleon was saved.

This day was the day of military dedication. Lannes, who was recovering from governor's wounds and still sick, rushed to the battle from Milan. Standing between the enemy and Napoleon, he covered him with his body, received three wounds, but did not want to leave for a minute. Muiron, adjutant to the commander-in-chief, was killed while covering his general with his body. A heroic and touching death! Belliard and Vignoles were wounded among the soldiers they carried into the attack. The brave General Robert, a battle-hardened soldier, was killed.

This, it turns out, is where the information comes from that Napoleon "grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there." This is where the information comes from that adjutant Jean-Baptiste Muiron died, "covering his general with his body." And most importantly, how convenient: two beautiful legends in one!

Napoleon not only "created history" himself, he also took care of its perpetuation in works of art. In particular, in 1797, he commissioned a painting about his feat on the Arcole Bridge to the artist Jean-Antoine Gros, a student of the famous David. This picture, measuring 1.30 x 0.94 m, was made and is currently exhibited in the Versailles Museum, and its sketch is in the Louvre Museum. On the same topic in subsequent times, a lot of other paintings and engravings were made, and all of them serve only one purpose - to perpetuate the Great Feat of the Great Napoleon.

But let's leave for now Napoleon's "reliable information" about his beloved and turn to more serious studies of the Arcole battle made by foreign historians.

More detailed researchers of Bonaparte's Italian campaign have much less enthusiasm for his behavior on the Arcole bridge.

In particular, David Chandler in his famous book "Napoleon's Military Campaigns" writes:

At one point, a desperate Bonaparte grabbed the tricolor banner and led Augereau's soldiers in a new attack on the Arcole Bridge, but at a critical moment, when success was not yet predetermined, an unknown French officer embraced his commander-in-chief, exclaiming: “General, they will kill you, and without you we will perish; you won't go any further, you don't belong there!" In this confusion, Bonaparte fell into the water and was rescued by his devoted adjutants, who dragged their wet commander-in-chief to safety under the threat of the bayonets of the Austrian counterattack.

Willian Sloon echoes him:

When the standard-bearer was killed, Bonaparte picked up the banner and personally hoisted it onto the bridge. The French grenadiers were about to rush forward, but, met by a friendly volley of Croats, they mixed up, were overturned by a blow with bayonets and retreated back, and carried the commander in chief with them. Awkwardly turning aside, Bonaparte got stuck in a swamp, from which he got out alive only due to the fact that the grenadiers rushed to the attack for the fourth time.

In the famous French historian Abel Hugo we find the following detailed description events of this day:

Then he rushed along with the headquarters to the battlefield and stood at the head of the column: “Grenadiers,” he shouted, “are you not the brave men who distinguished themselves at Lodi?” The presence of the commander-in-chief restored courage to the soldiers and breathed enthusiasm into them. Bonaparte decided to take advantage of this, jumped off his horse and, seizing the banner, rushed to the bridge, shouting: "Follow your general!" The column stirred, but, met with terrible fire, stopped again. Lannes, despite his two wounds, wanted to follow Bonaparte; he fell, struck by a bullet for the third time; General Vignoles was wounded; Colonel Muiron, adjutant to the commander-in-chief, was killed covering him with his body. All blows reached their goal: in the closed human mass, the balls and bullets punched huge gaps. The soldiers, after a moment of confusion, began to retreat just at the moment when the last effort could have brought victory. The commander-in-chief jumped on his horse; a new volley overturned everyone who surrounded him and to whom he was indebted for the fact that he himself was not killed. His horse, frightened, fell into the swamp and dragged its rider with it, and it so happened that the Austrians, who were chasing the retreating French, were at a distance of fifty paces. But Adjutant General Belliard, noticing that the commander-in-chief was in danger of death, gathered fifty grenadiers and attacked with a cry: "Let's save our general!" The Croats were driven back for their fortifications."

The "Memoirs" of Auguste-Frederic Marmont, a direct participant in the Battle of Arcole, at that time a colonel and adjutant of Napoleon, seem extremely important.

Let us first deal with the "feat" of General Augereau, noted by Horace Vernet and some other historians. Marmon writes the following about this:

Augereau's division, halted in its movement, began to retreat. Augereau, wanting to cheer up his troops, grabbed the banner and ran a few steps along the dam, but no one followed him. Such is the history of this banner, about which they talked so much that he allegedly crossed the Arkolsky bridge with it and overturned the enemy: in fact, everything came down to a simple, fruitless demonstration. This is how history is written!

Indeed, this is how history is written, unfortunately. But according to the results of his own reports about the battle (Napoleon, of course, did not think to write anything about it), Augereau received a memorable Arcole banner, which, after his death, was transferred by his widow to the artillery museum, where it is still kept in one from the halls.

Concerning the actions of General Bonaparte at Marmont we read:

General Bonaparte, learning of this defeat, arrived at the division with his staff in order to try to renew Augereau's attempts. To raise the morale of the soldiers, he himself stood at the head of the column: he grabbed the banner, and this time the column moved after him.

Approaching the bridge at a distance of two hundred paces, we might have overcome it, despite the deadly fire of the enemy, but then one infantry officer, clasping the commander-in-chief in his arms, shouted: “My general, they will kill you, and then we will disappear. I I won't let you go any further, this place is not yours."

As you can see, Marmont clearly indicates that Bonaparte did not reach the notorious bridge about two hundred meters. So there can be no talk of the fact that the commander-in-chief "grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there." In any case, this version of Napoleon himself is in complete contradiction with the version of Marmont, who was nearby.

I was in front of General Bonaparte, and on my right was one of my friends, also adjutant to the commander-in-chief, an excellent officer who had recently arrived in the army. His name was Muiron, and this name was subsequently given to the frigate on which Bonaparte returned from Egypt. I turned around to see if they were following me. Seeing Bonaparte in the hands of the officer I mentioned above, I thought that the general was wounded: at one moment a crowd formed around him.

When the head of the column is so close to the enemy and not moving forward, it must withdraw: it is absolutely necessary that it be in motion to avoid being hit by enemy fire. Here the disorder was such that General Bonaparte fell from the dam into a channel filled with water, into a narrow channel dug long ago to extract land for the construction of a dam. Louis Bonaparte and I rushed to the commander-in-chief, who was in danger position; General Dommartin's adjutant, whose name was Fort de Gières, gave him his horse, and the commander-in-chief returned to Ronco, where he was able to dry himself and change his clothes.

Very interesting evidence! It turns out that Napoleon not only did not show with a banner in his hands an example of courage that influenced the outcome of the battle, but also created (albeit unwittingly) a mess in a narrow defile, which led to additional victims. The attack once again bogged down, and the thoroughly wet commander-in-chief was taken to the rear.

Marmon concludes:

Here is another story of another banner, which in many engravings is depicted in the hands of Bonaparte, crossing the bridge of Arcole. This attack, a mere daring venture, also came to nothing. For the only time during the Italian campaign I saw General Bonaparte in real and great danger to his life.

Napoleon, like Augereau, received a commemorative Arkol banner, which he handed over to Lannes, was kept in his family for a long time, but was lost at the end of the 19th century.

Concerning the feat of Colonel Muiron, Marmont writes the following:

Muiron was missing in the confusion; perhaps he was hit by a bullet and fell into the waters of Alpon.

Here it is difficult to accuse Marmont of bias. Jean-Baptiste Muiron was his childhood friend, so there was no reason for Marmont to deliberately belittle his merits. Most likely, Muiron, indeed, went missing in the resulting commotion. He was an honest and brave officer, died from an Austrian bullet and, according to Marmont, does not need any fictional legends at all.

As you can see, from the very beginning military career Napoleon began to embellish reports of his victories, very often attributing to himself what did not exist at all, or what others did.

The same Marmont, throughout for long years who was the closest associate of Napoleon, tells us, in particular, the story associated with the Napoleonic bulletins about the battle of Marengo, which was extremely unsuccessful for Napoleon and only by a lucky chance (the timely approach of the troops of General Desaix) ended with the victory of the French. This story fully reveals the Napoleonic "kitchen" of preparing "reliable information" for future generations:

The story of this battle, published in the official bulletin, was more or less true. The War Department was ordered to develop this narrative and add some episodes to it. Five years later, the emperor requested this work; he was dissatisfied, crossed out a lot and dictated another text, in which hardly half was true, and then ordered to prepare a story for the Memorial on the basis of these data. Finally, three years later, the emperor decided to revise the work again: he did not like it again, and it suffered the fate of the previous one; finally, he issued the final version, in which everything was already false.

The work of the modern French historian Cedric Couteau "Napoleon Bonaparte: the creation of a legend" is devoted to the same topic.

Cedric Couteau argues (and it is hard to disagree with him on this) that the so-called bulletins have always been the propaganda organs of the Grand Army and its commander-in-chief. They "in a condensed form gave an idea of ​​​​the battles, putting forward the military capabilities of Napoleon." Bulletins were dictated directly by Napoleon, and then published in his official gazette "Monitor", from where they were reprinted by all other newspapers.

As Couto writes, these bulletins were meant to give "soldiers a sense of pride by fleshing out their master's military masterpieces." In addition, they served to strengthen the spirit of the civilian population, so they were required to be read aloud throughout France.

This is what gives the prominent French Napoleonic historian Jean Tulard the right to declare that “it is dangerous to write military history based on ballots. Napoleon does not tell about himself in them, he is drawn in them for his contemporaries and for future generations.

Cedric Couteau, speaking of the purpose of the Napoleonic bulletins, even introduces the peculiar term "sublimation of the hero."

Further in his article, he refers to the example we are considering under the conditional title "Napoleon on the Arkolsky Bridge." Couto writes: “Gros's painting Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge presents us with the hero of the Revolution. A young general with hair blowing in the wind holds the banner of the 4th demi-brigade of the line infantry in his hands and goes at the head of his people to finish off the damned Austrians. During the three days of the battle, the general did not show himself in the sense in which the picture shows us his courage and mission. But what the picture does not show at all is that the bridge was never taken by the French troops, and that, under enemy fire, the general fell into a canal located near the bridge.

In his bulletins related to the defeats, Napoleon not only deceived the French, but he, according to Couto, "manipulated the truth in order to hide their real extent."

In addition, an important purpose of the bulletins was to put forward the military exploits of Napoleon, belittling the merits of his entourage. So, for example, in the bulletin of October 15, 1806, concerning the victory at Jena, the feat of Marshal Davout at Auerstadt was cast into the shadows.

The more serious the defeats, the more concise were the Napoleonic bulletins. The reasons for the defeats were also called the most ridiculous, of course, having nothing to do with Napoleon. In particular, the defeat in the battle of Leipzig was explained by the mistake of some corporal who prematurely blew up the bridge over the Elster.

Sometimes such deception is justified. As the French moralist Pierre-Claude Boiste wrote, “If it can ever be allowed to deceive the people, it is only to alleviate their misfortunes.” But such a deception has one very dangerous property, which was pointed out by the same Buast, who noted that "one lie mixed between truths makes all of them doubtful."

Let us not forget this, admiring with all the grounds for the unparalleled Napoleonic military genius.

On November 15-17, 1796, French troops under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrian army under the command of General Josef Alvintzi. During the battle, Napoleon showed personal heroism by leading one of the attacks on the Arcole Bridge with a banner in his hands. The victory of the French in the battle of Arkol led to the failure of the third offensive operation Austrian army to liberate Mantua.

background

In 1789 there was a revolution in France. In 1792, the monarchy was destroyed, and a bourgeois-republican system was established in the country. In response, neighboring monarchies organized an intervention to restore the monarchy and seize French possessions. France, despite serious internal problems, carried out a radical reorganization of the army and itself began active hostilities against the enemy coalition - it invaded Spain, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Western German states, and fought in Italy.

During the 1796 campaign, the fighting took place in two separate theaters of war - in Germany and Italy. The greatest danger threatened France from the Rhine and the Alps. Therefore, the Directory decided to attack in the Rhine direction, highlighting two strong armies Jourdan and Moreau, with luck they should have reached Vienna. Napoleon's third army was supposed to solve auxiliary tasks on the Italian front and, if successful, invade Northern Italy, occupy Piedmont, Lombardy, and tear away the Italian states from the alliance with Austria. With the success of the French Rhine armies in the attack on Vienna, Napoleon had to support them from the south.

The Italian campaign, despite the fact that the Italian army was initially in poor condition, was extremely successful. The young general with a hard hand restored order and discipline in the army, with a quick raid into Italy he prevented the Austro-Italian offensive and inspired the soldiers with the first victories, and at the same time supplied the troops with everything they needed at the expense of the enemy and the occupied territories.

Napoleon's rapid offensive separated the troops of the Sardinian general Colli and the Austrian commander Beaulieu. Then he won several victories - fights at Montenotete, Millesimo, Dego, Ceva, Saint-Michel and Mondovi. The Sardinian king, frightened by the success of the French, concluded a truce with them on April 28. The French received several important fortresses, free passage through the Po River, supplies and deprived the Austrians of an ally. On May 15, the Sardinian king made a final peace, according to which Savoy and Nice were ceded to France. Moreover, the frontier between France and Piedmont was "corrected" to the very considerable benefit of France. Piedmont became the rear base of the French army.

Having lost an ally, Beaulieu decided to confine himself to the defense of Lombardy and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. On May 7, the French crossed the Po. On May 10, at the battle of Lodi, Napoleon opened his way to Lombardy. On 15 May he entered Milan. On the eve of this day, on May 14, Napoleon wrote to the Directory in Paris: "Lombardy now belongs to the (French) Republic." French troops cleared almost all of Northern Italy from the Austrians within a month. The dukes of Parma and Modena were compelled to conclude a truce, bought by a considerable sum of money. Milan also paid a large indemnity. At the same time, a significant part of the Italians at that time supported Napoleon, considering him a liberator from the Austrians, and hoping for fundamental reforms that would limit the power of the feudal lords and the clergy.

June 3 Napoleon Bonaparte entered Verona. The French also occupied Livorno in June (depriving the British of a naval base), Bologna and Modena. Only the fortress of Mantua and the citadel of Milan remained in the hands of the Austrians. On July 29, the Milan citadel fell, and then Napoleon Bonaparte laid siege to Mantua. Beaulieu retreated to the Tyrol. However, due to the small number of French troops, Napoleon could not advance further. In addition, it was impossible to leave the strong fortress of Mantua in the rear. Therefore, Napoleon limited himself to observation in the direction of Beaulieu, overlaid Mantua and engaged in arranging the rear and negotiated with the Directory (she wanted to remove him, but eventually lost).

Mantua was considered the key to Italy. Its garrison was 13 thousand people and had food supplies for several months. The fortress, which was considered impregnable, was covered from the north and east by lakes, and from south to west - by swamps overgrown with reeds, passable only along five available dams. It was extremely difficult to take it by storm, however, it was possible to block it with small forces. Having put forward Massena's division as a barrier against the troops of Beaulieu, who retreated to the north, Napoleon blocked Mantua and, having received siege weapons from Milan and Ferrara, proceeded to a gradual siege of the fortress. Most of the French troops at that time covered the siege of the fortress. Thus, the further hostilities of the Austrians and the French for eight months proceeded in the struggle for Mantua, which the Austrians tried to unblock, and the French tried to prevent them.

Fight for Mantua

The Austrian gofkriegsrat (court military council) decided to strengthen the Italian army. The troops were withdrawn from the Rhine front. The passivity of Jourdan in the German direction allowed the Austrian high command to reinforce the troops in the Italian theater of operations, transferring the army of General Dagobert von Wurmser here. At the end of May, he took command of the army from Beaulieu. By July 20, Wurmser had an army of 50,000, not counting the Mantua garrison. Wurmser was to undertake an offensive operation to unblock Mantua and oust the French from Lombardy.

On July 28, the Austrian army launched an offensive in four columns on a wide front. The beginning of the Austrian offensive was successful. The Austrians pushed back the divisions of Augereau and Massena. Wurmser celebrated the victory. He calmly entered Mantua, lifting the siege from it. At the same time, the French lost the entire siege park, created with great difficulty from guns collected from various fortresses in Italy. This loss for the French was very sensitive. After some hesitation, Wurmser left the fortress and, throwing back the enemy's barrier, began to go to the rear of the French army. As a result, Napoleon's troops found themselves between the troops of Wurmser and Kvazhdanovich.

Napoleon even thought about retreat, but after a meeting with the generals, he retained his previous plan: to break the enemy piece by piece. First, he decided to strike at Kvazhdanovich, against Wurmser he put up a barrier. On August 3, Napoleon threw his remaining troops against Kvazhdanovich north of Lonato and defeated the enemy. One of the columns surrendered, the rest retreated to the north. Napoleon then turned his army against Wurmser. The Austrian commander-in-chief, having learned about the failure of Kvazhdanovich, nevertheless decided to attack the enemy and deployed his troops in battle formation at Castiglione. The battle of Castiglion took place on August 5, 1796. Napoleon tied down the main forces of the Austrians in the center and on the right flank, and dealt the main blow to their left wing of the enemy. At the same time, part of the French went behind enemy lines. After a stubborn battle, the Austrians were defeated and retreated. The remnants of Wurmser's army went to Tyrol. French troops again began to surround Mantua. The Austrian garrison, augmented by fugitives from Wurmser's army, now stood at 17,000 soldiers.

Thus, the Austrian command scattered its forces, acted slowly, indecisively, which led to the defeat of the entire offensive operation. Napoleon, on the contrary, acted decisively and quickly, eventually achieving victory.

Rovereto and Bassano

The successes of Napoleon in the Italian theater of operations, and of Jourdan on the Rhine, lifted the spirits of the Directory. Paris took a number of measures to strengthen the French army in Italy. By the end of August, the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte had grown to 70 thousand people, of which 10 thousand were allocated to resume the siege of Mantua, and 20 thousand provided rear and communications. Napoleon did not create a new siege park and limited himself to a simple blockade of the fortress. The remaining troops were located with the main forces in the area of ​​​​Verona, Rivoli and were preparing for an attack on Tyrol.

For its part, the Austrian high command, fearing an enemy invasion of Tyrol and wanting to release Mantua, organized a new offensive operation. The Austrians decided to divide the 46,000 army into two independent and almost equal parts: the corps of General Davidovich was located in the Rovereto area on the road from Trient (Trento) to Verona; Wurmser's army, which consisted of three divisions (26 thousand people), - in the Bassano, Primolano area. According to the plan of the Austrians, the two detachments were to move along independent routes, separated by the spurs of the Tyrolean Alps, and unite in the Legnago region for a further attack on Mantua. At the same time, Wurmser assumed that the movement of Davidovich's troops, posing a threat to Bonaparte's messages, would force the latter to withdraw his troops west of Mincio. The offensive was scheduled for 4 September.

However, Napoleon, having learned about the plans of the enemy, decided to get ahead of him and launched an offensive on September 1. The French commander-in-chief decided to break the enemy piecemeal. First, he decided to defeat Davidovich's army and take Trient. He planned to push Davydovich's forces north, and then hit Wurmzer from the rear. Leaving 8 thousand people to besiege Mantua and 3 thousand Kilmen's detachment on the line of the Adige River to cover the siege troops, Napoleon with 34 thousand people went north to Tyrol. With a quick march, the French divisions of Massena, Augereau, Vaubois rose up the Ech (Adige) River to Davydovich's army isolated from the main forces. For the Austrians, the enemy's offensive turned out to be like snow on their heads.

On September 4, Massena's division, which marched along the Adige River and bypassed the Austrians along the western shore of Lake Garda, the Vaubois division defeated the advanced Austrian units south of Rovereto and captured it. By the evening of the same day, the French troops defeated Davydovich's main forces north of the city with a powerful attack and entered Trient on the morning of September 5. The Austrians suffered a heavy defeat, losing only 6 thousand prisoners. The attempt of the Austrians to stay on the line of the Lavia River failed. The Austrians fled to Neumarkt, where all 4 thousand soldiers remained from the army.

Wurmzer found out about the defeat of Davydovich, but decided to continue the offensive and move towards Mantua along the valley of the Brenta River. He did not dare to abandon the vanguard, which had gone far from the main forces. Meanwhile, Napoleon, leaving a small barrier against Davydovich, followed Wurmser through Primolano and, after a series of forced marches, overtook him at Bassano. On September 8, the French vanguard at 6 o'clock in the morning attacked and drove back six Austrian battalions, who had settled in positions in the gorges along the banks of the Brenta River. Their remnants withdrew to the line of the main forces of Wurmser, numbering about 20 thousand people. Augereau's division attacked the left flank, Massena's division attacked the right. The Austrians were overwhelmed everywhere and fled to Bassano, one division was surrounded and surrendered. At 3 pm the French army had already entered Bassano. Having lost 3,000 prisoners and 35 guns, Wurmser's troops, demoralized and pursued by the French, retreated in disarray to Vicenza. Many Austrian soldiers deserted. Thus, the advancing army of Wurmser was hit from the rear, was defeated and was completely cut off from communication with Austria. In fact, Wurmser was surrounded, he had 16 thousand demoralized soldiers left, and the French were already expecting the surrender of the enemy.

On September 9, Augereau moved to Vicenza, and Massena to Padua, blocking the Austrians from a possible flight to the north. The Austrians were saved from capture only by the oversight of the Serurier division, which blocked Mantua. The Austrians found a guide and passed through the swamps adjacent to Mantua. On the morning of September 12, Wurmser broke through to the fortress with few losses. On September 13-14, Napoleon's troops tried to finish off Wurmser's army, but the Austrians, relying on the support of the fortress garrison, fought back. On September 15, Wurmser himself tried to break out of the encirclement, but without success. So, Wurmser himself, with part of his forces, was forced to lock himself in Mantua, which he had previously tried in vain to free from the siege.

Thus, the second offensive operation of the Austrian army ended even worse than the first. The Austrians lost 27 thousand people killed, wounded, captured and deserted. The French army lost 7.5 thousand people, most of which were out of order due to illness after reinforced marches. The French commander, acting in advance, quickly and energetically concentrated forces against the divided enemy, again achieved a numerical superiority against each of the parts of the Austrian army and in both cases achieved a decisive victory.

Davidovich's corps, covering the Tyrol, was defeated and fled. Wurmser, attacked from the rear, was also defeated and only thanks to luck escaped in Mantua. At the same time, although the Mantua garrison increased to 27 thousand soldiers, this led to an increase in the supply problem and an increase in mortality due to disease. So, by October, more than a third of the garrison (about 10 thousand soldiers) was out of action due to illness. The Austrian garrison was saved from starvation only by the fact that Wurmser brought cavalry with him, thousands of horses were slaughtered and salted.

Wurmser's Second Offensive

Third Austrian offensive

Despite the serious defeat of Wurmser's army, Vienna did not give up the hope of regaining ground in Italy. Archduke Karl in Germany defeated the French army of Sambre-Meuse Jourdan. The French troops were upset and fled. Jourdan resigned command of the army, handing it over to Bernonville, who retreated to the left bank of the Rhine. The defeat of the Sambro-Maas army put Moreau's Rhine-Moselle army in a very difficult position. However, Moreau was able to withdraw the army from the flank attack and withdrew the troops behind the Rhine. Thus, Austria gained the upper hand over the French in Germany and was able to go on the offensive again in Italy. It was necessary to save the garrison of Mantua, which, driven to the extreme by hunger and disease, could soon capitulate.

The defeat of the French army in the German theater of operations raised the spirits of all anti-French forces. Pope Pius VI issued a proclamation calling for " crusade» against France. Austria, having received new subsidies from England, formed a new 50 thousand army for operations in Italy. Josef Alvinzi became the Austrian commander in Italy. He had vast combat experience: he participated in the Seven Years' War, the War of the Bavarian Succession, the war with Turkey and the wars with revolutionary France. Alvinci was instructed to put the army in order, replenish it and launch an offensive in order to free Mantua and Wurmser's army locked in it.

Austrian commander Josef Alvinzi

Alvintzi's offensive plan differed little from that of his predecessor, Wurmser. Operating in the mountains, he also divided his army into two parts: the 18 thousand corps of General Davidovich and the 29 thousand army of General Kvazhdanovich. Davidovich was to advance from Neumarkt along the course of the Adige River, recapture Trient, and reach Rivoli. Kvazhdanovich was heading from Friul via Bassano. Both detachments were to give the French a decisive battle in the Verona area, where the headquarters of the French army was located. After the victory, the Austrians were to liberate Mantua.

Thus, the Austrians stubbornly attacked the old rake: they divided the army into parts, moved separately to highlands where it is difficult to maintain communication and organize the interaction of troops, making life easier for the enemy. Napoleon, on the other hand, had a favorite thing to do - to make quick marches and beat the enemy in parts. For action in the field, Napoleon had 32 thousand soldiers. Of these, 5 thousand soldiers under the command of Massena were located in Bassano, 10 thousand Vaubois division was in Trient, covering the northern direction. The cavalry was moved to Mantua to cover the blockade forces. The rest of the French troops were concentrated in the Verona area.

Campaign plan

Battle of Arcole. Source: Beshanov V.V. Sixty battles of Napoleon

Napoleon did not wait for the enemy and, despite the 23 thousand Wurmser garrison in the rear, on November 2 attacked Davidovich with the Vaubois division. He himself decided to attack Alvintzi. The Austrians repelled the attacks of the Vaubois division, they themselves went on the counteroffensive and recaptured Trient. The unfavorable position at Calliano forced Vaubois to retreat even further south and take up defensive positions on the Rivoli plateau. The Vaubois division lost almost half of its strength in these battles. The indecisive Davidovich, after successfully repulsing the attacks of the French and the counteroffensive, practically stopped, having received false news of the arrival of Massena's division to help Vaubois (only Massena himself, sent here by Napoleon to find out about the state of affairs, arrived). Only on November 14, under pressure from Alvintsi, did Davidovich's corps slowly move forward.

In the meantime, Masséna was also retreating under pressure from Kwaždanović's troops. Napoleon came to the aid of Masséna with Augereau's division, planning to strike at Kwazhanovich near Vicenza. The stubborn battle lasted all day on November 6th. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The French were close to victory when word arrived of Vaubois' retreat. The French commander decided to return to Verona and sort out the situation. Thus, at the first stage of the operation, the army of Alvintzi won up, and the Austrians managed to take possession of the whole Tyrol and the whole area between the Brenta and Adige rivers.

The French army was under the threat of a simultaneous attack by the troops of Davidovich and Kvazhdanovich. Napoleon demanded that Vaubois transfer part of the division to him and withdrew several thousand people from Mantua, pulling troops to Verona. The weakening of the blockade of Mantua also created a threat from the garrison of Wurmser. However, Napoleon decided to take a risk in order to preserve the results of previous victories.

The Austrians were again ruined by slowness. Davidovich and Wurmzer stood in their places, and Napoleon decided to attack the most active enemy - Alvintzi. On November 12, the French attacked Kvazhdanovich's troops all day, who occupied convenient positions on the Koldier heights and fortified them with redoubts and strong batteries. The battle was fought in pouring rain. The ground was so limp that the French artillery was bogged down in the mud and practically could not maneuver on the battlefield. While the Austrian artillery, being in pre-prepared positions, fired effectively. Having lost 2 thousand people, Napoleon again retreated to Verona. However, the completely spoiled weather prevented the Austrian army from consolidating success, the roads became almost impassable.

Thus, the position of the French army became critical. The Mantua garrison perked up, began to make frequent sorties, constantly disturbing the besiegers, who were left with 8-9 thousand people. In front of the French army stood Alvintsi, in 2 transitions - Davydovich and in the rear - the garrison of Mantua. It was risky to remain in this position: Davydovich or Wurmzer, having overturned the barriers, could go to the rear of the French. To retreat across the river Mincio meant to voluntarily give up all successes. Alvintzi, having attached Davydovich and Wurmser to himself, would already have up to 60 thousand soldiers and then he could force the French to completely clear the Po valley. At the same time, the French divisions suffered heavy losses. The morale of the Austrian army increased and the Austrians were already preparing to storm Verona. The failures undermined the morale of the French troops: everyone understood that it was pointless to attack the Austrian positions again, because of the clear numerical superiority of the latter.

“We cannot alone fulfill the task of all,” they said. “The army of Alvinci that is here is the one before which the armies of the Rhine and Sambro-Meuse retreated, and they are now idling. Why should we fulfill their duty? If we are defeated, we, dishonored, will run to the Alps; if, on the contrary, we win, what will this new victory lead to? We will be confronted with another army similar to that of Alvintzi, just as Alvintzi himself replaced Wurmser, and Wurmser replaced Beaulieu. In such an unequal struggle, we will surely be crushed in the end.” Napoleon told them to answer: “We have only one effort left to make, and Italy is ours. The enemy certainly outnumbers us, but half of his troops are recruits. By defeating it, by taking Mantua, we will become the masters of everything, our struggle ends with this, because not only Italy, but also common peace dependent on Mantua. You want to go to the Alps, but you can't do it anymore. From the deserted and snowy bivouacs on those barren rocks it was good for you to go and conquer the wonderful plains of Lombardy, but from the friendly and flowering bivouacs of Italy you are not able to return to the snows. Some reinforcements have approached us, others are on their way. Let those who do not want to fight anymore, do not look for vain pretexts, because - break Alvintsi, and I vouch for your future ... ”(Napoleon. Selected Works).

Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge. French painter Antoine Jean Gros (1801)

Napoleon found a way out. He decided to go around the left flank of Alvinci from the south, crossing the Adige River at Ronco and reaching the rear of the main enemy forces. On the night of November 14-15, he raised an army and withdrew from Verona. Then the army crossed to the other side of the Adige. Soldiers and officers said: “He wants to bypass Coldiero, whom he could not take from the front; not being able to fight on the plain with 13,000 people against 40,000, he transfers the battlefield to a series of highways surrounded by vast swamps, where nothing can be done by numbers alone, but where the valor of the head of the column decides everything ... ".

Bionde was occupied by part of Massena's division, which provided the left flank from San Martino. Having crossed the Adige River and overcoming the impenetrable swamp along the dams, the French soldiers went to the Arcole Bridge and immediately tried to cross to the other side of the Alpone River and cut the Austrian communications. But the first French attacks on the bridge were repulsed. Augereau's divisions had to advance along a narrow dam, unable to turn around in battle formation. As soon as the French column came out from behind the turn to the bridge, its head fell under aimed fire from the other side and rolled back.

Alvintzi received word that the French had appeared at Arcole in the morning, but he considered this attack a false demonstration. The Austrian commander-in-chief could not believe that the whole army could be thrown into impenetrable swamps. There were only two narrow causeways in this triangle and it was easy to destroy all the troops. Finally, Alvintzi allocated two divisions to counterattack the "light forces" of the enemy, as he thought. He sent Mitrovsky's division to the Arkol dam, and Prover's division to the left dam. Around 9 o'clock, the Austrian troops vigorously attacked the French. But now the Austrian numerical advantage, as Napoleon expected, did not matter. On the left dam, Massena's fighters with a bayonet attack threw the enemy back with heavy losses. There was a similar situation on the Arkol dam: as soon as the Austrians crossed the bridge and turned onto the dam, losing fire support from their shore, Augereau's soldiers threw them into the swamp with bayonet counterattacks and forced them to flee. The Austrians, who did not expect such a rebuff, suffered heavy losses.

There was a stalemate. Neither the French nor the Austrians could achieve decisive success. Then Napoleon, who firmly believes in his star, put his life on the line. Grabbing the banner, he personally led the soldiers into battle, but this attack was also repulsed. Retreating, the soldiers dragged the stubborn general behind them, covering him with their bodies. Such bloody fights continued for another two days. By the evening of November 15, General Guyot and his brigade had ferried across the Adige to Albaredo. Arcole was bypassed from the rear. But Alvintzi, having familiarized himself by this time with the actual state of affairs, understood the danger of the situation. He hurriedly left Caldiero, destroying his batteries, and ferried all his baggage and reserves across the bridge. The Austrians took a new position. Arcole was now an intermediate place between the fronts of both armies, although in the morning it was in the rear of the enemy.

The French also lacked clarity. Napoleon even thought of returning to Verona, since Davidovich's corps was slowly pressing Vaubois's division. If Davidovich moved on Verona and forced Kilmen to rush to Mantua, he would force him to lift the blockade of this city and cut off the retreat of the main apartment and the army located in Ronco. Therefore, Napoleon ordered to clear Arcole, which cost so much blood, withdrew the army to the right bank of the Adige, leaving only one brigade and a few guns on the left bank. If Davidovich moved to Rivoli, it was necessary to remove the bridge on the Adige, finish the deal with Alvintzi, arrive in time to support Vaubois and cover Mantua. On the evening of November 16, Napoleon received word that Davidovich had stopped and was doing nothing to support Alvintzi. Thus, the actions of the two parts of the Austrian army continued to be completely inconsistent with each other, which saved the French. Napoleon decided to continue the operation.

On November 17, Augereau's division built a bridge over the Alpona near its confluence with the Adige River and crossed to the left bank. Here Augereau joined the French garrison, who arrived from Lignago, and after a stubborn battle captured the village of Desmont. Then Augereau began to move towards Arcola. This decided the outcome of the bloody battle. The Austrian commander-in-chief, fearing for his communications and having suffered heavy losses, withdrew his troops beyond Vicenza. In a three-day battle, the Austrians lost about 7 thousand people (according to other sources - 18 thousand), the French - 4.5 thousand people.

The French army could not pursue the retreating enemy, as it was forced to rush to the aid of the Vaubois division. On November 17, Davidovich attacked the Rivoli plateau and forced the French to retreat to Peschiera, but did nothing to support the troops of Kvazhdanovich and Alvinci. Left alone, Davidovich, under the blows of the concentrated forces of the French army, was also defeated and retreated to Trient. Napoleon could not develop the offensive, because he did not have sufficient forces for this.

4th arrondissement of Paris

Arkolsky bridge and Arkolskaya street: the memory of an invented feat

In the heart of Paris, in its 4th arrondissement, there is the Arcole Bridge (pont d'Arcole), which connects the Cité Island with the City Hall (Hôtel de ville) on the right bank, as well as the Arcole Street (rue d'Arcole) , going from Notre Dame Cathedral to Arcole Bridge.

The names of the bridge and the street are associated with legendary feat Napoleon, committed by him in Italy in November 1796. Why legendary? Because he entered the legend, and also because in fact Napoleon did nothing of the kind.

At that time, the army, led by the young General Bonaparte, who was only twenty-six years old and who had yet to climb the mountain of fame, was mired in battles with the Austrians in northeastern Italy. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but it was impossible to retreat, otherwise the fruits of previous victories could be lost.

Arkol bridge

At this point, Napoleon decided to take a risky maneuver and outflank the Austrians from the south by crossing the Adige near Ronco. The most important point in this plan was the so-called Arkolsky bridge across the Alpone River, overcoming which would allow the enemy to enter the rear.

The first attack on the bridge, made on November 15, was unsuccessful. The troops of the division of General Augereau were driven back, but the Austrian counterattack quickly bogged down. An extremely dangerous stalemate developed, with the French and Austrian forces facing each other, separated by the rough waters of the Alpone.

In this critical situation, Napoleon needed a miracle. And it was then that he allegedly decided on what is now widely known as the feat of Napoleon on the Arcole bridge.

This feat is widely covered in the historical literature. Here is what, for example, the historian Paul-Marie-Laurent de l'Ardèche says about this:

“In the battle of Arcole, it happened that Napoleon, noticing the momentary confusion of his grenadiers under the terrible fire of enemy batteries located on the heights, jumped off his horse, grabbed the banner, rushed to the Arcole bridge, where heaps of the dead were lying, and exclaimed: “Warriors, are you no longer the brave men who fought at Lodi? Go ahead, follow me!”

Historian André Castelo writes:

“Napoleon grabbed the banner and managed to stick his shaft on the bridge. Inspired by his example, the grenadiers rushed forward.

Such bravura descriptions, almost poems, could go on and on, but they all resemble each other like two peas in a pod. And this is not surprising, because historians were not personally present at the event they describe, but state it from the words of other people. No wonder they say that a person is not born with knowledge, but acquires it.

But then an involuntary question arises: where did the information come from that Napoleon grabbed the banner and, under a hurricane of buckshot and a rain of bullets, dragged his soldiers along to the Arkolsky bridge?

Let's look into the memoirs of Napoleon himself about the Italian campaign, written by him "in the third person" (we will return to the question of why he did this a little later).

Napoleon writes about himself:

“But when Arcole held out against a series of attacks, Napoleon decided to personally make the last effort: he grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there.”

This, it turns out, is where the information comes from that Napoleon "grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there." Modern marketers would say that Napoleon made a PR coup. If he wrote his memoirs in the first person, it would look like a banal self-promotion. Indeed, it is immodest and inefficient to write:

"I grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there." There is little credibility to such statements. Another thing is if you provide the necessary information not directly, but as if from a third party, that is, from an “independent” source of information. You can be sure that the message will reach the addressee better. Nowadays, this move is widely used, for example, by show business figures who deliberately provoke rumors in order to attract attention to themselves.

But let's leave for now Napoleon's "reliable information" about himself and turn to more serious studies of the Arcole battle made by foreign historians.

More detailed researchers of the Italian campaign have much less enthusiasm for Napoleon's behavior on the Arcole bridge.

In particular, the English historian David Chandler, in his famous book Napoleon's Military Campaigns, writes:

“At one of the moments, the desperate Bonaparte grabbed the tricolor banner and led Augereau’s soldiers in a new attack on the Arcole Bridge, but at a critical moment, when success was not yet predetermined, an unknown French officer hugged his commander-in-chief, exclaiming: “General, they will kill you, but without you we will perish; you won't go any further, you don't belong there!" In this confusion, Bonaparte fell into the water and was rescued by his devoted adjutants, who pulled their wet commander-in-chief to safety under the threat of the bayonets of the Austrian counterattack.

In the famous French historian Abel Hugo, brother of the famous author of Les Misérables and Notre Dame Cathedral, we find the following detailed description of the events of that day:

“Then he rushed along with the headquarters to the battlefield and stood at the head of the column: “Grenadiers,” he shouted, “are you not those brave men who distinguished themselves at Lodi?” The presence of the commander-in-chief restored courage to the soldiers and breathed enthusiasm into them. Bonaparte decided to take advantage of this, jumped off his horse and, seizing the banner, rushed to the bridge, shouting: “Follow your general!” The column stirred, but, met with terrible fire, stopped again. Lannes, despite his two wounds, wanted to follow Bonaparte; he fell, struck by a bullet for the third time; General Vignoles was wounded. Colonel Muiron, adjutant to the commander-in-chief, was killed by covering him with his body. All blows reached their goal: in the closed human mass, the balls and bullets punched huge gaps. The soldiers, after a moment of confusion, began to retreat just at the moment when the last effort could have brought victory. The commander-in-chief jumped on his horse; a new volley overturned everyone who surrounded him and to whom he was indebted for the fact that he himself was not killed. His horse, frightened, fell into the swamp and dragged its rider with it, and it so happened that the Austrians, who were chasing the retreating French, were at a distance of fifty paces. But Adjutant General Belliard, noticing that the commander-in-chief was in danger of death, gathered fifty grenadiers and attacked with a cry: “Let's save our general!” The Croats were driven back for their fortifications."

Extremely important in establishing the truth are the "Memoirs" of Auguste-Frederic Marmont, a direct participant in the Battle of Arcole, at that time a colonel and adjutant of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Concerning the actions of General Bonaparte at Marmont we read:

“General Bonaparte, learning of this defeat, came to the division with his staff in order to try to renew Augereau's attempts. To raise the morale of the soldiers, he himself stood at the head of the column: he grabbed the banner, and this time the column moved after him.

Approaching the bridge at a distance of two hundred paces, we might have overcome it, despite the deadly fire of the enemy, but then one infantry officer, clasping his arms around the commander-in-chief, shouted: “My general, they will kill you, and then we are gone. I won't let you go any further, this place is not yours."

As you can see, Marmont clearly indicates that Napoleon did not reach the notorious bridge about two hundred meters. So there can be no talk of the fact that the commander-in-chief "grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there." In any case, this version of Napoleon himself is in complete contradiction with the version of Marmont, who was nearby.

“I was in front of General Bonaparte, and on my right was one of my friends, also an adjutant to the commander in chief, an excellent officer who had recently arrived in the army. His name was Muiron, and this name was subsequently given to the frigate on which Bonaparte returned from Egypt. I turned around to see if they were following me. Seeing Bonaparte in the hands of the officer I mentioned above, I thought that the general was wounded: at one moment a crowd formed around him.

When the head of the column is so close to the enemy and not moving forward, it must withdraw: it is absolutely necessary that it be in motion to avoid being hit by enemy fire. Here the disorder was such that General Bonaparte fell from the dam into a channel filled with water, into a narrow channel dug long ago to extract land for the construction of a dam. Louis Bonaparte and I rushed to the commander-in-chief, who was in a dangerous position; General Dommartin's adjutant, whose name was Fort de Gières, gave him his horse, and the commander-in-chief returned to Ronco, where he was able to dry himself and change his clothes.

Very interesting evidence! It turns out that Napoleon not only did not show an example of courage with a banner in his hands that influenced the outcome of the battle, but also created (albeit unwittingly) a mess in a narrow defile, which led to additional victims. The attack once again bogged down, and the commander-in-chief, who was soaking wet, was hastily taken to the rear.

Isn't it all somewhat different from what Napoleon wrote about himself?

As you can see, from the very beginning of his career, Napoleon began to embellish information about his victories, very often attributing to himself something that did not exist at all, or something that was done by completely different people.

In fact, Napoleon created a kind of heroic myth from the events at the Arcole Bridge. In the simplest sense, a myth is an unreliable story, a fiction. And, as a result, each of us is sure that he alone can distinguish myth from reality. But is it really so? The creation of a myth is such a delicate process of superimposing layer upon layer of fiction on objectively existing reality that the end result can sometimes be completely unexpected. On the other hand, one has only to call a myth a myth, that is, to recognize it, as it immediately dissipates, leaving behind, at best, only disappointment. As you know, a myth has power only as long as it, in fact, remains a myth.

* * *

Surprisingly, one thing “he grabbed the banner, rushed to the bridge and hoisted it there” seemed to Napoleon not enough, and already in 1797 he ordered the artist Antoine Gros, a student of the famous David, a painting that, according to the ambitious general, was supposed to perpetuate his feat . This painting, measuring 1.30 by 0.94 m, was made, it is currently exhibited in the Versailles Museum, its sketch is in the Louvre Museum, and numerous copies are in museums around the world. In subsequent times, a lot of other paintings, engravings and sculptures were made on the same topic, and all of them serve only one purpose - to perpetuate the Great Feat of the Great Napoleon.

The topic of Napoleon's "feat" on the Arcole Bridge is devoted to a separate chapter in the book of the historian Pierre Miquel, which bears the unambiguous title "Inventions of History". Pierre Miquel writes:

“Seeing that his soldiers were unable to capture the bridge, Bonaparte decided to personally lead the operation. He grabbed the banner of the first battalion of the Paris grenadiers and threw himself on the wooden deck of the bridge. There he hoisted a staff and shouted - at least, so the legend says - "Are you not soldiers of Lodi!" But, to his great regret, he had to admit that these were not Lodi soldiers at all. Nobody followed him. Bullets whistled. Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to hastily retreat. Several people rushed towards him. As he ran faster, he stumbled and fell into the water. Not a very flattering position for a commander in chief.”

Further, Pierre Miquel tells about another incident that occurred at about the same time on the Arcole bridge, when the eighteen-year-old drummer Andre Etienne from the 99th demi-brigade really carried away the confused and retreating French soldiers.

A fragment of the work of A.-J. Gros "Bonaparte on the Arcole Bridge"

Comparing these two stories, Pierre Michel concludes:

“These two episodes on the Arcole Bridge were not in vain for Napoleon. Using a little lie, he managed to embellish them. Producers and directors would recognize their future emperor. Unable, against his will, to become the creator of his age, Napoleon became a novelist, an artist of his own exclusive adventure. Desiring to transfer to the canvas - the screen of that era - an example illustrating his nascent glory, Bonaparte commissioned the young artist Antoine Gros to create a work. In the opinion of the young twenty-six-year-old general, only such a young artist - and Gro was twenty years old - could convey with his brush what the general experienced during this campaign. He did not have to look for a creator for a long time. Gro himself was soon introduced to him in Milan by Josephine, who met him during her trip to Italy. Bonaparte was imbued with sympathy for the young man, whose art he liked. As usual, Bonaparte sent his wishes to Gros, who only needed a few posing sessions, which allowed him to most reliably represent the model in the most natural state, which would be both the most symbolic and the most convincing. Thus, a picture of a hero in the uniform of a republican general came into our subconscious, gazing with an eagle eye at the soldiers following him (who, however, are not visible), with hair fluttering in the wind, tightened by a magnificent three-colored belt and waving a banner that opens the way for him to the future . Then the Arkol bridge was repeatedly reproduced by other great artists of that time. So, for example, Charles Vernet painted the painting “The Battle of the Arcole Bridge”, which was able to combine several different versions: not only Bonaparte with a shot through tricolor banner in his hands, leading the troops, but also a young drummer dragging his commander into battle. This picture was then reproduced in dozens of copies on engravings, on porcelain, etc. A glorious fate for an episode that was not one. But victory can elevate everything, especially small ones. true facts behind which you can hide the wrinkles of great deceit.

Notre Dame Cathedral: Coronation of Napoleon

The famous Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, located in the geographical and spiritual "heart" of Paris on the Ile de la Cité, was built in the 12th century.

During the French Revolution, the treasures of the cathedral were destroyed or plundered, and he himself was under the threat of demolition, but then it was decided to use it as a wine warehouse.

Cathedral of Notre Dame

Only Napoleon, having come to power in the country, returned the cathedral to the church, and it was consecrated again in 1802.

* * *

On December 2, 1804, in the Notre Dame Cathedral, a solemn wedding and anointing to the reign of Emperor Napoleon took place.

The historian Paul-Marie-Laurent de l'Ardèche writes:

“The coronation was scheduled for December 2; but at first they did not decide where the ceremony should be. Some were talking about the Field of Mars, others about the church in the Les Invalides; Napoleon preferred Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Campus Martius was too full of memories of the revolution and therefore could not serve as a place for the performance of a ceremony that restored the throne and religion in a state that overthrew both of them.

Notre Dame Cathedral was indeed a more decent and convenient place for the upcoming event.

On December 2, an endless line of golden carriages with the whole court, the generals, dignitaries, the pope and cardinals advanced towards the cathedral, and countless crowds of people looked with delight at this brilliant cortege.

Napoleon's valet Constant recalls:

“The Pope arrived at Notre Dame Cathedral about an hour before the arrival of Their Majesties, who left the Tuileries at exactly eleven o'clock in the morning. This was announced by numerous artillery salutes. Their Majesties' carriage, glittering with gold and magnificently painted, was driven by eight bay horses, shining with the splendor of their equipment.

In the central act of the coronation, Napoleon, as you know, made, quite unexpectedly for the pope and contrary to the preliminary decree of the ceremonial, one significant change: when, at a solemn moment, Pius VII began to raise a large imperial crown to put it on the head of the emperor, Napoleon suddenly snatched it from his hands dad and put it on his own head.

After that, Josephine knelt before the emperor, and he placed a smaller crown on her head. This gesture of putting on the crown had a symbolic and very serious meaning: Napoleon did not want the papal "blessing" to be given too decisive importance in this rite. He would not accept the crown from any hands but his own, and least of all from the hands of the head of that ecclesiastical organization whose influence he found it expedient to reckon with, but which he did not love and did not respect.

Historian André Castelo states:

"Excited cries of 'Long live the Emperor!' silenced artillery salvos. That day exactly one hundred and one of them sounded over Paris. The solemn coronation ceremony lasted five hours without a break.

So, the former cadet of the Military School Napoleone Buonaparte, General Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic of Bonaparte and, finally, Consul for Life became Emperor Napoleon I.

* * *

All the splendor of the ceremony, which took place in Notre Dame Cathedral, is beautifully reflected in a huge painting by the artist Jacques-Louis David, commissioned by Napoleon himself. It depicts the episode when Napoleon crowns Josephine, and Pope Pius VII gives him his blessing.

Currently, the original of this painting is in the Louvre, and millions of people judge by it what happened on December 2, 1804.

Fragment of J.-L. David "Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I and coronation of Empress Josephine in Notre Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804"

On that day, Jacques-Louis David was present at the ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and thus had his own idea of ​​what was happening. This man never relied on memory and, having begun the canvas, had to use every opportunity to be extremely accurate. Those who could and wanted to pose, he asked about it; he was interested in the opinion of the participants in the ceremony about individual pieces of the picture as they were written. It was important for him to recreate not only the original interior, but also the costumes and the smallest accessories. In this regard, an excerpt from a letter addressed by David to one of the court painters of Louis Bonaparte, brother of the emperor, is very indicative:

“I need His Majesty to deign to order to deliver to me those clothes in which he was present at the ceremony ... I also need a headdress and especially a saber that was on his side.”

It seems that everything in the picture should be photographically accurate. However, here, as in the case of the painting by Antoine Gros, depicting Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge, there is one very significant inaccuracy, not even a deliberate falsification. Historian José Cabanis writes about this:

“The mother of all Bonapartes was not in Notre Dame Cathedral: David, however, placed her at the center of his picture, since it was necessary to falsify history. No one was to know that Madame Mother opposed Napoleon in his conflict with Lucien and that, on the pretext of ill health, she preferred to remain in Rome.

All of the above needs some explanation. The fact is that at one time Lucien Bonaparte headed the Council of Five Hundred (one of the chambers of the French Legislative Assembly) and played a decisive role in the coup d'état of 18–19 Brumaire, as a result of which all power in the country passed to Napoleon. After this, relations between the brothers deteriorated, and they were especially aggravated by the marriage of Lucien to Alexandrine Blasham. Napoleon took a dislike to this woman and declared that he would never recognize this marriage as legal. After that, the proud Lucien left with his wife for Rome.

In this conflict, Madame Letizia supported Lucien Bonaparte and defiantly left for him in Italy, refusing even to come to the coronation of Napoleon. Such a scandal hurt the emperor's heart very much, and he did not want information about this ugly episode in his life to become part of his Great History which he attached such great importance to writing.

As a result, the artist David was given a specific order, and Madame Mother, contrary to historical truth, appeared in the picture dedicated to the coronation. Jacques-Louis David did not long torment himself with doubts: the uncompromising realist David decided that it would be better to yield to the obedient emperor court painter David. This second David subjugated the first, and the rewards were not long in coming: the accommodating artist accepted the title of “first painter of the emperor” under Napoleon and received the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Thus, the giant canvas of David (its dimensions are 6 × 10 m) also outlived its author and those who are depicted on it. The image of a mother created by the artist and Napoleon, admiringly looking at the triumph of her son, is firmly entrenched in the subconscious of millions of people from around the world and has become universally recognizable. At the same time, everyone who has seen this picture forgets that the picture is not a photograph, and they do not ask at all whether it was all real. The conclusion of the historian Pierre Miquel is unequivocal: Napoleon deliberately created his legend, and this creation "occurred at the cost of such approximations and such small exaggerations."

Arkol bridge. Bonaparte decided to make a roundabout maneuver. In strict secrecy, on the night of November 15, the French units crossed the Adige River and approached the Arcole Bridge. The first attempts to break through were repulsed. After all, the soldiers of General Augereau had to advance along a narrow dam. When the head of the column came out from behind the turn to the bridge, it fell under the aimed fire of the Austrians. The Austrians, in their turn, tried to attack the French, who had settled on the other side of the bridge, found themselves in the same position - as soon as they approached the bridge, they came under fire.

The capture of the Arkol bridge became a matter of extreme importance. Bonaparte tried to repeat the situation at Lodi: seizing the banner, he led the soldiers to attack, but the attack was repulsed. His adjutant Muiron died, covering the general with himself. I had to retreat again, and the soldiers were forced to drag their stubborn general. In the famous painting by the artist Gros, depicting Bonaparte with a banner in his hands on the bridge of Arcole, the moment of the offensive is presented, all the “non-heroic” details of the episode, of course, are omitted.

General Bonaparte
on the Arkol bridge

The fighting for the Arkol bridge continued for another two days. Bonaparte hesitated whether to retreat, however, the inaction of other parts of the Austrian army inspired him to continue the operation. On November 17, the division of P. Augereau crossed the Alpona River at its confluence in the Adige and moved north to Arcola with battles. Alvintzi was forced to retreat, having suffered heavy losses (7 thousand people against 4500 French). On the same day, Davidovich attacked Vaubois, pushed him back to Peschiera, but did not support his colleague Kvazhdanovich in any way. As a result, Davidovich was defeated.

In these events, Bonaparte's ability at the right time to transfer forces to the right place and coordinate the actions of his army looked very convincing. The Austrians acted inconsistently and extremely lack of initiative. The autumn thaw made the bayonet the most reliable weapon, since the gunpowder often dampened and did not ignite, and the soldiers of the French army were strong in the bayonet attack.

Bonaparte and the Directory. In the autumn of 1796, the growing conflict between the commander of the French army and the Paris Directory became apparent. During the entire campaign, the general behaved emphatically independently and independently. The directory was forced to endure the generals' disobedience, since money was regularly coming from the Italian front, a lot of money, and this allowed the gentlemen directors to solve their personal and state financial problems. However, after Arcole, the Directory decided to take the initiative in its own hands, removing Bonaparte from negotiating with the emperor, the head of the anti-French coalition. For this purpose, General Clark was sent to Vienna. However, the representative of the Directory was not lucky - at that moment the Austrian government did not consider its case lost, and therefore refused to negotiate with Clark.

At the turn of 1796-1797. still seemed so vague, unclear. It was hard to tell which way Lady Luck would turn. On the German front, Archduke Karl was successful, and the Viennese government was in a hurry to consolidate its success on the Italian front as well. Field Marshal Alvintzi was ordered to hasten with a new attack on Mantua, where a large number of Austrian soldiers were locked in complete inactivity and on starvation rations. Alvintzi was to move with the main forces to Trient. It was assumed that part of the French forces would be diverted by the troops of the Pope and the King of Naples.

Battle of Rivoli. Bonaparte found himself in a very difficult situation: the failures of the French in Germany and the lack of reinforcements promised by the Directory forced him to rely only on his own forces, melting from battle to battle. In addition, the commander was seriously ill - he was overcome by bouts of fever. It was rumored that his days were numbered, but in mid-January 1797 he managed to win one of his most brilliant victories at the battle of Rivoli.

Events developed as follows. On January 8, the next, fourth offensive of the Austrians on Mantua began. The first clash at Bavilacqua took place between Provera and the vanguard of Augereau, who was pushed back to the right bank of the Adige. At this initial stage, the French were lucky: the papers of the captured enemy spy contained information about the direction of the main attack to be expected at Rivoli. Bonaparte decided first of all to defeat the main grouping of the Austrians, so significant forces were drawn to Rivoli. On January 13, four Austrian columns launched a frontal attack on the French units located on the heights that bordered the Rivoli plateau from the north. The deep snow covering the rough terrain made it very difficult for the cavalry and artillery to operate.

Joubert retreated to Rivoli and thought to continue his retreat. Bonaparte, who arrived at Rivoli, ordered him to remain where he was. At night, observing the bivouac disposition of Alvintzi's troops, the French commander figured out where they would move next, and decided to forestall the Austrians. Parts of Joubert were ordered to start the offensive before dawn. On the morning of January 14, stubborn battles began, proceeding with varying success. Parts of Joubert were engulfed on both sides by enemy forces. However, by 10 o'clock in the morning reinforcements arrived, which changed the situation in favor of the French. The retreat of the Austrians turned into a flight when Murat's cavalry appeared in the rear, crossing on ships across Lake Garda adjacent to the battlefield.

The next day, Alvintzi tried to repeat the attack, but failed. His army was completely defeated. After that, parts of Provera were also defeated, continuing to move towards Mantua. An attempt by General Wurmser, locked up in the fortress, to assist him failed. On January 16, General Provera capitulated, and on February 2, the long-suffering garrison of Mantua, more than a third of which by that time was in hospitals, was forced to surrender.

Results and meaning of victory. Under Rivoli, Alvinzi lost 14 thousand people, including 10 thousand prisoners, this figure was supplemented by 19 thousand Wurmser soldiers. The French lost 3,200 men. The triumph of Rivoli raised the prestige of Bonaparte to enormous heights. In the battle of Rivoli, not only the outcome of the campaign was decided, the outcome of the dispute between the general and the Paris government was also determined. From now on, the directory could not indicate, but only “make recommendations” to the winning general.

For the still surviving Italian governments, it was extremely important to express their allegiance to the victor as soon as possible or to seek refuge outside Italy. In mid-February, Bonaparte dictated his terms of peace to the representatives of the Pope. The success was dizzying, but the strength of his army was at the limit of what was possible.

Bonaparte pushes the Austrians towards peace. Bonaparte was waiting for the Austrians to ask for peace and sought to push them towards it. In February 1797, the best Austrian commander, Archduke Karl, was sent against Bonaparte. In order to prevent the new enemy from gaining a foothold, Bonaparte was in a hurry to advance with battles towards the Austrian capital. On March 16, 1797, the main forces met at Tagliamento opposing sides, where the surprise of Bonaparte's actions again ensured his victory.

On the 20th of March 1797, French troops were 250 kilometers from the capital of the Austrian Empire. Bonaparte could capture Vienna, but he was unable to hold the city. It was not necessary to count on reinforcements from the Rhine and Meuse armies operating in Germany.

On March 31, N. Bonaparte sent a letter to the Austrian emperor proposing to start peace negotiations, but at the same time his troops continued their offensive operations, approaching ever closer to the imperial capital. In early April, the French commander, while in Leoben (180 kilometers from Vienna), received representatives of the Austrian side and signed the preliminary peace conditions. The directory was informed of what was happening, the general did not ask her opinion. Against the background of the campaign lost on the Rhine, against the backdrop of the precariousness of the Parisian government, the hero of the Italian campaign looked especially advantageous.

On October 17, 1797, a peace treaty was signed between the French Republic and Austrian Empire. He received his name from the name of the town of Campo Formio, where the document was to be signed, but the Austrian representative hastened to drive up to Passariano, where the impetuous general was. There the document was actually signed. But it got its name from the place where the signing was to take place officially. A common joke in history.

Military triumph of Bonaparte. The Italian campaign demonstrated both the advantages of the new tactics of the French army and the military abilities of N. Bonaparte. Do not forget that the French (unlike the Austrians) acted in an atmosphere of benevolent, if not enthusiastic, attitude of the local population towards them, which had a certain influence on the development of events. After signing peace with Austria, Bonaparte felt himself not just one of the generals of the republic, but a figure capable of claiming an independent political role. The enthusiastic meeting arranged for him by the Parisians on December 10, 1797, confirmed this foreboding.

In the same year, he suffered a heavy grief: his father died. The responsibility for the whole family fell on the shoulders of a 16-year-old boy.

In 1789 the French Revolution began. Paris spread the coveted and incomprehensible word "freedom" to all corners of the country. The Bastille fell and the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" was adopted. Many were surprised to learn that "people

are born and remain free and equal in rights”, which, it turns out, they have. France was seething with passion.

Napoleon enthusiastically accepted what had happened. A passionate patriot of Corsica, he longed for freedom for his small island and hurried home. The fiery revolutionary, who rushed to make Corsica happy with the spirit of Freedom, was surprised to notice the indifference and even gloating about the "confusion on the continent." Cheerfully, Napoleon decorated his house in Ajaccio with the slogans “Long live the nation! Long live Paoli! Long live Mirabeau! But both the French nation and the idol of Paris, Mirabeau, left the Corsicans indifferent. Here Paoli is independence, it was clear. Finally, the hero-liberator Paoli appeared. Napoleon, who while still at school wrote the history of Corsica and its struggle for freedom, tried to ingratiate himself with his idol. But in vain. Paoli did not forget the "betrayal" of Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, and was not going to forgive even his son. Napoleon carried the ideas of the French Revolution, while Paoli had somewhat different plans. In general, Napoleon became the political and personal enemy of his former idol. He had to flee from arrest by running at night along mountain path to the other end of the island. In 1791, the future emperor left Corsica with his family for France and never returned to his native island.

In 1793 France was in a very difficult position. The coalition - the union of European states - declared war on it. Enemies attacked from the north and from the south. A royalist mutiny broke out in the port of Toulon. The city was captured by the British, from here they were going to launch an attack on the south of France.

The siege of Toulon by the French revolutionary army lasted two months, but they failed to take it. Captain Buonaparte offered his services to the fatherland. His plan to storm the city was risky, but had a chance of success. The plan was accepted. On December 17, the assault on Toulon began. Napoleon was at the head of the attackers, was wounded. By the evening of December 18, Toulon had fallen. Napoleon Buonaparte won his first victory. The French Republic awarded him the rank of general. The general was only 24 years old.

On 9 Thermidor (July 27), 1794, a coup d'état took place. The Jacobin government was overthrown and executed. Their supporters and people close to them were persecuted. General Buonaparte was among them. Miraculously, he escaped arrest and execution, but was forced to resign. So at the age of 24 he became a retired general.

In 1795 the hero of Toulon was remembered. In Vendémière (September) a royalist mutiny broke out in Paris. The French government instructed Napoleon to suppress it. On the 13th Vendémière, having shot the royalists with cannons, he restored calm in the capital. It was clearly a very dashing general. True, almost no one remembered the victory in 1793, there were many

glorious victories, and the shooting of rebels is not a victory over the enemy in battle.

However, having turned from the hero of Toulon into the "General Vandemière", Napoleon once again declared himself. He began to be needed. After two years of poverty and oblivion, he again felt on horseback.

General Bonaparte (no longer Buonaparte), as a true Frenchman, proposed to the government a plan for the conquest of Italy. They gave him an army. Naked, hungry, inexperienced, very young. Napoleon, burning with the desire to fight, did not really pay attention to such trifles. He hoped to find everything he needed in Italy, and in the spring of 1796 he launched an Italian campaign.

Northern Italy was then under Austrian rule. The first battle took place in the mountains, near the village of Montenotto. And the French army won it. “We started with Montenotto,” Bonaparte said with pride later. Other major battles with the Austrian army (Arcol and Lodi) also ended in victory. French troops took Venice and Rome. The Austrians sued for peace. General Bonaparte signed the peace on his own. Paris was forced to approve this, because he was the only general to win such brilliant victories. The banners of the defeated armies fell at the feet of the admiring France, the trophies flowed like a river. Bonaparte became the most popular man.

In 1798 he returned to Paris with a peace treaty and a plan for a new campaign, this time in Egypt. France was at war with England. England on her island was invulnerable, because France did not have a strong fleet, and Bonaparte offered to conquer Egypt - an English colony.

The Directory (as the French government had been called since 1797) willingly agreed to support the general's plan. Who needs a popular commander with a devoted army in the capital? This time they gave him everything: weapons, a fleet, uniforms, supplies - just to get it out of sight. “Military happiness is changeable, and what if he dies,” the directors thought hopefully.

In 1798 Napoleon landed in Egypt. A series of successful battles at Aboukir, at the pyramids, ended with the British and their supporters being defeated. But the French ships had to meet with the English fleet under the command of Admiral Nelson, and the naval battle in the Gulf of Aboukir ended in disaster for the French. Communication with France was blocked. The long siege of the fortress of Saint-Jean-d "Acre convinced Napoleon of the futility of continuing this campaign. But there was no way to take out the army, and disturbing rumors came from France: General Suvorov destroyed all the fruits of Bonaparte's victories in Italy; The Directory is unable to control the situation, the threat of foreign invasion again hung over the country.