#ArmyoftheReserve

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Battle of Marengo

The Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) was one of the most important battles in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). It not only helped bring the French Revolutionary Wars to an end but also did much to consolidate Bonaparte's new position as First Consul of the French Republic. The battle became a major piece of propaganda for the Bonapartist regime.

Background

In the months after he seized power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte was far from secure in his new position. He was still considered by many to be an up-jumped Corsican opportunist, and he had no shortage of rivals – such as generals Jean Bernadotte and Jean Victor Moreau – who would be glad to see his fall from grace. Further, the French Republic was still embroiled in the unpopular War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802) against an alliance of anti-French powers including Austria, Russia, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Naples. This conflict was part of the broader French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), meaning that by January 1800, France had been perpetually at war for the better part of a decade. With much of the general populace war-weary, Bonaparte knew he had to deliver a swift, decisive victory if he wanted to win the support of his people.

His first step was to order the formation of a 30,000-man army based at Dijon, primarily consisting of soldiers who had been on garrison duty in the provinces. Though Bonaparte fully intended to lead this army over the Alps to fight the Austrians in northern Italy, its true purpose had to be concealed; it was named the Army of the Reserve and was placed under the command of Bonaparte's trusted chief of staff Louis-Alexandre Berthier.

While onlookers believed the ruse that this was merely a reserve force, Bonaparte secretly prepared the army for campaigning. Soldiers were trained using the 'canteen' system, whereby eight veterans and eight recruits would march, eat, and camp together, fostering a sense of camaraderie and allowing the recruits to learn quicker. Meanwhile, Bonaparte worked with war minister Lazare Carnot to procure 100,000 pairs of boots, 40,000 uniforms, and 2 million rations of biscuits for the army at Dijon. The First Consul also ordered all major field forces to adopt the corps d'armée system, breaking each army down into mobile and semi-independent corps; this would become a staple of Napoleonic warfare.

As his army was being prepared, Bonaparte poured over maps to decide where he would cross the Alps. He decided to take the main part of his army across the 2469-meter (8,100-foot) Great St Bernard Pass, while a division under General Adrien Moncey would take the St Gothard Pass. During one strategy meeting, Bonaparte purportedly asked his secretary, Bourrienne, where he thought the decisive battle would be fought once the French had gotten over the Alps. "How the devil should I know?" asked Bourrienne, as the First Consul drove a pin into a map on the plains of the Scrivia River. "I shall fight him here," said Bonaparte. It was the exact spot where he would fight the Battle of Marengo three months later, a demonstration of Bonaparte's quick and perceptive mind (Roberts, 252; Chandler, 275).

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