Chapter Summaries

At an expanded General Staff Headquarters conference, Napoleon joined France’s military leaders as they discussed the coming war and the need to defend Southern Netherlands. Joseph questioned whether sending troops to Wallonia would help, given that most of its population was not French.

• Austrian envoy to Sardinia urged Earl of Rhinefels to press Sardinia for troops, but Rhinefels said Sardinian forces would join once the war began.
• Napoleon told Lucien that France would win the war and that Wooden Railways would give its army a decisive advantage.
• Napoleon arrived at General Staff Headquarters and read the minutes on supply allocation before joining the conference.
• Berthier warned that France must defend Southern Netherlands as well as the likely main battlefield from Geldern to Verdun.
• Fouche reported that Austrian agents had entered Wallonia, possibly to stir up disorder there.
• Joseph asked General Dimoubin how many French people lived in Wallonia and noted that more than a million residents there were from Southern Netherlands.

Joseph rejected a static defense of France and proposed a mobile offensive strategy, beginning near Geldern. News that Austria had gained transit rights through Sardinia forced him to revise the plan and strike Austria from the south first.

• Joseph told Dimoubin that France would wait for the Wallonia Chamber of Commerce to request French troops, and ordered Fouche to prepare for developments there.
• Berthier outlined plans to defend the northern and eastern fronts with most of France's available forces, while Napoleon grew concerned about the defensive approach.
• Joseph argued that France had to concentrate its forces, defeat the enemy in succession, and use mobility rather than risk a war of attrition.
• Joseph began presenting an offensive plan aimed first toward Geldern, but Fouche reported that Austria had likely secured military transit through Sardinia.
• After the officers warned that Austria might attack through the Alps, Joseph revised the order of operations and proposed giving Austria a right hook.

Joseph assigned the Army of Italy to invade Austria through Milan, appointing General Dimoubin as commander and Napoleon as his deputy. Napoleon accepted the role enthusiastically, and Joseph then appointed General Dugommier Commander-in-Chief of the Rhine Army.

• Napoleon argued that Italy was the best place to strike Austria because its defenses there were weaker than on the northern front and a march toward Vienna could follow the capture of Milan.
• Joseph reassured Berthier that the Rhine Army and Swiss Legion would support the Italian campaign, and Berthier agreed France would defeat Austria on both fronts.
• Joseph appointed General Dimoubin Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy and ordered him to assemble troops in Savoy and attack Milan.
• Joseph made Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte second commander of the Army of Italy, and Napoleon eagerly accepted the appointment.
• Joseph appointed General Dugommier Commander-in-Chief of the Rhine Army.

Joseph assigned commanders and forces to France’s Rhine and Southern Netherlands armies as the country prepared for war against the Anti-French Alliance. Napoleon left with authority to select officers for the Army of Italy and began planning his campaign.

• Joseph appointed Berthier as operations staff officer of the Rhine Army, Victor de Moreau as its second-in-command, and Andre Massena as commander of its Right Route Army.
• Joseph organized the 110,000-strong Rhine Army and ordered Massena to oversee its deployment while Moreau led the main attack.
• Joseph took personal command of the Southern Netherlands Army Group, assigning Lefebvre and Jourdan to fight alongside him with a force of just over 20,000.
• Berthier warned Joseph that the Southern Netherlands force was outnumbered, but Joseph said he only needed to delay the enemy for two months and could send reinforcements if necessary.
• Joseph said Massena’s forces would move to the Swiss front after resolving the Rhine campaign, while Napoleon reviewed his Army of Italy assignments and chose several former subordinates to join him.

Napoleon prepared to lead the Army of Italy while enforcing Joseph’s restrictions on looting and studying the Alpine routes. Meanwhile, Beaulieu planned an Austrian-Sardinian crossing through the southern Alps and pressed King Amedeo III to commit Sardinian forces to an invasion of France.

• Napoleon read Joseph’s orders forbidding looting without Major Odorik’s approval and accepted that he would have to enforce them.
• Lucien congratulated Napoleon on becoming second commander of the Army of Italy, but Napoleon sent him to fetch food and arrange access to the archives and Signal Tower.
• A month and a half later, Beaulieu learned that French troops were moving toward Savoy and that two Sardinian legions had advanced slowly because of supply shortages.
• Beaulieu ordered the Provella Legion through Cattibona Pass, directed other legions to capture Toulon, and assigned forces to guard west of Turin.
• Beaulieu told his staff to inform King Amedeo III that Sardinia had to decide whether to let Koli’s legion enter France.

Napoleon defended his plan to draw the Austrians toward Lyon while he crossed the Alps from Nice and threatened their supply lines. As his army advanced toward Cattibona Pass, Austrian Rangers appeared, and he ordered the vanguard to withdraw after engaging them so he could lure the enemy into a trap.

• In Grenoble, Dimoubin ordered Napoleon to revise the defense of Bress, concerned that the Plevin Legion was too weak to hold it.
• Napoleon refused General Dute's demand to change his deployment and explained that he intended to cross Cattibona Pass, seize Sardinia, and cut the Austrian supply line from Turin.
• General Dute warned that the English Fleet could attack the French supply lines, but Napoleon relied on the Crown Prince's assurance that France could control the Mediterranean Sea.
• Fourteen days later, Napoleon led the Corsican Legion, the Joubert Legion, and Marmont's Artillery Battalion toward Cattibona Pass, with the Moulins Legion under Andre serving as the vanguard.
• After Lucien reported Austrian Rangers near the pass, Napoleon ordered Andre to withdraw after engaging them and told Augereau and Sérurier to contract westward to lure the Austrians into an ambush.

Henricus Collins organized Flemish riots in Wallonia with Austrian support, while Prince Coburg prepared the Allied army to exploit the unrest and outmaneuver the French. The chapter ended with Coburg ordering troops to suppress the riots and seize northern Wallonia’s cities before advancing toward Namur or Mons.

• Marsevin recruited Flemish workers to join an armed uprising, promising Austrian support and control of factories.
• More than ten days later, Collins’s rioters seized Chambers of Commerce in several northern Walloon cities and declared them part of Flanders, while the police failed to intervene.
• An officer told Prince Coburg that Collins’s men controlled four cities and were plotting an uprising in Namur, while French troops had assembled at Lille.
• Baron Paul Davidovich warned that the French might abandon Brussels and defend Namur, but Coburg said the Allies could instead threaten Mons and force the French to retreat.
• Prince Coburg ordered the Public Security Squad into Wallonia to quell the riots and directed Davidovich to seize northern cities and prepare to march south toward Mons.

Joseph tested the accurate, fast-loading August 1790 rifle and ordered General Lefebvre to move while Count Segur prepared a diplomatic mission. As Austrian troops advanced into Wallonia, thousands of Walloon Police gathered under the guise of field training and were ordered to fight the Austrians.

• Joseph tested the August 1790 Jäger rifle and received news of large riots in Wavre and elsewhere.
• Joseph learned that Schevenement had moved the Walloon Police south of Brussels and ordered Lefebvre to set out and Segur to travel to Württemberg.
• Bourget and other Walloon Police discovered that their supposed field training had assembled thousands of officers away from the riots.
• A Public Security Prosecutor ordered the Police to check their ammunition for actual combat against the Austrians.
• Count Radetzky learned that the Austrian Army was a little over one Auli from Wavre after marching deep into Wallonia.

Count Radetzky led the Austrian Army toward Wavre to seize Wallonia’s transportation hub, Namur, despite protests from the Wallonia Chamber of Commerce. As the Delna Skirmisher Regiment advanced on Walloon Police outside Wavre, the Police prepared to defend the prosperity they had gained under the demilitarized-zone agreement.

• Count Radetzky ordered his troops to march faster toward Wavre, but the Wallonia Chamber of Commerce blocked the road and protested the Austrian Army’s violation of the demilitarized zone.
• Count Radetzky tore up the protest and ordered his soldiers to fire warning shots, forcing the officials to clear the road while reporters recorded the confrontation.
• After the Austrian vanguard spotted more than two thousand Walloon Police south of the route, Count Radetzky ordered Lieutenant Colonel Buseck to drive them away.
• Buseck dismissed the Police formation as a show and advanced the Delna Skirmisher Regiment toward them.
• Bourget and the other Police officers braced themselves for the approaching army, resolved to protect Wallonia’s new prosperity from Austrian rule.

The Walloon Police fought the Austrian Busec Corps and discovered that their Paris Police Academy training let them reload and fire faster than the Austrian skirmishers. After five volleys, the Austrians broke and fled toward Count Radetzky's main force.

• Alois and Bourget encouraged the Walloon Police by recalling their training and the promise of triple pay.
• The Austrian Skirmishers advanced, and both sides exchanged volleys as the police reloaded with surprising speed.
• Bourget and the other police officers gained confidence when their line formation outpaced the Austrians and inflicted heavier casualties.
• After the police fired their fifth volley, the Busec Corps panicked and routed, leaving nearly two hundred dead before reaching Count Radetzky's main force.

After the Austrian Army’s failed attacks near Wavre, the Walloon Chamber of Commerce voted to request French military aid, and France began deploying troops into Wallonia. Count Segur announced the request to Hesse’s nobles as France’s preparations advanced.

• Count Radetzky rebuked Lieutenant Colonel Buseck for his defeat and ordered the troops to regroup before Croix Corps attacked the Walloon Police the next morning.
• The Walloon Police repelled Croix’s first assault with help from their cannons, then withdrew into Wavre as the Austrians prepared to attack again.
• Schevenement urged the Walloon Chamber of Commerce to ask France for help, and seventy-five of its seventy-eight members voted in favor.
• Joseph received word of the request and sent the French Southern Netherlands Army Group toward Wavre while the Royal 4th Infantry Division began a forced march north.
• Count Segur told the Hesse nobles that the Walloon Chamber of Commerce had formally requested French troops to protect the Demilitarized Zone.

After Austria and its allies declared war on France, the European Continent plunged into total war. As the Walloon Police retreated from Wavre toward Namur, French cavalry attacked the Austrians and the French Royal Infantry arrived in force.

• Segur warned that Austria would bear responsibility for the consequences in Wallonia, while newspapers reported Wallonia's request for French intervention.
• Austria, the United Kingdom, and several other nations declared war on France, and their representatives formed the Anti-French Alliance in Pozztan.
• After three days of fighting, Gaayar ordered the Walloon Police to abandon Wavre and retreat toward Namur.
• Austrian forces intercepted the retreating Police, but their cavalry suddenly turned west and their infantry shifted away from the road.
• A Mounted Police officer told Gaayar that French cavalry was attacking the Austrians, and routed Austrian soldiers fled past the Police.
• French Royal Infantry and cavalry swept past Wavre, driving the Austrian forces back.

Joseph ordered the French forces to retake Gaayar before the Austrians could secure it, while Davout’s troops drove an Austrian battalion toward the city. The French arrived in time to rescue Gaayar’s police, and Joseph prepared to press the attack with a force of four regiments.

• Police Superintendent Fevre reported that Count Radetzky commanded at least ten thousand Austrian soldiers around Gaayar and described the city’s situation to Joseph.
• Joseph ordered Davout to prevent the Austrians from retreating toward Wavre and directed Lewavre to attack Gaayar before the enemy could consolidate its control.
• Davout sent two companies to drive an Austrian battalion north toward Gaayar while keeping the soldiers under pressure without crushing them.
• French troops reached Gaayar, where the police officers welcomed them and Gaayar met the Crown Prince.
• Joseph declined Fevre’s offer of police reinforcements, then assigned Lewavre to command the frontal assault and ordered the 7th Skirmisher Regiment to attack from the west.

The French Army captured Wavre in a swift assault, while Joseph explained how French troops had suppressed Flemish riots and won Walloon support. At the war council, Joseph challenged his generals to anticipate the Austrian commander’s assumptions and prepare a surprise.

• French soldiers wearing Bulletproof Inserts stormed Wavre, and Davout broke through the city’s defenses before Lefebvre’s forces joined the attack.
• Joseph told Gaayar that three companies had helped suppress Flemish riots and that Walloon citizens had fought alongside the French Army.
• Lefebvre entered Wavre, and the French Army eliminated the Austrian defenders within two hours, forcing Radetzky to retreat north with his remaining troops.
• At the war council, Lefebvre and Davout proposed using Wavre as bait to ambush Josias’s approaching main force.
• Joseph pointed out that Josias would expect the French to hold Wavre and said they should give him a surprise.

Count Radetzky’s Austrian force struggled to hold Mavrenne Town while Prince Coburg planned to exploit the French attack and seize Wavre. As Coburg’s army rushed south, a large French force appeared to strike the middle of its stretched-out column.

• Count Radetzky inspected Mavrenne Town’s defenses and sent Prince Coburg another urgent request for reinforcements.
• Prince Coburg dismissed Radetzky’s poor reconnaissance and decided to send General Gruber’s elite infantry and cavalry to attack the French near Mavrenne or seize Wavre.
• General Gruber led more than six thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry ahead of the Austrian main force toward Mavrenne Town.
• A Hussar reported that at least ten thousand French soldiers had appeared west of the Austrian army, and Prince Coburg ordered his troops to form a defensive line.
• The Austrian army struggled to assemble after its rapid march, leaving its main force stretched across five kilometers as the French advanced toward its center.

Joseph disguised the Walloon Police as French soldiers to mislead Count Radetzky while Lefebvre led the exhausted Royal 4th Infantry Division in a surprise attack on Prince Coburg's Austrian force. The battle began with French artillery and infantry volleys, leaving the Austrians with far heavier losses as the fighting continued.

• Joseph used the Walloon Police in French uniforms to convince Count Radetzky that the French main force remained outside Mavrenne Town, then sent the Royal 4th Infantry Division on a night march.
• Lefebvre led thirteen thousand French soldiers in a sudden attack on Prince Coburg's troops and rallied them by invoking the Royal Guard Legion and the Crown Prince.
• Prince Coburg deployed five infantry regiments on the west side, but French foot artillery struck while much of the Austrian force was still disorganized.
• French infantry columns advanced under skirmisher cover, formed firing lines near the Austrian position, and pressed forward to within sixty paces.
• The Austrian line fired first, but French bulletproof inserts limited casualties; the French returned fire with greater accuracy, inflicting heavier losses on the Austrians.

Lefebvre’s forces routed Prince Coburg’s Austrians and scattered Davidovich’s Dutch Legion, then defeated Gruber’s troops while returning to Wavre. Joseph remained in Wavre and received news of the victories, with thousands of enemy soldiers killed or captured.

• Lefebvre’s French troops broke the Austrian lines, forcing Prince Coburg to flee toward Leuven as the French cavalry scattered Davidovich’s Dutch Legion.
• Lefebvre sent Renaud’s regiment after the routed Austrians and led the rest of his force back toward Wavre.
• Lefebvre’s main force clashed with Gruber’s nine thousand Austrians, and the battle ended after the four French Cavalry Companies arrived and Gruber’s Dutch cavalry fled.
• Joseph stayed in Wavre despite Kexer’s concern and said he trusted his army.
• An officer told Joseph that Lefebvre had defeated the Austrians and Gruber’s troops, while Davidovich’s Dutch Legion had fled to Brussels and more than four thousand enemy soldiers had been killed or captured.

After Lefebvre routed Prince Coburg’s main force, Joseph went to the front-line camp to raise the soldiers’ morale. He then considered exploiting the weakened enemy to capture Brussels, leaving the army poised to pursue a broader offensive.

• Joseph learned that Lefebvre had reached the vicinity of Mavrenne Town and ordered Kexer to prepare a rapid journey to the front.
• Joseph arrived at Lefebvre’s camp that evening, where wounded soldiers and the rest of the troops greeted him with cheers.
• Joseph shook hands with the wounded soldiers, thanked them for their bravery, and visited more than ten thousand soldiers to encourage them.
• Lefebvre proposed attacking Radetzky’s six thousand men, but Joseph said it was better to leave them in place and use them to lure out reinforcements.
• Joseph explained that he feared Josias might retreat to Brussels and revealed his intention to exploit the city’s weak defenses once more French troops arrived.

Joseph planned to defend Southern Netherlands with locally raised troops and reverse slope tactics while giving Berthier an opening to advance along the Rhine. The chapter ended with Joseph questioning an Austrian officer who offered to recruit Flemish prisoners and meeting the commander of the Antwerp Corps, who accused him of betraying Southern Netherlands.

• Lefebvre warned Joseph that the Allied forces could overwhelm Brussels, but Joseph insisted the Southern Netherlands front should pin down the enemy while Berthier advanced along the Rhine.
• Joseph planned to recruit ten thousand Walloon soldiers and use reverse slope tactics to defend Southern Netherlands against a larger Allied force.
• Joseph ordered Berthier to slow his Rhine offensive until the enemy shifted troops south, then capture Trier and encircle Koblenz.
• Lieutenant Colonel Sean Hayes offered to persuade Austrian prisoners to serve Joseph, and Joseph sent him to the prisoner camp.
• William Wiegel van Taine kicked Sean Hayes and denounced him as a traitor, then identified himself to Joseph as commander of the Antwerp Corps.

Joseph proposed that France support an independent Flemish Republic in exchange for Brussels and persuaded General Taine to consider the plan. The chapter ended with Taine revealing that he was a member of the Antwerp Parliament, potentially able to help convene a new government.

• Sean Hayes promised Joseph that he could persuade the Flemish Legion to fight for France, while Taine insisted that Flemings would never serve the French.
• Joseph released Taine and invited him to discuss Flanders’s future over tea.
• Joseph offered French military and diplomatic support for an independent Flemish Republic in exchange for Brussels.
• Joseph proposed that the republic take the Southern Netherlands Provinces south of the Waal River, including Zeeland, Breda, and 's-Hertogenbosch.
• Taine accepted the prospect of cooperation and told Joseph he was a member of the Antwerp Parliament.