Chapter Summaries

Sean Hayes captured Leuven through a deception that convinced its Austrian defenders to flee. The victory gave Joseph a strategic advantage in Flanders as the French prepared to secure Brussels and advance elsewhere in the Southern Netherlands.

• Sean Hayes ordered Lucca to prepare three hundred soldiers in Austrian uniforms and sent Captain Vermeer to carry out his plan to take Leuven.
• Sean Hayes’s disguised men entered Leuven by posing as defeated Austrian supply troops and spreading alarming reports about the French advance.
• Vermeer led a thousand Walloon Police-uniformed soldiers against Leuven, while the infiltrators burned the city’s supply warehouse and spread rumors of an approaching French force.
• Lieutenant Colonel De Zwiher abandoned Leuven, and Sean Hayes took control of the city before sending news of the victory to the Crown Prince of France.
• Joseph learned that Leuven had fallen and recognized that it blocked the eastern route from Brussels, then joined a staff meeting where his generals discussed the coming offensive at Diekirch.

Joseph reviewed the French plans to ambush the Prussian army in Luxembourg and defend against Austria near Basel. He rejected a proposal to pull troops back to Brussels, revealing that French forces had already taken control of Leuven.

• Captain Ferris reported that the Prussian Ferdinand Corps was preparing to attack Luxembourg City, where Massena planned to trap and counterattack it.
• Captain Ferris reported that Austria's Würmser Corps planned to cross the Rhine near Basel, while Moreau's Legion prepared to defend and attack its pontoon bridges.
• Lefebvre proposed withdrawing French forces to Brussels and sending some troops to reinforce Massena in Luxembourg.
• Joseph said Massena had enough troops and argued against focusing only on defending Brussels.
• Joseph revealed that French forces had taken control of Leuven.

Joseph planned to advance into the Netherlands after the capture of Leuven, but news that Würmser was bringing Austrian troops to Italy led him to redirect major forces to Bonaparte. He explained how France’s faster semaphore network would let its armies coordinate and react to Austrian movements.

• Davout and Lefebvre recognized that Leuven’s capture had isolated the Duke of York, and Joseph proposed advancing north into the Netherlands with Flemish recruits and supplies.
• A report arrived that Würmser had taken thirty thousand Austrian troops south to reinforce Mantua.
• Joseph ordered the Royal Third Infantry Division, three companies of Royal Horse Artillery, and several thousand new recruits transferred to Bonaparte’s Army of Italy.
• Joseph explained that France’s semaphore network could coordinate its armies faster than Austria could move information, allowing them to respond to either an Italian reinforcement or an Austrian attack near Basel.

Joseph used France’s battlefield advantage to strengthen its position before negotiations, sending Talleyrand and the Count of Provence to persuade Sardinia to leave the Anti-French Alliance. The talks ended with Amedeo III considering the offer of French protection and compensation, while France retained Savoy.

• Joseph explained how the Shap Semaphore would let French forces prepare for either Latour’s advance toward Basel or his march into Italy, and said he trusted Napoleon to hold Mantua.
• Talleyrand and the Count of Provence met Amedeo III in Turin and warned that French forces would soon take Alexandria and could besiege Turin.
• The Count of Provence urged Amedeo III to withdraw Sardinia from the Anti-French Alliance and quietly return Sardinian troops to Turin, promising French security and protection from Austria.
• Amedeo III asked about Bress and Chambéry, and Talleyrand insisted that Savoy would remain French territory.
• The Count of Provence offered Cham as compensation and said France would support Sardinia in recovering lands occupied by the Papal States.

Amedeo III agreed to the Turin Agreement, ceding Savoy and nearby territory to France in exchange for Cham Province and French support for Sardinian ambitions in Italy. Talleyrand remained behind to shape the peninsula’s political future, while Brigadier General Carnot arrived in Pavia with orders for Napoleon.

• Amedeo III accepted Talleyrand’s proposal to negotiate an agreement after France promised not to oppose Sardinian actions in Italy.
• Talleyrand and the Count of Provence left Turin with the signed Turin Agreement, which transferred Savoy and territory east of Monaco to France and provided Sardinia with Cham Province and French support.
• Joseph planned to keep Italy divided among several states rather than let Sardinia unify the peninsula.
• Talleyrand stayed behind to pursue new diplomatic work in Parma and other Italian states.
• Brigadier General Carnot arrived at Napoleon’s camp in Pavia and announced that he had orders from General Staff Headquarters.

Brigadier General Carnot informed Napoleon that he was being punished for violating military regulations in Italy, but also promoted him to colonel and granted him a reward for his victories. With new troops placed under his command and a promise of a future promotion, Napoleon decided to attack Alexandria in two days.

• Brigadier General Carnot read General Staff Headquarters’ order demoting Napoleon and warning him over unauthorized requisitions and his failure to aid the Dimoubin Legion.
• Carnot told Napoleon that a Gendarmerie Investigation Team would investigate the supplies he had requisitioned from Milan, and Napoleon signed the orders while asking Carnot to explain matters to His Highness.
• Carnot announced Napoleon’s promotion to colonel, awarded him 200,000 Francs, and said His Highness would promote him to Brigadier General if he captured Alexandria.
• Carnot placed the Royal Third Infantry Division and two companies of the Royal Second Horse Artillery Battalion under Napoleon’s command.
• After Carnot left, Napoleon ordered his officers to prepare for a full assault on Alexandria in two days, intending to use his current forces against the Melas Legion and save the elite troops for Mantua.

Napoleon planned to defeat Melas before the Würmser Corps could reach Mantua, deploying his forces to intercept the Austrians near Alexandria. Lucien then revealed how Dimoubin’s Military Affairs Supervisor had raised 3.4 million francs in Genoa through arrests for wartime collaboration, leaving Napoleon astonished by the procedure.

• Napoleon dismissed concerns about storming Alexandria and predicted Melas would attack before his ammunition ran out, then coordinate with the Würmser Corps against Milan.
• Napoleon assigned Victor to watch the Tanaro River, Marmont to patrol near San Giuliano, and Lucien to hurry Dimoubin’s troops north from Genoa.
• Lucien learned that Dimoubin’s army had already left Genoa under Joubert and Sérurier, and complained that the city had offered no thanks for its liberation.
• Dimoubin’s staff officer told Lucien that the Military Affairs Supervisor had recorded 3.4 million francs in donations through standard operating procedures.
• Lucien explained to Napoleon that the supervisor had arrested more than 230 Genoese suspected of aiding the Austrians, using their wartime dealings as grounds to obtain money.

The French used Genoa’s treason trials and confiscations to win the city’s support while secretly directing most of the wealth to the Dimoubin Legion. Meanwhile, Melas planned a deceptive river crossing, and Napoleon learned the Austrians were dismantling bridges over the Bormida.

• The Military Affairs Supervisor had Ebiasso form an Internal Audit Committee, which condemned seventy-six people for treason and confiscated their property, most of which went to the Dimoubin Legion.
• Genoa’s citizens and Parliament celebrated France after receiving money, and Napoleon regretted his earlier conduct in Milan when he heard the city had mourned the Dimoubin Legion’s departure.
• Joseph drafted a top-secret procedure for procuring supplies abroad and aimed to earn France ten million Francs while winning the Italian States’ gratitude.
• Melas ordered Argentau to dismantle the Bormida bridges as a feint before rebuilding them and crossing at dawn to advance toward Parma.
• Joubert joined Napoleon near San Giuliano and reported that Genoa had defenders and newly recruited National Guard troops under Dimoubin.
• Garda reported that Austrian troops were dismantling the bridges over the Bormida River.

Napoleon suspected Melas was using the Bormida River crossings to deceive the French, but Garda reported that the bridges were unusable. The Austrians secretly repaired the bridges, crossed with fifty thousand troops, and attacked at Marengo, where Augereau’s outnumbered French forces fought to hold the village.

• Napoleon ordered Garda to verify the Bormida crossings, and Garda concluded that the bridge piers had been dismantled after Austrian cannon fire drove him away.
• Napoleon sent Joubert’s legions toward Mede but kept the Lyon Legion at San Giuliano to guard Alexandria’s eastern side.
• Austrian engineers secretly repaired the bridges and built pontoon crossings, allowing Melas’s army and its equipment to cross the Bormida by dawn.
• Garda’s patrol discovered the crossing, and Augereau led the Lyon Legion to block the Austrians while the Marmont Legion came to reinforce them.
• Melas ordered his legions and cannons to attack Marengo, and Augereau assigned Bernard and Bonnet to defend the village as Austrian forces advanced.
• The French launched a fierce assault on the Austrian Argento Legion near Marengo Village.

Augereau and Marmont’s outnumbered forces struggled to hold back Melas’s advancing Austrian Army near San Giuliano. As the French lines began to collapse, Grouchy arrived with cavalry and attacked the Austrian left flank, using a deception to spread panic.

• Bernard’s infantry was overwhelmed by Austrian fire, and Augereau’s troops retreated from Marengo Village before stabilizing with Marmont’s reinforcements.
• Marmont and Augereau decided to defend a line from San Giuliano to Castelceriolo, while Melas delayed his advance because he suspected a French trap.
• The Austrians attacked San Giuliano, broke through two French defensive lines, and withdrew at nightfall before renewing their assault the next morning.
• As the French began to falter, Grouchy arrived with cavalry and struck the Austrian left flank, prompting Augereau to order a counterattack from both sides.
• Grouchy shouted in German that Bonaparte’s fifty thousand ambushers had surrounded the Austrians, intensifying their panic.

Augereau’s exhausted troops held San Giuliano against repeated Austrian assaults until Napoleon’s main force arrived and threatened Melas’s flank. As nightfall approached, Melas committed his troops to a final attack, while Napoleon learned that 45,000 Austrians were closing in on his army.

• Grouchy’s Hussars routed more than 7,000 Austrian soldiers, prompting Melas to mistake the retreat for a French ambush and reposition his troops.
• Melas renewed his attack on San Giuliano, where Augereau and Marmont faced the Austrians with only 5,000 battle-ready soldiers.
• Augereau rallied his troops to hold out until nightfall, and they repelled the Argento Legion’s first assault with help from Grouchy’s cavalry.
• Napoleon’s main force arrived from the north, forcing the Argento Legion to shift toward the new threat and restoring the French defenders’ morale.
• Melas ordered Cervoni and several legions to attack Napoleon’s army before nightfall.
• Napoleon learned that nearly 45,000 Austrian troops were attacking his front and attempting to outflank both sides.

Napoleon concentrated his forces for a decisive assault, and the Moulins Legion broke Cervoni's Austrian Corps after a fierce exchange of fire. The French advance then stalled before a fresh Austrian line defending Melas's headquarters near Marengo Village.

• Napoleon ordered Junot and Sérurier to hold the flanks while he gathered the Joubert Legion, Moulins Legion, artillery, and hussars for a central assault.
• Cervoni halted his advance and reorganized his troops after French artillery opened fire and Bonaparte's forces appeared on his left.
• The Moulins Legion and French Skirmishers attacked Cervoni's Corps, then joined the French Infantry Line in a prolonged firefight.
• The Austrian line collapsed, and Napoleon ordered his forces to attack Melas's headquarters south of Marengo Village.
• The Moulins Legion reached the village and found a fresh Austrian Infantry Line of 5,000 to 6,000 men blocking the advance.

Napoleon led fewer than three thousand recruits in a desperate bayonet charge against the Austrian line at Marengo Village after French artillery was attacked and the assault faltered. The recruits broke through part of the Austrian formation, but the battle was still underway as the Austrian right began to flee.

• Napoleon learned from Lucien that enemy cavalry had attacked the French artillery position and decided to commit his reserve recruits to breaking the Austrian line.
• Napoleon rallied the Wangre Regiment by invoking the Crown Prince, then led the recruits toward the Austrian defenses.
• Napoleon ordered the recruits to fix bayonets and continued advancing under heavy fire, while Joubert ordered the Skirmisher Battalion to attack and the rest of his troops to prepare to charge.
• A recruit company commander led more than two thousand recruits into the Austrian line, where the French charge knocked down over a hundred Austrians.
• Napoleon sent Bessières and the Guard forward to support the fighting, and the Austrian right began to flee.

Napoleon planned to regroup his battered army while Melas prepared a counterattack, but the Sardinia Legion unexpectedly withdrew toward Turin. The chapter ended with Napoleon learning that the enemy was advancing west instead of toward him.

• Napoleon ordered Joubert to attack south toward Melas's command post after the French broke through Cervoni's line.
• Melas regrouped with Cervoni at Cabianca and ordered Argentau to attack Napoleon before ten the next morning.
• Napoleon planned a feint against Melas while moving the main French force east to join Augereau and rest at San Giuliano.
• A Black-clad Man met secretly with Sardinian officers, and the next morning Thaon presented Koli with orders transferring command of the Sardinia Legion to him.
• Koli and Argentau tried to stop the Sardinians from withdrawing toward Turin, but the legion crossed the Bormida River and aimed its cannons at the bridgehead.
• Napoleon prepared to move east, then learned from a scout that the enemy was advancing west.

After Sardinia withdrew from the war under the Turin Agreement, Napoleon rested and reorganized his army before attacking Melas at Cabianca. Melas requested an armistice, and Austria’s Army of Italy surrendered, though the Argentau Legion escaped to Mantua.

• Eugenio told Napoleon that Amedeo III had withdrawn the Sardinian army to Turin after signing an agreement with the Crown Prince.
• Napoleon learned that nearly twenty thousand Sardinian troops had withdrawn, ordered his army to rest, and sent cavalry to watch the Austrians.
• Argentau retreated to Castelceriolo, and a liaison officer later informed Napoleon that France and Sardinia had signed the Turin Agreement.
• Three days later, Napoleon attacked Melas at Cabianca as French troops advanced with high morale.
• Melas rejected Cervoni’s suggestion to retreat and sent a negotiator to request an armistice.
• On September 6, 1793, Austria’s Army of Italy surrendered; the Argentau Legion fled to Mantua, and Joseph accepted Melas’s return to Vienna for seven hundred thousand francs.

The French victory over Melas strengthened France’s influence in Northern Italy as Napoleon assembled a Franco-Sardinian army to march on Mantua. Meanwhile, French Steamships relentlessly harassed Lord Hood’s Mediterranean Fleet, which limped back toward Gibraltar.

• Joseph arranged for Melas and twelve Austrian officers to return to Vienna after paying 3.9 million Francs in ransom.
• The surrender ceremony in Alexandria impressed Northern Italy’s states, and Parma and Modena sought closer ties with France.
• French reinforcements, Sardinian troops, and a Lombard Legion brought Napoleon’s army to fifty-seven thousand men, and it marched toward Mantua.
• Diciayela’s Steamships repeatedly attacked the English Fleet, damaged its battleships, and helped the Toulon Fleet resupply at Tripoli.
• Lord Hood’s fleet suffered more than fifty days of harassment and approached Gibraltar with its ships damaged.

Lord Hood's battered Mediterranean Fleet suffered another loss when the Smoke exploded and sank, forcing the fleet back to Gibraltar and prompting a request to return to Britain for repairs. In London, Pitt and the Navy Department discussed the resulting loss of British naval protection in the Mediterranean and proposed building steam-powered warships to counter France.

• Lord Hood assessed the Mediterranean Fleet's damage and began writing a request to send it to Plymouth for repairs.
• The Smoke suffered a sympathetic detonation after French cruisers struck its damaged starboard side, and Hood ordered frigates to rescue its crew.
• The Smoke burned and sank, and the next day Hood's fleet entered Gibraltar Port.
• Pitt asked Jervis whether the fleet should return to Britain, and Jervis agreed that repairs were necessary, leaving British merchant ships without an escort in the Mediterranean.
• Jervis presented the Navy Department's plan to build steam-powered warships, which he expected could surpass France's fleet within one to one and a half years.

Pitt approved funding for a British warship program and considered an income tax to pay for it, while the Bolton-Watt company struggled to meet the navy’s high-pressure steam engine order. In Brussels, Talleyrand reported that several Italian states, including the Two Sicilies, were willing to strengthen ties with France, leaving Joseph surprised.

• Jervis told Pitt that developing new warships and building the first twenty would cost 600,000 pounds, and Pitt agreed to seek parliamentary funding.
• Pitt told the Duke of Portland that he would propose a Personal Income Tax to finance Britain’s shipbuilding plans.
• Bolton and Falkner celebrated the navy’s 150,000-pound steam engine contract, but Watt admitted he was unsure he could develop a high-pressure engine in time.
• Falkner urged Bolton to travel to France and try to buy high-pressure steam engine technology from Sander.
• Talleyrand told Joseph that Parma, Modena, Lucca, and the Two Sicilies had signaled willingness to strengthen trade and diplomatic ties with France, and Joseph was surprised by the Two Sicilies’ shift.

Joseph questioned Talleyrand’s plan to annex much of Northern Italy, warning that occupation would provoke costly, persistent resistance. He argued that France should instead secure Italian raw materials and markets through economic influence, leaving Talleyrand wondering how that could be guaranteed without occupying the land.

• Talleyrand reported that Parma had protested Austria’s unauthorized entry and presented a plan to annex Genoa, Pavia, Parma, and much of the Papal States.
• Joseph praised Talleyrand’s diplomacy and approved his expense report, which included a promised after-tax commission of 230,000 Francs.
• Joseph challenged the proposed expansion into Northern Italy, warning that occupation would breed Italian hatred and endless riots that could drain France’s strength.
• Joseph proposed an era of economic colonialism in which France would secure other regions’ raw materials and markets without taking their territory.
• Talleyrand asked Joseph how France could guarantee access to those resources and markets without occupying the land.

Joseph explained how France could control Northern Italy through low-interest loans, targeted industrial development, and propaganda rather than military occupation. He left Talleyrand concerned that Sardinia would resist loosening news controls in Parma.

• Joseph proposed offering Northern Italian states three-percent loans in Paper Money, tied to French currency circulation, investment, and oversight requirements.
• Joseph outlined providing limited industrial technology to states such as Milan while requiring French patents, ratings, and investment stakes.
• Joseph explained that finance and specialized industries would make Northern Italy economically dependent on France and serve as its market.
• Joseph argued that propaganda required Northern Italian states to abolish strict news censorship, at least for news from France.
• Talleyrand warned that Sardinia would likely resist lifting news controls in Parma.