. The life of Napoleon I, including new materials from the British official records . ly near the headwaters of the Bormida and the Tanaro,two of the chief affluents of the River Po : and roads fol-lowing those river valleys led, the one north-east, in thedirection of Milan, the other north-west towards Turin,the Sardinian capital. A wedge of mountainous countryseparated these roads as they diverged from the neighbour-hood of Montenotte. Here obviously was the vulnerablepoint of the Austro-Sardinian position. Here thereforeBonaparte purposed to deliver his first strokes, foreseeingthat, should
. The life of Napoleon I, including new materials from the British official records . ly near the headwaters of the Bormida and the Tanaro,two of the chief affluents of the River Po : and roads fol-lowing those river valleys led, the one north-east, in thedirection of Milan, the other north-west towards Turin,the Sardinian capital. A wedge of mountainous countryseparated these roads as they diverged from the neighbour-hood of Montenotte. Here obviously was the vulnerablepoint of the Austro-Sardinian position. Here thereforeBonaparte purposed to deliver his first strokes, foreseeingthat, should he sever the allies, he would have in his favourevery advantage both political and topographical. All this was possible to a commander who could over-come the initial difficulties. But these difficulties wereenormous. The position of the French Army of Italy inMarch, 1796, was precarious. Its detachments, echelonnednear the coast from Savona to Loano, and thence to Nice,or inland to the Col di Tenda, comprised iii all 42,000men, as against the Austro-Sardinian forces amounting to. 74 THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I chap. 52,000 Moreover, the allies occupied strong posi-tions on the northern slopes of the Maritime Alps andApennines, and, holding the inner and therefore shortercurve, they could by a dextrous concentration have pushedtheir more widely scattered opponents on to the shore, wherethe republicans would have been harassed by the guns ofthe British cruisers. Finally, Bonapartes troops werebadly equipped, worse clad, and were not paid at all. Onhis arrival at Nice at the close of March, the young com-mander had to disband one battalion for mutinous conduct.^For a brief space it seemed doubtful how the army wouldreceive this slim, delicate-looking youth, known hithertoonly as a skilful artillerist at Toulon and in the streets ofParis. But he speedily gained the respect and confidenceof the rank and file, not only by stern punishment of themutineers, but by raising money from
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1901
