Battle of Rivoli | |||||||
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Part of the Italian campaigns in the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli, by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
French Republic | Habsburg monarchy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Napoleon Bonaparte Barthélemy Joubert André Masséna Gabriel Venance Rey Louis-Alexandre Berthier Charles Leclerc Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle Honoré Vial |
József Alvinczi Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan Heinrich XV, Prince Reuss of Greiz Peter von Quosdanovich Josef Philipp Vukassovich | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
22,000[2] | 28,000[2][3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3,200[2][3]–5,000[4] | 12,000[2]–14,300[3] | ||||||
The Battle of Rivoli (14 January 1797) was a key military engagement during the War of the First Coalition in the vicinity of the village of Rivoli, then part of the Republic of Venice. The outnumbered French Army of Italy commanded by General Bonaparte decisively defeated the attacking Austrian army commanded by General of the Artillery Jozsef Alvinczi, who was attempting to march south in a fourth and final attempt to relieve the siege of Mantua. Rivoli further demonstrated Napoleon's capability and deftness as a military commander and led to the Austrian surrender of Mantua in February and French consolidation of northern Italy, ultimately resulting in France's victory over Austria in the war later that year. The Battle of Rivoli marked the climax of Napoleon's Italian campaign of 1796-1797, after which a French victory was inevitable.