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Welcome to the Age of Napoleon.

Episode 34 The Road to Leobon.

Thanks for joining me.

We left off last time at the beginning of February, 1797.

The city of Mantua had just surrendered to the French

after nearly eight months of struggle.

The fourth failed Austrian attempt to relieve the city had left their main field army in northern Italy completely shattered.

Its commander Joseph Alvinci was fired, and the way was now clear for Napoleon to take his army over the Alps once again into Austria itself.

For the third time in less than a year, the Habsburgs were left scrambling to build a new field

army to oppose Bonaparte.

The Army of Italy was now only a few weeks march away from Vienna.

Stopping Napoleon had become the Imperial War Council's first priority.

For this all-important mission, they recalled the most successful Habsburg commander from Germany, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teshin,

prodigy of the Habsburg armies, a position he owed in large part to the good graces of

his older brother, Emperor Francis II.

But he was also a talented forward-thinking soldier who never gave his brother cause to regret the rapid promotions. Within a month of the fall of Mantua, Vienna had pulled together

roughly 50,000 men for the Archduke's new army. However, they were of dubious quality, and many units had to travel from the far corners of the

empire to concentrate in the Alps.

On the French side, Napoleon's victory at Rivoli and the surrender of Mantua, had completely changed the dynamic.

For years, Bonaparte had argued to anyone who would listen that Italy was the soft underbelly of the Habsburg

empire and should be the main focus of France's strategic efforts. The directory

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