page_title: Battle of Voltri
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Voltri / Background
caption_attribution_description: Antoine Christophe Saliceti (1757-1809), Corsican-French revolutionary.
context_page_description: The Battle of Voltri was an engagement occurring on 10 April 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars and taking place in Voltri, a suburb of Genoa, Italy.
  The battle saw two Habsburg Austrian columns under the overall direction of Johann Peter Beaulieu attack a reinforced French brigade under Jean-Baptiste Cervoni. After a skirmish lasting several hours, the Austrians forced Cervoni to withdraw west along the coast to Savona. Voltri is now part of the western suburbs of the major Italian port of Genoa. Voltri was the opening action of the Montenotte Campaign, part of the War of the First Coalition.
  In the spring of 1796, Beaulieu was installed as the new commander of the combined armies of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in northwest Italy. His opposite number was also new to the job of army commander. Napoleon Bonaparte arrived from Paris to direct the French Army of Italy. Bonaparte immediately began planning an offensive, but Beaulieu struck first by launching an attack against Cervoni's somewhat overextended force. After the action, the Austrian commander found himself in a position in which it was difficult to march to the support of his right wing.
context_section_description: In mid-March, Johann Peter Beaulieu was appointed commander of the Austrian Army of Italy and promoted to Feldzeugmeister. Despite his 70 years, the veteran of the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War was regarded with favor by the Austrian Foreign Minister Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula, Baron of Thugut, who liked his energy. In addition, Beaulieu shared a personal friendship with Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi an Austrian subject who led the allied Sardinian army.
  Unfortunately for Beaulieu, his government warned him of the possibility that Sardinia might make peace with France or even switch sides. This ruined any chance of a cooperative relationship between the two allies. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the lines of communications of the two armies ran in divergent paths. Beaulieu also had at his disposal 1,500 allied cavalry from the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. The Austrian soldiers had suffered severely that winter. The new army commander notified his government that a shocking total of 927 soldiers had died of sickness in February. Altogether, the allied armies counted 17,000 Sardinians and 32,000 Austrians. Of this total, Colli's army included 4,000 Austrians under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Giovanni Marchese di Provera in the Auxiliary Corps. The paper strength of Beaulieu's army was 32,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 148 artillery pieces, but these were not the actual numbers.
  Beaulieu's army was deployed in two wings. His right wing was led by Field-Marshal-Lieutenant Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau and included 9,000 infantry and 340 cavalry in 11 battalions and two squadrons. As late as 10 April, these troops were thinly deployed across a wide area and separated by poor roads. There were four battalions near Sassello, two battalions at Mioglia, and one battalion each at Cairo, Dego, Malvicino, Pareto, and Acqui. The left wing was commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Philipp Sebottendorf. Of the 19,500 troops of the left wing, only half were available for use in the field while the rest was dispersed in garrisons. Against these forces, the French Army of Italy counted 63,000 men. Of these, only 37,000 soldiers and 60 artillery pieces were available for the field army. Another 7,000 troops in two small divisions guarded the Col de Tende on the direct road from Nice to Cuneo.
  In March 1796, the representative-on-mission with the Army of Italy, Antoine Christophe Saliceti tried without success to secure a loan from the neutral Republic of Genoa. Saliceti decided to threaten the Genoese authorities into agreeing to the loan. The French army commander General of Division Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer acceded to Saliceti's request and ordered 6,000 men to prepare for the movement. Strategically the idea was risky because it extended the French position an additional 28 miles (45 km) eastward along the Italian Riviera.
  On 24 March, General of Brigade Jean Joseph Magdeleine Pijon left Savona and marched toward Genoa with two demi-brigades. Three days later, Austrian General-major Philipp Pittoni von Dannenfeld reported to Beaulieu that the French had occupied Voltri. About this time, General of Division Napoleon Bonaparte replaced Schérer and ordered the movement suspended on the 28th. At first he wanted to withdraw the exposed unit, but later decided to hold the position at Voltri.
  Beaulieu was alarmed at the French move. To put a stop to this threat, he ordered Pittoni on 31 March to invade the Republic of Genoa and cross the Bocchetta Pass. Brushing aside Genoese protests, Pittoni occupied Novi Ligure and sent his men on the road up the pass. One battalion was left to guard Novi. Beaulieu, who accompanied the move, noted that the weather was bitterly cold and that Pittoni was sick, though the general persevered in his duty. The Austrian commander-in-chief sent four artillery pieces with Pittoni's force, one 12-pound cannon, one 6-pound cannon, and two 7-pound howitzers. Pijon also became ill and was replaced in command of the Voltri force by Gener
caption: Antoine Christophe Saliceti
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