Battle of Occhiobello The Battle of Occhiobello was fought on 8 – 9 April 1815 and was the turning point of the Neapolitan War . Joachim Murat , King of Naples was repulsed by an Austrian force under the command of Johann Frimont whilst trying to cross the bridge over the Po River at Occhiobello . Following the battle , the Austrians would not lose an engagement for the remainder of the war . Background . By March 1815 , it became increasingly likely that Joachim Murat would lose the crown of Naples , which had been given to him by his brother - in - law , Napoleon Bonaparte , in 1808 . After hearing news that Napoleon had escaped from exile in Elba and landed in France , Murat decided to take matters into his own hands and declared war on Austria , the greatest threat to his position as King of Naples . Following Napoleon ' s defeat in 1814 , areas such as Lombardy and Venetia became part of the Austrian Empire and were directly ruled from Vienna . On 30 March , hoping to start a popular uprising against the Austrians , Murat gave the Rimini Proclamation calling all Italian nationalists to war . Although there were many Italians sympathetic to his cause , fearful of the increasing Austrian influence in Italy and longing for independence , most Italians saw Murat as someone trying to save his own crown rather than a figurehead for unification . The Austrians also quickly crushed any unrest and there would be no general insurrection so long as Austrian troops were stationed in Italy . Despite this , by early April , Murat has reached the Austrian border on the Po River . Across the border in Lombardy , there were reportedly around 40 , 000 Italian partisans , mostly veterans of the Napoleonic Wars , waiting to join Murat ' s army as soon he arrived in Milan . However , the Austrians had also been assembling troops in northern Italy . Originally intended for an invasion of southern France following Napoleon ' s return from exile , the Austrians troops now moved south to counter the threat Murat now posed . Realising the danger of an Italian insurrection should Murat arrive in Milan , Johann Frimont moved his headquarters to Piacenza to block Murat ' s direct route to Milan . By now , the Austrian numbers on the frontier and available for war swelled to nearly 50 , 000 , vastly outnumbering the Neapolitans . With his original route now blocked , Murat was forced eastwards to Ferrara . On the 8 April , Murat made an attempt to cross the Po into Austria with the bulk of his army at the town of Occhiobello , just a few miles northwest of Ferrara . Battle . Murat chose Occhiobello as a crossing point because the bridge was only lightly defended by a small force of Austrians under the command of Johann Freiherr von Mohr . However , the majority of the Neapolitan artillery had been diverted to the Siege of Ferrara along with a significant portion of Murat ' s army , where the Austrian garrison was frustrating the Neapolitans . Nevertheless , Murat was still able to move on Occhiobello with around 25 , 000 infantry and cavalry . Meanwhile , although the Austrians had spread their forces along their border , they had concentrated their guns at favourable positions around the bridges over the Po . When on 8 April , Murat finally launched his first attempt to cross the bridge at Occhiobello , a dogged defensive action by Mohr ' s outnumbered infantry combined with a devastating artillery barrage , threw the Neapolitan attack back in disarray . After successive charges , including one by an entire dragoon regiment , were repulsed by the Austrians , the Neapolitan morale slowly disintegrated and the assault petered out . The following day , Murat again attempted to force a crossing but by now Frimont had reinforced Mohr ' s force to around 10 , 000 men . On the other hand , the Neapolitan force had dwindled due to large numbers of the less enthusiastic officers and men deserting Murat ' s cause altogether . By the end of the second day , Murat was compelled to fall back from Occhiobello and establish a new defensive position in preparation of the inevitable Austrian counterattack . To make matters worse , news had reached Italy that the United Kingdom had declared war on Murat and were sending a fleet of gunboats to the Adriatic Sea . The Neapolitans had sustained over 2 , 000 casualties during the two days of fighting with thousands more deserting . The Austrians had sustained only 400 casualties and had established a bridgehead around Occhiobello from where they would able to launch attacks against Carpi and Casaglia . With the morale of Neapolitan army broken and the partisans in Lombardy unable to join his cause , Murat would eventually be forced to retire back to his original headquarters in Ancona by late April .