Battle of Carpi The Battle of Carpi was a series of manoeuvres in the summer of 1701 , and the first battle of the War of the Spanish Succession that took place on July 9 , 1701 between France and Austria . Prelude . In Italy the emperor took the initiative , and an Austrian army under Prince Eugene , intended to overrun the Spanish possessions in the Peninsula , assembled in Tyrol in the early summer , while the opposing army ( French , Spaniards and Piedmontese ) , commanded by Marshal Catinat , was slowly drawing together between the Chiese and the Adige . But supply difficulties hampered Eugene , and the French were able to occupy the strong positions of the Rivoli , defile above Verona . There Catinat thought himself secure , as all the country to the east was Venetian and neutral . But Eugene , while making ostentatious preparations to enter Italy by the Adige or Lake Garda or the Brescia road , secretly reconnoitred passages over the mountains between Rovereto and the Vicenza district . On the 27th of May , taking infinite precautions as to secrecy , and requesting the Venetian authorities to offer no opposition so long as his troops behaved well , Eugene began his march by paths that no army had used since Charles V ' s time , and on the 28th his army was on the plains . His first object was to cross the Adige without fighting , and also by ravaging the duke of Mantua Charles IV ' s private estates ( sparing the possessions of the common people ) to induce that prince to change sides . Catinat was completely surprised , for he had counted upon Venetian neutrality , and when in the search for a passage over the lower Adige , Eugene ' s army spread to Legnago and beyond , he made the mistake of supposing that the Austrians intended to invade the Spanish possessions south of the Po River . His first dispositions had , of course , been for the defence of the Rivoli approaches , but he now thinned out his line until it reached to the Po . The battle . After five weeks ' cautious manoeuvring on both sides , Eugene found an unguarded spot about 10 km southeast of Legnago near the town of Castagnaro . With the usual precautions of secrecy ( deceiving even his own army ) , he crossed the lower Adige in the night of the 8th - 9 July , and overpowered the small cavalry corps that alone was encountered at Carpi ( July 9 ) . Catinat at once concentrated his scattered army backwards on the Mincio , while Eugene turned northward and regained touch with his old line of supply , Roveredo - Rivoli . For some time Eugene was in great difficulties for supplies , as the Venetians would not allow his barges to descend the Adige . At last , however , he made his preparations to cross the Mincio close to Peschiera del Garda and well beyond Catinat ' s left , with the intention of finding a new supply area about Brescia . This was executed on the 28th of July . Catinat ' s cavalry , though coming within sight of Eugene ' s bridges , offering no opposition . It seems that the marshal was well content to find that his opponent had no intention of attacking the Spanish possessions in the Peninsula , at any rate Catinat fell back quietly to the Oglio . But his army resented his retreat before the much smaller force of the Austrians and , early in August , his rival Tessé reported this to Paris , whereupon Marshal Villeroy , a favourite of Louis , was sent to take command .