Customer Reviews

The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign

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Road to Rivoli is a superb account of Napoleon's first campaign in Italy in 1796-1797. Martin Boycott-Brown, a British scholar, spent seven years in Italy and has used his knowledge of the terrain, as well as Austrian and Italian sources, to present a very thorough account of this campaign. Although not as well known as Napoleon's later campaigns during the empire, the first Italian campaign was probably his most brilliant. Road to Rivoli sheds much new light on this pivotal campaign that began Napoleon on his brilliant military career. The author concludes that, "the campaign could be called a triumph of building and maintaining morale in the face of appalling difficulties of administration and supply."

The book begins with two short chapters on the origins of the war and the weapons and tactics of the late Eighteenth Century. The introductory framework built by these chapters is followed by two more that move to the more specific, focusing on the Austrian army and the French army. These two chapters on the Austrian and French armies are short but valuable in outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing forces. Most accounts tend to portray the Austrian army as a professional - if stuffy and unimaginative - army that was well trained and equipped. Similarly, the French Armée d'Italie is usually portrayed as a ill-equipped, demoralized mob prior to the arrival of Napoleon. To his credit, Martin Boycott-Brown strives to dispel these accepted generalizations. As he points out, Italy was a quiet, secondary theater for the Austrians and the units there were under strength and not fully equipped. Disease was costing the Austrians over 900 soldiers per month just prior to the start of the campaign. While the French army was short on supplies and discipline, this same force had beaten the Austrians at the Battle of Lonato five months prior to the arrival of Napoleon. When he did arrive, Napoleon found an army that was in poor condition, but it did know how to fight. Napoleon also benefited by gaining three very able subordinate commanders in Augereau, Massena and Serrurier.

The author goes to great lengths to show the extensive intellectual preparation that Napoleon made for his first campaign. Unlike the Austrian officers, who eschewed book learning, Napoleon read extensively about previous campaigns in Italy, the topography, economy and politics. In modern terms, this would be called intelligence preparation of the battlefield, and it contributed in no small measure to his victory. Once the campaign begins, Martin Boycott-Brown covers the rapid defeat of Piedmont and the spectacular crossing of the Po River in great detail. Although these operations may seem minor in nature due to their rapid conclusion, they were anything but easy. On the receiving end, the Austrians were stunned by Napoleon's first month of campaigning and their morale never fully recovered.

The longest part of the campaign, from June 1796 to January 1797, is covered in the last 165 pages. Napoleon was on the tactical defensive in this period, attempting to hold onto his gains in Italy while fending off Austrian counterattacks. The Austrians made four great attempts to relieve their besieged fortress of Mantua - and Napoleon beat them all four times. However the margin of victory was often narrow, and the French army suffered great losses. The Road to Rivoli climaxes on the battlefield of that name, when Napoleon smashes the final Austrian attempt to break through to Mantua. Following this victory, Mantua surrendered and Napoleon invaded the Tyrol and pushed toward Vienna. The desperate Austrian government sued for an armistice, effectively ending the War of the First Coalition. If there is any disappointment in this book, it is the coverage given to the period following the Battle of Rivoli, which is covered in only a couple of pages. Nor is there any analytical summary of the campaign; losses on both sides, political changes in Italy, etc. Napoleon had not only demonstrated immense military talent in his first campaign, but he had in fact decisively ended the war.

The maps in the book are superb, but unfortunately they lack annotations about French and Austrian movements. The author also provides excellent and very detailed order of battle information on the Austrian army, but quite a bit less on the French. The bibliography and endnotes are thorough. For his first major effort in historical writing, Martin Boycott-Brown has made a very impressive start.

FINALLY! A modern author has provided the English-speaking audience with well-researched coverage of Napoleon Bonaparte's first major campaign in an excellent introduction to the Napoleonic wars. Boycott-Brown's hefty volume replaces those older, hard to find, shorter works such as Jackson's ATTACK in the WEST, Adlow's NAPOLEON in ITALY and Ferrero's THE GAMBLE. Brown's work is far more comprehensive and incorporates a most impressive body of research complimented with a lovely bibliography and fairly decent maps. Personally, I enjoyed the author's clear, readable style with a pleasant undercurrent of cultured wit and humor. Along with astute, thoughtful commentary and some fairly sharp analysis, the reader will discover some enlightening asides such as descriptions of Massena's adroit HUMINT network, Austrian secret courier methods, or examples of French drafting of orders. As an old staff officer I particularly enjoy an author who can appreciate the necessity of less glamorous pursuits such as planning, intelligence, and logistics to ensure 'glorious' victories on the battlefield. I am once again amazed at Bonaparte's capacity for work and his grasp of military history and geography -that in-depth research and planning which supplied the vital underpinnings of his spectacular successes. As the indefatigable Berthier commented on his commander, "...he works a lot." The author has done Napoleonic scholars a great service with this nice book - enjoy.

This exciting new book on Napoleon's Italian campaign of 1796 by Martin Boycott-Brown is a great story of Napoleon Bonaparte's first military campaign. In over 500 pages of text the author presents a fluid and easy to follow account of the actions and maneuvers of this military genius. He starts the book with a number of chapters outlining the French and Austrian armies, their weapons and tactics, and a brief account of Napoleon's rise to the command of the French armies in Italy.

From there the author takes us on a journey with Napoleon and his army as they march and battle against the combined forces of the Allied armies in Italy. The narrative is easy to follow, is well written and researched and has numerous first-hand accounts throughout.

The only major problem that I have with this book is the maps. I think that there could have been a few more and they should have been placed in the relevant areas of the narrative. I also think that the standard of those supplied could have been of a higher quality. Further, considering that the author lived in the area of these battles, I would have liked to have seen a few photographs of the region and personalities involved.

Those criticisms aside, overall this is an excellent book covering a period of Napoleon's career that is usually glossed over in most current studies. I am sure that the majority of readers who enjoy this period of history or who like good solid accounts of military history will thoroughly enjoy this book.

"The most detailed and coherent account of the campaign that I have ever read.... A truly first-rate study." - Philip Haythornthwaite

It is early Spring 1796, a novice general takes command of the Army of Italy. The Army is hungry, poorly clothed and dispirited. The French are barely hanging onto their foothold on the Italian Riviera. Within little more than a year, the Army of Italy will knock Piedmont out of the War, chase the Austrian Army across Northern Italy, repulse four determined counter-attacks, seize the fortress of Mantua, march up into the Tyrol, threaten Vienna and force the Austrians out of the War! What an amazing first campaign. Some of Napoleon's later campaigns may be more famous but no campaign is more dramatic.

Martin Boycott-Brown has done a favor to the English language world by publishing the first comprehensive account of that campaign to come out in many decades. The hardback version is 526 pages long and is filled with the type of obscure detail that enthusiasts of military history love. Earlier reviewers are correct when they note that book's maps are of poor quality. However, if someone is going to be reading a detailed campaign book about the 1786-7 Italian campaign, they are more likely than not to already have many other Napoleonic history books that can be used to supplement this book's maps.

The appeal of this book is to see Napoleon at the beginning of his career. This is his first campaign and as to be expected things do not always go according to plan. It is a pleasure to see Napoleon's military genius at its real birth. In addition, many of the great characters that are to become important in Napoleon's story are present in these early days. Massena, Berthier, Murat, Lannes and Augereau all enter history's stage in this campaign.

If I have one crticism of this book it is that Martin Boycott-Brown is so earnest and determined to accurately describe this campaign. Drama is often sacrificed for detail. Fortunately, now that the essential details have been nailed down, another writer with the novelist's gift for drama and turn of phrase will come and tell this amazing story in a more lyrical manner.

One of the more interesting books on Napoleonic campaigns, especially one that there haven't been too many books written about it. I found the book to be quite an enjoyable read but like most of the other people who wrote reveiws on it, what bring down the book was lousy maps. Considering the details that the author offered in the book in tracing movements, battles and all that, good maps should have been alloted all over the book. Instead there were basically generic maps in the middle of the book. It sad when I have to go to other books like West Point Atlas of Napoleonic Wars to get a clearer pictures of what the author was trying to say. Considering how familiar the author is to the entire area of operation, maybe he fell into a mind trap of thinking that everyone knows the terrains as much as he. Other then that, I don't have much more to add then what was written before.

Studies of Napoleon's Italian campaign are hard to come by, so this book fills a very important space in Napoleonic historiography. The author does a fine job, with a large amount of detail being presented in a readable style. One comes away feeling they have gained a solid understanding of the campaign.

The book could have made better it the author had carefully examined the mindset of Napoleon himself, and how he felt about everything he was doing. The book also ended rather abruptly, without a discussion of the long-term effects of Napoleon's campaign.

Despite those flaws, this book was very good and should be read by anyone attempting to understand the Napoleonic period.

Here we see Napoleon still only in his twenties bringing to bear on the battlefield the Enlightenment principles of scientific rationalism against a hidebound, traditional European enemy. Add his charisma and leadership qualities to the mix and it's hard not to feel sorry for the Austrians.

The biggest surprise to me was Boycott-Brown's details and quoted correspondence of Napoleon and Josephine. To say he was smitten would be an understatement. That he was as naively obsessed with her, and still able to conduct this brilliant and energetic campaign speaks volumes of his ability to mentally and emotionally compartmentalize.

Subtract one star for inadequate maps. Have Esposito handy in order to best follow the action.

I agree with the two previous reviews in that the campaign detail was well researched and written but undermined by the lack of good maps illustrating the movements of the armies and more importantly the genius of the Napoleons strategy. The series of names and places came thick and fast but it was impossible to envisage the true context of the actions and movements without any campaign maps.
Still this is one of the best works on the subject but so easily could have been the definitive one.

In "The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign," author Martin Boycott-Brown has written a splendid English-language history of Napoleon Bonaparte's 1796-1797 campaign in Italy. Many accounts exist of the war in Italy - David Chandler's classic "The Campaigns of Napoleon" comes to mind - but they are often parts of broader histories and therefore can only mention the key events. In his narrative of events from the battle of Montenotte in April 1796 to the surrender of Mantua in February 1797, including the crucial battle of Rivoli, Boycott-Brown offers up the rich detail that the other histories leave out. Did you know that secret instructions to Austrian commander Johann Beaulieu prevented him from fully cooperating with his personal friend Michelangelo Colli, who led the Sardinian army? Not only are the actions of division and army commanders like Massena, Augereau, Wurmser, and Alvinczi recalled, but so are those of otherwise obscure generals and colonels who followed the orders of Bonaparte and the three Austrian army commanders he faced. Do you know the parts played by Frenchmen Joubert, Sauret, Vaubois, Guieu, or Austrians Rukavina, Vukassovich, Mittrovsky, and Reuss? The author often provides day-by-day and even hour-by-hour accounts, not only of the battles, but the smaller skirmishes and marches that led to Bonaparte's victories over his Austrian and Sardinian opponents. Boycott-Brown gives orders of battle, strength returns, and casualty reports for battles at critical historical moments. This book belongs in the library of any serious student of Napoleon.

Great book.....found this book to be extremely detailed, you definitely felt like the author new exactly what he was talking about. I truly appreciated the amount of time, effort and research done on this book. I honestly feel after reading this book I have a clear picture of what occurred in Napoleon's First Italian campaign. It was extremely easy to read and follow (once you had maps.) One issue I had was with the maps, due to the detailed nature of the book if you wanted to follow along you had to go to MapQuest. Not that the maps in the middle of the book were bad but honestly he probably mentions around 250 city names and if you want to follow along like I did....you need detailed maps. I would have also like to have gotten a little more of Napoleon's thoughts on the Campaign from St Helena which I hardly saw. Overall it was a great book and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a detailed look at Napoleon's First Campaign. 9 out of 10!!