Siege of Genoa (1800)

Coordinates: 44°24′40″N 8°55′48″E / 44.41111°N 8.93000°E / 44.41111; 8.93000
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For other uses, see Siege of Genoa.
Siege of Genoa
Part of the War of the Second Coalition

Bombardment of the city of Genoa by the English on the night of 20 May 1800
by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, 1806-1807
Date6 April – 4 June 1800
Location
Genoa, Ligurian Republic
44°24′40″N 8°55′48″E / 44.41111°N 8.93000°E / 44.41111; 8.93000
Result See Aftermath section
Belligerents
 French Republic
Ligurian Republic		  Habsburg Monarchy
 Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
French First Republic André Masséna
Strength
18,000 40,000
1 British naval squadron
Casualties and losses
11,000 total 17,000 total
Siege of Genoa (1800) is located in Liguria
Siege of Genoa (1800)
class=notpageimage|
Location within Liguria
Siege of Genoa (1800) is located in Italy
Siege of Genoa (1800)
Siege of Genoa (1800) (Italy)
War of the Second Coalition:
Italy
Map
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50km
30miles
Marengo
12
Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800
11
Battle of Montebello (1800) on 9 June 1800
10
9
Battle of Genola on 4 November 1799
8
Battle of Novi (1799) on 15 August 1799 Second Battle of Novi (1799) on 24 October 1799
7
Siege of Mantua (1799) from April–July 1799
6
Battle of Trebbia (1799) from 17 to 20 June 1799
5
Battle of Modena (1799) on 12 June 1799
4
Battle of Bassignana (1799) on 12 May 1799
3
Battle of Cassano (1799) on 27 April 1799
2
Battle of Magnano on 5 April 1799
Verona
1
Battle of Verona (1799) on 26 March 1799
  current battle
  Napoleon in command
  Napoleon not in command

The Siege of Genoa (6 April – 4 June 1800) saw a Habsburg Austrian army led by Michael von Melas attack the port of Genoa defended by a Republican French army under André Massena during the War of the Second Coalition. The Austrian army isolated Massena and half of the French army in Genoa, while driving off the other half of the army. Once Genoa was laid under siege, Massena conducted a very active defense with frequent sorties. Besieged on the land side by 24,000 Austrians led by Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz and on the seaside by a Royal Navy squadron, famine reduced the defenders to starvation. By the time Massena surrendered the city on 4 June, many thousands of Genoa's residents died of starvation. While the Austrian army was focused on the siege, Napoleon Bonaparte's army invaded Italy from the northwest, ultimately winning the Battle of Marengo.

In the end, around 30,000 of Genoa's 160,000 inhabitants had died of starvation and disease in the course of the siege.[1]

Background[edit]

In early 1799, the French Directory deployed two armies in Italy. The Army of Naples led by Étienne Macdonald occupied Rome and Naples with 32,010 men. The Army of Italy under Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer defended northern Italy. In March, the Directory ordered Schérer to detach a 6,400-man division to invade and plunder the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. This left Schérer with only 43,000 men in his field army, not counting various occupying forces.[2] The Austrian army commanded by Paul Kray counted 50,700 men, but a 24,551-strong Russian army under Alexander Suvorov was approaching. The indecisive Battle of Verona on 26 March[3] was followed by the Battle of Magnano on 5 April 1799. At Magnano, the French lost 7,000–8,000 casualties while the Austrians reported 5,228 casualties. Leaving 12,000 men to defend Mantua, Schérer started a panicky retreat that did not stop until the French army reached the Adda River.[4]

Schérer was replaced in command by Jean Victor Marie Moreau but the French were defeated at the Battle of Cassano on 27–28 April 1799.[5] The string of major defeats continued with the Battle of Trebbia on 17–20 June,[6] the surrender of Mantua on 28 July,[7] the Battle of Novi on 15 August,[8] and the Battle of Genola on 4 November.[9] By the end of 1799, the French hold on Italy was almost the same as it was in March 1796 when Bonaparte assumed command of the army. The badly fed and supplied French army clung to Genoa and the Italian Riviera. The army commander Jean-Étienne Championnet wished to abandon Genoa, but the Directory stubbornly refused to allow this.[10] Championnet died of disease on 9 January 1800[11] and was eventually replaced by André Massena.[12]

On 9 October 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte returned to France from Egypt.[13] The "weak and corrupt" French Directory was very unpopular.[14] Bonaparte immediately entered into a conspiracy to overthrow the Directory.[13] The Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) was successful[15] and on 25 December, Bonaparte became First Consul, a position in which he held dictatorial power.[16] On 25 January 1800, Bonaparte ordered Louis-Alexandre Berthier to assemble a 60,000-man Reserve Army at Dijon. To trick enemy spies, some second-class units began arriving at Dijon, while the first-class units began massing elsewhere. The Austrian government was completely fooled by this ruse and did not realize that the Reserve Army represented a serious threat to Italy.[17]

Beginning[edit]

Initially, the French had about 60,000 soldiers, but this number was reduced to about 36,000 fighting men due to a typhus epidemic that had also taken the lives of two of Masséna's predecessors, generals Jean-Étienne Championnet and Jean-Antoine Marbot. The Austrian commander, Michael von Melas, had around 120,000 soldiers available in Italy. After the first engagements, despite the bravery of French soldiers under Louis-Gabriel Suchet and Jean-de-Dieu Soult, Genoa was soon cut off from any outside help. By 6 April, the French were surrounded not only by land, but also by sea where a strong British squadron had just taken up positions.[Note 1] Nevertheless, French morale remained high and Masséna was determined to hold on.

Plan of the city of Genoa, and its fortifications with the surrounding valleys in 1800

Siege[edit]

Though Genoa was defended both by nature and by strong fortifications, Masséna planned a more offensive strategy. On 7 April, he ordered an attack on Monte Ratti, which resulted in the Austrians being thrown out of the Apennines and the French capturing about 1,500 prisoners, including General-Major Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré. Two days later, Masséna began a desperate operation to unite with the rest of the French forces commanded by Suchet. Although Massena was cut off with only 1,200 soldiers against 10,000 Austrians, he endured their attacks and, with the help of Soult, captured another 4,000 prisoners. After this battle, the French finally shut themselves in the city. Other desperately fought battles soon followed, especially those for Fort Quezzi and Fort Richelieu, inflicting further heavy casualties on the Austrians. French forces then captured Mount Creto, forcing the Austrians to halt all further actions.

In the meantime, Bonaparte was marching with the Army of the Reserve not to the relief of Genoa, but to Milan, where he spent six days. By the end of May, plague had spread throughout Genoa and the civilian population was in revolt. Negotiations for the exchange of prisoners began in early June, but the citizens and some of the garrison clamoured for capitulation. Unknown to Masséna, the Austrian general Peter Ott had been ordered to raise the siege because Bonaparte had crossed Great St. Bernard Pass and was now threatening the main Austrian army. Describing the situation at Genoa, Ott requested and received permission to continue the siege. On 4 June, Masséna's negotiator finally agreed to evacuate the French army from Genoa. However, "if the word capitulation was mentioned or written", Masséna threatened to end all negotiations.[19]

Two days later, a few of the French left the city by sea, but the bulk of Masséna's starving and exhausted troops marched out of the city with all their equipment and followed the road along the coast toward France, ending one of the most remarkable sieges in modern military history. The siege was an astonishing demonstration of tenacity, ingenuity, courage, and daring that garnered additional laurels for Masséna and placed him in a category previously reserved for Bonaparte alone.[20]

Aftermath[edit]

The grueling siege of some sixty days had ended but it played an important role in Napoleon's strategy. By forcing the Austrians to deploy vast forces against himself at Genoa, Masséna made it possible for Bonaparte to cross the Great St Bernard Pass, surprise the Austrians, and ultimately defeat General Melas's army at Marengo before sufficient reinforcements could be transferred from the siege site. Less than three weeks after the evacuation, Bonaparte wrote to Masséna, "I am not able to give you a greater mark of the confidence I have in you than by giving you command of the first army of the Republic [Army of Italy]."[21] The Austrians also recognized the significance of Masséna's defense; the Austrian chief of staff declared firmly, "You won the battle, not in front of Alessandria but in front of Genoa."[22]

References[edit]

  • Arnold, James R. (2005). Marengo & Hohenlinden: Napoleon's Rise to Power. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword. ISBN 1-84415-279-0.
  • Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (2011). Warfare in the Age of Napoleon: The Egyptian and Syrian Campaigns & the Wars of the Second and Third Coalitions, 1798-1805. Vol. 2. Leonaur Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85706-600-8.
  • Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011) [1939]. The Armies of the First French Republic and the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I: The Armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt, and the Coup d'Etat of Brumaire (1797-1799). Vol. 5. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908692-28-3.
  • Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
  • Roberts, Andrew (2014). Napoleon: A Life. New York: Penguin Books. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-670-02532-9.

Notes[edit]

Footnotes
  1. ^ The naval squadron consisted of HMS Minotaur, Phoenix, Mondovi, Entreprenante, and the tender Victoire, all under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith.[18]
Citations
  1. ^ Roberts 2014, p. 257.
  2. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 250–251.
  3. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 254–255.
  4. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 257–258.
  5. ^ Smith 1998, pp. 152–153.
  6. ^ Smith 1998, pp. 159–160.
  7. ^ Smith 1998, p. 161.
  8. ^ Smith 1998, p. 163.
  9. ^ Smith 1998, p. 172.
  10. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 341.
  11. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 345–346.
  12. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 465.
  13. ^ a b Phipps 2011, p. 448.
  14. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 444.
  15. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 457–462.
  16. ^ Arnold 2005, pp. 23–24.
  17. ^ Arnold 2005, pp. 35–36.
  18. ^ "No. 15262". The London Gazette. 1 June 1800. p. 561.
  19. ^ Masséna to Ott, 2 June 1800, Gachot, Le Siège de Gênes, 241.
  20. ^ "INS Scholarship 1997: André Masséna, Prince D'Essling, in the Age of Revolution". Napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
  21. ^ Bonaparte to Masséna, 25 June 1800, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, No. 4951, VI, 489-90.
  22. ^ James Marshall-Cornwall, Marshal Massena, 115.
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