Greatest General of All Time

[Conrad_Jalowski]

My choice for this poll would be Napoleon Bonaparte.

Specifically, I will concentrate upon the Italian theatre of war from 1796-1797 CE and the years from 1798-1802 CE.

During the period from 1796-1797 C.E, the French government [Composed of a Five-Man Executive Directory with the nominal head being the Executive Director Paul Barras; and the Council of Ancients and the Council of 500 that composed the legislative branch] formed the grand strategic plan of a tripartite [Three system] classificatory military scheme: a French "Army of the Rhine" to cross over into the Holy Roman Empire [German states, either feudal or allodial], a French "Army of the Alps" [Led by General Kellerman to help secure the lines of communication, act as a reinforcing factor to areas of exposure and disruption, and to provide use of interior lines or the aspect of concentrating at the decisive point in areas of great vulnerability] and a French "Army of Italy" led by General Napoleon Bonaparte. The French grand strategic plan was for a major military offensive within the Rhineland so as to establish hegemonic control on certain bordering German states to act as peripheral/buffer states. The French Army of Italy was relegated to a secondary role by the central French government.

During the Italian Campaign of 1796-1797 C.E, Napoleon Bonaparte fought against the Piedmontese, the Austrians, Italian forces and local British garrisons alongside key coastal points. The Piedmontese [Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia] were situated in Piedmont, Savoy, Sardinia, etc whilst the Austrians held hegemonic control over the Duchy of Milan, areas in Lombardy, the Tyrol, Carinthia and Carniola. The Milanese as under Austrian Habsburg [specifically the House of Habsburg-Lorraine] hegemony fought against the French before its defeat and capture; the Papal States were unfavorable to the growing strength of the French due to fears of the loss of political equipollence and thereby the encouragment of political instability and turmoil; and the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily which held the key ports of Naples, Palermo, Lilybaeum, Syracuse, etc.

Napoleon Bonaparte, General-in-Chief of the French "Army of Italy", concentrated his forces at the decisive point and exploited gaps between the Piedmontese and Austrians thereby attacking each enemy piece meal and establishing local superiority led to the division between the Piedmontese and Austrians, the disintegration of the Allied supply routes, etc. Since the Piedmontese and Austrians were scattered, Napoleon Bonaparte divided the two allied armies by exploiting gaps and managed to achieve the surrender of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia that ceded Piedmont, Savoy, etc to the French. With the Austrian retreat, Napoleon Bonaparte captured the city of Milan and its ducal lands and transformed the city of Milan into his central base of operations. After further defeating the Austrians and threatening the Austrian capital of Vienna with stunning success and the great loss of Austrian hegemonic control in Northern Italy, the treaty of "Campo Formio" followed. Only the Venetian Republic in Northern Italy remained autonomous from French rule. The demarcation line between the French and the Austrian Empire [Composed mainly of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary] was alongside the line of Venetia, Carniola, Carinthia and the Tyrol. In addition, Tuscany became a dependant state of the French; the Papal States or the "Marches of St. Peter" was occupied by the French; and the Kingdom of Naples was isolated from allied nations within the Italian Peninsula.

During the War of the Second Coalition [1798-1802 CE], the French temporarily lost hegemony within the majority of the Italian Peninsula with only a foothold in Piedmont, Savoy and Genoa. The brilliant Italian campaign of Alexander Suvorov in which the French general Joubert was killed in battle as well as the defeats of French generals Massena and Macdonald resulted in a demoralization of the French forces stationed in Italy. However, in the twin battles of Hohenlinden: 1800 C.E [led by French general Jean-Victor Marie Moreau] and Marengo: 1800 C.E [led by First/Premier Citizen-Consul Napoleon Bonaparte], the French were victorious and led to a reversal in Allied fortune that had followed them in the War of the Second Coalition.