Meteoric.

This is coolbert:

Meteoric! The generalship of Napoleon.

Have you ever done it ze French way?

Warp-speed, whirlwind, rapid! To say the least! And it all began with Italy!

"The Italian campaign of 1796-1797, waged by a young Napoleon Bonaparte, was a decisive campaign in the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). It led to the defeat of Austria, the beginning of French control of northern Italy, and the end of the war, but most importantly, it launched Bonaparte himself to new heights of fame and power." https://tinyurl.com/333dahn3

Herewith an extract of an extract. Napoleon the Italian Campaign.

"We have them now"

Courtesy https://www.isegoria.net |  June 16th, 2024 |   https://tinyurl.com/mvdfkmyw

"Since the campaign had begun a year earlier, Napoleon had crossed the Apennines and the Alps, defeated a Sardinian army and no fewer than six Austrian armies, and killed, wounded or captured 120,000 Austrian soldiers. All this he had done before his twenty-eighth birthday. Eighteen months earlier he had been an unknown, moody soldier writing essays on suicide; now he was famous across Europe, having defeated mighty Austria, wrung peace treaties from the Pope and the kings of Piedmont and Naples, abolished the medieval dukedom of Modena, and defeated in every conceivable set of military circumstances most of Austria’s most celebrated generals — Beaulieu, Wurmser, Provera, Quasdanovich, Alvinczi, Davidovich — and outwitted the Archduke Charles."

"Napoleon had fought against Austrian forces that were invariably superior in number, but which he had often outnumbered on the field of battle thanks to his repeated strategy of the central position. A profound study of the history and geography of Italy before he ever set foot there had proved extremely helpful, as had his willingness to experiment with others’ ideas, most notably the bataillon carré and the , and his minute calculations of logistics, for which his prodigious memory was invaluable. Because he kept his divisions within one day’s march of each other, he was able to concentrate them for battle and, once joined, he showed great calmness under pressure." 

Regarding the bataillon carré:

"The Bataillon Carré was a tactical formation used by Napoleon Bonaparte’s armies during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a flexible and powerful formation that allowed for concentration of strength and rapid maneuverability on the battlefield.

A bataillon carré was typically formed by several corps marching separately but close enough to support each other."

See further the ordre mixte:  

https://tinyurl.com/4jk4bb4t

See also a previous blog entry that historical rating of Napoleon as a general officer and commander based upon fame/ability/achievement.  https://tinyurl.com/3k2dv3at

coolbert.