Battle of Caldiero (1796)
The Battle of Caldiero on the 12th of November 1796 handed Napoleon Bonaparte one of his rarest setbacks on the Italian peninsula. A French assault on Austrian positions near Verona was repulsed, costing Bonaparte roughly 1,800 men killed, wounded, or captured. The question is why a commander so often compared to a chess grandmaster found himself outmatched that day on a rain-lashed ridge east of Verona. The answers lie in the weight of three converging pressures: a besieged garrison at Mantua that had to be kept locked up, two Austrian armies pressing from different directions at once, and a violent hailstorm that struck at precisely the wrong moment for French musketmen.
Feldzeugmeister József Alvinczi crossed the Piave River on the 2nd of November 1796 with an army of 28,000 men, making this the third Austrian attempt to raise the Siege of Mantua. Simultaneous with Alvinczi's march from the east, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Davidovich pushed south from the north with 18,000 men against Trento. The prize both columns were marching toward was Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, who was trapped inside Mantua with a garrison of 23,708 men. Of those, only 12,420 were fit to fight. Bonaparte's situation was already stretched before a shot was fired. He posted a 10,500-man division under General of Division Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois to face Davidovich in the north, and placed General of Division André Masséna's 9,500-man division at Bassano on the Brenta River to watch Alvinczi. General of Division Pierre Augereau held 8,300 men in reserve at Verona, while General of Division Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine kept 8,800 men blockading Wurmser's garrison. On the 6th of November, Bonaparte attacked Alvinczi at Bassano and Fontaniva with 19,500 men, including Masséna and Augereau. Alvinczi's two division commanders, Feldmarschall-Leutnants Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich and Giovanni Marchese di Provera, helped repel the French at what became known as the Second Battle of Bassano. French losses reached 3,000 killed, wounded, and captured; Austrian casualties numbered about 2,800.
On the 7th of November, Davidovich routed Vaubois at the Battle of Calliano, inflicting 4,400 French casualties against an Austrian loss of 3,500. Bonaparte shifted his attention north, pulling his eastern force back to Verona. The Austrian northern commander then held still, under the mistaken belief that Masséna's division had reinforced the battered Vaubois column. That pause proved consequential: it gave Bonaparte room to pivot toward Alvinczi rather than fight on two fronts simultaneously. By the 11th of November, Alvinczi's advance elements reached Caldiero, a town roughly 15 kilometres east of Verona. Generalmajor Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, believing Verona was being evacuated, pushed his advance guard forward. Bonaparte responded by sending the divisions of Masséna and Augereau across the Adige River. Hohenzollern lost 400 men in that preliminary exchange and fell back to a ridge running north of Caldiero, where Bonaparte resolved to strike the following morning.
Bonaparte committed 13,000 men to crack Hohenzollern's position on the 12th of November, sending Masséna against the Austrian right and Augereau against the Austrian left. The Austrians had fortified themselves inside several villages and held against the first waves. A violent rain and hailstorm then blew directly into the faces of the French troops, making it difficult for them to prime their muskets. By midday, Masséna had begun making headway on the Austrian right. The afternoon changed everything. The brigades of Generalmajore Adolf Brabeck and Anton Schübirz von Chobinin arrived on the field, stiffening the Austrian line. Masséna's advance stalled and then reversed. Provera appeared separately and drove back Augereau. Nightfall gave the French the cover they needed to pull safely back into Verona.
French losses at Caldiero totalled 1,000 killed and wounded, plus 800 men and two artillery pieces captured. The Austrians lost 950 killed and wounded, with 350 taken prisoner. Having failed to break the Austrian position, Bonaparte weighed retreating behind the Adda River and even abandoning the blockade of Mantua entirely. When the Austrians failed to press their advantage in the days that followed, Bonaparte chose a different path. He stripped every available man from Vaubois and Kilmaine and fell upon Alvinczi again at the Battle of Arcola on the 15th to the 17th of November, defeating the Austrians and reversing the damage that Caldiero had done.
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Common questions
Who won the Battle of Caldiero in 1796?
The Habsburg Austrian forces won the Battle of Caldiero on the 12th of November 1796. The Austrian army, initially led by Generalmajor Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and later reinforced by additional brigades, repelled the French assault and forced Napoleon Bonaparte's divisions back into Verona.
What were the French and Austrian casualties at the Battle of Caldiero 1796?
The French suffered 1,000 killed and wounded, plus 800 men and two artillery pieces captured, for a total of approximately 1,800 losses. The Austrians lost 950 killed and wounded and 350 captured.
Why did Napoleon lose the Battle of Caldiero in 1796?
Several factors combined against the French. A violent rain and hailstorm blew into the faces of French troops, making it difficult to prime their muskets. Austrian reinforcements under Generalmajore Adolf Brabeck and Anton Schübirz von Chobinin arrived in the afternoon and pushed back Masséna's division, while Provera drove back Augereau on the other flank.
What was the Battle of Caldiero 1796 part of?
The Battle of Caldiero was part of the third Austrian attempt to relieve the Siege of Mantua during the War of the First Coalition, itself a phase of the broader French Revolutionary Wars. Two Austrian forces converged on Mantua, with Alvinczi advancing from the east and Davidovich from the north.
What happened to Napoleon after the Battle of Caldiero 1796?
After withdrawing into Verona following the defeat at Caldiero, Bonaparte stripped forces from Generals Vaubois and Kilmaine and launched a new offensive. He defeated the Austrian army under Alvinczi at the Battle of Arcola on the 15th to the 17th of November 1796, reversing the setback of Caldiero.
Where is Caldiero and why was it strategically important in 1796?
Caldiero is a town located approximately 15 kilometres east of Verona in northern Italy. Its importance in 1796 stemmed from its position on the route Alvinczi's Austrian army was using to advance on Verona, which was the key French position guarding the road to the besieged city of Mantua.