After the
battle of Lützen, Napoleon Bonaparte, who held the title of
King of Italy, sent his stepson, Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais, to the country to mobilize the forces of the kingdom against the Coalition. Almost all the regular troops of the
Kingdom of Italy had died in
Russia and therefore Beauharnais had to rebuild the army. He successfully exploited the temporary neutrality of the Austrian Empire and by July 1813 had collected 45,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry and 130 guns. After Austria entered the war in August 1813, its former provinces in
Croatia, conquered by Napoleon and annexed to his
empire, began to rebel against French rule.
Campaign of the Illyrian Provinces Beauharnais deployed soldiers along the road from
Tarvisio to
Ljubljana to face the Austrians of General
Johann von Hiller, and between the end of August and the beginning of September he ordered an attack on the side of
Villach. They resulted in short-term successes: in those days Fiume was evacuated by General Pierre Dominique Garnier and occupied by Field Marshal
Laval Nugent von Westmeath, while the whole of Istria fell into the hands of the Austrians. The viceroy, threatened on his right, sent General
Domenico Pino against Nugent, who defeated the enemy at Jeltschaneand in Lipa and on 15 September he had Rijeka occupied by Gillot Rougier's brigade. However, Beauharnais, not satisfied, replaced Pino with general
Giuseppe Federico Palombini, who, however, was unable to prevent the Austrians from reoccupying
Fiume,
Lipa and
Adelsberg and putting a
blockade on Trieste. At that point
Dalmatia was lost to the French Empire. The Croatian troops deserted en masse and the uprisings of the populations became unsustainable. On 31 October General
Franjo Tomašić occupied
Tenin, on 1 November Colonel Donese took Seico, on 6 December General Roise, closed in
Zadar by the British and Tomasich, capitulated to honourable conditions and at the same time
Hvar,
Split,
Clissa and
Trogir. The last to capitulate were
Cattaro and
Ragusa. Cattaro, defended by the general Jean-Joseph Gauthier surrendered on 4 January 1814, while Ragusa, defended by General
Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard, surrendered on 29 January. Finally, on 11 January 1814, Murat signed an offensive and defensive alliance with Austria in Naples: this guaranteed his continued possession of the kingdom and, with a secret article, promised him an increase in territory in the Papal States; moreover it provided for a renunciation by Ferdinand IV of the mainland domains. In exchange Murat renounced claims on Sicily. Regarding military operations, the general pledged to support the Coalition with an army of 30,000 men. On 21 January 1814, the Kingdom of Naples changed sides, pitching its 30,000 soldiers against the former ally Beauharnais. However Murat avoided engaging in active hostilities against the Franco-Italian troops, as a result of which the troops of Beauharnais succeeded in curbing the advance of the Austrians and the British landing in the Po area. Under the strong pressure of his new allies, Murat made slow attacks with no great results. With the war now clearly in favour of the Coalition, and with the betrayal of his brother-in-law, Napoleon wrote to his stepson Eugène to abandon Italy and retreat with his troops towards the
Western Alps, but Beauharnais refused, wanting to confront the Austro-Neapolitan army. At the same time Bonaparte freed
Pope Pius VII, to prevent the Coalition from doing so. Meanwhile, Field Marshal
Heinrich Johann Bellegarde had taken command of the Austrian army on 15 December 1813 in
Vicenza and, in January, ordered his troops to carry out a new offensive along the Adige. While Nugent advancing from Ferrara occupied all of
Romagna, Bellegarde showed his diplomatic skills and managed to convince Murat to deploy 20,000 of his men in
Emilia-Romagna against Beauharnais. Bellegarde had designated Count Nugent's corps (about 9,000 men, 800 horsemen and 21 artillery pieces) for operations on the right bank of the Po in order to threaten the right flank of the viceroy of Italy on the
Mincio. Knowing that the enemy was concentrating his troops between
Villafranca di Verona and
Roverbella, Beauharnais decided to give him battle on 8 February and made arrangements for the movements of his army. But on the very day that he had decided to attack, Marshal Bellegarde, believing that the viceroy had already withdrawn towards
Alessandria, leaving very few troops on the Mincio, had ordered generals Radivojevich and Franz von Merville to cross the river at
Borghetto di Borbera and to Pozzolo, and to generals Anton Mayer von Heldenfeld and Annibale Sommariva to face
Mantua and
Peschiera del Garda. Thus it was that the simultaneous offensive movements of the two armies gave rise to
a battle with great bloodshed. The viceroy initially managed to keep the field against the Austrians, but in the long run his position was lost. On 15 February the Neapolitans officially declared war on Napoleon, sieging the Ancona Citadel. Later on, in the last week of February, they tried to pass the Po river, failing to establish a strong position on the French side of the river due to the immediate intervention of a French detachment, led by general
Pierre Bonnemains. The right wing of the Austrians faced Beauharnais near
Parma in early March. In agreement with Murat, Nugent decided on 6 March to attack the enemy in
Reggio Emilia. On 7 March the Austrians marched under the command of Major General Anton Gundacker von Starhemberg and the Neapolitan division of General Carrascosa to Reggio, where the Italian general
Filippo Severoli had taken refuge with 7,000 men near the San Maurizio district. On 10 March the Austrians had reached the
Taro, occupied
Fornovo and were approaching
Piacenza. After receiving the news of Napoleon's renunciation of the throne, Eugène signed an agreement with the Austrian general, Count
Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont, following which on 16 April he renounced his arms, ceded Milan and ceded overall command of the Kingdome of Italy's troops to Bellegarde. At that juncture Eugène de Beauharnais wanted to be crowned (something the Coalition did not oppose), but the Italian
Senato consulente refused. Venice was occupied by the Austrians on 20 April while being made aware of the
capture of Genoa by the Anglo-Sicilians on the same day. Also on 20 April a rebellion against the viceroy broke out in Milan which led to the lynching of the Minister of Finance
Giuseppe Prina. Consequently, on 23 April Beauharnais signed the
Convention of Mantua, with which the Austrians managed to occupy all of northern Italy, and he withdrew to Bavaria under the patronage of King Maximilian I Joseph. The Austrians entered Milan on 28 April and King Vittorio Emanuele I of Savoy entered
Turin on 20 May. On 27 April the French garrisons surrendered in Piacenza and on 28 April also the fortress of Mantua. == Notes ==