Battle of Bassano

Overview

The Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The engagement occurred during the second Austrian attempt to raise the siege of Mantua. It was a French victory; however, it was the last battle in Napoleon's perfect military career as two months later he would be defeated at the Second Battle of Bassano, ending his victorious streak. The Austrians abandoned their artillery and baggage, losing supplies, cannons, and battle standards to the French. The victory led to Wurmser being trapped in Mantua, but Napoleon would find his army now badly overstretched, due to holding both Trento and Bassano, meaning he could not support either of those locations without being drawn too far away from the other, something that would nearly allow the Austrians to win during the third attempt to raise the siege of Mantua in November.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Bassano, fought on 8 September 1796, was a French victory during the second Austrian attempt to relieve the besieged garrison at Mantua. Napoleon Bonaparte's forces defeated Wurmser's army and captured Austrian artillery, baggage, cannons, and battle standards. The immediate operational consequence was the entrapment of Wurmser inside Mantua, effectively neutralizing his field army and sustaining the French siege. However, the victory carried a strategic cost: holding both Trento and Bassano left the French army badly overstretched, as neither position could be reinforced without dangerously uncovering the other. This overextension would nearly prove fatal during the third Austrian relief attempt in November, when the vulnerabilities exposed by Bassano allowed the Austrians to come close to breaking the siege. The battle also marks a noted inflection point in Napoleon's early Italian campaign — his last engagement before the defeat at the Second Battle of Bassano two months later ended an unbroken run of victories.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)