The Alps Campaign was military campaign during War of the First Coalition, fought as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was waged primarily by the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, supported by Great Britain, Spain, and other states, against the French First Republic from 21 September 1792 to 28 April 1796, the date of the Armistice of Cherasco. The conflict took place along the Alpine front that geographically separates Italy from France.
The signing of peace with France opened a period of both internal and external tensions for Piedmont. Republican movements pushed for the fall of the monarchy, then represented by Charles Emmanuel IV, son of Victor Amadeus III, while the emergence of the neighboring sister republics—the Ligurian Republic and the Cisalpine Republic—repeatedly triggered diplomatic incidents that inflamed internal opposition to the kingdom. Paradoxically, until December 1798, the survival of the Savoyard monarchy depended on French interest in maintaining the status quo in Piedmont. Following the Sardinian refusal to declare war on the Kingdom of Naples, however, General Joubert, acting on instructions from the Directory, occupied the Piedmontese territory still under Savoyard control, proclaimed the establishment of the Piedmontese Republic, and forced the king to flee to Sardinia.
Background
In the early phases of the French Revolution, the Piedmontese closely followed political developments in France, legitimately concerned that popular uprisings and the very problems afflicting the centuries old monarchy beyond the Alps might also spread within their own kingdom, especially in the Nice region and in Savoy, where large numbers of French aristocrats were finding temporary refuge, and in Sardinia, a region historically distant from the Savoyard court, where it was feared that revolution similar to those that had affected Corsica in previous decades might break out as well.
King Victor Amadeus III, a staunch supporter of the divine legitimacy of monarchy and a deeply religious man, regarded the increasingly anti-monarchical and anti-Catholic positions adopted by the revolutionaries as abhorrent. The arrival of the Count of Artois, the dukes of Berry and of Angoulême and their families—who were moreover related to the House of Savoy—only further radicalised the positions of the king and the court of Turin, within which a strong reactionary movement was growing. In a short time, Turin, and more generally the Savoyard state itself, became a safe destination for French nobility fleeing the climate of increasing violence and hatred directed against them that was spreading throughout France.
With the exception of Savoy, which by language and geographical position was more closely linked to France and where episodes of vandalism and violence clearly inspired by revolutionary ideas were recorded, in the rest of the kingdom, at least until 1791, the ideals of the French Revolution seemed to pass largely unnoticed, ignored by most of the population except for a few isolated groups of students and intellectuals. The rare manifestations of dissent were suppressed, while attempting to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. As part of his containment policy, Victor Amadeus sought to limit further entry of foreigners into his realm, especially French citizens, who were considered likely instigators of unrest. To this end, in 1792 he issued a law preventing anyone without a special passport from entering the kingdom.
While keeping a vigilant eye on developments in France, the other European powers sought a way to resolve the complex social crisis underway and restore Louis XVI to the French throne, albeit each for different reasons. For example, the Holy Roman Emperors Joseph II and later Leopold II acted out of personal interest, since Marie Antoinette was their sister, while the House of Savoy was concerned for the stability and integrity of its dominions, which were perceived as being gravely threatened, especially in the event of a new war with France. In any case, despite the shared belief in the necessity of intervening in favour of the French monarchy, the various sovereigns lacked a concrete plan and instead sought to exploit the situation for their own advantage.
The failed Flight to Varennes by Louis XVI acted as an initial catalyst, bringing the Piedmontese and the Austrians closer together diplomatically. In an initial informal agreement, the emperor committed to sending several troops to Milan and to providing the Savoyards with the services of one of his generals. Furthermore, the two monarchs agreed to come to each other's aid in the event of a war sparked by revolutionary unrest.
Meanwhile, the Austrian emperor met with the King of Prussia, and after several discussions with the Count of Artois, the two reached a formal agreement, drafted more to appease the French émigrés in Austria than out of genuine necessity. In its final paragraphs, the treaty added a brief declaration stating that Austria and Prussia would work in favour of the King of France, enabling him to govern his country in the manner he deemed best. Since the meeting focused primarily on the Partitions of Poland and the conclusion of the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), and given Spain's reservations and the United Kingdom's opposition to a joint action against France, the Declaration of Pillnitz proved vague and ultimately counterproductive, as it distanced the two European powers from a “moderate” position and made them appear as enemies of the ongoing revolution in France. The first foundations of an anti-French coalition had nevertheless been laid.
Tensions between Austria and France increased further the following year after the death of Emperor Leopold and the accession to the throne of his young son Francis II. The Jacobins pressured the king to intervene diplomatically with the new emperor in order to convince him to dismantle all agreements aimed at destroying the revolution. General Dumouriez, politically aligned with the revolutionaries, was sent to Vienna. When faced with Austrian opposition, Dumouriez responded with an ultimatum. Francis again refused, and war consequently became inevitable. Victor Amadeus, given the nature of the conflict and reassure by Vienna that the theatre of war would remain confined to the north, hastened to deploy his forces to defend the borders as a purely precautionary measure. While the war raged on the Rhine front, with Austria and the Kingdom of Prussia engaged against French armies, Victor Amadeus attempted to unite the Italian states in a collective effort against France, in order to prevent the dangerous revolutionary ideas from spreading among the population of the peninsula. Support for this initiative was minimal, primarily because, as had historically always been the case, each Italian state pursued its own interests without regard for the broader picture. Only the Emperor, in his capacity as Duke of Milan and ruler of the Duchy of Mantua, was favourably disposed towards the plan.
Dumouriez questioned the Piedmontese minister regarding alleged movements of heavy artillery in Savoy, the presence of French émigrés in Nice, and the suspected concentration of Austrian troops near Milan, from where they could conveniently enter Piedmont. He was quickly dismissed, as the first two claims were false and the third, while well-founded, was an Austrian matter rather than a Piedmontese one. This response pleased the French governing bodies, which viewed Piedmontese neutrality in the ongoing conflict favourably.
The situation was thrown into crisis by the affair involving minister Charles-Louis Huguet de Sémonville. Tasked with travelling to Turin, the French minister, temporarily resident in Genoa, crossed the border between the maritime republic and the Savoyard monarchy without the special passport introduced that same year by the local authorities. Upon reaching Alessandria, Sémonville was stopped by the city's governor on the direct orders of the king and was politely invited to return to Genoa. The reasons behind this gesture were quite different, and the passport issue was little more than a convenient pretext to block the republican diplomat, who was regarded by many as an agitator and instigator of unrest.
The repercussions of the Sémonville affair were immense. Dumouriez, furious at the treatment of his compatriot, demanded immediate explanations from the court of Turin but was dissatisfied with their responses. Consequently, in early May he informed Generals Montesquiou and d’Anselme, commanders of the Army of the Alps and the Army of the Var, to keep their troops ready in anticipation of retaliation.
A few days earlier, on 20 April, Austria and France had officially entered into war. The first clashes demonstrated that the French army, following the mass flight of its officers, had much ground to recover and was not yet on par with the other European armies. Dumouriez, who had intended to invade Savoy as early as May, was forced to postpone his plans. While fighting started between Belgium and northeastern France, the Piedmontese army began to mobilise: About 40,000 men had already been organised into three armies to defend Savoy, Nice, and the Alpine passes.
With the start of September, the situation began to change. Brunswick, who had penetrated in French territory at the head of an Austro-Prussian army, was halted at the Battle of Valmy, and buoyed by the ensuing enthusiasm, the Republic was proclaimed two days later. The tensions that had characterised relations between France and Piedmont finally led to inevitable consequences: on 10 September the French government ordered General Montesquiou to advance into Savoy, and on 15 September the two countries officially entered into war.
The Campaign
Campaign in 1792
Following the deposition and execution of French King the Louis XVI and the proclamation of the Republic on the 21 September 1792, and since French wanted to invade Nice and Savoy, Victor Amadeus III decided to ally with Austria by signing the so-called “September Convention”, through which the Austrians would assign approximately 90,000 soldiers as reinforcements to the Piedmontese and would assume control of the allied army under the command of General Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, in the role of Inspector General.
Meanwhile, French movements became openly hostile, inciting populations of the Dauphiné and Provence against the neighbouring Savoyards and Niçards. In addition, the defeatism of the Piedmontese generals tasked with defending the ancient transalpine provinces did the rest: General Jean-Baptiste de Lazary who was commander in Savoy, withdrew without a fight, allowing Chambéry to be occupied by the French forces of Montesquiou-Fézensac on 24 September; the Swiss general Eugène de Courten, informed of the lack of cover from the north, withdrew in an orderly manner toward the Maritime Alps, leaving the Nice region in the hands of the French general d’Anselme.
The reaction in Turin to these territorial losses was nevertheless restrained. The Marquis of Cordon, Victor-Amédée Sallier de la Tour, obtained the dismissal of Lazary, who was nonetheless honourably retired for the valour he had shown during the War of the Austrian Succession. De Courten, on the other hand, was replaced by his rival, the Count of Sant’Andrea, Carlo Francesco Thaon di Revel, and ended up governing Cuneo, receiving the title of Marquis of Sampeyre.
Command of the Piedmontese army was nominally in the hands of the king, Victor Amadeus III; in practice, however, real control lay with his sons and his half-brother, the Duke of Chablais, even though they were not directly involved in camp life. Alongside the strongly anti-French “Piedmontese party”, an “Austrian party” had meanwhile emerged, led by the octogenarian De Vins, markedly more cautious and inclined toward a defensive—if not containment—approach to French successes.
The Duke of Aosta, the future king Victor Emmanuel I, was opposed to interference from Vienna and created a sort of “secret council”, also in protest against the laxity and lack of determination of his brother, the Prince of Piedmont.
Meanwhile, control of the Mediterranean was also on the French agenda, and the Sardinian flotilla was certainly unable to address it adequately. The Republic of Genoa, hostile to the Sardinian state for centuries, guaranteed its neutrality, if not covert collaboration with France. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, although ruled by an Austrian archduke, Ferdinand III, sought to remain outside and neutral in conflict, while only the Kingdom of Naples appeared interested in countering French interests, thus presenting itself as a probable future Mediterranean naval power.
However, in December 1792 the French navy carried out a demonstration of force at Naples, wrecking any Neapolitan dreams of naval supremacy. Assistance finally came from the United Kingdom, which had every interest in opposing French expansionism: in the spring of 1793 the courts of Turin and London signed a cooperation agreement against France, arousing considerable controversy in Vienna.