The Italian campaign was not over, however: the Austrians
came back with 60,000 reinforcements to attack the now-weary French army.
Yet the French, under Napoleon's leadership, still managed to
win, at the Battle of Arcole (November 15-17, 1796) and at the Battle
of Rivoli (January 14, 1797). Napoleon then marched to Vienna,
the Austrian capital, and forced Emperor Francis II to sign the
Treaty of Campo Formio on October 17, 1797.
The Italian Campaign had numerous important results.
First, it created a growing sense of French pride in its military
capability as a nation. Second, it fanned the flames of Napoleon's
personal lifelong ambition for world conquest and greatly increased
his power and popularity in France. Third, the campaign toppled
numerous old Italian governments, replacing them with a "Cisalpine
Republic". Fourth, Napoleon's conquests in this period, as always,
did bring a small degree of peace to Europe, if only for a short
while. It was not long, however, before the fighting would begin
again. Fifth, the end of the campaign marked Napoleon's first
clear acts of political autonomy and power over and against the
Directory. He negotiated the Treaty of Campo Formio with the Austrians
without the Directory's consent; he again took the political initiative
when the Directory couldn't afford to pay the Campaign's troops,
and Napoleon appropriated their pay from the territories they occupied.
(This also increased Napoleon's popularity among the masses.)
Napoleon's most flagrant defiance of the Directory, however, was
in his refusal to respect the original purpose of the Italian Campaign itself:
the French government's plan behind the campaign had been not to
keep the Italian territories it won, but rather to hold them temporarily
hostage, giving them back to Austria only in return for control
of Belgium; Napoleon, however, countermanded the Directory yet
again by demanding Belgium without giving back
the Italian territory.
Napoleon was getting out of the Directory's control, and
the Directory knew that as well as anyone. However, they had no choice
but to welcome him home as a hero, even as he disobeyed their orders
and radically undermined their authority. The force of Napoleon's
popularity was already apparent.
Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
