Episode 5 of 6
Famine Within the City
- When
- 20 May 1800
- Where
- Genoa
- Part of
- Siege of Genoa
Starvation gripped the garrison; by 20 May 1800 the defenders were eating bread made from starch, linseed oil, and cacao.
Famine reduced the defenders to starvation during the siege. By 20 May 1800, the French were eating a tasteless bread made from starch, linseed oil, and cacao. Meanwhile, on 2 May, Colonel Honoré Charles Reille delivered a message from Bonaparte outlining his strategy to cross the Alps and strike the Austrians from behind.
Sources
- Siege of Genoa (1800) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.