Battle of Faenza (1797)

On 3 February 1797, French forces under Claude-Victor Perrin defeated a Papal Army commanded by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi at Castel Bolognese on the Senio River near Faenza. The engagement followed the fall of Mantua and exposed the weakness of the Papal States' poorly resourced military against the experienced French Army.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. The battle occurred shortly after the Siege of Mantua ended on 2 February 1797, when Austrian Field Marshal Dagobert Sigismund von Würmser capitulated to General Napoleon Bonaparte's army. The Papal Army that faced the French was a poorly resourced and unprofessionally led force, adequate for constabulary duties within the Papal States but unsuited to confronting the highly motivated and experienced French troops.

Command and Forces. The Papal Army fielded 7,000 troops under Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi, who had previously served in the Sardinian-Piedmontese army from 1793 to 1796 and had faced Bonaparte in the Montenotte campaign. The French Army committed 9,000 troops under Claude-Victor Perrin. Such minor Italian state armies of the period, including the Sardinian-Piedmontese force defeated in 1796, shared similar structural weaknesses.

Location. The town of Castel Bolognese stood on the banks of the Senio River, 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Bologna, with the city of Faenza nearby. On 3 February 1797, Victor sighted Colli's troops on the Senio at Castel Bolognese near Faenza, fixing the engagement's site.

People involved

Sources

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