Crossing of the Great St Bernard Pass

Background. Napoleon had engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799, becoming First Consul of the Republic after the Directory was dissolved. The Austrian armies had reoccupied the Italian peninsula while Bonaparte was still in Egypt, creating the strategic situation his Alpine crossing was designed to overturn.

The Crossing. In May 1800, Bonaparte led an army across the Swiss Alps into Italy, using the Great St Bernard Pass. A passage describes this as the last Gallic invasion over the pass, conducted under the direction of the 30-year-old First Consul. The event was later depicted in Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass and Paul Delaroche's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps.

Aftermath. The panicked Austrians were unable to assemble quickly enough to meet the French en masse, engaging instead piecemeal in June 1800. They were defeated first at the Battle of Montebello and then at the Battle of Marengo, the latter securing France's victory in the War of the Second Coalition.