hine Tascher de la
Pagerie, widow of General Vicomte Alexandre de Beauharnais, and left
Paris for Italy two days later.

On joining the army Bonaparte inaugurated a new era in the wars of the
Republic. Previously the leading motives had been pure patriotism and
love of liberty; Bonaparte for the first time, in his proclamation on
taking command, invoked the spirit of self-interest and plunder, which
was to dominate the whole policy of France for the next twenty years.
Evil as were the passions which he aroused, Napoleon's great military
genius flashed forth in its full brilliancy in this his first
campaign. His power lay in the rapidity and boldness of his decisions,
and in the untiring energy with which he carried them out, confounding
his enemies by the suddenness and lightning rapidity of his blows,
which never gave them time to recover. He found the French army about
thirty-six thousand strong, distributed along the crests of the
mountains from Nice to Savona, and opposing 20,000 Piedmontese under
Colli and 38,000 Austrians under Beaulieu. These two generals had,
however, differing interests: Colli's main object was to protect
Piedmont, Beaulieu's to cover Lombardy. Hence, if Bonaparte could
penetrate the point of junction of the two armies, it was probable
they would separate in their retreat, and could be beaten singly. He
therefore attacked the centre of the allied line, and, driving back
the Austrians from Montenotte on April 12th, turned against the
Piedmontese and defeated them at Millesimo the next day. Losing no
time he left a division under Augereau to keep the Piedmontese in
check, and led the bulk of his army against the Austrians, defeating
them heavily at Dego on the 14th. The allied armies then retreated in
diverging directions as expected, and Bonaparte, following the
Piedmontese, beat them at Ceva and Mondovi, and forced the King of
Sardinia to sign the armistice of Cherasco, leaving him free to deal
with the Austrians. He crossed the Po at Piacenza on May 7th, and
obliged the Austrians to retreat to the Adda. Following them he forced
the bridge of Lodi on May 11th, and entered Milan amid the rejoicings
of the people on the 15th. But his ill-omened proclamation had done
its work; violence and pillage were rampant in the French army, and he
could do little to restrain them. Indeed, he himself showed an example
of plundering, though under more organized forms. Heavy contributions
were exacted, curiosi