La Bataille de Deutsch Wagram 1809

The French Army of Italy: A Remembrance 1792 to 1814

After the establishment of the French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy under French sponsorship, The Army of Italy would take more of an Italian influence. While significant numbers of French troops would continue to participate in The Army of Italy during the years of the Kingdom of Italy, Italian troops became an increasing proportion of the overall command, and key Italian formations like the Royal Italian Guard played an important role in the Campaigns of 1805; 1809; 1812; 1813 and 1814. This participation by the Franco-Italian forces occurred in Italy; Central Europe, Spain and in Russia. However, the most noteworthy consideration for The Army of Italy was that in 1809, the Viceroy of Italy and Napoleon’s step-son, Prince Eugene Beauharnais was named the commander of the famed formation. During the 1805 campaign, Marshal Massena had been the army commander, and defeated the Archduke John at Caldiero and then stopped John, with his 85,000 troops, from joining Kutuzov at Austerlitz.

Eugene as commander of the Army of Italy 1809-1814

In the 1809 campaign, Marshal Massena was already serving with La Grande Armee in Germany when the war broke out. The French command was strung out from Spain to Germany to Poland and there was a shortage of generals who could command a corps or army. Napoleon recalled General Jacques MacDonald from his imperially induced

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