Suvorov's Swiss campaign

Suvorov's Swiss campaign
Part of Italian and Swiss expedition (War of the Second Coalition)
The Swiss campaign route of Alexander Suvorov, 1799
Date September 11 – October 7, 1799 Location Helvetic Republic (modern Switzerland) Result Victory of the French First Republic Full results Suvorov escaped the encirclement[1] Russia pulls out of the Second Coalition
Belligerents
Russian Empire  Holy Roman Empire	French First Republic  Helvetic Republic
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Suvorov	André Masséna Claude Lecourbe
Strength
27,000[2]	77,000[3]

Suvorov's Swiss campaign took place on Swiss territory between September and October 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition. Russo-Austrian troops, who had already repeatedly defeated the French in Italy between April and August, crossed St. Gotthard under the command of Field Marshal Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, with orders to march against General André Masséna to drive him out of the Helvetic Republic.

After the important victories of the previous months during the campaign in Italy, Suvorov had remained in control of the situation in the northern part of the Peninsula and a final defeat of the French seemed imminent with the Russian general determined to march even to France,^[4] but the divisions and rivalries of the coalesced powers would soon favor the resurgence of the revolutionary armies: fearing that Russia's influence would become too great, the Allies, also leveraging Tsar Paul I's ambitions to present himself as the liberator of Switzerland,^[5] succeeded in getting Russian troops to halt their operations in Italy and be redeployed to the Confederation, leaving the initiative in the Peninsula to the Austrians.^[6] Suvorov was then ordered to head north with his army and march across St. Gotthard to join the Russian troops that had just been led across the Limmat by General Alexander Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov.^[7]

Marshal Suvorov took St. Gotthard after fierce battles and then marched laboriously along the Reuss River valley, constantly opposed by General Claude Lecourbe. When he reached Altdorf he was forced to detour northeast through the mountains, as the French firmly controlled Lake Lucerne and the passes to the west. General Masséna then sent the divisions of Generals Honoré Gazan and Édouard Mortier, coordinated by General Nicolas Soult, to block the Russian advance between Schwyz and Glarus; Suvorov then headed for the Linth, after some success,^{[note 1]} and capturing Glarus, the main goal, his soldiers under Bagration came to a stalemate at Näfels against General Gabriel Molitor's soldiers.^[7][8] The village of Näfels changed hands up to six times.^[9]

Marshal Suvorov's situation, isolated in the mountains, with scarce supplies and opposed on all fronts by French troops, became increasingly difficult; after learning of the defeat of Generals Korsakov and von Hotze in the Second Battle of Zurich and the Battle of Linth River, he had no choice but to attempt to retreat eastward for the purpose of rescuing the remnants of his now heavily strained army. The retreat of the Russians was very difficult and cost new heavy losses, while all artillery was lost;^[10] finally, via the Panix Pass, the Russians reached the Rhine at Glion (or Ilanz) on October 7 and then continued on to Vorarlberg, where they joined General Korsakov's survivors.^[11] Suvorov was recalled to St. Petersburg, where he again fell out of favor with the tsarist court: Paul I refused to receive him in audience and, injured and ill, the old general died after a few weeks in the capital itself on May 18, 1800.^[4] Masséna would later confess that he would exchange all his victories for Suvorov’s passage of the Alps.^[12]

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