Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi, or Michele Angelo Alessandro Colli-Marchei or Michael Colli, (

Vigevano Vigevano (; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Avgevan) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pavia, Lombardy in northern Italy. A historic art town, it is also renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina, a rice-growing ...

1738 –

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

22 December 1808) joined the Austrian army, became a general officer, and led the army of the

Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

for three years, including its unsuccessful campaign against

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in 1796. In early 1797, he was given command of the army of the Papal States, but was defeated at Faenza.

Early career

Born in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

in 1738, Colli enlisted in the army of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

as an infantry officer in 1756 at the age of 18. During the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, he fought at the Battle of Prague in 1757 and the

Battle of Torgau In the Battle of Torgau on 3 November 1760, King Frederick the Great's Prussian army fought an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun. The Prussians won a costly victory in one of the bloodiest battles of the Thir ...

in 1760, and was wounded in the latter action. He received the noble title

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

in 1764. By the

War of the Bavarian Succession The War of the Bavarian Succession (; 3 July 1778 – 13 May 1779) was a dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia over succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian bra ...

he led a battalion in the Caprara Infantry Regiment 48 with the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. In 1779 he was appointed ''

oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish ...

'' (colonel). During the Austro-Turkish War he fought at

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, where he was wounded again. He received promotion to ''

general-major Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

'' in December 1788. He commanded Josefstadt fortress in 1789. Colli was thin, of normal height and with big blue eyes. His contemporaries described him as intelligent, courageous, and cool under fire. He sometimes needed to be carried around on a stretcher because of his war wounds.

Italian service

In 1793, the Austrian government transferred Colli to the Sardinian-Piedmontese army and promoted him to '' Feldmarschal-Leutnant'' (lieutenant general) that December. In this capacity, he led the Sardinian army from 1793 to 1796. He led Piedmontese soldiers in action at

Saorge Saorge (; Royasc: ''Sauèrge''; Brigasc: ''Savurgë''; it, Saorgio, oc, Saorj, lij, Savurgiu) is a Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in southeastern France. Highway E74 which runs north from ...

on 12 June 1793 and again on 24 April 1794. In November 1795 he fought at the

Battle of Loano The Battle of Loano occurred on 23–24 November 1795 during the War of the First Coalition. The French Army of Italy led by Barthélemy Schérer defeated the combined Austrian and Sardinian forces under Olivier, Count of Wallis. Context I ...

. Relations between the Sardinian kingdom and their Austrian allies were strained. As an Austrian soldier leading a foreign army, Colli felt that he was in an awkward situation, working for two masters. In the spring of 1796, Emperor

Francis II of Austria Francis II (german: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (from 1792 to 1806) and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire, from 1804 to 1835. He assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in response ...

appointed Colli's friend, ''

Feldzeugmeister ''Feldzeugmeister'' was a historical military rank in some German and the Austro-Hungarian armies, especially in use for the artillery. It was commonly used in the 16th or 17th century, but could even be found at the beginning of the 20th century ...

'' Johann Beaulieu, to lead the Austrian army in

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. But because the Austrian government gave Beaulieu secret instructions warning him not to trust the Piedmontese, the two generals were unable to work out a coherent allied strategy. When Beaulieu launched an attack on the extreme right flank of the French army, Bonaparte immediately thrust between the Austrian and Sardinian armies. In the Montenotte Campaign, the French general mauled the Austrian army and drove it northeast, then turned west and relentlessly pressed the Piedmontese back. Colli's rear guards ably defended themselves at the Battle of Ceva and at San Michele Mondovi, but the Piedmontese were soundly beaten at the

Battle of Mondovì The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Liguri ...

on 21 April. By signing the Armistice of

Cherasco Cherasco is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian ...

on 28 April, King

Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia Victor Amadeus III (Vittorio Amadeo Maria; 26 June 1726 – 16 October 1796) was King of Sardinia from 1773 to his death. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous administrative reforms until he declared war on Revolut ...

took his country out of the

First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...

. This event released Colli from his obligations to Piedmont and he joined Beaulieu's army as a division commander. Since he led the soldiers of the northern flank on a retreat through

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and

Cassano d'Adda Cassano d'Adda (Milanese: ; Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, Italy, located on the right side of the Adda River. It is on the border of the Metropolitan City of Milan and the province of Bergamo ...

, he missed the

Battle of Lodi The Battle of Lodi was fought on 10 May 1796 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian rear guard led by Karl Philipp Sebottendorf at Lodi, Lombardy. The rear guard was defeated, but the main body of Johann Peter Beaulie ...

in May. He commanded Beaulieu's left wing at the

Battle of Borghetto The Battle of Borghetto, near Valeggio sul Mincio in the Veneto of northern Italy, took place during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. On 30 May 1796, a French army led by General Napoleon Bonaparte force ...

at the end of May. Colli's duties with the Austrian army in Italy ended when ''

Feldmarschall ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (from Old High German ''marahscalc'', "marshal, stable master, groom"; en, general field marshal, field marshal general, or field marshal; ; often abbreviated to ''Feldmarschall'') was a rank in the armies of several ...

'' Dagobert von Wurmser replaced Beaulieu in early July. The following year found Colli leading the army of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. Just days after Pope Pius VI fled Rome, however, a French force led by Claude Victor crushed Colli's new command at the Battle of Castel Bolognese on 3 February 1797, from which the Papal army never recovered and future resistance was futile. This forced

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

to sue for peace. Colli also served in the

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

army.Fiebeger, p. 8. From 1804 to 1807 he served as an Austrian envoy in Italy and died at

on 22 December 1808.

References

* Boycott-Brown, Martin. ''The Road to Rivoli.'' London: Cassell & Co., 2001. * Chandler, David. ''The Campaigns of Napoleon.'' New York: Macmillan, 1966. * Chandler, David. ''Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars.'' New York: Macmillan, 1979. * * Smith, Digby. ''The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.'' London: Greenhill, 1998.

Footnotes

External links

Colli by Digby Smith, compiled by Leopold Kudrna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colli-Marchi, Michelangelo Alessandro Generals of former Italian states Austrian Empire military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Italian people of the French Revolutionary Wars Italian military personnel in Austrian armies 18th-century Italian military personnel 1738 births 1808 deaths People from Vigevano Austrian generals