Suvorov's Swiss campaign took place on Swiss territory between September and October

1799 Events January–March * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...

during the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition () (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting French Revolution, revolutionary French First Republic, France by many European monarchies, led by Kingdom of Great Britain, Britai ...

. Russo-Austrian troops, who had already repeatedly defeated the French in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

between April and August, crossed St. Gotthard under the command of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, with orders to march against General

André Masséna André Masséna, prince d'Essling, duc de Rivoli (; born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817), was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original eighteen Marshal of the ...

to drive him out of the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

. 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 France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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, 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. 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 The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

by General Alexander Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov. Marshal Suvorov took St. Gotthard after fierce battles and then marched laboriously along the

Reuss River The Reuss (; ) is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest List of rivers of Switzerland, river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the ca ...

valley, constantly opposed by General

Claude Lecourbe Claude Jacques Lecourbe (; 22 February 1759 – 22 October 1815) was a French general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He fell out of favour with Napoleon and was out of service until recalled by the Bourbons. Biography Leco ...

. When he reached Altdorf he was forced to detour northeast through the mountains, as the French firmly controlled

Lake Lucerne Lake Lucerne (, literally 'Lake of the four Waldstätte, forested settlements' (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), , ) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country. Geography The lake has a compli ...

and the passes to the west. General Masséna then sent the divisions of Generals Honoré Gazan and

Édouard Mortier Édouard is both a French given name and a surname, equivalent to Edward in English. Notable people with the name include: * Édouard Balladur (born 1929), French politician * Édouard Boubat (1923–1999), French photographer * Édouard Colonne ...

, coordinated by General

Nicolas Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of ...

, to block the Russian advance between

Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

and

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Linth The Linth (pronounced "lint") is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Linthal, Glarus, village of Linthal in the mountains of the cantons of Switzerland, canton of canton of Glarus, Glarus, and eventually flows into the Obersee (Züri ...

, after some success, and capturing

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Gabriel Molitor's soldiers. The village of Näfels changed hands up to six times. 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 The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over a Russian force commanded by Alexander Korsakov near Zürich. It broke the stalemate that had ...

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; finally, via the

Panix Pass Panix Pass or Panixer Pass ( Romansh: ''Pass dil Veptga'', German: ''Panixerpass'') (2404 m) is a Swiss Alpine pass between the cantons of Glarus and Graubünden. The pass was once an important trade route between the canton of Glarus and Italy ...

, the Russians reached the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

Glion Glion () is a village in the municipality of Montreux in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The village is located 700 m.a.s.l., overlooking Lake Geneva. The position of this village in Montreux and the Chauderon Gorge made it a touristic destin ...

(or Ilanz) on October 7 and then continued on to

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

, where they joined General Korsakov's survivors. Suvorov was recalled to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, 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. Masséna would later confess that he would exchange all his victories for Suvorov’s passage of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Political and military background

Between the end of April and mid-August 1799, Field Marshal

Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

had routed French revolutionary troops in northern Italy, caused the collapse of the

sister republic Sister republics (, ) were republics established by the French First Republic or local pro-French revolutionaries during the French Revolutionary Wars. Though nominally independent, sister republics were heavily reliant on French protection, m ...

s in the Peninsula, and taken de facto control of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

and

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. Thanks to his brilliant victories, he had received from the tsar the title of "Prince of Italy" (''Knjaz Italijski'' - , hence the nickname ''Italiskij'', "the Italic") See text in and was now close to finally crushing the last French resistance in Piedmont and then invading the

Ligurian Riviera Ligurian may refer to: * Ligurian, pertaining to modern Liguria in Italy * Ligurian, pertaining to the ancient Ligures * Ligurian language, a modern Romance language spoken in parts of Italy, France, Monaco and Argentina * Ligurian language (ancien ...

; Suvorov had also declared himself ready to even march to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as he had promised General Jean Mathieu Philibert Sérurier before releasing him. The divisions and rivalries among the coalesced powers,

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, and

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, however, did not allow them to take advantage of the victories in Italy, favoring instead soon the recovery of the forces of the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted u ...

: the British were afraid that Russian influence in Italy would become too great and that Tsarist power would overlook the Mediterranean ports dangerously; the Austrians saw the Russian successes and the Tsar's meddling as a real threat to their supremacy in northern Italy, to the extent that they preferred to lose Russian military support in Piedmont rather than the political advantage that would come to them at the peace table, when they would present themselves as the sole occupants of the Savoy state from which, moreover, they could easily enter France alone with their own army. The British government, worried that Republican France might use the powerful Dutch fleet to threaten the British Isles directly, had then prepared new war plans that included redeploying the Russian army to Switzerland to facilitate the landing of an Anglo-Russian coalition in the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

. Although in theory Suvorov answered directly to the tsar, the Austrian court council and Chancellor Thugut ordered him to abandon Italy and move toward Switzerland, where his army was to join a second Russian contingent under the command of General Aleksandr Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov, arriving with 30,000 men from Galicia. General

Michael von Melas Michael Friedrich Benedikt Baron von Melas (12 May 1729 – 31 May 1806) was a Transylvanian-born field marshal of Greek descent for the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Radeln, Transylvania, Ottoman Empire (nowadays R ...

's Austrian army was to garrison Piedmont and seize

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

; at the same time

Archduke Charles Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Lawrence of Austria, Duke of Teschen (; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian field marshal, the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain. He was also the youn ...

was to move from Switzerland to Germany along the

so that Austria would also have a chance to oust the

Elector Elector may refer to: * Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors * Elector, a member of an electoral college ** Confederate elector, a member of t ...

of Bavaria Maximilian I. Johann_Thugut

Suvorov would have liked Archduke Charles to await his arrival before moving, so as to give Korsakov ease in organizing himself and resisting the overwhelming French forces, but the archduke was an all too faithful executor of the orders of the courtly council and immediately left the strong position in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

: the French quickly occupied it and Korsakov was doomed to certain defeat. Suvorov's remonstrances were futile: Suvorov's last holdouts, who had called Chancellor Thugut "out of his mind" for the strategy imposed, were swept away on August 25 by a letter from the Austrian emperor, peremptorily ordering him to abandon plans to attack the French in Genoa and immediately cross the

to launch an offensive against France from Switzerland. Beyond the decisions of what

Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz ( , ; born Carl Philipp Gottlieb Clauswitz; 1 July 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian general and Military theory, military theorist who stressed the "moral" (in modern terms meani ...

later termed a "narrow-minded policy" on the part of the British and Austrians, aimed simply at avoiding an inconvenient Russian presence in Italy and the Mediterranean and meeting special needs, modern historiography has seen clear military advantages in these plans. After the Austrian cession of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

to France by the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

in 1797, and the vast German territory separating them, the two ancient rival powers had but the Italian battlefields to come into direct contact and confront each other militarily; to secure strategic control of them it was necessary to secure dominance of the Alpine ranges: Austria possessed a large part of the Alpine chain, and from

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

could bring down numerous battalions unhindered into the extensive plains washed by the Po; in contrast, France did not initially have this obvious and coveted advantage. The major obstacle was Switzerland, which stretched from the Tyrolean Alps to the borders of France, and prevented access from the Alps for much of the range: it was therefore of paramount interest to the French Republic, if it wished to continue the war with Austria, to retain possession of the Swiss Plateau obtained in February 1798 with the invasion led by General

Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune Guillaume Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Early life Brune was b ...

. This provided the revolutionaries with two strategic outlets: one allowed them to bypass the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

and easily sweep into the upper

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, and the other to descend through the Alpine passes of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

and reach northern Italy directly; once war broke out again, it therefore became of enormous tactical and strategic importance for the Austrians to drive the French out of Switzerland. For their part, the British really considered Switzerland to be the ideal territory from which to launch an invasion of France, and finally, the Austrians were in any case more concerned about the French troops concentrated along the Rhine than about the surviving troops in Italy: by switching to a more prudent defensive tactic in the north of the Peninsula, the Austrians still secured its dominance and could free up forces to deploy in Germany.

The Russian army in the Alps

The march to Switzerland

On September 4, Suvorov informed the tsar that he was about to move to Switzerland, not failing to lament how from the beginning of the campaign the Austrians had been consistently reluctant to support him, slow to respond to his orders and utterly inefficient in meeting his demands for supplies and ammunition. He did not fail to emphasize how the Allies purposely delayed supplies with the intent of forcing him to leave Italy. He wrote among other things: Suvorov marched on September 11, immediately after the capture of

Tortona Tortona (; , ; ) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Spinetta Marengo, Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Its ''frazione'' of ...

, sending baggage, equipment and heavy artillery via

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

and

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

to arrive in Switzerland near

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

in the

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

, and from the Tyrol to Feldkirch, while he with about 27,000 men, including nearly 16,000 infantrymen and more than 3,500

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

, took the

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

route to move toward

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sa ...

. On September 15, the Russian vanguard under the command of

Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration (10 July 1765 – 24 September 1812) was a Russian general and prince of Georgians, Georgian origin, prominent during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Bagration, a member of the Bagrationi dynasty ...

entered Swiss territory near

Ponte Tresa Ponte Tresa () is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lugano (district), Lugano in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 18 April 2021 the municipalities of Croglio, Monteggio, Ponte T ...

, and after a few days the main army assembled at Taverne in

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

; Suvorov, who had expected to find supplies there for the following week's march via a caravan of 1,500 mules previously requested from the Austrians, found that the Austrians had sent nothing. The initial astonishment was succeeded by outrage and then anger: before a contrite General Weyrother, an Austrian liaison officer, he explicitly accused Melas and the Viennese court of having hatched a treason "which the tsar will know how to punish." The senior general wrote an angry letter to Emperor Francis II expressing outrage and lamenting how Austrian inefficiency had nullified the tactical advantage of his rapid march to Switzerland. By this time, however, the damage was done: only six hundred and fifty mules arrived, which was absolutely insufficient, and Suvorov, at Prince

Konstantin The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Bulgarian, Russian, Estonian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman empe ...

's suggestion, decided to use the horses of the Cossacks to transport sufficient provisions and ammunition for the next eight days. The Ticinese relate that officers who had horses and carriages available for their personal use had to, according to the Russian commander's orders, surrender the former as beasts of burden and abandon the carriages. The greatest examples were set by Prince Constantine, who sent his three carriages back to Como, and Suvorov himself, who, although in his seventies, abandoned his litter and decided to march on foot as well. In the four days of waiting before they could finally move, the Russian troops were summarily instructed in mountain warfare tactics, with which they were totally unfamiliar.

The assault on the Gotthard Pass and the arrival at Lake Lucerne

Campagna_Suvorov_svizzera_-_da_Airolo_a_Muotathal

On September 21, Suvorov ordered the advance. The march proceeded slowly, slowed by heavy rains, fog, and mountainous terrain. Nevertheless, that evening the entire army was already encamped between

Sant'Antonino Sant'Antonino is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Bellinzona (district), Bellinzona in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Sant'Antonino is first mentioned in 1219 as ''Sancto Ant ...

and Bellinzona, in another day's march passed through

Biasca Biasca is a town of the district of Riviera (district), Riviera in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Biasca is first mentioned in 830 as ''Aviasca'' in the ''Liber viventium'' of Pfäfers Abbey. In 1119 it wa ...

, and on the evening of the 22nd reached

Giornico Giornico is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Leventina (district), Leventina in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Giornico is first mentioned around 935-94 as ''de Iudicibus Giorn ...

, where the Allied General Staff spent the night. The weather continued to be harsh and, on the night of September 23, a blizzard of rain and snow plagued the army, which was reinforced at

Faido Faido (; ) is the capital of the district of Leventina in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. On 29 January 2006, Faido grew by incorporating the villages of Chiggiogna, Rossura, and Calonico. On 1 April 2012, Faid ...

by an Austrian regiment under the command of Colonel Gottfried Strauch. Suvorov then set out to cross the Gotthard by the 25th with the intention of reuniting with Korsakov at

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

on Sept. 27; but on the 24th, at

Airolo Airolo (''Airöö'' in Lombard, in ) is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Geography Airolo is located in Leventina valley and the Lepontine Alps, on the southern flank of the St. Gotthard ...

, a French battalion belonging to General

's division and commanded by Brigadier General Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière halted the march of the Russians, who left six hundred dead on the ground before they were able to penetrate late in the evening into the Val Tremola, with Suvorov remaining in the front line all along. On the morning of the 25th, the general resumed his march toward

Andermatt Andermatt () is a mountain village and municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. At an elevation of above sea level, Andermatt is located at the center of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the historical center ...

, while the French had retreated behind the " Buca d'Uri" (a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

in the

Schöllenen Gorge Schöllenen Gorge () is a gorge formed by the upper Reuss in the Swiss canton of Uri between the towns of Göschenen to the north and Andermatt to the south. It provides access to the St Gotthard Pass. Enclosed by sheer granite walls, its road ...

, on the north side of the Gotthard Pass in the

Urseren The Urseren (also ''Ursern'') is the valley of the upper Reuss in Uri, Switzerland, running southwest to northeast, from Realp to Hospental and Andermatt. Separated from the main valley of Uri, it connects to the Valais via the Furkapass, ...

valley) partially demolishing the

Devil's Bridge Devil's Bridge is a term applied to dozens of ancient bridges, found primarily in Europe. Most of these bridges are stone or masonry arch bridges and represent a significant technological achievement in ancient architecture. Due to their unusu ...

(a stone crossing in

Uri Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...

near Andermatt). Here another Lecourbe contingent, under the orders this time of Louis Henri Loison, laid an ambush that cost the lives of more than nine hundred Russians before they managed to repair the bridge by makeshift means and cross to the other side, under constant enemy artillery and musket fire, finally forcing the French to retreat. Porter_suvorov

In contrast to the Russians, Lecourbe's troops were highly specialized in mountain warfare to the extent that they "marched even where chamois hunters would give up," "used to sleeping in the snow and under the stars, bitten by the wind, on the rags they used as uniforms," and venturing "without lpineguides on paths over sheer chasms." They would be a constant thorn in the side of the Allied troops. Continuing to move to the right along the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

valley, Suvorov nonetheless seized the Gotthard Pass by repelling General Lecourbe, and on the evening of September 26 his troops reached Altdorf near the southern end of

. For the Russian general, the bulk of the effort was accomplished; cheerful and optimistic, he wrote in his own hand, on a dispatch addressed to Austrian General

Friedrich von Hotze Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Hotze (20 April 1739 – 25 September 1799), was a Swiss-born general and Field Marshall- Lieutenant in the Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He campaigned in the Rhineland during the War of the ...

, a rhyming note in German that has remained famous: The general was unaware, however, that in those same hours General Masséna, who had concentrated as many as 77,000 men under his orders, was routing Korsakov's forces in the

, inflicting heavy losses on him and forcing him to beat a retreat to

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

and beyond to

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

, while on the Linth the troops of General

defeated the Austrian troops of General von Hotze, who was killed early in the clash.

The crossing of Chinzig

On Lake Lucerne, the French stood firmly on the left bank of the

near Seedorf, closing off the Russians from reaching the eponymous town via the Surenen Pass, while the lake itself, patrolled by a small flotilla, appeared to be under full French control, making a crossing by the Russians impossible. Suvorov's troops were at their wits' end: marching over rocks had worn out the soldiers' inadequate footwear, of which many were now even deprived, uniforms were often in tatters, rifles and bayonets were rusting from the constant dampness, and the men were starving for lack of adequate supplies. Suvorov was still unaware of Korsakov's defeat, but in the absence of news he preferred not to stop at Altdorf to let his exhausted army rest, which he directed instead, as early as the early hours of September 27, toward the Chinzig Pass, counting on bypassing the French by reaching

from the village of

Muotathal Muotathal is a village and a municipality in Schwyz District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The eponymous valley, the Muotatal, is formed by the Muota, which joins Lake Lucerne at Brunnen. History Muotathal is first mentioned in 1246 ...

. The plan was to climb, starting from an altitude of about 500 m, up to 2,070 m along a precipitous path carved into the rock and almost invisible under the first snowfall. Lecourbe immediately informed General Masséna of the Russians' detour, and the latter, who had previously planned to attack Suvorov in the Reuss valley, was forced to change strategy: he therefore sent General Mortier to occupy Muotathal with 9,000 men and General Gazan to march with about 10,000 men on Weesen and

Schänis Schänis is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster (Wahlkreis), See-Gaster in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Schänis is firs ...

, to close off the Linth valley from the north, while he himself concentrated the bulk of his troops at Schwyz. As soon as they reached Muotathal, Suvorov's 18,000 exhausted men, without supplies and ammunition and surrounded by impassable mountains in freezing cold, faced a French army far superior in numbers and equipment. On September 29, still uncertain about the fate of Korsakov and Hotze, Suvorov called a council of war with his general staff to decide what to do. During the council the Russian commander showed himself extremely resolute not to surrender, blamed the Austrian allies for all the hardships they were forced to suffer, and proposed what appeared to him to be the only possible solution: After Suvorov's impassioned speeches to raise the morale of his subordinates, the war council decided to abandon the plan to head for Schwyz and instead to move eastward again, over the Muotathal Pass to the Pragel Pass and then through the Klöntal Pass, to rejoin General Linken at

Sargans Sargans is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland (Wahlkreis), Sarganserland in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gallen in Switzerland. Sargans is known for ...

by skirting the

Walensee Lake Walen, also known as Lake Walenstadt or (), is one of the larger lakes in Switzerland. Located in the east of the country, about two thirds of its area are in the canton of St. Gallen and about one third in the canton of Glarus. Its na ...

to the south. Bagration and

Franz Xaver von Auffenberg Franz Xaver Freiherr von Auffenberg (1744 – 23 December 1815) was an Austrian general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Biography Von Auffenberg was born in 1744 in Oettingen, in the Electorate of Bavaria. In 1766 he joined ...

were positioned in the vanguard; Andrey Rosenberg's troops, placed in the rear, were ordered to protect the army from attacks that might come from the west, from Schwyz across the Muotathal, while the main force marched east through the Pragel Pass. From original Russian records later found by the French in Muotathal, the precise numerical strength of the Russian army on September 30, 1799, is known: 66 staff officers, 493 troop officers, 1,172 non-commissioned officers, 403 musicians, and 16,584 troopers were counted; of the latter, 410 were reported sick, 216 were limping and 21 under arrest, only 85 men had deserted; in ten days the Russian army had lost about 3,000 soldiers and now had food rations for only five days, but these already meager supplies would have to be rationed to last at least ten.

The march to Glarus

Despite the strenuous marches and the sustained fights, the army moved immediately. Auffenberg's troops advanced first, followed by Bagration's troops. As soon as they reached the Pragel Pass, there was a clash between the former and Molitor's French who prevented them from passing. Arriving in the afternoon, Bagration, who was "outraged to see the Austrians retreat before a handful of men," turned the tide of the battle by driving the French back and offering them a chance to surrender. He was unaware that Auffenberg had already sent a similar ultimatum to Molitor and that the latter had refused by responding disdainfully: Suvorov did not have time to realize the seriousness of the news when Bagration's troops resumed the assault against the French, who, after dark, were forced to retreat to

Klöntalersee Klöntalersee is a natural lake in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland and covers the major part of the valley floor. Since 1908, it has been used as a reservoir for electricity production. The dam's construction substantially increased the lake's ...

, where many in the flight drowned but where the French general also had a chance to reorganize and better arrange his troops to face his opponents. Bagration

led A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

his battalions in four desperate assaults against the French artillery, which was well placed on the road and on the rocks overlooking it, and suffered very heavy losses; meanwhile the weather worsened, sleet began to fall, and the Russians retreated for the night, which they spent freezing as they were forbidden to light fires, and once again suffered from starvation. Bagration, though suffering from a thigh wound, reorganized his troops under the cover of darkness and continued to encourage them: The clash resumed on the morning of October 1 with Bagration's charge, which launched an attack, led by Lieutenant Colonel Giorgio Giovanni Zuccato, using two battalions, four Austrian companies and about 200 dismounted Cossacks in order to occupy some cliffs overlooking, almost precipitously, the enemy's right flank. From there the Russian troops, discovered by some French patrols, exposed to enemy fire, went on the attack by assaulting the French troops with bayonets, while further down Derfelden's troops attacked the enemy in front forcing him to retreat further. Molitor, after a fierce but brief resistance, preferred to withdraw his troops to the nearby hills to reorganize along the course of the Linth, setting up a series of defense lines between

Netstal Netstal is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Netstal is part of the municipality of Glarus. History Netstal is first mentioned in 1289 as ''Netstal''. Geogr ...

Näfels Näfels is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Näfels is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Näfels is first mentioned in 1240 as ''Nevels''. ...

and Mollis in the northern part of the

canton of Glarus The canton of Glarus ( ; ; ; ) is a cantons of Switzerland, canton in east-central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. The population speaks a variety of Alemannic German. The majority of the population (81%) identifies as Christianity in Switzer ...

, destroying the bridge at Netstal and retaining control of the remaining communication routes between Näfels and Mollis. This allowed them to effectively control both sides of the river. In the early afternoon of the same day Bagration received reinforcements and launched the charge with twelve battalions against the French positions at Netstal. However, the French still resisted by fortifying themselves in the village and managed to destroy the bridges over the Linth shortly before the Russians took it over. Meanwhile, there was also fighting in the rearguard, where Rosenberg, who commanded a total of 11,000 men, was attacked by Masséna. Suvorov ordered the Russian general to hold out at all costs while Bagration fought to clear the road to the east from the French. The French were determined not to allow the Russians to leave the valley: Lecourbe's divisions closed the road to them from behind along the Reuss by cutting the supply lines; Masséna recalled some of Mortier's divisions from

to position them at Altdorf and part of Soult's divisions at Weesen to block the Linth Valley exit. Despite the efforts of the French, the Russians repelled all the assaults by counterattacking with bayonets. The battle was particularly bloody on the stone bridge across the

Muota River The Muota is a river in the Swiss canton of Schwyz and a tributary of Lake Lucerne. It has a length of . The Muota rises on the Ruosalp, an alp to the north of the Glatten on the border between the cantons of Schwyz and Uri. Initially, it flow ...

, since then called ''Suworow-brücke'' ("Suvorov Bridge"), and from which several Frenchmen plunged into the waters because of the crush. On the evening of October 1, the French retreated toward Schwyz pressed by the Cossacks. At the same time Bagration reestablished a bridge at Netstal and, organizing his forces into two columns, marched along both banks of the Linth toward Näfels, which was held firmly by Molitor with three battalions and four cannons and whose positions were protected on the right flank by cliffs and on the left by the river. Although Bagration succeeded in pushing the French back out of the town, the attack on the enemy's main positions failed, giving the French an opportunity to receive reinforcements from the Swiss militia and counterattack to retake the town with troops stationed at Mollis. On this occasion Molitor harangued the Swiss by recalling a historic victory they had achieved centuries earlier in the same places against the Austrian oppressor: However, Bagration tenaciously returned to assault the village on several occasions held back first by the Swiss and then finally stopped by the arrival of Gazan's troops after Näfels had changed hands several times in the same day. At 9 p.m., after sixteen hours of hard fighting, Suvorov ordered Bagration to disengage the moment the village was occupied by Russia, leaving the French on their initial positions. Both sides shouted victory, but in reality the day had ended in almost nothing — the Russians arrived near Glarus but the French closed off all avenues of approach to them toward Zurich — apart from showing the skill and valor of both commanders. According to the prominent Russian biographer of Suvorov

Alexander Petrushevsky Alexander Fomich Petrushevsky (; pre-1918 Russian orthography: Александръ Ѳомичъ Петрушевскій) was a Russian lieutenant-general and a well-known biographer of Suvorov. Life Born in 1826, after graduating from the No ...

, at the withdrawal of the Russian troops Gazan moved all his forces to the attack and himself led the

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

s into bayonet combat; but the French were repulsed, and Bagration's troops retreated quietly towards Netstal. Bagration's vanguard spent the night of October 1 to 2 around Glarus, but it was not until October 4 that the entire army could assemble there, and on the same day Suvorov convened a new council of war.

The retreat

The March to Panix

Suvorov wanted to stick to the original plan and thus break through the French positions at Näfels, go along the

Lake Walenstadt Lake Walen, also known as Lake Walenstadt or (), is one of the larger lakes in Switzerland. Located in the east of the country, about two thirds of its area are in the canton of St. Gallen and about one third in the canton of Glarus. Its nam ...

and march to Weesen to rejoin the other Austrian troops in Switzerland. Austrian officers supported this strategy, convinced that it was the best way to reach

and the military warehouses there so as to resupply the army, now at the end of its strength and also lacking ammunition as well as supplies. But Prince Konstantin and senior Russian officers objected, convinced that the only way to rejoin the Allies was to outflank the French forces by heading south to Schwanden, then up through

Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

and over the

to reach and cross the

Anterior Rhine The Vorderrhein (; ; ; ; ), or Anterior Rhine, is the left of the two initial tributaries of the Rhine (the other being the '' Hinterrhein''). It is longer than the ''Hinterrhein'', but has a lower discharge than the latter at their confluence, w ...

valley to

Maienfeld Maienfeld () is a municipality in the Landquart Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is a tourist destination in the Alps, both because of the local wine and because it was the setting of the story '' Heidi''. History Maienfeld li ...

, south of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. In the end, eight of the ten generals on the general staff approved the "Russian proposal." Opting for such a decision, i.e., a march along a route devoid of enemy troops, did not suit the Russian field marshal's temperament, but his assent perhaps provides an idea of what must have been, even in his eyes, the poor conditions in which his men, who, despite the extreme sacrifices he constantly demanded, used to call him "little father," were living. The Austrian General Auffenberg, although his troops had been engaged in far less fighting than the Russian troops, had written in his report of October 1 that his brigade was now completely without ammunition, money, bread and largely without boots. Campagna_Suvorov_svizzera_-_da_Muotathal_a_Feldkirch

Campagna_Suvorov_svizzera_-_da_Muotathal_a_Feldkirch

On the night of October 4–5, under snow mixed with freezing rain, the march south toward Panix began. This time Bagration was left in the rear guard with his 1,800 surviving men of whom, he later recalled, only 250 were able to fight. The first to move was General Miloradovich, followed by General Otto Wilhelm Hristoforovich Derfelden and Rosenberg's troops. Suvorov was forced to abandon about 1,300 seriously wounded and ill men to the French, commending their fate to the humanity of the enemy in a letter left on purpose for Masséna to take care of them. The conditions of the march would be even worse than before. The Mother Superior of the

Mutten Mutten ''( Romansh: Mut'') is a former municipality in the Viamala Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Mutten merged into the municipality of Thusis. History Mutten is first mentione ...

convent, where Suvorov's staff had spent the night, testified, "It was pathetic to see how these people were forced to march so hard and barefoot across the Pragel, under a heavy rain mixed with snow. Only the general (adjutant) had his horse, everyone else was left behind." As soon as they became aware of the Russian retreat, the French took the initiative to try to encircle Suvorov and cut off his escape route: Loison moved toward Schwanden; Mortier from Pragel toward Glarus to blockade the valley; General Gazan sent a brigade from Mollis toward

Sool Sool (, ) is a disputed administrative region (gobol). It borders Togdheer to the west, Sanaag to the north, Ethiopia to the south and Nugal, Bari to the east. Its capital city is Las Anod. The region is disputed by the self-declared Republic o ...

(south of Glarus) and three more from

in pursuit of Bagration. On the morning of October 5 Gazan's 10th Hunter Regiment attacked Bagration's Cossacks forcing him to slow his march while the arrival of French artillery forced him to stop and deploy along the narrow valley and, being short of ammunition, to order three desperate bayonet assaults. During the day Bagration's rearguard had to sustain about 20 attacks to hold back the enemy and save the entire army from certain defeat. On the night of the 5th and 6th the army camped near Elm, in the cold, without food and subjected to constant attacks by the French. At 2:00 a.m. Suvorov preferred to move while the French continued to pound Bagration's troops who managed to hold them back but suffered continuous losses. The freezing night march cost the lives of several soldiers and about two hundred were missing captured by the French. As soon as the Russians took the Panix route, the French broke off their pursuit. Bagration was able to tally the losses, which he found amounted to about eight hundred men taken prisoners, four cannons, a treasure chest containing twenty thousand

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

, which the French commander Lenard later distributed to his battalion, and numerous horses and mules; he had, however, managed to protect the army's rear.

Crossing the Panix Pass and arriving in Chur

On October 6, the Russians began the climb to Panix, at an altitude of 2,407 m. All artillery had to be abandoned and, climbing with snow above the knee on the narrow, winding paths over precipices, three hundred mules were also lost. Édouard Gachot in his 1904 book ''Histoire militaire de Masséna: La campagne d'Helvétie'' (1799), extracted from the memoirs of surviving officers and from reports from the Russian war archives, describes at length and in great detail the enormous hardships and drama suffered by the Russian army during the crossing. The grueling march was carried out almost continuously, even at night, and cost the lives of those who, exhausted, sick or wounded, were no longer able to stand on the narrow path, made invisible by snow and slippery by ice. Several men abandoned backpacks and rifles along the way, and the weakest simply allowed themselves to die by falling asleep. According to sources, Suvorov shared with his men all the hardships of the exhausting march and kept constantly cheering them on, picking up those who abandoned their weapons or only complained, and, although badly dressed, in order to show his endurance and try to extract the last energies from his exhausted troops he repeatedly refused the mantle offered to him by his orderly. He climbed on foot together with the soldiers to the top of the pass where, on the advice of Grand Duke Konstantin, he made use of the wood from the spears of the Cossacks to light a fire and prepare tea for the troops; on the way down, the Russian captain Grjasew later recounted admiringly in his diary, "He was sitting on a Cossack horse, and I saw him trying to free himself from the hands of two horsemen at his side who were trying to support him on the march and lead his horse (. ..) He kept saying, 'Leave me, leave me, I must go alone.'" To the generals surrounding him he said: Vasily_Surikov_-_Suvorov_Crossing_the_Alps_in_1799_-_Google_Art_Project

Vasily_Surikov_-_Suvorov_Crossing_the_Alps_in_1799_-_Google_Art_Project

As soon as the vanguard reached the pass's ridge, it was hit by a very violent blizzard of hail and frozen snow that prevented the scouts from getting their bearings, causing them to risk falling into cliffs and precipices. Before finding a smooth way down thanks to the intervention of local people, several groups dispersed in the search. On October 7, the Russians arrived at the first

Pigniu Pigniu () is a former municipality in the district of Surselva in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. Its official language is Romansh. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Pigniu, Castrisch, Ilanz, Ladir, Luven, Pitasch, R ...

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

s and after a brief bivouac were able to begin their descent to

Ilanz Ilanz () is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Surselva (district), Surselva in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons. The former municipality of Ilanz was congruent with the town ...

and safety. Here, Suvorov, finally feeling that he was no longer hunted, rested his men for another night and on the 9th moved toward the Rhine and then toward

where he arrived on October 10, also taking with him 1,400 French prisoners. He was left with 14,000 men and of these only 10,000 barely able to march and fight, the rest were consumed by fevers or blinded by inflammation of the eyes; the

sotnia A sotnia ( Ukrainian and , ) was a military unit and administrative division in some Slavic countries. Sotnia, deriving back to 1248, has been used in a variety of contexts in both Ukraine and Russia to this day. It is a helpful word to create ...

s were reduced to a mere twenty or so cavalrymen disputing four or five surviving horses and badly in shape; the artillery was all lost, a third of the troop had lost their weapons and those that remained were rusted and unserviceable; the bayonets blunted and the uniforms were unrecognizable. Each infantry regiment was reorganized into a battalion, the cavalry regiments into the same number of squadrons, and, equipped with a convoy of five hundred beasts of burden, the army headed through

Balzers Balzers () is a municipality and village located in southern Liechtenstein. In 2024, the village had a population of 4,806. The main part of the village is situated along the east bank of the Rhine. History and culture Historically, the present- ...

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

and Feldkirch to Altenstadt. On October 22 Tsar Paul withdrew from the coalition and recalled Suvorov, who by then publicly accused the Austrians of betraying him. On October 25, the forces of Suvorov, Korsakov, and the

Prince of Condé A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The f ...

gathered at

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

and began small marches back to winter quarters in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, where they arrived in January 1800, finally concluding the Swiss campaign.

Reasons for the defeat

After just under a month of grueling marches and sixteen days of fighting, Suvorov had lost over 5,000 men, of whom 1,600 people were killed and more than 3,500 were wounded; the infantry suffered 28,4 percent losses. The Russians retained most of their army, and the French controlled Switzerland exactly as they did before the campaign began. As early as October 22, Tsar Paul I, in his letter to Emperor Francis II officially announcing Russia's exit from the coalition, focused the main reasons for the Russian defeat on the removal of Archduke Charles from Switzerland before the reunification of Suvorov's army with Korsakov's had been completed: Indeed, in the first days of August, Archduke Charles had already received at his quartering in

Kloten Kloten is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bülach District, district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (). History Kloten is first mentioned in 1155 as ''Chlotun''. Geogra ...

, north of Zurich, a letter from Francis II informing him of the coalition's new strategies and ordering him to leave Switzerland. However, the same letter probably did not reach Suvorov until August 25 or 27, so he was still convinced that he had to continue his campaign in Italy when, at least twenty days in advance, the archduke had already begun preparations to move. On September 2, when he decided to obey following the order received directly from the tsar, Suvorov still thought he could coordinate his maneuver with Archduke Charles. Informed at last that the latter had already left the country, he was deeply disconcerted by "the disastrous news about Archduke Charles's retreat from Switzerland." Between September 15 and 20, after the vain wait in Taverne for the mules with the supplies needed for the march to Switzerland, he now explicitly accused Melas and the Austrians of cowardice and of having plotted treason against him. Although it was immediately clear that the campaign in Switzerland had been based more on political and diplomatic calculations by the Austrians than on proper strategic assessments, or rather against the military decisions that Suvorov had already made, it cannot but be blamed on the Russian general for at least underestimating the difficulties of the campaign entrusted to him. Probably his sometimes too impulsive and impetuous temperament, despite his age, led him to an overly optimistic assessment of environmental conditions, the strength and capacity of the opposing troops on the Alpine passes, and his men's chances. To give an idea of Suvorov's spirit in the days immediately preceding the campaign, it is sufficient to report two exemplary episodes. To the Austrian General Weyrother, who summarized to him the plans for the attack on the St. Gotthard complete with a hypothesis of retreat, he ordered, "Cross out the word retreat!"; to a courier from Korsakov, who asked him what the new orders were, he simply replied with the words, "Defeat the French!". Rimsky-Korsakov_A_M

Georg_Decker_Archduke_Charles_-_Duke_of_Teschen

On September 20 Suvorov had approved General Hotze's operational proposal to join him, moving from the St. Gotthard by forced marches on narrow mountain routes along the Reuss valley, to bypass Masséna from Schwyz and liberate Lucerne. The success of this plan would certainly have enormous consequences for the operational situation in Switzerland, but the successful outcome depended on the simultaneous success of a whole series of actions to be carried out in coordination and the correctness of all initial assessments. It was, for example, necessary that the offensive action of Korsakov's and Hotze's troops on the Linth-Limmat take place simultaneously with Suvorov's arrival at least in Schwyz. The failure of even one of the planned actions or unforeseen changes in environmental, logistical or tactical conditions could have resulted in the failure of the entire operation. And that was what precisely happened and on which all subsequent criticism of the old general focused: the Russians had to wait four days for Austrian supplies, which arrived late and proved insufficient; weather and environmental conditions were almost always unfavorable when not prohibitive; his decision to march along the Reuss did not take into account the resilience of the French troops, who on the one hand harshly contested every inch of territory forcing him in several battles into fierce fighting that further slowed him down, and on the other hand constantly threatened his supply line, for which he was totally dependent on the Austrians, interrupting it often even with attacks from reduced forces. Finally, Masséna proved to be a brilliant and capable commander who routed Korsakov and Hotze's troops in Zurich while Suvorov was still on Lake Lucerne, undecided what to do, and then left the coalition troops no choice but to retreat to the mountains and then evacuate Switzerland. His greatest detractors later proved to be precisely Archduke Charles, to whose premature retreat Suvorov ascribed most of the campaign's failure, and General Korsakov, whose immediate defeat suffered at Masséna's hands nevertheless thwarted any vague hopes of possible success. Archduke Charles severely criticized the campaign plan from the standpoint of supplies and logistical support: In his memoirs Korsakov blamed Suvorov for the exaggerated efforts required of his men and went so far as to place sole responsibility for the failure of the campaign on him: Moreover, he added that even in the event that Suvorov had eventually reached Schwyz, the fate of the battle could not have changed since he would not have been able to supply him, finding himself in a dire situation. It was then probably the testimony of Korsakov, who had preceded the elderly commander to St. Petersburg by immediately putting Suvorov in a bad light at the tsarist court by pointing him out as the only person responsible for the defeat, that prompted Paul I to welcome him coldly and not give the newly appointed "

generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative ...

" and his army the honor of a triumphal entry into the Russian capital as he had previously promised him.

Legacy of the campaign

Subsequently, in 1807, talking to a Russian general, Masséna remembered Suvorov, praised his military abilities and said that he would never forgive him for crossing won by him in Switzerland. Despite its obvious failure, the Swiss campaign would nonetheless add new posthumous prestige to Suvorov because of his dramatic and heroic character, especially in Russian culture where he is still regarded as an equal of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

: as early as 1801 Tsar Paul I ordered the first of a long series of monuments erected in his honor in his homeland. In Switzerland, where he is remembered as the liberator from French occupation, right by the Devil's Bridge in the Schöllenen Gorge below Andermatt, there has been since 1899 a large and impressive monument carved entirely out of rock dedicated to the feat of the Russian general and his men. The Swiss campaign was held in high regard by contemporaries and often remembered by historians. Recognizing the desperate situation Suvorov's army had found itself in, the famous Prussian general, writer and military theorist

called the successful retreat "a miracle" a few years later.

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.C. Callwell pointed out that the Russian commander, being himself a man of the plain and leading soldiers who had never fought in mountainous conditions, managed to conduct the most outstanding mountain campaign in the history of warfare. According to him, Suvorov's Swiss campaign can find a comparison only if one looks back to the days of Hannibal. "The failure of this campaign," later wrote Russian statesman

Dmitry Milyutin Count Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin (; – ) was a Russian Military history, military historian and politician who served as the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire, minister of war from 1861 to 1881. He was also the last Russian Field marshal ...

, "would have brought Russian troops more honor than the most brilliant of victories."

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars War of the Second Coalition Alexander Suvorov Military campaigns involving Russia Military campaigns involving the Holy Roman Empire 1799 in Europe