I’m still amazed that my first trip abroad was to Italy rather than Spain. It’s amazing because The Peninsular War in Spain was my first love and introduction to the Napoleonic Period. And once tasted I was hooked. Therefore, it seemed obvious that if an opportunity ever arose to have a holiday abroad I would favour Spain. But when it did, I had just discovered Napoleon’s early battles, the period before he became an Emperor, and I was hooked even more. So Italy it was, but, unlike Napoleon, my Italian campaign, although highly enjoyable on a personal level, wasn’t anywhere near as successful.

For a start I was foolish enough to believe that in five days I would be able to visit six Napoleonic battlefields. Foolish because I made so many basic mistakes. Firstly, I relied on public transport. Second, I didn’t have enough money. Third, I couldn’t speak Italian, and fourth, unknowingly, I had bought some faulty British camera film. However, considering the above, I’m still amazed that I actually managed to walk across parts of three battlefields: Castiglione, Arcole and Rivoli. The following articles will be about the history of those battles, the state of the sites now, and my attempts to wargame them. (Note that 1996 will be the 200th Anniversary of both Castiglione and Arcole.)

Although the battles are fairly well known by name, finding detailed information about them, especially Orders of Battle, proved almost impossible. It appears very little has been written compared to the later battles of the Empire, especially when it comes to information about the Austrian Army. When I say little, I mean books written in English and easily available, such as via the Library Interloan System. All the books I’ve used for research are available via the Library interloan system. There are, of course, many books written in French and German, but these were generally well out of my reach, both physically and financially. Sadly, I should imagine there are plenty of books as yet undiscovered. I’m fairly new to research, this being my first Napoleonic article, and as my research developed, I began to sincerely wish I was rich and fluent in other languages so I could afford to travel to search for such books.

When researching I often found myself confused by contradictions, exaggerations and lack of information from both sides, especially when it came to the size of armies or their casualty lists. On top of this it was obvious that there were as many authors who appeared to dispute Napoleon’s skill as a commander and those who admired it. However, no matter who you favour, the battles themselves should be very interesting to read and especially so for wargamers. The armies are not too large, there is a variety of terrain and the actual battles, if desired, can be broken down into smaller parts. There is also the added bonus of including many French celebrities before they became Marshals.

More Castiglione

Introduction
Build-Up (30 July-Aug 4)
Battle (August 5th)
Site Today
Order of Battle