MARENGO & HOHENLINDEN; Two French Victories in 1800 Destroy the Second Coalition -- Napoleon Journal #18

After eight years of almost constant warfare, France's new leader, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, led his country to victory over the Second Coalition. It had been a close-run thing for France as the allied nations almost won the war in 1799. A flawed strategy, poorly executed, denied the Allies the fruits of their initial victories in Italy and Germany. After popular young General Bonaparte returned from Egypt, he seized control of the government in late 1799 and led a French army into Italy and defeated the Austrians at Marengo in June 1800. A final victory in December in Germany at Hohenlinden, General Jean Victor Moreau, led to the final collapse of the Second Coalition.