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A brilliant strategist and tactician,
a master of logistics and surprise attack, Alexander Suvorov became a legend
in his lifetime. His career numbers 40 years of almost incessant battles
none of which he lost. His brilliant command of the Italian and Swiss campaigns
at the age of 70 gained the admiration of the French and earned him the
nickname of the Russian Hannibal.
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Keeping up a close eye on political developments
in Europe and Napoleon’s fantastic rise to power, Suvorov drew an unexpected
conclusion. He was the first to foresee the French Emperor’s fall. “As
long as General Bonaparte keeps his head cool, he will win; this man is
endowed with outstanding military talents. But should he plunge into the
swirl of politics and let his thoughts run loose, he is done for”. Subsequent
events confirmed Suvorov’s prophetic assumption. He was thinking over a
war that would save Europe from Napoleon, so when the Russian Emperor Paul
I offered him to take command of the Russian-Austrian offensive in the
French-occupied Northern Italy he promptly accepted it.
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The Austrian allies met Suvorov with due
honours. Placing their troops under his command, they demanded a plan of
the war. “The campaign will start at Adda and God knows where it will end”,
Suvorov replied. The allied forces were to strike against two French armies
- one commanded by Jean-Victor Moreau, the other under Etienne Macdonald.
Suvorov decided to attack separately. The offensive began in early April,
1799. On April 27 Suvorov beat Moreau at Adda and within ten days liberated
the entire Northern Italy. In less than three weeks he defeated Macdonald
at the Trebbia River. Emperor Paul I gave him the title of prince Italiisky
for his victories in Italy. The grateful King of Sardinia also made Suvorov
a prince and royal brother, and gave him the rank of Field Marshal of Sardinian
troops. The Austrians, however, feared that the Russian presence in Italy
jeopardized their own interests and influence in the region. Consequently,
they delayed food and logistic supplies Suvorov need for his further attacks.
Austrian generals refused to obey him. As relations between the allies
strained, it was decided that the Austrian troops would stay in Italy.
Suvorov got an order to move to Switzerland to rescue the Russian corps
trapped by the French. He was to undertake a historically unparalleled
pass across the Alps and fight a superior enemy.
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The risky route lay through the St. Gotthard pass
and the Devil’s bridge in the Swiss Alps.
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At the cost of enormous nervous strain Suvorov pushed
his troops’ morale up. Once, seeing a group of soldiers supping water from
a mountain river, he asked them: “What are you doing there, buddies?” “Eating
Alpine soup”, was the gloomy answer. Then Suvorov took out his spoon and
joined them. When the meal was over, he put on a mysterious face and whispered:
“I say, chaps. The French are two passes away from here, stuffing their
stomachs with hot soup and pies. We’ll be there by dawn – then everything
will be ours. But let it be our little secret”.
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Things got pretty hard for the Russian army after
the French blew up a narrow bridge across a gorge. The soldiers had no
other choice but to climb their way down and up the treacherous icy slopes.
Impossible to imagine how they managed it with horses and artillery and
under fire from the French. Many slipped from the cliffs or died of cold
and hunger. But Suvorov wouldn’t be Suvorov had he not known how to lead
his army to victory. After crossing the Alps, the exhausted Russian
troops clashed with the French army and defeated it.
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The whole of Europe applauded Suvorov’s feat of arms
that won him the rank of Generalissimos. That was his last campaign, however.
He returned home in poor health and died in St.Petersburg on May 6, 1800.
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Suvorov and Napoleon never met on the battlefield. When
the former was beating the French in Italy, the latter was waging war in
Egypt. Yet, Napoleon always acknowledged Alexander Suvorov as one of his
main teachers in the art of warfare.
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