Battle of Voltri

Battle of Voltri
Part of the French Revolutionary War
Date 10 April 1796 Location near Genoa, Italy Result Austrian victory
Belligerents
French Republic	Habsburg Austria
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Baptiste Cervoni	Johann Beaulieu Karl Sebottendorf Philipp Pittoni
Strength
5,200	7,200
Casualties and losses
227	50

The Battle of Voltri was an engagement occurring on 10 April 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars and taking place in Voltri, a suburb of Genoa, Italy.

The battle saw two Habsburg Austrian columns under the overall direction of Johann Peter Beaulieu attack a reinforced French brigade under Jean-Baptiste Cervoni. After a skirmish lasting several hours, the Austrians forced Cervoni to withdraw west along the coast to Savona. Voltri is now part of the western suburbs of the major Italian port of Genoa. Voltri was the opening action of the Montenotte Campaign, part of the War of the First Coalition. It was the opening engagement of the Italian Campaign of 1796-1797 which would ultimately end the war a year later.

In the spring of 1796, Beaulieu was installed as the new commander of the combined armies of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in northwest Italy. His opposite number was also new to the job of army commander. Napoleon Bonaparte arrived from Paris to direct the French Army of Italy. Bonaparte immediately began planning an offensive, but Beaulieu struck first by launching an attack against Cervoni's somewhat overextended force. After the action, the Austrian commander found himself in a position in which it was difficult to march to the support of his right wing. Seizing this opening, Bonaparte counterattacked the Austrian right flank in the Battle of Montenotte on 12 April.