Battle of Peschiera
1796 battle
The Battle of Peschiera was a minor clash that occurred on 6 August, 1796 between the Austrian troops of General Anton Lipthay and the French division of General André Masséna.
Historical context
After losing possession of the city of Milan to the French, the Austrians, under the command of Beaulieu, retreated beyond the Mincio, to what would later become known as the Quadrilatero. Defeated once again by Napoleon at the time of the crossing, they retreated towards the Trentino valleys, where they could reorganize themselves.
While the French began the first siege of the fortress of Mantua, the new commander of the Austrian forces, Field Marshal Wurmser, prepared an army of 49,000 men and descended again into the Po Valley, attempting to break the siege of Mantua.
Background
After descending from the Alps, Wurmser overwhelmed Massena's division at Rivoli, forcing him to retreat. Having divided his troops to attack both sides of the lake, Wurmser sought to encircle Napoleon. To respond to the threat, the latter was forced to recall all possible men, including those committed to besieging Mantua, and direct them against Qosdanovich's columns in Lonato.
It was at this juncture, on 31 July, that Wurmser ordered to besiege the fortress of Peschiera, currently occupied by General Guillaume and 400 men.
The second decisive clash between the two forces took place in Castiglione: with a skillful maneuver, Napoleon managed, although only partially, to outflank Wurmser's forces, striking them both from the west with the bulk of his army and from the east, with the group entrusted to Fiorella. Unable to resist the force of the assault, the Austrian troops fled, heading again towards the right bank of the Mincio.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2984845. Authority coordinates are 45.433, 10.683. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1796.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Peschiera” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.