olution which he identified with his own Corsican nationalism. By 1794 he was a confirmed Jacobin and a favorite of Maximilien Robespierre. Napoleon, however, abhorred mob violence. On October 4, 1795, Napoleon saved the Convention by firing shells directly into a Paris crowd which stormed the Tuileries and dispersing it.
The Italian Campaigns (April 1796-April 1797 and May-June 1800)
In his three Italian campaigns, the French Army of Italy under Napoleon gained and maintained control over most of northern Italy by defeating in a series of battles several much larger Austrian and allied armies. This was a remarkable achievement for a very young general, which Karl von Clausewitz said Napoleon accomplished because he had "a better use of . . . tactics, a greater bravery on the field, a superior mind, and a boldness without limits" (Chandler 113). In his Italian and other campaigns, the Grande Armee became known for its quick forced marches and for its engineering feats, such as constructing pontoon bridges under fire and using mule-drawn sleds and hollowed-out tree trunks to carry its heavy guns over the Alps.
In Italy, Napoleon developed other of his celebrated tactics, such as striking at the nodal or weakly defended point between two opposing armies as at the Battle of Montenotte (April 9, 1796), or holding the center while enveloping the enemy's most vulnerable flank(s) and striking in his rear, as at the Battles of Dego (April 14, 1796) and Rivoli (January 14, 1797). Napoleon excelled at improvisation. Prados said he had the coup d'oeil, "the ability to appreciate a situation and make the necessary decisions after just one glance" (322). According to Delderfield, "no one could rise to the occasion as swiftly and dramatically as Napoleon" (145).
The French government had mixed motives in dispatching Napoleon to command the expedition to Egypt. One was to rid themselves of an ambitious and popular 'political' general. T...