Suvorov's Swiss campaign

Political and military background

He had received from the tsar the title of "Prince of Italy" and was close to crushing the last French resistance in Piedmont before invading the Ligurian Riviera. Divisions among the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Russian Empire prevented them from exploiting these victories. The British feared Russian influence in Italy and the Tsar's power over Mediterranean ports, while the Austrians saw Russian successes as a threat to their supremacy in northern Italy.

The British government, worried that Republican France might use the Dutch fleet to threaten the British Isles, prepared new war plans that included redeploying the Russian army to Switzerland to facilitate an Anglo-Russian landing in the Batavian Republic. General Michael von Melas's Austrian army was to garrison Piedmont and seize Cuneo, while Archduke Charles was to move from Switzerland to Germany along the Rhine.

The Russian army in the Alps

On September 4, Suvorov informed the tsar that he was about to move to Switzerland, lamenting that the Austrians had been consistently reluctant to support him and inefficient in meeting his demands for supplies and ammunition. He emphasized that the Allies purposely delayed supplies to force him to leave Italy. Suvorov marched on September 11 after the capture of Tortona, sending baggage and heavy artillery via Como and Verona to Chur in the Grisons, and from the Tyrol to Feldkirch, while he with about 27,000 men took the Varese route toward Bellinzona.

On September 15, the Russian vanguard under Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration entered Swiss territory near Ponte Tresa, and the main army assembled at Taverne in Ticino. Suvorov had expected to find supplies there from a caravan of 1,500 mules previously requested from the Austrians, but found that the Austrians had sent nothing. He accused Melas and the Viennese court of having hatched a treason and wrote an angry letter to Emperor Francis II. Only six hundred and fifty mules arrived, and Suvorov, at Prince Konstantin's suggestion, used the horses of the Cossacks to transport provisions and ammunition for eight days.

Officers had to surrender their horses as beasts of burden, and Prince Constantine sent his three carriages back to Como, while Suvorov abandoned his litter and marched on foot. In four days of waiting, the Russian troops were instructed in mountain warfare tactics.

The retreat

Suvorov wanted to break through French positions at Näfels, go along Lake Walenstadt, and march to Weesen to rejoin Austrian troops. Austrian officers supported this strategy as the best way to reach Sargans and resupply the army.

But Prince Konstantin and senior Russian officers objected, convinced that the only way to rejoin the Allies was to head south to Schwanden, then through Elm and over the Panix Pass to reach the Anterior Rhine valley to Maienfeld. Eight of the ten generals on the general staff approved the "Russian proposal." Opting for a route devoid of enemy troops did not suit Suvorov's temperament, but his assent may indicate the poor conditions of his men. Austrian General Auffenberg reported on October 1 that his brigade was completely without ammunition, money, bread, and largely without boots.

Reasons for the defeat

After just under a month of marches and sixteen days of fighting, Suvorov had lost over 5,000 men, with the infantry suffering 28.4 percent losses. The Russians retained most of their army, but the French controlled Switzerland as before the campaign.

On October 22, Tsar Paul I, in his letter to Emperor Francis II announcing Russia's exit from the coalition, focused the main reasons for the defeat on the removal of Archduke Charles from Switzerland before Suvorov's army could reunite with Korsakov's. Archduke Charles had received a letter from Francis II in early August ordering him to leave Switzerland, but the same letter probably did not reach Suvorov until August 25 or 27. Informed that the archduke had already left, he was deeply disconcerted and later accused Melas and the Austrians of cowardice and treason.

Did You Know?

• The village of Näfels changed hands up to six times during the campaign.
• Suvorov's soldiers under Bagration's tactical control came to a stalemate at Näfels against General Gabriel Molitor's soldiers.
• In 1807, Masséna praised Suvorov's military abilities and said he would never forgive him for crossing won by him in Switzerland.