Battle of Bassano

Battle of Bassano
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Bonaparte after the Battle of Bassano, by Horace Vernet (1848)
Date 8 September 1796 Location Bassano, Venetia, present-day Italy 45°46′00″N 11°44′00″E / 45.7667°N 11.7333°E / 45.7667; 11.7333 Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Republic	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte André Masséna Jean Lannes	Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Strength
20,000	20,000[1][2]
Casualties and losses
400 killed, wounded or missing	600 killed or wounded, 6,000 captured, 30 cannons, 8 standards
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

War of the First Coalition:
Italian Campaign

100km
62miles

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  current battle

  Napoleon as subordinate

  Napoleon in command

The Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The engagement occurred during the second Austrian attempt to raise the siege of Mantua. It was a French victory; however, it was the last battle in Napoleon's perfect military career as two months later he would be defeated at the Second Battle of Bassano, ending his victorious streak. The Austrians abandoned their artillery and baggage, losing supplies, cannons, and battle standards to the French. The victory led to Wurmser being trapped in Mantua, but Napoleon would find his army now badly overstretched, due to holding both Trento and Bassano, meaning he could not support either of those locations without being drawn too far away from the other, something that would nearly allow the Austrians to win during the third attempt to raise the siege of Mantua in November.