t he himself be allowed to put this plan into
execution. They consented, and hurrying to the south of France only two
days after his wedding, Napoleon took charge of a French army of about
fifty thousand ragged and ill-fed soldiers. His men had not been paid
for months and there was practically no discipline among them. They
were sick and discouraged, worn out with fighting the battles of the
Revolutionary party without reward. But when Napoleon appeared among
them, their spirits rose as though by magic, for the young commander
knew how to appeal to their imagination and to awaken their fighting
instinct.

"Soldiers," he said to them, "you are half starved and half naked: the
government owes you much, but can do nothing for you. I am about to
lead you into the most fertile valleys of the world; there you will
find flourishing cities and teeming provinces; there you will reap
honor, glory and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack
courage?"

In Italy were the Austrians and the Sardinians against whom Napoleon
was to fight. He did not attempt to cross the Alps, as the great
general Hannibal had done in ancient times; instead of this he skirted
the Alps and fell upon the enemy so rapidly that they were not prepared
to meet him. With a series of brilliant marches and maneuvers he
divided the forces of his enemy and compelled the Sardinians to sign an
armistice, although the French Government had given him no authority to
take so much power into his own hands. He then drove back the Austrians
and defeated them in the battle of Lodi, where he carried a standard
with his own hands and rallied his troops in the face of a withering
fire.

The Austrians were completely defeated and numbered their dead by
thousands. And so delighted were the French soldiers by their success
that they gave to the name of their young commander the title of "the
little corporal."

Napoleon, however, did not let the grass grow under his heels, for in
war he believed that victory almost always came to the commander who
struck first. Time was everything, he declared, and advancing swiftly
he laid siege to the town of Mantua, defeated several armies that were
sent to relieve it and brought all Italy under his control.

And now the Directors of the French Government learned that the young
general they had placed in command of the Army of Italy was made of
very different material from the average general who obeyed their
orders. Napole