anged along the hills. All the bravery of
Massena's troops failed to dislodge the right wing of the
Imperialists. The French centre was torn by the Austrian cannon and
musketry. A pitiless storm of rain and sleet hindered the advance of
the French guns and unsteadied the aim of the gunners; and finally
they withdrew into Verona, leaving behind 2,000 killed and wounded,
and 750 prisoners (November 12th). This defeat at Caldiero--for it is
idle to speak of it merely as a check--opened up a gloomy vista of
disasters for the French; and Bonaparte, though he disguised his fears
before his staff and the soldiery, forthwith wrote to the Directors
that the army felt itself abandoned at the further end of Italy, and
that this fair conquest seemed about to be lost. With his usual device
of under-rating his own forces and exaggerating those of his foes, he
stated that the French both at Verona and Rivoli were only 18,000,
while the grand total of the Imperialists was upwards of 50,000. But
he must have known that for the present he had to deal with rather
less than half that number. The greater part of the Tyrolese force
had not as yet descended the Adige below Roveredo; and allowing for
detachments and losses, Alvintzy's array at Caldiero barely exceeded
20,000 effectives.

Bonaparte now determined to hazard one of the most daring turning
movements which history records. It was necessary at all costs to
drive Alvintzy from the heights of Caldiero before the Tyrolese
columns should overpower Vaubois' detachment at Rivoli and debouch in
the plains west of Verona. But, as Caldiero could not be taken by a
front attack, it must be turned by a flanking movement. To any other
general than Bonaparte this would have appeared hopeless; but where
others saw nothing but difficulties, his eye discerned a means of
safety. South and south-east of those hills lies a vast depression
swamped by the flood waters of the Alpon and the Adige. Morasses
stretch for some miles west of the village of Arcola, through which
runs a road up the eastern bank of the Alpon, crossing that stream at
the aforenamed village and leading to the banks of the Adige opposite
the village of Ronco; another causeway, diverging from the former a
little to the north of Ronco, leads in a north-westerly direction
towards Porcil. By advancing from Ronco along these causeways, and by
seizing Arcola, Bonaparte designed to outflank the Austrians and tempt
them into an arena where