n at Roveredo, thereby
forming an army of 28,000 men wherewith to force the position of
Rivoli and drive the French in on Mantua: 9,000 Imperialists under
Provera were also to advance from the Brenta upon Legnago, in order to
withdraw the attention of the French from the real attempt made by the
valley of the Adige; while 10,000 others at Bassano and elsewhere were
to assail the French front at different points and hinder their
concentration. It will be observed that the errors of July and
November, 1796, were now yet a third time to be committed: the forces
destined merely to make diversions were so strengthened as not to be
merely light bodies distracting the aim of the French, while
Alvintzy's main force was thereby so weakened as to lack the impact
necessary for victory.

Nevertheless, the Imperialists at first threw back their foes with
some losses; and Bonaparte, hurrying northwards to Verona, was for
some hours in a fever of uncertainty as to the movements and strength
of the assailants. Late at night on January 13th he knew that
Provera's advance was little more than a demonstration, and that the
real blow would fall on the 10,000 men marshalled by Joubert at Monte
Baldo and Rivoli. Forthwith he rode to the latter place, and changed
retreat and discouragement into a vigorous offensive by the news that
13,000 more men were on the march to defend the strong position of
Rivoli.

The great defensive strength of this plateau had from the first
attracted his attention. There the Adige in a sharp bend westward
approaches within six miles of Lake Garda. There, too, the mountains,
which hem in the gorge of the river on its right bank, bend away
towards the lake and leave a vast natural amphitheatre, near the
centre of which rises the irregular plateau that commands the exit
from Tyrol. Over this plateau towers on the north Monte Baldo, which,
near the river gorge, sends out southward a sloping ridge, known as
San Marco, connecting it with the plateau. At the foot of this spur is
the summit of the road which leads the traveller from Trent to Verona;
and, as he halts at the top of the zigzag, near the village of Rivoli,
his eye sweeps over the winding gorge of the river beneath, the
threatening mass of Monte Baldo on the north, and on the west of the
village he gazes down on a natural depression which has been sharply
furrowed by a torrent. The least experienced eye can see that the
position is one of great strength. It