What If Napoleon Invaded N-Italy Instead of Waterloo Campaign?
I was trying to think if Napoleon had any other options in 1815 and this idea came to mind. Interested in your ideas on the topic, whether you think it is at all plausible and if it would lead to a better result than OTL Waterloo campaign.
Napoleon decides to take the bulk of his army into Northern Italy instead of trying to smash Wellington-Blucher. The goal of the offensive is to defeat the Austrian army in a repeat of his Marengo campaign. A chunk of the army would also be positioned to watch Belgium in case of an Allied advance during Napoleon's absence. After smashing the Austrians, Napoleon can then either move to threaten Vienna or withdraw back to defend France.
The timing for this campaign would preferably be in late April/early May. This would allow Napoleon to link up with the 50k Neapolitan Army of King Murat before its OTL destruction. However I'm unsure how many men he had available in late April-early May. It would obviously be less then the 280k soldiers and several hundred thousand national guardsman he had under arms by June. The Austrians had 85k in Northern Italy so I imagine Napoleon would want at least parity to achieve victory. If an advance in late April/early May proved impossible then the operation will take place in June as per OTL Waterloo.
I was trying to think if Napoleon had any other options in 1815 and this idea came to mind. Interested in your ideas on the topic, whether you think it is at all plausible and if it would lead to a better result than OTL Waterloo campaign.
Napoleon decides to take the bulk of his army into Northern Italy instead of trying to smash Wellington-Blucher. The goal of the offensive is to defeat the Austrian army in a repeat of his Marengo campaign. A chunk of the army would also be positioned to watch Belgium in case of an Allied advance during Napoleon's absence. After smashing the Austrians, Napoleon can then either move to threaten Vienna or withdraw back to defend France.
The timing for this campaign would preferably be in late April/early May. This would allow Napoleon to link up with the 50k Neapolitan Army of King Murat before its OTL destruction. However I'm unsure how many men he had available in late April-early May. It would obviously be less then the 280k soldiers and several hundred thousand national guardsman he had under arms by June. The Austrians had 85k in Northern Italy so I imagine Napoleon would want at least parity to achieve victory. If an advance in late April/early May proved impossible then the operation will take place in June as per OTL Waterloo.