André Masséna in the context of Second Battle of Zurich

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, duc de Raguse (French pronunciation: [oɡyst fʁedeʁik lwi vjɛs də maʁmɔ̃]; 20 July 1774 – 22 March 1852) was a French general and nobleman who rose to the rank of Marshal of the Empire and was awarded the title Duke of Ragusa (French: duc de Raguse). In the Peninsular War Marmont succeeded the disgraced André Masséna in the command of the French army in northern Spain, but lost decisively at the Battle of Salamanca as France ultimately lost the war in Spain.

At the close of the War of the Sixth Coalition, Marmont went over to the Restoration and remained loyal to the Bourbons through the Hundred Days. This gave Marmont a reputation as a traitor among the remaining Bonapartists, and in French society more broadly. He led the royalist Paris garrison during the July Revolution in 1830, but his efforts proved incapable of quelling the revolution, leading King Charles X to accuse Marmont of betraying the Bourbons as he had betrayed the Bonapartes.

Following defeat at the Battle of Wagram, Archduke Charles retreated north into Bohemia hoping to regroup his battered forces. The French army had also suffered in the battle and did not give immediate pursuit. But two days after the battle, Napoleon ordered his troops north intending to defeat the Austrians once and for all. The French eventually caught up the Austrians at Znaim (now Znojmo, Czech Republic) on 10 July 1809. Realising they were in no position to give battle, the Austrians proposed a ceasefire as Archduke Charles went to begin peace negotiations with Napoleon.

However, Marshal Auguste de Marmont refused to observe the ceasefire and committed his XI Corps of around 10,000 men into battle. With Marmont greatly outnumbered, André Masséna had no choice but to support him. By 11 July, Masséna's corps had joined Marmont's in battle but the Austrians had also reinforced their position around the town of Znaim. After two days of futile fighting, with both sides suffering similar casualties and neither side gaining any advantage, Napoleon finally arrived with news of an armistice and ordered Marmont to end the battle. The Battle of Znaim was the last action between Austria and France in the War of the Fifth Coalition.

The French Revolutionary Army (French: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great numbers. However, the French Revolutionary Army had become arguably the most powerful army in the world by the mid-1790s, as the French armies had become well-experienced and organized, enabling them to comfortably outfight their enemies.

Despite experiencing early disastrous defeats, the revolutionary armies successfully expelled foreign forces from French soil and then overran many neighboring countries, establishing client republics. Leading generals included Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, André Masséna, Jean Victor Marie Moreau and Étienne Macdonald.

Louis-Nicolas d'Avout (French: [lwi nikɔla davu]; 10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known as Davout, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. His talent for war, along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian, earned him the nickname "The Iron Marshal" (Le Maréchal de fer). He is ranked along with Marshals André Masséna, Louis-Gabriel Suchet, and Jean Lannes as one of Napoleon's finest commanders, and also stands among the most outstanding military commanders of the modern era. His loyalty and obedience to Napoleon were absolute. During his lifetime, Davout's name was commonly spelled Davoust - this spelling appears on the Arc de Triomphe and in much of the correspondence between Napoleon and his generals.

The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over a Russian force commanded by Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov near Zürich, as it broke the stalemate that had resulted from the First Battle of Zurich three months earlier and led to the withdrawal of Russia from the Second Coalition. Masséna took full advantage of the incompetence of the Russian commander who had accidentally scattered his forces, and launched a bold assault. Most of the fighting took place on both banks of the river Limmat up to the gates of Zürich, and within the city itself. It was arguably the most significant French victory of 1799.

The same days saw a battle between Hotze's Austrians and Soult's French at the River Linth.

The invasion of Naples was a military campaign of the War of the Third Coalition in 1806. It began when a French army led by Marshal André Masséna marched from Northern Italy into the Kingdom of Naples, an ally of the Coalition against France ruled by King Ferdinand IV. The Neapolitan army was defeated at Campo Tenese and rapidly disintegrated. The invasion was eventually successful despite some setbacks, including the prolonged Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, and a stubborn guerrilla war by local peasants against the French. Total success eluded the French because Ferdinand withdrew to his domain in Sicily, where he was protected by the Royal Navy and a British Army garrison. In 1806, Emperor Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to reign over the newly formed Napoleonic kingdom of Naples in Southern Italy.

The proximate cause of the invasion was Ferdinand's double-crossing of Napoleon. Wanting to keep things quiet in southern Italy, Napoleon and Ferdinand signed a convention that specified that the French would evacuate Apulia. In return, the Kingdom of Naples would stay neutral in the impending War of the Third Coalition. When the French occupying force marched away, Ferdinand admitted British and Russian armies into his kingdom. In December 1805, Napoleon's armies crushed the armies of Austria and Russia. When the Russian force in Naples was recalled, the British expedition withdrew, exposing Ferdinand's kingdom to French retribution.

In the Battle of Caldiero on 12 November 1796, the Habsburg army led by József Alvinczi fought a First French Republic army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The French assaulted the Austrian positions, which were initially held by the army advance guard under Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The defenders held firm until reinforcements arrived in the afternoon to push back the French. This marked a rare tactical setback for Bonaparte, whose forces withdrew into Verona that evening after having suffered greater losses than their adversaries. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, which was part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Caldiero is a town located about 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Verona.

The battle was part of the third Austrian effort to relieve the Siege of Mantua. Two Austrian forces converged toward Mantua, the main army from the east and an independent corps from the north. Both forces enjoyed early successes, driving back the outnumbered French forces in front of them. When the main army reached a position threatening Verona, Bonaparte ordered the divisions of André Masséna and Pierre Augereau to attack. Sturdy Austrian resistance and bad weather contributed to the French defeat. Bonaparte soon embarked upon a new strategy which concluded with an Austrian defeat at the Battle of Arcole a few days later.

The Battle of Glarus (also uncollectively the Combat of Näfels and the Combat of Netstal) was a meeting engagement fought on October 1, 1799. The battle ended the Austro-Russian invasion of the Helvetic Republic, (in the territory of present-day Switzerland) which was the last campaign that involved the Russian "undefeated" commander Alexander Suvorov. The French (Gabriel Molitor's brigade and Honoré Gazan's division) were led by Jean-de-Dieu Soult.

Initially, Suvorov's rearguard, led by Andrei Rosenberg, was able to fend off a French attack led by André Masséna in the Battle of the Muota Valley. Suvorov's vanguard under Pyotr Bagration managed to overwhelm French forces in the Battle of the Klön Valley, and then at Glarus by capturing Netstal, but came to a stalemate near Näfels and Mollis, whereupon Suvorov ordered Bagration to disengage. The battle of Glarus includes the combat of Netstal, which was won by the Allies, and the combat of Näfels where they suffered a defeat. The last combat also includes the engagement at Mollis. Suvorov completed the main operational task by taking Glarus, which deprived the French of hope for decisive success. Suvorov, notwithstanding this, began a retreat from Switzerland instead of going to Sargans to seek for Alexander Korsakov and the Austrians as he had planned before. Suvorov was forced to abandon Switzerland both because of Masséna's domination in the TO (which was achieved thanks to the Second Battle of Zurich and the Battle of the Linth River) and because of the lack of supplies and ammunition. The capture of Glarus ensured safe passage out the country, namely up the Sernftal via Engi, Elm and the Panix Pass to Ilanz and beyond. In his report to Emperor Paul I Suvorov did not mention the setback at Näfels. Instead, the report portrayed his Alpine campaign as a series of his brilliant victories. Turning to the generals, Suvorov did not even want to consider the possibility of retreating through Italy.