Battle of Linth River in the context of André Masséna

Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (French: [ʒɑ̃dədjø sult]; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of France. Soult is referred to as one of the outstanding military commanders of the modern era.

Son of a country notary from southern France, Soult enlisted in the French Royal Army in 1785 and quickly rose through the ranks during the French Revolution. He was promoted to brigadier general after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, and by 1799 he was a division general. He fought a drawn battle against equally numbered troops of Alexander Suvorov at Glarus in 1799 and in the same year notably defeated the Austrians under the lead of Friedrich von Hotze at the Linth River as Hotze died at the very beginning of battle leaving his Austrians without organization. In 1804, Napoleon made Soult one of his first eighteen Marshals of the Empire. Soult played a key role in many of Napoleon's campaigns, most notably in the Ulm campaign (e.g., Battle of Memmingen) and at the Battle of Austerlitz, where his corps delivered the decisive attack that secured French victory. He was subsequently created Duke of Dalmatia. From 1808, he commanded French forces during the Peninsular War. At the Battle of Corunna, Soult clashed with the British under generals John Moore and John Hope; during Soult's attack, his troops were outflanked by numerically superior infantry and retreated to their original positions as did the British troops, but eventually the battlefield remained his due to the British retreat to their ships, thus Spain was left without British support for a while. At the Battle of Albuera, against superior Anglo-allied forces of William Beresford, he again fought to a draw. Despite several initial victories, for instance at the Battle of Ocaña, Soult was eventually outmaneuvered and driven out of Spain by the coalition forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington), which were superior to the army given to Soult in terms of the quality of troops and supplies. Soult then stubbornly fought Wellington at Toulouse in 1814, days after Napoleon's first abdication. Soult declared himself a royalist following the Bourbon Restoration, but rejoined Napoleon during the Hundred Days. He was Napoleon's chief of staff during the Waterloo campaign in 1815, where the emperor suffered a final defeat; in this role Soult proved himself less capable than as a field commander.

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 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.

Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Hotze (20 April 1739 – 25 September 1799) was a Swiss-born general and Feldmarschall-Leutnant in the Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He campaigned in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition and in Switzerland in the War of the Second Coalition, notably at Battle of Winterthur in late May 1799, and the First Battle of Zurich in early June 1799. He was killed at the Battle of Linth River.

Hotze was born on 20 April 1739 in Richterswil in the Canton of Zürich, in the Old Swiss Confederacy (present-day Switzerland). As a boy, he graduated from the Carolinum in Zürich and pursued studies at the University of Tübingen. In 1758, he entered the military service of the Duke of Württemberg, and was promoted to captain of cavalry; he campaigned in the Seven Years' War, but saw no combat. Later, he served in the Russian army in Russia's War with Turkey, (1768–74).