The war in Italy had already been going on for seven years, and the Sardinian army had already suffered several defeats in the field, leading to them opting for a more defensive approach.

The French led several expeditions in Italy during the war, combining their forces with the Spanish Bourbons to accomplish their political aims.

[1][2] By 1747, the war was coming to an end, but the French were still interested in acquiring more influence in Italy, and so dispatched an army under the command of Belle-Isle to capture Colle dell'Assietta from the Sardinians.

[1][2] The cause of the War of the Austrian Succession was Maria Theresa's alleged ineligibility to succeed to the hereditary lands of her father, Emperor Charles VI, because Salic law precluded royal inheritance by a woman.

King Louis XV of France had already dispatched forces into Sardianian territory, besieging Cuneo and engaging the Sardinians at Madonna dell'Olmo and Bassignana, winning both battles but gaining little strategic advantage overall.

A French army comprising one hundred and fifty infantry battalions, seventy-five cavalry squadrons and two artillery brigades, under the command of Marshal Charles Louis Auguste, duke of Belle-Isle, and Marquis De La Mina, was dispatched into Italy.

The two commanders had different views on how to conduct the campaign: Belle-Isle favoured menacing Turin directly via crossing the Alps, while his Spanish colleague instead wished to send troops to relieve the Austro-Sardinian siege of Genoa.

Despite the desperate attempts by the French soldiers and the personal show of valour of their officers, all four attacks were repulsed by the Sardinian forces with heavy losses inflicted upon their ranks.

These battalions, led by determined officers, struggled up the slope, disassembling the various man-made impediments as they proceeded, while suffering withering musket fire from concealed and protected Sardinian hideouts, which exacted the heavy toll on the flanking columns.

The body of Belle-Isle, carefully preserved during the march home, was buried in the Embrun Cathedral with full military honours.

[2] The battle of Assietta, from a strategic point of view was a stalemate in regards to the military operations that were being conducted in Italy, while from a tactical point of view, it was a clear success that made apparent the failure of combat tactics employed by the French troops under Belle-Isle, which primarily consisted of massed bayonet assaults in column formations without bothering to ensure the columns had sufficient support in the form of covering fire.