He was soon able to carry out the plan for the invasion of Italy that he had been advocating for years, which provided for an advance over the Apennines near Altare to attack the enemy position of Ceva.
The Montenotte Campaign opened after Beaulieu's Austrian forces attacked the extreme French eastern flank near Genoa on 10 April.
On 18 May, Piedmont signed the Treaty of Paris (1796), ceding Savoy and Nice, and allowing France to use its territory for the campaign against Austria.
After a short pause, Bonaparte carried out a brilliant flanking manoeuvre, and crossed the Po at Piacenza, nearly cutting the Austrian line of retreat.
Bonaparte exploited the Austrian mistake of dividing their forces to defeat them in detail, but in so doing, he abandoned the siege of Mantua, which held out for another six months.
Again the Austrians divided their effort, sending Davidovich's corps from the north while Alvinczi's main body attacked from the east.
Moreau was at first completely successful, and having crossed the Rhine and defeated the Austrian forces there, he advanced into Bavaria and fought the Archduke to an inconclusive draw at Neresheim.
Advancing to the edge of the Tyrol, he took Ulm and Augsburg, but Jourdan became separated from Moreau and was defeated by the Archduke Charles of Austria at Amberg and Würzburg, and both armies were forced to retreat separately across the Rhine by September (including the Battle of Theiningen), ending with the Battle of Emmendingen in October and the same territorial conditions as the campaign had begun.