After the battle of Lützen, Napoleon Bonaparte, who held the title of King of Italy, sent his stepson, Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais, to the country to mobilize the forces of the kingdom against the Coalition.

Beauharnais deployed soldiers along the road from Tarvisio to Ljubljana to face the Austrians of General Johann von Hiller, and between the end of August and the beginning of September he ordered an attack on the side of Villach.

They resulted in short-term successes: in those days Fiume was evacuated by General Pierre Dominique Garnier and occupied by Field Marshal Laval Nugent von Westmeath, while the whole of Istria fell into the hands of the Austrians.

The viceroy, threatened on his right, sent General Domenico Pino against Nugent, who defeated the enemy at Jeltschaneand in Lipa and on 15 September he had Rijeka occupied by Gillot Rougier 's brigade.

However, Beauharnais, not satisfied, replaced Pino with general Giuseppe Federico Palombini, who, however, was unable to prevent the Austrians from reoccupying Fiume, Lipa and Adelsberg and putting the blockade on Trieste.

From the north they invaded South Tyrol and reached Trento, forcing General Alessandro de Rege of Gifflenga to retire to Volano and Rovereto.

[12] The general, in agreement with the British, landed at Goro, Emilia–Romagna on 15 November and in four days conquered Gorino, Po di Gnocca, Comacchio, Magnavacca, Ferrara and Rovigo, and connected with Hiller, who was blocking Venice.

On 9 December the British fleet of Admiral Josias Rowley landed near Viareggio 1 500 Sicilian soldiers led by Colonel Carlo Catinelli, who took possession of the fort and the area, sent a hundred men to La Spezia and on the 11th they occupied Lucca, which, however, evacuated after twenty-four hours.

Murat met the viceroy in Guastalla for a consultation, during which he induced him to occupy and then divide Italy with him, detach it from France, proclaim its independence and then defend it together from the Austrians.

In the last days of the month, the towns of Rimini, Cesena, Pesaro and Fano were occupied by the Neapolitans who made contact with the Austrians, already masters of Ravenna, Cervia, Lugo and Forlì and began to attempt approaches with General Pino.

[11][17] Finally, on 11 January 1814, Murat signed an offensive and defensive alliance with Austria in Naples: this guaranteed his continued possession of the kingdom [5][18][4] and, with a secret article, promised him an increase in territory in the Papal States; moreover it provided for a renunciation by Ferdinand IV of the mainland domains.

With the war now clearly in favour of the Coalition, and with the betrayal of his brother-in-law, Napoleon wrote to his stepson Eugène to abandon Italy and retreat with his troops towards the Western Alps, but Beauharnais refused, wanting to confront the Austro-Neapolitan army.

[19] Meanwhile, Field Marshal Heinrich Johann Bellegarde had taken command of the Austrian army on 15 December 1813 in Vicenza and, in January, ordered his troops to carry out a new offensive along the Adige.

While Nugent advancing from Ferrara occupied all of Romagna, Bellegarde showed his diplomatic skills and managed to convince Murat to deploy 20,000 of his men in Emilia-Romagna against Beauharnais.

Bellegarde had designated Count Nugent's corps (about 9,000 men, 800 horsemen and 21 artillery pieces) for operations on the right bank of the Po in order to threaten the right flank of the viceroy of Italy on the Mincio.

Knowing that the enemy was concentrating his troops between Villafranca di Verona and Roverbella, Beauharnais decided to give him battle on 8 February and made arrangements for the movements of his army.

Consequently, on 23 April Beauharnais signed the Convention of Mantua, with which the Austrians managed to occupy all of northern Italy, and he withdrew to Bavaria under the patronage of King Maximilian I Joseph.