Battle of Grenoble (Napoleon's World)

The Battle of Grenoble was a military engagement in March 1813 in which an Austrian army with Italian reinforcements launched an attack into southern France from northern Italy, designed as a feint to distract Napoleon from his campaigns in Russia. Designed to be timed with a similar Austrian attack against Bavaria in which the Austrians expected British forces, the force was eventually abandoned and routed at Grenoble by Grouchy and a young cavalry commander, Robert Legrange. The battle would mark the first engagement on French soil in nearly a decade and would also mark the high-water mark of the Coalition - shortly after Grenoble, Napoleon routed Russian forces at Petrograd, the Duke of Wellington was killed in Spain and the Grand Army launched its unexpected surprise attack against Austria's unprotected eastern frontier.