Napoleon's First Campaign in the Alps

Napoleon held himself up in his office for several days. His secretary, louis de borrienne, would recall seeing him lying on giant maps of germany, switzerland and italy,. laid out wall to wall on the floor. The desks were piled high with reconnaissance reports on hundreds of note cards organized into boxes. Napoleon had calculated the austrians reactions to the feints he was planning. Muttering to himself on the floor, he mouled over every permutation of attack and counter attack. By the end of march, 18 hundred napoleon had emerged from his office with a plan for a campaign in northern italy that went far beyond anything his lieutenants