Siege of Genoa
1800 CE.
Shown on the map at 44.411°, 8.930°.
The siege of Genoa saw an Austrian army led by Michael von Melas besiege the port of Genoa, which was occupied by a French garrison under the command of André Massena, from 19 April to 4 June 1800. It formed part of the larger Marengo campaign during the War of the Second Coalition. The Austrian army isolated Massena and half of the French army in Genoa, while driving the other half from the area. Once Genoa was under siege, Massena conducted a very active defense with frequent sorties. Besieged on land by 24,000 Austrian troops led by Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz and at sea by a Royal Navy squadron under Vice-Admiral of the Red Lord Keith, famine reduced the defenders to starvation. By the time Massena surrendered the city on 4 June, thousands of Genoa's inhabitants had died of starvation or disease. While the Austrian army was focused on the siege, a French army under Napoleon invaded Italy from the northwest, winning a major victory at the Battle of Marengo.
Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Genoa (1800), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.