Battle of Campo Tenese

Battle of Campo Tenese
Part of the War of the Third Coalition
Date 10 March 1806 Location Northwest of Castrovillari, present-day Italy Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
France Italy Etruria Polish Legions Switzerland	Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily
Commanders and leaders
Jean Reynier	Roger de Damas
Strength
6,000	11,000
Casualties and losses
500 killed or wounded	3,000 killed or wounded

The Battle of Campo Tenese was a battle on 10 March 1806 between the II Corps of Napoleon's Army of Naples under General Reynier and the Royal Neapolitan Army under General Damas. Following the decision by King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily to ally himself with the Third Coalition against Napoleon and the decisive victory over the Allies at the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon declared Bourbon rule of southern Italy at an end. He proclaimed his brother Joseph King of Naples, and the French subsequently invaded the Kingdom of Naples in February 1806 (the second French invasion in 7 years). Naples fell on 15 February and by March only the fortress of Gaeta and Calabria, where the Neapolitan Army was entrenched, still held out against the French.

On 10 March, Reynier's II Corps, which included 2 battalions of the Polish Legions, 1 battalion of Swiss infantry, as well as troops from the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Etruria, engaged the Neapolitans in a day of skirmishes. The Neapolitan army was routed and most of the men eventually surrendered, changed sides, or fled to Sicily, which was protected by the British.

A day after the battle, Joseph Bonaparte became the new king of the French client state of Naples, splitting mainland Naples from Sicily.