Bonaparte made his reputation at Toulon (1793) merely by following the method employed by Washington in the siege of Boston.
Bonaparte gained his first success in Italy because the allied Piedmontese and Austrian armies, although thrice his numbers, were separated by the Apennine mountains.
Bonaparte’s success at Castiglione was due to the separation of the Austrian army into two great isolated columns by the Lake of Garda.
At Arcola, Bonaparte occupied a great swamp upon the hostile strategic center and the Austrian army was destroyed by its efforts to dislodge him.
At Rivoli, the Austrian army purposed to unite its five detached wings upon a plateau of which Bonaparte was already in possession. All were ruined in the effort to dislodge the French from this Tactical Center.