Napoleon received orders from France's military leader, Paul Barras, to defend this convention and to get the situation under control. When Napoleon arrived at the scene, he realized the crowd had turned into an ugly mob. After some time he took over the situation and broke up the mob. Paul Barras was impressed by Napoleon's efforts and promoted him to commander.
Napoleon's next duty was to carry out some jobs in Italy. His job was to divide and take over the Sardinian and Austrian empires in Italy. Napoleon's strategy was to divide the enemies in two parts and then attack one half before the other had time to help. He was extremely successful and nobody could stop him. The King of Sardinia tried to ask for peace but Napoleon ignored him. He completely wiped out the Sardinians. Next, he went for the Austrians. Both sides met in a clashing battle in the city of Mantua. The Austrians sent four brigades of reinforcements but it was not enough. Napoleon crushed them and defeated the Austrians in Mantua. Napoleon continued to wreak havoc throughout the country. When Napoleon got within eighty miles of Vienna, Austria's capital, they knew all was lost. In 1797 the Austrians surrendered to Napoleon and signed a treaty that greatly favored France. Napoleon won fourteen battles and 70 scuffles in all. Scuffles were little battles between forces with 50 or less people. .
When Napoleon would take over rich land he used the land to feed and pay for his army. What was not used was sent back to France to help their poor economy. This was very smart and it kept his army going for a very long time. Napoleon then went back to France. Everyone gave him a heroes welcome. He was impressed by the support that his people gave him. He knew that was the perfect time to go after an office position in the politics of France. Napoleon had dreams of being the next Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was an awesome leader of France before Napoleon's time who tried to take over Europe.