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In early 1796 Napoleon married Josephine de Bauhinias, the widow of a guillotined French revolutionary. Shortly after Napoleon married he left for Italy in March 1796. Napoleon came to Italy and discovered his army was ill-supplied. Napoleon soon shaped up his army to become a first-class fighting force through 3 factors - making his troops live off the land, his military tactics, and his influence of the morale of his soldiers. The year 1796 was the beginning of Napoleon's many battle victories. In May 1796, Napoleon rushed across North Italy, making Sardinia sign a peace treaty for its region. Napoleon scored two more victories at Lodi (May 10) and Milan (May 14). Napoleon went through Milan and laid siege on Mantua from July 1796 to the fall of Mantua on February 1797. After the victory at Mantua, plus the victories at Arcole (November 1796) and Rivoli (January 1797), Napoleon started to cross the Alps mountain range towards Vienna. When Napoleon realized his army was moving too slow and had a chance of being attacked from behind he made a peace treaty between France and Austria which was called the Treaty of Campo Formio. .
Napoleon's victories had now made him an idol of half of Europe, he returned to Paris to devise a plan to invade Britain. When Napoleon's main plan to invade the British channel was canceled he planned a secondary attack to attack at Egypt and then India. Napoleon's new plan was supported by the French government so Napoleon started on his voyage. Napoleon started sailing to Egypt in May 1798 and succeeded in avoiding Admiral Horatio Nelson, the best British naval commander. On the way to Egypt, Napoleon conquered Malta. A little while after Napoleon landed in Egypt at Aboukir he had a victory over the Mamluks in the Battle of the Pyramids. Despite the many rumors that exist, Napoleon did not shoot the nose off the Sphinx with a cannon. By August 1, Admiral Nelson had caught up with Napoleon at Aboukir and destroyed the whole French fleet in Aboukir Bay.
