General Alexander Suvorov, although nearly seventy years…

General Alexander Suvorov, although nearly seventy years old in 1799, is one of the most competent and experienced commanders of the age.

He has won no fewer than sixty-three battles in the course of his long military career and had been appointed field marshal during the reign of Catherine the Great, though he had been dismissed by Tsar Paul, her son and successor, after the old soldier had the audacity to criticize the new imperial Infantry Code.

He had only been recalled after the Austrians specifically requested that he be appointed to command the combined Austro-Russian army to fight the French in Italy.
 
Taking command on April 19, Suvorov has moved his army westwards in a rapid march towards the Adda River; covering over three hundred miles in just eighteen days.

After defeating Jean Victor Moreau at the Battle of Cassano on April 27, he enters Milan two days later.