The war of the Second Coalition on the italian front was becoming a nightmare for the French Republic.
Defeat after defeat (Cassano d’Adda, Trebbia) the exaustedFrench army was pushed away from the northern Italy by the vigorous offensive of the Austro-Russian army led by Suvorov.
For this reasonthe Directorate decided to call another general, Barthelemy Joubert, at the head of the army.
The Directorate ordered General Joubert to immediately attack Suvorov and to make every efforts to free Tortona.
On the morning of August 15th the noise of the first shots of the battle of Novi begun to fill the air.
Joubert rode to a little hill to better assess the situation. Few moments after his arrival, a bullet hit him in the chest, killing the young general almost instantly.
An untimely death.