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The French invasion of Russia

Alternative Names

Napoleon's invasion is best known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War of 1812 (Russia 1812, 1812 Vojna Otechestvennaya goda), not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War (, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna) referring to Hitler, place of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The Patriotic War of 1812 also sometimes referred to as the "War of 1812" not to be confused with the conflict of the same name in the United Kingdom and the United States. Also known as the "Patriotic War", and later the "Homeland War", with both World Wars after being called the "Fatherland War." In pre-revolutionary Russian literature found as an epithet of the war as "a twelve languages invasion "of Russia. In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon in his own words in this war called the" Second Polish War "(the first Polish war of liberation of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria), because one of the main objectives of this war was resurrection Polish State in the territory of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

Causes

At the time of invasion, Napoleon was at the height of his power with almost all of continental Europe under his direct control or power of the defeated countries by the empire and under treaty favorable to France. No European power on the continent dared to move against him. The treaty of 1809 the war of Austria had a clause that excludes Western Galicia from Austria and the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Russia sees this as contrary to their interests and powerful starting point for an invasion of Russia. In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon in his own words calls this war the Polish War, "Soldiers, the second Polish war starts, the first ended in Tilsit in Tilsit, Russia swore eternal alliance in France and the war in England .. Violating their oath today. Russia is drawn his fate, his destiny must be met! Is it so I think we degenerate? So let's move on, let's move Niemen River, carrying the war against its territory. War of Poland will be glorious with the French armies, as the first. "Decree of Napoleon day, June 22, 1812. The" first "Poland is the war of the Fourth Coalition War to liberate Poland from Russia, Prussia and Austria) because one of the officers declared objectives of this war was resurrection Polish state in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Tsar Alexander of Russia are at an economic link of his country had little in the way of manufacturing was still rich in raw materials and relied heavily on trade with Napoleon's continental system of money and manufactured goods. Russia's withdrawal system was a further incentive for Napoleon to force a decision.

In 1811 Russia Staff developed a plan of offensive war, assuming an assault of Russia in Warsaw and Gdask.

Logistics

The invasion of Russia in a clear and dramatically demonstrates the role that logistics, or in this case the lack thereof, will play in a campaign where the land does not provide the number of troops deployed operations in an area far beyond the experience of the invading army. Napoleon and the Grande Arme had developed a propensity to live off the land they served well in the densely populated and rich agriculture of Central Europe, with its dense network of roads. Rapid forced marches had been dazed and confused Austrian armies old Prussian order and there was much made of the use of forage. In Russia, many of the Grande Arme operating methods worked against her. forced marches troops often dispense with supplies to supply wagons struggled to keep up. Water shortages, food shortages, and low population density much less dense region of agriculture led to the deaths of horses and men through weakening from lack of food, exposure to diseases from drinking water puddles of putrid mud and fodder. The head of the army would receive everything that could be provided, while the formations behind hunger.

Napoleon had, in fact, made extensive preparations to provide for the supply of his army. Seventeen battalions of 6,000 train cars were to provide a supply of 40 days for the Grande Arme and operations, and a great set of journals was established in cities in Poland and East Prussia. At the start of the campaign not to march on Moscow was conceived and well the preparations would have sufficed. However, the Russian armies could not stand singularly against the battle group principal of 285,000 people and would continue to retreat and try to unite. This demands a great advance for the Arm through a road network of dirt roads that dissolve in a bottomless quagmire, where deep ruts in the mud freezes, killing horses and exhausted and breaking wagons. In the graph of Charles Joseph Minard, then sample, most of the losses to the Grand Arme were made during the march to Moscow in the summer and fall. Hunger, desertion, typhoid and suicide steal the French army of more men than all the battles of the Russian invasion combined.

Opposing forces

Big Arm

On June 24, 1812, the Grande Arme 690,000 men, the largest army assembled up to that point in European history, crossed the river Neman and headed towards Moscow.

Anne Grande was divided as follows:

Gnral Mayor (Chief of Staff) Luis Marchal Alexandre Berthier, first Duke of Wagram, first Duke of Valengin first Sovereign Prince of Neuchtel

North flank

X Corps 32 500 (Pr, Po, Bv, We) MacDonald Marchal Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre, Duc de Taranto

Southern flank

VII Corps 17,000 (Sx) gnral division-Ebnzer Jean-Louis Reynier

Main Austria 34,000 (Au) Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg Feldmarschall FRST, Herzog von Krumau

Central force of 250,000 under the personal command Emperor (from north to south).

Imperial Guard 47 000 (P, Po, Du, He, Pr, Swiss francs) Marchal, Jean-Baptiste Bessires Duke of Istria (cavalry of the Guard); Marchal Pierre François Joseph Lefebvre, Duke of Dantzig (Infantry Old Guard), Edouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Marchal Mortier Trvise Duke (Young Guard Infantry)

I Corps 72,000 (Fr, Ba, I, Sp) Louis Nicolas Marchal Davout, Duke of Auerstaedt Prince of Eckmhl

II Corps 37,000 (Fr, Swiss francs, Cr, Pt) Carlos Nicolas Marchal Oudinot, Duke of Reggio

III Corps of 40,000 (FR, PT) Marchal Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen

IV Corps 46,000 (Es, Fr, Cr, Sp) Eugne division gnral Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Franais, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy

V Corps of 36,000 (Po) gnral José Antonio division, Prince Poniatowski

VI Corps 25,000 (Bv) gnral Marquis division Gouvion Saint Laurent Cyr

VIII Corps 18,000 (We, He) gnral division-Napolon Jrme Bonaparte French prince, the king of Westphalia later, Jean-Andoche Abrants Junot Duc

III Cavalry Corps Reserve of 10,000 (Father, Bv, Sx) gnral division of Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy

IV Reserve Cavalry Corps 8000 (Po Sx, We) gnral Division Marie-Charles-Csar of F, Comte de la Tour-Maubourg

I and II Reserve Cavalry Corps 22,000 (Fr, Po, Pr, Wu) Marchal Joachim Murat, King of Naples

I Reserve Cavalry Division gnral Luis Conde Pierre Montbrun

II Reserve Cavalry Division gnral Etienne Marie Antoine Champion Nansouty

Reserve in Poland

XI Corps 50,000 (Fr, It, Ge, Ne) Pierre François Charles Augereau Marchal, Duke of Castiglione

Book in Germany

IX Corps 35,000 (Fr, Po, Bd, Ge, Be) Marchal Claude-Victor Perrin, known as Victor, Duke of Bellune

Main article: List of French commanders of the Russian Campaign 1812

Addition 80 thousand National Guardsmen had been recruited for military service in defense of the imperial frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw. These included total French imperial forces on the border of Russia and Russia were nearly 800,000 men. This huge commitment of manpower severely strained the empire, particularly given that there was another 300,000 French soldiers fighting in the Iberian Peninsula and over 200,000 more in Germany and Italy.

The army consisted From

300,000 soldiers of the French Empire

98,000 Poles

90,000 Germans

Bavarian 24,000

Saxons 20.000

23,000 Prussians

21000 Westphalia (German sources mention 28,000)

Wuerttemberg 15000

Baden 6000

Hesse 5000

34,000 in the individual Main Schwarzenberg Austria

Italian 32.000

Neapolitans 25,000

9,000 francs (German sources mention 16,000)

Spanish 4800

3,500 Croats

Portuguese 2.000

Anthony Joes in Conflict Studies Journal wrote that:

Figures how many men in Russia and Napoleon had finally worked out how many varies widely.

[Jorge] Lefebvre says Napoleon crossed the Niemen with more than 600,000 soldiers, only half of which came from France, the others being mainly Germans and Poles.

Felix Markham thinks that 450,000 crossed the Niemen on 25 June 1812, of which less than 40,000 recrossed in anything like a recognizable military formation.

James Marshall Cornwall says 510,000 Imperial troops entered Russia.

Eugene Tarle believes that Napoleon crossed followed with 420,000 and 150,000 eventually, for a total of 570,000.

Richard K. Riehn provides the following figures: 685 000 men marched to Russia in 1812, of which approximately 355,000 were French, 31,000 soldiers marched back into some kind of military training, perhaps another 35,000 stragglers, for a total of less than 70,000 known survivors.

M. Minard 's famous graphic depicts the march ingeniously to show the size of the advancing army, superimposed on a rough map as well as the retreating soldiers, along with the temperatures (up to 30 degrees Celsius below zero) to return. The numbers in this table with 422,000 crossing the Niemen with Napoleon, 22,000 to take a trip at first, 100,000 survivors of the battles along the way to Moscow and Moscow 100,000 out, joined only 4,000 to 6,000 survivors who survived that initial 22,000 in fake attack to the north, leaving only 10,000 crossing back to France for the first 422,000.

Whatever the exact number, it is generally accepted that the vast majority of this great army, French and allies, remained in a condition or another, into Russia.

Joes nthony

Adam Zamoyski estimated that between 550,000 and 600,000 French and allied troops (including reinforcements) operates beyond the Niemen, of which some 400,000 soldiers died.

Russian Imperial Army

Immediately forces against Napoleon had three armies comprising 175,250 Russians and Cossacks 15,000, with 938 guns as follows:

Main article: List of Russian commanders in the Patriotic War of 1812

Kutuzov monument in front of Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow built to commemorate the Russian victory against Napoleon.

Infantry General Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly served as Commander in Chief of the Russian Army, a field commander of the First Western Army and Minister of War until it is replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov Illarionovich, assuming the role of commander in chief during the retreat after the Battle of Smolensk.

First Western Army, under Emperor Alexander I to the Corps general Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly as commander in chief and minister of war number 104 250 men and 7,000 Cossacks with 558 guns.

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov

II Corps Infantry General Mikhail Andreyevich Infantry Miloradovich

Lavrov V Corps, Lieutenant General

IV Corps, Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoi

VI Corps Lt. Gen. Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov

I Cavalry Corps Lieutenant General Uvarov

II Cavalry Corps Major General Korff

III Cavalry Corps Major General Kreutz

Matvey Ivanovich Platov – Ataman of the Cossacks -Don

Second Western Army Infantry Prince Peter Ivanovich Bagration number 33,000 men and 4,000 Cossacks with 216 guns.

General III Corps first lieutenant Tuchkov

VII Corps Lt. Gen. Nikolai Nikolayevich Raevsky

Borosdin VIII Corps Lieutenant General

IV Cavalry Corps Major General von Sievers

Third Army Reserve General Observation of Chivalry APTormasov numbered 38,000 men and 4,000 Cossacks with 164 guns.

Cossacks. As the irregular cavalry, these horsemen from the steppes of Russia were best suited for the recognition, exploration, and harass the enemy's flanks and supply lines. Seldom have committed to run a conventional load in battle.

Danube Army Chichagov Admiral Pavel Vasilievich

Prince Khristianovich Wing Commander Peter Wittgenstein Right

Riga body (1 st Lieutenant General Inessa)

Finnish body (Lieutenant General FFShteyngel)

First Reserve Corps (Assistant General Baron EIMeller-Zakomelskiy)

Second Reserve Corps (Lieutenant General FFErtel)

Bobruiskiy force (General Division GAIgnatev)

Smolensk reserve corps (Assistant General Baron FFWintsingerode)

Kaluga Reserve Corps (General Corps mAMiloradovich)

Infantry Division 27 (General Staff DPNeverovskiy)

Force of Serbia (General NILiders Mayor)

These forces, however, could count on reinforcements from the second line amounting to 129,000 men and 8000 Cossacks with 434 guns and 433 rounds of ammunition.

Of these about 105,000 men were in fact available for defense against invasion. In the third line were the 36 tanks and militia recruitment, which reached a total of approximately 161 000 men various military and very different values, of which about 133,000 actually participated in the defense.

Thus, the total of all forces was 488,000 men, of whom about 428,000 gradually went into action against the Grand Army. The bottom line, however, includes more than 80,000 Cossacks and militia, and about 20,000 men who garrison forts in the area of operations.

Sweden, the only ally Russia has sent troops to support. But the alliance has allowed Russia to withdraw the 45,000 men in Finland Steinheil body and use it in battles (20,000 men were sent Riga).

Invasion

Crossing the Niemen

Eagles monument in Smolensk, commemorating the centenary of the Russian defeat of Napoleon.

The invasion began in April 1812. Napoleon had sent a final offer of peace to St. Petersburg shortly before beginning operations. He never received a response as ordered proceed in Russian Poland. Initially met little resistance and quickly moved into enemy territory. French coalition forces amounted to 449,000 men and 1,146 guns to be opposed by the Russian armies combined to collect 153 000 Russians, 938 cannons and 15,000 Cossacks. The center of mass of the forces French focused on Kaunas and crosses were made by the French Guard, I, II, III and bodies amounting to about 120,000 at this time to cross alone. Actual crossings were made Alexioten in the area where three pontoon bridges were built. The sites were selected by Napoleon in person. Napoleon had a tent erected and saw and reviewed troops crossed the Niemen. The roads along this area of Lithuania were just like in any name, but is actually dirt tracks through small areas of dense forest. And problems began to manifest, in the example of the First Corps of five divisions that took place on the ability of an infantry battalion of March 1. Logistics trains simply could not keep pace with the forced marches of the bodies and subsequent training has always suffered the worst hardship.

March in Vilnius

On June 25, found Napoleon's group, beyond bridgehead to the command of Ney on Alexioten existing crossings. Murat's cavalry reserve at the forefront with the guard of Napoleon and Davout first following back corp. Eugene control northern cross Niemen Piloy further in, and MacDonald crossed the same day. Jerome command would not complete their journey in Grodno to 28. Vilnius Napoleon hurried to pushing forward in the columns of infantry suffered heavy rain and then sweltering heat. The core group would cross 70 miles in two days. Ney's III corps would march on the road with Oudinot Suderv go across the river Neris, in an operation to try take the command of Major General Wittgenstein between Ney and Macdonald Oudinout, commands, but the command Macdonald was too late to reach a goal too far and the opportunity vanished. Jerome was given the task of addressing Bagration marching Reynier body of Grodno and VII sent in support of Bialystok.

Headquarters Russia, in fact, centered in Vilnius on June 24 and the messengers news on the crossing of the Niemen to Barclay de Tolley. Before orders had last night Bagration and Platov sent to take the offensive. Alexander left Vilnius on 26 June and Barclay took office in general. Although Barclay wanted to put up a fight that evaluates a desperate situation and ordered Vilnius magazines and dismantled the bridge burned. Wittgenstein moved his command to move beyond Perkele Macdonald and operations Oudinot with Wittgenstein's rear hit Oudinout advanced elements. Doctorov left in Russia who are threatened by his command cavalry corp Phalen III. Bagration received Vileyka order it moved to Barclay, but reading the intention of orders remains a mystery until today.

June Napoleon came in the 28th Vilnius with only minor skirmishes. The power in Lithuania was hard as the land was barren, and especially forests. Supplies forage was lower than in Poland and two days of forced marches made a bad supply situation worse. The central problem was the distance expansion of the supply magazines and the fact that no car can supply keep up with a forced march of infantry column. The weather became a problem that as the historian Richard K. Riehn:

The thunderstorms of the 24 th round rainfall in others, making the tracks, some say chronicler there were no roads, as in Lithuania, bottomless quagmires. Wagon sank to their hubs, horses dropped from exhaustion, the men lost their boots. cars became stagnant obstacles forced the men around and stopped the supply wagons and artillery columns. Then came the sun to bake deep grooves in the concrete canyons where the horses break their legs and wheels of their cars.

A lieutenant Mertens a Württemberger serve body Ney III said in his diary that the oppressive heat followed by rain left them with dead horses and camping in swamp conditions with dysentery and influenza furious when the ranks of hundreds of people in a field hospital had to be created for that purpose. Informed of the times, dates and places, events introducing reports of thunderstorms on 06 June and men die of stroke by 11. The Crown Prince of Württemberg reported 21 men killed in camps. The body of Bavaria was reporting 345 patients by 13 June.

Attrition was high among Spanish formations and Portuguese. These deserters proceeded to terrorize the population, looting whatever was at hand. The areas that were devastated last Grande Armée. An officer Polish information the surrounding areas are uninhabited.

French light cavalry was surprised to be overtaken by Russian counterparts to the point that Napoleon had ordered that the infantry is provided as a backup to French light cavalry units. This affected recognition both French and intelligence operations. Despite 30 thousand cavalry, not kept in touch with Barclays leaving Napoleon's forces and tossing guess columns to find opposition.

The operation to be removed from Barclay Bagration forces driving forces Vilnius had cost the French forces 25,000 losses from all causes in a few days. Strong drilling operations were advanced to Nemenin Vilnius, Mykoliks, Ashmyany, and Moltai.

Eugene Prenn crossed at June 30, while Jerome moved the VII Corps of Bialystok, with everything else crossing at Grodno. Advanced Murat Nemenin July 1 Doctorov elements running in Russia en route III Corps Cavalry Djunaszev. Napoleon was taken on this second Bagration's army and fled before it was not 24 hours later. Napoleon tried to use Davout, Jerome, and Eugene, on the right a hammer and anvil to get Bagration to destroy the second army in an operation that includes Ashmyany and Minsk. This operation had failed to produce results with your left before Macdonald and Oudinot. Doctorov Djunaszev had moved to Svir closely evade the French forces, with 11 regiments and a battery of 12 guns Bagration starting to join when you move too late to keep Doctorov.

Conflict of orders and lack of information has Bagration as a squeeze almost marching in Davout, however Jerome could not arrive on time on the tracks of the same clay, supply problems, and weather, how bad had affected the rest of the Grande Arme, losing 9,000 men in four days. disputes between Jerome and the General Command Vandamme not help the situation. Bagration Doctorov joined and had 45,000 men in Novi-Sverzen by 7. Davout had lost 10,000 men marching to Minsk and not attack without Jerome Bagration joined him. Two defeats French cavalry Platov kept the French in the dark and Bagration was no better informed both overestimate the other force, Davout thought Bagration had about 60,000 Davout thinking men and Bagration were 70,000. Bagration was receiving orders from both personal and Alexander Barclay (Barclay, who knew) and no one left Bagration clear idea of what is expected of him and the general situation. This stream of confusing orders Bagration had upset with Barclay that would have repercussions forward.

Napoleon arrived in Vilnius on June 28, leaving 10,000 dead in their trail horses. These horses are vital to education for more supplies to an army in desperate need. Napoleon had assumed that Alexander would sue for peace at this time and would be disappointed, would not be his last disappointment. Barclay continued to retreat to the Drissa decided that the concentration of the 1 st and 2 nd armies was their first priority.

Barclay continued his retreat and stayed with the exception of occasional rear shock smooth in their movements increasingly towards the east. Up date, the standard methods of the Grande Armée were working against her. Rapid forced marches quickly caused the desertion, starvation, exposure troops with dirty water and disease, while the logistics train horses lost thousands, further exacerbating the problems. About 50,000 stragglers and deserters became a mob outside the law in conflict with local farmers in the guerrilla war without quarter, which also hampered supplies to reach the Grand Armée which was already by 95,000 men.

March in Moscow

Barclay, the Russian commander in chief refused to fight despite the appeals of Bagration. Repeatedly tried to establish a strong defensive position, but whenever the French advance was too fast for him to finish line and was forced to retreat again. When the French army advanced problems, severe surface foraging, exacerbated by the scorched earth tactics of the Russian army defended by Karl Ludwig von Phull.

Political pressure on Barclay to give battle and the continued resistance of the general (seen as the intransigence of the population) led to his removal from office of commander in chief to be replaced by boastful and popular Illarionovich Mikhail Kutuzov. Despite rhetoric to the contrary Kutuzov continued Barclay was very immediately to see to address the French open battle would be to sacrifice his mindless army. After an indecisive battle at Smolensk August 1618, finally succeeded in establishing a position defensive Borodino. The Battle of Borodino, 7 September was the bloodiest day of the battle of the Napoleonic Wars. The Russian army could only muster half of strength on September 8 and was forced to retire, leaving the way open to Moscow. Kutuzov also ordered the evacuation of the city.

By this point, the Russians had won the project of a large number of reinforcements in the army so the total Russian land forces at maximum strength of 904,000 in 1812 to Perhaps 100,000 in the immediate future remains around Moscow's army of Borodino Kutuzov partially reinforced.

Capture Moscow

Lauriston Napolon and general peace at all costs!

On September 14, 1812, Napoleon moved to the empty city that was stripped of all supplies by the governor, Fyodor Rostopchin. Based on the classic rules of war in order to capture the enemy's capital (though that St. Petersburg was the political capital at that time, Moscow was the spiritual capital of Russia), Napoleon hoped that the Czar Alexander I the supply of their capitulation in Poklonnaya Hill, but the Russian command not think of surrender.

As Napoleon prepared to enter in Moscow was surprised to have received any delegation of the city. In the approach of a victorious general, civil war authorities routinely presented to city gates with the keys to the city in an attempt to safeguard people and property. Since no one received Napoleon sent his aides in the city in search officials with the occupation regime could be done. When could not be found, it became clear that the Russians had left the city without conditions.

In a normal delivery, city officials would have to find the tickets and make arrangements for food soldiers, but the situation caused a free for all in which each man was forced to find shelter and sustenance for yourself. Napoleon was disappointed secret by the lack of custom when he felt robbed of a traditional victory over the Russians, especially in making a city of historical importance. [Citation needed]

Before the order was received to evacuate Moscow, the city had a population of approximately 270,000 people. As much retired population, the rest is burned or theft of other food stores to deprive the French of their use. When Napoleon entered the Kremlin still was one third of the original population, consisting mainly of foreign traders, officials and people who were unable or simply unwilling to flee. These, including the several hundred strong French colony, tried to prevent the troops.

Moscow Fire

Main article: Fire of Moscow (1812)

The French in Moscow.

After entering Moscow, the Grande Arme, unhappy with the military conditions and no sign of victory, began looting what little remained in Moscow. And night, the first fires began to erupt in the city, and re-dissemination in the coming days.

Moscow, composed two-thirds of the wooden buildings at the same time, burned almost completely (it is estimated that four fifths of the city was destroyed), effectively depriving the French housing in the city. French historians assume that the fires are due to Russian sabotage.

Tolstoy, in War and Peace, said that the fire was not intentional, either the Russians or the French, the natural result of placing a wooden city in the hands of foreigners in the winter is going to do small fires to keep warm, cook their food, and other benign purposes, and that some of the fires are out of control. Without an efficient Fire Department home fires will spread to become neighborhood fires and ultimately a citywide conflagration.

Withdrawal and losses

In 1812 by Pryanishnikov Illarion.

Sitting in the ashes of a city in ruins, without having received the capitulation of Russia, and facing a Russian maneuver forcing him out of Moscow, Napoleon started his long retreat in mid-October. In the battle of Maloyaroslavets, Kutuzov was able to force the French army at Smolensk road use as it had moved earlier this and had already been stripped of food supplies by both armies. This is often presented as an example of scorched earth tactics. Continuing to block the south flank prevent the French from returning by a different route, Kutuzov new partisan tactics deployed constantly strike at French train which was weaker. Light Cavalry Russian, including mounted Cossacks, assaulted and broke isolated French units.

The French Army in the town hall square Vilnius during the retreat.

Supply of the army became an impossible lack of pasture horses are weakened in army, almost all of them died or were killed for food by starving soldiers. Without horses the French cavalry ceased to exist, and troopers were forced to march on foot. Furthermore, the lack of horses meant that the guns and trucks had to be abandoned, depriving the army of the convoys of artillery and support. Although the army was able to quickly replace their artillery in 1813, the abandonment of cars created a huge logistical problem for the rest of the war, as thousands of the best military vehicles abandoned in Russia. As hunger and disease took their toll the desertion rate increased. Most of the deserters were made imprisoned or executed without delay by the Russian peasants. Severely weakened by these circumstances, the French military position collapsed. Elements of the Grande Arme were defeated by the Russians in Vyazma, Krasnoye and Polotsk. The Berezina River crossing was the final French catastrophe of war, as two separate Russian armies inflicted terrible casualties the remains of the Grande Arme as she struggled to escape through the pontoon bridges.

Bad news from France, Napoleon painting is camped at a Russian Orthodox church (Vasily Vereshchagin, part of his series, "Napoleon, 1812", 188,795).

In early December 1812, Napoleon learned that General Claude de Malet had attempted a coup dat back in France. He left the army and returned to his home in a sleigh, leaving the quarterback by Joachim Murat. Murat subsequently abandoned in order to save his kingdom of Naples, leaving Napoleon's former stepson, Eugene Beauharnais, in charge.

In the following weeks, the remnants of the Grande Armée was reduced further, and on December 14, 1812, were expelled from Russian territory. According to popular legend, only about 22,000 of Napoleon's men survived the Russian campaign. However, some sources say no more than 380,000 soldiers were killed. The difference can be explained by many as 100,000 French prisoners held by Russia (mentioned by Eugen Tarl, published in 1814) and more than 80,000 (including all-wing armies, not just the other main "army" under the direct command of Napoleon) the return of troops (mentioned by the German military historians.) Most of those of Prussia, for example, survived thanks to the Convention Tauroggen, and almost all Schwarzenberg Austrian contingent successfully withdrawn, too. The Russians are Russian-German Legion of other German prisoners and deserters.

Napoleon and his marshals struggle to redress the situation during the withdrawal.

Russian casualties in battles some open losses are comparable to French, but civilian losses along the path of war devastated were much higher than military casualties. In total, despite previous estimates in numbers of several million deaths, about one million civilians were killed fairly evenly split between the French and Russians. losses amounted to 300,000 French soldiers, about 72,000 Poles, 50,000 Italians, 80,000 Germans, 61,000 from other nations. Just as the loss of life that the French also lost some 200,000 horses and more than 1,000 pieces of artillery.

Total losses of the Russian armies are hard to assess. A 19-century historian Michael Bogdanovich evaluate the reinforcements of the Russian armies during the war with the Military Register of the General File. According to This reinforcements totaled 134,000. The main army at the time of the capture of Vilnius in December was 70,000, while his war home number about 150,000. Therefore, the total loss of 210,000 men. Of these about 40,000 returned to service. Losses formations operating in secondary areas of operations, and losses in the militia units were about 40,000. Therefore, it occurred to the number of 210,000 men and militants.

Time as factor

One study concluded that the winter only had a significant effect once Napoleon was in full retreat, saying that "With respect to the claims of" General Winter ", the main body of Napoleon's Grande Armée diminished by half during the first 8 weeks the invasion before the great battle of the campaign. This decrease was due in part to supply the garrison centers, but disease, desertions, and the casualties in minor actions caused thousands of losses. One said that General Janvier was lifted and Février (January and February) defeated Napoleon reference the Russian winter. In Borodino … Napoleon could muster no more than 135,000 soldiers, and lost at least 30,000 of them to get close and almost 1000 Pyrrhic victory km deep in hostile territory. The sequels were his uncontested and self-defeating occupation of Moscow and his humiliating retreat, which began on 19 October before the first severe frosts later that month and the first snowfall on November 5. However, the cavalry general Denis Davidov written in 1814 noted that during winters campaigns in 1795 and 1807 were much colder, but could not prevent the French operations and victories. Moreover, for much of the period of withdrawal of the temperature does not drop below 10, even in the coldest during the month of November in Vilnius recorded temperatures were 13 (-8), 14 (-9.2) and 15 (-6.5). In fact, extreme cold temperatures that are often referred to and depicted in the paintings did not occur until after the French retreat across the river Niemen. Davidov and others in the Russian campaign wholesale delivery record of the miserable members of the Grande Arme long before the appearance of frost in the middle of eyewitness reports of cannibalism and point to the split in French logistics, and the constant harassment of the French army by Russian forces as the main reasons for losses incurred during retirement.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia is among the deadliest military operation in world history.

Charles Joseph Minard's famous graph showing reduction in size of the Grande Arme, and the marches in Moscow and back with the size of the army equal to the width of the line. The temperature is shown in the chart below for the return journey (Multiply by Raumur temperatures to Celsius, for example, 30R = 37.5 º C)

historical evaluation

A military hall of fame in the Winter Palace with portraits of Russian war heroes.

Russia's victory over the French army in 1812 was a blow to Napoleon's ambitions of European dominance. This war was the reason why the coalition allies triumphed once and for all about Napoleon. His army shattered, and morale was low, both for the French troops still in Russia, battles just before the campaign ended, and for the troops on other fronts. A 500,000600,000 original force, only 40,000 of frost bitten and half starved survivors stumbled back into France. The Russian campaign was the decisive stage the Napoleonic Wars that ultimately led to Napoleon's defeat and exile on the island of Elba. For Russia the term Patriotic War (English version of the Federation Russian) formed a stronger symbol of national identity that have great impact on Russian patriotism in the 19th century. The indirect result of the patriotic movement of Russia was a strong desire to modernize the country, resulting in a series of revolutions, beginning with the revolt of the Decembrists and ending with the revolution February 1917.

Napoleon was not defeated completely by the disaster in Russia. The following year would bring an army of About 400,000 French troops supported by a quarter of a million French troops allied to control competition in Germany in a campaign even bigger. Despite being outnumbered, won a great victory in the Battle of Dresden. It was not until the decisive Battle of the United Nations (October, 1619, 1813) which was finally defeated, and then we did not have the troops needed to stop the Coalition's invasion of France. Napoleon did it manage to inflict heavy losses and a series of small military victories in the far larger Allied armies as they drove towards Paris, although it took the city and forced him to abdicate in 1814.

The Russian campaign, however, revealed that Napoleon was not invincible, ending his reputation as a military genius undefeated. Napoleon had foreseen what would, so he fled to France quickly before word of the disaster spread. Seeing this, and encouraged by nationalists of Prussia and the Russian commanders, German nationalists revolted by the Confederation of the Rhine and Prussia. The German campaign is probably not decisive could have occurred without the message the defeat in Russia sent the rest of Europe.

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