The French invasion of Russia (1812) was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength. Its sustained role in Russian culture may be seen in Tolstoy's War and Peace and the Soviet identification of it with the German invasion of 1941-1945. Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Pyotr Bagration Louis Nicolas Davout Strength ~49,000 troops ~26,000 troops Casualties ~4,000 troops ~1,000 troops The Battle of Saltankovka or Battle of Mogilev was a battle of the 1812 French invasion of Russia. ... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders General Ostermann-Tolstoy Joachim Murat, King of Naples Strength 14,000 - 20,000 troops 22,000 to 28,000 Casualties 3,000 killed and wounded, 800 prisoners, eight guns 3,300 The Battle of Ostrovno took place on July 25 and 26 1812... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Nicolas Oudinot Strength 17,000–22,000 23,000–28,000 Casualties 3,500–4,500 5,500 dead, 1000 prisoners The Battle of Klyastitsy is a relatively minor engagement which took place near the village of Klyastitsy (Russian: Клястицы) (Drissa... The First Battle of Smolensk took place on August 17, 1812, between 175,000 French under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Prince Bagration, of whom about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged. ... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Nicolas Oudinot, Marquis Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr Strength 22,000 troops; 135 cannon 18,000 troops; 120 cannon Casualties 4,500-5,500 6,000 In the First battle of Polotsk, which took place on August 17-18, 1812, Russian... The Battle of Valutino took place on August 9, 1812, between Marshal Neys corps, about 30,000 strong, and a strong rear-guard of General Barclay de Tollys army of about 40,000, commanded by the General himself. ... Combatants First French Empire Russian Empire Commanders Napoleon I Mikhail Kutuzov Strength 82,400 infantry 26,700 cavalry 14,900 artillery troops with 587 guns[1] 72,000 infantry 17,300 cavalry 14,500 artillery troops with 637 guns[2] Casualties ~6,600 killed ~21,400 wounded [3] ~43,000... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Count Levin August von Bennigsen Vice-King Joachim Murat Strength 97,000 present, only 36,000 of whom actually participated in the battle. ... The Battle of Maloyaroslavets took place on October 24, 1812, between the Russians, under Marshal Kutuzov, and part of the corps of Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleons son_in_law, under General Delzons with numbered about 20,000 strong. ... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr Strength 31,000 regular troops, 9,000 militia, 9,000 regular troops operating independently; Total of: 49,000 23,000-27,000 Casualties 8,000-12,500 8,000 At the Second Battle of Polotsk (October... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Marshal Victor Strength 30,000, of whom 11,000 were involved 36,000, of whom 10,000 to 18,000 were involved Casualties 400 1200 The Battle of Czasniki was fought during Napoleons invasion of Russia, on 31 October... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders General Mikhail Miloradovich Louis Nicolas Davout, Eugene de Beauharnais, Józef Antoni Poniatowski, and Michel Ney Strength 26,500 troops, 37,000, of whom 24,000 took part in the battle Casualties 1,800 killed and wounded 8,000, including 4,000 taken... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Marshal Claude Victor and Marshal Nicholas Oudinot Strength 30,000 troops approximately 25,000 troops available; 6,000 involved on the 1st day; 5,000 involved on the 2nd day Casualties 3000 3000 At the Battle of Smoliani (November 13... Combatants First French Empire Russian Empire Commanders Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov Strength 42,000 regulars, 39,000 stragglers 60,000-80,000 Casualties 6,000-13,000 killed, 20,000-26,000 captured ~ (almost all stragglers) 5,000 The Battle of Krasnoi (Krasny) (November 15 to 18, 1812... Battle of Berezina was held on November 26-29, 1812 between the French army of Napoleon retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina, and Russian army under Kutuzov. ... Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich João Francisco de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun Gebhard von... The Russian culture is rooted in the early East Slavic culture. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... For other uses, see War and Peace (disambiguation). ... The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ...

Napoleon's invasion is better known in Russia as the Patriotic War (Russian Отечественная война, Otechestvennaya Vojna), not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War (Russian Великая Отечественная война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Vojna). The Patriotic War is also occasionally referred to as the "War of 1812", which is not to be confused with the conflict of the same name between the United Kingdom and the United States. Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, changed his name to Napoléon Bonaparte)[1] (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from... An invasion is a military action consisting of armed forces of one geopolitical entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of conquering territory, or altering the established government. ... This article is about the U.S. – U.K. war. ...

Grande Armée

On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée of 691,501 men, the largest army assembled up to that point in European history, crossed the river Neman and headed towards Moscow. is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... La Grande Armée (French for the Great Army or the Grand Army) first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain and re-deployed it East... The Neman (Belarusian: ; Lithuanian: ; Russian: ; Polish: ; German: ) is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Baltic Sea near KlaipÄ—da. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...

The Grande Armée was divided as follows:

• A central strike force of 250,000 under the emperor's personal command.
• Two other frontline armies under Eugène de Beauharnais (80,000 men) and Jérôme Bonaparte (70,000 men).
• Two detached corps under Jacques MacDonald (32,500 men) and Karl Schwarzenberg (34,000 Austrian troops).
• A reserve army of 225,000 troops.

In addition 80,000 National Guards had been conscripted for full military service defending the imperial frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw. With these included total French imperial forces on the Russian border and in Russia came to almost 800,000 men. This vast commitment of manpower severely strained the Empire - especially considering that there were a further 300,000 French troops fighting in Iberia and over 200,000 more in Germany and Italy. Eugène Rose de Beauharnais (September 3, 1781 - February 21, 1824) was the first child and only son of Joséphine de Tascher de la Pagerie and Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais. ... Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia (November 15, 1784 - June 24, 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him King of Westphalia (1807-1813). ... Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald (November 17, 1765 - September 7, 1840), duke of Taranto and marshal of France, was born at Sedan, France. ... Schwarzenberg Monument at Schwarzenbergplatz, Vienna Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (or Prince Charles Philip of Schwarzenberg (April 18, 1771 – October 15, 1820), Austrian Feldmarshall, was born at Vienna. ... Coat of arms Map of the Duchy of Warsaw after 1809. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ...

450,000 French troops made up the majority of the army with French allies making up the rest. In addition to the detached Austrian Corps of 34,000 under Schwarzenberg there were some 95,000 Poles, 90,000 Germans (24,000 Bavarians, 20,000 Saxons, 20,000 Prussians, 17,000 Westphalians and several thousand from smaller Rhineland states), 30,000 Italians, 25,000 Neapolitans, 12,000 Swiss, 4,800 Spanish, 3,500 Croats, and 2,000 Portuguese. In addition there were Dutch and also a number of Belgian contingents. In short, every nationality in Napoleon's vast empire was represented. For other uses, see Bavaria (disambiguation). ... The Kingdom of Saxony, lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Germany, finally being absorbed into the Weimar Republic in 1918. ... Anthem Preußenlied, Heil dir im Siegerkranz (both unofficial) The Kingdom of Prussia at its greatest extent, at the time of the formation of the German Empire, 1871 Capital Berlin Government Monarchy King  - 1701 — 1713 Frederick I (first)  - 1888 — 1918 William II (last) Prime minister  - 1848 Adolf Heinrich von Arnim... The Kingdom of Westphalia is a historical state in present-day Germany that existed from 1807-1813. ... The Confederation of the Rhine in 1812 Capital Frankfurt Political structure Confederation Protector Napoleon I Primate  - 1806-1813 Karl von Dalberg  - 1813 Eugène de Beauharnais Historical era Napoleonic Wars  - Formation 12 July, 1806  - Collapse 19 October, 1813 The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (German: ; French: ) lasted from... Capital Naples Government Monarchy King  - 1285-1309 Charles II  - 1815-1816 Ferdinand I History  - Established 1285  - Union with Sicily 1816 The Kingdom of Naples was an informal name of the polity officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily which existed on the mainland of southern Italy after of the secession... Illyrian Provinces (French Provinces illyriennes) were formed in 1809 when Austria ceded with the Treaty of Schoenbrunn its lands Carinthia, Carniola, Croatia southwest of the river Sava, Gorizia and Trieste to France after the defeat at the Battle of Wagram. ...

(Figures on how many men Napoleon took into Russia and how many eventually came out vary rather widely.

• Lefebvre says that Napoleon crossed the Nieman with over 600,000 soldiers, only half of whom were from France, the others being mainly Germans and Poles.^[2]

• Felix Markham thinks that 450,000 crossed the Nieman on 25 June 1812, of whom less than 40,000 recrossed in anything like a recognizable military formation.^[3]

• James Marshall-Cornwall says 510,000 Imperial troops entered Russia.^[4]

• Eugene Tarle believes that 420,000 crossed with Napoleon and 150,000 eventually followed, for a grand total of 570,000.^[5]

• Richard K. Riehn provides the following figures: 685,000 men marched into Russia in 1812, of whom around 355,000 were French; 31,000 soldiers marched out again in some sort of military formation, with perhaps another 35,000 stragglers, for a total of less than 70,000 known survivors.^[6]

Whatever the accurate number, everybody agrees that the overwhelming majority of this grand army, French and allied, remained, in one condition or another, inside Russia.)

Russian Army

The forces immediately facing Napoleon consisted of three armies comprising 175,250 men and 15,000 Cossacks, with 938 guns as follows: This article needs cleanup. ...

• The First Western Army under Barclay de Tolly numbered 104,250 men and 7,000 Cossacks with 558 guns.
• The Second Western Army, under Prince Bagration numbered 33,000 men and 4,000 Cossacks with 216 guns.
• The Third (Reserve) Army, under Cavalry General Tormassov, numbered 38,000 men and 4,000 Cossacks, with 164 guns.

These forces, however, could count on reinforcements from the second line, which totaled 129,000 men and 8,000 Cossacks, with 434 guns. Knyaz Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, called by the Russians as Mikhail Bogdanovich Barklay de Tolly (Михаи́л Богда́нович Баркла́й-де-То́лли) (1761 - 1818), Russian field marshal, was born in Livonia, a descendant of a Scottish family which had settled in Russia in the 17th century. ... Prince Pyotr Bagration (Пётр Иванович Багратион) (1765 - September 12, 1812), a descendant of the Georgian royal family of the Bagrations, served as a Russian general. ... Portrait by George Dawe from the Military Gallery Count Alexander Petrovich Tormasov (Russian: ) (11 August 1752 – 13 November 1819) was a Russian cavalry General prominent during the Napoleonic Wars. ...

Of these about 105,000 men were actually available for the defense against the invasion. In the third line were the 36 recruit depots and militias, which came to the total of approximately 161,000 men of various and highly disparate military values, of which about 133,000 actually took part in the defense.

Thus, the grand total of all the forces was 488,000 men, of which about 428,000 gradually came into action against the Grand Army. This bottom line, however, includes more than 80,000 Cossacks and militiamen, as well as about 20,000 men who garrisoned the fortresses in the operational area.

March on Moscow

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

The invasion commenced on June 23, 1812. Napoleon had sent a final offer of peace to St. Petersburg shortly before commencing operations. He never received a reply, so he gave the order to proceed into Russian Poland. He initially met little resistance and moved quickly into the enemy's territory. Barclay, the Russian commander-in-chief, refused to fight despite Bagration's urgings. Several times he attempted to establish a strong defensive position, but each time the French advance was too quick for him to finish preparations and he was forced to retreat once more. When the army progressed further, serious problems in foraging surfaced, aggravated by scorched earth tactics of the Russian army.^[7][8] Image File history File linksMetadata Smolensk_eagles. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Smolensk_eagles. ... A view of Smolensk in 1912. ... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... A scorched earth policy is a military tactic which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. ...

Political pressure on Barclay to give battle and the general's continuing resistance (viewed as intransigence by the populace) led to his removal from the position of commander-in-chief to be replaced by the boastful and popular Mikhail Illarionovich Sapunov. Despite Kutuzov's rhetoric to the contrary, he continued in much the way Barclay had, immediately seeing that to face the French in open battle would be to sacrifice his army pointlessly. Finally he managed to establish a defensive position at Borodino following an indecisive clash at Smolensk on August 16-18. The Battle of Borodino on September 7 was the bloodiest single day of battle in the Napoleonic Wars. The Russian army could only muster half of its strength on September 8 and was forced to retreat, leaving the road to Moscow open. Kutuzov also ordered the evacuation of the city. The First Battle of Smolensk took place on August 17, 1812, between 175,000 French under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Prince Bagration, of whom about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged. ... Combatants First French Empire Russian Empire Commanders Napoleon I Mikhail Kutuzov Strength 82,400 infantry 26,700 cavalry 14,900 artillery troops with 587 guns[1] 72,000 infantry 17,300 cavalry 14,500 artillery troops with 637 guns[2] Casualties ~6,600 killed ~21,400 wounded [3] ~43,000... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich João Francisco de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun Gebhard von... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

By this point the Russians had managed to draft large numbers of reinforcements into the army bringing total Russian land forces to their peak strength in 1812 of 904,000 with perhaps 100,000 in the immediate vicinity of Moscow - the remnants of Kutuzov's army from Borodino partially reinforced.

Capture of Moscow

Napoléon and Marshal Lauriston - Peace at all costs!

Napoleon moved into an empty city that was stripped of all supplies by its governor, Fyodor Rostopchin. Relying on classical rules of warfare aiming at capturing the enemy's capital (even though St. Petersburg had been the actual capital at that time), Napoleon had expected Tsar Alexander I to offer his capitulation at the Poklonnaya Hill, but Russian command did not think of surrendering. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 719 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (761 × 635 pixel, file size: 36 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Napoleon and Marshal Lauriston (Peace at all costs!) by V.V.Vereshchagin. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 719 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (761 × 635 pixel, file size: 36 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Napoleon and Marshal Lauriston (Peace at all costs!) by V.V.Vereshchagin. ... Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des... Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston (February 1, 1768 - June 12, 1828), French soldier and diplomatist, was the son of Jacques François Law de Lauriston (1724-1785), a general officer in the French army, and was born at Pondicherry. ... Count Fyodor Vasilievich Rostopchin (Фёдор Васильевич Ростопчин in Russian) (3. ... Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian  , in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), occasionally spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is a Slavonic term designating certain monarchs. ... Aleksandr I Pavlovich (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825?), was Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801-1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815–1825, as well as the first Grand Duke of Finland. ... Night view of the hill from Kutuzov Avenue. ...

As Napoleon prepared to enter Moscow he was surprised to have received no delegation from the city. At the approach of a victorious General, the civil authorities customarily present themselves at the gates of the city with the keys to the city in an attempt to safeguard the population and their property. As nobody received Napoleon he sent his aides into the city, seeking out officials with whom the arrangements for the occupation could be made. When none could be found it became clear that the Russians had left the city unconditionally.

In a normal surrender, the city officials would be forced to find billets and make arrangement for the feeding of the soldiers, but the situation caused a free-for-all in which every man was forced to find lodgings and sustenance for himself. Napoleon was secretly disappointed by the lack of custom as he felt it robbed him of a traditional victory over the Russians, especially in taking such a spiritually significant city.

Before the order was received to evacuate Moscow, the city had a population of approximately 270,000 people. As much of the population pulled out, the remainder were burning or robbing the remaining stores of food to deprive the French of their use. As Napoleon entered the Kremlin, there still remained one third of the original population, mainly consisting of foreign tradespersons, servants, and people who were unable or simply unwilling to flee. These attempted to avoid the troops, including the several hundred strong French colony. The Moscow Kremlin (Russian: Московский Кремль) is a historic fortified complex at the very heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River (to the south), Saint Basils Cathedral (often mistaken by westerners as the Kremlin) and Red Square (to the east) and the Alexander Garden (to the west). ...

Fire of Moscow

Main article: Fire of Moscow (1812)

The French in Moscow

After entering Moscow, the Grande Armée, unhappy with military conditions and no sign of victory, began looting what little remained within Moscow, although most items had to be abandoned during the long retreat that followed. Before leaving Moscow, Napoleon gave orders to have the Kremlin and all public buildings either blown up or set on fire. Napoleon retreating from the Kremlin. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (707x602, 40 KB) Summary Artist: Unknown German Title: French in Moscow, 1812 (Napoleon) Date:1820s Oil on canvas Source URL:http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (707x602, 40 KB) Summary Artist: Unknown German Title: French in Moscow, 1812 (Napoleon) Date:1820s Oil on canvas Source URL:http://www. ... The Moscow Kremlin (Russian: Московский Кремль) is a historic fortified complex at the very heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River (to the south), Saint Basils Cathedral (often mistaken by westerners as the Kremlin) and Red Square (to the east) and the Alexander Garden (to the west). ...

Moscow, comprising two thirds wooden buildings at the time, burnt down almost completely (it was estimated that four-fifths of the city was destroyed), effectively depriving the French of shelter in the city. French historians assume that the fires were due to Russian sabotage. For other uses, see Sabotage (disambiguation). ...

Tolstoy, in War and Peace, claimed that the fire was not deliberately set, either by the Russians or the French: the natural result of placing a wooden city in the hands of strangers in wintertime is that they will make small fires to stay warm, cook their food, and other benign purposes, and that some of those fires will get out of control. Without an efficient Fire Department, these house fires will spread to become neighborhood fires and ultimately a city-wide conflagration. Coat of arms of the Tolstoy family Tolstoy, or Tolstoi (Russian: ) is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from one Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy (i. ... For other uses, see War and Peace (disambiguation). ...

Retreat

"In 1812", by Illarion Pryanishnikov.

Charles Minard's graph showing the strength of the Grande Armée as it marches to Moscow and back, with temperature plotted on the lower graph for the return journey. (Multiply Réaumur temperatures by 1¼ to get Celsius, e.g. −30°R = −37.5 °C)

French Army in the Town Hall Square of Vilnius during the retreat

Sitting in the ashes of a ruined city without having received the Russian capitulation, and facing a Russian maneuver forcing him out of Moscow, Napoleon started his long retreat. At the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, Kutuzov was able to force the French army into using the very same Smolensk road on which they had earlier moved East and which had already been stripped of food supplies by both armies. This is often presented as yet another example of scorched-earth tactics. Continuing to block the southern flank to prevent the French from returning by a different route, Kutuzov again deployed partisan tactics to constantly strike at the French train where it was weakest. Light Russian cavalry, including mounted Cossacks, assaulted and broke up isolated French units. ImageMetadata File history File links Prianishnikov_1812. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Prianishnikov_1812. ... Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov (Russian: ) (20 March [O.S. 1 April] 1840 – 12 March [O.S. 24 March] 1894) was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Peredvizhniki artistic school. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (988x565, 87 KB)Minards graph showing Napoleons advance across Europe and into Russia (1885) This map by Charles Joseph Minard shows the advance of Napoleons army into Russia. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (988x565, 87 KB)Minards graph showing Napoleons advance across Europe and into Russia (1885) This map by Charles Joseph Minard shows the advance of Napoleons army into Russia. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... The degree Réaumur is a unit of temperature named after René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, who first proposed it in 1731. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Vilnius Town Hall Vilnius Town Hall (Lithuanian: ) is a historical town hall in the square of the same name in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. ... The Battle of Maloyaroslavets took place on October 24, 1812, between the Russians, under Marshal Kutuzov, and part of the corps of Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleons son_in_law, under General Delzons with numbered about 20,000 strong. ... A scorched earth policy is a military tactic which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. ... Look up partisan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Supplying the army became an impossibility - the lack of grass weakened the army's remaining horses, almost all of which died or were killed for food by starving soldiers. With no horses the French cavalry ceased to exist, and cavalrymen were forced to march on foot. In addition the lack of horses meant that cannons and wagons had to be abandoned, depriving the army of artillery and support convoys. Although the army was quickly able to replace its artillery in 1813 the abandonment of wagons created an immense logistics problem for the remainder of the war, as thousands of the best military wagons were left behind in Russia. As starvation and disease took their toll the desertion rate soared. Most of the deserters were taken prisoner or promptly executed by Russian peasants. Under these circumstances the severely weakened Grande Armée was defeated in running battles at Vyazma and Krasnoi, while separate French corps incurred losses at Polotsk, Czasniki, and Smoliani. The crossing of the river Berezina was the final French catastrophe of the war, as two separate Russian armies inflicted horrendous casualties on the remnants of the Grande Armée as it struggled to escape across pontoon bridges. Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders General Mikhail Miloradovich Louis Nicolas Davout, Eugene de Beauharnais, Józef Antoni Poniatowski, and Michel Ney Strength 26,500 troops, 37,000, of whom 24,000 took part in the battle Casualties 1,800 killed and wounded 8,000, including 4,000 taken... Combatants First French Empire Russian Empire Commanders Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov Strength 42,000 regulars, 39,000 stragglers 60,000-80,000 Casualties 6,000-13,000 killed, 20,000-26,000 captured ~ (almost all stragglers) 5,000 The Battle of Krasnoi (Krasny) (November 15 to 18, 1812... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr Strength 31,000 regular troops, 9,000 militia, 9,000 regular troops operating independently; Total of: 49,000 23,000-27,000 Casualties 8,000-12,500 8,000 At the Second Battle of Polotsk (October... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Marshal Victor Strength 30,000, of whom 11,000 were involved 36,000, of whom 10,000 to 18,000 were involved Casualties 400 1200 The Battle of Czasniki was fought during Napoleons invasion of Russia, on 31 October... Combatants Russian Empire First French Empire Commanders Prince Peter Wittgenstein Marshal Claude Victor and Marshal Nicholas Oudinot Strength 30,000 troops approximately 25,000 troops available; 6,000 involved on the 1st day; 5,000 involved on the 2nd day Casualties 3000 3000 At the Battle of Smoliani (November 13... Categories: Rivers of Belarus | Belarus-related stubs ... Battle of Berezina was held on November 26-29, 1812 between the French army of Napoleon retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina, and Russian army under Kutuzov. ...

In early December 1812 Napoleon learned that General Claude de Malet had attempted a coup d'etat back in France. He abandoned the army and returned home on a sleigh, leaving Marshal Joachim Murat in charge. Murat later deserted in order to save his kingdom of Naples, leaving Napoleon's former stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, in command. For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting... Claude François de Malet (1754 - 1812) was a French general. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... Joachim Murat, King of Naples, Marshal of France. ... For other uses see, Naples (disambiguation) and Napoli (disambiguation) Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... Eugène Rose de Beauharnais (September 3, 1781 - February 21, 1824) was the first child and only son of Joséphine de Tascher de la Pagerie and Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais. ...

In the following weeks, the remnants of the Grande Armée were further diminished, and on December 14 1812 they were expelled from Russian territory. Only about 22,000 of Napoleon's men survived the Russian campaign. Russian casualties in the few open battles are comparable to the French losses, but civilian losses along the devastated war path were much higher than the military casualties. In total, despite earlier estimates giving figures of several million dead, around one million were killed - fairly evenly split between the French and Russians. Military losses amounted to 300,000 French, 70,000 Poles, 50,000 Italians, 80,000 Germans, 253,000 from other nations. More French soldiers died of typhus than were killed by the Russians. As well as the loss of human life the French also lost some 200,000 horses and over 1,000 artillery pieces. is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the unrelated disease caused by Salmonella typhi, see Typhoid fever. ...

The overall losses of the Russian armies are hard to assess. A 19th century historian Michael Bogdanovich assessed reinforcements of the Russian armies during the war using Military Registry archive of the General Staff. According to this the reinforcements totaled 134,000. The main army at the time of capture of Vilna in December had 70,000 men, while its number at the war start was about 150,000. Thus, the total loss is 210,000 men. Of these about 40,000 returned to duty. Losses of the formations operating in secondary areas of operations as well as losses in militia units were about 40,000. Thus, he came up with the number of 210,000 men and militiamen.^[1]

Historical assessment

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

This campaign is marked by Napoleon's failure to adapt his successful European strategies to the immense geography of the Russian theatre of war. His initially strong results, including capturing the former capital, did not destroy the enemy armies or force them to terms. The destruction of the French army in 1812 marked a huge blow to Napoleon's ambitions of European dominance. Like the comprehensive defeat of French naval power at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the Russian campaign was a decisive turning-point of the Napoleonic Wars that ultimately led to Napoleon's defeat and exile on the island of Elba. For Russia the term Patriotic War (an English rendition of the Russian "Отечественная война") formed a symbol for a strengthened national identity that would have great effect on Russian patriotism in the 19th century. The indirect result of the patriotic movement of Russians was a strong desire for the modernization of the country that would result in a series of revolutions, starting with the Decembrist revolt and ending with the February Revolution of 1917. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 340 KB)Photo taken inside the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg by Robert Broadie on 12 April 2005. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 340 KB)Photo taken inside the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg by Robert Broadie on 12 April 2005. ... Military Gallery Military Gallery (Russian: ) is a gallery of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. ... Located between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, the Winter Palace (Russian: Зимний Дворец) in Saint Petersburg, Russia was built between 1754 and 1762 as the winter residence of the Russian tsars. ... Combatants United Kingdom First French Empire Kingdom of Spain Commanders Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson † Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve Strength 27 ships of the line and 6 others. ... Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich João Francisco de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun Gebhard von... Elba (bottom centre) from space, February 1994. ... Decembrists at the Senate Square The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising (Russian: ) was attempted in Imperial Russia by army officers who led about 3,000 Russian soldiers on December 14 (December 26 New Style), 1825. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Napoleon was not completely defeated in Russia. The following year he would raise an army of around 400,000 French troops supported by a quarter of a million French allied troops to contest control of Germany in an even larger campaign. It was not until the decisive Battle of Nations (October 16-19, 1813) that he was finally defeated, and even then he continued on to campaign in France in 1814. The Russian campaign, though, had revealed that Napoleon was not invincible. Sensing this, and urged on by Prussian nationalists and Russian commanders, German nationalists revolted across the Confederation of the Rhine and Prussia. The decisive German campaign likely could not have occurred without the message the defeat in Russia sent to the rest of Europe. Map of battle by 18 October 1813, from Meyers Encyclopaedia The Battle of Leipzig (October 16-19, 1813), also called the Battle of the Nations, was the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars and one of the worst defeats suffered by Napoleon Bonaparte. ...

List of commanders

Russian

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

Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow were built to commemorate the Russian victory against Napoleon.

• Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov - Commander-in-chief
• Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly - Commander-in-chief and Minister of War
• Peter Khristianovich Wittgenstein - Commander of the Right Wing
• Petr Ivanovich Bagration - Commander of the Left Wing
• Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky - Major commander
• Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov - Major commander
• Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich - Major commander
• Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy - Major commander
• Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov - General
• Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov - General
• Yakov Petrovich Kulnev - General
• Matvey Ivanovich Platov - Ataman of the Don Cossacks
• Pavel Vasilievich Chichagov - Admiral

French

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

• Louis Nicolas Davout - Duke of Auerstadt, Marshal, I Corps commander
• Eugène Rose de Beauharnais - Prince, IV Corps commander
• Étienne Maurice Gérard - General
• Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy - General, III Cavalry Corps commander
• Jean-Andoche Junot - General, latterly VIII Corps commander
• Victor de Fay de La Tour Maubourg - General, I Cavalry Corps commander
• Louis Pierre Montbrun - Count of Montbrun, General, Cavalry Corps commander
• Charles Antoine Morand - General, III Corps
• Nansouty - Cavalry Corps commander
• Michel Ney - Duke of Elchingen, Marshal, III Corps commander
• Nicolas Charles Oudinot - Duke of Reggio, Marshall, II Corps commander
• Claude-Victor Perrin - Duke of Bellune, Marshall, IX Corps commander

This is a list of Russian commanders in the Patriotic War of 1812. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x1536, 1026 KB) Koetoezov monument on the square in front of the Kazan cathedral in Saint Petersburg. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x1536, 1026 KB) Koetoezov monument on the square in front of the Kazan cathedral in Saint Petersburg. ... 19th-century view of the Kazan Cathedral in St. ... View of the cathedral in 1905 The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Храм Христа Спасителя) is the largest Orthodox church in the world. ... Mikhail Kutuzov Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (Russian: ) (September 16, 1745 – April 28, 1813 (n. ... Knyaz de Tolly Knyaz Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, called by the Russians as Mikhail Bogdanovich Barklay de Tolly (Михаи́л Богда́нович Баркла́й-де-То́лли) (born December 21, 1761 in Riga, [then] Imperial Russia; died May 26, 1818 in Insterburg, [then] Prussia), was a Russian field marshal and Minister of War. ... Prince Peter Khristianovich Wittgenstein (1769-1843) was a Russian Field Marshal distinguished for his services in the Napoleonic wars. ... Petr Ivanovich Bagration Prince Petr Ivanovich Bagration (Пётр Иванович Багратион) (1765 - September 12, 1812), a descendant of the Georgian Royal family of the Bagratids, served as a Russian general. ... Portrait by George Dawe in the Military Gallery Nikolay Nikolaevich Rayevsky (Russian: ) (14 September 1771 – 16 September 1829) was a Russian general and statesman who achieved fame for his feats of arms during the Napoleonic wars. ... Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov (Russian: Дмитрий Сергеевич Дохтуров) (1756 - November 14(26), 1816, Moscow) was a Russian Infantry General (1810) and a prominent military leader during the Patriotic War of 1812. ... Count Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich (October 1 (O.S.), 1771 - December 14 (O.S.), 1825) was a Russian general prominent during the Napoleonic wars. ... Alexander Ivanovich Count Ostermann-Tolstoy (1772 – 12 February 1857) was a Russian nobleman and soldier in the era of the French Revolutionary Wars. ... Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, or Ermolov (1777-1861), was the premier Russian military hero during the golden age of Russian Romanticism. ... Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (1782–1856), was a Russian prince and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars, and most famous for leading the Russian invasion of the Caucasus from 1844 to 1853. ... Portrait from the Military Gallery of Winter Palace. ... Platovs portrait from Military Gallery of the Winter Palace (1825) Count Matvei Ivanovich Platov (August 6, 1757 - January 3, 1818) was a Russian general who commanded the Don Cossacks in the Napoleonic wars. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Pavel Chichagov Admiral Pavel Vasilievich Chichagov or Tchichagov (1767 – 1849) was the son of Admiral Vasili Chichagov and his English wife. ... Davout, Marshal of France Louis Nicolas dAvout (May 10, 1770 – June 1, 1823), better known as Davout, duc dAuerstädt, prince dEckmühl, and a marshal of France. ... The I Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The IV Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars. ... Painting of Étienne Maurice, comte Gérard, marshal of France by Jacques-Louis David Étienne Maurice Gérard (April 4, 1773 - April 17, 1852), French general, was born at Damvilliers (Meuse). ... Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy, Marshal of France Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy (October 23, 1766 – May 29, 1847), marshal of France, was born in Paris. ... Jean-Andoche Junot, Duke of Abrantes (October 23, 1771 – July 29, 1813) was a French general under Napoleon Bonaparte. ... Charles Antoine Louis Alexis Morand (June 4, 1771-1835) Comte de lEmpire, was a general of the French army army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. ... The III Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars, it became legendary under the command of Louis Nicolas Davout, a Marshal of the French Empire. ... Michel Ney, Marshal of France. ... The III Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars, it became legendary under the command of Louis Nicolas Davout, a Marshal of the French Empire. ... Nicolas Charles Oudinot (April 25, 1767 - September 13, 1847), duke of Reggio, was a marshal of France. ... The II Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars. ...

References

• 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow, Adam Zamoyski, HarperCollins, 644 Pages. ISBN 0-00-712375-2
• Blundering to Glory:Napoleon's Military Campaigns (2nd edition) Owen Connelly. 254 pages. ISBN 0-8420-2780-7
• The Campaigns of Napoleon, David Chandler, Folio, 2002, 1100 Pages (same as ISBN 0-29-774830-0)

George F. Nafziger is an American writer, an author and editor of numerous books and articles in military history. ... Adam Zamoyski - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

See also

• List of wars
• List of invasions
• War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, 938 Pages (first published from 1863-1869)
• 1812 Overture: orchestra piece written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1882 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russian victory over the French.

This is a list of lists of wars, sorted by country, date, region, and type of conflict. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see War and Peace (disambiguation). ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... The 1812 Overture (full title: Festival Overture The Year 1812 in E flat major, Op. ... “Tchaikovsky” redirects here. ...

External links

• History of the Expedition to Russia Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812, by the count de Ségur (Gutenberg Project ebook)

• Russian Army During the Napoleonic Wars