Napoleonic War of 1812. Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills. Causes of the Patriotic War
Cause of the war with Napoleon
Napoleon considered England his main enemy, an obstacle to world domination. He could not crush it with military force for geographical reasons: Britain is an island, an amphibious operation would have cost France very dearly, and besides, after the Battle of Trafalgar, England remained the only mistress of the seas. Therefore, Napoleon decided to strangle the enemy economically: to undermine England’s trade by closing all European ports to it. However, the blockade did not bring benefits to France either; it ruined its bourgeoisie. “Napoleon understood that it was the war with England and the blockade associated with it that prevented a radical improvement in the economy of the empire. But in order to end the blockade, it was first necessary to get England to lay down its arms.”* However, the victory over England was hampered by the position of Russia, which in words agreed to comply with the terms of the blockade, but in fact, Napoleon was convinced, did not comply with it. “English goods from Russia along the entire vast western border are leaking into Europe and this reduces the continental blockade to zero, that is, it destroys the only hope of “bringing England to its knees.” The Great Army in Moscow means the submission of the Russian Emperor Alexander, this is the complete implementation of the continental blockade, therefore, victory over England is possible only after victory over Russia.
Subsequently, in Vitebsk, already during the campaign against Moscow, Count Daru frankly declared to Napoleon that neither the armies, nor even many in the emperor’s entourage understood why this difficult war was being waged with Russia, because because of the trade in English goods in Alexander’s possessions, not worth it. (However) Napoleon saw in the consistently carried out economic strangulation of England the only means of finally ensuring the durability of the existence of the great monarchy he created
Background to the War of 1812
- 1798 - Russia, together with Great Britain, Turkey, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Naples, created the second anti-French coalition
- 1801, September 26 - Paris Peace Treaty between Russia and France
- 1805 - England, Russia, Austria, Sweden formed the third anti-French coalition
- 1805, November 20 - Napoleon defeats the Austro-Russian troops at Austerlitz
- 1806, November - the beginning of the war between Russia and Turkey
- 1807, June 2 - defeat of Russian-Prussian troops at Friedland
- 1807, June 25 - Treaty of Tilsit between Russia and France. Russia pledged to join the continental blockade
- 1808, February - the beginning of the Russian-Swedish War, which lasted a year
- 1808, October 30 - Erfur Union Conference of Russia and France, confirming the Franco-Russian alliance
- Late 1809 - early 1810 - Napoleon’s unsuccessful matchmaking with Alexander the First’s sister Anna
- 1810, December 19 - introduction of new customs tariffs in Russia, beneficial for English goods and disadvantageous for French ones
- 1812, February - peace agreement between Russia and Sweden
- 1812, May 16 - Treaty of Bucharest between Russia and Turkey
“Napoleon subsequently said that he should have abandoned the war with Russia at the moment when he learned that neither Turkey nor Sweden would fight with Russia.”
Patriotic War of 1812. Briefly
- 1812, June 12 (old style) - the French army invaded Russia by crossing the Neman
The French did not see a single soul in the entire vast space beyond the Neman until the very horizon, after the Cossack guards disappeared from sight. “Before us lay a desert, brown, yellowish land with stunted vegetation and distant forests on the horizon,” recalled one of the participants in the hike, and the picture seemed “ominous” even then.
- 1812, June 12-15 - in four continuous streams, the Napoleonic army crossed the Neman along three new bridges and a fourth old one - at Kovno, Olitt, Merech, Yurburg - regiment after regiment, battery after battery, in a continuous stream crossed the Neman and lined up on the Russian bank.
Napoleon knew that although he had 420 thousand people at hand... the army was far from equal in all its parts, that he could only rely on the French part of his army (in total, the great army consisted of 355 thousand subjects of the French Empire, but among them there were far from all were natural French), and even then not entirely, because young recruits could not be placed next to the seasoned warriors who had been on his campaigns. As for the Westphalians, Saxons, Bavarians, Rhenish, Hanseatic Germans, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, not to mention his forced allies - the Austrians and Prussians, whom he dragged for purposes unknown to them to death in Russia and of whom many do not hate at all Russians, and himself, it is unlikely that they will fight with particular fervor
- 1812, June 12 - the French in Kovno (now Kaunas)
- 1812, June 15 - The corps of Jerome Bonaparte and Yu. Poniatowski advanced to Grodno
- 1812, June 16 - Napoleon in Vilna (Vilnius), where he stayed for 18 days
- 1812, June 16 - a short battle in Grodno, the Russians blew up bridges across the Lososnya River
Russian commanders
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Barclay de Tolly (1761-1818) - Since the spring of 1812 - commander of the 1st Western Army. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 - Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army
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Bagration (1765-1812) - chief of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, the commander of the 2nd Western Army
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Bennigsen (1745-1826) - cavalry general, by order of Kutuzaov - chief of the General Staff of the Russian army
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Kutuzov (1747-1813) - Field Marshal General, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army during the Patriotic War of 1812
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Chichagov (1767-1849) - admiral, naval minister of the Russian Empire from 1802 to 1809
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Wittgenstein (1768-1843) - Field Marshal General, during the War of 1812 - commander of a separate corps in the St. Petersburg direction
- 1812, June 18 - the French in Grodno
- 1812, July 6 - Alexander the First announced recruitment into the militia
- 1812, July 16 - Napoleon in Vitebsk, the armies of Bagration and Barclay retreat to Smolensk
- 1812, August 3 - connection of the armies of Barclay to Tolly and Bagration near Smolensk
- 1812, August 4-6 - Battle of Smolensk
At 6 a.m. on August 4, Napoleon ordered the general bombardment and assault of Smolensk to begin. Fierce fighting broke out and lasted until 6 pm. Dokhturov's corps, defending the city together with the division of Konovnitsyn and the Prince of Württemberg, fought with courage and tenacity that amazed the French. In the evening, Napoleon called Marshal Davout and categorically ordered the next day, no matter the cost, to take Smolensk. He had already had the hope earlier, and now it has grown stronger, that this Smolensk battle, in which supposedly the entire Russian army is participating (he knew about Barclay’s finally united with Bagration), will be the decisive battle that the Russians have so far avoided, giving to him without a fight huge parts of his empire. On August 5, the battle resumed. The Russians offered heroic resistance. After a bloody day, night came. The bombing of the city, by order of Napoleon, continued. And suddenly on Wednesday night there were terrible explosions one after another, shaking the earth; The fire that started spread throughout the city. It was the Russians who blew up the powder magazines and set the city on fire: Barclay gave the order to retreat. At dawn, French scouts reported that the city had been abandoned by troops, and Davout entered Smolensk without a fight.
- 1812, August 8 - Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief instead of Barclay de Tolly
- 1812, August 23 - Scouts reported to Napoleon that the Russian army had stopped and taken up positions two days earlier and that fortifications had also been built near the village visible in the distance. When asked what the name of the village was, the scouts answered: “Borodino”
- 1812, August 26 - Battle of Borodino
Kutuzov knew that Napoleon would be destroyed by the impossibility of a long war several thousand kilometers from France, in a deserted, meager, hostile huge country, a lack of food, and an unusual climate. But he knew even more precisely that they would not allow him to give up Moscow without a general battle, despite his Russian surname, just as Barclay was not allowed to do this. And he decided to fight this battle, which was unnecessary, in his deepest conviction. Strategically unnecessary, it was morally and politically inevitable. At 15:00 the Battle of Borodino killed more than 100,000 people on both sides. Napoleon later said: “Of all my battles, the most terrible was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible...”
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The most blatant school linden concerns French losses in the Battle of Borodino. European historiography admits that Napoleon was missing 30 thousand soldiers and officers, of which 10–12 thousand were killed. Nevertheless, on the main monument erected on the Borodino field, 58,478 people are engraved in gold. As Alexey Vasiliev, an expert on the era, admits, we owe the “mistake” to Alexander Schmidt, a Swiss who at the end of 1812 really needed 500 rubles. He turned to Count Fyodor Rostopchin, posing as a former adjutant of Napoleonic Marshal Berthier. Having received the money, the “adjutant” from the lantern compiled a list of losses for the corps of the Great Army, attributing, for example, 5 thousand killed to the Holsteins, who did not participate in the Battle of Borodino at all. The Russian world was happy to be deceived, and when documentary refutations appeared, no one dared to initiate the dismantling of the legend. And it still hasn’t been decided: the figure has been floating around in textbooks for decades, as if Napoleon lost about 60 thousand soldiers. Why deceive children who can open a computer? (“Arguments of the Week”, No. 34(576) dated 08/31/2017)
- 1812, September 1 - council in Fili. Kutuzov ordered to leave Moscow
- 1812, September 2 - The Russian army passed through Moscow and reached the Ryazan road
- 1812, September 2 - Napoleon in Moscow
- 1812, September 3 - the beginning of a fire in Moscow
- 1812, September 4-5 - Fire in Moscow.
On the morning of September 5, Napoleon walked around the Kremlin and from the windows of the palace, wherever he looked, the emperor turned pale and silently looked at the fire for a long time, and then said: “What a terrible sight! They set the fire themselves... What determination! What people! These are Scythians!
- 1812, September 6 - September 22 - Napoleon three times sent envoys to the Tsar and Kutuzov with a proposal for peace. Didn't wait for an answer
- 1812, October 6 - the beginning of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
- 1812, October 7 - The victorious battle of the Russian army of Kutuzov with the French troops of Marshal Murat in the area of the village of Tarutino, Kaluga region
- 1812, October 12 - the battle of Maloyaroslavets, which forced Napoleon’s army to retreat along the old Smolensk road, already completely destroyed
Generals Dokhturov and Raevsky attacked Maloyaroslavets, which had been occupied the day before by Delzon. Eight times Maloyaroslavets changed hands. Losses on both sides were heavy. The French lost about 5 thousand people in killed alone. The city burned to the ground, catching fire during the battle, so that many hundreds of people, Russians and French, died from fire in the streets, many wounded were burned alive
- 1812, October 13 - In the morning, Napoleon with a small retinue left the village of Gorodni to inspect the Russian positions, when suddenly Cossacks with pikes at the ready attacked this group of horsemen. Two marshals who were with Napoleon (Murat and Bessieres), General Rapp and several officers crowded around Napoleon and began to fight back. Polish light cavalry and guards rangers arrived in time and saved the emperor.
- 1812, October 15 - Napoleon ordered a retreat to Smolensk
- 1812, October 18 - frosts began. Winter came early and cold
- 1812, October 19 - Wittgenstein's corps, reinforced by St. Petersburg and Novgorod militias and other reinforcements, drove out the troops of Saint-Cyr and Oudinot from Polotsk
- 1812, October 26 - Wittgenstein occupied Vitebsk
- 1812, November 6 - Napoleon's army arrived in Dorogobuzh (a city in the Smolensk region), only 50 thousand people remained ready for battle
- 1812, early November - Chichagov’s Southern Russian army, arriving from Turkey, rushed to the Berezina (a river in Belarus, the right tributary of the Dnieper)
- 1812, November 14 - Napoleon left Smolensk with only 36 thousand men under arms
- 1812, November 16-17 - a bloody battle near the village of Krasny (45 km southwest of Smolensk), in which the French suffered huge losses
- 1812, November 16 - Chichagov's army occupied Minsk
- 1812, November 22 - Chichagov's army occupied Borisov on the Berezina. There was a bridge across the river in Borisov
- 1812, November 23 - defeat of the vanguard of Chichagov's army from Marshal Oudinot near Borisov. Borisov again went over to the French
- 1812, November 26-27 - Napoleon transported the remnants of the army across the Berezina and took them to Vilna
- 1812, December 6 - Napoleon left the army, going to Paris
- 1812, December 11 - the Russian army entered Vilna
- 1812, December 12 - the remnants of Napoleon's army arrived in Kovno
- 1812, December 15 - the remnants of the French army crossed the Neman, leaving Russian territory
- 1812, December 25 - Alexander I issued a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War
“...Now, with heartfelt joy and bitterness to God, We declare gratitude to Our dear loyal subjects, that the event has surpassed even Our very hope, and that what We announced at the opening of this war has been fulfilled beyond measure: there is no longer a single enemy on the face of Our land; or better yet, they all stayed here, but how? Dead, wounded and prisoners. The proud ruler and leader himself could barely ride away with his most important officials, having lost all his army and all the cannons he brought with him, which, more than a thousand, not counting those buried and sunk by him, were recaptured from him, and are in Our hands ... "
Thus ended the Patriotic War of 1812. Then the foreign campaigns of the Russian army began, the purpose of which, according to Alexander the First, was to finish off Napoleon. But that is another story
Reasons for Russia's victory in the war against Napoleon
- The nationwide character of the resistance provided
- Mass heroism of soldiers and officers
- High skill of military leaders
- Napoleon's indecisiveness in announcing anti-serfdom laws
- Geographical and natural factors
The result of the Patriotic War of 1812
- The growth of national self-awareness in Russian society
- The beginning of the decline of Napoleon's career
- Growing authority of Russia in Europe
- The emergence of anti-serfdom, liberal views in Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign of 1812, was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. After the campaign, only a small part of their former military power remained at the disposal of France and the allies. The war left a huge mark on culture (for example, “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy) and national identification, so necessary during the German attack in 1941-1945.
We call the French invasion the Patriotic War of 1812 (not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War, which is called the attack of Nazi Germany on). In an attempt to gain the support of Polish nationalists by playing on their feelings of nationalism, Napoleon called this war the “Second Polish War” (“The First Polish War” was a war for Polish independence from Russia, Prussia and Austria). Napoleon promised to revive the Polish state in the territories of modern Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.
Causes of the Patriotic War
At the time of the invasion, Napoleon was at the pinnacle of power and had virtually crushed the entire continental Europe under his influence. He often left local government in defeated countries, which earned him fame as a liberal, strategically wise politician, but all local authorities worked to benefit the interests of France.
None of the political forces operating in Europe at that time dared to go against the interests of Napoleon. In 1809, under the terms of a peace treaty with Austria, it undertook to transfer western Galicia under the control of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Russia saw this as an infringement of its interests and the preparation of a springboard for an invasion of Russia.
This is what Napoleon wrote in an attempt to enlist the help of Polish nationalists in his decree of June 22, 1812: “Soldiers, the second Polish war has begun. The first ended in Tilsit. In Tilsit, Russia swore an eternal alliance with France and war with England. Today Russia is breaking its oaths. Russia is led by fate and the destined must be fulfilled. Does this mean that we must be degenerate? No, we will move on, we will cross the Neman River and start a war on its territory. The second Polish war will be victorious with the French army at its head, just as the first war was.”
The First Polish War was a war of four coalitions to liberate Poland from Russian, Prussian, and Austrian rule. One of the officially declared goals of the war was the restoration of an independent Poland within the borders of modern Poland and Lithuania.
Emperor Alexander the First took over the country in an economic hole, since the industrial revolution that was taking place everywhere bypassed Russia. However, Russia was rich in raw materials and was part of Napoleonic strategy to build the economy of continental Europe. These plans made it impossible to trade in raw materials, which was vitally important for Russia from an economic point of view. Russian refusal to participate in the strategy was another reason for Napoleon's attack.
Logistics
Napoleon and the Grande Armée developed the ability to maintain combat effectiveness beyond territories where they were well supplied. This was not so difficult in densely populated and agricultural central Europe with its network of roads and well-functioning infrastructure. The Austrian and Prussian armies were stymied by rapid movements, and this was achieved by timely supplies of fodder.
But in Russia, Napoleon's war strategy turned against him. Forced marches often forced troops to do without supplies, since supply caravans simply could not keep up with the fast-moving Napoleonic army. The lack of food and water in the sparsely populated and undeveloped regions of Russia led to the death of people and horses.
The army was weakened by constant hunger, as well as diseases caused by dirty water, as they had to drink even from puddles and use rotten fodder. The forward detachments received everything they could get, while the rest of the army was forced to starve.
Napoleon made impressive preparations to supply his army. Seventeen convoys, consisting of 6,000 carts, were supposed to provide the Grand Army with supplies for 40 days. A system of ammunition depots was also prepared in the cities of Poland and East Prussia.
At the beginning of the campaign there were no plans to take Moscow, so there were not enough supplies. However, the Russian armies, dispersed over a large area, could not oppose Napoleon's army, consisting of 285,000 thousand people, in one major battle separately and continued to retreat in an attempt to unite.
This forced the Grand Army to advance along muddy roads with bottomless swamps and frozen ruts, which led to the death of exhausted horses and broken wagons. Charles José Minard wrote that the Napoleonic army suffered most of its losses while advancing towards Moscow in the summer and autumn, and not in open battles. Hunger, thirst, typhus and suicide brought more losses to the French army than all the battles with the Russian army combined.
Composition of Napoleon's Grand Army
On June 24, 1812, the Grand Army, numbering 690,000 men (the largest army ever assembled in European history), crossed the Neman River and advanced towards Moscow.
The Grand Army was divided into:
- The army for the main attack numbered 250,000 men under the personal command of the emperor.
The other two advanced armies were commanded by Eugène de Beauharnais (80,000 men) and Jerome Bonaparte (70,000 men). - Two separate corps under the command of Jacques Macdonald (32,500 men, mostly Prussian soldiers) and Karl Schwarzenberg (34,000 Austrian soldiers).
- Reserve army of 225,000 people (the main part remained in Germany and Poland).
There was also a National Guard of 80,000 who remained to protect the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Including these, the strength of the French imperial army on the Russian border was 800,000. This huge accumulation of human power greatly thinned out the Empire. Because 300,000 French soldiers, along with 200,000 thousand Germans and Italians, fought in Iberia.
The army consisted of:
- 300,000 French
- 34,000 Austrian corps led by Schwarzenberg
- about 90,000 Poles
- 90,000 Germans (including Bavarians, Saxons, Prussians, Westphalians, Württembergers, Badeners)
- 32,000 Italians
- 25,000 Neapolitans
- 9,000 Swiss (German sources specify 16,000 people)
- 4,800 Spaniards
- 3,500 Croats
- 2,000 Portuguese
Anthony Joes, in the Journal of Conflict Research, wrote: Accounts of how many of Napoleon's soldiers served in the war and how many of them returned vary greatly. Georges Lefebvre writes that Napoleon crossed the Niemen with more than 600,000 soldiers, and only half of them were French. The rest were mostly Germans and Poles.
Felix Markham claims that 450,000 soldiers crossed the Niemen on June 25, 1812, of whom less than 40,000 returned in some semblance of an army. James Marshall-Cornwall writes that 510,000 imperial soldiers invaded Russia. Eugene Tarle estimates that 420,000 were with Napoleon and 150,000 followed behind, making a total of 570,000 soldiers.
Richard K. Rhyne gives the following figures: 685,000 people crossed the Russian border, of whom 355,000 were French. 31,000 were able to leave Russia as a united military formation, while another 35,000 people fled individually and in small groups. The total number of survivors is estimated at approximately 70,000.
Whatever the actual exact numbers, everyone agrees that practically the entire Grand Army remained killed or wounded on Russian territory.
Adam Zamoyski estimates that between 550,000 and 600,000 French and Allied soldiers, including reinforcements, took part in the crossing of the Niemen. At least 400,000 soldiers died.
The infamous graphs of Charles Minard (an innovator in the field of graphical analysis methods) plotted the size of an advancing army on a contour map, as well as the number of retreating soldiers as temperatures dropped (temperatures that year dropped to -30 Celsius). According to these charts, 422,000 crossed the Niemen with Napoleon, 22,000 soldiers separated and headed north, only 100,000 survived the journey to Moscow. Of these 100,000, only 4,000 survived and joined with 6,000 soldiers from a collateral army of 22,000. Thus, only 10,000 of the original 422,000 soldiers returned.
Russian Imperial Army
The forces that opposed Napoleon at the time of the attack consisted of three armies totaling 175,250 regular soldiers, 15,000 Cossacks and 938 cannons:
- The First Western Army, under the command of Field Marshal General Michael Barclay de Tolly, consisted of 104,250 soldiers, 7,000 Cossacks and 558 cannons.
- The Second Western Army under the command of Infantry General Peter Bagration numbered 33,000 soldiers, 4,000 Cossacks and 216 cannons.
- The Third Reserve Army, under the command of cavalry general Alexander Tormasov, consisted of 38,000 soldiers, 4,000 Cossacks and 164 cannons.
However, these forces could count on reinforcements, which amounted to 129,000 soldiers, 8,000 Cossacks and 434 cannons.
But only 105,000 of these potential reinforcements could take part in the defense against the invasion. In addition to the reserve, there were recruits and militia, totaling approximately 161,000 men of varying degrees of training. Of these, 133,000 took part in the defense.
Although the total number of all formations was 488,000 people, only approximately 428,000 thousand of them opposed the Grand Army from time to time. Also, more than 80,000 Cossacks and militias and about 20,000 soldiers garrisoned fortresses in the combat zone did not take part in the open confrontation with Napoleon’s army.
Sweden, Russia's only ally, did not send reinforcements. But the alliance with Sweden allowed 45,000 soldiers to be transferred from Finland and used in subsequent battles (20,000 soldiers were sent to Riga).
Beginning of the Patriotic War
The invasion began on June 24, 1812. Shortly before, Napoleon sent the last peace proposal to St. Petersburg on terms favorable to France. Having received no answer, he gave the order to advance to the Russian part of Poland. At first, the army did not encounter resistance and quickly advanced through enemy territory. The French army at that time consisted of 449,000 soldiers and 1,146 artillery pieces. They were opposed by Russian armies consisting of only 153,000 soldiers, 15,000 Cossacks and 938 cannons.
The central army of the French forces rushed to Kaunas and crossings were made by the French Guards, numbering 120,000 soldiers. The crossing itself was carried out to the south, where three pontoon bridges were built. The crossing location was chosen by Napoleon personally.
Napoleon had a tent set up on a hill from where he could watch the crossing of the Neman. The roads in this part of Lithuania were little better than just muddy ruts in the middle of a dense forest. From the very beginning, the army suffered, as supply trains simply could not keep up with the marching troops, and the rear formations experienced even greater hardships.
March on Vilnius
On June 25, Napoleon's army, crossing along an existing crossing, met an army under the command of Michel Ney. The cavalry under the command of Joachim Murat was in the vanguard along with Napoleon's army, Louis Nicolas Davout's First Corps followed. Eugene de Beauharnais with his army crossed the Niemen to the north, MacDonald's army followed and crossed the river on the same day.
The army under the command of Jerome Bonaparte did not cross the river with everyone and only crossed the river on June 28 in Grodno. Napoleon rushed to Vilnius, not giving rest to the infantry, languishing under the torrential rains and unbearable heat. The main part covered 70 miles in two days. Ney's Third Corps marched along the road to Suterva, while on the other side of the Vilnia River marched the corps of Nikola Oudinot.
These maneuvers were part of an operation whose purpose was to encircle the army of Peter Wittgenstein with the armies of Ney, Oudinot and Macdonald. But MacDonald's army was delayed and the opportunity for encirclement was missed. Then Jerome was assigned to march against Bagration in Grodno, and Jean Rainier's Seventh Corps was sent to Bialystok for support.
On June 24, Russian headquarters were located in Vilnius, and messengers rushed to notify Barclay de Tolly that the enemy had crossed the Neman. During the night, Bagration and Platov received orders to go on the offensive. Emperor Alexander I left Vilnius on June 26, and Barclay de Tolly took command. Barclay de Tolly wanted to fight, but assessed the situation and realized that there was no point in fighting, due to the numerical superiority of the enemy. Then he ordered the ammunition depots to be burned and the Vilnius bridge to be dismantled. Wittgenstein and his army advanced towards the Lithuanian town of Perkele, breaking away from the encirclement of Macdonald and Oudinot.
It was not possible to avoid the battle completely, and Wittgenstein’s detachments following behind nevertheless came into conflict with Oudinot’s advanced detachments. On the left flank of the Russian army, Dokhturov's corps was threatened by Phalen's third cavalry corps. Bagration was given the order to advance to Vileika (Minsk region) to meet the army of Barclay de Tolly, although the meaning of this maneuver remains a mystery to this day.
On June 28, Napoleon, almost without battles, entered Vilnius. Replenishment of fodder in Lithuania was difficult, since the land there was mostly unfertile and covered with dense forests. Forage supplies were poorer than in Poland, and two days of non-stop marching only made the situation worse.
The main problem was the ever-increasing distances between the army and the supply region. In addition, not a single convoy could keep up with the infantry column during the forced march. Even the weather itself became a problem. This is what historian Richard K. Rhine writes about it: Thunderstorms with lightning and heavy rains on June 24 washed out the roads. Some argued that there are no roads in Lithuania and there are bottomless swamps everywhere. Carts sat on their bellies, horses fell exhausted, people lost their shoes in puddles. Stuck convoys became obstacles, people were forced to go around them, and forage and artillery columns could not go around them. Then the sun came out and baked the deep potholes, turning them into concrete canyons. In these ruts, horses broke their legs and carts broke their wheels.
Lieutenant Mertens, a subject of Württemberg who served in Ney's Third Corps, wrote in his diary that the oppressive heat that followed the rain killed the horses and forced them to set up camp practically in the swamps. Dysentery and influenza raged in the army, despite field hospitals designed to protect against the epidemic, hundreds of people were infected.
He reported the time, place and events that took place with high accuracy. So on June 6 there was a strong thunderstorm with thunder and lightning, and already on the 11th people began to die from sunstroke. The Crown Prince of Württemberg reported 21 dead in the bivouac. The Bavarian corps reported 345 seriously ill people by June 13th.
Desertion was rampant in the Spanish and Portuguese formations. Deserters terrorized the population, stealing everything they could get their hands on. The areas where the Grand Army passed remained destroyed. A Polish officer wrote that people abandoned their houses, and the area was depopulated.
The French light cavalry were shocked at how vastly outnumbered they were by the Russians. The superiority was so noticeable that Napoleon ordered infantry to support his cavalry. This even applied to reconnaissance and reconnaissance. Despite thirty thousand cavalry, they were unable to locate Barclay de Tolly's troops, forcing Napoleon to send columns in all directions in the hope of identifying the enemy's position.
Chasing the Russian Army
The operation, which was intended to prevent the unification of the armies of Bagration and Barclay de Tolly near Vilnius, cost the French army 25,000 dead from minor skirmishes with Russian armies and disease. Then it was decided to move from Vilnius in the direction of Nemencine, Mihalishka, Oshmyany and Maliata.
Eugene crossed the river at Prenn on June 30, while Jerome was leading his Seventh Corps to Bialystok along with units crossing to Grodno. Murat advanced to Nemenchin on July 1, pursuing Dokhturov's third cavalry corps on the way to Dzhunashev. Napoleon decided that this was Bagration's second army and rushed in pursuit. Only after 24 hours of infantry chasing the cavalry regiment, reconnaissance reported that it was not Bagration’s army.
Napoleon then decided to use the armies of Davout, Jerome and Eugene to catch Bagration's army between a rock and a hard place in an operation covering Oshmyana and Minsk. The operation failed on the left flank, where MacDonald and Oudinot did not make it. Dokhturov, meanwhile, moved from Dzhunashev to Svir to meet Bagration’s army, avoiding battles with the French army. 11 French regiments and a battery of 12 artillery pieces were too slow to stop him.
Conflicting orders and lack of intelligence almost brought Bagration's army between the armies of Davout and Jerome. But even here Jerome was late, stuck in the mud and experiencing the same problems with food supplies and weather as the rest of the Grand Army. Jerome's army lost 9,000 men during the four days of pursuit. Disagreements between Jerome Bonaparte and General Dominique Vandamme further aggravated the situation. Meanwhile, Bagration linked his army with Dokhturov's corps and had 45,000 men at his disposal in the area of the village of Novy Sverzhen by July 7th.
Davout lost 10,000 men during the march to Minsk and did not dare to engage in battle without the support of Jerome's army. Two French cavalry corps were defeated, outnumbered by the corps of Matvey Platov, leaving the French army without intelligence. Bagration was also not sufficiently informed. So Davout believed that Bagration had about 60,000 soldiers, while Bagration believed that Davout's army had 70,000 soldiers. Armed with false information, both generals were in no hurry to engage in battle.
Bagration received orders from both Alexander I and Barclay de Tolly. Barclay de Tolly, out of ignorance, did not provide Bagration with an understanding of the role of his army in global strategy. This stream of conflicting orders created disagreements between Bagration and Barclay de Tolly, which later had consequences.
Napoleon reached Vilnius on June 28th, leaving behind 10,000 dead horses. These horses were vital to supplying an army that so desperately needed them. Napoleon assumed that Alexander would sue for peace, but to his disappointment this did not happen. And this was not his last disappointment. Barclay continued to retreat to Verkhnedvinsk, deciding that the unification of the 1st and 2nd armies was the highest priority.
Barclay de Tolly continued his retreat and, with the exception of an accidental skirmish between the rearguard of his army and the vanguard of Ney's army, the advance took place without haste or resistance. The Grand Army's usual methods now worked against it.
Rapid forced marches caused desertion, starvation, forced troops to drink dirty water, there was an epidemic in the army, logistics trains lost horses in the thousands, which only aggravated the problems. The 50,000 stragglers and deserters became an unruly mob fighting the peasants in an all-out guerrilla war, which only worsened the supply situation for the Grande Armée. By this time, the army had already been reduced by 95,000 people.
March on Moscow
Supreme Commander-in-Chief Barclay de Tolly refused to join the battle, despite Bagration's calls. Several times he attempted to prepare a powerful defensive position, but Napoleon's troops were too fast, and he did not have time to complete the preparations and retreated. The Russian army continued to retreat inland, adhering to tactics developed by Karl Ludwig Pfuel. Retreating, the army left behind scorched earth, which caused even more serious problems with forage.
Political pressure was put on Barclay de Tolly, forcing him to give battle. But he continued to reject the idea of a global battle, which led to his resignation. The boastful and popular Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was appointed to the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Despite Kutuzov's populist rhetoric, he continued to adhere to Barclay de Tolly's plan. It was obvious that attacking the French in open battle would lead to the pointless loss of the army.
After an indecisive clash near Smolensk in August, he finally managed to create a decent defensive position at Borodino. The Battle of Borodino took place on September 7th and became the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars. By September 8, the Russian army was halved and was again forced to retreat, leaving the road to Moscow open. Kutuzov also ordered the evacuation of the city.
By this point, the Russian army had reached its maximum strength of 904,000. Of these, 100,000 were in the immediate vicinity of Moscow and were able to join Kutuzov's army.
Capture of Moscow
On September 14, 1812, Napoleon entered an empty city, from which, by order of Governor Fyodor Rostopchin, all supplies were removed. According to the classic rules of warfare of the time, aimed at capturing the enemy's capital, although the capital was St. Petersburg, Moscow remained the spiritual capital, Napoleon expected Emperor Alexander I to announce surrender on Poklonnaya Hill. But the Russian command did not even think about surrender.
As Napoleon prepared to enter Moscow, he was surprised that he was not met by a delegation from the city. When a victorious general approached, local authorities usually met him at the gates with the keys to the city in an attempt to protect the population and city from plunder. Napoleon sent his assistants to the city in search of official authorities with whom it would be possible to conclude agreements on the occupation of the city. When no one could be found, Napoleon realized that the city was unconditionally abandoned.
In a normal capitulation, city officials were forced to make arrangements to house and feed the soldiers. In this case, the situation forced the soldiers to look for a roof over their heads and food for themselves. Napoleon was secretly disappointed at the lack of adherence to customs, as he believed it robbed him of his traditional victory over the Russians, especially after taking such a spiritually significant city.
Before the order to evacuate Moscow, the city's population was 270,000 people. After most of the population left the city, those who remained robbed and burned food so that the French would not get it. By the time Napoleon entered the Kremlin, no more than a third of its inhabitants remained in the city. Those who remained in the city were mainly foreign traders, servants and people who could not or did not want to evacuate. The remaining people tried to avoid the troops and the large French community, numbering several hundred people.
Burning of Moscow
After the capture of Moscow, the Grand Army, dissatisfied with the conditions of detention and the honors not given to the victors, began to plunder what was left of the city. The fires started that evening and only grew over the following days.
Two-thirds of the city was made of wood. The city was burned almost to the ground. Four-fifths of the city was burned, leaving the French homeless. French historians believe the fires were sabotaged by the Russians.
Leo Tolstoy, in his work War and Peace, states that the fires were not caused by Russian sabotage or French looting. The fires were a natural result of the fact that the city was filled with strangers during the winter season. Tolstoy believed that the fires were a natural consequence of the invaders lighting small fires for heating, cooking and other domestic needs. But they soon got out of control, and without an active fire service there was no one to put them out.
Retreat and defeat of Napoleon
Sitting in the ashes of a ruined city, having failed to receive Russian surrender and facing a rebuilt Russian army driving him out of Moscow, Napoleon began his long retreat by mid-October. At the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, Kutuzov was able to force the French army to use the same Smolensk road for retreat that they used to march to Moscow. The surrounding area had already been deprived of food supplies by both armies. This is often presented as an example of scorched earth tactics.
Continuing to blockade the southern flank to prevent the French from returning via another route, Kutuzov again deployed guerrilla tactics to constantly hit the French procession at its most vulnerable points. Russian light cavalry, including mounted Cossacks, attacked and destroyed the scattered French troops.
Supplying the army became impossible. The lack of grass weakened the already few horses, which were killed and eaten by starving soldiers back in Moscow. Without horses, the French cavalry disappeared as a class and were forced to march on foot. In addition, the lack of horses meant that the cannons and supply trains had to be abandoned, leaving the army without artillery support or ammunition.
Although the army quickly rebuilt its artillery arsenal in 1813, thousands of abandoned military trains created logistical problems until the end of the war. As fatigue, hunger, and the number of sick people grew, so did the number of desertions. Most of the deserters were captured or killed by the peasants whose lands they plundered. However, historians mention cases when soldiers were pitied and warmed up. Many remained to live in Russia, fearing punishment for desertion, and simply assimilated.
Weakened by these circumstances, the French army was beaten three more times in Vyazma, Krasnoye and Polotsk. The crossing of the Berezina River was the last disaster of the war for the Great Army. Two separate Russian armies defeated the remnants of Europe's greatest army in their attempt to cross the river on pontoon bridges.
Losses in the Patriotic War
In early December 1812, Napoleon finds out that General Claude de Male attempted a coup in France. Napoleon abandons the army and returns home on a sleigh, leaving Marshal Joachim Murat in command. Murat soon deserted and fled to Naples, of which he was king. So Napoleon's stepson Eugene de Beauharnais became commander-in-chief.
In the following weeks, the remnants of the Grand Army continued to dwindle. On December 14, 1812, the army left Russian territory. According to popular belief, only 22,000 of Napoleon's army survived the Russian campaign. Although some other sources claim no more than 380,000 dead. The difference can be explained by the fact that almost 100,000 people were captured and that about 80,000 people returned from side armies not under Napoleon's direct command.
For example, most Prussian soldiers survived thanks to the Taurogen Neutrality Convention. The Austrians also escaped, having withdrawn their troops in advance. Later, the so-called Russian-German Legion was organized from German prisoners and deserters in Russia.
Russian casualties in open battles were comparable to French ones, but civilian casualties greatly exceeded military casualties. In general, according to early estimates, it was believed that several million people died, but historians now believe that losses, including civilians, amounted to about a million people. Of these, Russia and France lost 300,000 each, about 72,000 Poles, 50,000 Italians, 80,000 Germans, 61,000 residents of other countries. In addition to the loss of life, the French also lost approximately 200,000 horses and over 1,000 artillery pieces.
It is believed that winter was the decisive factor in Napoleon's defeat, but this is not so. Napoleon lost half his army in the first eight weeks of the campaign. Losses were due to the abandonment of garrisons in supply centers, disease, desertion, and minor skirmishes with Russian armies.
In Borodino, Napoleon's army no longer numbered more than 135,000 people and the victory with losses of 30,000 people became Pyrrhic. Stuck 1000 km deep in enemy territory, having declared himself the winner after the capture of Moscow, Napoleon humiliatingly fled on October 19th. According to historians, the first snow that year fell on November 5th.
Napoleon's attack on Russia was the deadliest military operation of its time.
Historical assessment
The Russian victory over the French army in 1812 dealt a huge blow to Napoleon's ambitions for European dominance. The Russian campaign was the turning point of the Napoleonic Wars, and ultimately led to Napoleon's defeat and exile on the island of Elba. For Russia, the term "Patriotic War" formed a symbol of national identity that had a huge influence on Russian patriotism in the nineteenth century. An indirect result of the Russian patriotic movement was a strong desire to modernize the country, which led to a series of revolutions, starting with the Decembrist uprising and ending with the February Revolution of 1917.
Napoleon's Empire was not completely defeated by the lost war in Russia. The following year he would assemble an army of some 400,000 French, supported by a quarter of a million French-allied soldiers, to contest control of Germany in an even larger campaign known as the War of the Sixth Coalition.
Although outnumbered, he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Dresden (August 26-27, 1813). Only after the decisive battle of Leipzig (Battle of the Nations, October 16-19, 1813) was he finally defeated. Napoleon simply did not have the necessary troops to prevent a coalition invasion of France. Napoleon proved himself to be a brilliant commander and still managed to inflict heavy casualties on the vastly superior Allied armies at the Battle of Paris. The city was nevertheless captured and Napoleon was forced to abdicate in 1814.
However, the Russian campaign showed that Napoleon was not invincible, ending his reputation as an invincible military genius. Napoleon foresaw what this would mean, so he quickly fled to France before news of the disaster became known. Sensing this and enlisting the support of Prussian nationalists and the Russian Emperor, German nationalists rebelled against the Confederation of the Rhine and. The decisive German campaign would not have taken place without defeating the most powerful empire in Europe.
The fire of European wars increasingly engulfed Europe. At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia was also involved in this struggle. The result of this intervention was the unsuccessful foreign wars with Napoleon and the Patriotic War of 1812.
Causes of the war
After the defeat of the Fourth Anti-French Coalition by Napoleon on June 25, 1807, the Treaty of Tilsit was concluded between France and Russia. The conclusion of peace forced Russia to join the participants in the continental blockade of England. However, neither country was going to comply with the terms of the treaty.
The main causes of the War of 1812:
- The Peace of Tilsit was economically unprofitable for Russia, so the government of Alexander I decided to trade with England through neutral countries.
- The policy pursued by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte towards Prussia was to the detriment of Russian interests; French troops concentrated on the border with Russia, also contrary to the provisions of the Tilsit Treaty.
- After Alexander I did not agree to give his consent to the marriage of his sister Anna Pavlovna with Napoleon, relations between Russia and France deteriorated sharply.
At the end of 1811, the bulk of the Russian army was deployed against the war with Turkey. By May 1812, thanks to the genius of M.I. Kutuzov, the military conflict was resolved. Türkiye curtailed its military expansion in the East, and Serbia gained independence.
Beginning of the war
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1812-1814, Napoleon managed to concentrate up to 645 thousand troops on the border with Russia. His army included Prussian, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Polish units.
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The Russian troops, despite all the objections of the generals, were divided into three armies and located far from each other. The first army under the command of Barclay de Tolly numbered 127 thousand people, the second army, led by Bagration, had 49 thousand bayonets and sabers. And finally, in the third army of General Tormasov, there were about 45 thousand soldiers.
Napoleon decided to immediately take advantage of the mistake of the Russian emperor, namely, with a sudden blow to defeat the two main armies of Barclay de Toll and Bagration in border battles, preventing them from uniting and moving with an accelerated march to defenseless Moscow.
At five in the morning on June 12, 1821, the French army (about 647 thousand) began to cross the Russian border.
Rice. 1. Crossing of Napoleonic troops across the Neman.
The numerical superiority of the French army allowed Napoleon to immediately take the military initiative into his own hands. The Russian army did not yet have universal conscription and the army was replenished using outdated recruitment kits. Alexander I, who was in Polotsk, issued a Manifesto on July 6, 1812 calling for the collection of a general people's militia. As a result of the timely implementation of such internal policy by Alexander I, different layers of the Russian population began to rapidly flock to the ranks of the militia. Nobles were allowed to arm their serfs and join the ranks of the regular army with them. The war immediately began to be called “Patriotic”. The manifesto also regulated the partisan movement.
Progress of military operations. Main events
The strategic situation required the immediate merging of the two Russian armies into a single whole under a common command. Napoleon’s task was the opposite - to prevent Russian forces from uniting and to defeat them as quickly as possible in two or three border battles.
The following table shows the course of the main chronological events of the Patriotic War of 1812:
| date | Event | Content |
| June 12, 1812 | Invasion of Napoleon's troops into the Russian Empire |
|
| June 27-28, 1812 | Clashes near the town of Mir |
|
| July 11, 1812 | Battle of Saltanovka |
|
| July 25-28, 1812 | Battle near Vitebsk |
|
| July 27, 1812 | Battle of Kovrin |
|
| July 29-August 1, 1812 | Battle of Klyastitsy |
|
| August 16-18, 1812 | Battle for Smolensk |
|
| August 18, 1812 | Kutuzov arrived in the village of Tsarevo-Zaimishche |
|
| August 19, 1812 | Battle at Valutina Mountain |
|
| August 24-26 | battle of Borodino |
|
| September 13, 1812 | Council in Fili |
|
| September 14-October 20, 1812 | Occupation of Moscow by the French |
|
| October 18, 1812 | Tarutino fight |
|
| October 24, 1812 | Battle of Maloyaroslavets |
|
| November 9, 1812 | Battle of Lyakhov |
|
| November 15, 1812 | Battle of Krasny |
|
| November 26-29, 1812 | Crossing at the Berezina |
|
Rice. 2. Crossing of French troops across the Berezina. Januariy Zlatopolsky...
Napoleon's invasion caused enormous damage to the Russian Empire - many cities were burned, tens of thousands of villages were reduced to ashes. But a common misfortune brings people together. An unprecedented scale of patriotism united the central provinces; tens of thousands of peasants signed up for the militia, went into the forest, becoming partisans. Not only men, but also women fought the French, one of them was Vasilisa Kozhina.
The defeat of France and the results of the War of 1812
After the victory over Napoleon, Russia continued to liberate European countries from the yoke of the French invaders. In 1813, a military alliance was concluded between Prussia and Russia. The first stage of the foreign campaigns of Russian troops against Napoleon ended in failure due to the sudden death of Kutuzov and the lack of coordination in the actions of the allies.
- However, France was extremely exhausted by continuous wars and asked for peace. However, Napoleon lost the fight on the diplomatic front. Another coalition of powers grew up against France: Russia, Prussia, England, Austria and Sweden.
- In October 1813, the famous Battle of Leipzig took place. At the beginning of 1814, Russian troops and allies entered PARIS. Napoleon was deposed and at the beginning of 1814 exiled to the island of Elba.
Rice. 3. Entry of Russian and allied troops into Paris. HELL. Kivshenko.
- In 1814, a Congress was held in Vienna, where the victorious countries discussed questions about the post-war structure of Europe.
- In June 1815, Napoleon fled the island of Elba and retook the French throne, but after just 100 days of rule, the French were defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena.
Summing up the results of the Patriotic War of 1812, it should be noted that the influence it had on the leading people of Russian society was limitless. Many great works were written by great writers and poets based on this war. The post-war peace was short-lived, although the Congress of Vienna gave Europe several years of peace. Russia acted as the savior of occupied Europe, but Western historians tend to underestimate the historical significance of the Patriotic War.
What have we learned?
The beginning of the 19th century in the history of Russia, studied in grade 4, was marked by a bloody war with Napoleon. A detailed report and table “Patriotic War of 1812” tells briefly about the Patriotic War of 1812, what the nature of this war was, the main periods of military operations.
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With this, he created his own outpost at the Russian borders, hostile to Russia, which participated in the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite the protests of St. Petersburg, Napoleon gave the Poles hope for the restoration of their state, which increased the danger of a new redistribution of borders in Eastern Europe. Bonaparte continued to seize the lands of the German principalities, including the Duchy of Oldenburg, where the husband of the sister of the Russian emperor (Catherine Pavlovna) ruled. A serious breakdown in Franco-Russian relations occurred after Napoleon's unsuccessful matchmaking with the sister of Alexander I, Grand Duchess Anna. This was facilitated by court circles and the king’s family, who were, in general, sharply opposed to an alliance with Bonaparte. Trade and economic contradictions were no less acute. The French emperor demanded that St. Petersburg strictly implement the Continental blockade, as a result of which the turnover of Russian foreign trade fell by almost 2 times. The blockade affected, first of all, landowners - grain exporters, and the nobility who bought expensive imports. The alliance with Alexander I was only a temporary maneuver for Napoleon, making it easier for France to achieve world domination. Having achieved power over almost all of continental Europe, the French emperor no longer needed Russian support. By now she had already become an obstacle to the implementation of his further plans. “In five years,” he said, “I will be the master of the world; only Russia remains, but I will crush it.” By the beginning of 1812, Napoleon persuaded most European countries and even its former ally, Prussia, to an alliance against Russia. Moreover, the Prussian king demanded Courland and Riga for participation in the future campaign. The only state that continued the fight against Napoleon was England. But she was then in hostile relations with St. Petersburg. In short, on the eve of the invasion, the Russian Empire found itself faced with a united and hostile Europe. True, the defeat of Sweden and Turkey, as well as the art of Russian diplomacy, prevented Napoleon from attracting these countries to his camp and, with their help, organizing formidable flank attacks on the north- and south-western borders of the empire.
Balance of power. To invade Russia, Napoleon concentrated a group of about 480 thousand people, huge for those times, near the Russian border. Along with the French, Poles, Italians, Belgians, Swiss, Austrians, Dutch, Germans and representatives of other European nations, who made up about half of Napoleon's army, also took part in the campaign. It focused on a 700-kilometer front from Galicia to East Prussia. On the right flank of Napoleonic troops, in Galicia, the main force was the army of Prince Schwarzenberg (40 thousand people). On the left, in East Prussia, stood the army of Marshal MacDonald (30 thousand people), consisting mainly of Prussians. Napoleon's central forces were located in Poland, in the region of Polotsk and Warsaw. Here, in the direction of the main attack, there were three armies with a total number of about 400 thousand people. There were also rear troops (approximately 160 thousand people) who were in reserve between the Vistula and Oder. The trip was carefully prepared. It was taken into account, for example, that in a sparsely populated and vast theater of military operations a huge army would not be able to feed itself solely through requisitions. Therefore, Napoleon created large commissary warehouses on the Vistula. Danzig alone contained a 50-day supply of food for 400 thousand people. There were two main plans for the Napoleonic campaign. One of them was nominated by the Poles. They proposed a stage-by-stage fight against Russia - first to push back the Russian army to the eastern borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772, and then, having strengthened and reorganized Poland, to conduct further military operations. But Napoleon still chose his traditional version of a “lightning” war using general battles to defeat the main forces of the enemy. His huge, multilingual army was not designed for protracted campaigns. She needed quick and decisive success. The Napoleonic army on the western borders of Russia was opposed by approximately half as many forces, with a total number of about 240 thousand people. The 1st Army under the command of General Barclay de Tolly (127 thousand people) covered the Russian border along the Neman. To the south, between the Neman and the Bug, in the Bialystok region, the 2nd Army was located under the command of General Bagration (45 thousand people). In the Lutsk area, in Western Ukraine, there was the 3rd Army under the command of General Tormasov (45 thousand people). In addition, the Riga direction was covered by the corps of General Essen (about 20 thousand people). A large contingent of Russian troops (approximately 50 thousand people) was then in the southwest, where the war with Turkey had just ended. Some of the troops remained in the Caucasus, where military operations against Persia continued. In addition, troops were stationed in Finland, Crimea and the interior of Russia. In general, the number of Russian armed forces at that time was not inferior to Napoleonic ones. Based on the situation on the western borders, the Russian command rejected the idea of an offensive and chose a defensive plan of action. However, at first he did not envisage a protracted war. Thus, according to the adopted plan of the German theorist Fuhl, the main military actions took place on the territory of Belarus. According to the Ful strategy, the 1st Army retreated, luring Napoleon's troops to the Western Dvina, where the so-called. Drissa fortified camp. At that time, the 2nd Army was striking from the south at the flank and rear of Napoleonic formations that had gone deep into Russian borders. This plan suffered from schematism. He did not take into account the real balance of forces, the characteristics of the theater of military operations and Napoleon's possible countermeasures. Despite the weak tactical elaboration of the campaign plan, the Russian armed forces were, in general, ready for decent resistance. The Russian army had high fighting qualities, strong command and rank and file personnel, who had rich military experience behind them. Over the past years, the Russian armed forces have grown both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus, the number of ranger regiments increased significantly, and the composition of the guard increased significantly. New types of troops appear - lancers (light cavalry armed with pikes and sabers), engineering troops, etc. The number of field artillery increased and its organization improved. On the eve of the war, new regulations and instructions also appeared in the Russian army, reflecting modern trends in the art of war. The armament of the Russian army was provided by the military industry, which was quite developed at that time. Thus, Russian factories annually produced up to 150-170 thousand guns, 800 guns, and over 765 thousand pounds of shells. The quality of Russian weapons, in general, was not inferior to, and in some cases even superior to, their European counterparts. For example, the service life of a Russian cannon of those years (in terms of the number of shots) was 2 times higher than the French one. Nevertheless, the coalition created by Bonaparte surpassed Russia both in population (almost 2 times) and in economic potential. For the first time, the West managed to unite on such a large scale and move its best forces to the east. Defeat promised Russia territorial losses, political and economic dependence on France, and one-sided development as an agricultural and raw materials appendage of Europe. In addition, taking into account the experience of the development and conquest of America by Europeans, it can be assumed that if the Napoleonic campaign was successful, the Old World opened up a new vast direction of colonization - the east. For the Russian people, this was the first such major invasion since the time of Batu. But if then the enemy was confronted by scattered principalities, now he was dealing with a single empire capable of worthy resistance.
Progress of the war. Napoleon's forces crossed the Russian border without declaring war on June 12, 1812. The French emperor presented this treacherous aggression to everyone as a struggle for the revival of Poland, calling his invasion the “Second Polish War.” The Warsaw Sejm announced the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland and announced the mobilization of Poles into Napoleonic army (this also applied to those who served in the Russian armed forces). The course of the Patriotic War of 1812 can be roughly divided into a number of stages. 1st stage: Belarusian-Lithuanian operation. This period covers June and July, when the Russians managed to avoid encirclement in Lithuania and Belarus, repel the onslaught in the St. Petersburg and Ukrainian directions and unite in the Smolensk region. Stage 2: Smolensk operation. It includes military operations in the Smolensk region. Stage 3: March on Moscow, or the culmination of the Napoleonic invasion. Stage 4: Kaluga campaign. It represents Napoleon's attempt to break out from Moscow in the Kaluga direction. Stage 5: Expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russia.
Belarusian-Lithuanian operation
Soon after the invasion, the inconsistency of the Fule plan was revealed. The 1st and 2nd armies were cut off from each other by French corps, which immediately tried to seize the main highways in order to cut off the escape routes for both armies and defeat them individually. The Russian armies did not have a single command. Each of them had to act according to the circumstances. Avoiding defeat individually, both armies began to retreat to the east.
Battle of Peace (1812). The most difficult situation arose for the 2nd Army. After the invasion began, on June 18 she received an order to join the 1st Army. Bagration went to Nikolaev and began crossing the Neman to go to Minsk. But the city was already occupied by Marshal Davout. Meanwhile, the French vanguards appeared in the rear of the 2nd Army, near Slonim. It became clear that Napoleonic troops had already bypassed the 2nd Army from the north, and now they were trying to bypass it from the south. Then Bagration quickly turned south, to Nesvizh, and then headed east to Bobruisk, moving parallel to Marshal Davout, who was advancing to the north. Before this, Bagration’s rearguard under the command of the Don Ataman Matvey Platov gave battle on June 27-28 near the town of Mir to the vanguard of the French army of the Westphalian king Jerome Bonaparte. Platov left one Cossack regiment in Mir, and hid his main forces (7 regiments with artillery) in the nearby forest. The French cavalry, suspecting nothing, burst into the town, on the streets of which a fierce battle broke out. Then Jerome sent fresh Uhlan regiments to reinforce the attackers. They were attacked by Platov from the rear, surrounded and killed. In two days of fighting near Mir, 9 Uhlan regiments of Napoleonic army were defeated. This was the first major success of the Russians in the Patriotic War. He ensured the withdrawal of Bagration's army from Western Belarus.
Battle of Saltanovka (1812). Having reached the Dnieper at Novy Bykhov, Bagration received orders to again try to break through to join the 1st Army - now through Mogilev and Orsha. To do this, he sent an avant-garde under the command of General Nikolai Raevsky (15 thousand people) to Mogilev. But Marshal Davout’s corps was already standing there. His units (26 thousand people) advanced to the village of Saltanovka and blocked Raevsky’s path. He decided to fight his way to Mogilev. On July 11, Russian attacks were repelled by superior French forces. Davout then tried to bypass Raevsky’s detachment from the right flank, but the marshal’s plan was thwarted by the steadfastness of General Ivan Paskevich’s division. In this hot battle, Raevsky personally led the soldiers into the attack along with his 17-year-old son. The French lost 3.5 thousand people in the battle of Saltanovka. The Russians lost 2.5 thousand people. The next day, Davout, having strengthened his positions, expected a new attack. But Bagration, seeing the impossibility of breaking through Mogilev, transported the army across the Dnieper at Novy Bykhov and moved with a forced march to Smolensk. Napoleon's plan to encircle the 2nd Army or force a general battle on it failed.
Battle of Ostrovno (1812). After the outbreak of hostilities, the 1st Army, according to the drawn up disposition, began to retreat to the Dris camp. Having reached it on June 26, Barclay de Tolly gave his soldiers a six-day rest. In the current situation, the Dris position turned out to be unsuccessful. The defense in the Drissa camp, pressed against the river, could have ended in the encirclement and death of the 1st Army. Moreover, communication with the 2nd Army was interrupted. Therefore, Barclay left this camp on July 2. Having allocated a 20,000-strong corps under the command of General Peter Wittgenstein to protect the St. Petersburg direction, Barclay with the main forces of the 1st Army moved east to Vitebsk, which he reached on the day of the battle of Bagration’s troops near Saltanovka. Two days later, vanguard French units under the command of Marshals Ney and Murat approached Vitebsk. On July 13, their path near the village of Ostrovno was blocked by the 4th Corps of General Osterman-Tolstoy. Despite their advantage in artillery, the French, after several hours of continuous attacks, were unable to overcome the Russian resistance. When Osterman was informed that the losses in the corps were great and asked what to do, he, phlegmatically sniffing tobacco, replied: “Stand and die!” These words of the Russian general went down in history. The corps held its position until it was replaced by fresh units of General Konovnitsyn, who heroically held back the attacks of the superior French forces for another day. Losses on both sides in this hot affair amounted to 4 thousand people. Meanwhile, Barclay was waiting for Bagration's 2nd Army to approach him from the south (via Mogilev and Orsha). Instead, on July 15, Napoleon’s main forces approached Vitebsk from the west, threatening to give a general battle. On the night of July 16, Barclay finally received news from Bagration that he could not get through to him through Mogilev and was going to Smolensk. That same night, Barclay, leaving burning fires to disorient the French, quietly withdrew the army from its positions and moved on a forced march to Smolensk. On July 22, both armies united in Smolensk. General Barclay de Tolly took overall command of them. Napoleon's plan to dissect and destroy one by one the Russian armies in Belarus failed.
Klyastitsy (1812). If in the central direction the Russian troops had to retreat almost non-stop, then on the flanks the enemy’s advance was stopped. The greatest success was achieved by the corps of General Wittgenstein (17 thousand people), which on July 18-20 in the Klyastits area (a village in Belarus, north of Polotsk) defeated the French corps of Marshal Oudinot (29 thousand people). The battle began with a dashing attack by a hussar detachment led by General Kulnev, who drove the French vanguard back to Klyastitsy. The next day, the main forces from both sides entered the battle. After a fierce battle, the French retreated to Polotsk. On July 20, inspired by success, the indomitable Kulnev began an independent pursuit of the retreating. His detachment broke away from its own and in a battle with the main forces of the French corps suffered heavy losses (Kulnev himself died in the skirmish). Despite this local failure, the battle of Klyastitsy generally stopped the French advance towards St. Petersburg. In addition, Napoleon had to strengthen Oudinot’s defeated northern group by transferring Saint-Cyr’s corps to it from the central Moscow direction.
Battle of Kobrin (1812). Another success was achieved on the left flank of the Russian forces. Here the 3rd Army of General Tormasov distinguished itself. On July 10, Tormasov moved north from the Lutsk region against the Saxon corps of General Rainier, which threatened the southern flank of Bagration’s army. Taking advantage of the scattered nature of the Saxon corps, Tormasov sent his cavalry vanguard against the brigade of General Klingel (4 thousand people). On July 15, the Russians quickly attacked this brigade and surrounded it. After the approach of the Russian infantry, the Saxons laid down their arms. Their losses amounted to 1.5 thousand killed, the rest surrendered. The Russians lost 259 people in this case. After the battle of Kobrin, Rainier stopped threatening Bagration's army and retreated to join the corps of General Schwarzenberg.
Battle of Gorodechna (1812). On July 31, near Gorodechna, a battle took place between units of the 3rd Russian Army under the command of General Tormasov (18 thousand people) with the Austrian corps of Schwarzenberg and the Saxon corps of Rainier (40 thousand people in total). After the battle at Kobrin, Schwarzenberg’s corps came to the rescue of the Saxons. Having united, both corps attacked units of the 3rd Army at Gorodechnya. Due to a successful regrouping of forces, Tormasov threw back Rainier’s corps, which was trying to bypass the Russian left flank. Having held their positions until nightfall, the units of the 3rd Army, in full battle formation, retreated south to Lutsk. The corps of Schwarzenberg and Rainier followed him there. After the battle of Gorodechna, there was a long lull on the left flank of the Russian army, in Western Ukraine. So, in the Belarusian-Lithuanian operation, Russian troops, by skillful maneuver, managed to avoid encirclement and a disastrous general battle in Belarus. They retreated to Smolensk, where the forces of the 1st and 2nd armies united. On the flanks, the Russians stopped attempts to expand Napoleonic aggression: they repelled the French offensive in the St. Petersburg direction and did not allow them to intensify actions on the left flank. Nevertheless, during the Belarusian-Lithuanian operation, Napoleon managed to achieve major political success. In less than two months, Lithuania, Belarus and Courland fell into his hands.
Smolensk operation
After the 1st Army left Vitebsk, Napoleon stopped the offensive and began to put his forces in order. Having covered more than half a thousand kilometers in a month, the French army was stretched across communications, discipline fell within it, looting spread, and supply interruptions arose. In the 20th of July, both French and Russian troops remained in place and recovered after a long and difficult transition. The first to take offensive actions from Smolensk on July 26 was Barclay de Tolly, who moved the forces of the united armies (140 thousand people) in the direction of Rudnya (northwest of Smolensk). Without accurate information about the enemy, the Russian commander acted cautiously. Having walked a 70-kilometer route to Rudnya, Barclay de Tolly stopped the troops and stood in place for five days, clarifying the situation. The attack turned out to be directed into emptiness. Having learned about the Russian movement, Napoleon changed his disposition and with his main forces (180 thousand people) crossed the Dnieper south of the location of the Russian army. He moved towards Smolensk from the southwest, trying to occupy it and cut off Barclay's path to the east. The first to rush towards Smolensk was the equestrian vanguard of Marshal Murat (15 thousand people).
Battle of Krasnoye (1812). In the area through which Murat was breaking through, the Russians had only one 27th Infantry Division under the command of General Dmitry Neverovsky (7 thousand people). It consisted entirely of recruits. But it was they who stood up on August 2 near the village of Krasnoye as an insurmountable wall on the path of Murat’s cavalry. Neverovsky took a position on the road, on the sides of which there was a birch forest, which prevented the cavalry from making a flanking move. Murat was forced to attack the Russian infantry head-on. Having lined up the soldiers in one column, Neverovsky addressed them with the words: “Guys, remember what you were taught. No cavalry will defeat you, just take your time when firing and shoot accurately. No one dare start without my command!” Bristling with bayonets, the Russian infantry repelled all attacks of the French cavalry. During the break between fights, Neverovsky encouraged his soldiers, conducted battle analysis and divisional exercises with them. The division did not allow a breakthrough by Murat's corps and retreated to Smolensk in an orderly manner, covering itself with unfading glory. According to Napoleonic general Segur, "Neverovsky retreated like a lion." The damage to the Russians amounted to 1 thousand people, the French (according to their data) - 500 people. Thanks to the steadfastness of the 27th Division, the 1st and 2nd Armies managed to retreat to Smolensk and take up defense there.
Battle of Smolensk (1812). On August 3, the Russian army retreated to Smolensk. Bagration considered it necessary to fight a general battle here. But Barclay de Tolly insisted on continuing the retreat. He decided to give a rearguard battle in Smolensk and withdraw the main forces beyond the Dnieper. The first to enter the battle for Smolensk on August 4 was the corps of General Raevsky (15 thousand people), which repelled the attacks of the French corps of Marshal Ney (22 thousand people). On the evening of August 4, Barclay’s main forces (120 thousand people) arrived at Smolensk from near Rudnya. They are located north of the city. The weakened corps of Raevsky was replaced by the corps of Dokhturov, divisions of Neverovsky and Konovnitsyn (20 thousand people in total). They were supposed to cover the retreat of the 1st and 2nd armies to the Moscow road. All day on August 5, the Russian rearguard heroically held back the brutal onslaught of the main forces of the French army (140 thousand people). On the night of the sixth, the Russians left Smolensk. The bitterness of the soldiers was so great that they had to be taken by force to the rear, since they did not want to carry out the order to retreat. The division of General Konovnitsyn was the last to leave the burning city, conducting rearguard battles on August 6. While retreating, she blew up powder magazines and a bridge across the Dnieper. The Russians lost 10 thousand people in this battle, the French - 20 thousand people.
Battle at Valutina Mountain (1812). After the Battle of Smolensk, on August 7, Napoleon once again tried to cut off the retreat routes of the 1st Army, which had not yet managed to cross the Dnieper and retreat to Dorogobuzh. To capture the Dnieper crossing, Napoleon sent forward Ney's corps (40 thousand people). To contain the French, Barclay advanced a rearguard under the command of General Pavel Tuchkov (over 3 thousand people) to the village of Valutina Gora (10 km east of Smolensk). Ney intended to immediately crush the small Russian detachment that had taken up positions near the village, but Tuchkov’s soldiers stood unshakably and valiantly repelled the onslaught of the French. By evening, due to reinforcements that arrived in time, the number of Russian troops at Valutina Gora was increased to 22 thousand people. The fierce battle lasted here until late at night. During the last attack in the moonlight, Tuchkov, wounded by bayonets, was captured. By that time, the main forces of the 1st Army had already managed to cross the Dnieper. The Russian losses in this battle amounted to 5 thousand people, the French - over 8 thousand people. The Battle of Valutina Gora ended the two-week Smolensk operation, as a result of which the “key to Moscow” fell and the Russians retreated again without fighting a general battle. Now the French army, gathered into one fist, moved towards Moscow.
March on Moscow
It is known that after his first walk through the destroyed Smolensk, Napoleon exclaimed: “The campaign of 1812 is over!” Indeed, the large losses of his army, fatigue from a difficult campaign, the stubborn resistance of the Russians, who managed to preserve their main forces - all this forced the French emperor to think deeply about the advisability of further moving forward. It seemed that Napoleon was inclined to the original Polish plan. However, after 6 days of deliberation, the French emperor nevertheless set out on a campaign against Moscow. There were good reasons for this. Having failed to inflict a decisive defeat on the Russian army in Belarus, Napoleon never achieved a fundamental turning point during the campaign. Meanwhile, his army in Smolensk was cut off by almost a thousand kilometers from the main supply bases on the Vistula. She was in a hostile country, whose population not only did not supply the invaders with food, but also began an armed struggle against them. If supply interruptions arose, wintering in Smolensk became impossible. For normal life support for the army during the cold period, Napoleon would have to retreat to his bases on the Vistula. This meant that the Russian army could recapture most of the territories they occupied from the French in winter. Therefore, it seemed extremely important for Napoleon to defeat the Russian armed forces before the onset of cold weather. Based on these considerations, he nevertheless decided to use the last month of summer to march on Moscow. His calculation was based on the fact that the Russians would definitely fight a general battle at the walls of their ancient capital, the success of which Napoleon had no doubt. It was a convincing victory in the campaign of 1812 that could save him from the difficult problems of the upcoming winter and would greatly facilitate his victorious conclusion of the war. Meanwhile, Barclay de Tolly continued to retreat, forcing Napoleon into a protracted war in which space and time became Russia's allies. The retreat from Smolensk aroused open hostility towards the “German” Barclay in society. He was accused of cowardice and almost treason. Although the accusations were unfair, Alexander I, on the advice of those close to him, nevertheless appointed a new commander-in-chief. It was Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. He arrived in the army on August 17, when Barclay was already preparing, under pressure from society and the military, to give a general battle at Tsarev Zaimishche. Kutuzov considered the chosen position unsuitable and ordered the retreat to continue. Kutuzov, like Barclay, understood that the battle was needed primarily by Napoleon, since each new step to the east moved the French army away from sources of life support and brought its death closer. The new commander was a resolute opponent of a general battle. But, as at Austerlitz, Kutuzov had to fight to please the opinion of the country’s leadership and its society, excited by failures. True, now Kutuzov himself made decisions on tactical issues. Therefore, not wanting to take risks, he chose a purely defensive option for the upcoming battle. The Russian strategist intended to achieve victory in this war not only on the battlefields.
Battle of Borodino (1812). The Battle of Moscow between the French and Russians took place near the village of Borodino on August 26, 1812, the day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Napoleon brought only a third of the army that started the war (135 thousand people) to Borodino. The rest were absorbed like a sponge by the spaces from the Neman to Smolensk. Some died, some remained to guard extended communications, some settled in hospitals or simply deserted. On the other hand, the best have arrived. The French were opposed by a 132,000-strong Russian army, which included 21,000 unfired militias. Kutuzov positioned his forces between the New and Old Smolensk roads. The right flank of his army was covered by the Koloch and Moskva rivers, which excluded the possibility of envelopment. On the left flank, south of the Old Smolensk Road, this was prevented by wooded areas. Thus, a frontal battle was imposed on Napoleon in a 3-kilometer space between the villages of Gorki and Utitsa. Here Kutuzov built a defense in depth (its total depth, including reserves, was 3-4 km) and placed the main fortifications. In the center there was a battery at Kurganaya heights. It was defended by the 7th Corps of General Raevsky (that’s why this place was called “Raevsky’s battery”). On the left flank, near the village of Semenovskoye, field fortifications - flushes - were erected. Initially, the combined grenadier division of General Mikhail Vorontsov and the fearless 27th Infantry Division of General Dmitry Neverovsky from Bagration's 2nd Army were located here. To the south, in the forest near the village of Utitsa, Kutuzov stationed the 3rd Corps of General Nikolai Tuchkov. He was given the task of striking the flank of the attacking French units. Actually, the main events of the Battle of Borodino unfolded in these three areas: at the Kurgan Battery, Semenovsky flashes and Utitsa. Napoleon, eager for a general battle, was ready for any options. He accepted Kutuzov's challenge to a frontal collision. He even abandoned Davout’s plan to bypass the Russians on the left, through Utitsa, because he was afraid that then they would not accept the battle and would retreat again. The French emperor planned to break through the Russian defenses with a frontal attack, press them to the Moscow River and destroy them. The battle was preceded by a battle on August 24 near the village of Shevardino (Shevardinsky redoubt), in which General Gorchakov’s 8,000-strong detachment held off attacks from superior French forces (40,000 people) all day long. This gave Kutuzov the opportunity to take the main positions. On August 25, the troops prepared for the battle, which began the next day at 5 a.m. The French launched their first diversionary attacks on the Russian right flank. They pushed the Russian units behind the Koloch River. But the French attempts to cross the river were repulsed. Then, at 6 o’clock in the morning, Marshal Davout’s strike force launched the first attack against the Russian left flank, where the Semenov flashes were located. Almost simultaneously, to reach the rear of the Semyonov flushes, the Polish corps of General Poniatovsky tried to break through to the village of Utitsa, where they entered into a counter battle with Tuchkov’s soldiers. The decisive battle in the first half of the day broke out over the Semenov flushes, where Napoleon planned to make the main breakthrough. Both commanders threw their main reserves here. “The picture of that part of the Borodino field near the village of Semenovskoye was terrible, where the battle was boiling, as if in a cauldron,” recalled officer F.I. Glinka, a participant in the battle. “Thick smoke and bloody steam obscured the midday sun. Some dim, uncertain twilight lay over field of horrors, above the field of death. In this twilight nothing was visible except formidable columns, advancing and broken... The distance presents a view of complete chaos: broken, broken French squadrons crash, worry and disappear in the smoke... We have no language , to describe this dump, this crash, this crash, this last struggle by a thousand! Everyone grabbed the fatal scales to pull them to their side...” At the cost of huge losses, after the eighth attack, the French managed to knock out the Russians from the flushes by 12 o'clock. In this battle, General Bagration, who personally led the defense of the flushes (they received a second name: “Bagration’s”), was mortally wounded. At the same time, the French furiously attacked the center of the Russian army - Kurgan Heights. At 11 o'clock, during the second attack of Raevsky's battery, General Bonamy's brigade managed to break into the heights. The situation was saved by General Ermolov, the chief of staff of the 1st Army, who was passing by. Having assessed the situation, he led a counterattack of the nearby battalions of the Ufa Infantry Regiment and recaptured the heights. General Bonamy was captured and his soldiers fled. Inspired Ufa residents began pursuing the French. We had to send Cossacks to bring back the attackers. At this time, a hot battle was raging near Utitsa between Poniatovsky’s units and the 3rd Corps, which was now led (instead of the mortally wounded Tuchkov) by General Alsufiev. The ferocity of both sides during the battle was extraordinary. “Many of the combatants threw down their weapons, grappled with each other, tore each other’s mouths apart, strangled each other and fell dead together. The artillery galloped over the corpses as if on a log pavement, squeezing the corpses into the ground, soaked in blood... The screams of the commanders and cries of despair in 10 different languages were drowned out by gunfire and drumming. The battlefield then presented a terrible sight. A thick black cloud of smoke mixed with blood vapor hung over the left wing of our army... At the same time, day, evening and night appeared before our eyes,” recalled N.S. Pestrikov, a participant in that battle. After Bagration, command of the left flank was received by the senior General Konovnitsyn (then Kutuzov sent General Dokhturov to lead the left flank). He began to withdraw the defeated units behind the Semenovsky ravine, where he organized a new line of defense. After the surrender of the flushes, fearing an attack in the rear, the 3rd Corps also retreated to new positions ". The critical moment of the battle had arrived. The positions of the defeated units at the Semenovsky ravine were not strengthened, and the reserves had not yet arrived. In this situation, Kutuzov organized a counterattack on the left flank of the Napoleonic army with the forces of the cavalry regiments of Uvarov and Platov. Their attack caused confusion in the ranks of the French. This two-hour the delay gave Kutuzov time to bring up his reserves. At 2 p.m., the French transferred the main attack to the Raevsky battery. After the 3rd attack, they managed to break into the heights by 5 p.m. In the battle for it, almost the entire division of General Likhachev, abandoned from the reserve, was killed. But the attempts of the French cavalry to build on their success were stopped by the Russian cavalry regiments, which were led into battle by General Barclay de Tolly. The marshals demanded that Napoleon deliver the final blow to the Russians who had been knocked down from all fortifications, throwing the guard into battle. Then the emperor himself went to the line of fire to assess the situation. He looked around at the new positions of the Russians, and “it was clear how they, without losing courage, closed their ranks, entered the battle again and went to die,” recalled General Segur, who was with the emperor at that moment. Napoleon saw an army that did not run away, but was preparing to fight to the end. He no longer had enough strength to crush her. "I cannot risk my last reserve three thousand leagues from Paris." Having abandoned this historical phrase, Napoleon went back. Soon he withdrew his troops to their original positions. The Battle of Borodino is over. The Russians lost 44 thousand people in it, the French - over 58 thousand. The Battle of Borodino is sometimes called the “battle of the generals.” During it, 16 generals died on both sides. Europe has not seen such losses in generals for 100 years, which indicates the extreme ferocity of this battle. “Of all my battles,” Bonaparte recalled, “the most terrible one was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory in it, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible.” For Borodino, Kutuzov received the rank of field marshal. The main result of the Battle of Borodino was that it did not give Napoleon the opportunity to defeat the Russians in a general battle. This was the collapse of his strategic plan, which was followed by defeat in the war. In general, two military leadership concepts collided here. One involved an active onslaught and victory over the enemy, in a general battle with forces gathered into one fist. The other gave preference to skillful maneuver and imposing on the enemy a variant of the campaign that was obviously unfavorable for him. Kutuzov’s maneuver doctrine won on the Russian field.
Tarutino maneuver (1812). Having learned about the losses, Kutuzov did not resume the battle the next day. Even in the event of success and the advance of his army, the position of the Russians remained precarious. They did not have any reserves in the area from Moscow to Smolensk (all warehouses were made in Belarus, where the war was initially supposed to be waged). Napoleon had large human reserves outside Smolensk. Therefore, Kutuzov believed that the time to go on the offensive had not yet come, and ordered a retreat. True, he hoped to receive reinforcements and did not exclude the possibility of giving a new battle already near the walls of Moscow. But hopes for reinforcements did not materialize, and the position chosen for the battle near the city turned out to be unfavorable. Then Kutuzov took upon himself the responsibility to surrender Moscow. “With the loss of Moscow, Russia is not yet lost... But if the army is destroyed, both Moscow and Russia will perish,” Kutuzov told his generals at the military council in Fili. Indeed, Russia did not have another army capable of coping with Napoleon. So, the Russians left their ancient capital, which for the first time in 200 years found itself in the hands of foreigners. Leaving Moscow, Kutuzov began to retreat in a south-eastern direction, along the Ryazan road. After two crossings, Russian troops approached the Moscow River. Having crossed at the Borovsky transportation to the right bank, they turned west and moved in a forced march to the Old Kaluga Road. At the same time, the Cossack detachment from the rearguard of General Raevsky continued to retreat to Ryazan. By this, the Cossacks misled the French vanguard of Marshal Murat, who followed on the heels of the retreating army. During the retreat, Kutuzov introduced strict measures against desertion, which began in his troops after the surrender of Moscow. Having reached the Old Kaluga Road, the Russian army turned towards Kaluga and set up camp in the village of Tarutino. Kutuzov brought 85 thousand people there. available personnel (together with the militia). As a result of the Tarutino maneuver, the Russian army escaped the attack and took an advantageous position. While in Tarutino, Kutuzov covered the southern regions of Russia, rich in human resources and food, the Tula military-industrial complex, and at the same time could threaten the communications of the French on the Smolensk road. The French could not freely advance from Moscow to St. Petersburg, having the Russian army in the rear. Thus, Kutuzov actually imposed the further course of the campaign on Napoleon. In the Tarutino camp, the Russian army received reinforcements and increased its strength to 120 thousand people. In 1834, a monument was erected in Tarutino with the inscription: “In this place, the Russian army, led by Field Marshal Kutuzov, saved Russia and Europe.” The capture of Moscow did not bring Napoleon to a victorious conclusion to the campaign. He was greeted by a city abandoned by its inhabitants, where fires soon began. At this tragic moment in Russian history, Alexander I declared that he would fight with the people in Siberia, but would not make peace until at least one armed invader remained on Russian soil. The emperor's firmness was important, since many influential people at court (the king's mother, his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin, General Arakcheev, etc.) did not believe in the success of the fight against Napoleon and advocated peace with him. Kutuzov, at a meeting with the French envoy Lauriston, who arrived for peace negotiations, philosophically said that the real war was just beginning. “The enemy could destroy your walls, turn your property into ruins and ashes, impose heavy shackles on you, but he could not and cannot win and conquer your hearts. Such are the Russians!” - these words of Kutuzov addressed to the people marked the beginning of the people's Patriotic War. The entire population of the country is rising up to fight the invaders, regardless of class or nationality. National unity became the decisive force that crushed Napoleonic army. In less than two months, the peoples of Russia deployed 300 thousand new militias to help their army and collected more than 100 million rubles for it. In areas occupied by the enemy, a guerrilla war unfolds, in which Denis Davydov, Vasilisa Kozhina, Gerasim Kurin, Alexander Figner and many other heroes became famous. The year 1812 fully demonstrated the talents of M.I. Kutuzov, a commander and wise national strategist who managed to organically combine the actions of the army with the patriotic struggle of the nation.
Battle of Chernishna (1812). Having strengthened himself, Kutuzov moved on to decisive action; on October 6, his troops under the command of generals Miloradovich and Bennigsen attacked Murat’s corps (20 thousand people) at Chernishni (a river north of Tarutino), which was monitoring the Tarutino camp. The strike was prepared secretly. The plan for reaching Murat’s positions involved a night march through the forest of Bennigsen’s main detachment. It was not possible to complete the maneuver successfully. In the darkness, the columns got mixed up, and by morning only Cossack regiments led by General Orlov-Denisov reached the given place. In accordance with the letter of the plan, he resolutely attacked the French, overthrew the cuirassier division and captured the convoys. But other columns, having wandered through the forest, reached the battlefield later and were unable to support the onslaught of their cavalry in time. This gave Murat the opportunity to recover from the unexpected attack and have time to organize a defense. Bennigsen's units finally emerged from the forest and came under fire and suffered losses (in particular, the commander of the 2nd Corps, General Baggovut, was killed). Nevertheless, under the onslaught of the Russians, Murat was forced to retreat to join the Napoleonic army. The inconsistency of the Russian actions allowed him to avoid encirclement. The French lost 2.5 thousand killed and 2 thousand captured. Russian losses amounted to 1.2 thousand people. The defeat of Murat's corps accelerated the departure of Napoleon's army from Moscow. It caused a moral upsurge in Kutuzov’s army, which won its first major victory after leaving Moscow.
Kaluga campaign
On the evening of October 6, Napoleon set out from Moscow to meet Kutuzov’s army, leaving Marshal Mortier’s 10,000-strong corps in the city. But soon (apparently, under the impression of the sight of an army overloaded with looted goods, more reminiscent of a camp than a professional army), he abruptly changed his plan. Napoleon decided not to engage in battle with Kutuzov, but to turn onto the New Kaluga Road and retreat west through the southern regions that were not devastated by the war. Mortier received orders to also speak from Moscow. Before leaving, Napoleon ordered him to blow up the Kremlin. As a result, the most valuable historical and architectural ensemble was partially destroyed. The Kaluga campaign was perhaps Bonaparte's most inconsistent operation, during which he changed his decisions several times within a week. Apparently, he did not have a clear plan of action at all. The French emperor resembled an overplayed gambler who kept raising the stakes, not wanting to see himself defeated.
Battle of Maloyaroslavets (1812). Having learned about Napoleon's movement along the New Kaluga Road, Kutuzov sent the vanguard corps of General Dokhturov (15 thousand people) to cross the French army. He was supposed to block her path to Kaluga, where the Russians had huge reserves of weapons and food. On the morning of October 12, Dokhturov approached Maloyaroslavets and knocked out the French units that had occupied the city the night before. But a corps that soon arrived under the command of Prince Eugene of Beauharnais drove the Russians out of Maloyaroslavets. Subsequently, the battle unfolded as new forces approached from both sides, successively recapturing the city from each other. During the day, Maloyaroslavets changed hands 8 times. The fierce battle was ended by the 15th Italian division of General Pino, which arrived in the evening, thanks to which the city remained with the French for the night. They lost 5 thousand people that day, the Russians - 3 thousand people. The Battle of Maloyaroslavets was Napoleon's last offensive success in the campaign of 1812. It was not for nothing that the French fought so hard. They occupied an important strategic point, from where the fork of two roads began - to Kaluga (to the south) and Medyn (to the west). At night, Kutuzov’s army strengthened south of Maloyaroslavets. After much hesitation, Napoleon finally decided to attack it in the last hope of a victorious outcome of the campaign. But after an unsuccessful attempt on October 13 by the corps of General Poniatowski to break through to the west at Medyn, where he was repulsed by the cavalry detachment of General Ilovaisky, the emperor was afraid of a trap and did not dare to fight again with the Russian army. By the way, on this day, when leaving to inspect positions, Napoleon was almost captured by the Cossacks. Only the French squadrons that arrived in time saved the emperor and his retinue from the attacking horsemen. Nevertheless, the appearance of Cossack detachments near Napoleonic headquarters was an ominous sign of the weakening of the French army. The roads to Medyn and Maloyaroslavets were closed to them. On October 14, Napoleon gave the order to turn north and take the Smolensk road. In turn, Kutuzov, deciding that Poniatovsky wanted to go to his rear through Medyn, also began a retreat and took his army to the village of Detchino, and then to the Linen Plant. The Battle of Maloyaroslavets also had a deeper historical meaning. Here, in the words of Napoleonic general Segur, “the conquest of the world stopped” and “the great collapse of our happiness began.”
Expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russia
Now the roles have changed. Napoleon avoided battles in every possible way and quickly went west along the Smolensk road, ravaged by the war and attacked by partisans. Given the complete absence of food warehouses here, the French logistics supply system finally collapsed, turning the retreat of Napoleon's army into a disaster. Kutuzov did not seek to attack the enemy. He walked with his army to the south, preventing a possible French breakthrough into the southern regions. The Russian commander took care of his soldiers, believing that now hunger and winter would complete the defeat of the Great Army better than any battles. At that time, a plan had already been developed to encircle Napoleon beyond the Dnieper with the forces of the corps of General Peter Wittgenstein from the north and the 3rd and Danube armies, which came from the south, led by Admiral Pavel Chichagov.
Battle of Polotsk and Chashnikov (1812). Wittgenstein's corps (50 thousand people) received reinforcements and went on the offensive against the corps of Marshal Saint-Cyr (30 thousand people) defending Polotsk. In the battle of October 8-11, the Russians took Polotsk. Then, having crossed the Western Dvina, they began to pursue the defeated French formations. The victory at Polotsk created a flank threat to Napoleon's army. This forced him to send the corps of Marshal Victor, who had arrived from Poland, to help Saint-Cyr, which was initially intended to reinforce Napoleonic troops on the Kaluga road. On October 19, Wittgenstein continued the offensive and attacked Saint-Cyr's corps in the Chashniki area, on the Ulla River. The Russians managed to push back the French. But having learned about the approach of Victor’s new corps to Saint-Cyr, Wittgenstein stopped the onslaught. Saint-Cyr and Victor were also inactive. But soon they received Napoleon's order to push the Russians back beyond the Dvina. Thus, the French emperor sought to clear another, safer escape route for his army through Polotsk and Lepel. On November 2, the corps of Saint-Cyr and Victor (46 thousand people) attacked the corps of Wittgenstein (45 thousand people). They managed to push the Russian vanguard back to Chashniki. But in a stubborn battle near the village of Smolnya, which changed hands more than once, the French were stopped. Having lost 3 thousand people, Saint-Cyr and Victor were forced to retreat to join the main forces of Napoleonic army. The victory at Chashnikov provided Wittgenstein with the opportunity to cut off the communications of the Great Army retreating from Russia.
Battle of Vyazma (1812). The first major battle of the Russians with Napoleon's retreating army was the battle of Vyazma on October 22. Here, detachments of the Russian army under the command of General Miloradovich and Don Ataman Platov (25 thousand people) defeated 4 French corps (37 thousand people in total). Despite the overall numerical superiority of the French, the Russians had superiority in cavalry (almost twice). The fighting spirit of the Russian soldiers, who wanted to expel the invaders from their native land as quickly as possible, was also significantly higher. Having cut off the retreat of Davout’s corps at Vyazma, Miloradovich and Platov tried to destroy it. The corps of Beauharnais and Poniatowski came to the aid of their own, which allowed Davout to break through the encirclement. The French then retreated to the heights near the city, where Ney’s corps was located, and tried to organize a defense. But in a battle with the Russian vanguard they were defeated. In the evening, the burning Vyazma was taken by storm. Here, partisan detachments under the command of captains Seslavin and Figner distinguished themselves, who were among the first to break into the burning city. The French lost 8.5 thousand people in the battle of Vyazma. (killed, wounded and captured). The damage to the Russians is about 2 thousand people. The defeat of the best French formations caused a moral breakdown of Napoleonic troops and forced them to accelerate their withdrawal from Russia.
Battle of Red (1812). On October 27, Napoleon's main forces reached Smolensk, where they plundered the remaining warehouses. Due to the threat of encirclement and the complete disorganization of his army, the number of which had been reduced to 60 thousand people, Napoleon decided to leave Smolensk on October 31. Leaving the city, the French army stretched for almost 60 km. Its vanguard was approaching Krasnoye, and its rearguard was just leaving Smolensk. Kutuzov took advantage of this. On November 3, he sent the vanguard of General Miloradovich (16 thousand people) to Krasny. He fired artillery fire at the French troops marching along the Smolensk road, then attacked them and, cutting off the rear columns, captured up to 2 thousand people. The next day, Miloradovich fought all day with the Beauharnais corps, capturing 1.5 thousand prisoners from him. In this battle, Miloradovich, pointing out the grenadiers of the Pavlovsk regiment to the approaching French, uttered his famous phrase: “I give you these columns!” On November 5, the main forces of both armies entered the battle of Krasnoye. Kutuzov’s plan was to gradually cut off French units on the road with attacks from the south and destroy them piece by piece. For this purpose, two strike groups were allocated under the command of generals Tormasov and Golitsyn. During a fierce battle, in which Miloradovich’s detachment also took part, the Russians inflicted heavy damage on the Young Guard and the corps of Davout and Ney. Nevertheless, it was not possible to completely eliminate the French army. Part of it, led by Napoleon, managed to break through and continued to retreat to the Berezina. The French lost 32 thousand people in the battle of Krasny. (of which 26 thousand were prisoners), as well as almost all of their artillery. Russian losses amounted to 2 thousand people. This battle became the largest success of the Russian army since the beginning of the campaign. For Red Kutuzov received the title of Prince of Smolensk.
Battle of the Berezina (1812). After Red, the ring around Napoleonic troops began to shrink. Wittgenstein's corps (50 thousand people) approached from the north, and Chichagov's army (60 thousand people) approached from the south. At the Berezina they were preparing to close ranks and cut off Napoleon’s escape route from Russia. On November 9, Chichagov’s units approached the Berezina and occupied the city of Borisov. But they were soon knocked out of there by the French corps of Marshal Oudinot. The Russians retreated to the right bank of the river and blew up the bridge. Thus, the crossing on the main road along which Napoleon’s army was retreating was destroyed. The Berezina had not yet frozen, and the French were trapped. On November 13, Napoleon’s main forces approached the Berezina, which, with the added corps of Victor, Saint-Cyr and a number of other units, numbered up to 75 thousand people. In this critical situation, when every minute mattered, Napoleon acted quickly and decisively. South of Borisov there was another crossing. Napoleon sent Oudinot's corps there. The French emperor sought to make the Russian commander believe that he would cross there to retreat to Minsk. Meanwhile, Kutuzov’s main army, marching towards Minsk, was moving to the area south of Borisov. A meeting with her could have ended in ruin for Napoleon. He sought to go northwest of Minsk, to Vilna. To do this, 15 km north of Borisov, near the village of Studenka, the Polish lancers found a ford, where French sappers built temporary bridges. Napoleon began crossing along them on November 14. The demonstration of Oudinot's body was a success. Chichagov, leaving part of his troops at Borisov, set off with the main forces down the river. For two days, the French crossed, repelling the attacks of scattered detachments of Wittgenstein and Chichagov. On November 15, vanguard pursuit units sent by Kutuzov under the command of Ataman Platov and General Ermolov burst into Borisov. Kutuzov himself was in no hurry to the Berezina, hoping that even without him there would be enough forces there to eliminate the French army. When Chichagov finally returned to Borisov, Napoleonic troops had already entrenched themselves on the right bank of the river. On November 16, a fierce battle began on both sides of the Berezina. Chichagov tried to push back the French units covering the Studenko crossing on the right bank. Wittgenstein attacked the corps of Marshal Victor, who was staunchly covering the crossing on the left bank. The wooded area impeded the maneuverability of the cavalry. All day until 11 o'clock at night there was a stubborn frontal rifle battle, which cost heavy losses for both sides and became the culmination of the battle. Due to the low capacity of the built bridges, the huge concentration of people and convoys, panic and the increasing onslaught of the Russians, only one third of the troops (25 thousand people) managed to break through to the west, towards Vilna. The rest (about 50 thousand people) died in battle, froze, drowned or were captured. Fearing that the crossing would be captured by the Russians, Napoleon ordered its destruction, abandoning a mass of his troops on the left bank. Contemporaries noted that in some places the river was filled to the brim with corpses of people and horses. The Russians lost 4 thousand people in this battle. After the Berezina, the main forces of Napoleonic army in Russia ceased to exist.
During the campaign of 1812, the personnel of the French army, which France could subsequently only dream of, disappeared. In 1813-1814, the veterans of the Moscow campaign who escaped on the Berezina accounted for less than 5% of Napoleon’s army (a considerable part of them were blocked in the Danzig fortress, which surrendered in December 1813). After 1812, Napoleon had a completely different army. With her he could only delay his final downfall. Soon after the Berezina, Napoleon left the remnants of his army and went to France to gather new troops. At this time, severe frosts struck, accelerating the liquidation of Napoleonic troops. Marshal Murat, abandoned by the commander-in-chief, transferred only the pitiful remnants of the Great Army across the frozen Neman in mid-December. This is how Napoleon’s attempt to defeat Russia ended ingloriously. History does not know many examples of such military disasters. In his report, M.I. Kutuzov summed up the results of the campaign this way. “Napoleon entered with 480 thousand, and withdrew about 20 thousand, leaving at least 150,000 prisoners and 850 guns.” The death toll in Russian troops was 120 thousand people. Of these, 46 thousand were killed and died from wounds. The rest died of disease, mainly during the period of Napoleon's persecution.
In Russian history, the Patriotic War became the most intense in terms of the number of battles. On average, there were 5 battles every month. On December 25, the day of the Nativity of Christ, the Tsar issued a Manifesto on the expulsion of the enemy and the victorious end of the Patriotic War of 1812. This day, like the date of the Battle of Poltava, also became an official religious holiday in memory of “the deliverance of the Russian Church and Power from the invasion of the Gauls and with them there are twelve tongues."
"From Ancient Rus' to the Russian Empire." Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
On June 24 (June 12, old style), 1812, the Patriotic War began - the liberation war of Russia against Napoleonic aggression.
The invasion of the troops of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte into the Russian Empire was caused by the aggravation of Russian-French economic and political contradictions, the actual refusal of Russia to participate in the continental blockade (a system of economic and political measures applied by Napoleon I in the war with England), etc.
Napoleon strove for world domination, Russia interfered with the implementation of his plans. He hoped, having delivered the main blow to the right flank of the Russian army in the general direction of Vilno (Vilnius), to defeat it in one or two general battles, capture Moscow, force Russia to capitulate and dictate a peace treaty to it on terms favorable to himself.
On June 24 (June 12, old style), 1812, Napoleon’s “Great Army”, without declaring war, crossed the Neman and invaded the Russian Empire. It numbered over 440 thousand people and had a second echelon, which included 170 thousand people. The “Grand Army” included troops from all Western European countries conquered by Napoleon (French troops made up only half of its strength). It was opposed by three Russian armies, far apart from each other, with a total number of 220-240 thousand people. Initially, only two of them acted against Napoleon - the first, under the command of infantry general Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, covering the St. Petersburg direction, and the second, under the command of infantry general Peter Bagration, concentrated in the Moscow direction. The Third Army of cavalry general Alexander Tormasov covered the southwestern borders of Russia and began military operations at the end of the war. At the beginning of hostilities, the general leadership of the Russian forces was carried out by Emperor Alexander I; in July 1812, he transferred the main command to Barclay de Tolly.
Four days after the invasion of Russia, French troops occupied Vilna. On July 8 (June 26, old style) they entered Minsk.
Having unraveled Napoleon's plan to separate the Russian first and second armies and defeat them one by one, the Russian command began a systematic withdrawal of them to unite. Instead of gradually dismembering the enemy, French troops were forced to move behind the escaping Russian armies, stretching communications and losing superiority in forces. While retreating, the Russian troops fought rearguard battles (a battle undertaken with the aim of delaying the advancing enemy and thereby ensuring the retreat of the main forces), inflicting significant losses on the enemy.
To help the active army to repel the invasion of the Napoleonic army on Russia, on the basis of the manifesto of Alexander I of July 18 (July 6, old style) 1812 and his appeal to the residents of the “Mother See of our Moscow” with a call to act as initiators, temporary armed formations began to form - popular militia. This allowed the Russian government to mobilize large human and material resources for the war in a short time.
Napoleon sought to prevent the connection of Russian armies. On July 20 (July 8, old style), the French occupied Mogilev and did not allow the Russian armies to unite in the Orsha region. Only thanks to stubborn rearguard battles and the high art of maneuver of the Russian armies, which managed to frustrate the enemy’s plans, did they unite near Smolensk on August 3 (July 22, old style), keeping their main forces combat-ready. The first big battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 took place here. The battle of Smolensk lasted three days: from August 16 to 18 (from August 4 to 6, old style). The Russian regiments repelled all French attacks and retreated only on orders, leaving the enemy a burning city. Almost all the inhabitants left it with the troops. After the battles for Smolensk, the united Russian armies continued to retreat towards Moscow.
The retreat strategy of Barclay de Tolly, unpopular neither in the army nor in Russian society, leaving significant territory to the enemy forced Emperor Alexander I to establish the post of commander-in-chief of all Russian armies and on August 20 (August 8, old style) to appoint infantry general Mikhail Golenishchev to it. Kutuzov, who had extensive combat experience and was popular both among the Russian army and among the nobility. The emperor not only placed him at the head of the active army, but also subordinated to him the militias, reserves and civil authorities in the war-affected provinces.
Based on the demands of Emperor Alexander I, the mood of the army, which was eager to give battle to the enemy, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov decided, based on a pre-selected position, 124 kilometers from Moscow, near the village of Borodino near Mozhaisk, to give the French army a general battle in order to inflict as much damage as possible on it and stop the attack on Moscow.
By the beginning of the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army had 132 (according to other sources 120) thousand people, the French - approximately 130-135 thousand people.
It was preceded by the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt, which began on September 5 (August 24, old style), in which Napoleon’s troops, despite more than three times superiority in strength, managed to capture the redoubt only by the end of the day with great difficulty. This battle allowed Kutuzov to unravel the plan of Napoleon I and timely strengthen his left wing.
The Battle of Borodino began at five o'clock in the morning on September 7 (August 26, old style) and lasted until 20 o'clock in the evening. During the entire day, Napoleon failed to either break through the Russian position in the center or get around it from the flanks. The partial tactical successes of the French army - the Russians retreated from their original position by about one kilometer - did not become victorious for it. Late in the evening, the frustrated and bloodless French troops were withdrawn to their original positions. The Russian field fortifications they took were so destroyed that there was no longer any point in holding them. Napoleon never managed to defeat the Russian army. In the Battle of Borodino, the French lost up to 50 thousand people, the Russians - over 44 thousand people.
Since the losses in the battle were enormous and their reserves exhausted, the Russian army withdrew from the Borodino field, retreating to Moscow, while fighting a rearguard action. On September 13 (September 1, old style) at the military council in Fili, a majority of votes supported the decision of the commander-in-chief “for the sake of preserving the army and Russia” to leave Moscow to the enemy without a fight. The next day, Russian troops left the capital. Most of the population left the city with them. On the very first day of the entry of French troops into Moscow, fires began that devastated the city. For 36 days, Napoleon languished in the burnt-out city, waiting in vain for an answer to his proposal to Alexander I for peace, on terms favorable to him.
The main Russian army, leaving Moscow, made a march maneuver and settled in the Tarutino camp, reliably covering the south of the country. From here, Kutuzov launched a small war using army partisan detachments. During this time, the peasantry of the war-torn Great Russian provinces rose up in a large-scale people's war.
Napoleon's attempts to enter into negotiations were rejected.
On October 18 (October 6, old style) after the battle on the Chernishna River (near the village of Tarutino), in which the vanguard of the “Great Army” under the command of Marshal Murat was defeated, Napoleon left Moscow and sent his troops towards Kaluga to break into the southern Russian provinces rich in food resources. Four days after the French left, advanced detachments of the Russian army entered the capital.
After the battle of Maloyaroslavets on October 24 (October 12, old style), when the Russian army blocked the enemy’s path, Napoleon’s troops were forced to begin a retreat along the devastated old Smolensk road. Kutuzov organized the pursuit of the French along the roads south of the Smolensk highway, acting with strong vanguards. Napoleon's troops lost people not only in clashes with their pursuers, but also from partisan attacks, from hunger and cold.
Kutuzov brought troops from the south and north-west of the country to the flanks of the retreating French army, which began to actively act and inflict defeat on the enemy. Napoleon's troops actually found themselves surrounded on the Berezina River near the city of Borisov (Belarus), where on November 26-29 (November 14-17, old style) they fought with Russian troops who were trying to cut off their escape routes. The French emperor, having misled the Russian command by constructing a false crossing, was able to transfer the remaining troops across two hastily built bridges across the river. On November 28 (November 16, old style), Russian troops attacked the enemy on both banks of the Berezina, but, despite superior forces, were unsuccessful due to indecision and incoherence of actions. On the morning of November 29 (November 17, old style), by order of Napoleon, the bridges were burned. On the left bank there were convoys and crowds of stragglers of French soldiers (about 40 thousand people), most of whom drowned during the crossing or were captured, and the total losses of the French army in the battle of the Berezina amounted to 50 thousand people. But Napoleon managed to avoid complete defeat in this battle and retreat to Vilna.
The liberation of the territory of the Russian Empire from the enemy ended on December 26 (December 14, old style), when Russian troops occupied the border cities of Bialystok and Brest-Litovsk. The enemy lost up to 570 thousand people on the battlefields. The losses of Russian troops amounted to about 300 thousand people.
The official end of the Patriotic War of 1812 is considered to be the manifesto signed by Emperor Alexander I on January 6, 1813 (December 25, 1812, old style), in which he announced that he had kept his word not to stop the war until the enemy was completely expelled from Russian territory. empires.
The defeat and death of the "Great Army" in Russia created the conditions for the liberation of the peoples of Western Europe from Napoleonic tyranny and predetermined the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The Patriotic War of 1812 showed the complete superiority of Russian military art over the military art of Napoleon and caused a nationwide patriotic upsurge in Russia.
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