Napoleon’s Great Retreat from Russia

      The Patriotic War of 1812 was a land mark in Napoleon’s military career because it was his first loss. Before the retreat from Russia, Napoleon’s record was flawless, he was a cunning military mastermind. Napoleon could manipulate the battlefield to his advantage, but The Patriotic War ruined his unbeatable persona. France had a weak truce with Russia, the French nor the Russians abided by their truce, and Napoleon did not want Russia to attack Poland. These led to the Patriotic War of 1812.          

        Napoleon marched with over 500,000 French soldiers with the intent of destroying 3 major cities in Russia. The Grande Armee was one of the biggest European army’s assembled to that point. The French marched into Russia in 3 gigantic fleets,  General Marshal Nicholas Oudinot and his French fleet were stopped in there direct path to St. Petersburg by a small Russian fleet. This tactical move by the Russians led to an inevitable battle in Moscow that would decide the fate of the Patriotic War of 1812.

         The Russians attacked the French in small cavalry units while their main army retreated for 3 months, the French were not used to the fierce Russian climate. The Russian main army, and the French Grande Armee, led by Napoleon himself, met in the battle of Borodino, right outside of Moscow, the Battle of Borodino was one of the largest and most brutal battles of the Napoleonic wars. Over 250,000 troops were involved it led to over 70,000 fatalities.                                                                                  

        The Russians retreated once more, Russia could replenish their army whereas the French could not, Napoleon marched into Moscow with the Grande Armee and destroyed most of Moscow, but Napoleon could see no victory in sight, Napoleon decided to retreat, this was a disastrous retreat. After Napoleon realized they could not win he tried to reach Kaluga but they were blocked by a replenished Russian army, in the battle of Maloyaroslavets.  

         Napoleon and the Grande Armee were forced to retreat the same way they had come through the completely destroyed roads of Smolensk, they took catastrophic blows from peasants through guerrilla warfare and the absolutely devastating Russian winter pounded on them, Killing many French troops. When Napoleon entered France there were only one twentieth of the fit soldiers left, the Patriotic War of 1812 was a fierce war with a huge impact on European history. This was the beginning of the end for Napoleon, he was exiled only 2 years later, and his status as an unbeatable tactician was shattered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia

http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis05.htm

http://www.history.com/news/napoleons-disastrous-invasion-of-russia-200-years-ago

http://www.napoleonguide.com/campaign_russia.htm

The French Invasion of Russia

Napoleon, the emperor of France, was a power hunger leader and wanted to conqueror all of Europe. The Austrians, who were in an alliance with France at the time, were annexing the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. The Russians thought they were going to try and invade Russia. The Russian’s were also trading with England, which angered Napoleon. Russia invades Poland, so Napoleon tries to take Russia. This is the beginning of the end in the Napoleonic Wars.

The French overextended themselves. Napoleon thought that he was going to engage Russia in a couple battles, but the Russian’s fought skirmishes and move back. Napoleon had to leave men behind, so that they could guard the supply routes and protect their land.

Napoleon started invading in the fall, then he could avoid the winter. When the fall came it was the harvest season. That meant they didn’t have to guard there supply routes as carefully, because they could just take the food from the farmers. The Russians burned their field’s as they retreated, so then the French couldn’t eat from the local fields, and would keep having to bring their supplies through a supply line.

Their army was weakening very badly, but they made to Moscow after a very bloody battle called Battle of Borodino. Napoleon was able to win that battle, but had thirty-five thousand casualties, and Russia had forty-four thousand death’s. France did end up with the victory. The French made it to Moscow expecting to eat there food, and restock on there supplies. When they arrived the city was deserted, all the food and supplies had been taken. The city was on fire too.

The French army had to retreat, because they were deprived of resource. They weakened even more as Russia attacked them with different forces. The forces were from peasants to organized units of soldiers. They final attack on the French was when the Russia attacked them while they were trying to cross the Berezina River. When the army returned back to France, four hundred-forty thousand French soldiers had died.

That wasn’t the end of Napoleon. The United Kingom, and Austria had joined the Coalition. France lost the battle in the War of the Sixth Coalition. Napoleon was captured and exiled to the island of Elba. This was one of the most important wars of the Napoleonic Wars. This was the turning point of the war, the undefeated French army was defeated, and started the War of the Six Coalition.             

(Charles Minard's graph. This show's how many people Napoleon had and lost. The yellow is the size of Napoleons army when he started and the black is when he ended)

Khan, Salman. "French Invasion of Russia." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Apr. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ySQvjtAxQ>.

"French Invasion of Russia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia>.