“… They speak smarter than they are …
But what do you hear from anyone?
Jomini da Jomini …
And not a word about vodka!"
This is how Denis Davydov complained about the young hussars in 1817, recalling his "friends of the past", "gray-haired drinking companions", glorifying their ability to drunk dashingly in a bivouac in the evening, and wake up in the morning as if nothing had happened.
And here Jomini
Jomini, mentioned in The Song of the Old Hussar, is Antoine Henri Jomini, a French general of Swiss origin. Under Bonaparte, he became famous for his military-historical works. During the 1812 campaign he served as the French governor of Vilna and commandant of Smolensk. And in 1813, seeing the inevitable collapse of Napoleon's empire, he went over to the side of Russia and served in the Russian army until the 1850s.
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Jomini did not betray his vocation as a military historian and became a recognized authority on the strategy of the past war. Therefore, at the time when Davydov wrote the quoted poem, anyone who wanted to talk smartly about the Napoleonic campaign had to show their acquaintance with the works of Jomini, or at least with his name.
Well, what does vodka have to do with it? Did the poet-hussar just want to reproach the younger generation for physical frailty, for the inability to drink so skillfully, while maintaining a sober spirit, as was, according to Davydov, inherent in his peers? Did he simply despise this preference for clever talk over a friendly party, believing that the latter is better at maintaining morale and camaraderie than the former? Or believed that addiction to vodka helped the Russian army to defeat the French?
Oddly enough, and, most likely, Davydov himself did not know about it, but Russian vodka played a well-known role in the expulsion of "twelve pagans" from Russia. True, in a different way.
The harmful effects of Russian vodka on the enemy
The French Count Philippe Paul de Segur was Napoleon's adjutant during the campaign against Russia. He left famous and colorful memories of this campaign. One of his curious testimonies of the bloody Smolensk battle concerns Russian vodka and its influence on the course of hostilities.
“In this country,” de Segur wrote, “wine and grape vodka are replaced with vodka, which is distilled from grain grains and to which narcotic plants are mixed. Our young soldiers, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, thought that this drink would support their strength. But the excitement caused by them was accompanied by a complete decline of their strength, during which they easily succumbed to the action of diseases. Some of them, less abstinent or weaker, fell into a state of numbness."
Starting the campaign, the "great army" was supplied with everything necessary, including, of course, grape (Italian grappa) or apple (French Calvados) vodka. The huge baggage train could not keep up with the advance of Napoleon's troops, supplies began to chronically lag behind the advanced forces of the army at the beginning of the war. The soldiers of the French emperor began to content themselves on the ground, including strong drinks.
It is clear that the enemy soldiers fell into the hands of low-quality vodka, produced by the tax farmers of the tsarist taverns for the Russian common people. And in terms of degree (38-45), it was stronger than Western European vodkas (30-35 degrees). Faster at first having an "invigorating" effect, such vodka subsequently produced more severe and prolonged intoxication, which reduced the body's endurance.
During the retreat of the "great army", Russian vodka, which seemed to be a good warming agent, also laid many enemy soldiers in the grave. She quickly knocked down the weakened French and their allies. They fell asleep and often froze in their sleep.
Our troops avoided her
I suspect that many will perceive what was said as evidence of the old "truth": "what is good for a Russian, death for a German (in this case, a Frenchman, an Italian, etc.)." Alas (or fortunately), not at all. And on a Russian person, such Russian vodka has a completely similar effect. It is not at all a matter of the "habit" of drinking stronger drinks allegedly among the Russian people.
The enlightened Russian people already at that time were well aware of the harmful effects of drunkenness on the health and well-being of the mass of Russian people. Sensible peasants also knew about it. Just half a century after the events described, this knowledge resulted in a mass movement for sobriety and refraining from going to taverns, which manifested itself precisely among the peasants.
Well, and the not so fatal effect of vodka on Russian soldiers in the 1812 campaign is explained by the better supply of the Russian army, since it fought on its own territory. And I usually drank not tavern, but higher-quality vodka supplied by the quartermaster. Although, as you know, quartermasters are always thieves, therefore, of course, it was impossible to exclude cases of the use of low-quality potions by Russian soldiers. And it is not for nothing that during the pursuit of Napoleon's army, the Russian army lost more than two-thirds of its composition - that is, the losses in it turned out to be comparable to the losses of the enemy.
As for the phenomenal ability of Denis Davydov's comrades-in-arms to drink without consequences, then, presumably, they did not consume tavern booze, but even more often they were supplemented with high-quality trophy drinks - hussars after all.
So Russian vodka played a role in the exile of Napoleon's army that, becoming the prey of enemy soldiers, seriously undermined their combat capability. You can slip it on the enemy, but you should avoid giving it to your own soldiers.
Yaroslav Butakov