Napoleon's invasion of Russia was the beginning of the collapse of his ambitions. Here his "great army" suffered a fiasco. But the Corsican all his life seemed drawn to Russia. He wanted to serve in the Russian army and planned to become related to the Russian emperor.
Serve in the Russian army
The first point in Napoleon's plans for Russia was his desire to join the Russian army. In 1788, Russia recruited volunteers to take part in the war with Turkey. Governor-General Ivan Zaborovsky, the commander of the expeditionary corps, came to Livorno to "look after the military affairs" of Christian volunteers: militant Albanians, Greeks, Corsicans.
By this time, Napoleon graduated with honors from the Paris military school with the rank of lieutenant. His family was poor - his father died, the family was left practically without funds. Napoleon applied for his readiness to serve in the Russian army.
However, just a month before Bonaparte's application for admission, a decree was issued in the Russian army - to take foreign officers into the Russian corps with a demotion of one rank. Napoleon was not satisfied with this option.
Having received a written refusal, the purposeful Napoleon made sure to be received by the head of the Russian military commission. But this did not work, and, as they say, the offended Bonaparte ran out of Zaborovsky's office, promising that he would propose his candidacy to the King of Prussia: “The King of Prussia will give me the rank of captain!” True, as you know, he did not become a Prussian captain either, remaining to make a career in France.
Promotional video:
Marry
In 1809, already being emperor, Napoleon learned about the sterility of the Empress Josephine. Perhaps the disease developed during her imprisonment in Carme prison, when the French Revolution thundered. Despite the sincere affection that tied Napoleon and this woman, the young dynasty needed a legitimate heir. Therefore, after much outpouring and tears, the couple parted by mutual desire.
Josephine, like Napoleon, did not belong to blue blood. To secure his position on the throne, Bonaparte needed a princess. The question of choice, oddly enough, was not raised - according to Napoleon, the future French empress was to be the Russian Grand Duchess.
Most likely, this was due to Napoleon's plans for a long-term alliance with Russia. He needed the latter in order, firstly, to keep the whole of Europe in subjection, and secondly, he counted on the helping hand of Russia in Egypt and in the subsequent transfer of the war to Bengal and India. He made these plans back in the time of Paul I.
In this regard, Napoleon desperately needed a marriage with one of the sisters of Emperor Alexander - Catherine or Anna Pavlovna. At first, Napoleon tried to win the favor of Catherine, and most importantly, the blessing of her mother Maria Feodorovna. But, while the Grand Duchess herself said that she would rather marry the last Russian stoker than "this Corsican", her mother began in a hurry to look for a suitable party for her daughter, so that she would not get the French "usurper" unpopular in Russia …
Almost the same thing happened to Anna. When in 1810 the French ambassador Caulaincourt turned to Alexander with a semi-official proposal of Napoleon, the Russian emperor also vaguely replied to him that he had no right to dispose of the fate of his sisters, since, by the will of his father Pavel Petrovich, this prerogative completely went to his mother Maria Feodorovna.
Russia as a springboard for the Eastern campaign
Napoleon Bonaparte had no intention of stopping at the subordination of Russia. He dreamed of the empire of Alexander the Great, his further goals lay far in India. Thus, he was going to sting Great Britain with the peak of the Russian Cossacks at its most painful point. In other words, take over the rich English colonies.
Such a conflict could lead to the complete collapse of the British Empire. At one time, according to the historian Alexander Katsura, Paul I also thought about this project.
Back in 1801, a French agent in Russia, Gitten, conveyed to Napoleon "… Russia from its Asian possessions … could give a helping hand to the French army in Egypt and, acting together with France, transfer the war to Bengal."
There was even a joint Russian-French project - a 35,000-strong army under the command of General Massena, to which Russian Cossacks joined in the Black Sea region, through the Caspian, Persia, Herat and Kandahar were to reach the provinces of India. And in the fabulous country, the allies had to "grab the British by the whips".
As you know, Napoleon's Indian campaign together with Paul did not work, but in 1807, during a meeting in Tilsit, Napoleon tried to persuade Alexander to sign an agreement on the division of the Ottoman Empire and a new campaign against India.
Later on February 2, 1808, in a letter to him, Bonaparte set forth his plans as follows: “If an army of 50 thousand Russians, French, perhaps even a few Austrians went through Constantinople to Asia and appeared on the Euphrates, it would make England tremble and would plunge her at the feet of the mainland."
It is not known for certain how the Russian emperor reacted to this idea, but he preferred that any initiative should come not from France, but from Russia. In subsequent years, already without France, Russia began to actively explore Central Asia and establish trade relations with India, excluding any adventure in this matter.
But Napoleon's words are known, which he said to the Irish physician assigned to him, Barry Edward O'Mira, during his exile to St. Helena: "If Paul had remained alive, you would have lost India."
Unwanted Moscow
Historians still cannot come to a unanimous opinion why Napoleon went to Moscow. It was not the capital.
From the military side, the ideal solution was to stay for the winter in Smolensk; Napoleon discussed these plans with the Austrian diplomat von Metternich. Bonaparte declared: “My enterprise is one of those whose solution is given by patience. The triumph will be the lot of the more patient. I will open the campaign by crossing the Neman. I will finish it in Smolensk and Minsk. I will stop there."
These plans were voiced by Bonaparte and according to the memoirs of General de Suguer. He wrote down the following words of Napoleon, spoken by him to General Sebastiani in Vilna: “I will not cross the Dvin. Wanting to go further during this year means going towards your own destruction."
It is obvious that the campaign against Moscow was a forced step for Napoleon. According to the historian V. M. Bezotosny, Napoleon "hoped that the entire campaign would fit into the summer - the maximum early autumn of 1812". Moreover, the French emperor planned to spend the winter of 1812 in Paris, but the political situation confused all his cards. Historian A. K. Dzhivelegov wrote: “Stopping for the winter in Smolensk meant reviving all possible discontent and unrest in France and in Europe. Politics drove Napoleon further and forced him to break his excellent original plan."
I wanted a general battle
The tactics of the Russian army came as an unpleasant surprise for Napoleon. He was sure that the Russians would have to give a general battle to save their capital, and Alexander I would ask for peace to save it. These predictions were thwarted. Napoleon was killed by both the retreat from his original plans and the retreat of the Russian army under the leadership of General Barclay de Tolly.
Before the castling of Tolly and Kutuzov, the French had only two battles. At the beginning of the campaign, such behavior of the enemy was in the hands of the French emperor, he dreamed of reaching Smolensk with small losses and stopping there.
The fate of Moscow was to be decided by a general battle, which Napoleon himself called the grand coup. It was needed by both Napoleon and France.
But it turned out differently. At Smolensk, the Russian armies managed to unite and they continued to draw Napoleon deep into the vast country. The grand coup was postponed. The French entered the empty cities, finished off their last supplies and panicked. Later, sitting on the island of St. Helena, Napoleon recalled: "My regiments, amazed that after so many difficult and murderous transitions the fruits of their efforts are constantly removed from them, began to look with concern at the distance separating them from France."