What did Napoleon want from Russia? At first, he almost became an officer in the Russian army, then he wanted to become related with the Russian imperial family. The "Russian factor" became fatal for Napoleon. His campaign against Moscow marked the beginning of the end of the Empire.
Military career
Perhaps the very first plans of Napoleon 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. In addition, 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 your 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.
Alike with the Russian emperor
In 1809, already being emperor, Napoleon, to his regret, 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.
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Josephine, like Napoleon, did not belong to blue bloods, in order to consolidate 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
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, working together with France to move the war to Bengal. " There was even a joint Russian-French project - 35 thousand troops under the command of General Massena,to which the Russian Cossacks joined in the Black Sea region, through the Caspian Sea, 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".
Known are the words of Napoleon, already during his exile to the island of St. Helena, which he said to the Irish physician assigned to him, Barry Edward O'Mira: "If Paul had survived, you would have lost India."
Moscow was not included in the plans
The decision to go to Moscow was for Napoleon not military, but political. According to A. P. Shuvalov, it was precisely the reliance on politics that was Bonaparte's main mistake. Shuvalov wrote: “He based his plans on political calculations. These calculations turned out to be false, and his building collapsed."
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."
Grand coup
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."