On August 15, 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica. In 1812, the French emperor, a successful military leader, suffered a fiasco in his campaign against Russia.
1. The tactics of the Russian army
By the tactics of the Russian army, Napoleon was defeated both literally and figuratively. The Russian army under the leadership of General Barclay de Tolly adhered to the tactics of constant retreat. Troops were leaving Vitebsk, Smolensk, Moscow. Before the castling of Tolly and Kutuzov, the French had only two battles.
Napoleon was ambivalent about the retreat of Russian troops. At the beginning of the campaign, this behavior of the enemy was in the hands of the French emperor, he dreamed of reaching Smolensk with small losses. The French did not capture Smolensk, but received it in a completely unpresentable form. It turned out to be pointless to stop in the city, it was scary to move on. The army, hoping for a blitzkrieg, moved farther and deeper into the vast country.
The soldiers entered the empty cities, finished their last supplies and panicked. Bonaparte, sitting on the island of St. Helena, 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."
2. Thick walls
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The story of the impenetrable walls of Smolensk takes a whole page from Napoleon. From describing the beautiful view of the city, Napoleon turns to senseless attempts to capture it: “I used my entire artillery reserve to breach a gap in the curtain, but in vain - our cannonballs got stuck in incredibly thick walls, without producing any action. There was only one way to make a break: direct all our fire against two round towers, but the difference in the thickness of the walls was unknown to us."
3. Fires
If it were not for the published memoirs of Bonaparte, one would think that it was the French who brought fire to the Russian land. The movement of Napoleon's troops was accompanied by fires - cities and roads were on fire. In Smolensk, Gzhatsk, Maliy Yaroslavets, the French themselves put out fires. The Russians burned everything - houses, shops, streets, crops. In the middle of Moscow, Napoleon was perplexed - why is it burning? And then, sadly, but beautifully, he wrote: “Moscow turned into a fiery sea. The view from the Kremlin balcony would be worthy of Nero setting fire to Rome, as for me, I never looked like this monster, and when I looked at this terrible picture my heart was bleeding."
4. Cities
The art of Russian architects admired Napoleon, in his memoirs he described the towers of Smolensk, distracted from the battering failures. Moscow, however, completely defeated the French emperor: “Built like Rome, on seven hills, Moscow is a very picturesque view. a We must see the picture that this city, half-European, half-Eastern, with its two hundred churches and a thousand multi-colored heads towering above them represents, in order to understand the feeling that we experienced when we saw Moscow in front of us from the height of Poklonnaya Gora.
5. Roads
Napoleon traveled many Russian roads, and none satisfied him. The reason is not the weather, the emperor had a separate opinion about it. In his memoirs, Bonaparte called the Russian roads extremely impassable: "The lack of information about the state of the roads, incomplete and unreliable maps of the region, were the reason that I did not dare to send the corps in different directions, since nothing proved the existence of accessible roads."
6. Weather
Napoleon invaded Russia in early summer, and got out of it closer to spring. The Emperor of France managed to form his opinion about the weather in Russia, for example, autumn became "the most beautiful, unusual in these harsh regions." Napoleon had to face the harsh cold at the most unfavorable moment, on the way home: "From November 7, the cold increased and with terrifying speed developed the degree of the army's disorder, which had already begun at Vyazma."
7. Partisans
It is pleasant to realize that most of all Napoleon was shocked and delighted by the behavior of the Russian people. Napoleon said about the people's war: “The most formidable army cannot successfully wage a war against an entire people who have decided to win or die. We were no longer dealing with the inhabitants of Lithuania, indifferent spectators of the great events taking place around them. The entire population, made up of natural Russians, left their dwellings at our approach. On our way, we met only abandoned or burnt-out villages. The fleeing residents formed gangs that acted against our foragers. They did not bother the troops themselves anywhere, but captured all the marauders and stragglers."