The reasons for the famous Moscow fire of 1812 were not widely discussed. For the Russians, the very fact of surrendering the ancient capital for desecration to Napoleon's troops was extremely unpleasant, and an unnecessary reminder of this was not welcomed
For the French, however, surrendering to the fire of a huge city was also a shameful event, incompatible with the role of an advanced civilized nation, which they considered themselves to be. Yes, and there were few witnesses of the fire who could clearly and in detail tell about what happened: Muscovites, especially educated classes, left the city, many invaders died during the inglorious flight from Russia.
Three versions prevail: Moscow was deliberately burned by the French; Moscow was deliberately burned by Russian patriots; Moscow caught fire from the negligence of both the invaders and the remaining extremely small population. In the novel "War and Peace" Lev Tolstoy, having analyzed the possible versions, came to the conclusion: Moscow could not but burn, because in the absence of firm order, any, even insignificant, fire threatens a citywide fire.
A recent find allows us to make a new, completely unexpected assumption.
Several years ago, a Moscow official bought a neglected estate in the south of France, in the vicinity of Toulon. After taking over the property, he started to renovate the old mansion and, preparing the furniture for restoration, in one of the secret drawers of the writing table, he found the diary of a certain Charles Artois, a lieutenant of the Napoleonic army. The diary described the events in Moscow and details of the army's return from Russia. Now the manuscript is undergoing a number of examinations, but thanks to the courtesy of the owner, we managed to get acquainted with excerpts from it.
“I was standing in the courtyard of a large Russian house. The low sun flooded Moscow with golden light. Suddenly a second sun came up, bright, white, dazzling. It was located twenty degrees higher than the first, true, and shone for no more than five seconds, but managed to scorch the face of Paul Berger, who was resting on the balcony.
The walls and roof of the house began to smoke. I ordered the soldiers to pour several dozen buckets of water onto the roof, and only thanks to these measures was it possible to save the estate. Fires started in other estates, located closer to the newly-born luminary. It was this mysterious heavenly flash that caused the terrible fire that destroyed Moscow."
An interesting description of the flight of Napoleonic troops from Russia. As you know, the French had to retreat (in fact, the composition of Napoleon's army was multinational, in fact, the French were a minority in it) had to retreat along the devastated Smolensk road. Lack of food and fodder, lack of winter uniforms turned the once mighty army into a crowd of desperate, dying people. But is it only "General Frost" and "General Golod" to blame for the misfortunes that befell the army? “Fires continue around. The manor where we are quartered survived, but, as luck would have it, a new attack hit our ranks. Rotten water, intemperance in food or some other reason, but all our people suffer from the most severe bloody diarrhea. Weakness in all limbs, dizziness, nausea, turning into indomitable vomiting, add to the misfortune. And we are not alone in this situation - all the battalions of our regiment, all the regiments are in Moscow. Doctors suspect dysentery or cholera and recommend leaving the inhospitable city as soon as possible. Pierre Duroy came just now. His detachment is ten miles from the Moscow outpost, everyone is healthy and cheerful, however, Russian partisans are disturbing. Seeing our deplorable state, he immediately turned back, fearing to catch the infection."
A week later, the lieutenant remarks: “Hair is starting to fall out. I shared this sad discovery with Girden, but he is in the same trouble. I am afraid that soon our entire detachment - what a detachment, the whole regiment - will become a regiment of bald men."
“Many horses are seriously ill, which baffles veterinarians. Like bipedal healers, they claim that the whole reason lies in the malignant miasms dissolved in the Moscow air. " “Finally, the decision has been made: we are leaving Moscow. We leave, having achieved nothing, stricken with ailment, weakened, weak, powerless. The mere hope of seeing our native France gives courage, otherwise we would rather just lie on the ground and die - our condition is so bad."
The pages describing the return journey of the French are heavy and sorrowful: Artois's detachment lost people every day, but not in battles - they were not able to fight - but from weakness and exhaustion caused by a mysterious illness. Even the meager provisions that they managed to get were not used for future use, they simply could not digest it. The soldiers were covered with abscesses and ulcers. Both people and horses were killed. Those units that did not enter Moscow fought off the Russians, but their ranks were melting, while the Russian army was only getting stronger.
Most of the Napoleonic army perished in the vastness of Russia. Charles Artois was disabled by illness. Immediately upon his return to France, he received his resignation, but did not live long and died at the age of thirty-two without children.
The new owner of the estate (among other things, a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences), having read the manuscript and consulted with experts, suggested that the army that occupied Moscow in 1812 was subjected to an air nuclear strike! The light radiation caused fires, and the penetrating radiation caused acute radiation sickness, which knocked down the army.
But where did the nuclear bomb come from in those days? First, the explosion could have been caused not by a bomb, but by a meteorite falling from antimatter. The theoretical probability of such an event is negligible, but not zero. Secondly, the blow at the request of the Russian authorities could have been inflicted by the "Great Old Ones", a cryptocivilization inhabiting underground Russia.
This assumption is supported by the decision of Kutuzov to leave Moscow after the won general battle, and the unprecedented mass evacuation of the population from the city. The authorities decided to sacrifice buildings in the name of the death of the enemy. The last, most probable, but, at the same time, and most confusing assumption is that the harmonic of a much later - and much more powerful - nuclear explosion reached Moscow in 1812. There is a theory that some of the energy released during an uncontrolled nuclear reaction travels in time both in the past and in the future. It was from the future that the echo of a nuclear explosion reached Napoleon's army.
The French emperor, who was at the time of the explosion in a stone building, received a relatively small dose of radiation, which affected the island of St. Helena …
Interesting newspaper. Incredible
No. 17 2009