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Introduction
After victory at Borodino, Napoleon expected a glorious arrival in Moscow and a swift end to his Russian Campaign. However, the Russians were not about to make peace, forcing the Emperor into an ill-planned retreat. In the months that followed, Kutuzov avoided pitched battle with the Grande Armée as the latter slowly waned from hunger, cold and disease, harrassed by cossack bands. Despite the amazing feat at the Berezina, the increasingly precarious position of Napoleon in Europe forced him to leave the remains of his army and embark on the incredible 2,500km journey back to Paris to reassert his position in the face of terrible defeat.
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Commentary
– Peter Hicks, “Beyond Smolensk”
– Marie-Pierre Rey: “Preface to volume 12 of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte” -
Timeline
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Biographies
French and allies
– DE BEAUHARNAIS: Eugène
– BERNADOTTE: Jean-Baptiste-Jules
– BERTHIER: Louis-Alexandre
– BONAPARTE: Jerome
– DAVOUT: Louis Nicolas
– >MACDONALD: Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre
– VON METTERNICH-WINNEBURG-ZU BEILSTEIN: Clemens Wenzel Lothar, graf
– MURAT: Joachim
– NEY: Michel
– OUDINOT: Nicolas-Charles
– PONIATOWSKI: Józef
– VON SCHWARZENBERG: Karl PhilipRussians
– BAGRATION: Piotr Ivanovitch
– BARCLAY DE TOLLY: Michael Andreas
– VON BENNIGSEN: Levin August
– VON BLÜCHER: Gebhardt Leberecht
– CHERNICHEV: Alexander
– CHICHAGOV: Pavel Vasilievich
– KUTUZOV: Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev
– DE LANGERON: Louis Alexandre Andrault
– VON OSTEN-SACKEN: Fabian Gottlieb
– PFÜHL: Karl Ludwig August
– TORMASOV: Alexander Petrovich
– WILSON: Robert Thomas
– WITTGENSTEIN: Peter Khristianovich -
External resources
A prize-winning interactive mapping project by the Russian media agency TASS
Napoleon’s Russian Campaign – 3 – the retreat
After victory at Borodino, Napoleon expected a glorious arrival in Moscow and a swift end to his Russian Campaign. However, the Russians were not about to make peace, forcing the Emperor into an ill-planned retreat. Despite the amazing feat at the Berezina, the increasingly precarious position of Napoleon in Europe forced him to leave the remains of his army and embark on the incredible 2,500km journey back to Paris to reassert his position in the face of terrible defeat.
