Napoleon's defeats in battles. Battle of the Nations: Napoleon lost the decisive battle due to the betrayal of his soldiers. Actions of the Russian Empire

January 3rd, 2018 09:22 am

1. The Battle of Toulon (1793, the Republicans pacify the uprising of the royalists, and Toulon is still considered an impregnable fortress), - the first battle of Napoleon, his first victory, although not so great in comparison with many of the following, but one that allowed him to turn on attention in Paris and at the age of 24 receive the rank of brigadier general. General Dutil himself wrote about his successes to the War Ministry, talking about the role of Bonaparte in the correct arrangement of guns, and how skillfully he led the siege, and about the victorious cannonade.

2. The Italian campaign (1796), - it was thanks to her that the name of Napoleon thundered throughout Europe. Suvorov himself commented: "It's time to calm the fellow!". Bonaparte was appointed commander-in-chief not even in connection with special merits - just no one was particularly eager for this position. Although they understood the importance of the invasion of Northern Italy, because this well-thought-out sabotage could force the Viennese court to distract from the German war, splitting its forces. Why didn't they break? Yes, simply because the state of the French army at that time was more than deplorable - the soldiers were starving, walking in rags, stealing from each other. Everything that Paris allocated was successfully plundered by superiors. For example, one battalion refused to change its location due to ... lack of boots. All the more praise to Napoleon - he managed, without delaying the battle, to establish discipline and ensure a decent supply of the army. Italian battles - "6 victories in 6 days" - historians call one big battle.
3. Egyptian campaign (1798), - Bonaparte dreamed of conquering Egypt in order to be like Alexander the Great. The Directory did not see much need for this event, and the army was not yet completely subordinate to the commander-in-chief, although he could be quite sure of the absolute loyalty of the battalions participating with him in the Italian campaign. Dreaming of exploits in the country of the pharaohs, he was able to attract the great diplomat Talleyrand to his side, and together they convinced the Directory to finance the campaign. Those, on reflection, decided not to object: the manners of the Corsican, who behaved far from being a modest officer, made them hope that Napoleon would not return. However, he returned, having previously installed the French as the chiefs of the garrisons in each of the cities and villages of Egypt.

4. Battle of Austerlitz (1805) - the decisive battle in the first Austrian campaign (Russian-Austrian-French war). 73 thousand people Napoleon against 86 thousand people. Kutuzov won thanks to the new military system of France. The emperor showed a military trick: having begun secret negotiations with Austria about peace, he spread false rumors about the weakness of his own army. As a result, Alexander I did not listen to the cautious Kutuzov and took the advice of the Austrian General Weyrother, launching an offensive without a full-fledged preliminary reconnaissance. For which he paid.

5. Battle of Friedland (1807, the decisive battle during the Russian-Prussian-French war) - Napoleon almost managed to defeat the Russian army, but the competent maneuvers of General Bagration helped the troops retreat to the Pregel River away from Friedland. Nevertheless, Alexander I had to conclude the peace of Tilsit, which was beneficial only to the French.

6. The Battle of Wagram (1809, the second Austrian campaign) is the decisive battle between Napoleon and the Austrians under the command of Archduke Charles. Connoisseurs of strategy and tactics should pay attention to how skillfully the crossing of a huge army across the Danube was organized, as well as to the use of a ram battle formation. The result of the battle was the Treaty of Schönbrunn.

HOW NAPOLEON LOST THE "BATTLE OF THE PEOPLES"

The Russian emperor Alexander I believed that it was not enough to take revenge on Napoleon for the defeats and humiliations of previous years by one expulsion from Russia. The king needed a complete victory over the enemy. At this point, Russia, Prussia, Sweden and England formed a sixth coalition to end the Napoleonic conquest of Europe. And Alexander I dreamed of leading a coalition and becoming its leader.

On February 27, 1813, the main forces of the Russian army entered Berlin. Dresden fell a week later. Soon, through the joint efforts of Russian and Prussian militias, the territory of central Germany was cleared of the French.

Meanwhile, the first major battles between the Allies and Napoleon at Lutzen (May 2) and Bautzen (May 20-21) ended in French victory. Later, a truce was concluded, which was interrupted in August by Napoleon himself, who recruited troops to continue the fight. This circumstance forced Austria, which had not previously joined the enemies of the emperor, on August 12 to declare war on him and take the side of the sixth coalition.

But this did not in the least prevent the brilliant commander Napoleon on August 27, 1813 from winning a victory near Dresden. The allies were defeated and began to retreat in disorder. Their losses were three times those of the French. The French general Moreau, an adviser at the headquarters of the anti-French coalition troops, who, having become an opponent of Napoleon, emigrated from France back in 1804, was mortally wounded.

Panic began among the allied monarchs, inspired by the ghost of the new Austerlitz. However, luck again turned away from Bonaparte.

Two days later, another battle took place in the Kulm region, involving 32,000 French under the command of General Vandamme and 45,000 Austrians and Russians, as well as a small Prussian detachment under the command of Prince Schwarzenberg, who was retreating after the defeat at Dresden. In an attempt to stop the pursuit, the Prussians occupied Kulm, from where Vandamme soon drove them out. However, the next day, having not received the expected reinforcements, Vandamme was forced to go on the defensive and, attacked from the front by the Austrians and Russians, and from the rear by the Prussians, was utterly defeated, losing 6,000 people killed, 7,000 prisoners and 48 guns. He himself was wounded and taken prisoner. Allied troops lost about 6,000 men.

After that, the allies perked up again and began to concentrate forces near Leipzig for a decisive battle.

October 16, 1813 on the plain near the city of Leipzig began one of greatest battles era Napoleonic Wars, which went down in history under the name "Battle of the Nations".

According to various sources, by the beginning of the battle, Napoleon had from 155 to 175 thousand people and 717 guns, the allies - about 200,000 people and 893 guns.

The battle began at 10 o'clock in the morning with the cannonade of the allied batteries and the advance of the allies on the village of Wachau (Washau). In this direction, Napoleon concentrated several large batteries and infantry forces, which repulsed all the attacks of the allies. At this time, the center of the Bohemian army was trying to cross the Place River in order to strike around the left flank of the French. However, the opposite bank of the river was strewn with guns and French arrows, which with well-aimed fire forced the allied troops to retreat.

In the first half of the day, the battle went on with varying success in all sectors of the battle. In some places, the allies managed to capture several sectors of the enemy's defenses, but the French, straining their forces, went over to counterattacks and threw the enemy back to their original positions. At the first stage of the battle, the Allies failed to break the courageous resistance of the French and achieve decisive success anywhere. Moreover, having skillfully organized the defense of his positions, Napoleon by 15 o'clock in the afternoon prepared a springboard for a decisive offensive and a breakthrough of the allied center.

Initially hidden from the eyes of the enemy, 160 guns, on the orders of General A. Drouot, unleashed heavy fire on the breakthrough site. Exactly at 15 o'clock a massive attack of infantry and cavalry began. Against 100 squadrons of the French Marshal Murat, several battalions of Prince E. of Württemberg, weakened by the cannonade of Drouot, lined up in a square and opened fire with grape shots. However, the French cuirassiers and dragoons, with the support of the infantry, crushed the Russian-Prussian line, overturned the guards cavalry division and broke through the center of the allies. Pursuing the fugitives, they found themselves 800 paces from the headquarters of the allied sovereigns. This stunning success convinced Napoleon that victory was already in his hands. The authorities of Leipzig were ordered to ring all the bells in honor of the triumph. But the battle continued.

Alexander I, realizing before others that a critical moment had come in the battle, ordered to send a battery of I.O. Sukhozanet, Russian division N.N. Raevsky and the Prussian brigade of F. Kleist. Before the reinforcements approached, the enemy was held back by a company of Russian artillery and Life Cossacks from Alexander's convoy.

From his headquarters on the hill near Tonberg, Napoleon watched how the Allied reserves began to move, how fresh cavalry divisions stopped Murat, closed the gap in the allied positions and wrested, in fact, from Napoleon's hands the already triumphant victory. Determined to prevail at any cost before the approach of the troops of Bernadotte and Bennigsen, Napoleon gave the order to send the forces of foot and horse guards to the weakened center of the allies.

Suddenly, an unexpectedly powerful attack by the Austrians, who were under the command of Prince Schwarzenberg, on the right flank of the French changed his plans and forced him to send part of the guard to help the Polish prince Jozef Poniatowski, who could hardly restrain the Austrian strikes. After a stubborn battle, the Austrians were driven back, and the Austrian general Count M. Merveld was captured.

On the same day, in another section of the battle, the Prussian general von Blucher attacked the troops of Marshal Marmont, who with 24 thousand soldiers held back his onslaught. The villages of Mekern and Wiederich changed hands several times during the battle. One of the last attacks showed the courage of the Prussians. General Gorn led his brigade into battle, giving her the order not to shoot. Under the drumbeat, the Prussians launched a bayonet attack, and General Horn with the Brandenburg hussars cut into the French columns.

The French generals admitted later that they had rarely seen such unbridled courage displayed by the Prussians. When the first day of the battle was over, Blucher's soldiers made barriers for themselves from the corpses of the dead, determined not to give the captured territories to the French.

The first day of the battle did not reveal the winners, although the losses on both sides were huge: about 60-70 thousand people!

On the night of October 16-17, fresh forces of the heir to the Swedish throne, Bernadotte and Bennigsen, approached Leipzig. The Allied forces now had a double numerical advantage over Napoleon's forces.

Taking advantage of the lull, Napoleon finally realized the impossibility of defeating a numerically superior enemy. Having summoned the captured General Merveld to his place, Napoleon released him with a request to convey to the allies a peace proposal. However, there was no answer. Then, by the night of October 17, Napoleon ordered to pull his troops closer to Leipzig.

At 8 am on October 18, the Allies launched an offensive. The French fought desperately, the villages surrounding the city changed hands several times, every house, every street, every inch of land had to be stormed or defended. On the left flank of the French, the Russian soldiers of Count A.F. Langeron repeatedly stormed the village of Schelfeld, whose houses and cemetery, surrounded by a stone wall, were perfectly adapted for defense. Langeron, twice thrown back, led his soldiers on hostility for the third time and, after a terrible hand-to-hand fight, took possession of the village. However, the reserves sent by Marshal Marmont against him drove the Russians out of their positions. A particularly fierce battle was in full swing near the town of Probsteyd (Probstgate), in the center of the French position. The corps of General Kleist and General Gorchakov broke into the village by 15:00 and began to storm the fortified houses. Then Bonaparte threw the Old Guard into action and led it into battle himself.

The French managed to drive the allies out of Probsteid and attack the main Austrian forces. Under the blows of the guards, the enemy lines were ready to break, when suddenly, in the midst of the battle, the entire Saxon army, which fought in the ranks of the Napoleonic troops, went over to the side of the allies. Nobody expected this. For Napoleon, this was a terrible blow.

The fight continued until dusk. Even before night, the French managed to keep in their hands all the key positions of the defense. Napoleon understood that he would not survive another day, and therefore, on the night of October 18-19, he gave the order to retreat. The exhausted French army began to retreat across the Elster River.

At dawn, having learned that the enemy had cleared the battlefield, the allies moved to Leipzig. The city was defended by the soldiers of Poniatowski and MacDonald, loopholes were made in the walls, arrows were placed on the streets, in gardens and bushes and guns were placed. Each step forward cost the allies considerable blood. The attack was cruel and terrible. Only in the middle of the day did they manage to capture the suburbs, knocking out the French from there with bayonet attacks.

As the French withdrew from the city across the only remaining bridge across the Elster, it was blown into the air. As it turned out, the bridge was blown up by mistake by the French soldiers guarding it. Seeing the advance detachment of Russians breaking through to the bridge, they set fire to the fuses in a panic. By that time, half of the army had not yet managed to cross the river.

In the ensuing panic and confusion, the soldiers refused to obey orders, some threw themselves into the water and tried to swim across the river, but either drowned or died from enemy bullets. The Pole Poniatowski, who had received a marshal's baton the day before, was wounded twice, rushed into the water on his horse and drowned. His partner McDonald still managed to get to the other side.

The allies who burst into the city finished off the frustrated army, killed, slaughtered, captured ... This was the end of the bloody "battle of the peoples".

In three days Napoleon lost about 80,000 men, 325 guns and 500 wagons. 11,000 French were taken prisoner. Over 45,000 people were killed in the Allied army. The great army of Bonaparte was defeated, his second campaign in a row ended in failure. Now he was forced to retreat and withdraw his troops to the other side of the Rhine, leaving the borders of France.

This battle could have put an end to the history of the Napoleonic wars if the allies, having won, would not have let Napoleon slip out of the trap. But they had such an opportunity if they acted more in concert.

Soon all of Germany was in revolt against the conquerors.

Napoleon's empire continued to crumble before his eyes, the community of countries and peoples, soldered by iron and blood, disintegrated.

For four days, from October 16 to October 19, 1813, a grandiose battle unfolded on the field near Leipzig, later called the Battle of the Nations. It was at that moment that the fate of the empire of the great Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte, who had just returned from an unsuccessful eastern campaign for himself, was being decided.

If the Guinness Book of Records existed 200 years ago, then the peoples under Leipzig would have entered it in four indicators at once: as the most massive, the longest in time, the most multinational and the most overloaded with monarchs battle. The last three indicators, by the way, have not been beaten so far.

fateful decision

The catastrophic campaign of 1812 did not yet mean the collapse of the Napoleonic empire. Putting young conscripts under arms ahead of schedule and collecting new army, Bonaparte launched a series of counterattacks against the Russians and their allies in the spring of 1813, regaining control of most of Germany.

However, having concluded the Plesvitsky truce, he lost time, and after it ended, the anti-Napoleonic coalition was replenished with Austria and Sweden. In Germany, Bonaparte's strongest ally remained Saxony, whose king Frederick Augustus I was also the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, recreated on the ruins of Poland.

To protect the Saxon capital of Dresden, the French emperor allocated the corps of Marshal Saint-Cyr, he sent the corps of Marshal Oudinot to Berlin, MacDonald's corps moved east to hide from the Prussians. This dispersal of power was alarming. Marshal Marmont feared that on the day Napoleon won one major battle, the French would lose two. And I wasn't wrong.

On August 23, the Northern Allied Army defeated Oudinot at Grosberen, and on September 6 defeated Ney, who replaced him, at Dennewitz. On August 26, Blücher's Silesian army defeated Macdonald at the Katzbach. True, on August 27, Napoleon himself defeated the main Bohemian army of Prince Schwarzenberg, which inadvertently poked his head towards Dresden. But on August 30, the retreating Bohemian army at Kulm smashed the Vandam Corps that had turned up under its feet. The Allied command decided to refrain from fighting Napoleon himself, but to smash the large formations that had separated from his main forces. When such a strategy began to bear fruit, Napoleon decided that a pitched battle should be forced on the enemy at all costs.

Drawing out bizarre pirouettes of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, Bonaparte and the armies of the allies from different sides approached the point where the fate of the campaign was to be decided. And this point was the second largest city of Saxony Leipzig.

Two steps away from victory

Having concentrated the main forces south and east of Dresden, Bonaparte expected to attack the enemy's right flank. His troops stretched out along the Plaise River. Corps Bertrand (12 thousand) stood at Lindenau in case of appearance from the west of the so-called Polish army Bennigsen. The troops of Marshals Marmont and Ney (50 thousand) were responsible for the defense of Leipzig itself and were supposed to repel Blucher's offensive in the north.

On October 16, already at 8 o'clock in the morning, the Russian corps of Eugene of Württemberg attacked the French at the Wachau, which crumpled Napoleon's whole plan. Instead of crushing the right flank of the allies, the most fierce battles broke out in the center. At the same time, the Austrian corps of Giulai activated in the northwest, completely absorbing the attention of Marmont and Ney.

At about 11 o'clock, Napoleon had to throw into battle the entire young guard and one division of the old. For a moment, it seemed that he had succeeded in turning the tide. A "large battery" of 160 guns unleashed "a barrage of artillery fire unheard of in the history of wars in terms of its concentration," as Russian General Ivan Dibich wrote about it.

Then 10 thousand of Murat's horsemen rushed into battle. At Meisdorf, his riders rushed to the very foot of the hill, on which was the headquarters of the allies, including two emperors (Russian and Austrian) and the king of Prussia. But even those still had “trump cards” in their hands.

Alexander I, having reassured his fellow crowned men, advanced to the threatened area the 100-gun Sukhozanet battery, Raevsky's corps, the Kleist brigade and the life Cossacks of his personal escort. Napoleon, in turn, decided to use the entire Old Guard, but his attention was diverted by the attack of Merfeld's Austrian corps on the right flank. That's where the "old grumblers" went. They rolled out the Austrians and even captured Merfeld himself. But time was lost.

October 17 was for Napoleon a day of reflection, and unpleasant reflections. In the north, the Silesian army took possession of two villages and was clearly going to play the role of a “hammer” the next day, which, having fallen on the French, would flatten them to the “anvil” of the Bohemian army. Even worse was that by the 18th, the Northern and Polish armies were supposed to arrive on the battlefield. Bonaparte had only to retreat on the shore by leading his troops through Leipzig and then ferrying them across the Elster River. But to organize such a maneuver, he needed another day.

Treason and fatal mistake

On October 18, with all four of their armies, the Allies expected to launch six coordinated attacks and surround Napoleon in Leipzig itself. It all didn't start very smoothly. The commander of the Polish units of the Napoleonic army, Jozef Poniatowski, successfully held the line along the Plaisa River. Blucher was actually marking time, not having received timely support from Bernadotte, who took care of his Swedes.

Everything changed with the advent of Bennigsen's Polish Army. The 26th division of Paskevich, which was part of it, at first constituted a reserve, ceding the right of the first attack to the Austrian corps of Klenau. Paskevich subsequently spoke very caustically about the actions of the allies. First, the Austrians marched past his troops in even ranks, with their officers shouting to the Russians something like: “We will show you how to fight.” However, after a few canister shots, they turned back and again, in orderly ranks, returned back. “We made an attack,” they said proudly, and they no longer wanted to go into the fire.

The appearance of Bernadotte was the final point. Immediately after this, the Saxon division, the Württemberg cavalry and the Baden infantry went over to the Allied side. By figurative expression Dmitry Merezhkovsky, "a terrible void gaped in the center of the French army, as if the heart had been torn out of it." It was said too strongly, since the total number of defectors could hardly exceed 5-7 thousand, but Bonaparte really had nothing to close the gaps that had formed.

In the early morning of October 19, Napoleon's units began to retreat across Leipzig to the only bridge over the Elster. Most of troops had already crossed, when at about one in the afternoon the mined bridge suddenly flew into the air. The 30,000-strong French rearguard had either to die or surrender.

The reason for the premature explosion of the bridge was the excessive fearfulness of the French sappers, who heard the heroic “Hurrah!” soldiers of the same division of Paskevich who broke into Leipzig. Subsequently, he complained: they say, the next night, “the soldiers did not let us sleep, they dragged the French out of Elster, shouting: “They caught a big sturgeon.” These were drowned officers, on whom they found money, watches, etc.”

Napoleon with the remnants of his troops retreated to the territory of France, in order to continue and finally lose the fight next year, which was no longer possible to win.

The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is one of the most dramatic dates in the history of our country. This event gave rise to many myths and points of view regarding the causes, plans of the parties, the number of troops and other important aspects. Let's try to understand this issue and cover Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 as objectively as possible. And let's start with the backstory.

Background to the conflict

Napoleon's invasion of Russia was not an accidental and unexpected event. This is in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" it is presented as "treacherous and unexpected". In fact, everything was natural. Russia has brought disaster upon itself by its military actions. At first, Catherine II, fearing revolutionary events in Europe, helped the First Anti-French Coalition. Then Paul the First could not forgive Napoleon for the capture of Malta - an island that was under the personal protection of our emperor.

The main military confrontations between Russia and France began with the Second Anti-French Coalition (1798-1800), in which Russian troops, together with Turkish, British and Austrian troops, tried to defeat the army of the Directory in Europe. It was during these events that the famous Mediterranean campaign of Ushakov and the heroic transition of the Russian army of many thousands across the Alps under the command of Suvorov took place.

Our country then for the first time got acquainted with the "loyalty" of the Austrian allies, thanks to which the Russian armies of many thousands were surrounded. This, for example, happened to Rimsky-Korsakov in Switzerland, who lost about 20,000 of his soldiers in an unequal battle against the French. It was the Austrian troops who left Switzerland and left the 30,000th Russian corps face to face with the 70,000th French corps. And the famous one was also forced, since all the same Austrian advisers showed our commander in chief the wrong path in the direction where there were no roads and crossings.

As a result, Suvorov was surrounded, but with decisive maneuvers he was able to get out of the stone trap and save the army. However, ten years passed between these events and the Patriotic War. And Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 would not have taken place if not for further events.

Third and Fourth Anti-French Coalitions. Violation of the Peace of Tilsit

Alexander the First also started a war with France. According to one version, thanks to the British, a coup d'etat took place in Russia, which brought the young Alexander to the throne. This circumstance, perhaps, forced the new emperor to fight for the British.

In 1805, the Third is formed. It includes Russia, England, Sweden and Austria. Unlike the previous two, the new union was designed as a defensive one. No one was going to restore the Bourbon dynasty in France. Most of all, England needed the union, since 200 thousand French soldiers were already standing under the English Channel, ready to land on but the Third Coalition prevented these plans.

The climax of the union was the "Battle of the Three Emperors" on November 20, 1805. She received this name because all three emperors of the warring armies were present on the battlefield near Austerlitz - Napoleon, Alexander the First and Franz II. Military historians believe that it was the presence of "high persons" that gave rise to the utter confusion of the allies. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the Coalition forces.

We try to briefly explain all the circumstances without understanding which Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 would be incomprehensible.

In 1806, the Fourth Anti-French Coalition appeared. Austria no longer took part in the war against Napoleon. The new union included England, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Sweden. Our country had to bear the brunt of the battles, since England helped, mainly only financially, as well as at sea, and the rest of the participants did not have strong land armies. In one day, everything was destroyed in the battle of Jena.

On June 2, 1807, our army was defeated near Friedland, and retreated beyond the Neman - the border river in the western possessions of the Russian Empire.

After that, Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon on June 9, 1807 in the middle of the Neman River, which was officially interpreted as equality of the parties when signing the peace. It was the violation of the Tilsit peace that was the reason why Napoleon invaded Russia. Let us analyze the contract itself in more detail, so that the reasons for the events that occurred later were clear.

Terms of the Peace of Tilsit

The Tilsit peace treaty assumed Russia's accession to the so-called blockade of the British Isles. This decree was signed by Napoleon on November 21, 1806. The essence of the "blockade" was that France creates a zone on the European continent where England was forbidden to trade. Napoleon could not physically block the island, since France did not even have a tenth of the fleet that was at the disposal of the British. Therefore, the term "blockade" is conditional. In fact, Napoleon came up with what today is called economic sanctions. England actively traded with Europe. From Russia, therefore, the “blockade” threatened the food security of Foggy Albion. In fact, Napoleon even helped England, as the latter urgently found new trading partners in Asia and Africa, making good money on this in the future.

Russia in the 19th century was an agrarian country that sold grain for export. England was the only major buyer of our products at that time. Those. the loss of a sales market completely ruined the ruling elite of the nobility in Russia. We are seeing something similar today in our country, when counter-sanctions and sanctions hit the oil and gas industry hard, as a result of which the ruling elite suffers huge losses.

In fact, Russia joined the anti-English sanctions in Europe, initiated by France. The latter itself was a major agricultural producer, so there was no possibility of replacing a trading partner for our country. Naturally, our ruling elite could not comply with the conditions of the Tilsit peace, as this would lead to the complete destruction of the entire Russian economy. The only way to force Russia to comply with the "blockade" demand was by force. Therefore, the invasion of Russia took place. The French emperor himself was not going to go deep into our country, wanting to simply force Alexander to fulfill the Peace of Tilsit. However, our armies forced the French emperor to move further and further from western borders to Moscow.

the date

The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is June 12, 1812. On this day, the enemy troops crossed the Neman.

The myth of the invasion

There was a myth that Napoleon's invasion of Russia happened unexpectedly. The emperor held a ball, and all the courtiers had fun. In fact, the balls of all European monarchs of that time took place very often, and they did not depend on the events of politics, but, on the contrary, were its integral part. This was an unchanging tradition of monarchical society. It was on them that public hearings on critical issues. Even during the First World War, magnificent celebrations were held in the residences of the nobles. However, it is worth noting that Alexander the First Ball in Vilna nevertheless left and retired to St. Petersburg, where he stayed throughout Patriotic War.

Forgotten Heroes

The Russian army was preparing for the French invasion long before that. Minister of War Barclay de Tolly did everything possible so that Napoleon's army approached Moscow at the limit of its capabilities and with huge losses. The Minister of War himself kept his army in full combat readiness. Unfortunately, the history of the Patriotic War treated Barclay de Tolly unfairly. By the way, it was he who actually created the conditions for the future French catastrophe, and the invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia ultimately ended in the complete defeat of the enemy.

Secretary of War tactics

Barclay de Tolly used the famous "Scythian tactics". The distance between the Neman and Moscow is huge. Without food supplies, provisions for horses, drinking water The "Grand Army" turned into a huge prisoner of war camp, in which natural death was much higher than the losses from the battles. The French did not expect the horror that Barclay de Tolly created for them: the peasants went into the forests, taking their cattle with them and burning food, the wells along the route of the army were poisoned, as a result of which periodic epidemics broke out in the French army. Horses and people fell from hunger, mass desertion began, but there was nowhere to run in an unfamiliar area. In addition, partisan detachments of peasants destroyed individual French groups of soldiers. The year of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is the year of an unprecedented patriotic upsurge of all Russian people united in order to destroy the aggressor. This point was also reflected by L.N. Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace", in which his characters defiantly refuse to speak in French, since this is the language of the aggressor, and also donate all their savings to the needs of the army. Russia already for a long time did not know such an invasion. The last time before that our country was attacked by the Swedes almost a hundred years ago. Shortly before this, the entire secular world of Russia admired the genius of Napoleon, considered him the greatest man on the planet. Now this genius threatened our independence and turned into a sworn enemy.

The size and characteristics of the French army

The number of Napoleon's army during the invasion of Russia was about 600 thousand people. Its peculiarity was that it resembled a patchwork quilt. The composition of Napoleon's army during the invasion of Russia consisted of Polish lancers, Hungarian dragoons, Spanish cuirassiers, French dragoons, etc. From all over Europe, Napoleon gathered his " Grand Army". She was a motley, speaking different languages. At times, commanders and soldiers did not understand each other, did not want to shed blood for Great France, so at the first sign of difficulty caused by our scorched earth tactics, they deserted. However, there was a force that kept the entire Napoleonic army at bay - Napoleon's personal guard. This was the elite of the French troops, which went through all the difficulties with the brilliant commanders from the first days. It was very difficult to get into it. Guardsmen were paid huge salaries, they got the best food supplies. Even during the Moscow famine, these people received good rations when the rest were forced to look for dead rats for food. The Guard was something like Napoleon's modern security service. She watched for signs of desertion, put things in order in the motley Napoleonic army. She was also thrown into battle in the most dangerous sectors of the front, where the retreat of even one soldier could lead to tragic consequences for the entire army. The guardsmen never retreated and showed unprecedented stamina and heroism. However, they were too few in percentage terms.

In total, in Napoleon's army there were about half of the French themselves, who showed themselves in battles in Europe. However, now this army was different - aggressive, occupying, which was reflected in its morale.

Composition of the army

The "Great Army" was deployed in two echelons. The main forces - about 500 thousand people and about 1 thousand guns - consisted of three groups. The right wing under the command of Jerome Bonaparte - 78 thousand people and 159 guns - was supposed to move to Grodno and divert the main Russian forces. The central grouping led by Beauharnais - 82 thousand people and 200 guns - was supposed to prevent the connection of the two main Russian armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration. Napoleon himself, with new forces, moved to Vilna. His task was to defeat the Russian armies separately, but he also allowed them to join. In the rear, out of 170 thousand people and about 500 guns of Marshal Augereau remained. According to the estimates of the military historian Clausewitz, Napoleon involved in the Russian campaign up to 600 thousand people, of which less than 100 thousand people crossed the border river Neman back from Russia.

Napoleon planned to impose battles on the western borders of Russia. However, Baklay de Tolly forced him to play cat and mouse. The main Russian forces all the time evaded the battle and retreated into the interior of the country, dragging the French farther and farther from the Polish reserves, and depriving him of food and provisions on his own territory. That is why the invasion of Napoleon's troops in Russia led to the further catastrophe of the "Great Army".

Russian forces

At the time of the aggression, Russia had about 300 thousand people with 900 guns. However, the army was divided. The Minister of War himself commanded the First Western Army. Grouping Barclay de Tolly, there were about 130 thousand people with 500 guns. It stretched from Lithuania to Grodno in Belarus. The Second Western Army of Bagration numbered about 50 thousand people - it occupied the line east of Bialystok. The third army of Tormasov - also about 50 thousand people with 168 guns - stood in Volhynia. Also, large groups were in Finland - shortly before that there was a war with Sweden - and in the Caucasus, where traditionally Russia waged wars with Turkey and Iran. There was also a grouping of our troops on the Danube under the command of Admiral P.V. Chichagov in the amount of 57 thousand people with 200 guns.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia: the beginning

On the evening of June 11, 1812, a patrol of the Life Guards of the Cossack Regiment discovered suspicious movement on the Neman River. With the onset of darkness, enemy sappers began to build crossings three miles up the river from Kovno (modern Kaunas, Lithuania). Forcing the river with all forces took 4 days, but the vanguard of the French was already in Kovno on the morning of June 12. Alexander the First at that time was at a ball in Vilna, where he was informed about the attack.

From Neman to Smolensk

Back in May 1811, assuming Napoleon's possible invasion of Russia, Alexander the First told the French ambassador something like this: "We would rather reach Kamchatka than sign peace in our capitals. Frost and territory will fight for us."

This tactic was put into practice: Russian troops rapidly retreated from the Neman to Smolensk with two armies, unable to connect. Both armies were constantly pursued by the French. Several battles took place in which the Russians frankly sacrificed entire rearguard groups in order to hold the main forces of the French for as long as possible in order to prevent them from catching up with our main forces.

On August 7, a battle took place near Valutina Gora, which was called the battle for Smolensk. Barclay de Tolly had teamed up with Bagration by this time and even made several attempts to counterattack. However, all these were just false maneuvers that made Napoleon think about the future general battle near Smolensk and regroup the columns from marching formation to attacking. But the Russian commander-in-chief well remembered the order of the emperor “I don’t have an army anymore”, and did not dare to give a general battle, rightly predicting a future defeat. Near Smolensk, the French suffered huge losses. Barclay de Tolly himself was a supporter of a further retreat, but the entire Russian public unfairly considered him a coward and a traitor for his retreat. And only the Russian emperor, who had already fled from Napoleon once near Austerlitz, still continued to trust the minister. While the armies were divided, Barclay de Tolly could still cope with the wrath of the generals, but when the army was united near Smolensk, he still had to make a counterattack on Murat's corps. This attack was needed more to calm the Russian commanders than to give a decisive battle to the French. But despite this, the minister was accused of indecision, procrastination, and cowardice. There was a final discord with Bagration, who zealously rushed to attack, but could not give an order, since formally he was subordinate to Barkal de Tolly. Napoleon himself spoke out with annoyance that the Russians did not give a general battle, since his ingenious detour maneuver with the main forces would lead to a blow to the rear of the Russians, as a result of which our army would be completely defeated.

Change of commander-in-chief

Under pressure from the public, Barcal de Tolly was nevertheless removed from the post of commander in chief. Russian generals in August 1812 already openly sabotaged all his orders. However, the new commander-in-chief M.I. Kutuzov, whose authority was enormous in Russian society, also ordered a further retreat. And only on August 26 - also under public pressure - did he give a general battle near Borodino, as a result of which the Russians were defeated and left Moscow.

Results

Let's summarize. The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is one of the tragic in the history of our country. However, this event contributed to the patriotic upsurge in our society, its consolidation. Napoleon was mistaken that the Russian peasant would choose the abolition of serfdom in exchange for the support of the invaders. It turned out that military aggression turned out to be much worse for our citizens than internal socio-economic contradictions.

The Battle of Waterloo (a settlement in Belgium, 20 kilometers south of Brussels) is a decisive battle on June 18, 1815 between the army of Napoleon I and the Anglo-Dutch-Prussian troops during the "Hundred Days" period (the time of the secondary reign of Napoleon I from March 20 June 22, 1815 after his flight from the island of Elba).

With the defeat in the war of 1812 against Russia, the period of the collapse of the Napoleonic empire began. The entry of troops of the anti-French coalition into Paris in 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate. As a result, he was exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, but in March 1815 he seized power again.

The hastily created 7th anti-French coalition of European states, which included not only the victorious powers, but also other states participating in the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815, opposed the restored Napoleonic empire.

The coalition troops were armies: Anglo-Dutch (106 thousand people under the command of Field Marshal Arthur Wellington), Lower Rhine Prussian (251 thousand people under the command of Field Marshal Gebhard Blucher), Middle Rhine (168 thousand people under the command of Field Marshal Mikhail Barclay de Tolly ), Upper Rhine (254 thousand people under the command of Field Marshal Karel Schwarzenberg), two auxiliary Austro-Piedmontese armies (about 80 thousand people). They were concentrated along the lines of Belgium, Middle Rhine, Upper Rhine, Piedmont along the border of France and were intended for an attack on Paris. Napoleon I, having 200,000 troops and 150,000 national guards, decided to seize the initiative from the allies and break them up piece by piece. The main forces of the French army were advanced to Belgium and on June 16, in the battle of Ligny, they partially defeated the Lower Rhine army, forcing it to retreat. Napoleon ordered the corps of Marshal Emmanuel Grouchy (33 thousand people) to pursue her. However, Grushi acted indecisively and failed to prevent the Lower Rhine army from maneuvering and participating in the decisive battle.

By June 17, the main forces of the French troops (72 thousand people, 243 guns) were concentrated in the area of ​​Belle Alliance, Rossomme, Planchnoy. But Napoleon, counting on Grouchy to localize the Prussian troops, was in no hurry to attack Wellington's army, which took up defensive positions south of Waterloo along the line of heights on the road to Brussels. Wellington sheltered the troops from French artillery fire behind the hillsides.

The battle began on June 18 at 11 o'clock. Napoleon decided to strike the main blow on the left flank of Wellington, in order to prevent him from joining the Prussian army. The French corps of Honore Reil was originally supposed to conduct only demonstrative actions against the right flank of Wellington's army. However, the resistance of the enemy troops at the castle of Hougoumont violated Napoleon's plans. Reil gradually drew his entire corps into battle, but did not achieve success until the end of the day. The attack on the left flank of Wellington's army, launched at about 14 o'clock by four divisions of the corps of Count d "Erlon, each of which was built in deep columns from deployed battalions, also did not reach the goal, since with such a construction, insignificant forces simultaneously participated in the attack, and the attackers carried huge losses from enemy artillery and rifle fire.French artillery fire was ineffective because it was located too far from the attacking columns.

In the afternoon, the vanguard of the Prussian army of Blucher entered the Fishermont area. Napoleon was forced to throw against the Prussian troops the 10,000th corps of Count Lobau, and then part of the guard. At the same time, he changed the direction of the main attack, concentrating the main efforts against the center of Wellington's army. However, here, too, repeated attacks by the French troops were not successful. The heavy cavalry, led by Marshal Michel Ney, twice broke into the positions of Wellington's army, but, not supported in time by the infantry, rolled back. Napoleon's last attempt to break through the center of the enemy, throwing his reserve here - 10 battalions of the Old Guard, was also unsuccessful. The balance of power at that time was already in favor of the coalition troops - with the approach of three Prussian corps (Friedrich von Bülow, Georg von Pirch and Hans Joachim von Ziten), they had 130 thousand people.

At 8 pm the main forces of the Anglo-Dutch army went on the offensive from the front, and the Prussian troops struck at the right flank of the French. Napoleon's troops faltered and began to retreat. The retreat turned into a flight.

In the battle of Waterloo, the French lost 32 thousand people and all artillery, the Allies - 23 thousand people. Napoleon fled to Paris, where he abdicated for the second time on June 22. He was later exiled to Saint Helena.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

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