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The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (French: Campagne de Russie), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (Russian: Оте́чественная война́ 1812 го́да, romanized: Otéchestvennaya voyná 1812 góda), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian ...
Aug 24, 2023 · Napoleon invaded Russia on 24 June 1812 but suffered heavy losses as the Russians engaged in a war of attrition. Napoleon won the Battle of Borodino and captured Moscow but was forced to retreat through the deadly Russian winter.
- Napoleon's invasion of Russia involved around 615,000 men, 200,000 horses, and 1,300 guns along with a supply train of 7,848 vehicles.
- Of Napoleon's initial 615,000 men, less than 100,000 returned from Russia. Of the half-million losses, 380,000 had died, 120,000 were taken prisone...
- France invaded Russia in 1812 primarily to force it to rejoin the Continental System embargo against Britain.
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: Napoleon
The French emperor—intent on conquering Europe—sent 600,000 troops into Russia. Six disastrous months later, only an estimated 100,000 made it out.
After taking power in 1799, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte won a string of military victories that gave him control over most of Europe. He annexed present-day Belgium and Holland, along with large chunks of present-day Italy, Croatia and Germany, and he set up dependencies in Switzerland, Poland and various German states. Spain was largely under his hegemony despite continuing guerilla warfare there, and Austria, Prussia and Russia had been browbeaten into becoming allies. Only Great Britain remained completely outside of his grasp.
In 1806 Napoleon decided to punish the British with an embargo that became known as the Continental System. But by the end of 1810, Czar Alexander I had stopped complying due to its deleterious effect on Russian trade and the value of the ruble. Alexander also imposed a heavy tax on French luxury products like lace and rebuffed Napoleon’s attempt to marry one of his sisters.
Napoleon's Strategic Genius
Exacerbating tensions was the 1807 formation of the Duchy of Warsaw. Though Napoleon created that state from Prussian, not Russian, lands, Alexander worried that it would incite a hostile Polish nationalism, according to D.M.G. Sutherland, a history professor at the University of Maryland who has authored two books on the Napoleonic era. “Down to the present day, the love affair between the French and Polish is pretty permanent,” Sutherland said.
Napoleon, who considered Russia a natural ally since it had no territorial conflicts with France, soon moved to teach Alexander a lesson. In 1812 the French emperor raised a massive army of troops from all over Europe, the first of which entered Russia on June 24. “It was the most diverse European army since the Crusades,” Sutherland said.
Explore the extraordinary life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, the great military genius who took France to unprecedented heights of power, and then brought it to its knees when his ego spun out of control.
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- Jesse Greenspan
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Sep 7, 2024 · French invasion of Russia, (June 24–December 5, 1812), invasion of the Russian Empire by Napoleon I’s Grande Armée. The Russians adopted a Fabian strategy, executing a prolonged withdrawal that largely denied Napoleon a conclusive battle. Although the French ultimately captured Moscow, they could.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Napoleon's decision to invade Russia was fueled by a mix of strategic calculus and personal ambition. He believed that a successful campaign would not only force Russia back into the Continental System but also secure his eastern flank, allowing him to focus on his ultimate goal: the conquest of Britain.
On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée, led by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, crossed the Neman River, invading Russia from present-day Poland. The result was a disaster for the French. The Russian army refused to engage with Napoleon’s Grande Armée of more than 500,000 European troops.
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On Nov. 24, Napoleon approached the Berezina River in modern-day Belarus, where the fresh 24,000-strong Russian Danube Army under Admiral Pavel Chichagov awaited them on the opposite bank.
