Starting his Russian campaign in 1812, on the morning of June 11 (23), he addressed with an appeal to the “Great Army” already mobilized, prepared for the invasion. It said:
"Warriors! The Second Polish War begins. The first ended at Friedland and in Tilsit... Russia gives us the choice of dishonor or war, it is not doubtful. We will go forward, cross the Neman and bring war into her heart.
The second Polish war will glorify French weapons as much as the first. But the peace we make will be lasting and will destroy fifty years of proud and misplaced Russian influence in the affairs of Europe.”
On the same day, at 9 pm, the crossing of the Neman River began.
Napoleon crossing the Neman. Colored engraving. OK. 1816
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A. Albrecht. The Italian Corps of Eugene de Beauharnais crosses the Neman. June 30, 1812
Napoleon's "Great Army" invaded Russia suddenly, without prior declaration of war. There was a "small" military trick here. On June 10 (22), the Ambassador of France in St. Petersburg, A. Lauriston, presented Prince A.I. Saltykov note. It followed from it that from that time on, Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte "considers himself in a state of war with Russia." In Vilna, where the Russian sovereign was, the note was delivered only three days later.
Napoleon rejected the offer of peace, since by that time his vanguard units were already on Russian territory and were moving forward. He asked the Russian general:
Tell me, to get to Moscow, what is the best way to go?
To the arrogant question of the Emperor of France, Lieutenant General A.D. Balashov answered dryly and briefly:
Charles XII went through Poltava...
On June 12 (24) Emperor Alexander I signed the Manifesto on the beginning of the war with France. In it, all strata of society were called upon to defend the faith, the Fatherland and freedom, and resolutely stated:
"... I will not lay down my arms until not a single enemy warrior remains in My Kingdom."
The superiority of the "Great Army" in forces, as well as the unsuccessful strategic deployment of the Russian armies on the border, their lack of a unified leadership, forced the army commanders to look for a way out of the current situation, which was seen in the speedy connection of the 1st and 2nd Western armies. But this could be done only by retreating deep into their territory in converging directions.
With rearguard battles, the Russian armies were forced to retreat ...
With rearguard battles, the 1st and 2nd Western armies were forced to retreat under the onslaught of superior enemy forces. The 1st Western Army left Vilna and withdrew to the Drissky camp, and soon a gap of 200 km formed between the armies. The main forces of the Napoleonic troops rushed into it, which on June 26 (July 8) occupied Minsk and created the threat of defeating the Russian armies one by one.
However, such an offensive movement of the French did not go smoothly for them. On June 16 (28), the rearguard detachment of the major general gave a stubborn battle near Vilkomir to the vanguard of the marshal's corps. On the same day, the general's flying Cossack corps fought the enemy near Grodno.
After taking Vilna without a fight, Napoleon, having changed his plans, decided to attack the 2nd Western Army, surround it and destroy it. For this, the troops of E. Beauharnais (30 thousand people) and J. Bonaparte (55 thousand people) were allocated, and the 50 thousandth corps of Marshal L. Davout was ordered, moving east of Minsk, to go to the rear of the Russians and close the encirclement ring.
P.I. Bagration managed to avoid the threat of encirclement only by forced retreat to the southeast. Skillfully maneuvering among the Belarusian forests, the commander quickly withdrew his troops through Bobruisk to Mogilev.
On July 6 (18), Emperor Alexander I addressed the people of Russia with an appeal to assemble within the state.
The "Great Army" as it moved deeper into Russia was melting before our eyes. The French emperor had to allocate significant forces against those Russian troops that were on his flanks. On the way to Moscow, against the 3rd Western Army, the 30,000-strong corps of C. Renier and were left. Against the 26,000th corps of the lieutenant general, operating in the St. Petersburg direction, the corps of N. Oudinot (38 thousand people) and (30 thousand people) were detached from the main forces. A 55,000-strong corps was sent to capture Riga.
After the occupation of Mogilev by the French, the Russian armies continued their retreat in the direction of Smolensk. During the retreat, several fierce rearguard battles took place - near Mir, Ostrovno and Saltanovka.
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A. Adam. Battle of Ostrovno July 27, 1812 1845
In the battle near the town of Mir on June 27 (July 9), the Cossack cavalry of the cavalry general M.I. Platova inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy cavalry. Near Saltanovka on July 11 (23), the 26th Infantry Division of Major General I.F. fought valiantly. Paskevich, which withstood the blow of superior French forces.
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N.S. Samokish. The feat of Raevsky's soldiers near Saltanovka. 1912
Smolensk and Polotsk battles, battles near Kobrin and Gorodechna
On July 22 (August 3), the Russian armies united near Smolensk, keeping their main forces combat-ready. The first big battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 took place here. The battle of Smolensk lasted three days: from 4 (16) to 6 (18) August.
The Russian regiments repulsed all the attacks of the French and retreated only on orders, leaving the enemy a burning city, in which only about 350 of the 2250 houses survived. Almost all the inhabitants left it with the troops. Courageous resistance near Smolensk thwarted Napoleon's plan to impose a general battle on the main Russian forces in unfavorable conditions for them.
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P.A. Krivonogov. Defense of Smolensk. 1966
Failures pursued the advancing "Great Army" not only near Smolensk and Valutina Gora. The attempt of the French by the forces of the corps of N. Oudinot and L. Saint-Cyr (reinforced by Bavarian troops) to advance in the St. Petersburg direction ended in defeat during the battles near Klyastitsy and Golovchitsy on July 18-20 (July 30 - August 1). The corps of General C. Renier failed at Kobrin on July 15 (27) and near Gorodechna on July 31 (August 12), and Marshal J. Macdonald was unable to capture Riga.
Appointment as commander-in-chief M.I. Kutuzov
After the battles for Smolensk, the united Russian armies continued to withdraw in the direction of Moscow. Unpopular either in the army or in Russian society, the retreat strategy of M.B. Barclay de Tolly, leaving a large territory to the enemy forced Emperor Alexander I to establish the post of commander-in-chief of all Russian armies and on August 8 (20) appoint a 66-year-old infantry general to it.
His candidacy was unanimously supported by the Extraordinary Committee for the Choice of the Commander-in-Chief. Commander Kutuzov, who had great combat experience, was popular both among the Russian army and among the nobility. The emperor not only put him at the head of the army in the field, but also subordinated to him the militias, reserves and civil authorities in the provinces affected by the war.
Couriers were sent from the capital to the headquarters of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Western and Danube armies with a notice of the appointment of the commander in chief. August 17 (29) M.I. Kutuzov arrived at the army headquarters. When Napoleon learned about the appearance in the camp of the enemy of the commander-in-chief, who was so familiar to him, he uttered a phrase that became prophetic: "Kutuzov could not come in order to continue the retreat."
The Russian commander was greeted by the troops with great enthusiasm. The soldiers said: "Kutuzov has come to beat the French." Everyone understood that now the war would take on a completely different character. The troops started talking about the imminent general battle with the Napoleonic "Great Army" and that the retreat had come to an end.
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S.V. Gerasimov. Arrival of M.I. Kutuzov in Tsarevo-Zaimishche. 1957
However, the commander-in-chief refused to give a general battle to the enemy at Tsarevo-Zaimishch, considering the chosen position unfavorable for the Russian troops. Having withdrawn the army for several transitions towards Moscow, M.I. Kutuzov stopped in front of the city of Mozhaisk. The vast field near the village of Borodino made it possible to deploy troops with the greatest advantage and simultaneously block the Old and New Smolensk roads.
August 23 (September 4) Field Marshal M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov reported to Emperor Alexander I: “The position in which I stopped at the village of Borodino, 12 miles ahead of Mozhaisk, is one of the best that can be found only on flat places. The weak point of this position, which is located on the left flank, I will try to correct with art. It is desirable that the enemy attack us in this position; then I have great hope for victory.”
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The offensive of the "Great Army" of Napoleon during the Patriotic War of 1812
Battle for the Shevardino Redoubt
The battle of Borodino had its prologue - the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt on August 24 (September 5) on the extreme left flank of the Russian position. The 27th Infantry Division of the Major General and the 5th Jaeger Regiment held the defense here. In the second line stood the 4th Cavalry Corps of Major General K.K. Sievers. In total, these troops, under the general command of a lieutenant general, numbered 8 thousand infantry, 4 thousand cavalry with 36 guns.
A fierce and bloody battle flared up near the unfinished pentagonal earthen redoubt. Three infantry divisions of the corps of Marshal L. Davout and the cavalry corps of Generals E. Nansuty and L.-P. Montbrun tried to seize the redoubt on the move. In total, about 30 thousand infantry, 10 thousand cavalry attacked this field fortification of the Russian troops, and the fire of 186 guns fell. That is, at the beginning of the Shevardino battle, the French had more than a threefold superiority in forces and an overwhelming one in artillery.
More and more troops were involved in the matter. The firefight escalated into hand-to-hand combat over and over again. The redoubt changed hands three times that day. Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, the French, after a stubborn four-hour battle, by 8 pm nevertheless occupied the almost completely destroyed fortification, but could not hold it in their hands. General of Infantry P.I. Bagration, who personally led the battle, having carried out a strong counterattack at night with the forces of the 2nd Grenadier and 2nd Cuirassier divisions, again occupied the fortification. During that battle, the French 57th, 61st and 111th line regiments defending in the redoubt suffered significant losses in people.
The field fortification was completely destroyed by artillery fire. Kutuzov realized that the redoubt could no longer pose a serious obstacle to the Napoleonic troops, and ordered Bagration to withdraw to the Semyonovsky flushes. At 11 pm, the Russians left the Shevardinsky redoubt and took the cannons with them. Three of them with broken carriages became enemy trophies.
French losses in the Shevardinsky battle amounted to about 5 thousand people, Russian losses were approximately the same. When the next day Napoleon reviewed the 61st Line Regiment, which had suffered the most in the battle, he asked the regimental commander where one of his two battalions had gone. He replied: "Sire, he is in the redoubt."
The general battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 took place on August 26 (September 7) on the Borodino field, glorious for Russian weapons. When the "Great Army" approached Borodino, Kutuzov's army prepared to meet her. Field fortifications were erected on the field at Kurgan height (Raevsky's battery) and near the village of Semenovskoye (unfinished Semenovskie, or Bagrationov, flashes).
Napoleon brought with him about 135 thousand people with 587 guns. Kutuzov had about 150 thousand people with 624 guns. But this number included 28 thousand poorly armed and untrained warriors of the Smolensk and Moscow militias and about 8 thousand irregular (Cossack) cavalry. The regular troops (113-114 thousand) also included 14.6 thousand recruits. Russian artillery had superiority in the number of large-caliber guns, but 186 of this number ended up not in combat positions, but in the main artillery reserve.
The battle began at 5 o'clock in the morning and continued until 20 o'clock in the evening. Napoleon did not succeed in the whole day either to break through the Russian position in the center, or to go around it from the flanks. The private tactical successes of the French army - the Russians retreated from their original position by about 1 km - did not become victorious for her. Late in the evening, the disorganized and bloodless French troops were withdrawn to their original positions. The Russian field fortifications they took were so destroyed that there was no longer any point in holding them. Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army.
The battle of Borodino did not become decisive in the Patriotic War of 1812. Napoleon Bonaparte failed to achieve the main goal of his campaign in Russia - to defeat the Russian army in a pitched battle. He won tactically but lost strategically. It is no coincidence that the great Russian writer Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy considered the Battle of Borodino a moral victory for the Russians.
Since the losses in the battle turned out to be huge, and the reserves were used up, the Russian army left the Borodino field, retreating to Moscow, while conducting rearguard battles. On September 1 (13), at the military council in Fili, the decision of the commander-in-chief "for the sake of preserving the army and Russia" to leave Moscow to the enemy without a fight was supported by a majority of votes. The next day, September 2 (14), Russian troops left the capital.
Change of strategic initiative
Under the cover of the rearguard, commanded by the General of Infantry, the Main Russian Army made the Tarutinsky march-maneuver and settled in the Tarutinsky camp, reliably covering the south of the country.
Napoleon, who occupied Moscow after a catastrophic fire, languished for 36 days in a burnt-out huge city, waiting in vain for an answer to his proposal to Alexander I for peace, naturally, on favorable terms for him: after all, the French "struck Russia in the heart."
However, during this time, the peasantry of the Great Russian provinces, engulfed in war, rose to a large-scale people's war. Army partisan detachments were active. The active army was replenished by more than a dozen regiments of irregular cavalry, primarily 26 regiments of the Don Cossack militia.
To the south, to Volhynia, the regiments of the Danube Army were redeployed, which, having united with the 3rd Observation Army under the command of the admiral, conducted successful operations against the enemy. They pushed back the Austrian and Saxon corps of the "Great Army", occupied Minsk, where the French rear shops were located, and captured Borisov.
The troops of the emperor of the French were actually surrounded: Borisov, located in front of them, was occupied by the Russians, Wittgenstein's corps was hanging from the north, and the Main Army was moving from the east. In such a critical situation, Napoleon demonstrated extraordinary energy and high military leadership. He diverted the attention of Admiral P.V. Chichagov with the device of a false crossing south of Borisov, and he himself was able to transfer the remnants of the troops along two hastily built bridges across the Berezina near Studenka.
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Y. Falat. Bridge over the Berezina. 1890
But the crossing of the Berezina was a disaster for the "Great Army". She lost here, according to various estimates, from 25 to 40 thousand people killed, wounded and captured. Nevertheless, Napoleon managed to bring out and preserve for the future the color of his generals, most of the officer corps and the imperial guard.
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P. Hess. Crossing the Berezina. 1840s
Liberation of the territory Russian Empire from the enemy ended on the day of December 14 (26), when Russian troops occupied the border cities of Bialystok and Brest-Litovsky.
In the order for the army, “Savior of the Fatherland,” Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Prince of Smolensk, congratulated the troops on the complete expulsion of the enemy from Russia and urged them to “complete the defeat of the enemy on his own fields.” Thus ended the Patriotic War of 1812, or, as the great Russian poet A.S. called it. Pushkin - "Thunderstorm of the twelfth year."
"The enemy with poor remnants fled our borders"
The main result of the Patriotic War of 1812 was the actual destruction of the "Great Army" of Emperor Napoleon I. His political prestige and the military power of his empire were irreparably damaged.
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Unknown artist. Napoleon's departure from the army in 1812
It is believed that out of 608 thousand people who participated in the Napoleonic Russian campaign, about 30 thousand people crossed back through the Neman. Small losses were suffered only by the corps of the Austrians, Prussians and Saxons, operating on the flanks of the "Great Army". Over 550,000 soldiers and officers from Western European countries died on the fields of Russia or were taken prisoner. The chief of staff of the "Great Army" Marshal A. Berthier reported to the French emperor: "The army no longer exists."
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E. Kossak. Retreat of Napoleon from Russia. 1827
M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov wrote to Alexander I at the end of the war: "The enemy with poor remnants fled abroad our borders." His report to the emperor on the results of the 1812 campaign said: "Napoleon entered with 480 thousand, and withdrew about 20 thousand, leaving 150 thousand prisoners and 850 guns in place."
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Retreat of Napoleon's "Great Army" from Russia
The official end of the Patriotic War of 1812 is considered to be the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I dated December 25 of the same year. In it, the victorious sovereign publicly announced that he kept his word given by him not to stop the war "until at least one of the enemies remains on Our land."
The collapse of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia and the death of the "Great Army" in its open spaces did not mean that Napoleonic France was defeated. But the victory of Russian arms in 1812 dramatically changed the political climate in Europe. Soon the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, allied to France, became allies of Russia, whose army became the core of the forces of the 6th anti-French coalition.
Material prepared by the Research Institute (Military History)
Military Academy of the General Staff
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
MYTH ABOUT THE WAR OF 1812
Many myths have been created and are still being created about the war of 1812. The word myth, of course, should be understood simply as outright lies and lies.
To reinforce this lie, not only textbooks and books written and published by lured and tame "historians" are used, but also the media and even announcements in the subway are constantly used, as is the case every September, when to my surprise I heard that Borodino is it turns out ... the victory of the Russian army! That's how! But more on that later.
Russian army headquarters
Before proceeding directly to the events of 1812, let us consider what the headquarters of the Russian army was like and, if possible, compare it with the French headquarters.
The headquarters of the Russian army was represented almost entirely by foreigners:
The chief of staff - General Leonty Leontyevich Bennigsen - in fact, neither Leonty Leontyevich, but Levin August Gottlieb Theophil von Bennigsen, was born in Hanover - a German region, which at that time was under the protectorate of the English king, was a subject of the English king. However, since Napoleon occupied Hanover, it follows from this that the chief of staff was a legal subject of Napoleon.
Karl Fedorovich Toll - in fact, neither Karl Fedorovich, but Karl Wilhelm von Toll - later deployed troops on the Borodino field.
The Russian army was commanded by Bagration - who was born in Georgia even before joining Russia.
Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly - not Mikhail Bogdanovich, but Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, comes from German barons, and then by origin - a Scot.
Mikhail Kutuzov - comes from a Prussian family, and was also the owner of 6567 Russian slaves. Kutuzov preferred to be treated, like all rich Russians, in Germany.
French was spoken at the Russian headquarters - it was the main language. In addition to him, they also spoke German, English, but not Russian. Only slave soldiers spoke Russian. About why they are slaves, a little later.
Military gallery of the Winter Palace
An excellent understanding of the headquarters of the Russian army gives us the famous military gallery of the Winter Palace. The military gallery of the Winter Palace contains a number of paintings by participants in the war of 1812. Curiously, most of the characters written in these paintings were not painted from life, but much later than their death, so that with the same success there may be paintings with Darth Vader and the Terminator.
Another curious moment and mockery is that these paintings were painted by the English artist George Doe, representing the only country that won absolutely on all counts during the war against Napoleon. And of course, one must pay attention to the fact that the palace itself was not built by a Russian architect, but, as usual, by an Italian architect, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli.
http://pasteboard.co/1H3P2muNK.png
This is an amazing gallery of an amazing event - the Russians caused this war, lost all the battles of this war, including: the battle of Smolensk, the general battle of Borodino, the battle of Maloyaroslavets, and could not defeat the retreating Napoleon at Berezina, when he had no artillery , no cavalry. The Russians suffered huge human and material losses, while a huge number of human losses turned out to be the reason for the stupidity of both Kutuzov and Alexander, but nevertheless, these characters are in the Winter Palace, like heroes!
Pedigree of the "Russian" Tsar - Alexander I
Consider his pedigree:
His father, Paul I, is the son of the German Catherine II, whose full name is Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Father of Paul I - Peter III - Peter Karl Ulrich Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.
Mother of Alexander I - Sophia Maria Dorothea Augusta Louise of Württemberg.
Wife of Alexander I - Louise Maria Augusta of Baden.
It is noteworthy that Alexander I did not speak Russian.
As you can see, the tsar of the Russian Empire was as Russian as Napoleon.
By the way, many do not know, but Alexander I was not any Romanov. It was the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty of the Romanov dynasty, and not the Romanov dynasty, i.e. Simply put, the Germans ruled the Russian Empire.
Thus, there was no difference between the non-Russian Napoleon and the non-Russian Alexander I. However, Alexander I, unlike Napoleon, is Orthodox, but apparently not very religious. was a parricide.
Of course, Alexander did not kill himself, he "only" agreed to the murder. The very same murder of Alexander's father - Paul I - was carried out with English money. England did not need peace between Alexander and Napoleon.
As a child, Alexander was brought up in an unhealthy psychological situation between grandmother Catherine II and father Paul I, who hated each other and, as contemporaries used to say, dreamed of killing each other. Thus, one can imagine how twisted the psyche of the "Russian" tsar was.
It should be added that Alexander I was embarrassed by his own people whom he ruled and dreamed of ruling over the civilized French.
And here is one of the curious and most shameful facts, the so-called Romanovs, which Russian interpreters of history hush up: in 1810 - 1811. Alexander I sold about 10 thousand state peasants into serfdom!
("Mir Novosti". 08/31/2012, p. 26; for more details about this "seasonal sale" and about the situation of the sovereign's slaves, about how these Russian Orthodox people were sold in order to, so to speak, buy new gloves, see: Druzhinin N. M. State Peasants and the Reform of P. D. Kiselyov, Moscow-Leningrad, vol. 1, 1946).
Speaking of Alexander, it is impossible not to mention the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, who for 40 years has been doing foreign policy that country is Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode, who is actually not Karl Vasilyevich, as Russian "historians" habitually compose, but Karl Robert von Nesselrode is a German, a man who did not know the Russian language and did not even learn it in 40 years!
In general, notice how every foreigner in power in Russia, the writers of interpretations of Russian history, are trying to trick them into being Russians, or rather, not even to do so, but to present to the Russians their leadership as the same Russians as themselves.
Nevertheless, even the names already point to the colonial rule by foreigners, as was always the case with the Slavs: remember, at first they were ruled by the Khazars, Avars and Normans, then by the Tatars, then by the Germans. This is extremely curious.
As for the Russian people (and in fact, in addition to the Russian people, the Russian Empire included, as now, almost two hundred other peoples), this people shed their blood for this leadership and for nothing more.
What was the Russian army and the population of the Russian Empire
Even in the 19th century, Russia was an extremely backward agrarian country, with a slave-owning-feudal system. 98.5% of the Russian population were slaves, who are called "serfs" in historiography.
The Russian army, considering the soldiers, and not the officers, did not consist of free people, but of the very slaves that the slave-owning landlords were supposed to supply to the army. This scheme was called recruitment. It consisted in the fact that the serf slave was torn out of the "family" and sent to serve. The word "family" is in quotation marks, because the family of a serf slave was very conditional - at any moment the master could sell his family to different parts of the country. Also, the master at any time could use the wife or daughters (even minor ones) of a serf slave for his bedtime fun. Well, if the master had a certain kind of sexual promiscuity, then he could use not only the daughters of a serf slave, but also sons.
Service in the Russian army lasted 25 years, the Russian soldier did not receive anything for this. It was a duty. Naturally, if during these 25 years he did not die, then he had nowhere to return and he could no longer create a family. So, the best option for a Russian soldier was to die during the service.
Unlike the French army, the Russian army was not accompanied by brothels, and Russian soldiers were not paid money. For example, Napoleon paid the French soldiers in gold Napoleons.
Thus, a Russian serf, forcibly taken into the Russian army, could not realize his sexual desires in the same way, and naturally, as happens in similar cases in the modern Russian army or in Russian prisons, pederasty between soldiers was widely developed in the Russian army.
Human Differences in France and Russia
To understand the reason for the fear and aggression of European countries towards France of those years, it is necessary to quote a piece from the declaration of the rights of man and citizen of the French Republic, written by Napoleon:
Now let's compare this declaration in France with the fact that in Russia 98.5% of the Russian population were serfs.
It is noteworthy that this phrase from the declaration also breaks all the stories about the alleged partisan movement of peasants against Napoleon. Imagine a situation: a “commissar” responsible for propaganda work comes to a Russian slave and declares something like: “the adversary Napoleon prepared a terrible attack for you, he says that all people - and you, slaves - and your landlords and even your tsar - they are born free and equal in rights! Do you really want to be free and equal in rights with the landlords and the tsar? No?! That's it! Let's defend together, with weapons in our hands, your right to be slaves! "
And the peasants, in response, throw up their hats and shout: "Hurrah, we will defend our slavery! Let's smash the villain Napoleon, who said that everyone is born free and equal."
Are you, the reader, ready to believe in such a reaction of the peasants?
Causes of the War of 1812
There were no objective reasons for the war of 1805, 1807, 1812 between Russia and France. Territorially, Russia did not have common borders with France, so there were no territorial disputes. Economically, there was also no competition, because. France of the 19th century is a capitalist country with a developing industry, while Russia is an extremely backward agrarian country with a feudal-slave-owning structure, unable to produce for export anything other than natural resources (timber), wheat and hemp. The real rival of France in the field of economy was only Britain.
Russian professional (and therefore paid) interpreters (!) of Russian history explain that the reason why Alexander was preparing for war with Napoleon was allegedly that due to joining the trade blockade, Russia was losing huge money, which allegedly ruined the economy, which was a compelling reason for preparing for war.
This is a lie! And the fact that this is a lie is proved statistically!
1) Alexander joined the blog only at the end of 1808, when financial crisis was already very noticeable.
2) After Britain joined the trade blockade, British goods immediately began to arrive in Russia under a neutral flag, which completely leveled Russia's accession to the blockade. The situation is similar to how, after Moscow’s trade sanctions against the Russian Federation in 2015, bananas began to come from Belarus, like sea fish.
3) In 1808, the first peaceful year after the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit, according to the decree of Alexander I, military spending increased from 63.4 million rubles in 1807 to 118.5 million rubles. - i.e. twice the difference! And naturally, as a result of such military spending, a financial crisis ensued.
1) In a report to Alexander I, Chancellor Rumyantsev writes that the financial problems are not from joining the blockade, but from spending on the army, and this is statistically verified: the losses from the blockade were 3.6 million rubles. and spending on the army increased by more than 50 million rubles - the difference is obvious!
Thus, it is clearly seen from the statistics that the cause of the war was not trade sanctions.
And long before the events of 1812, the day after the conclusion of the Tilsit peace, Alexander wrote a letter to his mother that "this is a temporary respite" and begins to create an invading army.
The main real causes of the war of 1812 can be identified as follows:
1) Fear that ideas of equality will spread to Russia. In order not to be unfounded, we can compare a quote from the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen of the French Republic, written by Napoleon:
"People are born and remain free and equal in rights, social differences can only be based on common good"
And the fact that Russia was a slave-owning country, where there could be no question of any equality!
1) Another reason was the national inferiority complex of Tsar Alexander I, who was aware of what a flawed country he lives in, and he so wanted to hang out and be equal to all these kings ruling in civilized countries, for which he obviously climbed out of his skin to be first among the general discontent of the old royal Europe, who were most frightened by the ideas of equal rights for the French. Therefore, the actions of Alexander very accurately resemble the actions of Soviet and post-Soviet figures, such as Gorbachev, Yeltsin, etc. who did everything to be accepted in the Western club, praised and considered equal to themselves.
Alexander I, of course, was a king, like many other European monarchs of that time, but unlike them, Alexander was the king of an extremely backward slave-owning and impoverished country, which has a huge but uninhabited size, where civilization itself was absent even where there was life. He was the king of a country where all the rich people lived abroad for most of the year and often did not even know Russian. He was the king of a country where all the nobility spoke only French.
Russian interventions of 1805-1807 and preparation for the war of 1812
Starting from the very first days of the French Revolution, other countries began to prepare for the intervention. the air of freedom was too dangerous for European monarchies. Interventions lasted continuously from 1791 to 1815.
Russia showed direct aggression 3 times: Suvorov's campaign in Italy in 1799, while Napoleon was busy in Egypt, as well as two aggressions as part of anti-Napoleonic coalitions in 1805 and 1807. Russia began preparations for the fourth aggression immediately after the conclusion of the Treaty of Tilsit, and the direct concentration of troops already in 1810, with the intention of moving on France in the near future.
Since 1805 Britain sponsored the war against Napoleon by buying Russian soldiers, or rather paying the Russian Tsar for this participation. The rates were not so hot, so for every 100 thousand soldiers the British paid the Russian Tsar 1 million 250 thousand pounds. Although this is not so hot what money, but for a country that can only sell timber and hemp, it was significant money, especially since the life of the population was worth nothing, and Alexander could chic perfectly with this money.
The beginning of Russian intervention comes from 1805, when Alexander I creates an anti-French coalition and sends troops through half of Europe - through Austria to France. As a result of this campaign, all these troops were utterly defeated near Austerlitz, where the famous Russian commander, Mikhail Kutuzov, commanded. In the future, Kutuzov will also be defeated near Borodino, but in Russian historiography, interpreters of Russian history will write him down as a brilliant commander.
In 1807, Alexander participates in a new war against France.
And on June 2, 1807, Alexander's troops were again defeated, already near Friedland. However, even this time, Napoleon again did not pursue the defeated Russians! And he did not even cross the borders of Russia, although if he suddenly planned a campaign against Russia, it would be hard to imagine a better moment: the country was without an army and its military leaders were completely demoralized. However, Napoleon pursued only peace with Russia. This explains not only the fact that he let the defeated units of the Russian army leave, did not pursue them, did not cross the border with Russia, but moreover, for the sake of peace and the establishment of good relations, he outfitted almost 7,000 captured Russian soldiers at the expense of the French treasury and 130 generals and staff officers, and on July 18, 1800 sent them back to Russia free of charge and without any exchange. Trying to secure peace, Napoleon did not demand in Tilsit an indemnity from Russia thrice (twice - personally by him) punished for the aggression of Russia. Moreover, Russia also received the Bialystok region! All for the sake of peace.
A vivid example of Russian aggression in the war against Napoleon is the convened militia in 1806 in the amount of as many as 612,000 people!
Think about this word - militia. It a priori means military corps of local residents to fight the invader on their territory. But what kind of occupant was for the Russians in Russia in 1806? Napoleon was nowhere near! So, this militia was created for the intervention in France. Looking ahead, it should be noted that the militias were serfs who were recruited from the landowners according to the order. However, having recruited this militia, Alexander I deceived the landlords, who allocated serf slaves, and tonsured them into recruits. In the future, this act will be reflected in the quality of the militia of 1812, when the landlords, remembering how the tsar deceived them, will give only the crippled and sick to the militia.
The fight against Napoleon was fought not only on the battlefield, but also in the field of faith and religion. So in 1806, the Orthodox Alexander orders the Synod (church ministry) to pronounce an anathema to the Catholic Napoleon. And the unbelieving Catholic Napoleon was anathema from the Russian Orthodox Church, and at the same time he was declared the Antichrist. Napoleon must have been surprised, as was the Roman Catholic Church.
The ridiculousness of this anathema manifested itself in 1807 at the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit. Realizing that when signing the peace, Alexander would have to kiss Napoleon - the "Antichrist", the Russian Orthodox Church lifted the anathema. True, it was announced later anyway.
Another ridiculous conclusion of peace in 1807 was that Alexander presented Napoleon with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, which was the highest award of the Russian Empire.
Be that as it may, but already in 1810, three Russian armies were already standing on the western border, ready for a new intervention, and on October 27 and 29, 1811, a number of "highest orders" were signed to the corps commanders, in which they were ordered to prepare for the operation right on the river Vistula!
On October 5 (old style), 1811, the Russian-Prussian military convention against France was signed. However, at the last moment, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia were afraid to openly fight Napoleon again and agreed only to secret agreements that in case of war they would not seriously act against Russia.
Thus, Napoleon began to raise troops later than Alexander and with the aim of defeating the Russians before they united with Prussia and Austria.
Throughout the spring of 1812, Napoleon was waiting for the Russian offensive in Dresden, so he did not move. It was impossible to wait indefinitely, so Napoleon went on the offensive himself, but lost favorable time and started the war at a time when it was no longer starting - the crossing of troops began on June 24!
Indisputable evidence that Napoleon not only did not intend to cross the border, but, having reliable intelligence information, was preparing to defend against Alexander's aggression (as was always the case in previous years): The most important part of Napoleon's correspondence in 1810 - the first half of 1812 dedicated to ensuring the strengthening of fortifications in the Warsaw area (Handelsman M. Instrukcje i depeszerezydentów francuskich w Warszawie. T. 2, Warszawa, 1914, s. 46; Correspondance de Napoléon I. P., 1863, V. 23, p. 149 - 150). Napoleon constantly warned his marshals. “If the Russians do not start aggression, the most important thing will be to conveniently position the troops, provide them well with food and build bridgeheads on the Vistula,” May 16, 1812, to the Chief of the General Staff. "... If the Russians do not move forward, my desire will be to spend the whole of April here, confining myself to active work on the construction of a bridge in Marienburg ...", - March 30. "...While the enemy will start offensive operations..." - 10 June. "... If enemy troops press on you ... retreat to Kovno to cover this city ...", - wrote Marshal L.A. Berthier to General Sh.L.D. Granjean 26 June.
And finally, the main, legal proof that Russia started the war:
As early as June 16 (that is, eight days before Napoleon's crossing of the Neman!) the head of the French Foreign Ministry, the Duke de Bassano, assured a note on the termination of diplomatic relations with Russia, officially notifying the European governments about this. On June 22, French Ambassador J. A. Lauriston informed the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry about the following: “... my mission ended, since Prince A. B. Kurakin’s request for passports meant a break, and from now on His Imperial and Royal Majesty considers himself at war with Russia.
This means that Russia was the first to declare war on France.
Patriotic War
The war of 1812 was short - only 6 months: moreover, only 2.5 of them - on the "originally Russian" territory. Even rumors that a war is going on somewhere have not reached the entire population! And given that the speed of news dissemination took a month or more, for many the war was still "going on" for a whole month or even more than one, after it ended. To compare how the post office worked in France: in a day, news was delivered to the most remote corners of the empire.
The beginning of the war, which Alexander I himself was preparing, began with the fact that he decided to abandon both his armies and Moscow and fled straight from the ball to St. Petersburg.
The Russian military headquarters accepted the idea of Bernadotte, received from Sweden, about the need to retreat using the presence of a vast territory and its uninhabited. The Russian headquarters understood that they could not defeat Napoleon in an open battle. At the same time, they retreated very briskly, so much so that the French cavalry vanguard wrote reports that they were losing sight of the retreating Russian infantry!
The war of 1812 was declared in Russian history as a Patriotic War. But was this war a domestic one?
No, this war was never domestic!
First of all, we see that none of the countries of the anti-Napoleonic coalition, through whose territory Napoleon walked more than once, declared these wars to be domestic! Such an announcement occurred only in Russia, and even then, several decades after the end of this war. The war of 1812 was declared patriotic only in 1837 at the behest of Nicholas I and, as will be shown below, its purpose was to conceal the uprising of serf slaves.
In general, before talking about national patriotism in the context of this war, one must understand that the Russian Empire in 1812 is an empire that occupied about 200 nations, and thus, the empire and national patriotism, in principle, do not combine. Indeed, what kind of national patriotism should feel, for example, Buryats or Chukchi or even Tatars in relation to the occupying country?
To clearly show how the Russian interpreters of history bypass the national question, it is enough to quote what they write about the following: let's judge the nature of the war only on the territory from Smolensk to Moscow. They (the interpreters of Russian history) are uncomfortable with the Lithuanian corps in Napoleon’s army, which clearly shows how the Lithuanian people occupied by the Russians perceived the “patriotic war”, they are uncomfortable with the Little Russian partisans who acted against the “Muscovites” (whom they hated then as well as now), they are uncomfortable with the Baltic collaborators (although there were many of them in the original Russian provinces), etc. They are not interested in the fact that recruitment was not even carried out in Georgia, which once again shows what kind of "patriotic war" this is for the occupied lands. Thus, the territory of Lithuania, Courland, "Little Russia", the former Polish lands in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Belarus, the vast Asian expanses and tribes, Georgia, Siberia and the Far East (which even the news of the war reached at least a month late), captured Finland are domestic " scientists-historians" from the Russian Empire are annexed and destroyed in favor of their ambitious idea of a "patriotic" war.
But maybe the Russians themselves should have felt this national patriotism?
Here is a picture of the Russian population gives us statistics:
98.5% of the Russian population of Russia are serfs.
A serf slave is a person with whom the slave owner could do absolutely whatever he wants. The slave owner could sell him and his family either together or individually. The slave owner could breed slaves by selling their offspring. The slave owner could fuck and rape the wife of a slave (if he had one) or the daughters of a slave (if he had any), regardless of their age (the example with Kutuzov will further show that the younger the age of the slaves, the better). The slave owner could maim, beat and, in principle, even kill a slave and he had nothing for it! Moreover, by decree of Catherine II, slaves who complained about their masters were sent to hard labor and exile to Siberia.
So you can imagine the uncontrollable arbitrariness that the Russian slave owners did. And there were 98.5% of such slaves among the entire Slavic population.
Therefore, it is impossible to talk about the Patriotic War, because. Slaves have no homeland! They are not even citizens of the country, they are just talking things, slaves.
Slaves absolutely do not care who their master is today. Yesterday he could have one owner, today another, and tomorrow there will be a third, and all these owners can be from completely different regions of the country. Its owner is the one who bought it today!
The serf slave also could not understand where he was located geographically, because. he had never been further than the neighboring village and did not know what was further, in his understanding the world ended beyond the borders of the neighboring village that he knew about. The serf slaves also had no education. To clearly see that the Russian peasants did not recognize themselves as "citizens" of the country, it is enough to give an example of how they answered the question "who they are", the unfortunate ones answered that they were "such and such a gentleman "or" from such and such a village, volost" ("Kutuzov", "Ryazan" - but not Russian!)
In total, Slavic peasants (serfs and a small part - state) accounted for 98.5% of the Slavic population! Therefore, it is not surprising that when Napoleon entered Moscow, most of the districts declared their allegiance to Napoleon. Russian serf slaves - peasants said so "we are now Napoleons"!
And we must admit that they were right, because they just changed the owner!
Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that during the 36 days that Napoleon was in Moscow, no peasants and no Russian army tried to knock Napoleon out of there. The motive of the Russian army is understandable - they had already been defeated and they were afraid of a new battle, so they simply played for time in the hope of winter, that Napoleon would have to leave himself, and the serfs did not attack because they simply had a change of owner.
Russian peasants in 1812 refused to defend "the faith, the tsar and the fatherland", because they did not feel the connection between themselves and all this verbiage! And even the French were horrified by the inhuman situation of the Russians: General Zh.D. Kompan wrote that pigs in France live better and cleaner than serfs in Russia (Goldenkov M. Decree. cit., p. 203). So telling tales about how serf slaves, living worse than French pigs, allegedly fought for their slavery against the French - this is simply typical disrespect and contempt for the Slavs.
The destruction of the landowner's estate (Painting by V.N. Kurdyumov):
http://pasteboard.co/gWDkKUKoz.png
With all this, we must not forget that the Russian military leaders carried out the so-called "scorched earth" tactics, which consisted in burning peasant houses, their crops - everything that was acquired by overwork. And this once again shows who the real enemy was for the Russian peasant - not the Frenchman, who carried the ideas of freedom and equality on bayonets and did not carry out the tactics of total destruction, but it was the Russian soldiers who burned and robbed everything, as well as the landlords, who for centuries mocked their slaves.
Against this background, propaganda statements that the peasants, acting as partisans, killed the French, look absurd. Let's look at this photo, taken a little later than those events, but in which we can observe all the hopelessness of the life of Russian serfs:
://pasteboard.co/gWDXAoFIf.png
And now let's compare this hopelessness and the realities of slavery with those propaganda paintings and stories that began to be created at the behest of Nicholas I and later, for example, one of these paintings depicts a serf slave named Vasilisa, who allegedly fights with the French and kills them:
http://pasteboard.co/1H41Db9Fd.png
Try to compare paintings on this topic with paintings and photographs of Russian slaves in the Russian Empire to understand that this could not be in principle.
It should be noted that there could not be any unity of the slaves with the oppressors (landowners and the tsar) and any patriotism among the slaves!
Changes in the political elite of the Russian Empire did not affect the serf slaves in any way - they do not care who their master is, especially since they would benefit from Napoleon. Napoleon began to free the serfs.
But since this war was not patriotic for the slaves, then maybe it was patriotic for the soldiers?
No, it wasn't. The soldiers in the Russian army are slaves, for whom their landowner has prepared an even more bitter fate by sending them to the Russian army, where only death could be the best fate for them. And they did not come there voluntarily, even being serf slaves, they preferred to remain serf slaves than to become serf soldiers.
But since this war was not patriotic for slaves and soldiers, then maybe it was patriotic for the nobles? Let's see what the nobles lost from the arrival of Napoleon and how patriotic they were.
So, they are nobles, spoke French, lived most of the year abroad, read French novels written in French, listened to French music, drank French wine and ate French food.
And what is war on the part of the conqueror? It is a loss of independence and a way of life.
But what way of life could the Russian nobles lose if they already lived in the image and likeness of the conquerors?!
And what way of life could the serfs lose? - only their slavery and nothing more.
Their theoretical changes from the coming to power of Napoleon would have been zero - they already lived in French.
However, Napoleon was not going to conquer them and introduce his orders, the whole purpose of his war was to destroy the threat from Russia and conclude peace, which he insisted on until the very last moment.
Speaking about the level of patriotism of the nobles, it is necessary to give a good example that will perfectly demonstrate their level of noble patriotism:
After the war, the government allowed (but then quickly canceled this initiative) to apply for compensation for damage from the war.
Here is a small list of what the nobles demanded to be reimbursed:
Count Golovin's claim -229 thousand rubles.
Count Tolstov's claim - 200 thousand rubles.
The claim of Prince Trubitskov is almost 200 thousand rubles.
But in the register of Prince Zaseykin, among other things, they list: 4 jugs for cream, 2 Shrovetide, a cup for broth.
The daughter of foreman Artemonov demanded: new stockings and chemisettes.
The level of patriotism of the nobles is just brilliant! - Reimburse stockings and chemisettes, and don't forget the jugs - we lost them because of this war!
However, the investigation showed that all this was stolen by peasants who hated their masters, and not by the French. Speaking of peasant thieves: this once again shows what the serf slaves cared about during the offensive of the interventionists - they cared about the opportunity to steal, not partisan!
Let us return, however, to the course of the war. Many imagine it as a seizure by hordes of the entire territory of Russia. But in fact, it was a small campaign that mostly went through the territory of the so-called "Smolensk road", which was not a road either. was even unpaved!
Thus, in view of objective reasons (territory, lack of decent infrastructure), the war of 1812 was only extremely local in nature!
Why has no one ever written about this? Maybe because pseudo-patriotic ideologists did not consider the population of most of the country to be people? From Smolensk to Moscow - Russia, and then - foreign, temporarily occupied lands?
The most important moment of the events of those times is that at the same time there was a mass peasant uprising! And this uprising was not against the French, as well-paid Russian artists show us and well-paid Russian interpreters of history tell us, it was an uprising against the landowners and the tsar! The numbers alone speak volumes: out of 49 provinces of the Russian Empire, 32 provinces were engulfed in a peasant uprising! And only 16 provinces were somehow involved in a direct war with the French. However, this does not mean that there were battles in these 16 provinces. It only means that either there were some military units there, or some newspapers were distributed, these are just provinces where they somehow knew about the war. But the Russian tsar at that time was waging a real war not with Napoleon, but with the rebellious slaves of 32 provinces! That is why, trying to hide both the causes of the war and the course of the war and this uprising of slaves, the term was invented about the alleged "patriotic" war!
One of the main subjects of the correspondence of the Russian nobles of that time is the fear that the peasants, among whom there is already a rumor that "Napoleon has come to give us freedom," will raise an uprising. In parallel with this, the murmur of the landowners who have lost their estates rises.
Battle of Borodino
Before talking about the battle of Borodino, it is necessary to dispel one of the myths of Russian history about the so-called "countless hordes" of Napoleon.
After crossing the Neman River, the French entered the territory recently occupied by Russia and was not Russian territory.
In the first echelon, Napoleon introduced from 390-440 thousand people, but this does not mean that this number reached Moscow, it only means that they dispersed to the garrisons and after Smolensk Napoleon had only about 160 thousand.
And already near Moscow, under Borodino, the number was as follows:
The French: about 130 thousand soldiers minus the guard 18862, which did not participate in the battle. Thus, the number of French involved in the battle was approximately 111 thousand and 587 guns.
The Russians: about 157 thousand soldiers, including 30 thousand militias and Cossacks, as well as 640 guns.
As you can see, the numerical advantage was with the Russians, whose numbers were 30% superior to the French army, while we should not forget about another 251 thousand of the population of Moscow (not counting other cities), which can quickly provide a human resource.
On the Borodino field itself, the Russians were in a fortified position, having redoubts, flashes, etc. and according to military rules, the attackers had to have at least 1/3 more than the number of people settled in the fortifications in order to successfully fight those in the fortifications.
However, in a battle where the Russians had both a numerical and fortified advantage, the Russians were defeated. Kutuzov lost all the fortifications: the Ranevsky battery, the Bagration fleches, the Utinsky mound, the Shevardinsky redoubts, etc. and the Russians retreated, surrendering Moscow without a fight (by the way, which had fortified walls and a fortress - the Kremlin) and fled to Tarutino.
It is noteworthy that when fleeing Moscow, the Russians abandoned many guns and more than 22,500 of their wounded soldiers - they were in such a hurry, but they took the time to ruin all the fire hydrants and hoses in the city. After that, at the behest of the Governor-General Rostopchin, the city was set on fire. In the flames of the fire, almost all the more than 22,500 wounded Russian soldiers abandoned by the Russians burned alive. Kutuzov knew about the upcoming arson, but did not even try to save the wounded soldiers.
It is curious that after the defeat at Borodino, which Kutuzov literally overslept while it was going on, Kutuzov writes a denunciation accusing Barclay de Tolly of the defeat.
The undoubted fault of Kutuzov lies in the subsequent huge non-combat losses (more than 100 thousand soldiers!) Since he did not take care of provisions and winter clothes for the army, but constantly slept and had fun with a 14-year-old Cossack girl.
On September 20, Rostopchin wrote to Alexander I: "Prince Kutuzov is no more - no one sees him; he still lies and sleeps a lot. The soldier despises him and hates him. He does not dare to do anything; a young maid
The official reason for the war was the violation of the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit by Russia and France. Russia, despite the blockade of England, received its ships under neutral flags in its ports. France annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg to its possessions. Napoleon considered it insulting to himself the demand of Emperor Alexander for the withdrawal of troops from the Duchy of Warsaw and Prussia. The War of 1812 was becoming inevitable.
Here summary Patriotic War of 1812. Napoleon, at the head of a huge army of 600,000, crossed the Neman on June 12, 1812. The Russian army, numbering only 240 thousand people, was forced to retreat deep into the country. In the battle of Smolensk, Bonaparte failed to win a complete victory and defeat the united 1st and 2nd Russian armies.
In August, Kutuzov M.I. was appointed commander in chief. He not only possessed the talent of a strategist, but also enjoyed respect among soldiers and officers. He decided to give a general battle to the French near the village of Borodino. The positions for the Russian troops were chosen most successfully. The left flank was protected by flushes (earth fortifications), and the right flank by the Koloch River. In the center were the troops of Raevsky N.N. and artillery.
Both sides fought desperately. 400 guns were fired at the flushes, which were courageously guarded by the troops under the command of Bagration. As a result of 8 attacks, the Napoleonic troops suffered huge losses. They managed to capture the batteries of Raevsky (in the center) only at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but not for long. The attacking impulse of the French was held back thanks to a bold raid by the lancers of the 1st Cavalry Corps. Despite all the difficulties to bring into battle the old guard, elite troops, Napoleon did not dare. Late in the evening the battle was over. The losses were huge. The French lost 58, and the Russians 44 thousand people. Paradoxically, both commanders declared their victory in the battle.
The decision to leave Moscow was made by Kutuzov at a council in Fili on September 1. It was the only way maintain a viable army. September 2, 1812 Napoleon entered Moscow. While waiting for an offer of peace, Napoleon stayed in the city until 7 October. As a result of fires, most of Moscow perished during this time. Peace with Alexander 1 was never concluded.
Kutuzov stopped 80 km away. from Moscow in the village of Tarutino. He covered Kaluga, which has large stocks of fodder and the arsenals of Tula. The Russian army, thanks to this maneuver, was able to replenish its reserves and, importantly, upgrade equipment. At the same time, French foragers were subjected to guerrilla attacks. Detachments of Vasilisa Kozhina, Fyodor Potapov, Gerasim Kurin delivered effective strikes, depriving the French army of the opportunity to replenish food. In the same way, special detachments of Davydov A.V. and Seslavina A.N.
After leaving Moscow, Napoleon's army failed to break through to Kaluga. The French were forced to retreat along the Smolensk road, without fodder. Early severe frosts exacerbated the situation. The final defeat of the Great Army took place in the battle near the Berezina River on November 14-16, 1812. Of the 600,000-strong army, only 30,000 hungry and frozen soldiers left Russia. The manifesto on the victorious end of the Patriotic War was issued by Alexander 1 on December 25 of the same year. The victory of 1812 was complete.
In 1813 and 1814, the campaign of the Russian army took place, liberating the European countries from the domination of Napoleon. Russian troops acted in alliance with the armies of Sweden, Austria, Prussia. As a result, in accordance with the Treaty of Paris on May 18, 1814, Napoleon lost his throne, and France returned to the borders of 1793.
The First Patriotic War broke out in 1612, when the Russian people's militia defeated the Polish occupying troops. The result - the preservation of the Russian state and the choice of a new royal dynasty, the boyars Romanovs.
The Second Patriotic War began two hundred years later - in June 1812, and also became victorious for Russia. Napoleon was defeated, Russia received new territories and new experience of the army elite. The result - the December uprising on the Senate Square. Slavery continued for another 50 years.
And the third Patriotic war - the Second World War 1939 - 1945 IN Russian history accepted as the Great Patriotic War. The result - the victory over Nazi Germany and the division of Europe into two camps - pro-communist and capitalist. Creation of the "Iron Curtain" for 50 years.
Half-forgotten Patriotic War
Unlike the Great Patriotic War, the War of 1812 was completed in less than a year. Starting in June, already in December of the same 1812, the victory of Russia and the entry of Russian troops into the territory of the Napoleonic Empire was announced. On December 25, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, the Manifesto was issued on the expulsion of the French from Russia.
“The club of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and rose, fell and nailed the French until the entire invasion died,” wrote L.N. Tolstoy, emphasizing the national character of the war.
In this small, even by the standards of an individual, time period, many great events fit.
June
By June 1812 French troops were ready to invade Russia. A well-trained, mobilized army with extensive military experience stood at the borders, numbering, according to French data, 448 thousand people in the first echelon. Later, about 200,000 more were sent to Russia — in total, according to Russian data, at least 600,000 people.
On the night of June 12 (24), 1812 The French army invaded Russia. Early in the morning, the vanguard of the French troops entered the city of Kovno. Russian troops withdrew without accepting the battle.
The French army began a rapid advance inland, trying to cut off the Russian armies from each other and defeat them one by one.
July
July 22 (August 3), 1812 armies Barclay de Tolly And Bagration joined at Smolensk. This was a major success of the Russian army and the failure of Napoleon, who sought to defeat the 1st and 2nd armies one by one and a border general battle. The immediate task of the Russian command was solved - the mistakes of the strategic deployment of the Russian army were overcome.
August
The retreat of the Russian army. Having beaten off the fierce attacks of the storming enemy columns, the Russian troops left the burning Smolensk on the night of August 6 (18) and continued their retreat. "The campaign of 1812 is over," said Napoleon, entering Smolensk.
August 8 (20), 1812 signed an appointment order M.I. Kutuzov Commander-in-Chief. Companion P.A. Rumyantseva And A.V. Suvorov was 67 years old.
September
The battle of Borodino, which lasted about 12 hours, began in the early morning August 26 (September 7). During many hours of continuous battle, the French units failed to break through the defenses of the Russian troops. They stopped fighting and were withdrawn to their original positions.
Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army. Kutuzov failed to defend Moscow. But here, on the Borodino field, the Napoleonic army, by fair judgment L.N. Tolstoy received a mortal wound.
The losses on both sides were colossal: the French lost about 35 thousand people at Borodino, the Russians - 45 thousand. Napoleonic generals demanded new reinforcements, but the reserves were fully used, and the emperor did not put the old guard into operation.
In the battle of Borodino, the best enemy forces were defeated, thanks to which the transition of the initiative into the hands of the Russian army was prepared.
Napoleon later said this about the battle of Borodino: “Of all my battles, the most terrible one was the one I fought near Moscow. The French in it showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible.
September 2(14), 1812 Napoleon approached Moscow and stopped at Poklonnaya Hill. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, being sure that the capture of Moscow would make further Russian resistance pointless. More than two hours Napoleon waited for the Moscow deputation with the keys to the city. And then he was informed that the city was empty.
Soon the city caught fire with the Great Moscow Fire. Moscow fire and looting soon destroyed those food supplies that were in the city. The resistance of the Russian army to the enemy grew, the partisan movement expanded.
From Moscow, Napoleon offered three times Alexander I start peace negotiations. The royal court and officials close to Alexander I ( A.A. Arakcheev, N.P. Rumyantsev, HELL. Balashov) were advised to sign peace. But the tsar was adamant: all Napoleon's letters remained unanswered.
In such an environment, further stay in Moscow for the French army became dangerous.
October
October 7 (19), after 36 days of fruitless efforts to achieve peace with Russia, Napoleon ordered a retreat from Moscow. Leaving, he ordered to blow up the Kremlin. As a result of the explosion, the Faceted Chamber and other buildings burned down. Only the courage of the heroes who cut the lit fuses, and the rain that began, saved the ancient monument of Russian culture from complete destruction.
October 6(18), 1812 Murat's corps, sent by Napoleon to the river. Chernishna to monitor the Russian army, was attacked by Kutuzov. As a result of the fighting, the French lost about 5 thousand people and were forced to retreat. This was the first victory of the offensive of the Russian army that had begun.
“Our retreat, which began with a masquerade,” wrote a French officer E. Labom ended with a funeral procession.
November
Mid November the main forces of Kutuzov defeated the enemy in three-day battles near the city of Krasny. The Napoleonic army had to cross the Berezina River to break out of Russia. 20-30 thousand people managed to cross the Berezina, more than 20 thousand died during the crossing or were captured.
After the Berezina, Napoleon's retreat turned into a disorderly flight. His Grand Army practically ceased to exist. A little more than 30 thousand people remained from it.
In the end of November the emperor from the town of Smorgon went to France. On December 6 (18) he was in Paris. .
On December 25, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, the Manifesto was issued on the expulsion of the French from Russia.
What did the Patriotic War mean for Russia 100 years ago?
Emphasizing the scale of events, the publicist Alexander Herzen believed that the true history of Russia begins in 1812: until that time there was only its prehistory.
“The interval between 1810 and 1820 is small,” wrote A.I. Herzen. “But between them is 1812. The morals are the same; the landowners who returned from their villages to the burned capital are the same. But something has changed. A thought flashed by, and what she touched with her breath was no longer what it was.
The future Decembrists highly appreciated the significance of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign, considering themselves "children of 1812". “Napoleon invaded Russia,” noted A. Bestuzhev, - and then the Russian people for the first time felt their strength, then a sense of independence, first patriotic, and subsequently popular, awakened in all hearts. This is the beginning of freethinking in Russia.”
Ilya Kudryashov, an employee of the Battle of Borodino panorama museum, scientific consultant of the project dedicated to the war of 1812, which Gazeta.Ru prepared together with the Runivers historical website, answered the question of Newspaper RU in this way:
- What is the difference between the celebration of the anniversary now and a hundred years ago, according to your estimates?
— A hundred years ago, they celebrated one of the brightest events in the history of that Russia. Then there was a monarch from the same dynasty on the throne (Alexander I was the elder brother of his great-grandfather Nicholas II). There were the same regiments that fought on the Borodino field, and they erected monuments at their own expense.
Now the tradition has been interrupted, this is just another anniversary occasion to remember patriotism, renovate museums and hold events “for show”.
What do we remember about the war of 1812?
The Public Opinion Foundation invited Russians to answer the USE question on the history of the war of 1812: choose a battle that relates to the war with Napoleon. Only 13% of respondents made the right choice.
Know who was the emperor of Russia during this war, less than a third of our fellow citizens.
The majority of respondents (17%) associate the words "Patriotic War of 1812" with Napoleon. “Holy war”, “we fought with the French”, - this is how 12% of respondents answered.
Pride for the country, for the people who defended the Fatherland, is experienced by 9% of respondents.
9% of survey participants associate this war with the Battle of Borodino, 8% - with commander Mikhail Kutuzov.
3% of respondents said about the victory over the French. When asked who Russia fought in 1812, 69% of the survey participants answered correctly, 26% found it difficult to answer, and 5% of the respondents were wrong.
In this case, most often the wrong answer was given by people aged 18-30 years. And in the group of 80 and older there were no mistakes, although 52% of respondents found it difficult to answer.
Who was the Russian emperor during the Patriotic War of 1812, remembered 29% of respondents. Difficult to answer 51%, 7% each believe that at that time Russia was ruled or Pavel I, or Nicholas I, and 6% even mentioned the name Catherine II.
Russian-French war 1812-1814 ended with the almost complete destruction of Napoleon's army. During the hostilities, the entire territory of the Russian Empire was liberated, and the battles turned to and Let us further briefly consider how the Russian-French war took place.
start date
The fighting was primarily due to Russia's refusal to actively support the continental blockade, which Napoleon saw as the main weapon in the fight against Great Britain. In addition, Bonaparte pursued a policy towards European countries that did not take into account the interests of Russia. At the first stage of hostilities, the domestic army retreated. Before Moscow passed From June to September 1812, the advantage was on the side of Napoleon. From October to December, Bonaparte's army tried to maneuver. She sought to retreat to winter quarters, located in an undestroyed area. After that, the Russo-French War of 1812 continued with the retreat of the Napoleonic army in conditions of famine and frost.
Prerequisites for battle
Why did the Russo-French War take place? The year 1807 determined for Napoleon his main and, in fact, his only enemy. They were the UK. She captured the French colonies in America and India, created obstacles to trade. Due to the fact that England occupied a good position at sea, Napoleon's only effective weapon was her effectiveness, in turn, depended on the behavior of other powers and their desire to follow the sanctions. Napoleon demanded from Alexander the First a more consistent implementation of the blockade, but constantly met with Russia's unwillingness to break off relations with its key trading partner.
In 1810, our country participated in free trade with neutral states. This allowed Russia to trade with England through intermediaries. The government adopts a protective tariff that raises customs rates, primarily for imported French goods. This, of course, caused the extreme displeasure of Napoleon.
Offensive
The Russian-French war of 1812 at the first stage was favorable for Napoleon. On May 9, he meets in Dresden with allied rulers from Europe. From there he goes to his army on the river. Neman, which separated Prussia and Russia. June 22 Bonaparte addresses the soldiers with an appeal. In it, he accuses Russia of failing to fulfill the Tizil Treaty. Napoleon called his attack the second Polish invasion. In June, his army occupied Kovno. Alexander I at that moment was in Vilna, at the ball.
On June 25, the first clash occurred near the village. Barbarishki. Battles also took place at Rumshishki and Popartsi. It is worth saying that the Russian-French war took place with the support of Bonaparte's allies. The main goal at the first stage was the crossing of the Neman. So, from the south side of Kovno, the Beauharnais (Viceroy of Italy) group appeared, from the north - the corps of Marshal MacDonald, from Warsaw through the Bug the corps of General Schwarzenberg invaded. On June 16 (28) the soldiers of the great army occupied Vilna. On June 18 (30), Alexander I sent Adjutant General Balashov to Napoleon with a proposal to make peace and withdraw troops from Russia. However, Bonaparte refused.
Borodino
On August 26 (September 7), 125 km from Moscow, the largest battle took place, after which the Russian-French war went according to Kutuzov's scenario. The forces of the parties were approximately equal. Napoleon had about 130-135 thousand people, Kutuzov - 110-130 thousand. The Russian army did not have enough guns for 31 thousand militias of Smolensk and Moscow. Pikes were handed out to the warriors, but Kutuzov did not use people as they performed various auxiliary functions - they carried out the wounded and so on. Borodino was actually an assault by the soldiers of the great army of Russian fortifications. Both sides made extensive use of artillery in both attack and defense.
The Battle of Borodino lasted 12 hours. It was a bloody battle. Napoleon's soldiers at the cost of 30-34 thousand wounded and killed broke through the left flank and pushed back the center of the Russian positions. However, they failed to develop their offensive. In the Russian army, losses were estimated at 40-45 thousand wounded and killed. There were practically no prisoners on either side.
September 1 (13) Kutuzov's army was located in front of Moscow. Its right flank was near the village of Fili, the center - between the village. Troitsky and s. Volynsky, left - in front of the village. Vorobyov. The rearguard is located on the river. Setun. At 5 o'clock on the same day, a military council was convened in Frolov's house. Barclay de Tolly insisted that the Russo-French War would not be lost if Moscow was given to Napoleon. He talked about the need to save the army. Bennigsen, in turn, insisted on holding the battle. Most of the rest of the participants supported his position. However, Kutuzov put an end to the council. The Russian-French war, he believed, would be ended with the defeat of Napoleon only if the national army could be preserved. Kutuzov interrupted the meeting and ordered to retreat. By the evening of September 14, Napoleon entered the deserted Moscow.
Exile of Napoleon
The French did not stay long in Moscow. Some time after their invasion, the city was engulfed in fire. Bonaparte's soldiers began to experience a shortage of provisions. The locals refused to help them. Moreover, partisan attacks began, the militia began to be organized. Napoleon was forced to leave Moscow.
Kutuzov, meanwhile, positioned his army in the path of the French retreat. Bonaparte intended to go to cities not destroyed by hostilities. However, his plans were thwarted by Russian soldiers. He was forced to go almost along the same road that he came to Moscow. Since the settlements on the way were destroyed by him, there were no food in them, as well as people. Exhausted by hunger and disease, Napoleon's soldiers were subjected to constant attacks.
Russian-French war: results
According to Clausewitz's calculations, the great army with reinforcements numbered about 610 thousand people, including 50 thousand Austrian and Prussian soldiers. Many of those who were able to return to Koenigsberg died almost immediately from illness. In December 1812, about 225 generals, a little more than 5 thousand officers, and 26 thousand of lower ranks passed through Prussia. As contemporaries testified, they were all in a very miserable condition. In general, Napoleon lost about 580 thousand soldiers. The remaining soldiers formed the backbone of Bonaparte's new army. However, in January 1813, the battles moved to the lands of Germany. Then the fighting continued in France. In October, Napoleon's army was defeated near Leipzig. In April 1814 Bonaparte abdicated.
Long Term Consequences
What did the won Russian-French war give the country? The date of this battle has firmly gone down in history as a turning point in the issue of Russia's influence on the affairs of Europe. Meanwhile, the strengthening of the country's foreign policy was not accompanied by internal changes. Despite the fact that the victory rallied and inspired the masses, the successes did not lead to reforming the socio-economic sphere. Many peasants who fought in the Russian army passed through Europe and saw that serfdom was abolished everywhere. They expected the same action from their government. However, serfdom continued to exist after 1812. According to a number of historians, at that time there were still no fundamental prerequisites that would lead to its immediate abolition.
But the sharp surge of peasant uprisings, the creation of political opposition in the progressive nobility, which followed almost immediately after the end of the battles, refute this opinion. The victory in the Patriotic War not only rallied people and contributed to the rise of the national spirit. At the same time, the boundaries of freedom expanded in the minds of the masses, which led to the uprising of the Decembrists.
However, not only this event is associated with 1812. The opinion has long been expressed that the entire national culture, self-consciousness received an impetus during the period of the Napoleonic invasion. As Herzen wrote, the true history of Russia is revealed only from 1812. Everything that was before can be considered only a preface.
Conclusion
The Russo-French war showed the strength of the entire people of Russia. Not only the regular army participated in the opposition to Napoleon. The militias formed detachments and attacked the soldiers of the great army. In general, historians note that before this battle, patriotism was not particularly manifested in Russia. At the same time, it is worth considering that in the country the ordinary population was oppressed by serfdom. The war with the French turned people's minds upside down. The masses of the people, having rallied, felt their ability to resist the enemy. It was a victory not only for the army, its command, but for the entire population. Of course, the peasants expected a change in their lives. But, unfortunately, they were disappointed with further events. Nevertheless, the impetus for freethinking and resistance has already been given.