France Under Napoleon And Russia Under Alexander example essay topic

How Napoleon's Invasion of Russia Led To His Downfall How Napoleon's Invasion of Russia Led To His Downfall Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia was a major factor in his downfall. In 1812, Napoleon, whose alliance with Alexander I had disintegrated, launched an invasion into Russia that ended in a disastrous retreat from Moscow. Thereafter, all of Europe, including his own allies, Austria and Prussia, united against him. Although he continued to fight, the odds he faced were impossible. In April 1814, Napoleon's own marshals refused to continue the struggle and stepped down from their positions. During the actual Russian campaign, there were many key factors that greatly impacted his downfall.

The largest army ever assembled for one single invasion was reduced to a mere fraction of its original size. Because of the rebellions from his allies, Austria and Prussia, Napoleon had to fight a war on both the western and the eastern front. The losses he suffered in Russia greatly affected his future campaigns. Throughout his reign, Napoleon was able to overcome many obstacles that others before him could have only dreamed. One was the idea of having a United Europe under France.

With his Grand Arm " ee, Napoleon had already conquered, and was controlling an enormous amount of Europe, such as Switzerland, the Confederation of the Rhine, Austria, and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (Broers, 47). These countries, or provinces, made up the bulk of central Europe. Napoleon had recently ended a war with Spain, and now had signed a peace treaty with them. In 1805, France, under Napoleon, and Russia, under Alexander I, signed the Treaty of Tilsit. The treaty was one of peace under certain conditions.

Russia was prohibited to trade with England, and they were also obligated to turn over some of their land to France (Elting, 63). The territory that France gained control over was the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. The treaty was extremely harsh on Russia. The prohibition of trade with England greatly affected the economy of Russia. The Continental System, which Napoleon instituted, prohibited trade with England. Alexander I violated the Treaty of Tilsit by renewing trade with England.

Napoleon invaded Russia in an attempt to force Czar Alexander I to abide by the Treaty of Tilsit (Web, Russian Embassy). The summer of 1812 was an ideal time for Napoleon to begin an invasion. Russia's economy was weak due to the trade embargo and other internal problems. The infrastructure of Russia was at a technological disadvantage, which would later be more of a burden to Napoleon than an advantage. The artillery and small arms were years behind that of France. The Russian army was a conscription army, meaning that local farmers had to furnish a certain number of surfs for military service, as opposed to a professional, trained army where the government supplies the soldiers with all of their needs.

An amazing half-million soldiers had enlisted in Napoleon's Grand Arm " ee (Saglamer, Beginning of the March). This was the largest army gathered for one single invasion. Russia's army was out numbered 3: 1 with only one hundred-seventy thousand soldiers. Not only was the Russian army not well trained, they were also ill equipped. Napoleon recognized that it would be difficult and extremely slow for Russia to mobilize her army due to her enormous size and weak infrastructure. If Napoleon invaded now, he knew that he could be well into the Russian territory before meeting any major opposition.

On June 24, 1812, Napoleon began his fatal Russian campaign. The Grand Arm " ee, led by Napoleon, crossed the Nieman River, into Russia. On the journey to Moscow, Napoleon met virtually no major opposition. The first stop in the campaign was Kovno. Early into the campaign, the Grand Arm " ee was affected by a colic epidemic that claimed the life of nine thousand horses and thousands of soldiers (Web, Russian Embassy).

This slowed the pace of the army. Harsh weather conditions caused the dry roads to turn to mud, making it extremely difficult to maneuver the large artillery cannons and wagons. The city was easily captured; the Russians had previously retreated. After a day's rest, Napoleon and his troops continued to the city of Vilna.

The march from the River Niemen was tougher than expected. Once again, hot and rainy weather turned the poor quality roads into muddy tracks that rendered the carriages impossible to move. Damp weather did not help the situation of disease. Soldiers and horses suffered from sickness and malnutrition. The poorly built Russian bridges could not support the heavy load of cannons and soldiers; consequently, the bridges gave way (Saglamer, Vilna).

Napoleon had trained his troops to gather food from the surroundings, which in turn made the packs lighter. The little food the troops carried was eaten in a matter of days, due to their disobedience. The road did not offer any source of nutrition for the starving soldiers in the march. Dead horses thrown in by the Russians had polluted the wells. Vilna was captured on June 28, 1812. Unfortunately Vilna provided little for the army's needs.

The Russians abandoning the town had destroyed Vilna's stores and houses. The rest of the stores were exhausted within the first day. Napoleon pushed his troops to their limits. Throughout the next month, he marched them from Vilna to Viasma, a total of close to two hundred miles.

He captured three major cities, and there was virtually no opposition. The first major battle that Napoleon and his troops fought in was at Smolensk on August 17 (Elting, 79). One week prior to his arrival in Viasma, Napoleon reached the highly fortified city of Smolensk. The battle itself was quick and decisive. Napoleon was able to conquer the town in only one day. The loses that Napoleon suffered were catastrophic.

In just the one-day of fighting, the Russians killed ten thousand to twelve thousand soldiers, about one hundred fifty artillery cannons, and close to five thousand horses. From the beginning of Napoleon's Russian invasion to his current position, he had lost one-fifth, or one hundred thousand of his soldiers, half of his major artillery, and approximately twenty-five thousand horses (Saglamer, Smolensk). This greatly slowed his pace. Originally, Napoleon planned to have his troops in Moscow in seven weeks.

Due to the great losses suffered, Napoleon was unable to complete this goal in the time he had allotted. This unplanned delay forced Napoleon's troops to march great distances under the extreme temperatures of the summer. All of Napoleon's troops were issued wool uniforms. As a result of the hot and humid weather conditions, soldiers striped from the wool jackets and pants to just there undergarments (Elting, 22).

Although rewarding at the time, it would later prove to be a fatal mistake. Prior to reaching Moscow, there was another major battle. The battle of Borodino was the bloodiest battle that Napoleon and his troops had ever seen. Napoleon's army consisted of one hundred thousand infantry, twenty-eight thousand cavalry and five hundred and ninety cannons. The Russian army under the command of General Kutuzov consisted of seventy-two thousand regular infantry, ten thousand semi-trained militia, seventeen thousand cavalry, seven thousand Cossacks and six hundred forty cannons (Austin, 58).

The battle only lasted a few days, but within the few hours of intense fighting, some eighty thousand men were slain. Napoleon lost thirty-five thousand soldiers, and the Russians lost forty-five thousand soldiers. The war ended with Kutuzov's order to retreat on September 8. On September 12, 1812, Napoleon reached Moscow. The remaining one hundred thousand French troops entered the mostly deserted town only to see close to seventy-five thousand Russian troops. The French soldiers were slaughtered.

Russian soldiers had strategically placed themselves in sniper positions and they new the winding roads of Moscow. Napoleon was able to capture the prized city of Moscow, after losing close to twenty-five thousand men (Saglamer, Moscow). The soldiers pillaged the stores and houses in order to obtain blankets and food for the cold winter months. Unfortunately, the fleeing Russians set fire to the city.

Within three days, four-fifths of the city was burnt. Napoleon and his troops were in the middle of a burnt city. The goal of the invasion of Russia was to capture Moscow, the heart of Russia, and now the prized city was burnt down to the ground. The troops were not able to obtain enough food and supplies due to the fire. Soldiers began to die by the hundreds because of the extreme cold and lack of supplies. Napoleon traveled thousands of miles to conquer Russia.

He achieved his goal of taking Moscow, but in the end fires smashed his dream. Napoleon fell ill because of the horribly cold weather and fled back to France. Abandoning his troops, Napoleon left control of the Grand Arm " ee to his second in charge, General Murat. After waiting in vain for Alexander I to offer to negotiate, Napoleon ordered his troops to begin the march home.

Kutuzov, the Russia general's, forces blocked the route south, and the French were in no shape for a battle. The retreat retraced the long, devastated route of the invasion. Having waited until mid-September to depart, the exhausted French army soon found itself in the midst of winter. In fact, this winter was unusually early and especially cold winter (Broers, 235). Temperatures soon dropped well below freezing.

Cossacks attacked stragglers and isolated units, and Food was almost non-existent. When the not so Grand Arm " ee arrived in France, it was reduced to ten thousand freezing, hungry soldiers (236). From 1799 to 1815, the greater part of continental Europe was dominated by Napoleon (11). After the failure of the Treaty of Tilsit, relations between Russia and France began to deteriorate. The decision to invade Russia in 1812 was a horrible mistake on Napoleon's part. Four hundred thousand troops of the original half million members of the Grand Arm " ee lost their lives in a hopeless cause.

One hundred-fifty thousand horses of the original quarter million died of colic, horrible winter weather and other various reasons (Elting, 244). After achieving his goal of conquering Moscow, Napoleon fell terribly sick from the flu, almost losing his life. He abandoned his troops, and he fled back to France, arriving months ahead of them. When the word spread of Napoleon's defeat, continental Europe began to lose faith in their once invincible Napoleon. By the end of 1813, Prussia had dropped all treaty agreements with France.

Austria had formed a separate peace agreement with Russia. The tides had turned on Napoleon's once great Empire. In 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne. He was exiled to a small island in the Mediterranean called Elba. After a year, Napoleon was able to make an escape from Elba and flee to France.

During the "Hundred Days", Napoleon was able to raise another Grand Arm " ee, but not grand enough to defeat the English at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. After his defeat, Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The remoteness of St. Helena made it close to impossible to escape. Napoleon remained at St. Helena until his death from stomach cancer on May 5, 1821 (Connelly, Temple of Napoleon).

Bibliography

Books: 1. Austin, Paul. 1812: Napoleon in Moscow.
Greenhill Books, London & Pennsylvania. 1995.
2. Broers, Michael. Europe Under Napoleon 1799-1815.
Arnold Headline Group, New York. 1996.
3. Elting, John. Swords Around a Thrown: Napoleon's Grande Arm " ee. Da Capo Press, New York. 1997.
4. Palmer, R. France Under Napoleon. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. 1990.
Internet: 1. Connelly, Owen. Tempe of Napoleon. web 2. Minard. Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812.
web 3. Russian Embassy. Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. web 4. Saglamer, Emin. 1812: Napoleon's March to Russia.
web 5. Unknown. Napoleon is Russia: 1812.
web The map, based on the 1869 chart by Minard, graphically illustrates (both literally and figuratively) how the size of the French army dwindled during the march into Russia and was reduced to almost nothing on the wretched rout back into Poland.
The map can be read in several ways. The size of the peach colored bar indicates the relative strength of the French army during the march on Moscow. The black bar shows the dwindling French army during the retreat. In the lower portion of the map, the temperature in degrees Celsius is shown, along with dates during the retreat. Napoleon's Russian Campaign Napoleons Russian Campaign Eli K amara The peace between France and Russia in 1807 lasted for five years but was not satisfactory to either side.
The Tilsit settlement was thought of by Napoleon as no more than a convenient truce. In 1807 he had been in no position to invade Russia but there was no way that he could tolerate another European power for very long.
Napoleon felt that a war with Russia was necessary 'for crushing England by crushing the only power still strong enough him any trouble by joining her. ' Napoleon began preparing for the war. He secured the support of Austria and Prussia since even though neither was in any position to refuse. Emperor Francis of Austria provided 34,000 men to cover the French but sent secret messages to St. Petersburg assuring Alexander that Austrian hostilities would be kept to a minimum. Prussia though was placed in a less fortunate position. With Berlin occupied by French and most of their 1807 debt to be paid it had no alternative but to provide 25,000 men and supply quarters and rations for the entire army.