With the peace treaty of Tilsit (now Sovetsk) in July 1807, Napoleon reached his zenith. The event provides an example of the changing alliances that Napoleonic expansion prompted. After the battle of Friedland (now Pravdinsk), a short distance south of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), Prussia lost much of its territory to the new Duchy of Poland and both states effectively became vassals of France. Russia, which fought on Prussia’s side against France, had to agree to join Napoleon’s Continental System, which effectively made it a French ally. This new relationship proved shaky, however, because Napoleon and the Russian ruler, Tsar Alexander, remained suspicious of one another. The cession of large parts of Galicia to Poland in 1810, for example, worried the Tsar, as did the French emperor’s annexation of Holland and large parts of northwest Germany, including Oldenburg, whose duke, a brother-in-law of the Tsar, had been expelled. At the same time, Napoleon married the daughter of the Austrian emperor, establishing another new alliance that worried the Russian monarch. Napoleon accused Alexander of breaking the Continental System, which created diplomatic tension between the two states.
Preparations for war in both Russia and France began in 1810. The Russians seem to have been divided on how and where to defend against the expected invasion. Napoleon had to prepare the largest logistical operation of his military career. In order to attack Russia, the French military would have to supply over 500,000 soldiers and more than 100,000 animals, mostly horses and oxen.
Napoleon began to concentrate his armies in Eastern Europe and amass supplies in cities like Danzig (now Gdansk). He also undertook a study of earlier invasions of Russia, like the one led by the Swedish king Charles VII in 1708.
Figure 1-1 compares the political situation in the territory affected by Napoleon’s Russian campaign between 1812 and 2012. It also highlights the area’s historical and current place names. Figure 1-2 shows one of the first maps devoted to Napoleon’s Russian campaign.
Napoleon recruited soldiers from all parts of the European continent, as figure 1-3 shows. The conscript system enlisted men from France and its incorporated territories, while the Continental System obligated allied nations to supply troops from elsewhere in Europe. Historians do not fully agree upon the sizes of both armies. Estimates vary, depending on whether one counts only fighting units, or includes supporting units as well. Commanders expected organizational units to possess a certain number of soldiers; however, they could not be sure whether these units ever attained their theoretical strength. Estimating strength grew even more difficult as the campaign progressed, and the army suffered losses from battle, desertion, and disease. (The statistics used in this book represent averages of many figures cited from diverse sources. Adam Zamoyski’s book 1812 [2004] and the books of Digby Smith [2002, 2004] provided guidance in understanding them.)
Figure 1-1. The theater of war. The land between Poland and Moskva showing past and current boundaries.
Figure 1-2. Napoleon’s 1812 campaign. This may be the first published map to trace the routes taken by Napoleon’s army during its march to Moskva and retreat.
Napoleon organized the French army into different corps. He commanded the main body— 180,000 strong— which consisted of his Imperial Guard, I, II, and III Corps and I and II Cavalry Corps. His stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, who commanded the 85,000 soldiers of IV and VI Corps and III Cavalry Corps, supported the French emperor from the south. Together, they opposed the main Russian army—105,000 strong—under Field Marshal Mikhail Barclay de Tolly. To the north, the 32,000 soldiers that comprised X Corps faced the 10,000 Russians soldiers in the Riga Corps, whose numbers were strengthened by troops from Finland. Napoleon’s brother Jerome commanded the V, VII, and VIII Corps and the VI Cavalry Corps, 75,000 in all, which marched against the Second Russian Army (which numbered 48,000) under General Pyotr Bagration. Farther south, 50,000 Austrians soldiers under General Karl Schwarzenberg faced the 45,000-strong Third Russian Army under General Aleksandr Petrovich Tormasov.
The landscape of the 1812 campaign appears unspectacular. It consisted mainly of undulating terrain divided by rivers like the Dzvina in campaign territory’s north, the Dnjepr and Berezina in the center, and Prypyats in the south. However, while the land leading to Moskva posed few obstacles, the land to the north was largely forested, and the land to the south contained many lakes and swamps. Moreover, Russia possessed a lower population density, so living off the land would prove to be much more difficult than anything the French army had ever experienced during earlier campaigns in Western and Central Europe. Napoleon invaded when the Russian grain harvest was not yet ready so the military’s animals were not properly fed, causing illness and death. Inside Russia, he discovered that the country’s infrastructure was poorly developed. The forests allowed few roads and the swamps proved difficult to pass. The rivers usually posed minor obstacles, except during the wet season when they became difficult to cross. When the rains fell, the roads became nearly impassable, especially for the heavy supply trains. And then there was the weather. Russia’s climate, with its extreme heat and cold, savaged armies. During their campaign, Napoleon’s troops had to deal with all these extremes, although the severe cold did not descend on the land until early November. Most weather-related casualties manifested in diseases like typhoid.
Figure 1-3. At the brink of war. The origin of Napoleon’s troops (figure 1-3a) and the situation at the front in June 1812 (figure 1-3b). The center displays portraits of Napoleon (top) and Alexander (bottom).
On June 24, Napoleon and his main army crossed the Neman River between Hrodna and Kaunas (in modern-day Lithuania). Four days later, they reached Vilnius. Marshal Jacques MacDonald’s X Corps covered the invasion force’s northern flank from Tilsit, while Schwarzenberg’s Austrian force covered the southern flank from Lublin. This move split the Russian First Army from the Second Army. However, Jerome failed to pursue the Second Army and destroy them, so Bagration and his men escaped (prompting Napoleon to send Jerome home). Even at this early stage, problems created by heat and poor supply plagued the French army.
After a two-week stay, Napoleon left the town of Vilnius on July 16 to pursue Barclay de Tolly’s First Russian army, which was marching toward Vitsyebsk, on the River Dzvina. The Russians continually withdrew to avoid battle, partly because Barclay feared that he would be cut off by the French southern troops already stationed in Minsk. On July 28, after only a few skirmishes, Napoleon entered Vitsyebsk. His troops were exhausted and hungry. The size of the core army had already fallen by almost a quarter—to 150,000 men—with only a few casualties due to contact with the enemy. Several corps under Marshals Gouvion St. Cyr and Nicolas Oudinot battled General Peter Wittgenstein’s divisions along the Dzvina River, near Polatzk. Here they more or less remained until the end of October. MacDonald pressed ahead, occupied several cities along the western Dzvina, and laid siege to Riga. Meanwhile, the Russian Second Army was chased by the corps of Marshals Louis Davout, Michel Ney, and others who moved via Minsk to Mahilyow, at the River Dnjepr. By the end of July, the Russians counted only 70,000 troops. Crossing the river and turning north in the direction of Smolensk, they fled, and on August 3 joined the Russian First Army. To the south, the Austrians attacked the Third Army and advanced to Kobryn.
The French sojourned in Vitsyebsk in order to top-up supplies, rest troops, and restore communications between units. Napoleon and 180,000 soldiers left Vitsyebsk on August 13 and marched toward Smolensk, where the Russian army had amassed 120,000 soldiers in its defense. Between August 16 and 18, the two armies clashed near the fortified city, on both banks of the Dnjepr River. The Battle of Smolensk cost the lives of more than 20,000 soldiers on both sides. In the end, the Russians retreated farther east, denying Napoleon the decisive battle he sought. The French cavalry under Marshal Joachim Murat harassed