85 Invasion of Russia
23.3.2: Invasion of Russia
Although during the 1812 Invasion of Russia Napoleon achieved tactical victories and entered Moscow, the campaign exhausted the French forces, demonstrating the weaknesses of the French strategy, shaking Napoleon’s reputation, and dramatically weakening French hegemony in Europe.
Learning Objective
Critique Napoleon’s decision to invade Russia
Key Points
- The Treaty of Schönbrunn, which ended the 1809 war between Austria and France, had a clause removing Western Galicia from Austria and annexing it to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Russia, seeing the territory as a potential launching-point for others to invade, in response developed a plan of war in 1811. Russia’s withdrawal from the Continental System was a further incentive for Napoleon to start a campaign against it.
- Napoleon ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the Russian heartland and prepared for an offensive campaign. The invasion commenced in June 1812. To gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon termed this war the Second Polish War. Liberating Poland from the Russian threat became one of the stated reasons behind the invasion.
- The invasion of Russia demonstrates the importance of logistics in military planning. Napoleon and the Grande Armée developed a proclivity for living off the land that had served them well in densely populated and agriculturally rich central Europe with its network of roads. In Russia, many of the Grande Armée’s methods of operation did not work and they were additionally handicapped by the lack of supplies and harsh winter, although the last factor was not as decisive as the popular narrative of the campaign suggested.
- The Grande Armée was a very large force, numbering 680,000 soldiers. Through a series of long marches, Napoleon pushed the army rapidly through Western Russia in an attempt to bring the Russian army to battle, winning a number of minor engagements and a major battle at Smolensk in August 1812. As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns, and crops to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. These scorched-earth tactics surprised and disturbed the French as the strategy also destroyed the Russian territory.
- Napoleon then achieved a tactical victory at Borodino, entered Moscow, and forced the Russian army to retreat at Maloyaroslavets. However, in the weeks that followed, lack of food and fodder for the horses, hypothermia from the bitter cold, and persistent attacks upon isolated troops from Russian peasants and Cossacks led to great loss of men and a general lack of discipline and cohesion in the army. After crossing the Berezina River, Napoleon returned to Paris.
- The campaign effectively ended in December 1812, with the last French troops leaving Russian soil. The campaign was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. The reputation of Napoleon was severely shaken and French hegemony in Europe was d