A. Norten "Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow"
As you know, war usually begins when a lot of reasons and circumstances converge at one point, when mutual claims and insults reach enormous proportions, and the voice of reason is muffled.
background
After 1807, Napoleon marched victoriously across Europe and beyond, and only Great Britain did not want to submit to him: she captured the colonies of France in America and India and dominated the sea, interfering with French trade. The only thing that Napoleon could do in such a situation was to declare a continental blockade of Great Britain (after the battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, Napoleon lost the opportunity to fight England at sea, where she became almost the only mistress). He decided to undermine the trade of England by closing all European ports for her, inflicting a crushing blow on the trade and economy of Great Britain. But the effectiveness of the continental blockade depended on other European states, their compliance with the sanctions. Napoleon insistently demanded that Alexander I implement the continental blockade more consistently, but for Russia, Great Britain was the main trading partner, and she did not want to break off trade relations with her.
P. Delaroche "Napoleon Bonaparte"
In 1810, Russia introduced free trade with neutral countries, which allowed it to trade with Great Britain through intermediaries, and also adopted a protective tariff that increased customs rates mainly on imported French goods. Napoleon was outraged by the policy of Russia. But he also had a personal reason for the war with Russia: in order to confirm the legitimacy of his coronation, he wanted to marry a representative of one of the monarchies, but Alexander I twice rejected his proposals: the first time for marriage with his sister, Grand Duchess Catherine, and then with Grand Duchess Anna. Napoleon married the daughter of the Austrian emperor Franz I, but declared in 1811: “ In five years I will be the master of the whole world. Only Russia remains - I will crush it ...". At the same time, Napoleon continued to violate the Tilsit truce by occupying Prussia. Alexander demanded the withdrawal of French troops from there. In a word, the war machine began to spin: Napoleon concludes a military agreement with the Austrian Empire, which pledged to provide France with an army of 30 thousand for the war with Russia, then an agreement followed with Prussia, which provided another 20 thousand soldiers for Napoleon's army, and the French emperor himself intensively studied military and economic situation in Russia, preparing for war with her. But Russian intelligence did not doze off either: M.I. Kutuzov successfully concludes a peace treaty with Turkey (having ended the 5-year war for Moldavia), thereby freeing the Danube army under the command of Admiral Chichagov; in addition, information about the state of the Great French Army and its movements was regularly intercepted at the Russian embassy in Paris.
Thus, both sides prepared for war. The size of the French army was, according to various sources, from 400 to 500 thousand soldiers, of which only half were French, the rest of the soldiers were 16 nationalities, mostly Germans and Poles. Napoleon's army was well armed and financially secure. Its only weakness was just the diversity of the national composition.
The size of the Russian army: the 1st army of Barclay de Tolly and the 2nd army of Bagration were 153 thousand soldiers + the 3rd army of Tormasov 45 thousand + the Danube army of Admiral Chichagov 55 thousand + the Finnish corps of Steingel 19 thousand + a separate Essen corps near Rigi 18 thousand + 20-25 thousand Cossacks = approximately 315 thousand. Technically, Russia did not lag behind France. But embezzlement flourished in the Russian army. England provided material and financial support to Russia.
Barclay de Tolly. Lithograph by A. Münster
Starting the war, Napoleon did not plan to send his troops deep into Russia, his plans were to create a complete continental blockade of England, then include Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania in Poland and create the Polish state as a counterweight to Russian Empire in order to conclude a military alliance with Russia and jointly move to India. Truly, Napoleonic plans! Napoleon expected to end the battle with Russia in the border areas with his victory, so the retreat of the Russian troops into the interior of the country took him by surprise.
Alexander I foresaw this circumstance (disastrous for the French army to move inland): “ If Emperor Napoleon starts a war against me, then it is possible and even likely that he will beat us if we accept the battle, but this will not give him peace yet. ... We have an immense space behind us, and we will keep a well-organized army. ... If the lot of weapons decides the case against me, then I would rather retreat to Kamchatka than give up my provinces and sign agreements in my capital that are only a respite. The Frenchman is brave, but long hardships and a bad climate tire and discourage him. Our climate and our winter will fight for us”, he wrote to the French Ambassador to Russia A. Caulaincourt.
The beginning of the war
The first exchange of fire with the French (a company of sappers) took place on June 23, 1812, when they crossed to the Russian coast. And at 6 am on June 24, 1812, the vanguard of the French troops entered Kovno. In the evening of the same day, Alexander I was informed about Napoleon's invasion. Thus began the Patriotic War of 1812.
The Napoleonic army advanced simultaneously in the northern, central and southern directions. For the northern direction, the main task was the capture of St. Petersburg (having previously occupied Riga). But as a result of the battles near Klyastitsy and on August 17 near Polotsk (a battle between the 1st Russian infantry corps under the command of General Wittgenstein and the French corps of Marshal Oudinot and General Saint-Cyr). This fight did not have serious consequences. In the next two months, the parties did not conduct active hostilities, accumulating forces. Wittgenstein's mission was prevent the advance of the French to Petersburg, Saint-Cyr blocked the Russian corps.
The main battles unfolded in the Moscow direction.
The 1st Western Russian Army was stretched from the Baltic Sea to Belarus (Lida). It was headed by Barclay de Tolly, chief of staff - General A.P. Ermolov. The Russian army was threatened with destruction in parts, because. The Napoleonic army was advancing rapidly. 2nd Western Army, led by P.I. Bagration, was near Grodno. Bagration's attempt to connect with the 1st army of Barclay de Tolly was unsuccessful, and he retreated to the south. But the Cossacks of Ataman Platov supported the army of Bagration near Grodno. On July 8, Marshal Davout took Minsk, but Bagration, bypassing Minsk to the south, moved to Bobruisk. According to the plan, the two Russian armies were to unite in Vitebsk in order to block the French way to Smolensk. A battle took place near Saltanovka, as a result of which Raevsky delayed Davout's advance to Smolensk, but the path to Vitebsk was closed.
N. Samokish "The feat of Raevsky's soldiers near Saltanovka"
On July 23, the 1st Army of Barclay de Tolly came to Vitebsk in order to wait for the 2nd Army. Barclay de Tolly sent Osterman-Tolstoy's 4th corps to meet the French, who fought not far from Vitebsk, near Ostrovno. However, the armies still could not reunite, and then Barclay de Tolly retreats from Vitebsk to Smolensk, where both Russian armies joined on August 3. On August 13, Napoleon set out for Smolensk, having rested in Vitebsk.
3rd Russian southern army commanded by General Tormasov. The French General Rainier stretched his corps on the 179 km line: Brest-Kobrin-Pinsk, Tormasov took advantage of the irrational location of the French troops and defeated him near Kobrin, but, having united with the corps of General Schwarzenberg, Rainier attacked Tormasov, and he was forced to retreat to Lutsk.
To Moscow!
Napoleon is credited with the phrase: If I take Kyiv, I will take Russia by the feet; if I take possession of Petersburg, I will take her by the head; having occupied Moscow, I will strike her in the heart". Whether Napoleon said these words or not is now impossible to establish for sure. But one thing is clear: the main forces of the Napoleonic army were aimed at capturing Moscow. On August 16, Napoleon was already at Smolensk with an army of 180 thousand, and on the same day began his assault. Barclay de Tolly did not consider it possible to fight here and retreated with his army from the burning city. The French Marshal Ney pursued the retreating Russian army, and the Russians decided to give him a fight. On August 19, a bloody battle took place near Valutina Gora, as a result of which Ney suffered heavy losses and was detained. The battle for Smolensk is the beginning of the people's, Patriotic, war: the population began to leave their homes and burn settlements along the route of the French army. Here, Napoleon seriously doubted his brilliant victory and asked General P.A. Tuchkov to write a letter to his brother, so that he would bring to the attention of Alexander I Napoleon's desire to make peace. He did not receive a response from Alexander I. Meanwhile, relations between Bagration and Barclay de Tolly after Smolensk became more tense and irreconcilable: each saw his own way to victory over Napoleon. On August 17, the General of Infantry Kutuzov was approved by the Extraordinary Committee as the unified commander-in-chief, and on August 29 in Tsarevo-Zaimishche he already received the army. Meanwhile, the French had already entered Vyazma ...
V. Kelerman "Moscow militias on the Old Smolensk road"
M.I. Kutuzov, by that time already a renowned military leader and diplomat, who served under Catherine II, Paul I, participated in the Russian-Turkish wars, in the Russian-Polish war, in 1802 fell into disgrace with Alexander I, was removed from his post and lived in his own Goroshki estate in the Zhytomyr region. But when Russia entered into a coalition to fight Napoleon, he was appointed commander in chief of one of the armies and showed himself to be an experienced commander. But after the Austerlitz defeat, which Kutuzov opposed and which Alexander I insisted on, although he did not blame Kutuzov for the defeat, he even awarded him the Order of St. Vladimir 1st degree, but he did not forgive him for the defeat.
At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Kutuzov was appointed head of the St. Petersburg, and then the Moscow militia, but the unsuccessful course of the war showed that an experienced and trusted by society commander of the entire Russian army was needed. Alexander I was forced to appoint Kutuzov commander-in-chief of the Russian army and militia.
Kutuzov initially continued the strategy of Barclay de Tolly - retreat. The words are attributed to him: « We will not defeat Napoleon. We will deceive him».
At the same time, Kutuzov understood the need for a general battle: firstly, this was demanded by public opinion, which was preoccupied with the constant retreat of the Russian army; secondly, a further retreat would mean the voluntary surrender of Moscow.
On September 3, the Russian army stood near the village of Borodino. Here Kutuzov decided to give a big battle, but in order to divert the French to get time to prepare fortifications, he ordered General Gorchakov to fight near the village of Shevardino, where there was a fortified redoubt (a fortification of a closed type, with a rampart and a moat, intended for all-round defense). All day on September 5, there was a battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt.
After 12 hours of bloody battle, the French pressed the left flank and the center of the Russian positions, but could not develop the offensive. The Russian army suffered heavy losses (40-45 thousand killed and wounded), the French - 30-34 thousand. There were almost no prisoners on either side. On September 8, Kutuzov ordered a retreat to Mozhaisk, confident that this was the only way to save the army.
On September 13, a meeting was held in the village of Fili on a further plan of action. Most of the generals were in favor of a new battle. Kutuzov interrupted the meeting and ordered to retreat through Moscow along the Ryazan road. By the evening of September 14, Napoleon entered the deserted Moscow. On the same day, a fire broke out in Moscow, engulfing almost the entire Earthen City and the White City, as well as the outskirts of the city, destroying three-quarters of the buildings.
A. Smirnov "Fire of Moscow"
There is still no single version of the causes of the fire in Moscow. There are several of them: organized arson by residents when leaving the city, deliberate arson by Russian spies, uncontrolled actions of the French, an accidental fire, the spread of which was facilitated by the general chaos in the abandoned city. Kutuzov, on the other hand, directly pointed out that the French had burned Moscow. Since the fire had several centers, it is possible that all versions are true.
More than half burned down in the fire. residential buildings, more than 8 thousand outlets, 122 temples out of 329 that existed; killed up to 2 thousand wounded Russian soldiers left in Moscow. The university, theatres, and libraries were destroyed, and the manuscript of The Tale of Igor's Campaign and the Trinity Chronicle burned down in Musin-Pushkin's palace. Not the entire population of Moscow left the city, only more than 50 thousand people (out of 270 thousand).
In Moscow, Napoleon, on the one hand, is building a plan for a campaign against St. Petersburg, on the other hand, he is making attempts to make peace with Alexander I, but at the same time remains with his demands (continental blockade of England, secession of Lithuania and the creation of a military alliance with Russia). He makes three proposals for a truce, but does not receive a response from Alexander to any of them.
militia
I. Arkhipov "Militias of 1812"
On July 18, 1812, Alexander I issues a Manifesto and an appeal to the inhabitants of the "Eternal Throne Capital of our Moscow" with a call to join the militia (temporary armed formations to help the army to repel the invasion of the Napoleonic army). Zemsky militias were limited to 16 provinces directly adjacent to the theater of operations:
District I - Moscow, Tver, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces - was intended to protect Moscow.
District II - St. Petersburg and Novgorod provinces - provided the "guard" of the capital.
District III (Volga) - Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Kostroma, Simbirsk and Vyatka provinces - the reserve of the first two militia districts.
The rest of the provinces - to remain "inactive" until "there is no need to use them for uniform sacrifices and services to the Fatherland."
Drawing of the banner of the Petersburg militia
Chiefs of the militias of the Patriotic War of 1812
| Militias of districts and provinces of Russia | Chiefs |
| I-st (Moscow) militia district | Moscow military general-governor, infantry general F.V. Rostopchin (Rastopchin) |
| Moscow | Lieutenant General I.I. Morkov (Markov) |
| Tverskaya | Lieutenant General Ya.I. Tyrtov |
| Yaroslavskaya | Major General Ya.I. Dedulin |
| Vladimirskaya | Lieutenant General B.A. Golitsyn |
| Ryazan | Major General L.D. Izmailov |
| Tula | Civil Governor, Privy Councilor N.I. Bogdanov from 16.11. 1812 - Major General I.I. Miller |
| Kaluga | Lieutenant General V.F. Shepelev |
| Smolensk | Lieutenant General N.P. Lebedev |
| II-nd (St. Petersburg) militia district | General of Infantry M.I. Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov), from 27.8. on September 22, 1812, Lieutenant General P.I. Meller-Zakomelsky, then - Senator A.A. Bibikov |
| St. Petersburg | General of Infantry M.I. Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov), from 8/8/1812 Lieutenant General P.I. Meller-Zakomelsky |
| Novgorod | Gene. from infantry N.S. Svechin, from sept. In 1812, Lieutenant-General P.I. Meller-Zakomelsky, Zherebtsov A.A. |
| III-th (Volga region) militia district | Lieutenant General P.A. Tolstoy |
| Kazanskaya | Major General D.A. Bulygin |
| Nizhny Novgorod | Valid. chamberlain, prince G.A. Georgian |
| Penza | Major General N.F. Kishinsky |
| Kostroma | Lieutenant General P.G. Bordakov |
| Simbirskaya | Actual State Councilor D.V. Tenishev |
| Vyatskaya | — |
The collection of militias was assigned to the apparatus of state power, the nobility and the church. The military trained warriors, a collection was announced Money for the militia. Each landowner had to present a certain number of equipped and armed warriors from his serfs within the prescribed time frame. Unauthorized departure of serfs into the militia was considered a crime. The selection to the detachment was made by the landowner or peasant communities by lot.
I. Luchaninov "Blessing of the militia"
There were not enough firearms for the militia, they were primarily allocated for the formation of reserve units of the regular army. Therefore, after the end of the collection, all the militias, except for St. Petersburg, were armed mainly with edged weapons - pikes, spears and axes. The military training of the militias took place according to an abbreviated training program for recruits by officers and lower ranks from the army and Cossack units. In addition to the Zemstvo (peasant), the formation of Cossack militias began. Some wealthy landlords raised entire regiments from their serfs or formed them at their own expense.
In some cities, villages adjacent to the Smolensk, Moscow, Kaluga, Tula, Tver, Pskov, Chernigov, Tambov, Orel provinces, "cordons" or "militia guards" were formed for self-defense and maintaining internal order.
The convocation of the militia allowed the government of Alexander I to mobilize large human and material resources for the war in a short time. After the completion of the formation, the entire militia was under the unified command of Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov and the supreme leadership of Emperor Alexander I.
S. Gersimov "Kutuzov - head of the militia"
During the stay of the Great French Army in Moscow, the Tver, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Tula, Ryazan and Kaluga militias defended the borders of their provinces from enemy foragers and marauders and, together with army partisans, blocked the enemy in Moscow, and during the retreat of the French they were pursued by the militias of Moscow, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Tula, Kaluga, St. Petersburg and Novgorod zemstvo provincial troops, Don, Little Russian and Bashkir Cossack regiments, as well as individual battalions, squadrons and detachments. The militia could not be used as an independent combat force, because. they had poor military training and weapons. But they fought enemy foragers, marauders, deserters, and also performed police functions to maintain internal order. They destroyed and captured 10-12 thousand enemy soldiers and officers.
After the end of hostilities on the territory of Russia, all provincial militias, except for Vladimir, Tver and Smolensk, participated in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814. In the spring of 1813, the Moscow and Smolensk troops were disbanded, and by the end of 1814, all the other Zemstvo troops.
guerrilla war
J. Doe "D.V. Davydov"
After the fire of Moscow began, guerrilla warfare and passive resistance intensified. The peasants refused to supply the French with food and fodder, went into the forests, burned unharvested bread in the fields so that the enemy would not get anything. Flying partisan detachments were created for operations in the rear and on enemy communication lines, in order to prevent his supply and destroy his small detachments. The most famous commanders of flying detachments were Denis Davydov, Alexander Seslavin, Alexander Figner. Army partisan detachments received comprehensive support from the spontaneous peasant partisan movement. It was the violence and looting by the French that sparked the guerrilla war. The partisans formed the first ring of encirclement around Moscow, occupied by the French, and the second ring was made up of the militias.
Battle at Tarutino
Kutuzov, retreating, withdrew the army south to the village of Tarutino, closer to Kaluga. Being on the old Kaluga road, Kutuzov's army covered Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk and the grain-growing southern provinces, threatening the enemy's rear between Moscow and Smolensk. He waited, knowing that the Napoleonic army would not last long in Moscow without provisions, besides, winter was approaching ... On October 18, near Tarutino, he fought the French barrier under the command of Murat - and Murat's retreat marked the fact that the initiative in the war had passed to the Russians.
Beginning of the End
Napoleon was forced to think about wintering his army. Where? “I’m going to look for another position, from where it will be more profitable to start a new campaign, the action of which I will direct to Petersburg or Kyiv". And Kutuzov at that time put under supervision all possible ways of withdrawal of the Napoleonic army from Moscow. Kutuzov's far-sightedness was manifested in the fact that with his Tarutino maneuver he anticipated the movement of French troops to Smolensk through Kaluga.
On October 19, the French army (comprising 110,000) began to leave Moscow along the Old Kaluga Road. Napoleon planned to get to the nearest large food base in Smolensk through the area not devastated by the war - through Kaluga, but Kutuzov blocked his way. Then Napoleon turned in the area of the village of Troitskoye onto the New Kaluga Road (modern Kiev Highway) in order to bypass Tarutino. However, Kutuzov transferred the army to Maloyaroslavets and cut off the French retreat along the New Kaluga road.
Russia's war for freedom and independence against the aggression of France and its allies.
It was the result of deep political contradictions between the France of Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, striving for European domination, and the Russian Empire, which opposed its political and territorial claims.
On the part of France, the war was of a coalition character. The Confederation of the Rhine alone supplied 150,000 men to the Napoleonic army. 8 army corps were made up of foreign contingents. IN great army there were about 72 thousand Poles, over 36 thousand Prussians, about 31 thousand Austrians, a significant number of representatives of other European states. The total number of the French army was about 1200 thousand people. More than half of it was intended for the invasion of Russia.
By June 1, 1812, the Napoleonic invasion forces included the imperial guard, 12 infantry corps, cavalry reserve (4 corps), artillery and engineering parks - a total of 678 thousand people and about 2.8 thousand guns.
As a springboard for the attack, Napoleon I used the Duchy of Warsaw. His strategic plan was to quickly defeat the main forces of the Russian army in a general battle, capture Moscow and impose a peace treaty on the terms of France on the Russian Empire. The enemy invasion forces were deployed in 2 echelons. The 1st echelon consisted of 3 groups (a total of 444 thousand people, 940 guns), located between the Neman and Vistula rivers. The 1st grouping (troops of the left wing, 218 thousand people, 527 guns) under the direct command of Napoleon I concentrated at the Elbing (now Elblag), Thorn (now Torun) line for an offensive through Kovno (now Kaunas) to Vilna (now Vilnius) . The 2nd grouping (gen. E. Beauharnais; 82 thousand people, 208 guns) was intended for an offensive in the zone between Grodno and Kovno in order to separate the Russian 1st and 2nd Western armies. The 3rd grouping (under the command of the brother of Napoleon I - J. Bonaparte; troops of the right wing, 78 thousand people, 159 guns) had the task of moving from Warsaw to Grodno to pull back the Russian 2nd Western Army to facilitate the offensive of the main forces . These troops were to surround and destroy the Russian 1st and 2nd Western armies in parts with enveloping strikes. On the left wing, the invasion of the 1st group of troops was provided by the Prussian corps (32 thousand people) of Marshal J. Macdonald. On the right wing, the invasion of the 3rd group of troops was provided by the Austrian corps (34 thousand people) of Field Marshal K. Schwarzenberg. In the rear, between the rivers Vistula and Oder, there were troops of the 2nd echelon (170 thousand people, 432 guns) and a reserve (corps of Marshal P. Augereau and other troops).
The Russian Empire, after a series of anti-Napoleonic wars, remained in international isolation by the beginning of World War II, experiencing, moreover, financial and economic difficulties. In the two pre-war years, its spending on the needs of the army amounted to more than half of the state budget. Russian troops at the western borders had about 220 thousand people and 942 guns. They were deployed in 3 groups: the 1st Western Army (general of infantry; 6 infantry, 2 cavalry and 1 Cossack corps; about 128 thousand people, 558 guns) made up the main forces and was located between the Rossiens (now Raseiniai, Lithuania) and Lida; The 2nd Western Army (an infantry general; 2 infantry, 1 cavalry corps and 9 Cossack regiments; about 49 thousand people, 216 guns) concentrated between the Neman and Bug rivers; The 3rd Western Army (Cavalry General A.P. Tormasov; 3 infantry, 1 cavalry corps and 9 Cossack regiments; 43 thousand people, 168 guns) was stationed in the Lutsk region. In the Riga region there was a separate corps (18.5 thousand people) of Lieutenant General I. N. Essen. The nearest reserves (corps of Lieutenant General P. I. Meller-Zakomelsky and Lieutenant General F. F. Ertel) were located in the areas of the cities of Toropets and Mozyr. In the south, in Podolia, the Danube army (about 30 thousand people) of Admiral P.V. Chichagov was concentrated. All armies were led by the emperor, who was with his main apartment at the 1st Western Army. The commander-in-chief was not appointed, but Barclay de Tolly, being the minister of war, had the right to issue orders on behalf of the emperor. The Russian armies stretched out on the front with a length of over 600 km, and the main enemy forces - 300 km. This put the Russian troops in a difficult position. By the beginning of the enemy invasion, Alexander I accepted the plan proposed by the military adviser - the Prussian General K. Ful. According to his plan, the 1st Western Army, retreating from the border, was to take refuge in a fortified camp, and the 2nd Western Army to go to the flank and rear of the enemy.
According to the nature of military events in the Patriotic War, 2 periods are distinguished. The 1st period - from the invasion of the French troops on June 12 (24) to October 5 (17) - includes defensive actions, the flank Tarutinsky march-maneuver of the Russian troops, their preparation for the offensive and partisan operations on enemy communications. 2nd period - from the transition of the Russian army to the counteroffensive on October 6 (18) to the defeat of the enemy and the complete liberation of the Russian land on December 14 (26).
The pretext for attacking the Russian Empire was the alleged violation by Alexander I of the main, according to Napoleon I, provision - "to be in eternal alliance with France and at war with England", which manifested itself in the sabotage of the continental blockade by the Russian Empire. On June 10 (22), Napoleon I, through the ambassador in St. Petersburg, Zh. A. Loriston, officially declared war on Russia, and on June 12 (24) the French army began crossing the Neman on 4 bridges (near Kovno and other cities). Having received news of the invasion of French troops, Alexander I made an attempt to resolve the conflict peacefully, calling on the French emperor to "withdraw his troops from Russian territory." However, Napoleon I rejected this proposal.
Under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, the 1st and 2nd Western armies began to retreat inland. The 1st Western Army left Vilna and retreated to the Drissa camp (near the city of Drissa, now Verhnedvinsk, Belarus), increasing the gap with the 2nd Western Army to 200 km. The main enemy forces rushed into it on June 26 (July 8), occupying Minsk and creating the threat of defeating the Russian armies one by one. The 1st and 2nd Western armies, intending to unite, retreated in converging directions: the 1st Western Army from Drissa through Polotsk to Vitebsk (the corps of a lieutenant general was left to cover the St. Petersburg direction, from November the general of infantry P. Kh. Wittgenstein), and the 2nd Western Army from Slonim to Nesvizh, Bobruisk, Mstislavl.
The war stirred up the entire Russian society: peasants, merchants, commoners. By mid-summer, self-defense units began to be spontaneously created in the occupied territory to protect their villages from French raids. foragers and looters (see Looting). Assessing the importance, the Russian military command took measures to expand and institutionalize it. For this purpose, army partisan detachments were created in the 1st and 2nd Western armies on the basis of regular troops. In addition, according to the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I of July 6 (18), in Central Russia and the Volga region recruitment was carried out into the people's militia. Its creation, acquisition, financing and supply was led by Special set. A significant contribution to the fight against foreign invaders was made by Orthodox Church, which called on the people to protect their state and religious shrines, collected about 2.5 million rubles for the needs of the Russian army (from the church treasury and as a result of donations from parishioners).
On July 8 (20), the French occupied Mogilev and prevented the Russian armies from joining in the Orsha region. Only thanks to stubborn rearguard battles and maneuver did the Russian armies unite near Smolensk on July 22 (August 3). By this time, Wittgenstein's corps retreated to the line north of Polotsk and, having pinned down the enemy's forces, weakened his main grouping. The 3rd Western Army after the battles on July 15 (27) near Kobrin, and on July 31 (August 12) near Gorodechnaya (now both cities are in the Brest region, Belarus), where it inflicted heavy damage on the enemy, defended itself on the river. Styr.
The outbreak of war upset the strategic plan of Napoleon I. The Grand Army lost up to 150 thousand people in killed, wounded, sick and deserters. Its combat effectiveness and discipline began to decline, the pace of the offensive slowed down. Napoleon I was forced on July 17 (29) to give an order to stop his army for 7-8 days in the area from Velizh to Mogilev to rest and wait for the approach of reserves and rears. Obeying the will of Alexander I, who demanded active action, the military council of the 1st and 2nd Western armies decided to take advantage of the dispersed position of the enemy and break the front of his main forces with a counterattack in the direction of Rudnya and Porechye (now the city of Demidov). On July 26 (August 7), Russian troops launched a counteroffensive, but due to poor organization and lack of coordination, it did not bring the expected results. The battles that began near Rudnya and Porechye were used by Napoleon I to suddenly cross the Dnieper, threatening to take Smolensk. The troops of the 1st and 2nd Western armies began to retreat to Smolensk in order to reach the Moscow road before the enemy. During the Battle of Smolensk in 1812, the Russian armies, by active defense and skillful maneuvering of reserves, managed to avoid the general battle imposed by Napoleon I in unfavorable conditions and retreat to Dorogobuzh on the night of August 6 (18). The enemy continued to advance on Moscow.
The duration of the retreat caused a murmur among the soldiers and officers of the Russian army, general discontent in Russian society. The departure from Smolensk aggravated hostile relations between P. I. Bagration and M. B. Barclay de Tolly. This forced Alexander I to establish the post of commander-in-chief of all active Russian armies and appoint general of infantry (from August 19 (31) field marshal) M. I. Kutuzov, head of the St. Petersburg and Moscow militias. Kutuzov arrived in the army on August 17 (29) and took over the main command.
Having found a position near Tsarev Zaimishch (now the village of the Vyazemsky district of the Smolensk region), where Barclay de Tolly on August 19 (31) intended to give the enemy a battle, unprofitable, and the army’s forces were insufficient, Kutuzov withdrew his troops to several crossings to the east and stopped in front of Mozhaisk, near the village Borodino, on a field that made it possible to advantageously position troops and block the Old and New Smolensk roads. Arrived reserves under the command of an infantry general, the Moscow and Smolensk militias made it possible to bring the forces of the Russian army to 132 thousand people and 624 guns. Napoleon I had a force of about 135 thousand people and 587 guns. None of the parties achieved their goals: Napoleon I was unable to defeat the Russian army, Kutuzov - to block the path of the Great Army to Moscow. The Napoleonic army, having lost about 50 thousand people (according to French data, over 30 thousand people) and most of the cavalry, was seriously weakened. Kutuzov, having received information about the losses of the Russian army (44 thousand people), refused to continue the battle and gave the order to retreat.
Departing to Moscow, he hoped to partially make up for the losses incurred and give a new battle. But the position chosen by the cavalry general L. L. Bennigsen near the walls of Moscow turned out to be extremely unfavorable. Taking into account the fact that the first actions of the partisans showed high efficiency, Kutuzov ordered to take them under the control of the Main Headquarters of the army in the field, entrusting their leadership to the duty general of the headquarters, General.-l. P. P. Konovnitsyna. At a military council in the village of Fili (now within the boundaries of Moscow) on September 1 (13), Kutuzov ordered that Moscow be left without a fight. Most of the population left the city with the troops. On the very first day of the entry of the French into Moscow, fires began, which lasted until September 8 (20) and devastated the city. While the French were in Moscow, partisan detachments surrounded the city in an almost continuous mobile ring, not allowing the enemy foragers to move further from it for 15-30 km. The most active were the actions of army partisan detachments, I. S. Dorokhov, A. N. Seslavin and A. S. Figner.
Leaving Moscow, Russian troops retreated along the Ryazan road. After walking 30 km, they crossed the Moskva River and turned west. Then, with a forced march, they crossed to the Tula road and on September 6 (18) concentrated in the Podolsk region. After 3 days they were already on the Kaluga road and on September 9 (21) camped near the village of Krasnaya Pakhra (since 1.7.2012 within Moscow). Having made 2 more crossings, Russian troops on September 21 (October 3) concentrated near the village of Tarutino (now the village of Zhukovsky district of the Kaluga region). As a result of a skillfully organized and executed march maneuver, they broke away from the enemy and took up an advantageous position for a counteroffensive.
The active participation of the population in the partisan movement turned the war from a confrontation between regular armies into a nationwide war. The main forces of the Great Army and all its communications from Moscow to Smolensk were threatened by Russian troops. The French lost their freedom of maneuver and activity in action. For them, the paths were closed in the province south of Moscow, not devastated by the war. The “small war” launched by Kutuzov further complicated the position of the enemy. The bold operations of the army and peasant partisan detachments disrupted the supply of the French troops. Realizing the critical situation, Napoleon I sent General J. Lauriston to the headquarters of the Russian commander in chief with peace proposals addressed to Alexander I. Kutuzov rejected them, saying that the war was just beginning and would not stop until the enemy was completely driven out of Russia.
The Russian army, located in the Tarutinsky camp, reliably covered the south of the country: Kaluga with military reserves concentrated there, Tula and Bryansk with weapons and foundries. At the same time, reliable communications were provided with the 3rd Western and Danube armies. In the Tarutinsky camp, the troops were reorganized, understaffed (their number was increased to 120 thousand people), supplied with weapons, ammunition and food. Artillery now had 2 times more than the enemy, cavalry outnumbered 3.5 times. The provincial militias numbered 100 thousand people. They covered Moscow in a semicircle along the lines of Klin, Kolomna, Aleksin. Under Tarutin, M. I. Kutuzov developed a plan to encircle and defeat the Great Army in the interfluve of the Western Dvina and Dnieper with the main forces of the army in the field, the Danube army of P. V. Chichagov and the corps of P. Kh. Wittgenstein.
The first blow was struck on October 6 (18) against the vanguard of the French army on the Chernishnya River (Battle of Tarutino 1812). The troops of Marshal I. Murat in this battle lost 2.5 thousand killed and 2 thousand prisoners. Napoleon I was forced to leave Moscow on October 7 (19), and on October 10 (22) advanced detachments of Russian troops entered it. The French lost about 5 thousand people and began to retreat along the Old Smolensk road, which they had devastated. Tarutinsky battle and the battle near Maloyaroslavets marked a radical turning point in the war. The strategic initiative finally passed into the hands of the Russian command. fighting Russian troops and partisans from that time on became active and included such methods of armed struggle as parallel pursuit and encirclement of enemy troops. The persecution was carried out in several directions: north of the Smolensk road, a detachment of Major General P.V. Golenishchev-Kutuzov was operating; along the Smolensk road - the Cossack regiments of the general from the cavalry; south of the Smolensk road - the vanguard of M. A. Miloradovich and the main forces of the Russian army. Having overtaken the rearguard of the enemy near Vyazma, Russian troops defeated him on October 22 (November 3) - the French lost about 8.5 thousand people killed, wounded and captured, then in the battles near Dorogobuzh, near Dukhovshchina, near the village of Lyakhovo (now the Glinsky district of Smolensk region) - more than 10 thousand people.
The surviving part of the Napoleonic army retreated to Smolensk, but there were no food supplies and reserves there. Napoleon I began to hastily withdraw his troops further. But in the battles near Krasnoye, and then near Molodechno, Russian troops defeated the French. Scattered parts of the enemy retreated to the river on the road to Borisov. The 3rd Western Army also approached the connection with the corps of P. H. Wittgenstein. Its troops occupied Minsk on November 4 (16), and on November 9 (21) P. V. Chichagov’s army approached Borisov and, after a battle with a detachment of General Y. Kh. Dombrovsky, occupied the city and the right bank of the Berezina. Wittgenstein's corps, after a stubborn battle with the French corps of Marshal L. Saint-Cyr, captured Polotsk on October 8 (20). Having crossed the Western Dvina, Russian troops occupied Lepel (now the Vitebsk region, Belarus) and defeated the French at Chashniki. With the approach of Russian troops to the Berezina, a “bag” was formed in the Borisov region, in which the retreating French troops were surrounded. However, Wittgenstein's indecisiveness and Chichagov's mistakes made it possible for Napoleon I to prepare a crossing over the Berezina and avoid the complete annihilation of his army. Having reached Smorgon (now the Grodno region, Belarus), on November 23 (December 5), Napoleon I left for Paris, and the remnants of his army were almost completely destroyed.
On December 14 (26), Russian troops occupied Bialystok and Brest-Litovsk (now Brest), completing the liberation of the territory of the Russian Empire. M. I. Kutuzov on December 21, 1812 (January 2, 1813), in an order for the army, congratulated the troops on the expulsion of the enemy from the country and urged "to complete the defeat of the enemy on his own fields."
The victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 preserved the independence of Russia, and the defeat of the Great Army not only dealt a crushing blow to the military power of Napoleonic France, but also played a decisive role in the liberation of a number of European states from French expansion, intensified the liberation struggle of the Spanish people, etc. As a result of the Russian army of 1813 -14 and the liberation struggle of the peoples of Europe, the Napoleonic empire collapsed. At the same time, the victory in the Patriotic War was used to strengthen the autocracy both in the Russian Empire and in Europe. Alexander I headed the Holy Alliance created by the European monarchs, whose activities were aimed at suppressing the revolutionary, republican and freedom movement in Europe. The Napoleonic army lost in Russia over 500 thousand people, all the cavalry and almost all the artillery (only the corps of J. Macdonald and K. Schwarzenberg survived); Russian troops - about 300 thousand people.
The Patriotic War of 1812 is notable for its large spatial scope, intensity, and variety of strategic and tactical forms of armed struggle. The military art of Napoleon I, which surpassed the military art of all the armies of Europe at that time, collapsed in a collision with Russian army. The Russian strategy surpassed the Napoleonic strategy, designed for a short-term campaign. M. I. Kutuzov skillfully used the popular character of the war and, taking into account political and strategic factors, implemented his plan to fight the Napoleonic army. The experience of the Patriotic War helped to consolidate the tactics of columns and loose formation in the actions of the troops, to increase the role of aimed fire, to improve the interaction of infantry, cavalry and artillery; the form of organization of military formations - divisions and corps - was firmly entrenched. The reserve became an integral part of the battle order, and the role of artillery in battle increased.
The Patriotic War of 1812 occupies an important place in the history of Russia. She demonstrated the unity of all classes in the fight against foreigners. aggression, was the most important factor the formation of self-consciousness in Russian. people. Under the influence of the victory over Napoleon I, the ideology of the Decembrists began to take shape. The experience of the war was generalized in the works of domestic and foreign military historians, the patriotism of the Russian people and the army inspired the work of Russian writers, artists, composers. The victory in the Patriotic War is associated with the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, numerous churches throughout the Russian Empire; military trophies were kept in the Kazan Cathedral. The events of the Patriotic War are captured in numerous monuments on the Borodino field, in Maloyaroslavets and Tarutino, are reflected in the triumphal arches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the paintings of the Winter Palace, in the Borodino Battle panorama in Moscow, etc. A huge memoir literature has been preserved about the Patriotic War.
Additional literature:
Akhsharumov D.I. Description of the war of 1812 St. Petersburg, 1819;
Buturlin D.P. The history of the invasion of Emperor Napoleon on Russia in 1812, 2nd ed. SPb., 1837-1838. Ch. 1-2;
Okunev N.A. Discourse on the great hostilities, battles and battles that took place during the invasion of Russia in 1812, 2nd ed. SPb., 1841;
Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky A.I. Description of the Patriotic War of 1812, 3rd ed. SPb., 1843;
Bogdanovich M.I. History of the Patriotic War of 1812 according to reliable sources. SPb., 1859-1860. T. 1-3;
Patriotic War of 1812: Materials of the Military Scientific Archive. Dep. 1-2. SPb., 1900-1914. [Issue. 1-22];
Patriotic war and Russian society, 1812-1912. M., 1911-1912. T. 1-7;
Great Patriotic War: 1812 St. Petersburg, 1912;
Zhilin P.A. The counteroffensive of the Russian army in 1812, 2nd ed. M., 1953;
he is. The death of the Napoleonic army in Russia. 2nd ed. M., 1974;
he is. Patriotic War of 1812 3rd ed. M., 1988;
M. I. Kutuzov: [Documents and materials]. M., 1954-1955. T. 4. Ch. 1-2;
1812: Sat. articles. M., 1962;
Babkin V.I. People's militia in the Patriotic War of 1812 M., 1962;
Beskrovny L.G. Patriotic War of 1812. M., 1962;
Korneichik E.I. Belarusian people in the Patriotic War of 1812 Minsk, 1962;
Sirotkin V.G. Duel of two diplomats: Russia and France in 1801-1812. M., 1966;
he is. Alexander the First and Napoleon: a duel on the eve of the war. M., 2012;
Tartakovsky A.G. 1812 and Russian memoirs: The experience of source studies. M., 1980;
Abalikhin B.S., Dunaevsky V.A. 1812 at the crossroads of opinions of Soviet historians, 1917-1987. M., 1990;
1812 Memoirs of the soldiers of the Russian army: From the collection of the Department of written sources of the State historical museum. M., 1991;
Tarle E.V. Napoleon's invasion of Russia, 1812. M., 1992;
he is. 1812: Chosen. works. M., 1994;
1812 in the memoirs of contemporaries. M., 1995;
Gulyaev Yu.N., Soglaev V.T. Field Marshal Kutuzov: [Historical and biographical essay]. M., 1995;
Russian archive: History of the Fatherland in evidence and documents of the 18th-20th centuries. M., 1996. Issue. 7;
Kirkheyzen F. Napoleon I: In 2 vols. M., 1997;
Chandler D. Napoleon's Military Campaigns: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Conqueror. M., 1999;
Sokolov O.V. Napoleon's army. SPb., 1999;
Shein I.A. War of 1812 in Russian historiography. M., 2002.
The attack on Russia was a continuation of Napoleon's hegemonic policy of establishing dominance on the European continent. By the beginning of 1812, most of Europe was dependent on France. Russia and Great Britain remained the only countries that posed a threat to Napoleonic plans.
After the Treaty of Tilsit on June 25 (July 7), 1807, Franco-Russian relations gradually deteriorated. Russia practically did not provide assistance to France during its war with Austria in 1809 and thwarted the project of Napoleon's marriage to Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. For his part, Napoleon, having annexed Austrian Galicia to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1809, actually restored the Polish state, which directly bordered on Russia. In 1810, France annexed the duchy of Oldenburg, which belonged to the brother-in-law of Alexander I; Russian protests had no effect. In the same year, a customs war broke out between the two countries; Napoleon also demanded that Russia stop trading with neutral states, which gave her the opportunity to break the continental blockade of Great Britain. In April 1812 Franco-Russian relations were practically interrupted.
The main allies of France were Prussia (treaty of 12 (24) February 1812) and Austria (treaty of 2 (14) March 1812). However, Napoleon failed to isolate Russia. On March 24 (April 5), 1812, she entered into an alliance with Sweden, to which England joined on April 21 (May 3). On May 16 (28) Russia signed Bucharest Peace from Ottoman Empire who completed Russian-Turkish war 1806–1812, which allowed Alexander I to use the Army of the Danube to defend the western frontiers.
By the beginning of the war, Napoleon's army (Great Army) numbered 678 thousand people (480 thousand infantry, 100 thousand cavalry and 30 thousand artillerymen) and included the imperial guard, twelve corps (eleven multinational and one purely Austrian), Murat's cavalry and artillery (1372 guns). By June 1812 it was concentrated on the border of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; its main part was at Kovno. Russia had 480 thousand people and 1600 guns, but these forces were scattered over a vast territory; in the west it had approx. 220 thousand, which made up three armies: the First (120 thousand) under the command of M.B. Barclay de Tolly, stationed on the Rossiena-Lida line, the Second (50 thousand) under the command of P.I. the interfluve of the Neman and the Western Bug, and the Third, reserve (46 thousand) under the command of A.P. Tormasov, stationed in Volyn. In addition, the Danube Army (50 thousand) under the command of P.V. Chichagov came from Romania, and the corps of F.F. Shteingel (15 thousand) came from Finland.
I period: June 12 (24) - July 22 (August 3).
10 (22) June 1812 France declared war on Russia. On June 12–14 (24–26) the main forces of the Great Army crossed the Neman at Kovno; The 10th Corps of MacDonald crossed at Tilsit, the 4th Corps of Eugene Beauharnais - at Prena, the troops of the Westphalian King Jerome - at Grodno. Napoleon planned to wedge between the First and Second armies and defeat them one by one in pitched battles as close to the border as possible. The plan of the Russian command, developed by General K. Ful, assumed the retreat of the First Army to the fortified camp near Drissa on the Western Dvina, where it was to give a general battle to the French. According to this plan, Barclay de Tolly began to retreat to Drissa, pursued by Murat's cavalry. Bagration was ordered to connect with him through Minsk, but the 1st French Corps (Davout) managed to cut his path at the very end of June and force him to retreat to Nesvizh. In view of the numerical superiority of the enemy and the disadvantageous position at Drissa, Barclay de Tolly, instructing P.Kh. Wittgenstein's corps (24 thousand) to cover the road to Petersburg, retreated to Vitebsk. June 30 (July 12) the French took Borisov, July 8 (20) - Mogilev. Bagration's attempt to break through to Vitebsk through Mogilev was thwarted by Davout near Saltanovka on July 11 (23). Upon learning of this, Barclay de Tolly retreated to Smolensk; the heroism of the corps of A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy, for three days - 13-15 (25-27) July - holding back the onslaught of the French avant-garde near Ostrovnaya, allowed the First Army to break away from the pursuit of the enemy. On July 22 (August 3), she joined in Smolensk with Bagration's army, which carried out a wide roundabout maneuver from the south through the valley of the Sozh River.
On the northern flank, the 2nd (Oudinot) and 10th (MacDonald) French corps tried to cut off Wittgenstein from Pskov and Petersburg, but failed; nevertheless, MacDonald occupied Courland, and Oudinot, with the support of the 6th corps (Saint-Cyr), captured Polotsk. On the southern flank, the Third Army of Tormasov pushed back the 7th (Saxon) corps of Reinier from Kobrin to Slonim, but then, after a battle with superior forces of the Saxons and Austrians (Schwarzenberg) near Gorodechnaya on July 31 (August 12), it retreated to Lutsk, where it joined with approached by the Danube army of Chichagov.
II period: July 22 (August 3) - September 3 (15).
Having met in Smolensk, the First and Second armies launched an offensive to the northwest in the direction of Rudnya. Napoleon, having crossed the Dnieper, tried to cut them off from Smolensk, but the stubborn resistance of the division of D.P. Neverovsky on August 1 (13) near Krasnoy detained the French and allowed Barclay de Tolly and Bagration to return to the city. On August 5 (17), the French began the assault on Smolensk; the Russians withdrew under the cover of the heroically defending rearguard D.S. Dokhturov. On August 7 (19), the 3rd French corps (Ney) overtook the corps of N.A. Tuchkov at Valutina Gora, but could not defeat it. The continuation of the retreat aroused strong dissatisfaction in the army and at the court against Barclay de Tolly, who carried out the general leadership of military operations; most of the generals, led by Bagration, insisted on a general battle, while Barclay de Tolly considered it necessary to lure Napoleon deep into the country in order to weaken him as much as possible. Disagreements in the military leadership and the demands of public opinion forced Alexander I to appoint on August 8 (20) the commander-in-chief M.I. The battle was fierce, with huge losses on both sides, and neither side achieved decisive success. According to Napoleon, "the French showed themselves worthy of victory, the Russians acquired the right to be invincible." The Russian army retreated to Moscow. Its retreat was covered by the rearguard of M.I. Platov, who successfully repelled the attacks of Murat's cavalry and Davout's corps. At a military council in the village of Fili near Moscow on September 1 (13), M.I. Kutuzov decided to leave Moscow for the sake of saving the army. On September 2 (14), the troops and most of the inhabitants left the city. On September 3 (15) the Great Army entered it.
III period: 3 (15) September - 6 (18) October.
Kutuzov's troops moved first to the southeast along the Ryazan road, but then turned southwest and went along the old Kaluga highway. This allowed them to avoid persecution and cover the main grain provinces and arms factories in Tula. The raid of Murat's cavalry forced Kutuzov to retreat to Tarutino (Tarutinsky maneuver), where the Russians set up a fortified camp on September 20 (October 2); Murat stood nearby, near Podolsk.
The balance of power began to change in favor of the Russians. The fire of Moscow on September 3-7 (15-19) deprived the Great Army of a significant part of the fodder and food. In the areas occupied by the French, a partisan movement developed, actively supported by the peasantry; the first partisan detachment was organized by hussar lieutenant colonel Denis Davydov. Napoleon tried to enter into peace negotiations with Alexander I, but was refused; he also failed to agree with the Russian command on a temporary cessation of hostilities. The position of the French on the flanks worsened: Wittgenstein's corps was strengthened by Steingel's corps and the St. Petersburg militia that arrived from Finland; The Danube and Third armies were united into one under the command of Chichagov, who on September 29 (October 11) took Brest-Litovsk; a plan was developed according to which the troops of Wittgenstein and Chichagov were to unite in order to cut French communications and lock up the Grand Army in Russia. Under these conditions, Napoleon decided to withdraw it to the west.
IV period: 6 (18) October - 2 (14) December.
On October 6 (18), Kutuzov's army attacked Murat's corps on the river. Blackie and forced him to retreat. On October 7 (19), the French (100 thousand) left Moscow, blowing up part of the Kremlin buildings, and moved along the Novokaluzhskaya road, intending to get to Smolensk through the rich southern provinces. However, the bloody battle near Maloyaroslavets on October 12 (24) forced them on October 14 (26) to turn onto the devastated old Smolensk road. The pursuit of the Great Army was entrusted to M.I. Platov and M.A. Miloradovich, who on October 22 (November 3) near Vyazma inflicted serious damage to its rearguard. October 24 (November 5), when Napoleon reached Dorogobuzh, frost hit, which became a real disaster for the French. On October 28 (November 9), they reached Smolensk, but did not find sufficient supplies of food and fodder there; at the same time, the partisans defeated Augereau's brigade near the village of Lyakhovo, and Platov's Cossacks severely battered Murat's cavalry near Dukhovshchina, preventing it from breaking through to Vitebsk. There was a real threat of encirclement: Wittgenstein, having taken Polotsk on October 7 (19) and repulsed the attack of the corps of Victor and Saint-Cyr on October 19 (31) near Chashniki, went to the Berezina from the north, and Chichagov, pushing the Austrians and Saxons to Dragichin, rushed to her from South. This forced Napoleon to leave Smolensk on November 2 (14) and rush to the crossing near Borisov. On the same day, Wittgenstein defeated Victor's corps near Smolyantsy. On November 3–6 (15–18), Kutuzov delivered several blows to the extended units of the Great Army near Krasnoe: the French suffered heavy losses, but avoided complete annihilation. On November 4 (16) Chichagov took Minsk, and on November 10 (22) Borisov took it. The next day, Oudinot's corps knocked him out of Borisov and organized a false crossing there, which made it possible to divert the attention of the Russians and made it possible for the main French forces to begin crossing the Berezina on November 14 (26), upstream from the village. student; on the evening of November 15 (27) they were attacked by Chichagov on the west bank, and by Kutuzov and Wittgenstein on the east; nevertheless, the French managed to complete the crossing on November 16 (28), although they lost half of their composition and all artillery. The Russians actively pursued the enemy, who rolled back to the border. On November 23 (December 5), Napoleon threw troops into Smorgon and left for Warsaw, transferring command to Murat, after which the retreat turned into a stampede. On November 26 (December 8), the remnants of the Great Army reached Vilna, and on December 2 (14) they reached Kovno and crossed the Neman into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. At the same time, MacDonald withdrew his corps from Riga to Koenigsberg, while the Austrians and Saxons withdrew from Drogichin to Warsaw and Pultusk. By the end of December, Russia was cleared of the enemy.
The death of the Great Army (no more than 20 thousand returned to their homeland) broke the military power of the Napoleonic Empire and was the beginning of its collapse. The transition to the Russian side of the Prussian corps of J. von Wartenburg on December 18 (30), 1812 turned out to be the first link in the process of disintegration of the system of dependent states created by Napoleon in Europe, which, one after another, began to join the anti-French coalition led by Russia. Military operations were transferred to European territory (Foreign campaign of the Russian army 1813-1814). The Patriotic War developed into a general European war, which ended in the spring of 1814 with the capitulation of France and the fall of the Napoleonic regime.
Russia withstood the most difficult historical test with honor and became the most powerful power in Europe.
Ivan Krivushin
On June 24 (June 12, old style), 1812, the Patriotic War began - the liberation war of Russia against Napoleonic aggression.
The invasion of the troops of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte into the Russian Empire was caused by the aggravation of Russian-French economic and political contradictions, the actual refusal of Russia to participate in the continental blockade (a system of economic and political measures applied by Napoleon I in the war with England), etc.
Napoleon aspired to world domination, Russia interfered with the implementation of his plans. He hoped, inflicting the main blow on the right flank of the Russian army in the general direction of Vilna (Vilnius), to defeat it in one or two pitched battles, to capture Moscow, to force Russia to capitulate and dictate a peace treaty to her on favorable terms.
On June 24 (June 12, old style), 1812, Napoleon's "Great Army" crossed the Neman and invaded the Russian Empire without declaring war. It numbered over 440 thousand people and had a second echelon, in which there were 170 thousand people. The "Great Army" included in its composition the troops of all the countries conquered by Napoleon Western Europe(French troops made up only half of its strength). She was opposed by three Russian armies, far apart from each other, with a total number of 220-240 thousand people. Initially, only two of them acted against Napoleon - the first, under the command of General of Infantry Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, covering the St. Petersburg direction, and the second, under the command of General of Infantry Pyotr Bagration, concentrated on the Moscow direction. The third army of cavalry general Alexander Tormasov covered the southwestern borders of Russia and began hostilities at the end of the war. At the beginning of hostilities, the general leadership of the Russian forces was carried out by Emperor Alexander I, in July 1812 he transferred the main command to Barclay de Tolly.
Four days after the invasion of Russia, French troops occupied Vilna. On July 8 (June 26, old style) they entered Minsk.
Having figured out Napoleon's plan to separate the Russian first and second armies and defeat them one by one, the Russian command began a systematic withdrawal of them for connection. Instead of a phased dismemberment of the enemy, the French troops were forced to move behind the elusive Russian armies, stretching communications and losing superiority in forces. Retreating, the Russian troops fought rearguard battles (a battle undertaken with the aim of delaying the advancing enemy and thus ensuring the retreat of the main forces), inflicting significant losses on the enemy.
To help the army in the field to repel the invasion of the Napoleonic army on Russia, on the basis of the manifesto of Alexander I of July 18 (July 6, according to the old style), 1812 and his appeal to the inhabitants of the "Mother-throne capital of our Moscow" with a call to act as initiators, temporary armed formations began to form - people's militia. This allowed the Russian government to mobilize large human and material resources for the war in a short time.
Napoleon sought to prevent the connection of the Russian armies. On July 20 (July 8, according to the old style), the French occupied Mogilev and prevented the Russian armies from connecting in the Orsha region. Only thanks to stubborn rearguard battles and the high skill of the maneuver carried out by the Russian armies, who managed to frustrate the plans of the enemy, on August 3 (July 22, old style) they 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 16 to 18 August (from 4 to 6 August, old style). The Russian regiments repulsed all the attacks of the French and retreated only on orders, leaving the burning city to the enemy. Almost all the inhabitants left it with the troops. After the battles for Smolensk, the united Russian armies continued to withdraw in the direction of Moscow.
The retreat strategy of Barclay de Tolly, unpopular either in the army or in Russian society, leaving the enemy a significant territory forced Emperor Alexander I to establish the post of commander-in-chief of all Russian armies and on August 20 (August 8, old style) to appoint General of Infantry Mikhail Golenishchev- Kutuzov, who had extensive combat experience and 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.
Based on the requirements of Emperor Alexander I, the mood of the army, which was eager to give the enemy a fight, the commander-in-chief Kutuzov decided, relying on a pre-selected position, 124 kilometers from Moscow, near the village of Borodino near Mozhaisk, to give the French army a general battle in order to inflict as much damage as possible on it and stop the advance on Moscow.
By the beginning of the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army had 132 (according to other sources 120) thousand people, the French - about 130-135 thousand people.
It was preceded by a battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt, which began on September 5 (August 24, old style), in which Napoleon's troops, despite more than threefold superiority in strength, managed to capture the redoubt only by the end of the day with great difficulty. This battle allowed Kutuzov to unravel the plan of Napoleon I and to strengthen his left wing in a timely manner.
The battle of Borodino began at five o'clock in the morning on September 7 (August 26, old style) and lasted 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 one kilometer - 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. In the Battle of Borodino, the French lost up to 50 thousand people, the Russians - over 44 thousand people.
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 13 (September 1, according to the old style), 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, Russian troops left the capital. Most of the population left the city with them. On the very first day of the entry of French troops into Moscow, fires began, devastating the city. For 36 days, Napoleon languished in the burned-out city, waiting in vain for an answer to his proposal to Alexander I for peace, on favorable terms for him.
The main Russian army, leaving Moscow, made a march maneuver and settled in the Tarutinsky camp, reliably covering the south of the country. From here, Kutuzov launched a small war with the forces of army partisan detachments. During this time, the peasantry of the Great Russian provinces, engulfed in war, rose to a large-scale people's war.
Napoleon's attempts to enter into negotiations were rejected.
On October 18 (October 6, according to the old style), after the battle on the Chernishna River (near the village of Tarutino), in which the vanguard of the "Great Army" under the command of Marshal Murat was defeated, Napoleon left Moscow and sent his troops towards Kaluga to break into the southern Russian provinces rich in food resources. Four days after the departure of the French, the advance detachments of the Russian army entered the capital.
After the battle of Maloyaroslavets on October 24 (October 12, old style), when the Russian army blocked the enemy's path, Napoleon's troops were forced to begin a retreat along the devastated old Smolensk road. Kutuzov organized the pursuit of the French along the roads south of the Smolensk tract, acting with strong vanguards. Napoleon's troops lost people not only in clashes with their pursuers, but also from partisan attacks, from hunger and cold.
To the flanks of the retreating French army, Kutuzov pulled troops from the south and north-west of the country, who began to actively operate and inflict defeat on the enemy. Napoleon's troops actually found themselves surrounded on the Berezina River near the city of Borisov (Belarus), where on November 26-29 (November 14-17, according to the old style) they fought with Russian troops trying to cut off their escape routes. The French emperor, misleading the Russian command with a false crossing, was able to transfer the remnants of the troops along two hastily built bridges across the river. On November 28 (November 16, old style), Russian troops attacked the enemy on both banks of the Berezina, but, despite the superiority of forces, they were unsuccessful due to indecision and incoherence of actions. On the morning of November 29 (November 17, old style), by order of Napoleon, the bridges were burned. Convoys and crowds of lagging behind French soldiers (about 40 thousand people) remained on the left bank, most of whom drowned during the crossing or were captured, and the total losses of the French army in the battle of the Berezina amounted to 50 thousand people. But Napoleon in this battle managed to avoid complete defeat and retreat to Vilna.
The liberation of the territory of the Russian Empire from the enemy was completed on December 26 (December 14 according to the old style), when Russian troops occupied the border cities of Bialystok and Brest-Litovsky. The enemy lost up to 570 thousand people on the battlefields. The losses of the Russian troops amounted to about 300 thousand people.
The official end of the Patriotic War of 1812 is considered to be a manifesto signed by Emperor Alexander I on January 6, 1813 (December 25, 1812 according to the old style), in which he announced that he had kept his word not to stop the war until the enemy was completely expelled from Russian territory. empire.
The defeat and death of the "Great Army" in Russia created the conditions for the liberation of the peoples of Western Europe from Napoleonic tyranny and predetermined the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The Patriotic War of 1812 showed the complete superiority of Russian military art over the military art of Napoleon, and caused a nationwide patriotic upsurge in Russia.
(Additional
Can't understand the meaning of life
Mate Brewing Methods
Trollface quest games Black humor games
Dark spots in photos?
Rules of the game Bald in VK. Scrabble nerd. The purpose of the game Balda