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War of 1812 begins
War of 1812 causes
War of 1812 stages
War of 1812 results

The War of 1812, in short, became the most difficult and important event of the 19th century for the Russian Empire. In Russian historiography it was called the Patriotic War of 1812.

How did it happen that France and Russia, which had friendly relations and were allies for many years, became adversaries and began military operations against each other?

The main reason for all the military conflicts of that time involving France, including the War of 1812, in short, was associated with the imperial ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte. Having come to power thanks to the Great French Revolution, he did not hide his desire to extend the influence of the French Empire to as many countries as possible. Enormous ambition and excellent qualities as a commander and diplomat made Napoleon in a short time the ruler of almost all of Europe. Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, Russia left the alliance with France and joined England. So former allies became enemies.

Then, during the unsuccessful wars of the Allies with Napoleon's troops, the Russian Empire was forced to agree to a peace agreement with France. This is how the Peace of Tilsit was signed. His main condition was that Russia maintain the continental blockade of England, which Napoleon wanted to weaken in this way. The authorities of the Russian Empire wanted to use this truce as an opportunity to accumulate forces, since everyone understood the need to further fight Napoleon.

But the blockade threatened the Russian economy, and then the Russian authorities resorted to a trick. They began to trade with neutral countries, through which they continued to trade with England, using them as intermediaries. At the same time, Russia did not formally violate the terms of peace with France. She was indignant, but could not do anything.

War of 1812, briefly about the reasons

There were many reasons why it became possible to conduct military operations directly between France and Russia:
1. Failure by Russia to fulfill the terms of the Tilsit Peace Treaty;
2. Refusal to marry first Alexander I’s sister Catherine, and then Anna, to the Emperor of France;
3. France violated the agreements of the Tilsit Peace by continuing the occupation of Prussia.

By 1812, war became inevitable for both countries. Both France and Russia hastily prepared for it, gathering allies around them. Austria and Prussia were on France's side. Russia's allies are Great Britain, Sweden and Spain.

Progress of hostilities

The war began on June 12, 1812 with the transfer of Napoleon's army across the border river Neman. The Russian troops were divided into three parts, since the exact location of the border crossing by the enemy was not known. French troops crossed it in the area of ​​the army under the command of Barclay de Tolly. Seeing the enormous numerical superiority of the enemy and trying to preserve his strength, he ordered a retreat. The armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration managed to unite near Smolensk. The first battle of this war took place there. Russian troops failed to defend the city, and they continued their retreat deeper into the country in August.
After the failure of the Russian troops near Smolensk, the people entered the fight against Napoleon's army. Active partisan actions of the country's inhabitants against the enemy began. The partisan movement provided enormous support to the army in the fight against French troops.

In August, General M. Kutuzov became commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. He approved of the tactics of his predecessors and continued the army's orderly retreat towards Moscow.
Near Moscow, near the village of Borodino, the most significant battle of this war took place, which completely debunked the myth of Napoleon's invincibility - the Battle of Borodino. The strengths of the two armies by that time were almost identical.

Following the Battle of Borodino Neither side could call itself the winner, but the French troops were greatly exhausted.
In September, according to the decision of Kutuzov, with which Alexander I agreed, Russian troops left Moscow. Frosts began, to which the French were not accustomed. Virtually locked in Moscow, Napoleon's army was completely demoralized. Russian troops, on the contrary, rested and received support with food, weapons and volunteers.

Napoleon decides to retreat, which soon turns into flight. Russian troops force the French to retreat along the Smolensk road, which they had completely destroyed.
In December 1812, the army under the command of Napoleon finally left Russian territory, and the War of 1812 ended with the complete victory of the Russian people.

More wars, battles, battles, riots and uprisings in Russia:

The War of 1812, also known as the Patriotic War of 1812, the war with Napoleon, the invasion of Napoleon, is the first event in the national history of Russia when all layers of Russian society rallied to repel the enemy. It was the popular nature of the war with Napoleon that allowed historians to give it the name of the Patriotic War.

Cause of the war with Napoleon

Napoleon considered England his main enemy, an obstacle to world domination. He could not crush it with military force for geographical reasons: Britain is an island, an amphibious operation would have cost France very dearly, and besides, after the Battle of Trafalgar, England remained the only mistress of the seas. Therefore, Napoleon decided to strangle the enemy economically: to undermine England’s trade by closing all European ports to it. However, the blockade did not bring benefits to France either; it ruined its bourgeoisie. “Napoleon understood that it was the war with England and the blockade associated with it that prevented a radical improvement in the economy of the empire. But in order to end the blockade, it was first necessary to get England to lay down its arms.”* However, the victory over England was hampered by the position of Russia, which in words agreed to comply with the terms of the blockade, but in fact, Napoleon was convinced, did not comply with it. “English goods from Russia along the entire vast western border are leaking into Europe and this reduces the continental blockade to zero, that is, it destroys the only hope of “bringing England to its knees.” The Great Army in Moscow means the submission of the Russian Emperor Alexander, this is the complete implementation of the continental blockade, therefore, victory over England is possible only after victory over Russia.

Subsequently, in Vitebsk, already during the campaign against Moscow, Count Daru frankly declared to Napoleon that neither the armies, nor even many in the emperor’s entourage understood why this difficult war was being waged with Russia, because because of the trade in English goods in Alexander’s possessions, not worth it. (However) Napoleon saw in the consistently carried out economic strangulation of England the only means of finally ensuring the durability of the existence of the great monarchy he created

Background to the War of 1812

• 1798 - Russia, together with Great Britain, Turkey, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Naples, created the second anti-French coalition
• 1801, September 26 - Paris Peace Treaty between Russia and France
• 1805 - England, Russia, Austria, Sweden formed the third anti-French coalition
• 1805, November 20 - Napoleon defeats the Austro-Russian troops at Austerlitz
• 1806, November - the beginning of the war between Russia and Turkey
• 1807, June 2 - defeat of Russian-Prussian troops at Friedland
• 1807, June 25 - Treaty of Tilsit between Russia and France. Russia pledged to join the continental blockade
• 1808, February - the beginning of the Russian-Swedish War, which lasted a year
• 1808, October 30 - Erfur Union Conference of Russia and France, confirming the Franco-Russian alliance
• Late 1809 - early 1810 - Napoleon’s unsuccessful matchmaking with Alexander the First’s sister Anna
• 1810, December 19 - introduction of new customs tariffs in Russia, beneficial for English goods and disadvantageous for French ones
• 1812, February - peace agreement between Russia and Sweden
• 1812, May 16 - Treaty of Bucharest between Russia and Turkey

“Napoleon subsequently said that he should have abandoned the war with Russia at the moment when he learned that neither Turkey nor Sweden would fight with Russia.”

Patriotic War of 1812. Briefly

• 1812, June 12 (old style) - the French army invaded Russia by crossing the Neman

The French did not see a single soul in the entire vast space beyond the Neman until the very horizon, after the Cossack guards disappeared from sight. “Before us lay a desert, brown, yellowish land with stunted vegetation and distant forests on the horizon,” recalled one of the participants in the hike, and the picture seemed “ominous” even then.

• 1812, June 12-15 - in four continuous streams, the Napoleonic army crossed the Neman along three new bridges and a fourth old one - at Kovno, Olitt, Merech, Yurburg - regiment after regiment, battery after battery, in a continuous stream crossed the Neman and lined up on the Russian bank.

Napoleon knew that although he had 420 thousand people at hand... the army was far from equal in all its parts, that he could only rely on the French part of his army (in total, the great army consisted of 355 thousand subjects of the French Empire, but among them there were far from all were natural French), and even then not entirely, because young recruits could not be placed next to the seasoned warriors who had been on his campaigns. As for the Westphalians, Saxons, Bavarians, Rhenish, Hanseatic Germans, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, not to mention his forced allies - the Austrians and Prussians, whom he dragged for purposes unknown to them to death in Russia and of whom many do not hate at all Russians, and himself, it is unlikely that they will fight with particular fervor

• 1812, June 12 - the French in Kovno (now Kaunas)
• 1812, June 15 - The corps of Jerome Bonaparte and Yu. Poniatowski advanced to Grodno
• 1812, June 16 - Napoleon in Vilna (Vilnius), where he stayed for 18 days
• 1812, June 16 - a short battle in Grodno, the Russians blew up bridges across the Lososnya River

Russian commanders

- Barclay de Tolly (1761-1818) - Since the spring of 1812 - commander of the 1st Western Army. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 - Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army
- Bagration (1765-1812) - chief of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, the commander of the 2nd Western Army
- Bennigsen (1745-1826) - cavalry general, by order of Kutuzaov - chief of the General Staff of the Russian army
- Kutuzov (1747-1813) - Field Marshal General, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army during the Patriotic War of 1812
- Chichagov (1767-1849) - admiral, naval minister of the Russian Empire from 1802 to 1809
- Wittgenstein (1768-1843) - Field Marshal General, during the War of 1812 - commander of a separate corps in the St. Petersburg direction

• 1812, June 18 - the French in Grodno
• 1812, July 6 - Alexander the First announced recruitment into the militia
• 1812, July 16 - Napoleon in Vitebsk, the armies of Bagration and Barclay retreat to Smolensk
• 1812, August 3 - connection of the armies of Barclay to Tolly and Bagration near Smolensk
• 1812, August 4-6 - Battle of Smolensk

At 6 a.m. on August 4, Napoleon ordered the general bombardment and assault of Smolensk to begin. Fierce fighting broke out and lasted until 6 pm. Dokhturov's corps, defending the city together with the division of Konovnitsyn and the Prince of Württemberg, fought with courage and tenacity that amazed the French. In the evening, Napoleon called Marshal Davout and categorically ordered the next day, no matter the cost, to take Smolensk. He had already had the hope earlier, and now it has grown stronger, that this Smolensk battle, in which supposedly the entire Russian army is participating (he knew about Barclay’s finally united with Bagration), will be that decisive battle, which the Russians have so far avoided, giving to him without a fight huge parts of his empire. On August 5, the battle resumed. The Russians offered heroic resistance. After a bloody day, night came. The bombing of the city, by order of Napoleon, continued. And suddenly on Wednesday night there were terrible explosions one after another, shaking the earth; The fire that started spread throughout the city. It was the Russians who blew up the powder magazines and set the city on fire: Barclay gave the order to retreat. At dawn, French scouts reported that the city had been abandoned by troops, and Davout entered Smolensk without a fight.

• 1812, August 8 - Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief instead of Barclay de Tolly
• 1812, August 23 - Scouts reported to Napoleon that the Russian army had stopped and taken up positions two days earlier and that fortifications had also been built near the village visible in the distance. When asked what the name of the village was, the scouts answered: “Borodino”
• 1812, August 26 - Battle of Borodino

Kutuzov knew that Napoleon would be destroyed by the impossibility of a long war several thousand kilometers from France, in a deserted, meager, hostile huge country, a lack of food, and an unusual climate. But he knew even more precisely that they would not allow him to give up Moscow without a general battle, despite his Russian surname, just as Barclay was not allowed to do this. And he decided to fight this battle, which was unnecessary, in his deepest conviction. Strategically unnecessary, it was morally and politically inevitable. At 15:00 the Battle of Borodino killed more than 100,000 people on both sides. Napoleon later said: “Of all my battles, the most terrible was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible...”
— — — — —
The most blatant school linden concerns French losses in the Battle of Borodino. European historiography admits that Napoleon was missing 30 thousand soldiers and officers, of which 10–12 thousand were killed. Nevertheless, on the main monument erected on the Borodino field, 58,478 people are engraved in gold. As Alexey Vasiliev, an expert on the era, admits, we owe the “mistake” to Alexander Schmidt, a Swiss who at the end of 1812 really needed 500 rubles. He turned to Count Fyodor Rostopchin, posing as a former adjutant of Napoleonic Marshal Berthier. Having received the money, the “adjutant” from the lantern compiled a list of losses for the corps of the Great Army, attributing, for example, 5 thousand killed to the Holsteins, who did not participate in the Battle of Borodino at all. The Russian world was happy to be deceived, and when documentary refutations appeared, no one dared to initiate the dismantling of the legend. And it still hasn’t been decided: the figure has been floating around in textbooks for decades, as if Napoleon lost about 60 thousand soldiers. Why deceive children who can open a computer? (“Arguments of the Week”, No. 34(576) dated 08/31/2017)

• 1812, September 1 - council in Fili. Kutuzov ordered to leave Moscow
• 1812, September 2 - The Russian army passed through Moscow and reached the Ryazan road
• 1812, September 2 - Napoleon in Moscow
• 1812, September 3 - the beginning of a fire in Moscow
• 1812, September 4-5 - Fire in Moscow.

On the morning of September 5, Napoleon walked around the Kremlin and from the windows of the palace, wherever he looked, the emperor turned pale and silently looked at the fire for a long time, and then said: “What a terrible sight! They set the fire themselves... What determination! What people! These are Scythians!

• 1812, September 6 - September 22 - Napoleon three times sent envoys to the Tsar and Kutuzov with a proposal for peace. Didn't wait for an answer
• 1812, October 6 - the beginning of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
• 1812, October 7 - The victorious battle of the Russian army of Kutuzov with the French troops of Marshal Murat in the area of ​​​​the village of Tarutino, Kaluga region
• 1812, October 12 - the battle of Maloyaroslavets, which forced Napoleon’s army to retreat along the old Smolensk road, already completely destroyed

Generals Dokhturov and Raevsky attacked Maloyaroslavets, which had been occupied the day before by Delzon. Eight times Maloyaroslavets changed hands. Losses on both sides were heavy. The French lost about 5 thousand people in killed alone. The city burned to the ground, catching fire during the battle, so that many hundreds of people, Russians and French, died from fire in the streets, many wounded were burned alive

• 1812, October 13 - In the morning, Napoleon with a small retinue left the village of Gorodni to inspect the Russian positions, when suddenly Cossacks with pikes at the ready attacked this group of horsemen. Two marshals who were with Napoleon (Murat and Bessieres), General Rapp and several officers crowded around Napoleon and began to fight back. Polish light cavalry and guards rangers arrived in time and saved the emperor.
• 1812, October 15 - Napoleon ordered a retreat to Smolensk
• 1812, October 18 - frosts began. Winter came early and cold
• 1812, October 19 - Wittgenstein's corps, reinforced by St. Petersburg and Novgorod militias and other reinforcements, drove out the troops of Saint-Cyr and Oudinot from Polotsk
• 1812, October 26 - Wittgenstein occupied Vitebsk
• 1812, November 6 - Napoleon's army arrived in Dorogobuzh (a city in the Smolensk region), only 50 thousand people remained ready for battle
• 1812, early November - Chichagov’s Southern Russian army, arriving from Turkey, rushed to the Berezina (a river in Belarus, the right tributary of the Dnieper)
• 1812, November 14 - Napoleon left Smolensk with only 36 thousand men under arms
• 1812, November 16-17 - a bloody battle near the village of Krasny (45 km southwest of Smolensk), in which the French suffered huge losses
• 1812, November 16 - Chichagov's army occupied Minsk
• 1812, November 22 - Chichagov's army occupied Borisov on the Berezina. There was a bridge across the river in Borisov
• 1812, November 23 - defeat of the vanguard of Chichagov's army from Marshal Oudinot near Borisov. Borisov again went over to the French
• 1812, November 26-27 - Napoleon transported the remnants of the army across the Berezina and took them to Vilna
• 1812, December 6 - Napoleon left the army, going to Paris
• 1812, December 11 - the Russian army entered Vilna
• 1812, December 12 - the remnants of Napoleon's army arrived in Kovno
• 1812, December 15 - the remnants of the French army crossed the Neman, leaving Russian territory
• 1812, December 25 - Alexander I issued a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War

“...Now, with heartfelt joy and bitterness to God, We declare gratitude to Our dear loyal subjects, that the event has surpassed even Our very hope, and that what We announced at the opening of this war has been fulfilled beyond measure: there is no longer a single enemy on the face of Our land; or better yet, they all stayed here, but how? Dead, wounded and prisoners. The proud ruler and leader himself could barely ride away with his most important officials, having lost all his army and all the cannons he brought with him, which, more than a thousand, not counting those buried and sunk by him, were recaptured from him, and are in Our hands ... "

Thus ended the Patriotic War of 1812. Then the foreign campaigns of the Russian army began, the purpose of which, according to Alexander the First, was to finish off Napoleon. But that is another story

Reasons for Russia's victory in the war against Napoleon

• The nationwide character of the resistance provided
• Mass heroism of soldiers and officers
• High skill of military leaders
• Napoleon's indecisiveness in announcing anti-serfdom laws
• Geographical and natural factors

The result of the Patriotic War of 1812

• The growth of national self-awareness in Russian society
• The beginning of the decline of Napoleon's career
• Growing authority of Russia in Europe
• The emergence of anti-serfdom, liberal views in Russia

The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is one of the dramatic dates in the history of our country. This event gave rise to many myths and points of view regarding the reasons, plans of the parties, the number of troops and other important aspects. Let's try to understand this issue and cover Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 as objectively as possible. Let's start with the background.

Background to the conflict

Napoleon's invasion of Russia was not a random or unexpected event. This is in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” it is presented as “treacherous and unexpected.” In fact, everything was natural. Russia brought disaster upon itself through its military actions. At first, Catherine the Second, fearing revolutionary events in Europe, helped the First Anti-French Coalition. Then Paul the First could not forgive Napoleon for the capture of Malta, an island that was under the personal protection of our emperor.

The main military confrontations between Russia and France began with the Second Anti-French Coalition (1798-1800), in which Russian troops, together with Turkish, English and Austrian troops, tried to defeat the army of the Directory in Europe. It was during these events that the famous Mediterranean campaign of Ushakov and the heroic transition of the thousands of Russian army through the Alps under the command of Suvorov took place.

Our country then first became acquainted with the “loyalty” of the Austrian allies, thanks to whom Russian armies of thousands were surrounded. This, for example, happened to Rimsky-Korsakov in Switzerland, who lost about 20 thousand of his soldiers in an unequal battle against the French. It was the Austrian troops who left Switzerland and left the 30,000-strong Russian corps alone with the 70,000-strong French corps. And Suvorov’s famous campaign was also forced, since the same Austrian advisers showed our commander-in-chief the wrong path in the direction where there were completely no roads or crossings.

As a result, Suvorov found himself surrounded, but with decisive maneuvers he was able to get out of the stone trap and save the army. However, ten years passed between these events and the Patriotic War. And Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 would not have taken place if not for further events.

The Third and Fourth Anti-French Coalitions. Violation of the Tilsit Peace

Alexander the First also started a war with France. According to one version, thanks to the British, a coup d'état took place in Russia, which brought young Alexander to the throne. This circumstance may have forced the new emperor to fight for the British.

In 1805, the Third was formed. It included Russia, England, Sweden and Austria. Unlike the previous two, the new alliance was framed as defensive. No one was going to restore the Bourbon dynasty in France. England needed the alliance most of all, since 200 thousand French soldiers were already stationed near the English Channel, ready to land on the island, but the Third Coalition prevented these plans.

The culmination of the alliance was the “Battle of the Three Emperors” on November 20, 1805. It received this name because all three emperors of the warring armies - Napoleon, Alexander the First and Franz the Second - were present on the battlefield near Austerlitz. Military historians believe that it was the presence of “dignitaries” that created complete confusion for the allies. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the Coalition troops.

We try to briefly explain all the circumstances, without an understanding of which Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 will be incomprehensible.

In 1806, the Fourth Anti-French Coalition emerged. Austria no longer took part in the war against Napoleon. The new union included England, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Sweden. Our country had to bear the entire brunt of the fighting, since England helped mainly only financially, as well as at sea, and the other participants did not have strong ground armies. In one day everything was destroyed at the Battle of Jena.

On June 2, 1807, our army was defeated near Friedland and retreated beyond the Neman - the border river in the western possessions of the Russian Empire.

After this, Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon on June 9, 1807 in the middle of the Neman River, which was officially interpreted as equality of the parties when signing the peace. It was the violation of the Peace of Tilsit that became the reason why Napoleon invaded Russia. Let us examine the contract itself in more detail so that the reasons for the events that occurred later are clear.

Terms of the Peace of Tilsit

The Tilsit Peace Treaty implied Russia's accession to the so-called blockade of the British Isles. This decree was signed by Napoleon on November 21, 1806. The essence of the “blockade” was that France was creating a zone on the European continent where England was prohibited from trading. Napoleon could not physically blockade the island, since France did not have even a tenth of the fleet that the British had at their disposal. Therefore, the term “blockade” is conditional. In fact, Napoleon came up with what today are called economic sanctions. England traded actively with Europe. From Russia, therefore, the “blockade” threatened the food security of Foggy Albion. In fact, Napoleon even helped England, since the latter quickly found new trading partners in Asia and Africa, making good money on this in the future.

Russia in the 19th century was an agricultural country that sold grain for export. The only major buyer of our products at that time was England. Those. the loss of the sales market completely ruined the ruling elite of nobles in Russia. We are seeing something similar today in our country, when counter-sanctions and sanctions have hit the oil and gas industry hard, resulting in the ruling elite incurring colossal losses.

In fact, Russia joined the anti-British sanctions in Europe, initiated by France. The latter itself was a large agricultural producer, so there was no possibility of replacing a trading partner for our country. Naturally, our ruling elite could not fulfill the conditions of the Tilsit Peace, as this would lead to the complete destruction of the entire Russian economy. The only way to force Russia to comply with the demands of the “blockade” was by force. That is why the invasion of Russia took place. The French emperor himself did not intend to go deep into our country, wanting to simply force Alexander to fulfill the Peace of Tilsit. However, our armies forced the French emperor to advance further and further from the western borders to Moscow.

date

The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russian territory is June 12, 1812. On this day, the enemy troops crossed the Neman.

The Invasion Myth

There is a myth that Napoleon's invasion of Russia happened unexpectedly. The emperor held a ball, and all the courtiers had fun. In fact, balls for all European monarchs of that time occurred very often, and they did not depend on political events, but, on the contrary, were an integral part of it. This was an unchanging tradition of monarchical society. It was there that public hearings on the most important issues actually took place. Even during the First World War, magnificent celebrations were held in the residences of nobles. However, it is worth noting that Alexander the First Ball in Vilna nevertheless left and retired to St. Petersburg, where he stayed throughout the entire Patriotic War.

Forgotten heroes

The Russian army was preparing for the French invasion long before this. War Minister Barclay de Tolly did everything possible to ensure that Napoleon's army approached Moscow at the limit of its capabilities and with huge losses. The Minister of War himself kept his army in full combat readiness. Unfortunately, the history of the Patriotic War treated Barclay de Tolly unfairly. By the way, it was he who actually created the conditions for the future French catastrophe, and the invasion of Napoleon’s army into Russia ultimately ended in the complete defeat of the enemy.

Tactics of the Minister of War

Barclay de Tolly used the famous “Scythian tactics”. The distance between Neman and Moscow is huge. Without food supplies, provisions for horses, or drinking water, the “Grand Army” turned into a huge prisoner of war camp, in which natural death was much higher than losses from battles. The French did not expect the horror that Barclay de Tolly created for them: peasants went into the forests, taking livestock with them and burning food, wells along the army’s route were poisoned, as a result of which periodic epidemics broke out in the French army. Horses and people were dying of hunger, mass desertion began, but there was nowhere to run in unfamiliar terrain. In addition, partisan detachments from peasants destroyed individual French groups of soldiers. The year of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is a year of unprecedented patriotic upsurge of all Russian people who united to destroy the aggressor. This point was also reflected by L.N. Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace”, in which his characters demonstratively refuse to speak French, since it is the language of the aggressor, and also donate all their savings to the needs of the army. Russia has not seen such an invasion for a long time. The last time our country was attacked by the Swedes was almost a hundred years ago. Not long before this, the entire secular world of Russia admired the genius of Napoleon and considered him the greatest man on the planet. Now this genius threatened our independence and turned into a sworn enemy.

The size and characteristics of the French army

The size of Napoleon's army during the invasion of Russia was about 600 thousand people. Its peculiarity was that it resembled a patchwork quilt. The composition of Napoleon's army during the invasion of Russia consisted of Polish lancers, Hungarian dragoons, Spanish cuirassiers, French dragoons, etc. Napoleon gathered his “Great Army” from all over Europe. She was diverse, speaking different languages. At times, commanders and soldiers did not understand each other, did not want to shed blood for Grand France, so at the first sign of difficulty caused by our “scorched earth” tactics, they deserted. However, there was a force that kept the entire Napoleonic army at bay - Napoleon's personal guard. This was the elite of the French troops, who went through all the difficulties with the brilliant commanders from the first days. It was very difficult to get into it. The guardsmen were paid huge salaries and were given the best food supplies. Even during the Moscow famine, these people received good rations, when others were forced to look for dead rats for food. The Guard was something like Napoleon's modern security service. She watched for signs of desertion and brought order to Napoleonic's motley army. She was also thrown into battle in the most dangerous sectors of the front, where the retreat of even one soldier could lead to tragic consequences for the entire army. The guards never retreated and showed unprecedented perseverance and heroism. However, there were too few of them in percentage terms.

In total, about half of Napoleon's army were French themselves, who showed themselves in battles in Europe. However, now this was a different army - aggressive, occupying, which was reflected in its morale.

Army composition

The Grand Army was deployed in two echelons. The main forces - about 500 thousand people and about 1 thousand guns - consisted of three groups. The right wing under the command of Jerome Bonaparte - 78 thousand people and 159 guns - was supposed to move to Grodno and divert the main Russian forces. The central group led by Beauharnais - 82 thousand people and 200 guns - was supposed to prevent the connection of the two main Russian armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration. Napoleon himself moved towards Vilna with renewed vigor. His task was to defeat the Russian armies separately, but he also allowed them to unite. Marshal Augereau's 170 thousand men and about 500 guns remained in the rear. According to the calculations of the military historian Clausewitz, Napoleon involved up to 600 thousand people in the Russian campaign, of which less than 100 thousand people crossed the border river Neman back from Russia.

Napoleon planned to impose battles on the western borders of Russia. However, Baclay de Tolly imposed a game of cat and mouse on him. The main Russian forces all the time avoided battle and retreated into the interior of the country, drawing the French further and further from Polish supplies, and depriving them of food and supplies on their own territory. That is why the invasion of Napoleon's troops into Russia led to the further catastrophe of the Grand Army.

Russian forces

At the time of the aggression, Russia had about 300 thousand people with 900 guns. However, the army was divided. The First Western Army was commanded by the Minister of War himself. Barclay de Tolly's group numbered about 130 thousand people with 500 guns. It stretched from Lithuania to Grodno in Belarus. Bagration's Second Western Army numbered about 50 thousand people - it occupied a line east of Bialystok. Tormasov's third army - also about 50 thousand people with 168 guns - was stationed in Volyn. There were also large groups in Finland - not long before there was a war with Sweden - and in the Caucasus, where Russia traditionally waged wars with Turkey and Iran. There was also a group of our troops on the Danube under the command of Admiral P.V. Chichagov in the amount of 57 thousand people with 200 guns.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia: the beginning

On the evening of June 11, 1812, a patrol of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment discovered suspicious movement on the Neman River. With the onset of darkness, enemy sappers began to build crossings three miles up the river from Kovno (modern Kaunas, Lithuania). Crossing the river with all forces took 4 days, but the French vanguard was already in Kovno on the morning of June 12. Alexander the First was at a ball in Vilna at that time, where he was informed about the attack.

From Neman to Smolensk

Back in May 1811, suggesting a possible invasion of Napoleon into Russia, Alexander the First told the French ambassador something like the following: “We would rather reach Kamchatka than sign peace in our capitals. Frost and territory will fight for us.”

This tactic was put into practice: Russian troops rapidly retreated from the Neman to Smolensk in two armies, unable to unite. Both armies were constantly pursued by the French. Several battles took place in which the Russians openly sacrificed entire rearguard groups in order to hold the main French forces for as long as possible, in order to prevent them from catching up with our main forces.

On August 7, a battle took place at Valutina Mountain, which was called the battle for Smolensk. Barclay de Tolly had by this time united with Bagration and even made several attempts to counterattack. However, all these were just false maneuvers that made Napoleon think about the future general battle near Smolensk and regroup the columns from the marching formation to the attacking one. But the Russian commander-in-chief well remembered the emperor’s order “I have no more army,” and did not dare to give a general battle, rightly predicting future defeat. The French suffered huge losses near Smolensk. Barclay de Tolly himself was a supporter of further retreat, but the entire Russian public unfairly considered him a coward and a traitor for his retreat. And only the Russian emperor, who had already fled from Napoleon once at Austerlitz, continued to trust the minister. While the armies were divided, Barclay de Tolly could still cope with the wrath of the generals, but when the army was united near Smolensk, he still had to make a counterattack on Murat’s corps. This attack was needed more to calm the Russian commanders than to give a decisive battle to the French. But despite this, the minister was accused of indecisiveness, procrastination, and cowardice. His final discord with Bagration emerged, who was zealously eager to attack, but could not give an order, since formally he was subordinate to Barcal de Tolly. Napoleon himself expressed annoyance that the Russians did not give a general battle, since his ingenious outflanking maneuver with the main forces would have led to a blow to the Russian rear, as a result of which our army would have been completely defeated.

Change of commander in chief

Under public pressure, Barcal de Tolly was nevertheless removed from the post of commander-in-chief. Russian generals in August 1812 already openly sabotaged all his orders. However, the new commander-in-chief M.I. Kutuzov, whose authority was enormous in Russian society, also gave the order for further retreat. And only on August 26 - also under public pressure - he finally gave a general battle near Borodino, as a result of which the Russians were defeated and left Moscow.

Results

Let's summarize. The date of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is one of the tragic ones in the history of our country. However, this event contributed to a patriotic upsurge in our society and its consolidation. Napoleon was mistaken that the Russian peasant would choose the abolition of serfdom in exchange for support for the occupiers. It turned out that for our citizens, military aggression turned out to be much worse than internal socio-economic contradictions.

The official cause of the war was the violation of the terms of the Tilsit Peace by Russia and France. Russia, despite the blockade of England, accepted its ships under neutral flags in its ports. France annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg to its possessions. Napoleon considered Emperor Alexander's demand for the withdrawal of troops from the Duchy of Warsaw and Prussia to be offensive. The War of 1812 was becoming inevitable.

Here is a brief summary of the Patriotic War of 1812. Napoleon, at the head of a huge 600,000-strong army, crossed the Neman on June 12, 1812. The Russian army, numbering only 240 thousand people, was forced to retreat deeper into the country. In the battle of Smolensk, Bonaparte failed to win a complete victory and defeat the united 1st and 2nd Russian armies.

In August, M.I. Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief. He not only had the talent of a strategist, but also enjoyed respect among soldiers and officers. He decided to give a general battle to the French near the village of Borodino. The positions for the Russian troops were chosen most successfully. The left flank was protected by flushes (earthen fortifications), and the right flank by the Koloch River. The troops of N.N. Raevsky were located in the center. and artillery.

Both sides fought desperately. The fire of 400 guns was directed at the flashes, which were courageously guarded by the troops under the command of Bagration. As a result of 8 attacks, Napoleonic troops suffered huge losses. They managed to capture Raevsky's batteries (in the center) only at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but not for long. The French attack was contained thanks to a bold raid by the lancers of the 1st Cavalry Corps. Despite all the difficulties of bringing the old guard, the elite troops, into battle, Napoleon never risked it. Late in the evening the battle ended. The losses were enormous. The French lost 58, and the Russians 44 thousand people. Paradoxically, both commanders declared victory in the battle.

The decision to leave Moscow was made by Kutuzov at the council in Fili on September 1. This was the only way to maintain a combat-ready army. On September 2, 1812, Napoleon entered Moscow. Waiting for a peace proposal, Napoleon stayed in the city until October 7. As a result of fires, most of Moscow was destroyed during this time. Peace with Alexander 1 was never concluded.

Kutuzov stopped 80 km away. from Moscow in the village of Tarutino. He covered Kaluga, which had large reserves of fodder and the arsenals of Tula. The Russian army, thanks to this maneuver, was able to replenish its reserves and, importantly, update its equipment. At the same time, French foraging detachments were subjected to partisan attacks. The detachments of Vasilisa Kozhina, Fyodor Potapov, and Gerasim Kurin launched effective strikes, depriving the French army of the opportunity to replenish food supplies. The special detachments of A.V. Davydov also acted in the same way. and Seslavina A.N.

After leaving Moscow, Napoleon's army failed to get through to Kaluga. The French were forced to retreat along the Smolensk road, without food. Early severe frosts worsened the situation. The final defeat of the Great Army took place in the battle of the Berezina River on November 14–16, 1812. Of the 600,000-strong army, only 30,000 hungry and frozen soldiers left Russia. The manifesto on the victorious end of the Patriotic War was issued by Alexander 1 on December 25 of the same year. The victory of 1812 was complete.

In 1813 and 1814, the Russian army marched, liberating European countries from Napoleon's rule. Russian troops acted in alliance with the armies of Sweden, Austria, and Prussia. As a result, in accordance with the Treaty of Paris on May 18, 1814, Napoleon lost his throne and France returned to its 1793 borders.

Introduction

2. Course of events of the war

2.2 Start of hostilities

2.3 Battle of Borodino

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Relevance.The Patriotic War of 1812 is one of the most outstanding events in the history of our Motherland. The heroic struggle of the Russian people against Napoleon led his army to defeat, which began the decline of Napoleonic power in Europe.

The War of 1812 caused an unprecedented surge in national self-awareness among the Russian people. Everyone defended their Fatherland: from young to old. By winning this war, the Russian people confirmed their courage and heroism, and showed an example of self-sacrifice for the good of the Motherland.

There are many studies, both domestic and foreign authors, devoted to the war of 1812, which indicates that the war of 1812 had not only pan-European, but also global significance: the clash of two major powers - Russia and France - involved others in the war European states and led to the creation of a new system of international relations.

Thus, realizing the significance of the Patriotic War of 1812, which played a crucial role in the fate of the Russian people and Russia as a whole, topicOur abstract was "The Patriotic War of 1812".

Target:conduct a historical analysis of the main aspects of the Patriotic War of 1812: causes, course of events and consequences.

To achieve this goal, we set the following tasks:

Consider the causes of the War of 1812.

Illuminate the course of battles.

Identify the consequences of the War of 1812.

1. Prerequisites for the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812

The main prerequisite for the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812 was the desire of the French bourgeoisie for world domination, the creator of whose aggressive policy was Napoleon Bonaparte, who did not hide his claims to world domination: " Three more years and I'm the master of the whole world"(1, pp. 477-503).

Napoleon Bonaparte, having proven himself an outstanding military leader during the French Revolution and becoming emperor in 1804, by 1812 was at the zenith of his power and glory. Almost all European powers (except England) by this time had either been defeated by Napoleon, or were close to it (like Spain).

Napoleon set as his ultimate goal the crushing of the economic and political power of England, which was a long-time rival of France, which was more economically developed than France. But in order to break England, Napoleon had to make the entire European continent dependent on himself. And only Russia remained on the path to achieving this goal.

Thus, by 1812, the fate of the peoples of Europe, including England, largely depended on Russia, on whether it would withstand the unprecedented invasion of the French army.

The conflict between Russia and France over the continental blockade of England also contributed to the outbreak of the war. The industrial bourgeoisie of France needed the complete ousting of Great Britain from European markets. The Russian Empire, under the terms of the Tilsit Peace Treaty of 1807, had to break off trade relations with England, but Russia poorly observed the continental blockade, as this had a detrimental effect on the Russian economy, since England was its main trading partner.

Patriotic War Battle of Borodino

Due to forced participation in the continental blockade of England, the volume of Russian foreign trade in 1808-1812. decreased by 43%, in 1809 the budget deficit increased almost 13 times compared to 1801. Things were heading towards the financial collapse of Russia. France could not compensate for this damage, since economic ties between Russia and France were superficial, mainly the import of luxury goods (2, pp. 27-50).

In addition, in August 1810, the French emperor increased duties on goods imported to France, which had an even worse impact on Russia's foreign trade.

Due to the continental blockade, Russian landowners and merchants were closed to trade routes to the northern seas, as well as to the east and the Black Sea due to the Russo-Turkish War, and they could not pay taxes to the treasury, and this led to the financial collapse of Russia. To normalize foreign trade turnover, Alexander I in December 1810 issued a prohibitive customs tariff, almost completely limiting the import of French goods.

Thus, the continental blockade was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the War of 1812.

The tense international situation also contributed to the outbreak of the war. The main contradictions in political issues between Russia and France were related to Polish and German issues: Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw on Polish lands that belonged to Prussia, which posed a constant external threat to the Russian Empire; The essence of the German question was that Napoleon annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg to France, which infringed on the dynastic interests of tsarism.

In addition, there was a clash of interests between Russia and France in the Middle East: the Russian Empire sought to capture Constantinople, and Napoleon, who wanted to preserve Turkey as Russia’s enemy in the east, prevented this.

Thus, the main reasons for the contradictions between France and Russia that gave rise to the War of 1812 were: the economic difficulties that Russia experienced after being forced to participate in the continental blockade of England; political contradictions between France and Russia; the negative mood of court circles and the inflammatory anti-French activities of the City of London; Napoleon's aggressive policy is the desire of the French bourgeoisie for world domination.

2. Course of events of the war

2.1 Preparation for war, characteristics of the military forces of France and Russia on the eve of the war

France carefully prepared for the war with Russia, as it was aware of the strength and power of the enemy: Napoleon spent 100 million francs on military purposes; carried out additional mobilization, which increased his army by 250 thousand people (in total, Napoleon’s army amounted to over 600 thousand soldiers and officers); the command staff of the army had combat experience: Marshals Davout, Ney and Murat; the headquarters worked smoothly, troop control was well established; the features of the theater of upcoming battles were carefully studied; a strategic plan for the campaign was drawn up (with the entire mass of troops to wedge between the Russian armies, encircle each one individually and defeat them in general battles as close as possible to the western border).

It is worth noting that Napoleon’s army also had its weaknesses: its multi-tribal composition had a detrimental effect: less than half were French, the majority were Germans, Poles, Italians, Dutch, porters, Portuguese, etc., many of whom hated Napoleon as the enslaver of their fatherland, They were in the army under duress; the causes of the war were alien to them.

In addition to creating a well-armed and equipped army, Napoleon sought to isolate Russia politically, hoping that Russia would have to fight simultaneously on three fronts against five states: in the north - against Sweden, in the west - against France, Austria and Prussia, in the south - against Turkey .

But he only managed to enlist the support of Austria and Poland in the war against Russia, who were promised territorial acquisitions at the expense of Russian possessions. And with a number of trade privileges, Napoleon ensured that the United States of America declared war on England, to make it more difficult for her to fight France and assist Russia.

It was not possible to create a threat to Russia from Sweden and Turkey: in April 1812, Russia entered into a secret alliance with Sweden, and a month later signed a peace treaty with Turkey.

Thus, by the beginning of the war, Russia managed to secure its flanks. And besides, Austria and Prussia, forcibly drawn into the allies of France, reluctantly helped Napoleon, and were ready at the first convenient moment to go over to the side of Russia (which later happened).

Russia was aware of the danger from France and in St. Petersburg intensive preparations for the upcoming war were also in full swing.

The War Ministry, under the leadership of M.B. Barclay de Tolly, in 1810, developed a program to rearm the Russian army and strengthen the western borders of the empire (along the Western Dvina, Berezina and Dnieper rivers), which was not implemented due to the difficult financial situation of Russia.

The problem of recruiting the Russian army occurred through an additional set of recruits from serfs, and thanks to the 25-year period of military service, but all this did not allow having a sufficient number of trained reserves and during the war it was necessary to create militias that needed training and weapons. By the beginning of the war, the Russian army numbered 317 thousand soldiers.

The strategic plan for military operations began to be developed by Alexander I, Barclay de Tolly and the Prussian General Fuhl in secret back in 1810, and was refined during the course of military operations.

By that time, the Russian army also had capable officers and talented commanders who lived the tradition of the military school of Generalissimo Suvorov - to win with small numbers, skill and courage.

The strength and power of the Russian army, unlike the French, lay not in its numbers, but in its composition - it was a national army, more homogeneous and united; she was distinguished by a higher moral spirit: the Russian soldier was a patriot, ready to fight until his last breath for his land and for his faith.

The main problem of the Russian army was its small size compared to the French army and the feudal nature of its maintenance, training and administration (the gap between soldiers and command staff, drill and cane discipline).

In terms of armament, Napoleon's army did not have significant quantitative and qualitative superiority: artillery and the combat quality of cavalry were approximately at the same level.

Thus, we see that France was thoroughly prepared for a war with Russia: it had a well-armed and equipped army, superior in number. Russia, aware of the impending attack by France, also made attempts to modernize and build up the Russian army.

Having studied the state of the military forces on the eve of the war, we see that Russia, while losing to France in numbers, planning and organization of strategic deployment of troops, was not inferior to it in armament and combat training of soldiers, and in terms of the morale of the soldiers, their patriotic mood, it was many times superior to the mood of the French soldiers army.

.2 Start of hostilities

Without warning of the outbreak of war, Napoleon's army began crossing the Neman River, near Kovno, along the western border of Russia, on the night of June 12, 1812, and in the morning the vanguard of the French troops entered Kovno. Napoleon planned to defeat the Russian armies in border battles, without delving into the vast expanses of Russia.

The eastern bank of the Neman seemed deserted, since the main forces of the Russian troops (Barclay de Tolly's army) were concentrated 100 km southeast of the enemy's crossing point.

Having learned about the offensive of Napoleon's army, Alexander 1 sent his Minister of Police, Adjutant General A.D. Balashov to Napoleon with a proposal to begin negotiations on a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Napoleon received the ambassador in Vilna, which was occupied by the French army on the fourth day after crossing the Neman, and where he remained for 18 days, waiting for approaching army units.

Barclay de Tolly, having learned about Napoleon's invasion, led his army from Vilna to the Drissa camp, and sent a courier to Bagration with an order from Alexander I to retreat to Minsk to interact with the 1st Army.

Napoleon followed Barclay with his main forces, and so that Barclay and Bagration (1st and 2nd armies) could not unite, he sent Marshal Davout's corps between them. But his hopes (imposing a battle, a strike on the troops of the 1st Army in the Vilna area): Barclay, having become convinced of the weakness of his defensive fortifications, began a retreat to Smolensk to join the 2nd Army.

I army, under the command of Bagration, also began moving towards Smolensk (via Slutsk, Bobruisk, crossed the Dnieper, Mstislavl) and on July 22, both Russian armies united in Smolensk.

Thus, Napoleon’s plan to defeat the Russian troops one by one collapsed.

Having learned about the connection of the 1st and 2nd Russian armies near Smolensk, Napoleon tried to involve the Russians in a general battle for Smolensk, where he hoped to defeat both armies at once. To do this, he decided to bypass Smolensk and go to the rear of the Russian troops (the offensive began on August 1).

Napoleon moved the corps of Marshal Ney and the cavalry of Marshal Murat to bypass Smolensk, but the Russian troops of the 27th division of D.P. Neverovsky, who met them at Krasny, stubbornly repulsed the enemy’s attacks, although they were squeezed into an enemy ring, but, suffering heavy losses, were able to break through and connect with the main forces of the army in Smolensk.

Buildings N.N. Raevsky and D.S. Dokhturov defended the city from the enemy, but on the night of August 18, having blown up gunpowder warehouses, they left Smolensk.

When French troops entered Smolensk, only 135 thousand troops remained in their strike force. Marshal Murat advised Napoleon not to go further. Bonaparte tried to negotiate peace with Alexander I, but his proposal remained unanswered, and stung by the silence of the Russian Tsar, Napoleon ordered his army to march to Moscow in pursuit of the Russian armies. Napoleon hoped that if the Russians fought so desperately for Smolensk, then for the sake of Moscow they would definitely go to a general battle and allow him to end the war with his victory. But Barclay de Tolly gave the order to move troops inland.

Thus, the war began to take on a protracted nature, which Napoleon feared, since his communications were stretched, losses in battles, losses from desertion, disease and looting grew, convoys lagged behind, in addition, another coalition against France was rapidly formed, which included , in addition to Russia, England, Sweden and Spain.

Losses in the French army grew due to the active partisan movement and the resistance of local residents, in response to the brutal looting of French soldiers: peasants burned food, stole livestock, leaving nothing for the enemy (2, p. 38). Public opinion condemned Barclay, who adopted the tactic of avoiding major battles with the French and retreated further into Russia to the east (600 km). Therefore, they demanded the appointment of a new commander-in-chief who would enjoy greater trust and authority - and M.I. became the new commander-in-chief on August 8. Kutuzov, whom Alexander I did not like, but the nobility of both capitals unanimously named his candidacy.

Kutuzov took command in difficult conditions: 600 km deep into Russia was captured by the French, who were superior to Russian troops in military strength (the government of Alexander 1 did not fulfill its promises: 100 thousand recruits, and a people’s militia of 100 thousand warriors, Kutuzov could really only get 15 thousand recruits and 26 thousand militias).

August Kutuzov arrived at the headquarters of the Russian army in Tsarevo-Zaimishche, and, adhering to the tactics of retreat, in order to preserve the combat effectiveness of the army, he canceled Barclay de Tolly’s decision to give a general battle with Napoleon. The troops retreated to the village of Borodina, located 120 km west of Moscow, where the battle took place.

Kutuzov’s task was to stop the enemy’s further advance, and then combine the efforts of all armies, including the Danube and 3rd Western, launching an active offensive. The task was defined as “saving Moscow” (2, p. 43).

Kutuzov’s choice of the Borodino position for a responsible battle was not accidental. He considered it the best, since it allowed Russian troops to successfully conduct defensive actions (3, p. 82): the position blocked two roads to Moscow - Old Smolenskaya and New Smolenskaya; from the right flank (Barclay de Tolly), the troops were covered by the Kolocha River, the banks of which were steep and steep; the hilly terrain with ravines made it possible to create strong points at the heights, install artillery and hide part of one’s troops from the enemy; from the south and east the area was bordered by alder and birch forests.

To improve the position, Kutuzov further strengthened it: several embankments were erected on the right flank and guns were installed on them; on the left flank, near the village of Semenovskaya, artificial earthen fortifications were built for artillery batteries. The nature of the terrain forced the French to attack Russian troops head-on, overcoming the steep banks of Kolocha, which would inevitably lead to heavy losses among the attackers.

Napoleon, who longed for a general battle from the first days of the war, did not think about possible failure and looked forward to victory: “Here is the sun of Austerlitz!” (2, p.43) (meaning the victory at Austerlitz).

He believed that having won the Battle of Borodino, he would be able to dictate a victorious peace to Alexander 1.

.3 Battle of Borodino

The Battle of Borodino was inevitable for many reasons:

Kutuzov gave battle because the retreating army wanted it;

public opinion would not forgive Kutuzov if he retreated all the way to Moscow without a decisive battle with the enemy;

With the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov hoped to bleed the enemy and deprive him of hope for an easy victory.

Napoleon, given his superiority in strength, hoped to defeat the Russian army in a general battle, force Alexander I to a forced peace and brilliantly finish the next campaign, thereby proving his power to the whole world.

The position of the Russian army before the start of the battle looked like this: Kutuzov placed the larger and stronger 1st Army under the command of Barclay (about 70% of all forces) on the right flank, along the bank of Kolocha: its units covered the road to Moscow; Bagration's army was located on the left flank to the village of Utitsa; the role of a forward defensive point was performed by a pentagonal redoubt built in front of the entire position on the left flank near the village of Shevardino.

August, the French vanguard attacked the Shevardinsky redoubt. He interfered with the regrouping of French forces and the transfer of their troops from the New Smolensk road, where the 1st Army was located, to bypass the left flank occupied by Bagration's troops. Napoleon unleashed about 30 thousand infantry and 10 thousand cavalry on 8 thousand Russian infantry and 4 thousand cavalry. By evening, the French took possession of the fortification, but with a surprise attack the Russians drove them out of there. Only by order of Kutuzov did the Russian troops leave the position they had occupied around midnight. After taking the fortifications, Napoleon was unable to move further (2, p.489).

The Battle of Borodino began on August 26 at half past five in the morning and lasted more than 12 hours. The French began the battle by exchanging fire with a regiment of guards rangers on the right flank near the village of Borodina, and an hour later the main blow was delivered on the left flank (Bagration's fortifications). The offensive was led by the best French generals - Ney, Davout, Murat and Oudinot; 45 thousand soldiers and 400 guns were concentrated here. (2, p.490).

The first attack was repulsed by Russian troops. Napoleon transferred new forces to the left flank and concentrated all the artillery there. Kutuzov ordered a raid to the rear of the French in order to divert some of the troops to himself, giving Bagration the opportunity to go on the offensive again. But the French attacked along the entire front and captured the N.N. battery. Raevsky, and after the eighth attack they occupied the flashes, where Bonaparte installed guns and in the afternoon began shelling the center of the Russian troops - the Kurgan Battery. But the Russian cavalry (under the command of Platov and Uvarov) bypassed the French left flank, which diverted Napoleon’s attention from the battery attack for 2 hours. This gave Kutuzov the opportunity to pull up reserves and regroup. The battle was fierce and only at four o'clock in the afternoon, suffering losses, the French captured the redoubt on the central hill.

By evening, Russian troops retreated to a new line of defense, and Napoleon, on the contrary, withdrew his troops to their original lines. The losses on both sides were enormous; according to the materials of the Military Scientific Archive of the Russian General Staff, the Russians lost up to 45.6 thousand people; according to the Archive of the French War Ministry, the French lost 28 thousand people (2, p. 44).

At a military council held on September 1 in the village of Fili, three miles from Moscow, it was decided to leave Moscow to the enemy in order to preserve the army (4, p. 170).

September, the French army entered Moscow, where there were about 6 thousand residents who had nowhere to go. That same evening, the city was engulfed in fires (as a result of which three quarters of Moscow were burned), the causes and culprits of which are still debated by historians and writers: many believe that Moscow was burned by the Russians (Governor F.V. Rostopchin ordered the burning of numerous warehouses and shops and take out “all the extinguishing shells” from the city, and the city was also burned by the residents themselves so that nothing would fall to the enemy. Other historians claim that the culprits of the fires were the French, who, during robberies and drunken revelry, carelessly handled fire (2, p. 44).

The Battle of Borodino on August 26, 1812 is the only example in the history of wars of a general battle, the outcome of which both sides immediately announced and to this day celebrate as their victory, with good reason.

The course of the battle turned out in favor of Napoleon, who occupied all Russian positions from Borodin on the right to Utitsa on the left, including the stronghold Kurgan Heights in the center. And since the Russian army left Moscow, Napoleon considered the Battle of Borodino won, although he could not defeat the Russian army. But the fire of Moscow put Napoleon from a winning position to a losing one: instead of convenience and contentment, the French found themselves in ashes.

Kutuzov was forced to sacrifice the city, doing this not by the will of Napoleon, but of his own free will, not because he was defeated, but because he stood and believed in the victorious outcome of the war for Russia. The Battle of Borodino was a moral victory for the Russian army and was the beginning of the end of the greatness of the French emperor and his army. And General Kutuzov received 1 field marshal's baton from Alexander for the Battle of Borodino.

2.4 End of the war. Battle of Tarutino

Napoleon's army, remaining in Moscow, began to decay morally: robberies and looting increased, which neither Napoleon nor the governor-general and commandant of the city appointed by him could stop. There was also a problem with food: supplies were running out and were not replenished, the peasants of the surrounding villages hid food from the enemy.

And Napoleon decided to start peace negotiations: he offered peace to Alexander I three times, but never received an answer from the Russian Tsar, who even expressed his readiness to retreat to Kamchatka and become the “Emperor of the Kamchadals”, but not to put up with Napoleon (2, p.45 ).

By that time, Kutuzov had managed to prepare for a counteroffensive. Having created the appearance of retreat along the Ryazan road, Kutuzov camped on September 21 near the village of Tarutino (80 km southwest of Moscow). This maneuver allowed Kutuzov to avoid pursuit by the French army; control three southern directions to block Napoleon’s path to cities with military reserves - Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk.

In Tarutino, the balance of forces changed in favor of the Russians: Kutuzov’s army received reinforcements that were more than twice as large as the enemy forces - only 240 thousand people - against 116 thousand for Napoleon (2, p. 46).

October the Battle of Tarutino took place.

Murat turned from the Ryazan road to Podolsk, where near Tarutin he was attacked by Kutuzov. The Russian columns did not act in concert, and therefore it was not possible to encircle and destroy the French, but forced the French troops to retreat, which was the first victory of the Russian troops in this war.

Murat's defeat accelerated the retreat of the French army from Moscow and on October 7 Napoleon left Moscow. Napoleon was going to retreat to Smolensk along the New Kaluga Road, which was not destroyed. But Kutuzov blocked his path at Maloyaroslavets, where a fierce battle broke out on October 12. Kutuzov's troops left Maloyaroslavets as soon as they took a convenient position, retreating 2.5 km to the south, and reliably blocked the enemy's path to Kaluga.

Thus, forcing Napoleon to make a choice: attack Kutuzov in order to break through to Kaluga or go to Smolensk along the ruined road through Mozhaisk. Napoleon chose retreat - for the first time, Napoleon himself abandoned a general battle, and moved from the position of pursuer to the position of the pursued.

But Kutuzov avoided new battles, counting on the fact that the French army itself would come to its own death.

October Napoleon went to Mozhaisk on the Old Smolensk Road, which was a disaster for the Napoleonic army: without food, there was nowhere to get food - everything was ruined; They also had nowhere to turn from it: everywhere they were faced with death at the hands of partisans and peasants; small minor skirmishes and battles also took a toll on the French and wore them down.

Napoleon did not stay in Smolensk, since Kutuzov’s main forces approached Yelnya, and by this time Napoleon’s army numbered about 50 thousand people, with about 30 thousand unarmed people following the army (1, pp. 497-498).

After Vyazma, a new enemy fell upon the French - cold: frosts, northern winds, and snowfalls weakened and destroyed the hungry French.

In addition to Kutuzov's army, regular Russian troops moving across the French from the north (the troops of Field Marshal P.H. Wittgenstein) and from the south (the Danube Army of Admiral P.V. Chichagov) also threatened the death of the retreating French army.

November, a three-day battle took place near Krasnoye, as a result of which Ney’s corps was almost completely destroyed, the enemy lost almost all of his artillery and cavalry. Having left the battle near Krasnoye, Napoleon headed through Orsha to Borisov, where he planned to cross the Berezina.

It was here that Kutuzov predicted “the inevitable extermination of the entire French army” (2, p. 47). According to Kutuzov's plan, three Russian armies (Wittgenstein, Chichagov and the commander-in-chief himself) were to surround the retreating Napoleon, and, preventing him from crossing to the right bank of the Berezina, defeat him.

Napoleon found himself in a catastrophic situation, especially since the Berezina River, after a two-day thaw, opened up, and strong ice drift prevented the construction of bridges. But with a feigned maneuver, Napoleon tried to make a crossing 12 versts above Borisov.

After the Berezina, the retreat of the remnants of the French army was a disorderly flight. About 20-30 thousand French crossed the Russian border - this is all that remains of the 600,000-strong army that began the invasion of our land in June. Napoleon, his entire guard, the officer corps, the generals and all the marshals survived. On November 21, in Molodechno, he compiled the “funeral”, as the French themselves would call it, the 29th bulletin - a kind of funeral sermon about the “Great Army”, where he admitted his defeat, explaining it by the vicissitudes of the Russian winter.

December 1812 Alexander I issued a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War.

3. Consequences of the War of 1812

The crushing defeat in Russia, which the “invincible” Napoleon suffered, excited the whole world. Nobody expected such an outcome of events. The Russians themselves were shocked by their victory.

The grandiose victory also had enormous consequences for Russia internationally: it destroyed Napoleonic plans for world domination and marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe from Napoleon; highly raised the prestige of Russia, winning back its leading position on the world stage from France.

The historical significance of the War of 1812 was that it raised a new surge of patriotic feelings among all segments of the population - peasants, townspeople, soldiers. The fight against a cruel enemy prompted us to see the people in a new light. The victory caused a rapid growth of national self-awareness and sent the best people of the nation to the liberation struggle against autocracy and serfdom. The initiators of this struggle, the Decembrists, directly called themselves “children of 1812.” Of these, approximately a third directly took part in the fighting of the War of 1812.

In addition, the War of 1812 gave impetus to the development of Russian culture. Patriotic feelings, the bitterness of loss and the valor of soldiers pushed the Russian people to create wonderful poems, songs, novels and articles.

Poets and writers, artists and sculptors colorfully described and brought to life pictures of battles and exploits of the Russian people.

And Kutuzov’s flexible strategy raised Russian military art to a new level of development.

Conclusion

Thus, in accordance with the purpose and objectives of our abstract, having examined the main aspects of the War of 1812, we come to the following conclusions:

The Patriotic War of 1812 is one of the most outstanding events in the history of our Motherland. The heroic struggle of the Russian people against Napoleon led his army to defeat, which began the decline of Napoleonic power in Europe.

In addition, existing research on the War of 1812 indicates that this war had not only pan-European, but also global significance: the clash of two major powers - Russia and France - involved other independent European states in the war and led to the creation of a new systems of international relations.

The main reasons for the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812 were: the desire of the French bourgeoisie for world domination; political contradictions between Russia and France; economic difficulties that arose during forced participation in the continental blockade.

The Russian victory had enormous consequences for Russia internationally: it destroyed Napoleonic plans for world domination and marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe from Napoleon; highly raised the prestige of Russia, winning back its leading position on the world stage from France.

The victory caused a rapid growth of national self-awareness and sent the best people of the nation to the liberation struggle against autocracy and serfdom; gave impetus to the development of Russian culture; raised Russian military art to a new level of development.

Bibliography

1.Zaichkin I.A., Pochkaev I.N. Russian history From Catherine the Great to Alexander II. - M.: Mysl, 1994. - 765 p.