History Lesson

• Napoleon was initially against invading Russia, but the French economy was being fuelled by his conquers and all the generals demanded further invasions. Furthermore, there were no other jobs for the 1 million soldiers employed by the Grand Armee.
• Similar to what he did against other nations, Napoleon’s plan was to conquer Smolensk and make Czar Alexander I surrender before the end of summer. However, the Russians retreated all the way back to Moscow.
• By the time the Grand Armee approached Moscow in June, some 30,000 Frenchman had already died of famine or deserted. Instead of maintaining a slow line of supply behind the troops, Napoleon always counted on soldiers finding food in conquered territories. However, he’d forgotten how poor Russian peasants and how far Russians villages were from one another.
• The French finally met the Russian army at the Battle of Borodino in June 1812. The battle was a tactical victory for the French, as they lost fewer men and continued their advance towards Moscow. Nevertheless, the man they’d lost would make a difference in the following months, since the Grand Armee was 1,200 miles away from any possible reinforcements.
• When the French approached Moscow, Russian General Kutuzov (after whom the neighborhood I live in is named) decided to retreat even further and was called a coward by many. He said: “If we lose Moscow, we can still win the war and reclaim Russia. But if we lose the war, we’ll have no Moscow and no Russia.”
• Kutuzov’s plan was to reinforce the army in the outskirts of Moscow and counter-attack. Therefore, Moscow was set on fire when the Russians retreated, and the French were left with no resources. This caused even more French soldiers to desert.
• At one point in his career, Kutuzov had been in charge of managing supplies for the Russian army. Therefore, his first decision when he was appointed General of the Russian campaign was to order winter coats for 200,000 soldiers. This played a decisive role in Russian’s victory, since winter came very early that year and many French soldiers died of sheer cold.