NAPOLEON’S INVASION OF RUSSIA, 1812
and the
Demise of His Grand Armée
in Czar Alexander’s Russia

Napoleon assembled the French Grand Armée in Poland, just to the west of the Russian border on the Niemen (Neman) river between Kovno (Kaunas) and Grodno. The army consisted of ten army corps, the Austrian Secondary corps, and four reserved cavalry corps. With reserves it numbered approximately 678,000 men; fewer than 200,000 of them French. The rest were troops from the armies of allied states (e.g., Poles, Austrians, Italians, Saxons, Prussians, Spanish, etc.). The plan was to launch war on a front reaching from the Pripet marshes to the Baltic Sea. Napoleon’s forces would crush the Russian armies in swift encounters, march on Moscow, let Alexander sue for peace, then return to France with Napoleon as the undisputed power in Europe.

Napoleon’s right flank to the south was covered by an Austrian army. The French left flank, to the north, was protected by Marshal Jack E. J. A. MacDonald’s army of between <4,000 and 40,000 primarily Prussian troops.

Without a formal declaration of war, Napoleon’s Grand Armée crossed the Niemen river into Russia during the night of 23 June 1812, with the intention of penetrating between the two Russian armies. Prepared to crush them in rapid succession, the French army moved swiftly.

Czar Alexander hoped to halt military actions and avoid war, but his delegation to Napoleon was rebuffed. The Russians, by design, then began a slow retreat toward the interior, incorporating a delaying strategy designed to sap the resources of the French army, so far from their bases. In addition to denying Napoleon the quick action he sought, they would also sap his resources by destroying supplies behind them and preventing the French from successfully foraging. The scorched earth policy had the Russians destroying crops to deny the invaders food, burning buildings to prohibit sheltering in them, dumping dead animals into wells to poison them, and destroying bridges, signs, and roads to confuse, confound and delay the French.

Our family’s Johannes Saemann died some time between September and December of 1812, from drinking water in a well that had been poisened by the enemy. Therefore I include a timeline of events during that time frame. The time-line, for the most part unless otherwise quoted, is paraphrased from the excellent article: “Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812": Being an illustrated account of the ill-fated expedition of the Emperor Napoleon’s Grand Armée into Czar Alexander’s Russia in 1812”, by James Rubarth-Lay.

7 September 1812 – The Battle of Borodino (Moskva)

“The French call the Battle of Borodino, the Bataille de la Moskova. Borodino was an epic battle in an age of grand confrontation. It was one of the largest battles of the Napoleonic Wars, involving nearly 250,000 soldiers for both sides. Napoleon attended personally to every military detail. ‘His correspondence in these matters reveals a staggering degree of familiarity with every brigade, regiment and battalion, where they were stationed, where they were due to move to, who commanded them ... No detail was too insignificant for him.’” (- Zamoyski “Moscow 1812” p 81).
"Of all my 50 battles, the most terrible was the one I fought at Borodino." - Emperor Napoleon

The above quote was taken from an excellent, extremely comprehensive, website on Napoleon, the Napoleonic Wars, and the entire Era: Napoleon Battle of Borodino

Napolun.

19 October 1812 – Withdrawal from Moscow
After five weeks of indecision, Napoleon decided to evacuate Moscow. His army was exhausted and short of supplies and shelter and had been continually harassed by Russian skirmishing forces. The Czar never gave Napoleon the satisfaction of a response to demands for a truce or armistice. Russian forces liberated the capitol on 22 October 1812.

24 October 1812 – Battle of Maloyaroslavets
While tactically a French victory, strategically the battle favored the Russians because it forced the French northwest, back into the devastated route of the French advance.

The French system of logistics had totally collapsed. The great distances and the depredations of the Russians left the French overstrained, the men and horses were starving and woefully ill-prepared for the coming winter. In addition, the Russian regulars, Cossack regiments, and partisan groups constantly harassed the French from both flanks and the rear. With their horses severely weakened, the French were forced to abandon artillery pieces.

4 November 1812
Snow began to fall on November 4, followed by bitter cold, which further impeded the French retreat. The French were barely able to march, much less fight, and the French Grand Armée was reduced to a rag-tag, disorganized mob.

12 November 1812 – Smolensk II
When the French troops reached the supply depots in Smolensk, all discipline broke down. Mobs of hungry soldiers ransacked the depots and destroyed most of the supplies that might have lasted them all winter. The rear-guard was defeated and Napoleon had no choice but to continue the retreat out of Russia and avoid encirclement by the Russians.

16-17 November 1812 – Battle of Krasnoi
In one month of fighting, the Russians had captured 90,000 men and 500 cannons.

26-28 November 1812 – Crossing the Berezina River

5 December 1812 – Napoleon Leaves for Paris
The Grand Armée of France, which had started the campaign in the summer with over 400,000 troops, had been reduced to a rabble of 10,000 starving, freezing men. Napoleon, apprised of a coup plot in France, abandoned the army and sped home, leaving Murat in command.

Nieman River II – The Campaign’s Sorry End
The French army, between 10-30,000 men – only 1,000 in formation – crossed the Nieman river into Kovno. The Russians, too, had been weakened by the cold and lack of supplies and so abandoned the pursuit. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, called the “Patriotic War of 1812” by the Russians, was over.

Total casualties for the entire campaign
French: 400,000 to 550,000 men, 175,000 horses, 1,000 cannons
Russian: 250,000 and as many as 50,000 Cossack irregulars

Another totally interesting twist on the take-down of the Grand Armée is the article written by Robert K. D. Peterson, entitled “Insects, Disease, and Military History: The Napoleonic Campaigns and Historical Perception.” Section 5 deals with the “Destruction of the Grand Armée”.

There is much more of great interest on the Home Page, Insects, Disease, and History.

The website is devoted to understanding the impact that insects have had on world history, focusing on the influence of insect-borne disease, but it is not solely devoted to that subject. The site received the 1999 Entomology Educational Project Award from the Board Certified Entomologists of Mid-America.

Other links:
French Invasion of Russia – a Wikipedia site
Confederation of the Rhine – a Wikipedia site
A List of Member Monarchies:
Kingdom of Württemberg – a Wikipedia site

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