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 strove for world domination, Russia interfered with the implementation of his plans. He hoped, having delivered the main blow to the right flank of the Russian army in the general direction of Vilno (Vilnius), to defeat it in one or two general battles, capture Moscow, force Russia to capitulate and dictate a peace treaty to it on terms favorable to himself.

On June 24 (June 12, old style), 1812, Napoleon’s “Great Army”, without declaring war, crossed the Neman and invaded the Russian Empire. It numbered over 440 thousand people and had a second echelon, which included 170 thousand people. The “Grand Army” included troops from all Western European countries conquered by Napoleon (French troops made up only half of its strength). It 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 infantry general Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, covering the St. Petersburg direction, and the second, under the command of infantry general Peter Bagration, concentrated in the Moscow direction. The Third Army of cavalry general Alexander Tormasov covered the southwestern borders of Russia and began military operations 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 unraveled 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 to unite. Instead of gradually dismembering the enemy, French troops were forced to move behind the escaping Russian armies, stretching communications and losing superiority in forces. While retreating, the Russian troops fought rearguard battles (a battle undertaken with the aim of delaying the advancing enemy and thereby ensuring the retreat of the main forces), inflicting significant losses on the enemy.

To help the active army to repel the invasion of the Napoleonic army on Russia, on the basis of the manifesto of Alexander I of July 18 (July 6, old style) 1812 and his appeal to the residents of the “Mother See of our Moscow” with a call to act as initiators, temporary armed formations began to form - popular 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 Russian armies. On July 20 (July 8, old style), the French occupied Mogilev and did not allow the Russian armies to unite in the Orsha region. Only thanks to stubborn rearguard battles and the high art of maneuver of the Russian armies, which managed to frustrate the enemy’s plans, did they unite near Smolensk on August 3 (July 22, old style), 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 August 16 to 18 (from August 4 to 6, old style). The Russian regiments repelled all French attacks and retreated only on orders, leaving the enemy a burning city. Almost all the inhabitants left it with the troops. After the battles for Smolensk, the united Russian armies continued to retreat towards Moscow.

The retreat strategy of Barclay de Tolly, unpopular neither in the army nor in Russian society, leaving significant territory to the enemy 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 infantry general Mikhail Golenishchev to it. Kutuzov, who had extensive combat experience and was popular both among the Russian army and among the nobility. The emperor not only placed him at the head of the active army, but also subordinated to him the militias, reserves and civil authorities in the war-affected provinces.

Based on the demands of Emperor Alexander I, the mood of the army, which was eager to give battle to the enemy, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov decided, based 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 attack on Moscow.

By the beginning of the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army had 132 (according to other sources 120) thousand people, the French - approximately 130-135 thousand people.

It was preceded by the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt, which began on September 5 (August 24, old style), in which Napoleon’s troops, despite more than three times 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 timely strengthen his left wing.

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. During the entire day, Napoleon failed to either break through the Russian position in the center or bypass it from the flanks. The partial tactical successes of the French army - the Russians retreated from their original position by about one kilometer - did not become victorious for it. Late in the evening, the frustrated 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 never managed 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 were enormous and their reserves exhausted, the Russian army withdrew from the Borodino field, retreating to Moscow, while fighting a rearguard action. On September 13 (September 1, old style) at the military council in Fili, a majority of votes supported 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. 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 that devastated the city. For 36 days, Napoleon languished in the burnt-out city, waiting in vain for an answer to his proposal to Alexander I for peace, on terms favorable to him.

The main Russian army, leaving Moscow, made a march maneuver and settled in the Tarutino camp, reliably covering the south of the country. From here, Kutuzov launched a small war using army partisan detachments. During this time, the peasantry of the war-torn Great Russian provinces rose up in a large-scale people's war.

Napoleon's attempts to enter into negotiations were rejected.

On October 18 (October 6, 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 French left, advanced 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 highway, 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.

Kutuzov brought troops from the south and north-west of the country to the flanks of the retreating French army, which began to actively act 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, old style) they fought with Russian troops who were trying to cut off their escape routes. The French emperor, having misled the Russian command by constructing a false crossing, was able to transfer the remaining troops across 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 superior forces, 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. On the left bank there were convoys and crowds of stragglers of French soldiers (about 40 thousand people), 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 managed to avoid complete defeat in this battle and retreat to Vilna.

The liberation of the territory of the Russian Empire from the enemy ended on December 26 (December 14, old style), when Russian troops occupied the border cities of Bialystok and Brest-Litovsk. The enemy lost up to 570 thousand people on the battlefields. The losses of Russian troops amounted to about 300 thousand people.

The official end of the Patriotic War of 1812 is considered to be the manifesto signed by Emperor Alexander I on January 6, 1813 (December 25, 1812, 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. empires.

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.

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Napoleon I

On June 24, Napoleon's army invaded the Russian Empire without declaring war. The rapid advance of the powerful French forced the Russian command to retreat deeper into the country and made it impossible for the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, General Barclay de Tolly, to prepare troops for battle. The prolonged retreat caused public discontent, so on August 20, Emperor Alexander I signed a decree appointing Field Marshal Kutuzov as commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. However, he also had to retreat in order to gain time to gather all his forces.

By that time, Napoleon's army had already suffered significant losses, and the difference in the numbers of the two armies had narrowed. In this situation, Kutuzov decided to give a general battle not far from, near the village of Borodino.

By 5 o'clock in the morning September 7, 1812 The French army, numbering about 134,000 people, was already preparing to attack positions occupied by the Russian army, which consisted of approximately 155,000 people (including 115,000 regular troops). She greeted the appearance of Emperor Napoleon at his command post in front of the Shevardinsky redoubt captured the day before with thunderous cries: “Long live the emperor!” This is how she had greeted him before every battle for many years, anticipating victory.

At the beginning of the sixth, the French attacked not the left, as the headquarters had assumed, but the right wing of the Russian position. The 106th regiment from General Delzon's division (Eugene de Beauharnais's corps) broke into the village of Borodino, but the Russian regiment of guards rangers stationed there was not taken by surprise. A bloody battle broke out. General Beauharnais sent Delzon reinforcement after reinforcement. By 6 a.m. the French had captured the village, although the 106th Regiment had lost three-quarters of its strength. The regiment commander, General Plozonn, also died, opening a long list of Napoleonic generals who fell in this battle.

Beauharnais gained a foothold on the Borodino Heights and placed a battery of 38 guns south of the village with orders to fire at the center of the Russian position. After that, he began to wait to see how events would unfold on the left flank of the Russian army. The fact is that he ordered the capture of Borodino in order to divert the enemy’s attention from the direction of the main attack.

And the main blow was aimed at Bagration’s flushes, located to the south. Here, from 5:30 a.m., a violent boil began. Napoleon's three best marshals - Davout, Ney and Murat - separately and together attacked the troops of Prince Bagration, while General Poniatowski tried to bypass the flushes on the right.

The honor of the first flush attack was entrusted to the division commander from Davout's corps, General Compan - the same one who had taken the Shevardinsky redoubt the day before. His blow was taken by the division of General Vorontsov with the support of the division of General Neverovsky. Kompan attacked the flushes from the Utitsky forest under the cover of fire from 50 guns, but was repulsed. Then Marshal Davout reinforced him with the division of General Dessay and ordered the attack to be repeated. In this new attack, Compan was seriously wounded, and Desseux, who replaced him, immediately shared his fate. Following them, Napoleon's adjutant general Rapp, who was personally sent to help by the emperor, received his 22nd wound during his combat service. The French hesitated. Seeing this, Marshal Davout himself led the 57th Regiment to attack, but was shell-shocked, knocked off his horse and lost consciousness. They even “managed” to report to Napoleon the death of the designated marshal. Meanwhile, the Russians knocked the French out of flushes.

Napoleon, having learned that Davout was alive, ordered the assault on the flushes to be resumed. At this time, he already knew that Poniatowski was late with his outflanking maneuver due to bad roads, and therefore decided to make do with a frontal attack, but a stronger one. To do this, he added to Davout's two divisions three divisions from Marshal Ney's corps and Murat's cavalry. Thus, in the third attack on the flushes, he threw 30,000 men, supported by 160 guns.

The prince, preparing to repel the third attack, also increased his forces. He pulled two divisions and artillery from the reserve to the flushes, demanded several battalions from the corps of N.N. Raevsky, which was subordinate to him, and an entire division of P.P. Konovnitsyn from the corps of N.A. Tuchkov 1st, which was not his subordinated, but sent a division. Anticipating the growing power of the French attacks, Bagration turned to Barclay de Tolly and Kutuzov for reinforcements. In the meantime, before the third attack, he had approximately 15,000 men and 164 guns on the flushes.

The French launched a third flush attack around 8 o'clock. As a result, two divisions of Davout and three of Ney broke into the flushes under the fire of Russian batteries. Reflecting this attack, the combined grenadier division of General M.S. Vorontsov was almost completely destroyed (he himself, having received a bayonet wound, was out of action - the first of the Russian generals). Following him, General Neverovsky was shell-shocked. His division was also almost completely destroyed. Then Prince Bagration personally led the reserve troops at the bayonet and pushed back the enemy infantry.
After this, Napoleon gave a sign to Marshal Murat. He took a cuirassier division from General Nansouty’s corps and, at its head, rushed to the flushes. The Russians met Murat's "iron men" with grapeshot and a counterattack from the cavalry reserve, and they were forced to retreat to their original position. Thus ended the third attack on flushes.

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, Napoleon learned that General Poniatowski and his Poles had occupied Utitsa and, thus, threatened to strike Bagration in the rear. The Emperor considered this circumstance convenient for the decisive attack of the flushes. He reinforced Davout and Ney with the division of General Friant, which was as exemplary in the Great Army as the Russian division of Konovnitsyn. For the fourth time, the French attacked so powerfully that they took all three flushes on the move, and Friant’s regiments even broke into Semenovskoye, a village located immediately behind the flushes. It seemed that the fate of the left flank of the Russian army was decided. But Bagration, to whom Konovnitsyn had already led his division, and other reinforcements from Barclay de Tolly were approaching, was not at a loss. Gathering everything he had, he launched a decisive counterattack. As a result, the flashes and the village of Semenovskoye were again repulsed.

After this, Napoleon decided to make adjustments to the plan. General Beauharnais, preparing to attack Kurgan Heights after the flushes were taken, was ordered to attack immediately to stop the flow of reinforcements from Barclay de Tolly to Bagration.

Meanwhile, at about 10 o'clock, Davout and Ney led their divisions into flushes for the fifth time. Once again their attack was successful: they captured the fortifications and captured 12 guns. The French were already preparing to turn them against Russian troops, but did not have time. The grenadier regiments of Konovnitsyn and the Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, with the support of two cuirassier divisions, knocked out the enemy from the flushes and returned the captured guns. At the same time, General A.A. Tuchkov 4th was killed, and the Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was wounded. The French chief of staff of the 1st Corps, General Romeuf, died here.

Napoleon continued to increase the power of his attacks on Bagration's flushes, combining them with attacks on other points of the Russian position. As soon as General Beauharnais took Kurgan Heights on the second attempt (Poniatowski at that time was pushing N.A. Tuchkov 1st behind Utitsa), that is, about half past ten, Napoleon ordered Marshals Davout and Ney to attack the flushes for the sixth time, adding to their five divisions two more divisions from General Junot's corps. However, this time the French were unable to even approach the flushes, unable to withstand the destructive fire of the Russian batteries.

The time came to 11 o'clock. General Poniatovsky developed his success by attacking Tuchkov 1st near the Utitsky Kurgan, and, most importantly, General Beauharnais gained a foothold on Kurgan Heights and had already opened side fire on the flushes from there. Napoleon, having intensified the frontal bombardment of Prince Bagration's position, launched a new assault on the flushes with the forces of Marshals Davout and Ney, and Junot sent a detour between the flushes and Utitsa to strike Bagration from the flank.

However, this maneuver, which, according to Napoleon's plan, was supposed to decide the outcome of the battle, failed. Two Junots unexpectedly came across the corps of General K.F. Baggovut near Utitsa, who at the beginning of the battle occupied the right wing of the Russian position and whose movement from right to left Napoleon overlooked.

Who and when sent Baggovut from the right to the left flank? Some researchers believe - Kutuzov, others - Barclay de Tolly. Baggovut himself reported after the battle to M.I. Kutuzov: “When the enemy launched an attack on our left flank, on the orders of the commander-in-chief of the 1st Western Army, I went with the infantry regiments of the 2nd Corps to reinforce it.” This document resolves the issue: Baggovut's corps was sent to the left wing by Barclay de Tolly.

So, Junot was thrown back by Baggovut’s troops to the Utitsky forest. The seventh frontal attack on the flushes of the troops of Davout and Ney also failed. Moreover, the French were again driven out from Kurgan Heights. At this time, in the south, Poniatowski was bogged down in battles with the troops of General Tuchkov 1st.
Now Napoleon could only count on the special power of a frontal attack on flushes. By 11.30 he had 45,000 men and 400 guns against them. Prince Bagration at this time had approximately 20,000 people and 300 guns, but from Barclay de Tolly the regiments of the 4th Infantry and 2nd Cavalry Corps approached him.

The eighth attack of the flushes was even more powerful than the previous ones, but the defenders of the flushes did not flinch, and the Russian artillery tried not to yield to the French.

However, the attacking impulse of the French was so strong that the Russians again lost flushes to them. But Prince Bagration considered this enemy success to be temporary. His soldiers were in exactly the same mood. Without allowing the French to gain a foothold on the flushes, Bagration united the 8th Corps of General M. M. Borozdin, the 4th Cavalry Corps of General K. K. Sivers and the 2nd Cuirassier Division of General I. M. Duka and himself led the troops in a counterattack. At that moment, he was struck by a fragment of a cannonball, which crushed his left leg.
For several moments Bagration tried to overcome the terrible pain and hide his serious wound from the troops, but then, weakened from loss of blood, he fell from his horse. As a result, the counterattack launched by him was repulsed, and General E. F. Saint-Prix, the chief of staff of the 2nd Army, was out of action with a serious wound.

General Konovnitsyn, who temporarily replaced Bagration, withdrew his troops to the village of Semenovskoye. Then General D.S. Dokhturov arrived, who took command of the left flank of the Russian army.

Having examined the position, Dokhturov found “everything in great confusion.” Meanwhile, the French stubbornly pressed forward, trying to complete the defeat of the Russian left flank. Two cavalry corps - Nansouty from the south and Latour-Maubourg from the north - struck the Semenov position. Three fresh guards regiments (Lithuanian, Izmailovsky and Finlyandsky), which M.I. Kutuzov himself sent from the reserve, heroically repelled the attacks of the French cavalry, giving Dokhturov the opportunity to put the upset troops in order. True, Friant’s division again, and now firmly, captured the village of Semenovskoye (Frian himself was wounded here), but Dokhturov, retreating beyond Semenovskoye, firmly entrenched himself on a new line.

Marshals Murat, Ney and Davout, whose forces were also exhausted, turned to Napoleon for reinforcements, but he refused. He decided that the Russian left wing was already upset, and therefore directed his main efforts against the center of the Russian position, for which he began to prepare a decisive attack on Kurgan Heights.

The ferocity of the battle grew every hour. We must pay tribute to Napoleon's soldiers and officers: they fought wonderfully that day. But Russian soldiers and officers stood up to them, and the generals were not inferior to them in valor. For example, Barclay de Tolly, in full dress uniform, personally led regiments in attacks and counterattacks. Five horses were killed under him, and 9 of his 12 adjutants were killed or wounded. The commander of the 3rd corps N.A. Tuchkov 1st fell, mortally wounded. His brother, General A.A. Tuchkov 4th, was struck by grapeshot when he, with a banner in his hands, raised his soldiers to counterattack. General A.I. Kutaisov also died, and his body was never found.

Napoleon grew gloomier with each passing hour of the battle. He was unwell and had a cold. And at about 12 o'clock he was suddenly informed of the appearance of Russian cavalry on his left flank. This raid on Napoleon’s flank was organized by Kutuzov, and it was done at the most critical moment of the battle.

The cavalry reserve of General F.P. Uvarov and the Cossacks M.I. Platov were sent to bypass. Unfortunately, the raid by Uvarov and Platov was undertaken with small forces (only 4,500 sabers), and most importantly, without the proper energy. Near the village of Bezzubovo, the Russian cavalry was stopped by the troops of General Ornano and returned. As a result, the outflanking maneuver and attack on Napoleon’s left flank, which Kutuzov was counting on in the hope of seizing the initiative in the battle, failed.

Nevertheless, this raid was very useful for the Russian army and does honor to Kutuzov as commander-in-chief. He distracted Napoleon's attention and forced him to suspend the assault on Kurgan Heights for two hours. Moreover, Napoleon returned the Young Guard division, already prepared for the attack, back to reserve. In the meantime, Kutuzov managed to regroup his forces: Barclay de Tolly replaced the remnants of Raevsky’s corps in the center with the last fresh corps of General Osterman-Tolstoy, and Dokhturov put the disorganized left wing in order.

Only at 2 p.m. did the French begin a general assault on Kurgan Heights. Here stood the 18-gun battery of General Raevsky, which was supported by several more batteries. The first French attack on the heights was repelled by 46 Russian guns, the second by 197. General Beauharnais's troops carried out these two attacks in the morning - from 10 to 11 o'clock, simultaneously with the fifth and sixth attacks on Bagration's flushes. First, the Italian division of General Broussier went on the attack, but it was repulsed. Then Beauharnais sent forward the division of General Moran assigned to him from the corps of Marshal Davout. Ahead of this division was General Bonamy's brigade, which broke into Raevsky's battery. But before the French had time to gain a foothold there, General A.P. Ermolov, unexpectedly for both Napoleon and Kutuzov, organized a brilliant counterattack. He happened to pass by on an errand and saw the disorderly retreat of Russian troops from Kurgan Heights, which had just been occupied by the French. Then Ermolov drew his sword and personally led the soldiers in a counterattack, in which General Kutaisov died. Ermolov himself was wounded.

So the French were driven out of Raevsky’s battery for the second time. General Montbrun's cavalry corps tried to support his infantry, but under Russian artillery fire he retreated, and Montbrun himself was killed. General Bonamy was captured.
So, at 14:00 the French began the third, decisive assault on Kurgan Heights. By this time, Napoleon was convinced that the entire Russian army was finally involved in the battle. Now he expected not only to take the heights, but also to break through the Russian battle formation here, in the center.

Under the cover of a powerful cannonade, General Beauharnais led three infantry divisions - Broussier, Morand and Gerard - to storm the heights. At this moment, Napoleon ordered General Caulaincourt, who had just replaced Montbrun, to attack the heights from the right flank.
Simultaneously with Caulaincourt's flank attack, Gerard's infantry attacked Raevsky's battery head-on. As a result, the French captured the battery, and General Caulaincourt was killed. Russian general P.G. Likhachev was captured.

By about 3 p.m., the French finally occupied Kurgan Heights, but were unable to advance further. At about 5 p.m., Napoleon arrived at Kurgan Heights and from there inspected the center of the Russian position. Having retreated to the heights near the village of Gorki, the Russian troops stood, considerably thinned out, but not broken and ready to continue to repel attacks. Napoleon knew that the left wing of the Russians, pushed back beyond Semenovskoe, had already been brought into battle order. Poniatowski's corps was unable to bypass it; he occupied Utitsa and the Utitsa Kurgan, but remained there, lacking the strength to continue the attacks. As for the Russian right flank, it was reliably covered by the high bank of the Kolocha River.

Napoleon was gloomier than a cloud: there could be no talk of escaping the defeated Russian army. True, Napoleon's guard (19,000 of the best soldiers) remained intact. Marshals Ney and Murat begged the emperor to move the guard into battle and thus “complete the defeat of the Russians.” But Napoleon did not do this. He said: “800 leagues from France you cannot risk your last reserve.” As a result, the decisive attack never came.

Gradually the battle died down, and M.I. Kutuzov looked quite pleased. He saw that the Russians managed to survive. Of course, he received information from everywhere about enormous losses, but he understood perfectly well that the French had lost no less. On the other hand, Kutuzov, unlike Napoleon, no longer had reserves.

Meanwhile, Napoleon withdrew his flashes from the Raevsky and Bagrationov batteries in order to give his soldiers and officers a rest not on the corpses of their comrades, but away from them.

As for Kutuzov, he, having learned that the Russian losses were much greater than he could imagine, gave the order to retreat around midnight. As a result, even before dawn, the Russian army left the battlefield and marched towards Moscow.

French historians mostly claim that at Borodino the French lost 6,567 people killed and 21,519 wounded - a total of 28,086 people. Other figures are given in foreign literature, but, as a rule, in the range from 20,000 to 30,000 people.
Russian sources often mention the figure 50876 people.

Napoleon lost 49 generals in this battle (10 killed and 39 wounded).

The French estimate Russian losses at Borodino in the range from 50,000 to 60,000 people. Russian sources, naturally, give a different figure - 38,500 people. But this figure clearly does not include losses among the Cossacks and militia warriors. The figure of 45,000 people seems more realistic. At the same time, the Russians lost 29 generals (6 killed and 23 wounded).

But the trophies on both sides were the same: the Russians took 13 cannons and 1,000 prisoners, the French captured 15 cannons and also 1,000 prisoners. Neither side left a single banner for the enemy.

So who won this battle? Formally, Napoleon had the right to declare himself the winner: he occupied all the main positions defended by the Russian army, after which the Russians retreated and then left Moscow.

On the other hand, Napoleon never solved his main task - to defeat the Russian army.

But M.I. Kutuzov, who considered the salvation of Moscow his main task, failed to do this. He was forced to sacrifice Moscow for the sake of preserving the army and saving Russia. But he did this not by the will of Napoleon, but by his own, and not at all because he was defeated in a general battle.

Emperor Napoleon later recalled the Battle of Borodino as follows: “Of all my battles, the most terrible was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of winning, and the Russians showed themselves worthy of being called invincible.”

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the military-historical patriotic event - the Patriotic War of 1812, which is of great importance for the political, social, cultural and military development of Russia.

Start of the war

June 12, 1812 (old style) Napoleon's French army, having crossed the Neman near the city of Kovno (now Kaunas in Lithuania), invaded the Russian Empire. This day is listed in history as the beginning of the war between Russia and France.

In this war, two forces collided. On the one hand, Napoleon’s army of half a million (about 640 thousand people), which consisted only half of the French and also included representatives of almost all of Europe. An army, intoxicated by numerous victories, led by famous marshals and generals led by Napoleon. The strengths of the French army were its large numbers, good material and technical support, combat experience, and belief in the invincibility of the army.

She was opposed by the Russian army, which at the beginning of the war represented one-third of the French army. Before the start of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Russian-Turkish War of 1806-1812 had just ended. The Russian army was divided into three groups far apart from each other (under the command of generals M.B. Barclay de Tolly, P.I. Bagration and A.P. Tormasov). Alexander I was at the headquarters of Barclay's army.

The blow of Napoleon's army was taken by the troops stationed on the western border: the 1st Army of Barclay de Tolly and the 2nd Army of Bagration (153 thousand soldiers in total).

Knowing his numerical superiority, Napoleon pinned his hopes on a lightning war. One of his main mistakes was to underestimate the patriotic impulse of the army and people of Russia.

The start of the war was successful for Napoleon. At 6 o'clock in the morning on June 12 (24), 1812, the vanguard of the French troops entered the Russian city of Kovno. The crossing of 220 thousand soldiers of the Great Army near Kovno took 4 days. 5 days later, another group (79 thousand soldiers) under the command of the Viceroy of Italy Eugene Beauharnais crossed the Neman to the south of Kovno. At the same time, even further south, near Grodno, the Neman was crossed by 4 corps (78-79 thousand soldiers) under the overall command of the King of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte. In the northern direction near Tilsit, the Neman crossed the 10th Corps of Marshal MacDonald (32 thousand soldiers), which was aimed at St. Petersburg. In the southern direction, from Warsaw across the Bug, a separate Austrian corps of General Schwarzenberg (30-33 thousand soldiers) began to invade.

The rapid advance of the powerful French army forced the Russian command to retreat deeper into the country. The commander of the Russian troops, Barclay de Tolly, avoided a general battle, preserving the army and striving to unite with Bagration’s army. The numerical superiority of the enemy raised the question of urgent replenishment of the army. But in Russia there was no universal conscription. The army was recruited through conscription. And Alexander I decided to take an unusual step. On July 6, he issued a manifesto calling for the creation of a people's militia. This is how the first partisan detachments began to appear. This war united all segments of the population. As now, so then, the Russian people are united only by misfortune, grief, and tragedy. It didn’t matter who you were in society, what your income was. The Russian people fought unitedly to defend the freedom of their homeland. All people became a single force, which is why the name “Patriotic War” was determined. The war became an example of the fact that the Russian people will never allow freedom and spirit to be enslaved; he will defend his honor and name to the end.

The armies of Barclay and Bagration met near Smolensk at the end of July, thus achieving their first strategic success.

Battle for Smolensk

By August 16 (new style), Napoleon approached Smolensk with 180 thousand soldiers. After the unification of the Russian armies, the generals began to persistently demand from the commander-in-chief Barclay de Tolly a general battle. At 6 am August 16 Napoleon began the assault on the city.

In the battles near Smolensk, the Russian army showed the greatest resilience. The battle for Smolensk marked the development of a nationwide war between the Russian people and the enemy. Napoleon's hope for a lightning war was dashed.

Battle for Smolensk. Adam, around 1820

The stubborn battle for Smolensk lasted 2 days, until the morning of August 18, when Barclay de Tolly withdrew his troops from the burning city to avoid a big battle without a chance of victory. Barclay had 76 thousand, another 34 thousand (Bagration’s army).After the capture of Smolensk, Napoleon moved towards Moscow.

Meanwhile, the protracted retreat caused public discontent and protest among most of the army (especially after the surrender of Smolensk), so on August 20 (according to modern style) Emperor Alexander I signed a decree appointing M.I. as commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. Kutuzova. At that time, Kutuzov was 67 years old. A commander of the Suvorov school, with half a century of military experience, he enjoyed universal respect both in the army and among the people. However, he also had to retreat in order to gain time to gather all his forces.

Kutuzov could not avoid a general battle for political and moral reasons. By September 3 (new style), the Russian army retreated to the village of Borodino. Further retreat meant the surrender of Moscow. By that time, Napoleon's army had already suffered significant losses, and the difference in the numbers of the two armies had narrowed. In this situation, Kutuzov decided to give a general battle.

West of Mozhaisk, 125 km from Moscow near the village of Borodina August 26 (September 7, New Style) 1812 A battle took place that will forever go down in the history of our people. - the largest battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 between the Russian and French armies.

The Russian army numbered 132 thousand people (including 21 thousand poorly armed militias). The French army, hot on her heels, numbered 135 thousand. Kutuzov's headquarters, believing that there were about 190 thousand people in the enemy army, chose a defensive plan. In fact, the battle was an assault by French troops on a line of Russian fortifications (flashes, redoubts and lunettes).

Napoleon hoped to defeat the Russian army. But the resilience of the Russian troops, where every soldier, officer, and general was a hero, overturned all the calculations of the French commander. The battle lasted all day. The losses were huge on both sides. The Battle of Borodino is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century. According to the most conservative estimates of total losses, 2,500 people died on the field every hour. Some divisions lost up to 80% of their strength. There were almost no prisoners on either side. French losses amounted to 58 thousand people, Russians - 45 thousand.

Emperor Napoleon later recalled: “Of all my battles, the most terrible was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of winning, and the Russians showed themselves worthy of being called invincible.”

Cavalry battle

On September 8 (21), Kutuzov ordered a retreat to Mozhaisk with the firm intention of preserving the army. The Russian army retreated, but retained its combat effectiveness. Napoleon failed to achieve the main thing - the defeat of the Russian army.

September 13 (26) in the village of Fili Kutuzov had a meeting about the future plan of action. After the military council in Fili, the Russian army, by decision of Kutuzov, was withdrawn from Moscow. “With the loss of Moscow Russia is not yet lost, but with the loss of the army Russia is lost”. These words of the great commander, which went down in history, were confirmed by subsequent events.

A.K. Savrasov. The hut in which the famous council in Fili took place

Military Council in Fili (A. D. Kivshenko, 1880)

Capture of Moscow

In the evening September 14 (September 27, new style) Napoleon entered empty Moscow without a fight. In the war against Russia, all of Napoleon's plans consistently collapsed. Expecting to receive the keys to Moscow, he stood in vain for several hours on Poklonnaya Hill, and when he entered the city, he was greeted by deserted streets.

Fire in Moscow on September 15-18, 1812 after the capture of the city by Napoleon. Painting by A.F. Smirnova, 1813

Already on the night of September 14 (27) to September 15 (28), the city was engulfed in fire, which by the night of September 15 (28) to September 16 (29) intensified so much that Napoleon was forced to leave the Kremlin.

About 400 lower-class townspeople were shot on suspicion of arson. The fire raged until September 18 and destroyed most of Moscow. Of the 30 thousand houses that were in Moscow before the invasion, “hardly 5 thousand” remained after Napoleon left the city.

While Napoleon's army was inactive in Moscow, losing its combat effectiveness, Kutuzov retreated from Moscow, first to the southeast along the Ryazan road, but then, turning west, he flanked the French army, occupied the village of Tarutino, blocking the Kaluga road. gu. The foundation for the final defeat of the “great army” was laid in the Tarutino camp.

When Moscow burned, bitterness against the occupiers reached its highest intensity. The main forms of war of the Russian people against Napoleon's invasion were passive resistance (refusal of trade with the enemy, leaving grain unharvested in the fields, destruction of food and fodder, going into the forests), guerrilla warfare and mass participation in militias. The course of the war was most influenced by the refusal of the Russian peasantry to supply the enemy with provisions and fodder. The French army was on the verge of starvation.

From June to August 1812, Napoleon's army, pursuing the retreating Russian armies, covered about 1,200 kilometers from the Neman to Moscow. As a result, its communication lines were greatly stretched. Taking this fact into account, the command of the Russian army decided to create flying partisan detachments to operate in the rear and on the enemy’s communication lines, with the goal of impeding his supply and destroying his small detachments. The most famous, but far from the only commander of flying squads, was Denis Davydov. Army partisan detachments received full support from the spontaneously emerging peasant partisan movement. As the French army advanced deeper into Russia, as violence on the part of Napoleonic army grew, after fires in Smolensk and Moscow, after discipline in Napoleon’s army decreased and a significant part of it turned into a gang of marauders and robbers, the population of Russia began to move from passive to active resistance to the enemy. During its stay in Moscow alone, the French army lost more than 25 thousand people from partisan actions.

The partisans formed, as it were, the first ring of encirclement around Moscow, occupied by the French. The second ring consisted of militias. Partisans and militias surrounded Moscow in a tight ring, threatening to turn Napoleon's strategic encirclement into a tactical one.

Tarutino fight

After the surrender of Moscow, Kutuzov obviously avoided a major battle, the army accumulated strength. During this time, 205 thousand militia were recruited in the Russian provinces (Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Tula, Kaluga, Tver and others), and 75 thousand in Ukraine. By October 2, Kutuzov withdrew the army south to the village of Tarutino, closer to Kaluga.

In Moscow, Napoleon found himself in a trap; it was not possible to spend the winter in a city devastated by fire: foraging outside the city was not going well, the extended communications of the French were very vulnerable, and the army was beginning to disintegrate. Napoleon began to prepare to retreat to winter quarters somewhere between the Dnieper and Dvina.

When the “great army” retreated from Moscow, its fate was decided.

Battle of Tarutino, October 6th (P. Hess)

October 18(new style) Russian troops attacked and defeated near Tarutino French corps of Murat. Having lost up to 4 thousand soldiers, the French retreated. The Tarutino battle became a landmark event, marking the transition of the initiative in the war to the Russian army.

Napoleon's retreat

October 19(in modern style) the French army (110 thousand) with a huge convoy began to leave Moscow along the Old Kaluga Road. But Napoleon’s road to Kaluga was blocked by Kutuzov’s army, located near the village of Tarutino on the Old Kaluga Road. Due to the lack of horses, the French artillery fleet was reduced, and large cavalry formations practically disappeared. Not wanting to break through a fortified position with a weakened army, Napoleon turned around the village of Troitsky (modern Troitsk) onto the New Kaluga Road (modern Kiev Highway) to bypass Tarutino. However, Kutuzov transferred the army to Maloyaroslavets, cutting off the French retreat along the New Kaluga Road.

By October 22, Kutuzov's army consisted of 97 thousand regular troops, 20 thousand Cossacks, 622 guns and more than 10 thousand militia warriors. Napoleon had up to 70 thousand combat-ready soldiers at hand, the cavalry had practically disappeared, and the artillery was much weaker than the Russian one.

October 12 (24) took place battle of Maloyaroslavets. The city changed hands eight times. In the end, the French managed to capture Maloyaroslavets, but Kutuzov took a fortified position outside the city, which Napoleon did not dare to storm.On October 26, Napoleon ordered a retreat north to Borovsk-Vereya-Mozhaisk.

A.Averyanov. Battle of Maloyaroslavets October 12 (24), 1812

In the battles for Maloyaroslavets, the Russian army solved a major strategic problem - it thwarted the plan for the French troops to break through to Ukraine and forced the enemy to retreat along the Old Smolensk Road, which they had destroyed.

From Mozhaisk the French army resumed its movement towards Smolensk along the road along which it advanced on Moscow

The final defeat of the French troops took place when crossing the Berezina. The battles of November 26-29 between the French corps and the Russian armies of Chichagov and Wittgenstein on both banks of the Berezina River during Napoleon's crossing went down in history as battle on the Berezina.

The French retreat through the Berezina on November 17 (29), 1812. Peter von Hess (1844)

When crossing the Berezina, Napoleon lost 21 thousand people. In total, up to 60 thousand people managed to cross the Berezina, most of them civilians and non-combat-ready remnants of the “Great Army”. Unusually severe frosts, which struck during the crossing of the Berezina and continued in the following days, finally exterminated the French, already weakened by hunger. On December 6, Napoleon left his army and went to Paris to recruit new soldiers to replace those killed in Russia.

The main result of the battle on the Berezina was that Napoleon avoided complete defeat in conditions of significant superiority of Russian forces. In the memories of the French, the crossing of the Berezina occupies no less place than the largest Battle of Borodino.

By the end of December, the remnants of Napoleon's army were expelled from Russia.

The "Russian campaign of 1812" was over December 14, 1812.

Results of the war

The main result of the Patriotic War of 1812 was the almost complete destruction of Napoleon's Grand Army.Napoleon lost about 580 thousand soldiers in Russia. These losses include 200 thousand killed, from 150 to 190 thousand prisoners, about 130 thousand deserters who fled to their homeland. The losses of the Russian army, according to some estimates, amounted to 210 thousand soldiers and militias.

In January 1813, the “Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army” began - the fighting moved to the territory of Germany and France. In October 1813, Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig, and in April 1814 he abdicated the throne of France.

The victory over Napoleon raised the international prestige of Russia as never before, which played a decisive role at the Congress of Vienna and in the following decades exercised a decisive influence on European affairs.

Key dates

12 June 1812- invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia across the Neman River. 3 Russian armies were at a great distance from each other. Tormasov's army, being in Ukraine, could not participate in the war. It turned out that only 2 armies took the blow. But they had to retreat to connect.

August 3rd- a connection between the armies of Bagration and Barclay de Tolly near Smolensk. The enemies lost about 20 thousand, and ours about 6 thousand, but Smolensk had to be abandoned. Even the united armies were 4 times smaller than the enemy!

8 August- Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief. An experienced strategist, wounded many times in battles, Suvorov's student was liked by the people.

August, 26th- The Battle of Borodino lasted more than 12 hours. It is considered a general battle. On the approaches to Moscow, the Russians showed massive heroism. The enemy losses were greater, but our army could not go on the offensive. The numerical superiority of the enemies was still great. Reluctantly, they decided to surrender Moscow in order to save the army.

September October- seat of Napoleon's army in Moscow. His expectations were not met. It was not possible to win. Kutuzov rejected requests for peace. The attempt to escape to the south failed.

October December- expulsion of Napoleon's army from Russia along the destroyed Smolensk road. From 600 thousand enemies there are about 30 thousand left!

December 25, 1812- Emperor Alexander I issued a manifesto on the victory of Russia. But the war had to be continued. Napoleon still had armies in Europe. If they are not defeated, he will attack Russia again. The foreign campaign of the Russian army lasted until victory in 1814.

Prepared by Sergey Shulyak

INVASION (animated film)

The fire of European wars increasingly engulfed Europe. At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia was also involved in this struggle. The result of this intervention was the unsuccessful foreign wars with Napoleon and the Patriotic War of 1812.

Causes of the war

After the defeat of the Fourth Anti-French Coalition by Napoleon on June 25, 1807, the Treaty of Tilsit was concluded between France and Russia. The conclusion of peace forced Russia to join the participants in the continental blockade of England. However, neither country was going to comply with the terms of the treaty.

The main causes of the War of 1812:

• The Peace of Tilsit was economically unprofitable for Russia, so the government of Alexander I decided to trade with England through neutral countries.
• The policy pursued by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte towards Prussia was to the detriment of Russian interests; French troops concentrated on the border with Russia, also contrary to the provisions of the Tilsit Treaty.
• After Alexander I did not agree to give his consent to the marriage of his sister Anna Pavlovna with Napoleon, relations between Russia and France deteriorated sharply.

At the end of 1811, the bulk of the Russian army was deployed against the war with Turkey. By May 1812, thanks to the genius of M.I. Kutuzov, the military conflict was resolved. Türkiye curtailed its military expansion in the East, and Serbia gained independence.

Start of the war

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1812-1814, Napoleon managed to concentrate up to 645 thousand troops on the border with Russia. His army included Prussian, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Polish units.

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The Russian troops, despite all the objections of the generals, were divided into three armies and located far from each other. The first army under the command of Barclay de Tolly numbered 127 thousand people, the second army, led by Bagration, had 49 thousand bayonets and sabers. And finally, in the third army of General Tormasov, there were about 45 thousand soldiers.

Napoleon decided to immediately take advantage of the mistake of the Russian emperor, namely, with a sudden blow to defeat the two main armies of Barclay de Toll and Bagration in border battles, preventing them from uniting and moving with an accelerated march to defenseless Moscow.

At five in the morning on June 12, 1821, the French army (about 647 thousand) began to cross the Russian border.

Rice. 1. Crossing of Napoleonic troops across the Neman.

The numerical superiority of the French army allowed Napoleon to immediately take the military initiative into his own hands. The Russian army did not yet have universal conscription and the army was replenished using outdated recruitment kits. Alexander I, who was in Polotsk, issued a Manifesto on July 6, 1812 calling for the collection of a general people's militia. As a result of the timely implementation of such internal policy by Alexander I, different layers of the Russian population began to rapidly flock to the ranks of the militia. Nobles were allowed to arm their serfs and join the ranks of the regular army with them. The war immediately began to be called “Patriotic”. The manifesto also regulated the partisan movement.

Progress of military operations. Main events

The strategic situation required the immediate merging of the two Russian armies into a single whole under a common command. Napoleon’s task was the opposite - to prevent Russian forces from uniting and to defeat them as quickly as possible in two or three border battles.

The following table shows the course of the main chronological events of the Patriotic War of 1812:

Rice. 2. Crossing of French troops across the Berezina. Januariy Zlatopolsky...

Napoleon's invasion caused enormous damage to the Russian Empire - many cities were burned, tens of thousands of villages were reduced to ashes. But a common misfortune brings people together. An unprecedented scale of patriotism united the central provinces, tens of thousands of peasants signed up for the militia, went into the forest, becoming partisans. Not only men, but also women fought the French, one of them was Vasilisa Kozhina.

The defeat of France and the results of the War of 1812

After the victory over Napoleon, Russia continued to liberate European countries from the yoke of the French invaders. In 1813, a military alliance was concluded between Prussia and Russia. The first stage of the foreign campaigns of Russian troops against Napoleon ended in failure due to the sudden death of Kutuzov and the lack of coordination in the actions of the allies.

• However, France was extremely exhausted by continuous wars and asked for peace. However, Napoleon lost the fight on the diplomatic front. Another coalition of powers grew up against France: Russia, Prussia, England, Austria and Sweden.
• In October 1813, the famous Battle of Leipzig took place. At the beginning of 1814, Russian troops and allies entered PARIS. Napoleon was deposed and at the beginning of 1814 exiled to the island of Elba.

Rice. 3. Entry of Russian and allied troops into Paris. HELL. Kivshenko.

• In 1814, a Congress was held in Vienna, where the victorious countries discussed questions about the post-war structure of Europe.
• In June 1815, Napoleon fled the island of Elba and retook the French throne, but after just 100 days of rule, the French were defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena.

Summing up the results of the Patriotic War of 1812, it should be noted that the influence it had on the leading people of Russian society was limitless. Many great works were written by great writers and poets based on this war. The post-war peace was short-lived, although the Congress of Vienna gave Europe several years of peace. Russia acted as the savior of occupied Europe, but Western historians tend to underestimate the historical significance of the Patriotic War.

What have we learned?

The beginning of the 19th century in the history of Russia, studied in grade 4, was marked by a bloody war with Napoleon. A detailed report and table “Patriotic War of 1812” tells briefly about the Patriotic War of 1812, what the nature of this war was, the main periods of military operations.

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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 has 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 the decisive battle that 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. The 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