18th October 1812 was the day on which Napoleon
Bonaparte began his retreat from Moscow, realising for the first time that his
dream of dominating the whole of Europe was not going to come true. There were
two great turning points in the fortunes of Napoleon’s Empire – the Battle of
Trafalgar in 1805 had shown that France would no longer rule the roost at sea;
the Retreat from Moscow made it clear that the same now applied on land.
Napoleon had marched his army 500 miles into Russian
territory from the relative safety of Vilnius (in Lithuania). It had taken
twelve weeks across territory laid waste by the Russian peasants who had
destroyed anything of use to the French before they abandoned their farms and
moved elsewhere.
When the French eventually reached Moscow they found that
the same policy had been adopted. This had been a thriving city with a
population of 250,000 but now only 15,000 remained. The Russians had set fire
to much of the city before leaving, and Napoleon was now the conqueror of piles
of smoking ruins that contained very little food or anything else of value.
Napoleon sought to do a deal for a truce with the Russian
Tsar, Alexander I, but the latter would not even reply to Napoleon’s letter.
After 35 days in Moscow, Napoleon had no choice but to order a retreat. The
whole Russian campaign had been a complete waste of time, resources and lives.
The Retreat was worse than the advance because Napoleon’s
demoralised army now had to march through the devastated Russian territories in
the depths of winter. They also came under attack from marauding Cossacks and
gangs of guerrillas who were properly equipped for the conditions, which the
French were not. Every fresh raid was another defeat.
The men and horses that died, whether from cold, starvation
or enemy action, were left where they fell, their bodies becoming food for
wolves.
90,000 men began the Retreat from Moscow but only 20,000
returned to Vilnius. Napoleon could only comment that it was but a short step
from the sublime to the ridiculous. He had been defeated not so much by the
Russians as by Russia.
© John Welford
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