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... nch lost 30, 000 men, the Russians 44, 000 including Prince Bagration who died of wounds. The Russians though were clearly more able to handle their major loss. They had unlimited reserves of manpower behind them while Napoleon was 500 miles from his base and 1, 500 from his country. Napoleon though was now driven forward by the belief that the capture of Russias capital city, Moscow, would end the war. In a speech to his troops Napoleon said that Peace lies in Moscow.
When the Great Russian nobles see us masters of their capital they will think twice before continuing the war. Kutusov realized that any defense of the city against Napoleon would be senseless. He declared in a message to Alexander that I see my first duty as the preservation of the army. The loss of Moscow does not mean the loss of Russia. With that he withdrew his forces and told the citizens of Moscow to begin evacuating. The French entered a deserted Moscow on September 14 th without further fighting.
That evening though the city caught fire and burned until rains put the flames out six days later. About a sixth of the buildings were destroyed. From Moscow Napoleon sent peace proposals to the Czar. He received no reply from Alexander who promised his army that he would never go through with any peace treaty with Napoleon, which left Napoleon with three options. First, he could stay in Moscow and hope that the army, which had no winter clothing, could find enough food and supplies to last through the Russian winter. Even though a lot of food had been found in Moscow it was clear that it wouldnt last till spring.
Second, he could retreat to Poland or some place in Russia where he was closer to his supply trains and depots. He feared though that a retreat would degrade himself and his prestige and would tempt Austria and Prussia to break away from him. The third option was to go south and head for Ukraine. If he did this though he would not avoid a confrontation against the growing Russian army. He would have to face and defeat Kutusov if this was to be successful. Faced with these unattractive options Napoleon decided to wait and hope for a reply from the Czar.
While the French were sitting in Moscow the Russian army was retreating to Tarutino, 50 miles from Moscow. This retreat made Kutusov as unpopular among the Russian generals as Barclay was at Smolensk. He was accused of cowardice and of being on the French side. Kutusov knew though that Napoleon must retreat and that the later Napoleon did, the more damage there would be done to the French army. He was persuaded though to mount a limited attack against Murat's advanced cavalry, which was carelessly encamped at Vinkovo. Kutusov organized a night attack, which completely surprised Murat's forces.
They lost 2, 500 men and 38 guns. Three days earlier, on October 15 th Napoleon gave orders for the evacuation of Moscow to take place on October 20 th. Napoleons intention was to put his army into winter quarters in the Smolensk, Vitebsk, and Minsk areas where there were enormous amounts of supplies that were guarded by the troops of Marshal Victor. His orders were for the move to take place on the Kaluga road because the direct road was already stripped bare of all provisions. Murat's defeat at Vinkovo pressured him to put the evacuation forward by one day. On October 19 th hundreds of troops, led by the advance guard of Prince Eugene and his Italian troops, poured out of Moscow in Three Great Columns and began moving towards Smolensk.
The Russian generals first assumed that the move of Prince Eugene was no more than an unusually strong expedition and to leave it alone. They later though discovered what it really was and decided to move against it, and after a day of fighting Kutusov held the French army at Maloyaroslavets on October 24 th. Napoleon realized that here was the opportunity of fighting the decisive battle, which he had originally wanted. Now thought that it was offered to him he could not afford the risk. Another battle like Borodino would destroy his army. He decided to go towards the main road even though his army could starve that way.
Since Kutusov also had decided not to fight at Maloyaroslavets the strategic direction of the Russian armies was taken from him and given to Alexander. From St. Petersburg the Czar made a plan to surround and crush the Grand Army. From the north, General Wittgenstein with troops that had been guarding St. Petersburg and troops from Finland was going to block the gap between the Dvina and Bersina rivers. From the south, Admiral Tchitchagov with the Third Army and 35, 00 troops from Danube was going to take control of the line of Bersina, therefore blocking the French retreat.
Kutusov's army was given the role of pursuing the French army so they would not get any rest until the wall formed by the Wittgenstein and Tchitchagov armies blocked them off. When the French finally reached Smolensk on November 8 th they found that Marshal Victor and his troops had marched north to hold Wittgenstein back and they had taken most of the provisions with them. The distribution of what remained was extremely unfair, with many troops getting nothing. By this time the army was down to 49, 000 men. Napoleon decided to continue the retreat. On November 15 th though, General Miloradovitch, commanding Kutusov's advanced guard, ambushed the Italian corps.
Prince Eugene and his men fought their way out with 900 men left from the original 5, 000. Napoleon had another problem when on November 18 th, Kutusov's army cut off the French rearguard, which consisted of 15, 000 men under the control of Davout and Ney. Napoleon turned back to rescue the two marshals. Davout and Ney eventually made it back to the rest of the army on November 21 st with 850 men left. More bad news came to the French when they found out that Tchitchagov had taken Minsk, the huge supply depot, which Napoleon was depending on for his army's rations. Also on November 16 th Tchitchagov had reached Borisov and destroyed the bridge that crossed over the Berezina River.
The river was 600 yards long in width and needed to be crossed in order for the French to escape Russia. Napoleons chief engineer though, General Ebay, thought out a plan for building a temporarily stable bridge over the river. He went 8 miles north to work at Studianka to build two bridges from wood taken off of houses. Between November 26 th and 29 th 25, 000 French troops walked across the river on Eyes bridge and went through the snow towards Vilna. Russia was free of most French troops, except prisoners, by mid-December. The French headquarters after the retreat were at Smorgon, a village east of Vilna.
On December 5 th Napoleon decided to leave the army and return to France, leaving Murat in command. He was worried that if he stayed with the army that his grip on Europe would be loosened and that Prussia and Austria would try to break away from his empire. Napoleon blamed the failure of the campaign on the weather and stated that if he had stayed only four days less in Moscow that he would be on the Russian throne. He did not though, realize how big of a disaster had just taken place. He held on to the belief that he still had 150, 000 men on the eastern front and that they could hold the Russians at bay.
What was left of the Grand Army though could not hold Vilna. There were not enough men and there was almost no will to fight. On December 13 th the remaining 400 infantry and 600 cavalry burned the bridge over the Niemen River at Kovno and marched into East Prussia. Russia though made a deal with East Prussia, which allowed the Russian troops to enter East Prussia and by the end of January 1813 the French were behind the Elbe River, far away from Russia. This marked the end of Napoleons Russian Campaign.
Bibliography: Gate, Curtis. The War Of The Two Emperors New York: Random House, 1985. Glover, Michael. The Napoleonic Wars: An Illustrated History New York: Hippocrene Books, 1979. Hilt, Douglas. Ten Against Napoleon Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975.
Holman, Robert. The Napoleonic Revolution Philadelphia & New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1967. Nicolson, Nigel. Napoleon 1812 New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
Right, Richard. 1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign San Francisco: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990. Walter, Jacob. The Diary Of A Napoleonic Foot Soldier London: Doubleday, 1991.
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