Aleksandr I and the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon’s “Second Polish War”

Causes:• Treaty of Tilsit, 1807

– Continental System– Russian trade with

Britain• Duchy of Warsaw,

1807-1815– Western Galicia

annexed from Austria• Napoleon’s arrogance

Napoleon’s Continental System, 1807-1812

Invasion began, 24 June 1812

• Grand Army: 500-600,000 troops crossed the Niemen river (about half French; other half Germans, Poles, Italians).

• Napoleon desired a quick, decisive victory.

• Mid-December 1812: about 70,000 crossed back over, half in formation.

Causes of the Grand Army’s defeat• Typhus: Rickettsia

prowazekii • Poor coordination of

supplies• “scorched earth” and

retreat strategies• Terrible roads: Mud• Winter• Napoleon’s insistence

on victory

The destruction of the Grand Army

Battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812

Battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812

• Largest battle of invasion (116 km west of Moscow)• Grand Army: 135,000 men, 587 guns (28,000 dead,

wounded or captured)• Russian Army: 120,000 men, 640 guns (44,000 dead

wounded or captured)• Leo Tolstoy: "a continuous slaughter which could be

of no avail either to the French or the Russians".

Occupation of Moscow, 14 September-19 October 1812

Alexander’s reaction• St. Petersburg, not a general• Had religious epiphany; refused to negotiate.“I will not make peace until I have driven the enemy back across

our frontiers, even if I must, before succeeding in this, withdraw beyond Kazan’. As long as I am defending Russian territory I will only ask for munitions and arms from England. When, with the aid of Providence, I have repulsed the enemy beyond our frontiers, I will not stop there, and it is only then that I will reach agreement with England on the most effective assistance that I can ask for to succeed in liberating Europe from the French yoke.” (To Count Lieven, his ambassador in London)

The long wait…

• Napoleon tried to negotiate.

• “Peace at all costs.”• Alexander refused to treat.• Kutuzov may have led

Napoleon on.• October 19, orders retreat

-- too late.• Kutuzov forced them to

take the same path back.

The long, cold retreat

Russian victory, 1812-1814

• Only about 35-40,000 troops of the Grand Army escaped.

• 24 December 1812, Alexander to generals, “You have saved not only Russia, you have saved Europe.”

Mikhail I. Kutuzov, 1745-1813

Alexander and Russian troops enter Paris, 21 March 1814

Alexander I: “I esteem France and the French, and I hope they will give me the opportunity to do good for them. Please tell the Parisians, Gentlemen, that I am not entering their walls as an enemy, and it is for them to accept me as a friend; also, that I have but one enemy in France and with that one I am irreconciliable.”

Congress of Vienna, Nov. 1814-March 1815

• “Savior” and “Liberator” of Europe

• Imposed “Charte” on Louis XVIII.

• Congress Kingdom of Poland

• Holy Alliance