Napoleon Wasn’t Defeated by the Russians
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture gives too much credit to cannons.
“Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow” Painting by Adolph Northen/Wiki Commons.
History has taught us that Napoleon, in his invasion of Russia in 1812, marched into Moscow with his army largely intact and retreated only because the citizens of Moscow burned three-fourths of the city, depriving the army of food and supplies. The harsh Russian winter then devastated the army as it retreated. The Russians’ victory, commemorated by Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, was one of the great upsets of military history.
But no one recognized the truly great power in this war.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, during the winter of 2001, workers were digging trenches for telephone lines and demolishing the old Soviet barracks that had stood for decades. A bulldozer scraped-up something white, so the operator hopped down and, to his surprise, saw the skull and other bones of a human being. Another worker later claimed that “the things just kept coming out of the ground—there were thousands of them.” Eight years earlier, a grave had been found with the remains of 700 people killed by the Soviet Committee for State Security, commonly known as the KGB. Could this be one of those secret places where the KGB disposed of its victims? Or could it be one the mass burials of Jews murdered by the Nazis?
When archeologists from the University of Vilnius arrived, they found that the bodies were stacked three deep in V-shaped trenches that were apparently dug as defensive positions. It appeared that the skeletons were the remains of soldiers. Two thousand skeletons were excavated, along with belt buckles with regimental numbers on them. Along with the finds were 20-franc coins dating from the early 1800s. It finally dawned on the scientists what they had found: the remains of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Napoleon had led 600,000 men into Russia with the intent of conquering the country; of these, only about 30,000 survived, and of that number, it is said that fewer than 1,000 were ever able to return to duty.
What incredible circumstances could have caused the defeat of one of the greatest armies on the European continent, led by one of the greatest generals of all time? Surprisingly, it wasn’t enemy soldiers or the normal privations soldiers experience that devastated Napoleon’s army. Most of his soldiers were battle-hardened young men, so they should have been able to tolerate the cold, hunger, long marches, and fatigue. No, it was a microscopic organism that wreaked havoc and annihilated Napoleon’s army and his grand plans for conquest. A microbe called typhus, spread by a scourge of lice.
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….My comment
This article has a subtly, suspiciously anti-Russian undertone, sort of how the (dumb?) Russians did not beat the great Napoleon; it was insects.
Ahah.
So maybe neo-cons at the Pentagon want to suggest it might be easy to conquer Russia in 2018?
The fact is that the Russians fought very well in 1812, 1813 and 1814, and made some excellent decisions, some of them quite surprising, very ruthless and totally effective, such as burning Moscow down. (It was not their capital at that time, btw. That was Saint Petersburg.)
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/campaign_russia_1812.html
The Russians are among the most patriotic people on earth. Try to humiliate or dominate this country, and every man, woman and child will fight against you.
As for Napoleon, unlike Hitler he did not have an inspiring message for the masses. Was it “freedom”? “Prosperity”? “A United Europe”?
Or just “For the glory of me?”
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Or maybe “For the glory of France”?
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Ehhh — if you were part of that half of the Grande Armée that was German, Polish or Italian… 😉
In an earlier life I fought this guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laval_Nugent_von_Westmeath
1813, he led the campaign against Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais, separating French units in Dalmatia and simultaneously joining the English fleet, thus liberating Croatia, Istria and the Po valley.
In 1815, during the Neapolitan War, he commanded the right wing of the Austrian Army in Italy, liberated Rome, and defeated Joachim Murat at the Battle of Ceprano and the Battle of San Germano.
In fact, I never lost one battle in fifty years. That is why the emperor of’Austria gave me castles,
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….and the highest medal of his empire, the Maria Theresa Cross. (Those are diamonds on gold.)
In my next life I was an Austrian, and believe me, I had plenty of experiences with Russia then!
And so my warning to Donald Trump is:
DO NOT
ATTACK
RUSSIA.
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.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG2aJyIFrA
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.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrMnF2yk0Y
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCTKcd2Ko98
Wikipedia on nucler winter:
“….the depths of severe cooling ][would be ] lasting for as long as a decade. During this period, summer drops in average temperature could be up to 20 °C (36 °F) in core agricultural regions of the US, Europe, and China, and as much as 35 °C (63 °F) in Russia.[16] This cooling would be produced due to a 99% reduction in the natural solar radiation reaching the surface of the planet in the first few years, gradually clearing over the course of several decades.”[17]
….Very important blogs
It will be have contributed to the defeat of Napoleon, thats why the Germans used Zyklon B after all. It was a great enemy at that time (WW2), as far as I now they did not have these kind of stuff in 1812