The main events of the war of 1812. Mozhaisk Deanery. Armed forces of opponents

The main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 determined the victory of the Russian troops over the enemy. The course of the campaign on the part of the Russian forces was determined at the first stage by the strategy of the commander-in-chief Barclay de Tolly, and at the second stage - by Kutuzov's plan to lure the enemy deep into the country in order to weaken his forces. Initially, Napoleon's army was promoted by success: in June of the year in question, his troops unexpectedly began an invasion of Russian soil. However, already the first major battle demonstrated the enormous potential of the Russian army, which, although at first retreated, managed to greatly weaken the enemy.

Battle of Smolensk

The list of "Major Battles of the Patriotic War of 1812" should begin with the first serious clash of opponents under this old and strategically important city. On 4 August, the first French corps approached the walls and tried to attack them on the move, but soon retreated with considerable losses. In the middle of the day, the main forces of the French approached and shelling of the fortifications began, which, however, did not suffer too much.

By the end of the day, additional forces approached the city. The commander set out to exhaust the enemy in battle and prevent him from cutting off the Moscow road. On the first day of the battle, the Russians achieved victory, but on the second day the French began a massive bombardment of the walls, and the city caught fire. The enemy took possession of the suburb. Under these conditions, Barclay de Tolly gave the order to retreat in order to preserve the army. So, the main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 began with the defense of Smolensk. Society and government were dissatisfied with the withdrawal of the Russian troops. After this battle, Emperor Alexander I appointed Kutuzov as commander, who was very popular in the army.

The beginning of the Borodino battle

This was the most famous battle during the war between Russia and Napoleon. It happened on August 26, in a village located 125 km from Moscow. The battle lasted 12 hours with varying degrees of success, and therefore is considered one of the bloodiest in history.

When studying the topic "The main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812" at school, one should especially dwell on this event in detail, since it determined the further course of the confrontation. The main blow of the French fell on the left flank and center. They managed to capture the village, but could not finally break through the defenses here.

Battle for the flashes

The second strong onslaught fell on the Bagrationov earthworks. During the first attacks, the French were forced to retreat for a while due to heavy losses. After receiving reinforcements, they began a massive shelling. The main blow was taken by the Raevsky battery. The Russians launched a series of counterattacks, in the course of one of which Marshal Murat himself was nearly captured. There was a fierce struggle for flushes, they were constantly changing hands. The Patriotic War of 1812, the main battles of which are the subject of this review, showed the boundless heroism and courage of Russian soldiers. During the eighth attack, hand-to-hand fighting ensued on the flushes. Despite the fact that the French units were reinforced with artillery and guns, the preponderance tilted towards the Russians. A tragic incident did not allow this success to be developed. In the midst of the battle, Bagration was wounded by a shell fragment, who was leading the counterattack. He was carried away from the field, news of this quickly spread among the Russian soldiers, and this demoralized them, after which they began to retreat. After that, General Konovnitsyn gave the order to keep the flushes.

Battle for the mound

Of great importance for understanding the reasons for the victory of the Russian army is the study of how the main battles developed. Speaking of the main events, one should dwell in more detail on the battle at Borodino. After retreating from the flashes, fierce battles unfolded for the Utitsky Kurgan. In this area, Kutuzov placed an ambush regiment, which was supposed to attack the enemy from the rear during his attack on the fortifications of Bagration. However, the plan was not implemented. However, after numerous attacks, the Russians still retained the mound, but the commander of the army, Tuchkov, was killed.

The further course of the battle and the result

The main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812, the results of which ultimately ensured the success of the Russian army, must be studied in particular detail. During the Borodino battle, the Cossack raid of Uvarov and Platov behind enemy lines played a great role. It was a very skillful maneuver that delayed the French attack by about two hours.

A particularly fierce battle unfolded for. Despite heavy fire and an incessant offensive, the center retained its positions, and Napoleon was forced to abandon a further offensive. In Western European historiography, the opinion was established that the French won the Battle of Borodino, although this statement is accepted with reservations. In modern domestic science, it is generally accepted that the battle ended in a draw, since none of the sides reached the goal.

and on the Berezina

The skill of the Russian army was demonstrated by the main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812. The table of the main battles is presented in this overview in chronological order. On October 12, a new battle took place near Maloyaroslavets, which showed the readiness of the Russian army for a general battle.

Several times the small town fell to the enemy, but in the end Napoleon decided to retreat, as he himself was almost captured.

The significance of this maneuver by Kutuzov is difficult to overestimate: he did not allow the enemy to enter the southern provinces, forcing him to retreat along the devastated Smolensk road. The last major clash occurred at the end of November, when Napoleon was forced to hastily retreat from the country across the river.

During this retreat, the French suffered huge losses, and nevertheless the emperor managed to retain the combat-ready units of his army.

Chronology

In two lessons, it is advisable to study the topic "The main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812". Briefly (the table below mentions some battles that were not indicated in this work) this material is best summarized in a condensed form by date.

So, the battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 prove the strategic skill of the commanders of the Russian army and the courage of ordinary soldiers who achieved victory over the invincible army of Napoleon.

Already in Moscow, that this war would turn out for him not a brilliant victory, but a shameful flight from Of Russia mad with horror soldiers of his once great army, which conquered all of Europe? In 1807, after the defeat of the Russian army in the battle with the French at Friedland, Emperor Alexander I was forced to sign the unprofitable and humiliating peace treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon. At that moment, no one thought that in a few years the Russian troops would drive the Napoleonic army to Paris, and Russia would take a leading position in European politics.

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Causes and course of the Patriotic War of 1812

Main reasons

1. Violation by both Russia and France of the terms of the Tilsit Treaty. Russia sabotaged the continental blockade of England, which was unprofitable for itself. France, in violation of the treaty, deployed troops in Prussia, annexing the Duchy of Oldenburg.
2. The policy towards European states pursued by Napoleon without taking into account the interests of Russia.
3. An indirect reason can also be considered the fact that Bonaparte twice attempted to marry the sisters of Alexander the First, but both times he was refused.

Since 1810, both sides have been actively pursuing training to war, accumulating military forces.

The beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812

Who, if not Bonaparte, who conquered Europe, could be sure of his blitzkrieg? Napoleon hoped to defeat the Russian army even in border battles. In the early morning of June 24, 1812, the French Grand Army crossed the Russian border in four places.

The northern flank, under the command of Marshal MacDonald, advanced in the direction Riga - St. Petersburg. Main a group of troops under the command of Napoleon himself moved towards Smolensk. South of the main forces, the offensive was developed by the corps of Napoleon's stepson, Eugene Beauharnais. The corps of Austrian General Karl Schwarzenberg was advancing on the Kiev direction.

After crossing the border, Napoleon failed to maintain a high rate of advance. It was not only the huge Russian distances and the famous Russian roads that were to blame. The local population gave the French army a slightly different reception than in Europe. Sabotage the supply of food from the occupied territories became the most massive form of resistance to the invaders, but, of course, only the regular army could provide serious resistance to them.

Before joining Moscow the French army had to participate in nine major battles. In a large number of battles and armed clashes. Even before the occupation of Smolensk, the Great Army lost 100 thousand soldiers, but, in general, the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 was extremely unfortunate for the Russian army.

On the eve of the invasion of the Napoleonic army, Russian troops were dispersed in three places. The first army of Barclay de Tolly was at Vilna, the second army of Bagration was near Volokovysk, and the third army of Tormasov was in Volyn. Strategy Napoleon's idea was to defeat the Russian armies separately. Russian troops begin to retreat.

Through the efforts of the so-called Russian party, instead of Barclay de Tolly, MI Kutuzov was appointed to the post of commander-in-chief, who was sympathetic to many generals with Russian surnames. The retreat strategy was not popular in Russian society.

However, Kutuzov continued to adhere to tactics digression chosen by Barclay de Tolly. Napoleon sought to impose on the Russian army the main, general battle as soon as possible.

The main battles of the Patriotic War of 1812

A bloody battle for Smolensk became a rehearsal for a general battle. Bonaparte, hoping that the Russians will concentrate all their forces here, prepares the main attack, and pulls an army of 185,000 to the city. Despite Bagration's objections, Bucklay de Tolly decides to leave Smolensk. The French, having lost more than 20 thousand people in battle, entered the burning and destroyed city. The Russian army, despite the surrender of Smolensk, retained its combat capability.

News about surrender of Smolensk overtook Kutuzov not far from Vyazma. Meanwhile, Napoleon advanced his army towards Moscow. Kutuzov found himself in a very serious situation. He continued to retreat, but before leaving Moscow, Kutuzov had to give a general battle. The protracted retreat left a depressing impression on the Russian soldiers. Everyone was eager to give a decisive battle. When a little more than a hundred miles remained to Moscow, on the field near the village of Borodino, the Great Army collided, as Bonaparte himself later admitted, with the Invincible army.

Before the start of the battle, Russian troops numbered 120 thousand, the French were 135 thousand. On the left flank of the formation of the Russian troops were Semyonov flashes and parts of the second army Bagration... On the right - the battle formations of the first army of Barclay de Tolly, and the old Smolensk road was covered by the third infantry corps of General Tuchkov.

At dawn, September 7, Napoleon inspected the positions. At seven o'clock in the morning, the French batteries signaled the start of the battle.

The severity of the first blow was borne by the grenadiers of the major general Vorontsov and 27th Infantry Division Nemerovsky near the village of Semyonovskaya. The French several times broke into Semyonov's flushes, but left them under the pressure of Russian counterattacks. During the main counterattack, Bagration was mortally wounded here. As a result, the French managed to capture the flushes, but they did not get any advantages. They failed to break through the left flank, and the Russians retreated in an organized manner to the Semyonov ravines, taking a position there.

A difficult situation developed in the center, where the main blow of Bonaparte was directed, where the battery fought desperately Raevsky... To break the resistance of the defenders of the battery, Napoleon was already ready to bring his main reserve into battle. But this was prevented by Platov's Cossacks and Uvarov's cavalrymen, who, on the orders of Kutuzov, made a rapid raid into the rear of the French left flank. This halted the French advance on the Raevsky battery for about two hours, which allowed the Russians to pull up some of their reserves.

After bloody battles, the Russians in an organized way withdrew from the Raevsky battery, and again took up defenses. The battle, which had been going on for twelve hours, gradually subsided.

During Borodino battle the Russians lost almost half of their personnel, but continued to hold positions. Twenty-seven of the best generals were lost to the Russian army, four of them were killed and twenty-three were wounded. The French lost about thirty thousand soldiers. Of the thirty French generals who were out of action, eight were killed.

Brief results of the Borodino battle:

1. Napoleon was unable to defeat the Russian army and achieve the complete surrender of Russia.
2. Kutuzov, although he greatly weakened Bonaparte's army, could not defend Moscow.

Despite the fact that the Russians were not formally able to win, the Borodino field has forever remained in Russian history a field of Russian glory.

Having received information about the losses at Borodino, Kutuzov realized that the second battle would be disastrous for the Russian army, and Moscow would have to be abandoned. At a military council in Fili, Kutuzov insisted on the surrender of Moscow without a fight, although many generals were against it.

September 14 Russian army left Moscow. The Emperor of Europe, watching the majestic panorama of Moscow from Poklonnaya Gora, was waiting for the city delegation with the keys to the city. After military hardships and hardships, Bonaparte's soldiers found in the abandoned city long-awaited warm apartments, food and valuables that Muscovites did not have time to take out, who for the most part left the city with the army.

After widespread robberies and looting fires started in Moscow. Due to dry and windy weather, the whole city was on fire. For security reasons Napoleon was forced to move from the Kremlin to the suburban Petrovsky Palace, on the way, getting lost, he almost burned down himself.

Bonaparte allowed the soldiers of his army to plunder what was still not burned. The French army was distinguished by a defiant disdain for the local population. Marshal Davout made his bedroom in the altar of the Archangel Church. Kremlin Assumption Cathedral the French used it as a stable, and in Arkhangelskoye they organized an army kitchen. The oldest St. Danilov monastery in Moscow was equipped for a slaughterhouse.

This behavior of the French to the depths of the soul angered the entire Russian people. All were burning with revenge for the desecrated shrines and the desecration of the Russian land. Now the war has finally acquired its character and content. domestic.

Expulsion of the French from Russia and the end of the war

Kutuzov, withdrawing troops from Moscow, made maneuver, thanks to which the French army lost the initiative before the end of the war. The Russians, retreating along the Ryazan road, were able to march onto the old Kaluga road, and consolidated themselves near the village of Tarutino, from where they were able to control all directions leading from Moscow to the south through Kaluga.

Kutuzov foresaw that it was kaluga a land untouched by war, Bonaparte will begin his retreat. All the while Napoleon was in Moscow, the Russian army was replenished with fresh reserves. On October 18, near the village of Tarutino, Kutuzov attacked the French units of Marshal Murat. As a result of the battle, the French lost more than four thousand people and retreated. Russian losses amounted to about one and a half thousand.

Bonaparte realized the futility of his expectations of a peace treaty, and the very next day after the battle of Tarutino, he hastily left Moscow. The great army now resembled a barbarian horde with looted property. Having made complex maneuvers on the march to Kaluga, the French entered Maloyaroslavets. On October 24, Russian troops decided to drive the French out of the city. Maloyaroslavets as a result of a stubborn battle, he passed from hand to hand eight times.

This battle marked a turning point in the history of the Patriotic War of 1812. The French had to retreat along the ruined old Smolensk road. Now, once the Great Army considered its successful retreats to be victories. The Russian troops used the tactics of parallel pursuit. After the Vyazma battle, and especially after the battle near the village of Krasnoye, where the losses of Bonaparte's army were comparable to its losses at Borodino, the effectiveness of such tactics became obvious.

In the territories occupied by the French, active partisans... Bearded peasants, armed with pitchforks and axes, suddenly emerged from the forest, which led the French into a daze. The element of the people's war captured not only the peasants, but all classes of Russian society. Kutuzov himself sent his son-in-law, Prince Kudashev, who headed one of the detachments, to the partisans.

The last and decisive blow was dealt to Napoleon's army at the crossing over the Berezina river... Many Western historians consider the Berezinsky operation to be almost a triumph of Napoleon, who managed to save the Great Army, or rather, its remnants. About 9 thousand French soldiers were able to cross the Berezina.

Napoleon, who, in fact, did not lose a single battle in Russia, lost campaign. The Great Army ceased to exist.

Results of the Patriotic War of 1812

1. In the vastness of Russia, the French army was almost completely destroyed, which influenced the balance of power in Europe.
2. The self-awareness of all strata of Russian society has grown unusually.
3. Russia, emerging victorious from the war, strengthened its position in the geopolitical arena.
4. The national liberation movement has intensified in the European countries conquered by Napoleon.

At dawn on June 24 (12 according to the old style), 1812, Napoleon's troops crossed the Neman River without declaring war and invaded Russia. Napoleon's army, which he himself called the "Great Army", numbered over 600,000 men and 1,420 guns. In addition to the French, it included the national corps of the European countries conquered by Napoleon, as well as the Polish corps of Marshal Y. Ponyatovsky.

The main forces of Napoleon were deployed in two echelons. The first (444,000 men and 940 guns) consisted of three groups: the right wing, led by Jerome Bonaparte (78,000 men, 159 guns), was to move to Grodno, diverting as much Russian forces as possible; the central grouping under the command of Eugene de Beauharnais (82,000 men, 208 guns) was supposed to prevent the connection of the 1st and 2nd Russian armies; the left wing, led by Napoleon himself (218,000 men, 527 guns) moved to Vilna - he was assigned the main role in the entire campaign. In the rear, between the Vistula and the Oder, the second echelon remained — 170,000 men, 432 guns and a reserve (the corps of Marshal Augereau and other troops).

The invading enemy was opposed by 220-240 thousand Russian soldiers with 942 guns - 3 times less than the enemy had. In addition, the Russian troops were divided: the 1st Western Army under the command of the Minister of War, General from Infantry M.B. Barclay de Tolly (110 - 127 thousand people with 558 guns) stretched more than 200 kilometers from Lithuania to Grodno in Belarus; The 2nd Western Army, led by General of Infantry P.I.Bagration (45 - 48 thousand men with 216 guns) occupied a line up to 100 kilometers east of Bialystok; The 3rd Western Army of General of the cavalry A.P. Tormasov (46,000 men with 168 guns) was stationed in Volyn near Lutsk. On the right flank of the Russian troops (in Finland) was the corps of Lieutenant General F.F. Steingel, on the left flank - the Danube army of Admiral P.V. Chichagov.

Considering the enormous size and power of Russia, Napoleon planned to complete the campaign in three years: in 1812, capture the western provinces from Riga to Lutsk, in 1813 - Moscow, in 1814 - in St. Petersburg. Such gradualness would allow him to dismember Russia, providing the rear and communications of the army operating over vast areas. The conqueror of Europe did not count on the blitz-krieg, although he was going one by one to quickly defeat the main forces of the Russian army in the border areas.

But realizing that it was impossible to resist with scattered units, the Russian command began to retreat inland. And this frustrated Napoleon's strategic plan. Instead of the phased dismemberment of Russia, Napoleon was forced to follow the elusive Russian armies inland, stretching communications and losing superiority in forces.

THE FIRST STAGE OF THE WAR: RETREAT

Retreating, the Russian troops fought rearguard battles, inflicting significant losses on the enemy. The main task was to unite the forces of the 1st and 2nd Western armies. Particularly difficult was the situation of Bagration's 2nd army, which was threatened by encirclement. It was not possible to break through to Minsk and connect with Barclay's army there: the path was cut off. Bagration changed the direction of movement, but the troops of Jerome Bonaparte overtook him. On July 9 (June 27, old style), near the town of Mir, a battle took place between the rearguard of the Russian troops (it was the Cossack cavalry of Ataman M.I. Platov) with the French cavalry. The French were defeated and retreated in disarray. The next day, another battle took place, and again the French were defeated. On July 14 (2), near the town of Romanovo, Platov's Cossacks held back the French for 24 hours in order to allow army convoys to cross the Pripyat. Platov's successful rearguard battles allowed the 2nd Army to reach Bobruisk unhindered and concentrate its forces, which had been stretched until that moment. All attempts to encircle Bagration failed. Poleon was furious; he accused his brother Jerome of procrastination and handed over command of his corps to Marshal Davout.

From Tarutin, Kutuzov launched a "small war" with the forces of army partisan detachments. The detachments of D.V. Davydov, A.N.Seslavin, A.S. Figner, I.S.Dorokhov, N.D. Kudashev, I.M. Vadbolsky were especially successful. Kutuzov sought to expand the peasant partisan movement, merging it with the actions of army detachments. Some of the peasant detachments numbered several thousand people. For example, the detachment of Gerasim Kurin consisted of 5,000 people. The detachments of Yermolai Chetvertakov, Fyodor Potapov, Vasilisa Kozhina were widely known.

The actions of the partisans inflicted great human and material losses on the enemy, disrupted his communication with the rear. In just six autumn weeks, the guerrillas killed about 30,000 enemy soldiers.

On October 18 (6), on the Chernishna River, Russian troops defeated the strong vanguard of the French army, commanded by Marshal Murat. This victory marked the beginning of the counteroffensive of the Russian army.

On the same days, active operations of the 3rd Western Army began. On October 17 (5), the battle for Polotsk began, in which, in addition to the soldiers of the Wittgenstein corps, the soldiers of the Novgorod and Petersburg militias took an active part. By the morning of October 20, Polotsk was liberated. In the southwestern direction, Admiral Chichagov threw back the troops of Schwarzenberg and Rainier beyond the Southern Bug, within the Duchy of Warsaw, and moved towards Minsk.

All this prompted Napoleon to take action. On October 19 (7), the French set out from Moscow to Tarutin, hoping to catch Kutuzov by surprise, defeat him and break through to Kaluga. The ancient capital of Russia was burned and plundered. The French tried to blow up the Kremlin, but fortunately the destruction was not too great. Napoleon's new plans were again ruined. Seslavin's partisan detachment discovered Naoleon's army near the village of Fominskoye and transmitted information about this to Kutuzov's headquarters. The Russian army emerged from the Tarutino camp and advanced towards the French. On October 24 (12), a fierce battle of the advanced units of both armies took place for Maloyaroslavets. The city passed from hand to hand 8 times. And although in the end the French captured the city, Napoleon had to give up the hope of breaking through to Kaluga: the approaching main forces of the Russian army took strong positions near Maloyaroslavets. Napoleon gave the order to begin a retreat to Mozhaisk and further to the old Smolensk road destroyed by the war.

Having finally snatched the strategic initiative from the hands of the enemy, Kutuzov launched a general counteroffensive. It was active in nature and set as its goal, while preserving the army, not only to expel, but to completely destroy the enemy. Army and peasant partisan detachments, as well as mobile Cossack units of Ataman Platov, played a huge role in the persecution of the French.

In the battles of Vyazma and Dorogobuzh, the enemy fleeing to the west lost about 13,000 people killed, wounded and captured. In the battle of Lyakhov, the partisans surrounded and forced to surrender an entire enemy division led by General Augereau. Leaving Moscow, Napoleon had an army of 107,000 men. In Smolensk he managed to bring only about 60,000 people, counting with the replenishment.

In mid-November, Russian troops surrounded the Napoleonic army at the Berezina River. However, due to the inconsistency of the actions of the Russian corps, Napoleon managed to cross the Berezina near the village of Studyanka. However, only about 9,000 people crossed to the western coast. The rest either died or were taken prisoner. After the Berezina, Napoleon fled to Paris. To the question "What is the position of the army?" he replied: "The army is no more."

On November 28, according to the old style, Russian troops occupied Vilna. On December 2, about 1000 enemy soldiers crossed the Neman near Kovno. These were the last remnants of Napoleon's main forces. In total, about 30,000 people fled from the 600,000-strong "Great Army". The war, as Kutuzov wrote, "ended after the complete extermination of the enemy."

"No matter how critics speak about certain moments of the persecution, we must attribute the energy with which this persecution was carried out, the fact that the French army was completely destroyed, and a greater result cannot be imagined," wrote German military theorist and historian Karl Clausewitz. "

As a result of the defeat of the Napoleonic army in Russia, the national liberation movement intensified in Europe. The patriotic upsurge of 1812 had a huge impact on the growth of self-awareness of the peoples of Russia.

June 12, 1812 - the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812. The war was declared in advance, only the time and place of the strike was not reported. Forcing the Neman, Napoleon invades the territory of Russia. But the Russian army is evading a general battle, retreating with rearguard battles. The main blow fell on the army of Bagration. 1st and 2nd armies planned to connect at first in the Vitebsk region, but failed. At first, Alexander I was the commander-in-chief, and then Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly became. The partisan movement begins.

4 - 6 August 1812 - Battle of Smolensk. It was bloody - 120 thousand Russians against 200 thousand French. Neverovsky's detachment prevented the French from bypassing Smolensk. The corps of Dokhturov and Raevsky held back the onslaught of the French for 2 days, covering the withdrawal of the main forces of the army. Smolensk was abandoned

August 8, 1812 - the appointment of Kutuzov as commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Alexander did this, despite his personal hostility, given the combat experience, talent and immense popularity of Kutuzov in the Russian army. On August 17, Kutuzov arrived in the active army. The retreat to Moscow continues, as the army needs to be put in order, to prepare for the general battle.

August 24, 1812 - battles for the Shevardinsky redoubt made it possible to prepare fortifications.

August 26, 1812 - Battle of Borodino. It became the main battle of the war of 1812. The position on the Borodino field was not chosen by chance:

Two roads leading to Moscow were covered - the new and the old Smolensk.

The rugged nature of the terrain made it possible to place artillery at heights, hide part of the troops, and maneuvering of the French was difficult. The right flank is covered by the Kolocha River.

Each side set itself the goal of routing the enemy.

The battle was distinguished by extreme tenacity and ferocity. Napoleon tried to break through the Russian fortifications in the center, on the left flank. Raevsky's battery, located at the Kurgan height, passed from hand to hand several times. With the onset of darkness, the battle ended, the French withdrew the troops to their original positions. The battle ended in a draw, as neither side achieved their goals. Napoleon lost 50 thousand people, but did not bring the old guard into battle. The Russians lost 40 thousand. Kutuzov gives the order to retreat.

The meaning of the battle:

Napoleon's army received a strong blow and suffered significant losses.

Kutuzov's army held out.

An example of Russian heroism.

September 1, 1812 - council in Fili, where it was decided to leave Moscow in order to keep the army. Leaving Moscow along the Ryazan road, the army crossed country roads to the Kaluga road and camped near the village of Tarutino, preparing for new battles.

September 2, 1812 - Napoleon's troops occupy Moscow. Moscow greets with a grandiose fire - it lasted 6 days, ¾ cities, priceless monuments and books were burnt down. Versions of the fire are different - the French are to blame, the patriots, probably the joint decision of Kutuzov and the Moscow governor-general Rostopchin. 3 times Napoleon proposed to Alexander the First to start negotiations. The situation for the French army is rapidly deteriorating - there is no food, housing, great damage is inflicted by partisans (peasant detachments of Chetvertakov, Gerasim Kurin, Vasilisa Kozhina and under the leadership of officers - Denis Davydov, Figner), the decomposition of the army, and winter is ahead.

October 6, 1812 - Napoleon's troops leave Moscow. The reason is that the city as a besieged fortress becomes a trap. Napoleon tries to break into the southern provinces.

October 12, 1812 - battles for Maloyaroslavets. The city passed from hand to hand 8 times. Result - Napoleon is forced to return to the old Smolensk road, the retreat begins. The initiative goes completely to the Russian army. The Russian army pursues Napoleon on a parallel course, all the while threatening to break forward and cut off the path of retreat.

November 14-16, 1812 - large losses of the French when crossing the Berezina River - 30 thousand, but retained the generals, the old guard. Soon he secretly leaves the army and leaves for Paris.

December 25, 1812 - a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War. Only the pitiful remnants of the great army crossed the border. The Patriotic War ended with the complete defeat of the enemy.

Reasons for the victory:

The just nature of the war, we defended the Fatherland.

The role of Kutuzov and other generals.

Partisan movement.

Heroism of soldiers and officers.

National assistance - the creation of a people's militia, fundraising.

Geographical and natural factor (huge areas and cold winters).

Results of the Patriotic War. The historical significance of the victory.

1 ... Russia defended its independence and territorial integrity. I won the war.

2 ... Huge damage:

Thousands of people died.

Great damage to the western provinces.

Many cities suffered - old historical and cultural centers (Moscow, Smolensk, etc.).

3 ... The war united the nation, as they defended their homeland, their independence.

4 ... The war strengthened the friendship of the peoples of the country, the Slavs in the first place.

5 ... The war elevated Moscow as the spiritual center of Russia. The official capital of St. Petersburg was on the sidelines of events.

6 ... The heroism of the Russian people inspired cultural figures to create patriotic works about this war. The war had a strong impact on the development of culture and social thought.

1813 -1815 - the overseas campaign of the Russian army. Kutuzov's troops crossed the Neman and entered the territory of Europe. Other states are joining the fight against France, a new anti-French coalition is being created (Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, England). In 1813, Kutuzov dies.

1813, October 16-19 - Battle of Leipzig. In the "Battle of the Nations" Napoleon is defeated. Allied troops enter Paris. Napoleon abdicates power and refers to the island of Elba, but flees and returns to power for 100 days.

1815 – battle of Waterloo. The final defeat of Napoleon. He is exiled to Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. Russia played a decisive role in the defeat of Napoleonic France. The Russian army was the backbone of the Allied military forces.

The historical significance of a trip abroad:

Europe is freed from Napoleonic tyranny.

Reactionary monarchical regimes are being implanted.

1814 – 1815 - The Vienna Congress of the victorious powers determined the principles of the post-war structure of Europe. Russia received the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw. To protect the relations established at the Vienna Congress and to fight the revolutionary movement, the Holy Alliance was created (Russia, Prussia, Austria).

Thus, Russia's foreign policy at the beginning of the 19th century was active. The main direction is west. The victory in the war with France strengthened the country's international authority.

The Decembrist movement.

The Decembrists were the first revolutionaries who created a rather powerful secret organization and openly opposed the autocracy. These were young noblemen, officers - Alexander Muravyov, Sergey Trubetskoy, Nikita Muravyov, Matvey and Sergey Muravyovs - Apostles, Ivan Kushkin, Pavel Pestel, Evgeny Obolensky, Ivan Pushchin, Kakhovsky, Lunin and others. By the name of the month in which they openly opposed the tsar, they began to be called the Decembrists.

Reasons for the speech of the Decembrists:

1 ... - the growth of national consciousness in connection with the war of 1812. Many of the Decembrists participated in the war, knew the way of life and order in Europe, and had the opportunity to compare. We saw the perniciousness of serfdom and the fact that the people who fought against the Napoleonic invasion did not receive anything to make their lives easier.

2 ... - increased reaction in the country - an attack on educational achievements - the defeat of the Kazan and St. Petersburg universities, the deterioration of the situation of the peasantry - again the landowners could exile peasants to Siberia, the creation of military settlements, the rejection of reforms.

3. - the influence of revolutionary ideology - the ideas of French thinkers (Locke, Montesquieu, Diderot) and Russian educators (Novikov, Radishchev).

4. - revolutionary processes in Europe - a wave of revolutionary uprisings, bourgeois revolutions.

Decembrists - these are supporters of a military coup with the aim of carrying out bourgeois transformations in Russia only by the forces of the army without the participation of the people.

Since the Decembrists were military, they expected to use the military forces at their disposal for the coup. The formation of secret societies began, uniting the most radical-minded representatives of the nobility.

Secret organizations of the Decembrists:

1. "Union of salvation", 1816 - 1818, founded in St. Petersburg, included about 30 people. The Statute was adopted, and a new name was given to the Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland. The main goal is the introduction of a constitution and civil liberties, the abolition of serfdom. Specific activity is preparing public opinion for the forthcoming reforms. The organization was created on the basis of the Semenovsky regiment. Published translations of works by French educators. The question of regicide arose. They proposed to present their demands at the time of the change of the monarch on the throne.

2. "Union of prosperity",1818 - 1821, included about 200 people. The “Green Book” program set itself the task of convincing public opinion of the need to carry out reforms for 15 to 20 years. The ultimate goals - political and social upheaval - were not declared, as the program was intended for wide distribution. They tried to draw public attention to the position of serfs and military settlers in order to eliminate arbitrariness. The members of the organization, by their example, tried to promote the ideas of enlightening the people - schools were created on the estates, actively participated in the activities of legal scientific, educational and literary societies.

The union was led by the indigenous government in St. Petersburg, branches were in Moscow, Tulchin, Poltava, Tambov, Kiev, Kishinev, Nizhny Novgorod province.

In January 1821, the Union of Welfare was dissolved, as:

Possibility of weeding out unreliable.

Disagreements about future activities.

The uprising in the Semenovsky regiment, where most of the Decembrists served, led to the expulsion of officers to different garrisons. The regiment was disbanded and recruited.

3. "Southern Society", 1821 - 1825, formed in Ukraine, in the city of Tulchin. Pavel Pestel is at the head. Included were S. Muraviev - Apostol, M. Bessuzhev - Ryumin. In 1825, the Society of United Slavs, created in 1823, joined it. The program was called Russkaya Pravda.

4 . "Northern Society", 1821 - 1825, formed in St. Petersburg. The program of the society - "Constitution" was drawn up by N. Muravyov. included S. Trubetskoy, E. Obolensky, K. Ryleev, Pyotr Kakhovsky.

Decembrists' program documents:

General: liquidate estates, introduce civil liberties - freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, liquidate military settlements and recruitment kits, introduce universal military service.

Both programs paved the way for the further development of Russia.

The greatest activity of the Decembrist societies falls on the years 1824 - 1825: preparations were made for an armed uprising, there was a hard work on the coordination of political programs. A military coup was planned for the summer of 1826. But the uprising happened earlier. On November 19, 1825, Alexander I dies in Taganrog. The troops and the population swore allegiance to Emperor Constantine, but he abdicated the throne back in 1823, but this was classified. On December 14, 1825, an oath was appointed to his brother Nikolai. The Decembrists decided to take advantage of this situation. The final plan of the uprising was adopted on December 13 at Ryleev's apartment - to withdraw troops to Senate Square in order to prevent the oath of the Senate and the State Council, promulgate the Manifesto to the Russian people, proclaim the abolition of serfdom, the press, conscience, and the introduction of universal military service. Declare the government deposed, transfer the power to the provisional government until the decision on the form of government in Russia is taken by the convoked Great Council. The royal family must be arrested, the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress must be captured with the help of troops. Trubetskoy was appointed dictator of the uprising.

December 14, 1825 At 11 o'clock, officers took out the units loyal to them on Senate Square in St. Petersburg:

Moscow Life - Guards Regiment (Bestuzhev - Ryumin and D. Shchepin - Rostovsky)

Grenadier Regiment (Panov)

Guards naval crew (Bestuzhev)

Only 3 thousand soldiers, 30 officers, no artillery. The king had 12 thousand men, cavalry, 36 guns.

From the very beginning, the uprising did not go according to plan:

Trubetskoy did not appear on the square, another leader was elected on the spot - Obolensky.

The Senate and State Council had already sworn allegiance to the king early this morning.

Yakubovich, who was supposed to command the guards naval crew and the Izmailovsky regiment, to seize the Winter Palace, refused to arrest the royal family, as he was afraid of regicide.

The rebels in the square were inactive, but the king was active. They are trying to persuade the rebels to disperse (Kakhovsky kills Miloradovich, the governor of St. Petersburg), and at this time the loyal units are pulled together. Two cavalry attacks were repulsed, it was decided to use artillery. By 6 o'clock in the evening, the uprising was defeated (1271 people died, of which 900 were curious in the square). Arrests and searches began.

December 25, 1825 - the uprising of the 5th company of the Chernigov regiment (970 soldiers and 8 officers, headed by Muravyov - Apostol). Defeated by the tsarist troops near the village of Ustinovka.

Reasons for defeat:

1. disruption of the original plan of the uprising.

2.the numerical superiority of the tsarist troops

3.a wait-and-see tactic

4.Fear of reaching out to the people

The commission of inquiry worked in St. Petersburg from December 17, 1825 to June 17, 1826. At the same time, commissions worked in Bila Tserkva, Minsk, Bialystok, Warsaw. The investigation was led by the king, 579 officers were involved, 280 of them were found guilty. The court went on without the presence of the Decembrists.

5 people were executed on July 13, 1826, hanged in the Peter and Paul Fortress - Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Muravyov - Apostol, Bestuzhev - Ryumin.

88 people were sentenced to hard labor.

19 people were exiled to Siberia.

15 people were demoted to soldiers.

120 people were punished by personal order of Nicholas I without trial.

The rest were sent to the active army in the Caucasus.

Soldiers and sailors were tried separately.

The meaning of the Decembrist movement:

2. their demands reflected the urgent needs of transformations in Russia.

3. great importance for the development of advanced social thought (ideology, tactics, experience of struggle)

4. their performance influenced the internal politics of the king.

Similar information.

The oyna of 1812, one of the most significant not only in Russian, but also in world history, was the result of a number of reasons. Chief among them is the conflict between Russia and France over the continental blockade.

Russia's participation in the continental blockade of England had a disastrous effect on the Russian economy. The volume of Russia's foreign trade in 1808-1812 decreased by 43%. The new ally, France, could not compensate for this damage, since Russia's economic ties with France were superficial (mainly the import of French luxury goods into Russia). By disrupting Russia's foreign trade turnover, the continental system upset its finances. Already in 1809, the budget deficit increased in comparison with 1801 from 12.2 million to 157.5 million rubles, that is, almost 13 times; it was heading towards financial ruin. The Russian economy under the conditions of the continental blockade began to resemble a person suffocating from an asthma attack. Alexander I more and more listened to the protests of nobles and merchants against the blockade and more and more often allowed them to break it.

Conflict between Russia and France over the continental blockade spawned the war of 1812 was accelerated by the outbreak of Russian-French contradictions in political issues of various levels. The most acute of them was the question of the hegemonic ambitions of the parties.

Napoleon made no secret of his claims to world domination. By 1812, he managed to defeat the next, 5th anti-French coalition and was at the zenith of power and glory. Only England and Russia blocked the path to domination over Europe. He considered the main enemy to be England, which was the only country in the world economically more developed than France. Napoleon could break this enemy only after he made the entire European continent dependent on himself. On the continent, Russia remained France's only rival. All other powers were either defeated by Napoleon, or close to this (like Spain). The Russian ambassador to Paris, Prince A.B. Kurakin wrote to Alexander I in 1811: "From the Pyrenees to the Oder, from the Sound to the Strait of Messina, everything is entirely France." / 29 / The territory of the vassal of the Duchy of Warsaw, France directly bordered on Russia.

And Russia? Was she only the object and victim of Napoleonic aggression? Yes, this was the accepted opinion in Soviet historiography. However, the facts tell a different story. Tsarist Russia itself strove not for world, but for European hegemony and put a lot of effort into this in the coalition wars of 1799-1807. (with the participation of his best generals - A.V.Suvorov, M.I.Kutuzov, M.F. Kamensky). Having lost these wars, having signed the Treaty of Tilsit, humiliating for itself, with Napoleon, tsarism never abandoned the thought of revenge. On the contrary, as is clear from Alexander I's frank letter to his mother Empress Maria Feodorovna in September 1808, he only covered up with the appearance of an alliance "with this terrible colossus, with this enemy" preparations for a new struggle with a more favorable balance of forces for Russia.

Before 1812, Russia was preparing not just to repel Napoleon's aggression, as, for example, P.A. Zhilin or L.G. Bloodless, as well as aggression against Napoleon. In the fall of 1811, Alexander I, by agreement with Prussia, decided to "slay the monster" (as he put it) with a preemptive strike. On October 24, 27 and 29, his "highest orders" were followed by the commanders of five corps on the western border (P.I.Bagration, P.Kh. Wittgenstein, D.S.Dokhturov and others) to prepare for the campaign. Russia could start a war from day to day. At this critical moment, the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III chimed in, hesitated and wagged under Napoleon's iron heel. The treachery of Prussia prevented Alexander from starting the third war against France first - Napoleon was ahead of him.

The painful source of discord between Russia and France was the Polish question. According to the Treaty of Tilsit, from the Polish lands, which after the partitions of Poland belonged to Prussia, Napoleon created the so-called Grand Duchy of Warsaw as his springboard in case of war with Russia. Further, whenever it was required to curb Alexander I for his infidelity to Tilsit, he threatened to restore Poland within the borders of 1772, that is, before the beginning of its partitions between Russia, Austria and Prussia. These threats irritated tsarism and further exacerbated Russian-French relations.

By 1812, the enmity between Russia and France was aggravated by the German question. In December 1810, Napoleon, following his / 30 / rule "to be able to pluck a chicken before it has time to cackle," annexed to France one after another a number of small principalities of Germany, including the Duchy of Oldenburg. Since this was done without the knowledge of Alexander I, tsarism regarded the Napoleonic conquests as undermining the international prestige of Russia and its influence in Central Europe. In addition, the capture of Oldenburg painfully infringed upon the dynastic interests of tsarism, for the Duke of Oldenburg was the uncle of Alexander I, and the beloved sister of the Tsar, Ekaterina Pavlovna, was the wife of the son of the Duke of Oldenburg.

Finally, by 1812, Russian-French interests clashed sharply in the Middle East issue as well, since tsarism was striving to seize Constantinople, and Napoleon obstructed this, wishing to preserve Turkey as a permanent counterweight to Russia. These are the main reasons that led Russia and France from the Peace of Tilsit to the war of 1812.

Before attacking Russia, Napoleon strove to isolate it politically, and to enlist the largest possible number of allies himself, “turn the idea of \u200b\u200bcoalitions inside out,” as A.Z. Manfred. His calculation was that Russia would have to fight simultaneously on three fronts against five states: in the north against Sweden, in the west against France, Austria and Prussia, in the south against Turkey. The calculation seemed correct. Prussia and Austria, recently defeated, Napoleon forced to enter into an alliance with him against Russia, and as for Sweden and Turkey, they, according to Napoleon, had to help him voluntarily: Turkey - because it had fought since 1806 Russia because of the Crimea, and Sweden - because, firstly, it "sharpened its teeth" on Russia because of Finland, which was taken from it in 1809, and secondly, the elected ruler of Sweden became the de facto to please Napoleon by the Swedish heir to the throne, Marshal of France J.B. Bernadotte.

If this plan of Napoleon was realized, Russia would find itself in a catastrophic situation. But Napoleon did not stop there either. Along with trade privileges, he achieved that, on the other side of the world, the United States of America on June 18, 1812, a week before the French invasion of Russia, declared war on England, Napoleon's main enemy, naturally making it difficult for her to fight with France and help Russia. In such a threatening situation, Russian diplomacy brilliantly showed itself, having managed to neutralize two of the five alleged opponents just before Napoleon's invasion.

First, she figured out that Sweden prefers to focus on neighboring Russia rather than distant France. The border with Russia was Sweden's only continental border. On the other sides, it was protected from the French by the sea / 31 / and the English fleet. Sweden intended to compensate for the loss of Finland by seizing Norway, to which Russia agreed. As for Bernadotte, he hated Napoleon for a long time, even when he was serving under the Napoleonic banners, as he himself aimed at "Napoleons", and Napoleon would not mind making his "Bernadotte". Using all this and flattering Bernadotte as "the only person able to compare with Napoleon and surpass his military glory", Alexander I achieved in April 1812 the conclusion of an alliance agreement between Russia and Sweden.

Almost simultaneously with this diplomatic victory in the north, tsarism won an even more important victory in the south. In the protracted war with Turkey, the Russian army under the command of M.I. Kutuzov on October 14, 1811 won the battle of Slobodzia. The Turks went to peace negotiations, but were playing for time, knowing that Napoleon was preparing to attack Russia. In mid-May 1812, when they were still bargaining for terms, Count L. Narbonne came to Alexander I from Napoleon with the task of finding out how much Russia was ready for a war with France. Kutuzov, on the other hand, depicted Narbonne's voyage in front of the Turkish Sultan as a mission of friendship and convinced the Sultan that if the invincible Napoleon was looking for friendship with Russia, then Allah himself ordered him, the defeated Sultan, to do the same. On May 28, the Sultan ordered his vizier to sign the Bucharest Peace Treaty with Kutuzov, according to which Russia freed an army of 52,000 to fight Napoleon and also acquired Bessarabia.

Napoleon, having learned about this, “finally exhausted,” as E. V. Tarle put it, “the dictionary of French curses” (addressed to the Turks). He later admitted that he should not have started the war of 1812, knowing that Sweden and Turkey would not support him. Indeed, Napoleon's plan to completely isolate Russia and simultaneously attack it from three sides by the forces of five powers was thwarted. Russia managed to secure its flanks. In addition, feudal Austria and Prussia were dragged into an alliance with bourgeois France forcibly and "helped" Napoleon, as they say, from under the bar, ready at the first convenient moment to defect to the side of Russia, which they eventually did.

Nevertheless, the blow that Russia took upon itself in the summer of 1812 was a terrible force, unseen until then in its entire history. Napoleon prepared for the invasion of Russia a gigantic army of almost 650 thousand people. Of these, 448 thousand crossed the Russian border in the very first days of the war, and the rest arrived in the summer and autumn as reinforcements. Separate formations of this "La Grande Armee" ("Great army") were commanded / 32 / by the famous marshals of Napoleon, among whom three were especially distinguished: an outstanding strategist and administrator, a chivalrous disinterested and stern warrior Louis Nicolas Davout; the first-class tactician, the hero of all Napoleon's campaigns, nicknamed "the bravest of the brave" from his emperor, Michel Ney; chief of Napoleon's cavalry and generally one of the best cavalry commanders in the West, virtuoso of attack and pursuit, Joachim Murat.

Of course, the "Great Army" retained all those advantages over the feudal armies of Europe in manning, training and management, which it so brilliantly demonstrated at Austerlitz and Friedland. The forces of the "Great Army" looked especially formidable because it was headed by Napoleon himself, whom almost all his contemporaries (including Alexander I) unanimously recognized as the most genius commander of all times and peoples.

However, Napoleon's army in 1812 already had serious shortcomings. So, a motley, multinational composition had a detrimental effect on her. Actually there were less than half of the French; the majority were Germans, Poles, Italians, Dutch, Swiss, Portuguese and other nationalities. Many of them hated Napoleon as the enslaver of their fatherland, followed him to war only under duress, fought reluctantly and often deserted.

The top commanding staff of the "Great Army" also looked worse than in previous campaigns. There were no two of Napoleon's most prominent marshals among Napoleon's associates: J. Lannes died in 1809, A. Masséna was left in France due to illness. Prominent generals of Napoleon L.G. Suchet, N. Zh. Soult and J. B. Jourdan fought in Spain, and J. B. Bernadotte was already in the camp of the enemies.

Most importantly, by 1812, the "Great Army" was already suffering from a lack of morale. In his first campaigns, Napoleon led a soldier, among whom republican traditions and revolutionary enthusiasm were still alive. But with each new war, the morale of his army fell. The great writer F. Stendhal, who served for a long time under the banners of Napoleon, testified: "From republican, heroic, she became more and more selfish and monarchical. As the sewing on uniforms became richer, and the orders on them were added, the hearts beating under them are stale. " The reasons that led to wars and those tasks that were solved in the course of them became alien to the soldiers. In 1812, this was already so strong that even those close to Napoleon sounded the alarm. The State Secretary of the French Empire Count P. Daru (Stendhal's cousin) directly told Napoleon in Vitebsk: / 33 /

"Not only your troops, sir, but we ourselves do not understand the need for this war either."

The war of 1812 by Napoleon was a direct aggression. In this war, he set out to defeat the armed forces of Russia on Russian soil, thus "punishing" tsarism for non-observance of the continental blockade and forcing it to a second Tilsit. The versions of Soviet historians that Napoleon sought to "capture" and "enslave" Russia, to turn its peoples "into their slaves" are unfounded. At the same time, a number of French historians, and in Russia M.N. Pokrovsky argued that "it is absolutely impossible to talk about" Napoleon's invasion of Russia, "because it was just" an act of necessary self-defense. " This is unprovable. If tsarism had started a war in 1811, then it would have been impossible to talk about Napoleon's invasion. But the matter turned out differently: while tsarism was planning, Napoleon carried out an attack.

At the beginning of the war, Russia was able to oppose the 448-thousand army of Napoleon with 317 thousand people, who were divided into three armies and three separate corps. The number of Russian troops is indicated in the literature (including the Soviet one) with striking discrepancies. Meanwhile, in the archive of A.A. Arakcheev, among the papers of Alexander I, there are genuine statements about the strength of the 1st and 2nd armies by the beginning of the war of 1812, and the same statements about the quantitative composition of the 3rd army and reserve corps were published almost 100 years ago, but they still remain out of sight even of Russian historians.

So, the 1st Army under the command of the Minister of War, General of Infantry M.B. Barclay de Tolly was stationed in the Vilno area, covering the St. Petersburg direction, and numbered 120,210 people; The 2nd Army of the Infantry General of Prince P.I. Bagration - near Bialystok, in the Moscow direction, - 49,423 people; 3rd Army General of the cavalry A.P. Tormasov - near Lutsk, in the Kiev direction - 44,180 people. In addition, on the first line of resistance to the French, the corps of Lieutenant General I.N. Essen (38,077 people), and the second line consisted of two reserve corps: 1 and - Adjutant General E.I. Meller-Zakomelsky (27,473 people) - at Toropets, 2nd - Lieutenant General F.F. Ertel (37,539 people) - near Mozyr. The flanks of both lines were covered: from the north - the 19-thousandth corps of Lieutenant General F.F. Steingeil in Finland and from the south - the Danube army of Admiral P.V. Chichagov (57,526 people) in Wallachia. The troops of Steingeil and Chichagov were inactive at the beginning of the war, so the Russians were numerically inferior to the French in the invasion zone by almost one and a half times (but not three times, as most Soviet historians believe). / 34 /

However, the main problem of the Russian army was then not in small numbers, but in the feudal system of its manning, maintenance, training and administration. Recruitment, a 25-year term of military service, an impenetrable chasm between the mass of soldiers and command personnel, drill and cane discipline based on the principle of "two kill - learn the third," humiliated the human dignity of Russian soldiers. Victor Hugo was hardly exaggerating when he said that the soldier's service in Russia is "more painful than hard labor in other countries." This is also said in a song composed by Russian soldiers just before the war of 1812:

I am protection for the fatherland,
And the back is always beaten ...
It's better not to be born in the light,
Than the soldiers to be ...

The officers of the Russian army were recruited (unlike Napoleon's army) not according to their abilities, but according to the class principle - exclusively from nobles, often mediocre, ignorant, arrogant: "many officers were proud that, apart from regimental orders, they did not read anything."

Until 1805, Russian soldiers were trained not so much for war as for parades. From Suvorov's legacy, they learned not the advanced ("Every warrior must understand his maneuver!"), But the outdated ("Bullet is a fool, a bayonet is great!"). The experience of the wars of 1805-1807. forced Alexander I to study with Napoleon. The tsar already in 1806 began to reorganize and even dress his army in the French way. Most importantly, the Napoleonic system of combat training was adopted. In the summer of 1810, it was sent to the Russian troops to the leadership "Instructions of His Imperial-Royal Majesty Napoleon I", which guided generals, officers and soldiers to initiative, to the ability to "act according to circumstances to each".

The assimilation of the Napoleonic experience by 1812 contributed to the strengthening of the Russian army. But the main sources of Russian military power were not borrowings from outside, but in itself. Firstly, it was a national army, more homogeneous and united than the multi-tribal army of Napoleon, and secondly, it was distinguished by a higher morale: Russian soldiers in their native land were inspired by the patriotic mood that G.R. Derzhavin in the lines addressed to Russia:

Hurry, you will lie down with a corpse,
What will you be defeated by! / 35 /

The Russian command staff, although generally inferior to Napoleon's, was represented by 1812 not only by high-born mediocrity, but also by talented generals who could compete with Napoleon's marshals. The first among such generals (apart from MI Kutuzov, who was out of work at the beginning of the war) were Barclay and Bagration.

Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly - a descendant of nobles from Scotland, the son of a poor army lieutenant - reached the highest ranks thanks to his talents, hard work and the trust that Alexander I had in him since 1807. warrior, "a great husband in all respects" (this is how Denis Davydov, the Decembrists A.N. Muravyov and M.A.Fonvizin spoke about him), Barclay, despite all the metamorphoses of his lifetime and posthumous fame, earned the recognition of the greatest minds of Russia and the West as "the best general of Alexander" (K. Marx and F. Engels), "one of the most remarkable persons in our history" (AS Pushkin).

A completely different type of military leader was Prince Peter Ivanovich Bagration - a scion of the Bagration dynasty in Georgia, the great-grandson of Tsar Vakhtang VI, a beloved disciple and associate of Suvorov, "a general in the image and likeness of Suvorov," as they said about him. A mediocre strategist, he then had no equal in Russia as a tactician, a master of attack and maneuver. Swift and fearless, a warrior to the core, an idol of a soldier, Bagration by 1812 was the most popular of Russian generals. “The beauty of the Russian troops,” his officers said about him. G.R. Derzhavin meaningfully "specified" his surname: "God-rati-on".

Separate formations in the armies of Barclay and Bagration were commanded by generals who had already glorified themselves in the numerous wars of the last three reigns: an enterprising, brave and magnanimous hero, perhaps the most charming of the generals of 1812, Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky; energetic and persistent, who was reputed to be the personification of military duty Dmitry Sergeevich Dokhturov; the legendary ataman of the Don Army, Matvey Ivanovich Platov ("vikhor-ataman" and "Russian Murat", as he was called); inventive Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn, who combined in himself Barklaev's composure, Bagration's impulse and Dokhturov's stamina; the multi-talented Aleksey Petrovich Ermolov - in one person a free-thinker, sage, sly and brave man; stubborn, straightforward and noble Alexander Ivanovich Osterman-Tolstoy, whose moral qualities were highly valued by A.I. Herzen and F.I. Tyutchev; a magnificent, with phenomenal abilities, an artilleryman and an amazingly talented person (he knew six languages, wrote poetry, painted) Alexander Ivanovich Kutaisov and others.

All of them (including those who adhered to progressive views, like Raevsky, Ermolov, Osterman-Tolstoy) were serf-owners. / 36 / Ataman Platov, this freedom-loving "child of nature", also had serfs, among whom was Yegor Mikhailovich Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich's grandfather. In 1812, in the face of the enemy who invaded Russian land, they experienced an unprecedented patriotic upsurge, which allowed them to show all their abilities to the highest degree and with the greatest benefit for the fatherland.

In our literature, including encyclopedias and textbooks, more than 150 years from the time of A.I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, and with his light hand there is a "patriotic" version that Napoleon attacked Russia in 1812 "without declaring war." Meanwhile, foreign researchers have long established that the Napoleonic note with the declaration of war was sent to Russia in advance and communicated to all European cabinets. In 1962, the text of this note (Napoleon's ambassador J.A. Loriston presented it to the tsarist government on June 10) was published in the Soviet edition, but even after that, for 30 years now, our historians pretend that it did not exist.

The invasion of the "Great Army" into the territory of Russia began on the night of June 12, 1812 near Kovno (now Kaunas in Lithuania). Four nights and four days, from June 12 to June 15, endless streams on four bridges crossed the Neman, along which the western border of Russia then stretched, the best troops in the world. Napoleon himself watched them from a high hill on the western bank of the Nemunas. He could be pleased. His army went to war like a parade - in close ranks, with banners unfurled, in exemplary order. Grenadiers and gamekeepers, cuirassiers and dragoons, hussars and lancers, artillerymen, pontoons, musicians walked past their emperor and greeted him enthusiastically. They believed in his star, accustomed to the fact that where Napoleon is, there is always victory, and set off on the next campaign with enthusiasm and self-confidence, as F.I. Tyutchev:

For details see: Troitsky N.A. On the history of Napoleon's invasion of Russia (declaration of war) // New and modern history. 1990. No. 3.