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Moscow is now in French hands, but a large part of the city has burned down, and it’s been emptied of all food, fodder and warm clothes. Even as winter approaches, and against the advice of his generals, Napoleon insists on staying, convinced that the Czar will soon surrender to him. But both soldiers and civilians increasingly suffer from hunger and the cold, and the terrifying Cossacks constantly harry any troops sent out to forage for food ...
October 1812, Napoleon enters Moscow. The Russians have set fire to the city, soon it will be reduced to a pile of ash. The Emperor equivocates, decides to turn back. This is the beginning of the retreat from Russia, a page of history that has become legendary for its degree of suffering and horror, but also for the heroic acts that took place. Two hundred years later, Sylvain Tesson, accompanied by four friends (two Russians and two French), decides to follow the route of the retreat. Perched on two Soviet Ural sidecar motorcycles, they will rejoin Paris from Moscow, guided only by the spectres of the two hundred thousand soldiers who died through cold, starvation, and in battle. Twenty five hundred miles travelled in a wild escapade to salute the ghosts of history, across the white plains of Russia.
The full story of Napoleon’s legendary escape from Russia under seemingly impossible odds is recounted in this thrillingly vivid military history. In the winter of 1812, Napoleon's army retreated from Moscow under appalling conditions, hunted by three separate Russian armies. By late November, Napoleon had reached the banks of the River Berezina—the last natural obstacle between his army and the safety of the Polish frontier. But instead of finding the river frozen solid enough to march his men across, an unseasonable thaw had turned the Berezina into an icy torrent. Having already ordered the burning of his bridging equipment, Napoleon's predicament was serious enough: but with the army of Admiral Chichagov holding the opposite bank, and those of Kutusov and Wittgenstein closing fast, it was critical. In a gripping narrative that draws on contemporary sources—including letters, diaries and memoirs—Alexander Mikaberidze describes how Napoleon rose from the pit of despair to execute one of the greatest escapes in military history.
Napoleon had failed to tame the Russian Bear and winter made that dream impossible. The Grande Armee was retreating under constant attack from the Cossacks. The Berezina was the last obstacle that had to be crossed. Discover how this terrible episode was a true victory for French military genius.
September 1812. Napoleon is master of Europe, and strikes at Russia with 600,000 men. He enters Moscow with no resistance, a conqueror at the height of his glory ... and everything crumbles. The second volume of a trilogy.
On 7 September 1812 at Borodino, 75 miles west of Moscow, the armies of the Russian and French empires clashed in one of the climactic battles of the Napoleonic Wars. This horrific - and controversial - contest has fascinated historians ever since. The survival of the Russian army after Borodino was a key factor in Napoleon's eventual defeat and the utter destruction of the French army of 1812. In this thought-provoking new study, Napoleonic historian Alexander Mikaberidze reconsiders the 1812 campaign and retells the terrible story of the Borodino battle as it was seen from the Russian point of view. His original and painstakingly researched investigation of this critical episode in Napoleon's invasion of Russia provides the reader with a fresh perspective on the battle and a broader understanding of the underlying reasons for the eventual Russian triumph. This book as just receive second prize by the Literary Committee of the International Napoleonic Society. A total of twelve distinguished works were carefully evaluated and Dr. Mikaberidze’s volume has met the rigorous criteria established by the Committee. The quality of the publication, especially in the area of research, originality, style and analysis, represents a significant contribution to Napoleonic Studies.
A Russian war hero who defeated Napoleon and became a mythic military figure. Alexander Mikaberidze's latest book is the first modern English-language biography of Mikhail Golenischev-Kutuzov, the famed Russian Field Marshal and central character of Leo Tolstoy's epic War and Peace. One of the most important military minds of the period, he is credited with defeating Napoleon and saving Russia, though his fame is not limited to the Napoleonic wars. As it often happens with national heroes, Kutuzov gradually became larger than life, a messianic character who led Holy Russia against the evils of the Revolution and anarchy; the Soviet leaders later exploited his personality for even more grandiose schemes. The real Kutuzov was gradually replaced by a mythical character who appeared at a time of great danger to save Russia. The impact of this propaganda can be still seen in modern Russia: In 2000, the public opinion poll showed that majority of the Russians consider Kutuzov as the Person of the 19th Century, far ahead of famous writers Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy, composer Peter Tchaikovsky or scientist Dmitry Mendeleyev, while the 2017 public opinion poll placed Kutuzov in the top twenty of the most distinguished historical personalities in world history (slightly behind Napoleon). As much as Kutuzov is venerated in Russia, he remains an overlooked figure in the West, with Western historiography comprising of just a handful of titles in English, French or German, the vast majority of them translations of older Soviet works or derived from them. This book provides a new biography of the field marshal, examining his personal life and military/diplomatic accomplishments, and relying on a wide range of primary and secondary sources as well as Russian archival material. Mikaberidze offers a fresh look at the historical figure whose character remains elusive but whose accomplishments are irrefutable.
The battle has been joined. On this first day, Massena desperately holds onto Aspern, the French cavalry charges again and again, but the Emperor cannot seem to break the Austrians. Louis-Francois, stuck on the wrong side of the only available bridge, impatiently waits for repairs to conclude. Not only are his official messages delayed, but he’s also dying to send news to Miss Krauss in Vienna. However, his friend Stendhal, who’s remained with the beautiful Austrian lady, makes some upsetting discoveries ...
Major Louis Joseph Vionnet's memoirs of Napoleon's disastrous 1812 campaign in Russia are readable, detailed, and full of personal anecdote and vivid glimpses into the life of the nineteenth-century soldier. His account concentrates in particular on the retreat from Moscow, but he was present at all the major actions and followed the entire course of the campaign from the opening moves in July 1812 to being chased through Prussia by bands of Cossacks in early 1813. He was present at the destruction of Smolensk, toured the battlefield of Borodino and witnessed the great fire in Moscow. Vionnet was a major in the Fusiliers-Grenadiers, a regiment of veterans in the Imperial Guard, and his account provides a wonderful insight into the élan, morale and cohesion of this elite fighting force. Jonathan North has translated Vionnet's memoirs for the first time for this English edition. In addition to providing detailed explanatory notes, he quotes from the accounts left by five other soldiers from the same regiment, and these extracts allow the reader to follow the ups and downs of the unit as a whole. Louis Joseph Vionnet, Vicomte de Maringoné, was born in Longueville in 1769, the son of a peasant and a lace maker. He joined the artillery in 1793 and was promoted to captain in the line in 1794. He fought in Italy in 1796, in the line infantry in 1798 and the Guard grenadiers in 1806, and campaigned in Prussia, Poland and Spain. In 1809, he joined the Fusiliers of the Guard, fought again in Spain in 1811 and then, with the rank of major, he took part in the 1812 Russian campaign, which he survived. He retired in the 1830s and died in 1834.