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TODD FISHER is the ExecutiveDirector of the NapoleonicAlliance, America's mostprestigious Napoleonic interestgroup, and a founding memberof the International NapoleonicSociety. He has a life-longfascination with the Napoleonicperiod, and is Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Emperor's Pressand Napoleon Journal, both

of which specialize inNapoleonic history.

PROFESSOR ROBERT O'NEILL,AO D.Phil, is the ChicheleProfessor of the History of Warat the University of Oxford andSeries Editor of the EssentialHistories. His wealth ofknowledge and expertise shapesthe series content, and providesup-to-the-minute researchand theory. Born in 1936 anAustralian citizen, he served inthe Australian army 1955-68and has held a number ofeminent positions in historycircles. He has been ChicheleProfessor of the History of Warand a Fellow of All SoulsCollege, Oxford since 1987.He is the author of many booksincluding works on the Germanarmy and the Nazi party, andthe Korean and Vietnam wars.

Essential Histories

The Napoleonic WarsThe empires fight back 1808-1812

Essential Histories

The Napoleonic WarsThe empires fight back 1808-1812

Todd FisherOSPREYP U B L I S H I N G

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Contents

Introduction

Chronology

Background to war

Mutiny and defiance

Warring sides

France, Austria, Russia

The fighting

The Austrian campaign and the march on Moscow

Portrait of a soldier

Barclay de Tolly and Jacob Walter

The world around war

Vienna

Portrait of a civilian

Louise Fusil

How the period ended

Napoleon under pressure

Conclusion and consequences

Further reading

Index

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9

11

13

19

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84

86

90

91

93

94

Introduction

The struggle for Spain

Following the Berlin Decrees of December1806, which had established the ContinentalSystem, Napoleon sought ways to use thismainland European blockade against theBritish. The real hole in his net was theIberian peninsula.

Spain, under a weak King Charles and awicked first minister, Godoy, had beenFrance's official ally since 1795. Spain'sparticipation in the war had often beenhalf-hearted, and its major contribution, itsnavy, had been smashed by the British atTrafalgar. Godoy had flirted with the idea ofjoining Prussia in 1806 and attacking Francefrom the south. At the time, Napoleon had

been embroiled in his campaign in Germany,but he had learned of the scheme and hadbullied Spain into fulfilling her role as ally.He had demanded they send the creamof their army to northern Germany asImperial support troops. Deprived of hermain strike force, Spain had then had to sitout the war.

Napoleon's aim was to close off thePortuguese ports and on 21 October 1807Godoy signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau

At the congress of Erfurt the crowned heads of Europeonce again paid court to Napoleon. In this picture it isthe Austrians' turn to show their submission. Talleyrand.the French foreign minister looks on. He had alreadyturned traitor (Gosse. Edimedia)

8 Essential Histories - The Napoleonic Wars

allowing French troops access to Portugal viaSpain. An army, under Junot, took Lisbonthat November and more French troopsfollowed into Spain.

By this time, Spain was on the verge ofcivil war. Two opposing camps wereforming, one around the king, the otheraround Ferdinand, the king's son. WhenFerdinand overthrew his father and arrestedGodoy, both camps appealed to Napoleonfor support. A conference with all partieswas called in Bayonne in May 1808.Napoleon made the mistake of assumingthat after the corrupt Bourbon family, theformer rulers of France, the Spanish peoplewould welcome a more liberal, efficientgovernment. He installed his brother Josephupon the throne.

In fact the opposite was true. Joseph wascrowned in Burgos on 7 July 1808 and enteredMadrid only after a Spanish revolt had beensuppressed in the city. He was not to stay long.The French suffered several reverses in thefield and Joseph had to evacuate Madrid soonafter his arrival. By August, little of Spain wasleft in French hands.

Erfurt lies and spies

Napoleon planned his counter-attack. Hisfirst step was to call a meeting in Erfurt withhis new ally, Tsar Alexander of Russia.Following the French victories of 1805-07,the Tsar had signed an alliance withNapoleon at Tilsit. Austria had had firstchance to play this role of French ally, buthad spurned the opportunity, preferringinstead another attempt to regain its losses

of the last 15 years' conflict. She now stoodalone on the continent among the greatpowers, wishing to renew the war againstNapoleon.

The meeting at Erfurt, from Septemberthrough October of 1808, was intended tosecure the French peace while Napoleonmoved into Spain to re-establish his brotherJoseph on the throne. Although Alexanderagreed to hold up his end of the alliance andkeep an eye on Austria, he was not beingsincere. Talleyrand, Napoleon's special envoy,had been plotting against Napoleon andFrance. Throughout the Erfurt conference hehad held meetings with Alexander, urginghim to feign compliance and divulgingNapoleon's state secrets.

When the conference ended, Napoleonhurried south to join the army assemblingalong the Spanish border. France's honor wason the line, and with an eye to restoring itNapoleon began his campaign at thebeginning of November. Madrid fell onceagain into French hands, but the effortmeant that much of Napoleon's main armywas now committed to the Spanishenterprise. Not only were they fighting theSpanish armies and the guerrillas, but theynow had to deal with the British, who hadlanded an army in Portugal, under Sir ArthurWellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.

While Napoleon was embroiled inSpain, Austria was considering heroptions. Still smarting from the defeats byNapoleon in 1796, 1800, and 1805, shelooked for a chance of revenge. With wildlyexaggerated reports of French defeats inSpain reaching the Austrians, they saw anopportunity to strike.

Chronology

1808 6 June Joseph Napoleon proclaimedKing of Spain27 September The start of theCongress of Erfurt4 December Napoleon enters Madrid

1809 9 April The Fifth Coalition againstFrance is proclaimed; the Austrianarmy attacks Bavaria16 April Battle of Sacile19 April Battle of Raszyn20 April Napoleon victorious at theBattle of Abensberg22 April Napoleon victorious at theBattle of Eckmuhl3 May Battle of Ebelsberg8 May Battle of the Piave13 May Napoleon enters Vienna21/22 May Napoleon narrowlyavoids destruction at the Battle ofAspern-Essling14 June Battle of Raab5/6 July Napoleon victorious at theBattle of Wagram12 July The 1809 campaign endswith the Armistice of Znaim29 July The British land in Walcheren17 September Peace ofFrederikshamm confirms Russia'sconquest of Finland from Sweden15 December Napoleon divorcesJosephine

1810 2 April Napoleon marriesMarie-Louise, the Habsburg princess21 August Bernadotte becomesCrown Prince of Sweden

1811 1 December Tsar Alexander publiclyrepudiates the Continental System

1812 24 March Secret Russo-Swedishagreement28 May Treaty of Bucharest; Russiasecures its other flank through peacewith Turkey-18 June United States declares waron Britain

24 June The French army crosses theNiemen River23 July French control ofSpain shattered at the Battleof Salamanca

17-19 August The Russians evadeNapoleon at the battles of Smolenskand Valutino7 September Napoleon victorious atthe Battle of Borodino14 September The French enterMoscow; the great fire begins thenext day

19 October the French armyleaves Moscow23 October the conspiracy ofGeneral Malet in Paris24-25 October Napoleonblocked at the Battle ofMaloyaroslavets

17 November Russians fail to trapthe retreating French army27-29 November Napoleon escapesthe trap at the River Beresina5 December Napoleon leaves theGrande Armée

14 December The French rearguardreaches the Niemen; end of the1812 campaign30 December A Prussian corpsdefects with the Convention ofTauroggen, the beginning of the 1813campaign

10 Essential Histories • The Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino. 7 September 1812. by

Robert Alexander Hillingford. (Nassau County Museum)

Background to war

Mutiny and defiance

Napoleon's popularity at home was at a lowpoint. The treaty of Tilsit in 1807 hadbrought hopes of peace, but less than a yearlater here was France at war again, this timewith Spain. A plot to overthrow Napoleonand place Murat on the throne had beenhatched by Talleyrand and Fouché,Napoleon's minister of police. Napoleon hadlearned of this and dismissed Talleyrand.Fouché was left in place with a warning, butin later years the Emperor's leniency wouldcome back to haunt him.

While this plot was suppressed, numerousacts of Royalist terrorism continued,

primarily in Normandy and Brittany. Thesestaunchly Catholic provinces were fertileareas of discontent. Napoleon's relationshipwith the Pope, Pius VII, had seriouslydeteriorated since the coronation of 1804.Following his annexation of the Papal landsin 1809 Napoleon was excommunicated. Heretaliated by having the Pope arrested andimprisoned for five years.

To add to Napoleon's troubles at home, aromantic nationalist revival, centered inHeidelberg, had grown strong enough tocause repeated uprisings against the Frenchthroughout the German states. In the

Europe in 1809


autumn of 1808 the Austrian emperor,Francis, toured his holdings accompanied byhis young third wife. He received a rapturouswelcome wherever he went. A war party haddeveloped and was beating the drum toregain the Hapsburg honor by declaring waron France. So Austria put out feelers toRussia and Prussia to become allies. Russiaeventually agreed to take no action againstAustria, despite pretending to remainNapoleon's ally, and Prussia originally agreedto provide 80,000 men to aid in the effort.

Austria seeks reprisal

The commander of the Hapsburg forces wasthe Archduke Charles, Emperor Francis'brother. He had been the leader of the peaceparty and still had strong reservations abouttaking on Napoleon. Charles had been tryingto reform the army ever since the defeat ofAusterlitz in 1805. Much had beenaccomplished, but his efforts had beenseverely frustrated by court politics and hefelt that much more was needed before theywere ready to challenge the French.However, the war party was too strong, andCharles faced the choice of agreeing to thewar or resigning. He chose the former.

If Austria had counted on Russiansupport, she was to be disappointed. Russiawas successfully waging two different wars atthe beginning of 1809 - with Turkey andwith Sweden. Furthermore, she wasostensibly at war with Britain, thoughneither side was actually willing to fight.Britain had sent a large portion of its army toGothenburg to support the Swedes, but thiswas not where the fighting was taking place,since all the battles were in Finland. Whilethe Swedes fought bravely, the might ofRussia brought them to the negotiating tableand the Swedes were forced to trade Finlandfor peace.

Prussia was still led by the weak-willedKing Frederick Wilhelm. Although initiallyhe promised help to Austria, he lost hisnerve and backed out before theshooting started.

Only Britain would lend support to theHapsburg army. At first she hesitated, butonce it became clear that the Austrianswere in earnest, money was promised and avague assurance given of a landing on thenorth coast of Europe. This was all thedetermined men around Francis needed toprepare for war. A report from the financeminister to Francis stated that the treasurywould run out of money by mid 1809 ifthe army remained mobilized. It wasreasoned therefore that while the army wasthere, it should be used. The thought thatAustria should demobilize seems never tohave occurred to the Austrian highcommand. Even Charles, while warning thatthe army was not yet prepared for war,did not wish to have his reformedtroops demobilized.

The Austrian foreign minister to Francewas Prince Metternich. He made every effortto appear cordial to the French but spied andplotted with the likes of Talleyrand toundermine Napoleon. Metternich had anabiding hatred of everything for whichNapoleon stood. An aristocrat of the oldschool, he saw Napoleon as the embodimentof the Revolution and a direct threat to hisway of life. He spied successfully on theFrench court and gave accurate reports toVienna of Napoleon's preparations andreactions to the Austrian mobilization. Inlarge part, however, his warningswent unheeded.

Napoleon, meanwhile, behaved as if in aswirling mist, appearing to see clearly onemoment and be completely in the dark thenext. He had faith in his Russian ally, andwas sure that the threat of a two-front waron Austria would deter any hostilities.However, he began to mobilize another armyto meet the threat from the east. Hewithdrew men from Spain and called on theConfederation of the Rhine states to bringtheir contingents up to full war footing. Hecalled up the recruit class of 1810 to fill hisranks. In all the theaters facing Austria hewould field over 400,000 men. The Austrianshad estimated his strength at only halfthat number.

Warring sides

France, Austria, and Russia

The French army

Napoleon had invaded Spain with most ofhis veterans from the glorious campaigns of1805-07. When Austria threatened in 1809,he could only afford to recall his Guard anda few extra troops to meet the threat. Thesejoined with Davout's and Marmont's veterancorps. The remainder of the army was madeup of newly formed troops and various allies.

With all the demands being made uponthe Empire, Napoleon had to relyincreasingly upon his client states to providemanpower. Northern Italy, Bavaria, Saxony,Westphalia, Wurttemberg, Holland, and theGrand Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) eachprovided a corps, while other lesser statessent smaller contingents. Many of thesetroops saw serious fighting throughout thecampaign. The remainder of the army wascreated by calling up the conscription classesearly. On the whole the army was a gradedown from previous campaigns.

The structure of the army had notfundamentally changed. The corps systemwas in place and all corps were led by qualityfighting generals. Napoleon's infantryregiments were divided into two mainclasses: line (ligne) and light (legère). Thesewere essentially identical in function, withthe light perhaps getting more skirmishingduties. A regiment had two or three fieldbattalions, with a fourth depot battalioncalled up to complete the new formations.Battalions were transformed from ninecompanies to six, leaving four centercompanies, one light, and one grenadiercompany per battalion. This demanded lesstraining in field maneuvers.

Unlike the infantry, Napoleon's cavalrywas at its height in 1809. After incorporatingthe superior horses captured during 1806-07,the units were expanded and improved,

most notably the 30 regiments of dragoonswhich were transformed from mediocre toformidable. The cuirassiers had expanded tooand had received additional training to makethem a powerful breakthrough force. Theyheld the advantage over their Austriancounterparts in number and in armor,having both front and back plates while theAustrians had only front.

The French light cavalry, hussars andchasseurs, gained a reputation for battlefieldprowess, but their scouting skills were poorand Napoleon was often left blind as to thewhereabouts of the enemy.

The artillery had been reformed since1804. The Gribeauval system was replaced bythe An XI (Year 11) models. These put 121band 61b guns in place of the 121b, 81b, and41b guns of the former system (the weightreferring to the cannonball used). The newcarriages were lighter and more mobile,standardized to include the field guns andhowitzers. This made for more efficientartillery parks. Although not all of the olderguns had been replaced, the process was wellunder way. As the campaign progressed, anumber of captured Austrian guns wereadded to the reserves. The artillery had beenNapoleon's arm as a young lieutenant, andas a result many talented men sought outthis branch of service. This resulted in theFrench artillery being unquestionably thebest in Europe.

The Guard Corps was made up of all threearms. The infantry had the new regiments ofthe Young and Middle Guard added to theirnumber. These new formations, while nothaving the prestige of the Old Guard, servedvery well during the campaign.

The Guard Cavalry gained the PolishLight Horse. These Poles had added a lanceto their equipment following Wagram, wherethey had fought a regiment of Austrian


lancers {Uhlans) and taken several lances astrophies. The other regiments of theChasseurs and Grenadiers à Cheval andEmpress Dragoons, and the sub-units ofMameluks and Gendarmes, made up themost feared cavalry in the world. Althoughrarely used, their effect was devastating.

There were two types of artillery of theGuard: horse artillery (Volante) and heavyfoot, nicknamed Napoleon's 'beautifuldaughters'. The horse could fly into positionand produce an incredible amount offirepower at a critical point; the heavy gunscould outshoot any enemy artillery andpulverize opposing formations.

The Confederation of the Rhine troopswere organized upon either the French orGerman model but gradually all adopted theFrench six-company formations. The troopswere of variable quality but usually adequate.The cavalry was usually mediocre, with theexception of the Saxons, who were verygood. The artillery was never up to Frenchstandards but usually well matched tothe enemy.

Napoleon's army in 1809 was good, butnowhere near the quality of the French armyat Austerlitz in 1805. As Napoleon preparedfor the invasion of Russia he pulled troopsfrom every available source. In addition tothe Confederation, Italians, and Polishtroops used in 1809, he incorporated theKingdom of Naples and Spanish troops.Furthermore, his reluctant allies, Prussia andAustria, sent a corps each to the front.

There is little to distinguish Napoleon'sarmies of 1809 and 1812 other thanincreased size of the latter. Regimentsacquired a 4th, 5th, or even 6th fieldbattalion, cavalry regiments were brought upto an average of six squadrons, and a newclass of light cavalry was introduced -lancers. These were converted dragoonregiments. There was no change in theartillery batteries except that they were giventheir full complement of men. In all, thearmy that started out in 1812 was the largestNapoleon had ever assembled and showedthe variations in quality expected in such anall-out muster of force.

The Austrian army

Austerlitz and the subsequent Treaty ofPressburg were further confirmation that theAustrian army needed an overhaul. Theobvious choice for the job was EmperorFrancis' brother, Archduke Charles, who wasacknowledged to be the finest general in therealm. However, Francis mistrusted hisbrother because Napoleon had offeredCharles the Austrian throne followingAusterlitz. While Charles had loyally refused,the seeds of fear had been planted andFrancis kept the Military Advisory Board(Hofkriegsrat) in place to oversee hisbrother's activities as supreme commander.This led to an atmosphere of mistrust and asituation in which the two camps spied oneach other, initiating a series of courtintrigues. This further slowed a reformprocess which was already hampered by anatural Habsburg conservatism.

Between 1806 and 1808 the Habsburgempire swung back and forth between callsto join a war effort against France and thepeace party, led by Charles, who said moretime was needed to complete the armyreforms. By the end of 1808 the war partygained the upper hand when the Habsburgsinterpreted Napoleon's Spanish woes as achance for revenge. Thus the country beganpreparations for war.

In 1806 Charles had issued a new guide toarmy and unit tactics. Changes were smalland incremental, yet in the context of theentrenched attitudes in Austria they wereseen as very advanced. 1 he primary tacticalreform was the 'mass'. This was ananti-cavalry infantry formation created byclosing up the spacing between ranks. Thismodest tactical device was rarely usedoutside of the immediate sight of ArchdukeCharles, reflecting the reluctance of thegenerals to try anything new.

Following the defeats of Ulm andAusterlitz, Mack's earlier 'reforms' wereconsidered to have been a failure in actionand Charles abandoned the four-companybattalion and returned to the six-companyformation used prior to the 1805 campaign.

Warring sides 15

The army was divided into five categories ofinfantry: Line, Grenzer, Grenadier, Jaeger,and Landwehr.

The Line had 61 regiments (46 Germanand 15 Hungarian). Each was made up ofthree battalions.

The Grenzers from Croatia had17 regiments with two field battalions andone reserve battalion. The skirmish skills ofthe mountain troops had slowly eroded andby 1809 there was little difference betweenmountain troops and Line regiments.

Hungarian and Austrian infantry. (Ottenfeld)

The Grenadier battalions were officiallycomposed of companies taken from the Lineregiments, but by 1809 they had in effectbecome separate formations. These were theelite of the army and were brigaded intotheir own shock formations.

The Jaegers - elite rifle-armed troops - hadtaken on the army's skirmishing duties andperformed very well throughout thecampaign. With only nine battalions, they


left the Austrians woefully short ofskirmishers to match their French opponents.

The Landwehr was sub-divided intovolunteer and militia units. This measurehad been considered for many years, but hadalways been shelved for fear of arming thegeneral populace. By 1809, however, it wasclear that new sources of manpower wouldhave to be found to fight the war and eventhis new plan would only provide a portionof what was needed; only the volunteer unitsshowed much value in combat.

Charles' cavalry remained largelyunchanged. Efforts to expand the number orcapacity of the mounted arm were curtailedfor economic reasons. In general, this left theAustrians' arme blanche outnumbered andoutclassed. The cavalry's efforts were furtherundermined by the practice of distributing itin small units throughout the army. This left

only the Cuirassiers as a massed force forshock purposes. These eight regiments ofbreast-plated cavalry would prove too little tomake a decisive impact in battle.

The Austrian artillery, once the finest inthe world, had fallen behind the times.Charles sought to reform this arm and re-organized the cannon into more effectivebatteries. He militarized the transport service- a marked improvement - but still thedoctrine of massing guns at the point ofdecision was one which was followed more intheory than practice; although Aspern-Esslingwould be the best day for the Austrianartillery in the entire war, such massedartillery tactics were not institutionalized.The weight of the Austrian shot was less thanthat of their French counterparts and

Hungarian Grenadiers. (Ottenfeld)

Warring sides

therefore lacked hitting power. Finally, therewas no prestige to the artillery so the bestofficers gravitated to other arms.

Charles imitated the superior Frenchmodel of the corps structure, but not in timeto familiarize the commanders with itsworkings and possibilities. Used to a rigidstructure, often based on elaborate planningand long-winded written orders, the Austriancorps commanders remained fixed in place,waiting for orders rather than takingadvantage of the resources at their disposal.

The General Staff was in a constant stateof reform, yet change came at a snail's pace.The average field general was in his sixties -a marked contrast to the youthful French.The older the general, the less likely theywere to lead from the front. This gave thema greater chance of survival, but lessenedtheir ability to react. An additional problemwas the small number of staff at army andcorps level, which meant that changes toorders were not always possible in thetime available.

The Russian army

The Russians had been fierce but lumberingopponents of Napoleon in 1805-07. Theyhad defended well, but had been unable tomatch the French in a battle of maneuver.Following the Peace of Tilsit it was clear thatthe organization inherited from the SevenYears' War needed to be overhauled.

This task was originally given to AlexeiArakcheev, a sadistic martinet who showedlittle interest in reform except in his artillery.He replaced the old, slow-moving artillerywith lighter, better, 12- and 6-pounders andimproved the Licorne, the Russian answer tothe howitzer. These new models still lackedthe mobility and hitting power of the French,but they were a marked improvement.

Arakcheev did little else to change thearmy other then terrorize his contemporariesand give his favorites positions of power. Inalmost all matters he was a reactionary and axenophobe, so he did the Tsar a great servicewhen he resigned in 1810 over a power

struggle. His replacement was Barclay deTolly, who reorganized the army andintroduced a corps structure similar to thatof the French. He also tried to install a staffsystem like Napoleon's but with less success.

The army of near a million men wasscattered over the vast Russian empire. Manywere in depots and many more were levieswaiting to be called up. In the field at thestart of 1812, there were over 600,000 men,equal to Napoleon's entire force, withanother 500,000 men waiting to be calledup. However, mobilizing this army wouldprove to be a lengthy process, so initiallyRussia faced Napoleon with only a third ofhis force.

The Russian infantry was obedient andstalwart. The officers lacked imagination andinitiative, but the peasant infantrymen, usedto hardship, had few complaints about amilitary lifestyle that was often draconianand they fought hard when put into battle.The infantry was particularly adept atdigging in when in defense, offeringtenacious resistance, and enduring a heavypounding from the superior French artillery.

The infantry was divided into three types:line, jaegers, and grenadiers. The line andjaegers were essentially the same, designatedfor light infantry duties but ill-trained for thejob (although at Borodino almost all theJaeger regiments broke down into skirmishformation). The grenadiers were sub-dividedinto two types: grenadier regiments andconverged grenadier battalions. The regimentswere true elite formations that had earnedtheir title on the battlefield and continued tojustify this honor. The converged battalionswere a merger of companies taken from theline regiments and elevated to elite status.These men were good, reliable troops, but notmarkedly better than their brethren in theline.

The cavalry, the most aristocratic of theRussian arms, had needed least by way ofreform. It was organized into permanentdivisions and had begun to practice largeformation maneuvers when the war brokeout. The cavalry was steady if unremarkable.It performed well against many of the allied


troops, but usually gave way when matchedagainst an equal number of French. In theseencounters, their lack of training above thesquadron level proved costly.

The one cavalry force that made a realdifference on campaign was the Cossacks.These steppe horsemen could outmarch anyof their rivals and they were mounted onsturdy ponies which could withstand thehardships of the Russian weather and terrain.While rarely useful against anythingapproaching an equal number of cavalry,they were a nightmare to stragglers andscouts, and could occasionally destroysmaller isolated enemy units. The lure ofbooty made them lose discipline, but theywere ready to attack to find their loot if theodds were good. In 1812 Cossacks appearedin great numbers.

The artillery was the backbone of thearmy. The Russians were the first torecognize the changing role of artillery on

Charge! Hurrah! Hurrah! by V.Vereshchagin. An idealizedpicture of Russian Grenadiers going into the attack.

the battlefield and amassed as much aspossible for the battle of Eylau in 1807,providing a frightful example of the carnageRussian cannon could inflict. While Russianofficers had not developed Napoleon's skillin deploying huge batteries on the move,they firmly believed in pounding anopponent into submission.

Finally there was the Russian Guard. Thiscombined arms formation, modeled uponNapoleon's Guard, was made up of eliteformations. They received the best ofeverything Russia could provide and were theTsar's shock troops. None in the world couldmatch them, save the French. They were usedmore liberally than Napoleon's Guard, becauseto do so never risked the entire regime.

It was in command that the Russiansfailed most. Rivalry and bickering led to aseries of near-disastrous appointments. Oftengenerals were put in place more for theirpolitical acumen than their military skillsand were replaced because of a loss ofpolitical influence rather than for anyfailure. The responsibility for this lay withthe Tsar, but even he was often looking overhis shoulder, fearful of a coup!

The fighting

The Austrian campaign to themarch on Moscow

The Austrians invade Bavaria

With the decision to go to war made,Archduke Charles planned the main Austrianadvance along the upper Danube River. The1st through 5th Corps, along with the1st Reserve Corps, would advance north ofthe river out of Bohemia. The 6th Corps andthe 2nd Reserve Corps would advance southof the river from a starting position on theBavarian border. When reports arrived thatthe French were beginning to concentratein the Augsburg area, the specter of anunprotected Vienna being taken by a rapidadvance along the south bank of the Danubecaused Charles to rethink his plans.Accordingly, he shifted the main body of histroops south of the Danube to the Inn Riverline on the border with Bavaria. While thiscountered the perceived threat, the decisioncost the Austrians one month of criticaltime. Even so, by 10 April 1809, the armywas in position.

On other fronts, Archduke Ferdinand wasto lead the 8th Corps and additional troopsagainst Napoleon's Polish allies in the Galiciaregion, while Archduke John with the8th and 9th Corps would attack the Frenchand Northern Italian army commanded byNapoleon's stepson, Prince Eugene deBeauharnais. The Austrians believed that byapplying broad and constant pressure,French resources would be stretched tobreaking point.

Napoleon believed that he had untilmid-April to concentrate his forces, but leftMarshal Berthier instructions to fall back onthe lines of communications should anattack come earlier. Berthier, a superlativechief of staff, struggled when commandingan army. When crucial orders fromNapoleon were delayed, Berthier's confusiononly worsened.

Archduke Charles was considered the only general whocould match Napoleon, but he was prone to inaction atthe most inappropriate times. (Roger-Viollet)

In the early morning of 10 April, theleading elements of the Austrian armycrossed the Inn River. The opposing cordonof Bavarians fell back, but bad roads andfreezing rain delayed the Austrian offensiveduring the first week. The Bavarians made abrief stand on the Isar River at Landshut on16 April, before once more retreating andyielding the passage of the critical river line.Beyond the Bavarians, only MarshalDavout's 3rd Corps, deployed aroundRegensburg, remained guarding the keybridge over the Danube that linked thenorth and south banks.

Charles stopped to analyze theintelligence he had received on the evening


of 17 April. By concentrating his forces northof the Danube and delivering a thrust fromthe south, Charles could drive Davout'sforces back and the whole of the Frenchdefensive position would come unhinged.The archduke ordered the two wings of theWurttemberg army to converge onRegensburg, but his plans had to be alteredthe following day when he learned thatDavout was heading south along the Danubeand attempting to link up with supportingFrench corps further to the south and west.Davout had been placed in this precariousposition through a combination of bad luckand poor timing, and Charles had a goldenopportunity to crush the 'Iron Marshal' bypinning his 3rd Corps against the river.

The arrival of Napoleon

Napoleon arrived at Donauworth, the Frenchheadquarters, on 17 April 1809. Heimmediately began to assess the disastroussituation facing his army. Until now theFrench army had been badly out-scouted bythe numerically superior Austrian cavalry.The most reliable reports were coming fromspies and civilians reporting to Davout'smen. The 3rd Corps was clearly in extremedanger, and aid could not arrive for a coupleof days. The best solution seemed to be forDavout to abandon his position aroundRegensburg and link up with the Bavariansfurther to the east. Unfortunately, whenthese orders from Napoleon arrived, Davoutrequired an additional day to gather up hiscorps as they were scattered and fatiguedfrom marching and counter-marching as aresult of Berthier's confused orders. Davoutset off early on the morning of 19 April tolink up with his allies.

Davout's 3rd Corps moved south out ofRegensburg on the direct road that ran alongthe Danube and toward Ingolstadt. In theinitial stages of this maneuver his corps,formed in two parallel columns of march,were strung out with no line of retreat if theAustrians attacked from the east. Davout hadleft a regiment behind the walls of

Regensburg to prevent any passage of theDanube by the Austrians and to protect hisrear. Charles' plan of attack was to wheelwith his 3rd Corps attacking along theDanube while the 4th and 1st Reserve Corpsswung on the pivot.

Teugen-Hausen

On the morning of 19 April, both armies gotunder way, the French with a two-hour headstart. By 8.30 am, Davout had nearly escapedthe trap. Two of his four divisions hadmoved past the choke point, but the marshalreceived word of strong enemy activitymoving up from the south and his supplytrain was not yet through the key village ofTeugen. The Austrian 3rd Corps, under Field-Marshal the Prince of Hohenzollern, wasrapidly arriving upon the battlefield andtrying to cut them off. This force had beenpartially weakened out of fear that theBavarians might fall upon their flank somore than one division had been detachedto act as a flank guard. These men would besorely missed in the day's contest.

The action opened with the Frenchskirmishers being thrown back towardTeugen as the advance guard of the Austrian3rd Corps crashed forward. Davout, realizingthat his flanks were in peril, sent the103rd Line forward to buy time and give theremainder of St Hilaire's division a chanceto deploy. He sent them in skirmish ordertoward the town of Hausen and the6,000 Austrians waiting for them. At thesame time, Davout ordered Friant's divisionto advance to St Hilaire's left and supportthe effort. Friant had his own problems:elements of the Austrian 4th Corps weregoing in to the attack as well. However,fortunately for the French, at the rear of thecolumn, General Montbrun's cavalry wouldmesmerize Field-Marshal Rosenberg's4th Corps for most of the day.

The men of the 103rd were doing wellconsidering they were outnumbered three toone and all the artillery on the field wasHabsburg. As they finally gave way, the

The fighting 21

Terrible 57th', arguably the finest regimentof line infantry in the French army, swunginto action. They took a position upon theridge overlooking the town and the Austrianassault ground to a halt.

Now checked, the Austrians failed to seethe 10th Light Regiment creep up throughthe woods. This elite force fell upon theAustrian artillery and drove it from the field.Hohenzollern committed some of hisreserves in response to this reverse, and asthe white-coated Austrians came forward,they tipped the balance back to their side inthis running fight. Davout had to commit allavailable troops on the field to stem the tide.

Sensing victory, more Austrians werereleased and this time cavalry charged thebeleaguered 57th, which lay down awithering fire and formed square with itsflank battalion. The battered cavalrywithdrew and played no further part in theday's actions. Under the cover of this cavalryassault, a fresh regiment came up to attackthe French line. The Manfredini regimentadvanced in column through a swale in theground and turned on the flank of the

One of Napoleons aides. Mouton. stormed the bridge atLandshut despite the defended barricade and buildings.Napoleon was so impressed he punned. 'My Mouton(sheep in French) is a lion.' (Roger-Viollet)

57th. Fortunately for Davout, GeneralCompans saw what was about to happenand led newly arriving troops forward. Thetwo columns collided and the French cameoff better. The Austrians fell back, rallied,and came on again, led by the dashingGeneral Alois Liechtenstein. The 57th, out ofammunition, finally gave way. The Frenchfell off the ridge and down to the town ofTeugen. There Davout rallied the men and,sending in his last reserve, retook theridgeline. The Austrians were almostcompletely played out on the ridge, whenFriant's men appeared upon their right flank.This was too much, and the Habsburg linegave way. Streaming down the ridgelinetoward the town of Hausen, they ralliedbehind the last reserves that Hohenzollernhad to commit on the field.

Once more General Liechtenstein led theattack, carrying the Wurzburg regiment's


1809 Austrian campaign, Regensburg: Part 1

(IR 3) flag to inspire the men, and stormed thewoods. While his attack drove back the Frenchline, more of Friant's men and the arrival ofthe long-awaited French artillery restored thesituation. For his efforts, General Liechtensteinlay severely wounded. The Austrians hadretreated behind the protection of their gunsdeployed in front of Hausen when a violentthunderstorm started and the battle ended.

Davout had defeated a force twice hissize and had been able to re-opencommunications with the rest of Napoleon'sarmy. Charles had spent the battle only acouple of miles away with a reserve of12 elite grenadier battalions. It is difficult todetermine who was at fault for the failure tocommit these troops. Clearly, communicationwas poor, but the blame must be sharedbetween Hohenzollern for not begging for themen and Charles for not finding out whatwas happening to his front. As it was, theAustrians knew they had fought well but had

still lost: demoralization began to set in.As the battle of Teugen-Hausen was drawing

to a close, Napoleon switched to the attack. Heordered Marshal Masséna's 4th Corps toadvance on Landshut. Massena advanced fromIngolstadt with the heavy cavalry, linked upwith the Bavarians and Wurttembergers, andordered the 2nd Corps to hurry to the front.By 9.00 am the following day he was in place.To give him even more flexibility Napoleonmade an ad hoc corps from two of Davout'sdivisions and placed it under Marshal JeanLannes, who had just arrived from Spain.Davout and his two remaining divisionswould press the forces in front of him.

Napoleon's plan was to drive theAustrians back to Landshut, which heassumed was their line of communication.There they would be pinned by Masséna'sCorps coming up from the south.

The battle of Abensberg, 20 April 1809,was a running battle, with the Austrians

The fighting 23

1809 Austrian campaign, Regensburg: Part 2

being driven back throughout the day. Bynightfall the Austrian 5th, 6th, and2nd Reserve Corps were well on their wayto Landshut. They arrived the followingmorning, having marched through most ofthe night. General Hiller, commander of theAustrians in this sector, did his best to putthem in good defensive positions.

Napoleon was close on their heels. AtLandshut, on 21 April, Napoleon assembledhis forces and attacked through the town andover the two bridges that spanned the IsarRiver. This daring assault saw more than8,000 Austrians surrounded and forced tosurrender in the town. Strategically the attackmay have been irrelevant, because theAustrian position had already been flanked bythe French 4th Corps. Masséna's men crossedover the river quickly, closing on the positionfrom the south. They narrowly missed cuttingoff the retreating Austrians who had beenfoiled by bad roads, a lack of initiative in the

Davout (Job). At Auerstadt in 1806 and at Eckmühl in1809 Davout proved to be tough enough to scorevictories over superior numbers of enemies. (Edimedia)


aging marshal, and pockets of determinedenemy resistance. Compromised by thehard-driving French offensive, this Austrianwing fell back to the east and to the nextdefensive line.

Early next morning, Napoleon receivedthe last of several desperate messages fromDavout. This time the news was delivered bythe trusted General Piré, who finallymanaged to persuade the Emperor that hedid not face the main Habsburg army.Napoleon now grasped that his left flankstood in the greatest peril.

Throughout 21 April, Davout attacked theretreating Austrians with the help of a

Bavarian division under Marshal Lefebvre.The further back the Austrians fell, thestronger their line became, for in fact theywere falling back on their main force.General Montbrun's cavalry, off to the north,was reporting massive formations headingDavout's way. The combat on the first day ofthe Battle of Eckmühl, as this fight was tobecome known, was sharp, with each sidegiving as much as they took. However, thatnight Davout faced a terrible predicament.While a fresh division had come up to hissupport and the artillery train would bepresent for any fighting in the morning, hisinfantry was low on ammunition. Davout

The fighting 25

knew that at least three Austrian corpsremained in front of him. In fact thesituation was even more desperate than herealized, for Regensburg had fallen and twomore Austrian corps would be able to crossthe Danube and enter the fight.

Charles saw this great opportunity, but hisspread-out army would take half a day to getinto position. He, like his opponent, wasreading the situation wrongly. He assumedthat Davout was the leading element of themain French army. Charles' forces werealigned on a north-south axis, and hisreinforcements were coming from the north,through Regensburg. If the plan worked, his

new arrivals would fall upon the French farleft flank. The archduke wanted the twowings of his army to coordinate with eachother, so he would allow the French toexpend themselves upon his defensiveposition around Eckmuhl and take nooffensive action himself until hisreinforcements were in position.

Eckmuhl

As dawn broke on 22 April, the two sidesfaced each other and except for someskirmishing, neither side made an attack.Morning turned to midday and still anuneasy calm hung over the battlefield.

While Charles looked for signs of his2nd Corps, Davout had a better grasp of thedeveloping situation. Napoleon had sentGeneral Piré back with the message that theEmperor was coming with his army. Davoutwas to maintain contact and expectNapoleon to launch his attack at 3.00 pm.Every minute that Charles delayed increasedthe marshal's chances of survival and victory.

At about 1.00 pm the leading elements ofthe Austrian attack collided with Montbrun'scavalry. The hilly and wooded terrain greataided the French in slowing down theimpetus of the attack. As the Frenchhorsemen retreated, the Austrian commanderof the left flank, General Rosenberg, feltconcern as he observed Davout's main forceopposite him. Instead of quickly shifting tomeet the threat caused by Charles' attack,they remained in place and were watchinghim! Rosenberg knew this could mean onlyone thing. He began to shift troops to meet athreat from the south. It was not long beforehis suspicions were confirmed. His smallflank guard had caved in under a massiveFrench force that was heading his way.

Napoleon had achieved a mostremarkable march, one of the finestexamples of turning on an army's axis in allof history. After receiving the intelligence at

The outnumbered Austrian cavalry attempted to delaythe pursuing French.


around 2.00 am he had set into motion theorders to turn his army to the north and tomarch the 18 miles to the help of hisbeleaguered marshal. In short order, theplans were set in motion. Remarkably,Napoleon would arrive even earlierthan promised.

The tip of his hammer blow was GeneralVandamme and his Wurttemberg troops.These Germans came on with the greatestelan. Led by their crack light battalion, theystormed across the bridge at Eckmühl andinto the town. There they seized the chateaudespite dogged Austrian resistance.

As the first of Napoleon's attacks gotunder way, Davout launched his own attackagainst the center of Rosenberg's position,the village of Unterlaiching and the woodsabove. Davout had sent in the 10th Legere tocarry out the task. This elite unit paused onlymomentarily in the village before continuingon against the woods. There they facedseveral times their own number, and avicious fight ensued tree to tree. Eventually,Davout reinforced the efforts of the lightinfantry regiment with the Bavarians underGeneral Deroy and the position was taken.

To the north of Unterlaiching, Davout'smen under Friant and the remaining troopsof St Hilaire slowly pushed back thedefenders around Oberlaiching and thewoods to its north. A redoubt held byHungarian grenadiers was overrun, thewhole line began to give way, and Charlesordered a retreat.

Between the town of Eckmühl and thewoods above Unterlaiching was a ridgelinecalled the Bettelberg. Astride the ridge wassome of the best cavalry in the AustrianEmpire, including the Vincent Chevaulegersand the Stipsic Hussars, and several batteriesof guns. After deploying on the marshy plainbelow, the Bavarian and Wurttemberg lightcavalry launched a charge uphill against theposition. Briefly overrunning one of thebatteries, they were thrown back by the twocrack cavalry regiments of Hussars andChevaulegers. The counterchargingAustrians were in turn stopped by theBavarian infantry.

A stand-off developed. The Austrians weredetermined to hold this position until therest of the army got away, and Napoleon wasequally determined to break the position anddestroy the retreating adversary. Toaccomplish this goal, Napoleon nowcommitted his heavy cavalry. The divisionsof St Sulpice and Nansouty deployed in thesoft ground. Their ranks were pummeled asthey maneuvered under the continuouslyfiring heavy guns on the Bettelberg. Slowlythe magnificent cavalry moved forward,picking up speed. As they hit the ridge andbegan to ascend the heights, they were in afull canter. Finally, in the last hundred pacesthey broke into a gallop. The tired,outnumbered Austrian cavalry wasoverthrown and the heavy guns were taken.The lighter guns limbered and broke away,and many of their gunners were sabered.Now established on the ridge, the cuirassiersstopped to catch their breath. Others wouldhave to do the immediate follow-up.

The French victory had been won by lateafternoon, but Charles was able to pull offhis infantry with few captured. While theFrench organized their pursuit, the Austriansfound a choke point in the road to buy time.Napoleon urged on his troops and sent hisheavy cavalry into the van to run down theenemy. They caught up with Charles' finalrearguard a couple of miles from Regensburgat Alt Egglofsheim.

What followed was an enormous cavalryclash. Charles had left cuirassiers and hisnow exhausted light cavalry to delay theFrench. Napoleon committed his threedivisions of cuirassiers with the support ofBavarian and Wurttemberg light cavalry. TheFrench swept down, but the Austrian heavieswere fresh and plowed into the French withgreat effect. The entire fight turned into aswirling melee, with each side feeding inmore and more troopers. The Austriansfought magnificently and for a while morethan held their own with the exhaustedFrench, but in the end the French superiorityin numbers was too much. Seeing moreFrench appear and realizing that it wasquickly becoming dark, the Austrians tried to

The fighting 27

break off. It was at this moment that thenext wave of oncoming French shattered thetired Austrians. Panic resulted and the frantichorsemen streamed back toward Regensburgand the safety of her walls. The French toobecame confused in the gloom and thepursuit was ineffectual. This was lucky forthe Archduke Charles, since he had beenswept up in the rout.

Napoleon is wounded

The following day, 23 April, found theAustrians retreating as fast as possible overthe Danube and the protection of her leftbank. A sizable rearguard was left to defendthe walls of Regensburg. Napoleon wasdisappointed when he learned that theFrench garrison had fallen. He had hoped totrap the Austrians against the river. Insteadhe launched a massive assault in an attemptto catch as much of the retreating army aspossible. The medieval walls would easily fall

to a prolonged bombardment, but time wasshort. Napoleon's infantry rushed forwardwith ladders to scale the walls. Each time thefirepower of the Austrians drove them back.At the height of the battle, a bullet struckNapoleon in the heel. Rumors spread quicklyamongst the French that he had beenseriously hurt. Wishing to stop the panic, hehad his wound quickly bandaged and rodealong the lines to show himself. A crisiswas averted.

Even with the panic quelled, everyrenewed assault was driven back. Finally, thefiery Marshal Lannes grabbed a ladder andexclaimed: 'I was a grenadier before I was amarshal, and still am!' His men, shamed intoanother attempt, grabbed ladders and madeone final attempt. This time it succeeded andthe French were in. The Austrians fought

Napoleon rode amongst his troops before Regensburgto show he was not wounded. In the background, theFrench are preparing to assault thecity walls. (Myrbach. Roger-Viollet)


desperately in an attempt to prevent theFrench from working their way through thecity and reaching the critical stone bridgeover the Danube before Charles' engineerscould destroy it. House-to-house, hand-tohand fighting followed. Five Austrianbattalions were to perish or surrender, buttheir sacrifice was not in vain. The Frenchbroke through to the river just in time to seethe charges explode. Charles and his mainarmy had escaped, and Napoleon had losthis opportunity for a quick knock-out blow.The following day the Emperor turned hisattention to trapping and destroying theenemy forces still south of the Danube.

While developments in Bavaria saw therepulse of the main Austrian offensive,things had gone better for the House ofHabsburg on other fronts. In the Tyrolregion, which had been ceded to Bavariafollowing the disastrous Austerlitz-Ulmcampaign, General Chasteler had invadedwith 10,000 men and the region had risen inrevolt to support his efforts. His movementwas coordinated with Archduke John'sinvasion of Italy and Dalmatia. Chastelerhad advanced on Innsbruck and capturedvirtually all opposing forces with the help ofbands of patriotic Tyrolian rebels, whosemost notable leader was Andreas Hofer.Within three days almost all of the Tyrol wasretaken by the Austrians. It would be Maybefore any response could be organized.

Actions in Italy

Archduke John's army advanced againstNapoleon's stepson, the viceroy of Italy,Prince Eugene de Beauharnais. Although theFranco-Italian army outnumbered John's, itwas scattered throughout northern Italy. Thiswas Napoleon's fault, for he had believedthat the Austrians would not attack untillater, if at all, and that to assemble the armyahead of time would in itself have been aprovocation which might have ignited a war.This meant that as John advanced, onlyabout half of Eugene's troops were availableat the battlefield of Sacile on 15/16 April

1809. Eugene was aching for a fight, in orderto 'win his spurs.' Furthermore, Chasteler'ssuccess was threatening his northern flank,and he felt that if he could defeat John, hecould deal with the threat in the Tyrol athis leisure.

The first day of the battle saw John maulEugene's advance guard at Pordenone. Thefollowing day, Eugene tried an outflankingattack that became bogged down in thesoggy, broken terrain. John calmly watchedas the French spent themselves trying to seizethe village of Porcia. Once it had finally beentaken, after several attempts, the Austrianslaunched an attack against the French leftand drove it back against the Livenza River.Staring at the threat to his line of retreat,Eugene broke off the battle. Marchingthrough the rain-soaked night, Eugene's armyoutpaced the lackluster Austrians in pursuit.

After several stands to make a rearguard,Eugene fell back to Verona and the line ofthe Adige River. On this familiar ground,held by the French in 1796 under Napoleonand 1805 under Massena, Eugene gatheredhis army together and prepared to go over tothe offensive.

Other fronts

In Dalmatia, Marmont, under the nominalcommand of Eugene, was told to attack theenemy in front of him. His mountainoffensive on 30 April was repulsed byGeneral Stoichewich's force, with most of theserious damage being caused by the skilledmountain troops, the Grenzer. The Frenchretreat that followed was harassed by localswho sprang several ambushes.

To the north, things were going equallybadly for Napoleon's allies. PrincePoniatowski had tried to stop ArchdukeFerdinand's army as it headed for Warsaw.Deciding to make a stand just south of thecity, the Poles were defeated by the Austriansat the battle of Raszyn on 19 April. Despite aheroic effort, Poniatowski's army had toabandon Warsaw and retreat beyondFerdinand's reach.

The fighting 29

Perhaps as ominous as any of the otherdevelopments, Major Schill, a firebrandPrussian Hussar leader, gathered his menaround him and begin a ride across northernGermany trying to raise a revolt against theFrench. Fortunately for Napoleon, Schill waslargely ignored and his actions disavowed bythe Prussian king. Still he had JeromeBonaparte's kingdom of Westphalia in a stateof confusion and near revolt. All thesesetbacks made Napoleon's victories all themore crucial, for if they had taken placewithout the Eckmühl campaign, they mayhave been the spark to bring Prussia intothe war.

The pursuit of the Austrians

The initial pursuit of the Austrians south ofthe Danube was the responsibility of MarshalBessieres. He commanded a combined forceof cavalry and Bavarian infantry. Pursuingtoo rashly, part of his command was attackedand mauled at Neumarkt on 24 April.Bessieres halted and it was only the arrival ofMarshal Lannes that the advance couldresume. Another command, MarshalMassena's, caught up with Hiller's men and,

Engraving of Archduke Charles de Habsbourg at thebattle of Aspern. (Roger-Viollet)


on 3 May, faced them across the Traun Riverat Ebelsberg.

Massena wanted to gain laurels byrunning down the retreating Austrians, so hequickly ordered an assault across the longbridge over the river. The French werepounded by batteries that had beenpositioned to maximize damage to anyonedaring to cross. These were some of the besttroops in Napoleon's army though, and theykept on coming. They broke into the townwhere they soon learned that most of Hiller'sforce had been hidden from view. Pinned bythe withering fire, Massena's men held ondesperately to their foot-hold. More Frenchcrossed as their artillery swung into action tocounter the Austrian batteries. Thetremendous fire served to ignite the town,adding further horror to the ghastly carnagethat sickened even the most hardenedveterans. Pressing on through the smoke andflames, the French soldiers finally arrived atthe castle on the hill above the town. Therea vicious and heroic fight finally left theFrench in control of the castle and the town.Hiller broke off and retreated. While

Napoleon's camp before the battle of Ebelsberg. Manydoubted that this costly little battle was necessary.(Painting by Antoine Pierre Mongin, Edimedia)

ultimately victorious, Massena's costly winwas largely superfluous since Lannes hadalready outflanked Hiller's river line andwould have dislodged them in a couple ofhours without a fight. Massena's men weretoo spent to launch an adequate pursuit andHiller was able to retreat and cross theDanube largely unmolested.

Charles' army had escaped, but nowVienna was left exposed. Napoleon and hisarmy had occupied the Habsburg capital on12 May after only the smallest show ofresistance by the home guard. The greatesttriumph of the Viennese had been thedestruction of the bridges over the Danube.At least they could comfort themselves thatthey had not been captured intact, as hadhappened in 1805.

As Napoleon's army advanced up theDanube toward Vienna, to the south eventshad also turned in the French favor. Eugenehad sparred with John at Caldiero on

The fighting 31

30 April, and the now outnumberedarchduke had been forced into a retreat by acombination of pressure to his front and thecollapsing situation on his northern flank.

The Austrian army of this era stilldepended on a large supply train, whichslowed its advances and retreats. Many timesAustrian commanders had to offer battle toprotect the train, even when defeat seemedthe most probable outcome. This was thesituation John found himself in a little overa week later. At the Piave River John held hisground while Eugene assembled his army onthe opposite bank. On the morning of8 May, Eugene launched an assault acrosstwo fords. The leading forces establishedthemselves and waited for more support.John had little in the way of options andsent his men forward to destroy the Frenchon the northern bank. Eugene was ready forthem and after repulsing the Austrianassaults, counterattacked and broke John'sline in several places. By evening the victorywas complete and Eugene had avenged hisdefeat at Sacile. Exploiting his advantage,Eugene advanced rapidly and pushed John'sarmy out of Italy and towards Hungary. In aseries of small actions, one after another ofJohn's rearguards were overwhelmed, so thatby 20 May, Eugene had reached Klagenfurtand was in a position to either joinNapoleon or continue the pursuit of John.

While Eugene was following up theremnants of John's army, Marshal Lefebvrehad reassembled his Bavarian Corps and setout to retake the Tyrol. With fire and swordthe road to Innsbruck was cleared in anumber of small actions. With the situationcollapsing all around him, Chasteler beganto retreat, leaving the Tyrolians to their fate.The Bavarians were too much to overcomeand Innsbruck fell on 19 May. The Tyrolseemed pacified.

The Battle of Linz

As Napoleon advanced up the Danube, heleft key crossing points guarded bycorps-strength commands. At Linz the

Wurttemberg Corps, under GeneralVandamme, was given just such a task.Vandamme was able to cross the Danube andcreate a tête du pont (a fortified bridgehead).This was a dagger pointed directly at theheart of Charles' army in Bohemia. Inresponse, Charles sent General Kolowrat withthe 3rd Corps to drive this incursion backover the river. The Austrian commanderplanned a three-pronged converging attack.

The Battle of Linz was a disjointed affairbecause the three Habsburg columns arrivedand were repulsed one at a time.Furthermore, to disrupt Kolowrat's plan,Marshal Bernadotte, with elements of hisSaxon Corps, arrived throughout the day.The result was complete failure on Kolowrat'spart and his men retreated to lick theirwounds. Napoleon's German allies had oncemore proved of great service, and for thetime being Napoleon's supply linewas secure.

From the Palace of Schönbrunn, Napoleonmade plans for his next move. His line ofsupply was overextended, and while the lineof the Danube was protected by the corps ofBernadotte, Vandamme, and Davout, hisadversary was making no overtures towardpeace. There were rumors of a Britishinvasion, Archduke John's army could appearat almost any moment, and the Russians(French allies by treaty) appeared moremenacing than reassuring. Since there wasno word of any large formations near theriver, Napoleon assumed that Charles andhis army were somewhere near Brunn.French intelligence had completely brokendown, for Charles was a few short milesaway near Wagram.

Aspern-Essling

Napoleon planned and started the crossingof the Danube, first to Lobau Island,three-quarters of the way across, from wherehe could easily bridge the narrow channel tothe northern (left) bank. He arranged severaldiversions, but Charles recognized them forwhat they were. From late on 18 May to


French infantry desperately trying to hold Essling fromsustained Austrian attacks. (Myrbach. Roger-Viollet)

noon on 20 May, the French engineersworked to finish the pontoon bridges. Theirwork was badly hampered by the risingwaters of the Danube, swollen by themelting snows of the Alps. Even so, the workwas completed and two divisions ofMassena's Corps were hurried over to Lobauisland. Molitor's division crossed over thefurther stream and occupied the towns ofAspern and Essling. Lasalle's light cavalryjoined Molitor and took up a positionbetween the two towns.

Massena climbed to the top of the steepleof Aspern's church to view the surroundingcountryside and look for signs of theAustrians. He spotted the campfires of thesmall reserve corps, but no others. Thingsseemed acceptably in order, so early on themorning of 21 May, he ordered the men ofBoudet's and Legrand's divisions to the northbank in support of Molitor. MarshalBessieres' cavalry crossed too and waited forthe rest of the 4th Corps to arrive beforeexpanding their perimeter. Carra St Cyr'sdivision and Lannes' Corps were scheduled

to cross next, but a large barge crashed intoand ruptured the bridge, preventing thecrossing.

From a hill overlooking the river theHabsburgs were able to watch everydevelopment. Charles saw a goldenopportunity: if he could interrupt the flow ofmen to the north bank of the river hismassive army should be able to crush theforce in front of him. To accomplish thisgoal, barges, logs, and toppled windmillswere set alight and floated down theDanube. With the help of the high rushingwaters, these makeshift rams smashed thebridge several times over the next two days.Each time the French sappers repaired it, theAustrians would send down anotherflaming ram.

With the flow of Napoleon's soldiersnow interrupted, Charles closed in onAspern and Essling with 100,000 men.At about 1.00 pm an alarmed messengerreported to Napoleon that a massive forceof white-coated men was closing in on theFrench position. Napoleon sent an aide forconfirmation, and learned that the numberof the enemy was at least 80,000. Heconsidered a withdrawal. Events were

The fighting 33

moving too fast for the French, for Charleshad caught them ahead of plan.

The first to receive the brunt of Charles'attacks was Molitor's division, deployed inAspern. The focal point of the Austrianattack was the church and cemetery on thewest edge of town. Hiller's men came inbefore the two supporting corps could react,but advancing to the walls of the churchthey were hurled back by a tremendous fire.A second attempt, just before 3.00 pm, sweptpast the church into the town, but again wassent back as Molitor committed the last ofhis reserves. Hiller re-formed his men. Bynow the 1st and 2nd Corps were in positionthroughout the town. As their gunsunlimbered and began to pound the Frenchpositions, Bessieres sent part of his cavalry todisrupt the fire and Charles countered withhis own cavalry. In the swirling melee whichfollowed, Charles fed in more regimentsuntil the French cavalry withdrew.

By 4.30 pm a new assault has beenlaunched from the three Habsburg columnsaimed at Aspern. The church was once morethe focal point and this time the bloodiedFrench fantassins were expelled after avicious hand-to-hand struggle. Much of thetown was occupied and Napoleon's left flankwas in danger of collapse. The Emperor sentMassena forward with Legrand's division, tosupport Molitor's weary men. At bayonetpoint the Austrians were again thrown back.

The few guns the Emperor had wereholding a critical portion of the line nearEssling and providing covering fire tosupport the center between the two towns,so the Austrian cavalry had to be sent inonce more on the left. This time theyoverran many of the French guns, but werehalted by support infantry drawn up inmassed formation behind the guns. Unableto break this formation, the Austrians flowedimpotently around the infantry until drivenback by the musketry. Their sacrifice hadbought critical time but little else.

At 6.00 pm another attack was launchedtowards the town and was repelled. Charleshimself rallied the repulsed troops and sentthem in once more. This time they took the

blazing town. The loss of this positionspelled doom for Napoleon's army, so theEmperor sent in St Cyr's recently arriveddivision with the remnants of the two otherpreviously decimated divisions to re-takeAspern. The spent Austrians were hurledback, rallied, and returned, but their impetusran out half-way through the town and aFrench counter-attack had them slowlyretreating. With stubborn defense they keptthe strong-point of the church.

While the attacks were continuing aroundAspern, Rosenberg's 4th Corps, divided intotwo columns, was moving into position.Without waiting for the supporting column,half of Rosenberg's men attacked. Waitingfor them was Boudet's division under thedirect command of Marshal Lannes. Boudethad arranged his men in the gardens andbuildings that made up the village of Essling.The best fortification there was the granary, amassive structure with walls over three feetthick. Built at the end of the last century-following riots caused by famine, it had beencreated with defense in mind. Boudet and acouple hundred of his best troops used it as abreakwater against the Austrian's assaults.

This strategy worked perfectly against theHabsburg first wave. It was easily repulsedand Lannes sent d'Espagne's heavy cavalry torun the fleeing enemy down. Many werecaught from behind, but the pursuit wascalled off so that the metal-platedcavalrymen could respond to GeneralLiechtenstein's counter-attacking cavalry. Asthe two forces closed on each other, Generald'Espagne was killed by a round of canister.Deprived of their leader, the cuirassiersfought on, but, as would happen throughoutthe battle, the Austrian numbers proveddecisive. However, the pursuing cavalierswere pulverized by the massed Frenchartillery that Napoleon had placed inanticipation of such a reverse.

As night closed in on the village, thesecond half of Rosenberg's men were finallyin position and came on. They took severalof the outlying houses along with Essling's'long garden'. Lannes was able to organize aforce to storm these positions and soon all of


Often the infantry had little choice but to stand underartillery bombardment. (Sergent)

Essling was in French hands again. MarshalLannes then held a meeting with MarshalBessieres. The two men had detested eachother since the Egyptian campaign of 1798,and Bessieres had been angered by Lannes'throughout the day, ordering Bessieres'cavalry to 'charge home.' The suggestionthat he and his men had been hanging backwas sufficient grounds for Bessieres tochallenge his antagonist to a duel. Thehot-headed Gascon was happy to accept, butMarshal Massena came along and demandedboth men put away their swords.

By nightfall, sporadic firing was allthat remained of the day's combat. Esslingwas still in French hands, as was most ofAspern. Napoleon crossed the 2nd Corps andhis Guard during the night and orderedMarshal Davout to prepare his men to crosstoo. Napoleon planned to take the initiativeand break the Austrian center, usingLannes to attack with the newly arrivedcorps and the support of Bessieres' cavalry.Davout's men would exploit the success

and the Guard would be thrown in for thecoup de grâce..

First Aspern would have to be re-takenagain. Massena, at the head of St Cyr'smen, went over to the attack at 4.00 am.Driving the surprised Austrian occupantsbefore them, they were halted byAustrian reserves coming up and were inturn driven back. The struggle continued,but by 7.00 am the town was in Frenchhands once more.

While the fight had been going onaround Aspern, Napoleon had sent Lasalle'slight cavalry to attack south of Essling, so asto expand the deployment area and relieveany pressure coming from that direction.At first the fearsome cavalry had succeededin driving back the opposing cavalry, butthen they were stopped by the Austrianmassed infantry. Not wishing to becomethe target of Rosenberg's many guns, Lasalleretired behind Essling toward the bridges,leaving Essling exposed. Rosenberg saw thisas an invitation to seize the vital townonce more. His men swept forward, butonce again the two columns were notcoordinated and met defeat.

The fighting 35

Napoleon now sent Lannes forward,supported by the heavy cavalry. He wastrying to repeat his victory of Austerlitz fouryears earlier by breaking the center androlling up the two flanks. However, thistime he was not using the crack troopsof the camp of Boulogne but, with theexception of St Hilaire's men, new recruits.Even so, the attack went off well at first.Spearheaded once again by the ubiquitous'Terrible 57th', the French smashed into theFroon Regiment (IR 54), captured onebattalion, and sent the other two fleeingto the rear.

As the French came on, the Austrianartillery plowed great swaths through their

ranks. This had to be stopped, so the Frenchcavalry was committed against the Austrianguns. The cavalry came on brilliantly andquickly silenced the offending batteries.Breaking through, they encountered theinfantry and cavalry of the center. TheAustrian cavalry gave way, but the infantrystood firm and the French cavalry wasforced to fall back. As it did so, on cameLannes' infantry.

Charles had watched developments andnow committed his last available reserve inthe area, the elite Grenadier Corps. Theymarched to fill the gap created by thewavering center, but they would still takecritical minutes to arrive. Charles rode over

Aspern-Essling, second day


to where his men were falling back and,grabbing the flag of the Zach Regiment(IR 15), rallied the men and led them backagainst the French. Lannes had nowadvanced almost a mile, but he receivedorders to call off the attack.

Austrian attempts to break the pontoonbridge had once again succeeded, this timeusing a floating mill set alight, and it mightbe a day before it could be restored. Worse,Davout's men had not managed to crossbefore the rupture, so Lannes' menrepresented the freshest fighting troopsbetween Napoleon and annihilation. Theyhad to be preserved.

Lannes' men held their position hopingfor a quick repair of the lifeline. Afterconfirming the disaster, Napoleon orderedthe slow retreat of 2nd Corps. As the menfell they came under a devastating artillerybarrage. General St Hilaire, perhaps thefinest divisional general of France, had hisleft foot taken away by one of the rounds.The troops of the two conscript divisionsbegan to leave the ranks in clumps and headto the rear, but Lannes remained calm andthe line held. Finally they were back to theirstarting positions.

The fighting 37

General Espagne was killed while leading one of thesacrificial charges of his cuirassiers.

With the crisis in the center averted,Charles once more sent forward attacks onthe two towns. Aspern had changed handstwice already during Lannes' attack, and nowthe Habsburg's troops' effort was renewed.Charles had his howitzers converged into asingle battery and set about pulverizingAspern. The town once more ablaze, anassault took it but was again thrown back.Once more they came on, and by 1.00 pmAspern was in Austrian hands for good. Thedefeated French set up a ring of fire to preventany sallies from the town, but if Essling nowfell, the artillery could be brought up topound Napoleon into submission. Charlesset about trying to make that happen.

Renewed attacks threw Boudet's men fromall of Essling except the granary. There

Boudet remained with several elitecompanies, repelling all attempts to evicthim. If the granary fell, all French hopewould be lost. Charles sent in his elitegrenadiers, but Boudet held on. Napoleonnow sent in two battalions of Young Guardand one of the Middle Guard, under Mouton,to re-take Essling. The Guard came on anddrove out the Austrians. Rosenbergcommitted more troops to surround the townand compel surrender. Napoleon respondedby sending in General Rapp with two morebattalions of Middle Guard to break out thebeleaguered Guardsmen. Rapp, sizing up thesituation, disobeyed the Emperor's orders

Archduke Charles with his staff in 1809. Years afterrallying the Zach Infantry Regt he talked down theincident, saying 'You don't think a little fellow like mecould carry one of those heavy flags, do you?'(Ian Castle)


and, rather than breaking off, defeated allcomers. Charles had seen enough andordered the attack on Essling discontinued.

With Napoleon pinned in Essling, theAustrians decided to decimate the Frencharmy using their superior number of guns.Almost 150 cannon began to pound theFrench center. Taking the brunt of the firewas 2nd Corps. Further behind them thebattalions of the Old Guard had whole rowsremoved from their ranks under theincredible barrage. There was nowhere to goand the army was spent. Finally, MarshalBessieres rallied some of the retreating menof the 2nd Corps and led them forward onfoot as skirmishers to open fire upon theAustrian artillerists. The marshal's calmdemeanor steadied the men and their firetook its toll upon their adversaries. However,by 4.00 pm Napoleon had returned to Lobauand accepted the inevitable. He would haveto call off the battle and accept defeat. Heleft Marshal Lannes in command and beganto organize the retreat, but soon after thatMarshal Lannes was struck by a cannonballin the right kneecap, shattering his leg. Hewas carried to the rear past the Emperor, andas he was one of the small handful ofNapoleon's personal friends, the Emperorwept openly upon seeing the wounded hero.

Charles was satisfied to let Napoleonretreat. His ammunition was low and hismen were spent. During the night, theFrench evacuated to Lobau, where they spenta miserable night.

Napoleon licks his wounds

From a tactical point of view Aspern-Esslinghad been a draw, with both sides takingabout the same casualties (22,000) but therewas no mistaking the French strategic defeat.Napoleon did his best to disguise it, but thenews spread throughout Europe, and theAllies hoped that perhaps now the 'ogre'could be brought down.

Following the battle, Napoleon madeLobau Island a massive fortified camp. Hebuilt sturdy bridges to bring over supplies

and reinforcements, and he called up thereserves to strengthen the army. Bernadotte'sSaxons arrived, and the forces from theItalian front - including Marmont'sDalmatian Corps - began their march tojoin him.

Napoleon had wanted Eugene to protecthis southern (right) flank and had orderedhim to move into position to accomplish thisgoal prior to the battle of Aspern-Essling. Theimportance of this move was doubled as aresult of the defeat. As Eugene moved northwith his troops, he caught General Jellacicretreating from the Tyrol to link up withArchduke John in Hungary. At the battle ofSt Michael on 25 May, the badly-outnumbered Austrians were mauled andvery few of Jellacic's men made it to Hungary.Soon these regulars would be sorely missed.

The victory removed any immediate threatto Napoleon's strategic right flank, andEugene was now free to pursue ArchdukeJohn and attempt to annihilate him beforehe could join Charles north of the Danube.John had divided his army after his defeat atthe Piave River. One force remained under hiscommand, while the other, under Gyulai,was to defend the Habsburg province ofCarinthia against Macdonald's wing ofEugene's army, which now operatedindependently. Supporting Macdonald'sefforts was the force of Marmont.

Marmont had fallen back to Zara on theAdriatic coast following his defeat on15 April and had gathered his troopstogether for a counterattack. He struck on13 May at Mt Kitta, initiating a series ofactions that destroyed Stoichewich's division.He was aided in no small part by the hugenumber of guns he had assembled - 78 inall. Marmont had come up through theartillery, as had Napoleon, and he wasregarded as the premier artillery specialistunder the French emperor.

Following the defeat of Stoichewich,Marmont set off in the direction of Vienna.His first goal was to link up with Macdonald,one of whose divisions was besieging thecitadel at Graz. Unknown to Marmont,Gyulai had made a relief effort and the

The fighting 39

French had retreated rather than face atwo-front battle. As a result Marmont'sleading element marched on Graz unawarethat the town was no longer in Frenchhands. The 84th Line, two battalions strong,advanced against Graz and, after recoveringfrom the shock of being fired upon, threwout the advance guard of Gyulai. Taking up aposition in a church and its cemetery, theyrepelled attacks by an entire division beforefinally cutting their way out of their encircledposition when their ammunition gave out.

Marmont's main force soon came up andGraz was retaken from the weary defenders.The 84th Line's legendary defense earnedthem the motto 'Un contre dix,' (One againstten), which was later inscribed upon theireagle. Following Graz, Marmont andMacdonald marched to join Napoleon'sarmy on Lobau.

While Marmont was heading north,Eugene had caught John near Raab. Johnhad been reinforced by the Insurrection, theHungarian militia, but was still outnumberedand outclassed. He had chosen a strongposition, however and felt confident of hisline of retreat. The Battle of Raab, fought on14 June, was a vicious little battle in whichthe Habsburgs initially made good use of theterrain and inflicted losses upon Eugene'smen. Then the tables turned and theAustrians got the worst of it. Once thestronghold of the Kis-Meyer farm had fallenfor good, all hope of victory was lost to John

Tyrolian insurgents revolt against Napoleon. Despitemany victories over Bavarian and French troops,eventually Napoleon's victories on the Danube left themexposed and alone (Painting by Franz von DefreggerRoger-Viollet)


and he called a retreat. John's army hadsuffered twice the losses of Eugene's but hadfought well enough for no effective pursuitto take place. His army retreated to the northbank of the Danube and established contactwith Charles' army. Eugene and his menjoined Napoleon.

To the north, Prince Poniatowski wasleading the Polish forces to victory. Afterlosing Warsaw, he had appeared to melt intothe countryside but had reassembled behindFerdinand's line of communication andincited the Austrian (formerly Polish)province of Galicia to rise in revolt. TheAustrian situation grew steadily worse butthey were given a reprieve by the Poles'Russian 'allies,' who so devastated the areasthey operated in that Poniatowski had todispatch large parts of his army to protect hisown people from their 'friends.' There wasno question though, that given time, Charleswould have to watch his northern flank aswell as his southern.

The stage was now almost set for Napoleonto attempt another attack on Charles. Hecalled up Wrede's Bavarian division, but couldnot bring up any more Bavarian troops,because the Tyrol had once more exploded inrevolt. Innsbruck had again fallen to theTyrolian insurgents and raids were beingmade into the Danube valley in an attempt tobreak the French line of communication. Thisproblem would not be solved until theAustrians were knocked out of the war.

As Charles waited for the hammer blowhe was sure would come, he looked to thewest for help. Britain had promised theHabsburgs a raid in force on Germany. Thisplan had evolved into an attack on Antwerp,now the major French naval arsenal, whichwas much more to London's liking. Toaccomplish this goal, a huge armada hadbeen assembled and supplies gathered - aforce that Wellington would have envied.However, May became June and June becameJuly with no sign of the British. Intelligencewas such that there was no doubt of theinvasion coming, but when it would happenwas unknown even to Parliament. Napoleonmade what provision he could to repel an

attack, and then carried on with his plansfor Charles.

Wagram

Lobau had become a huge warehouse. By theday of the battle the army had grown to190,000 men. Charles had only 140,000 tooppose them. Napoleon had retaken hisformer fete de pout on the north bank and itwas from there that Charles expected theattack to come. However, Napoleon wasplanning to drop bridges from the east edgeof the island and swing around the Austrianpositions from the south and east. Then in ahuge wheeling motion, he would drive theAustrians away from the Danube andbring over the remainder of his army fromthe now undefended tête du pont. He putthis plan into effect on the morning of5 July 1809.

Under cover of a violent thunderstorm, theFrench constructed the bridges needed totransport the corps of Davout, Massena, andOudinot. The Austrian skirmish line wasdriven off or captured and the crossing tookplace with only light opposition. MarshalBerthier, when issuing the orders to the corps,had accidentally given the same crossing totwo corps. This caused a several hour delay tosort out the traffic jam, but finally all threecorps were across. Deploying on an east-westaxis the French drove all enemies beforethem. Supporting these efforts, Napoleonopened up a terrific bombardment from hisprepared positions on Lobau.

All was going well for Napoleon. Insteadof finding the main Austrian army inpositions around Aspern-Essling, all he facedwas the outpost divisions of Nordmann andKlenau. The main Habsburg army waspositioned five miles away, centered on thevillage of Wagram. The few battered troopsto deal with the French onslaught weredriven back and by noon all enemiesopposite Lobau were gone. By this time,Bernadotte's Saxon Corps had joined theother three and they began an advance overthe Marchfeld towards the main Austrian

The fighting 41

position, with more French and Allied troopsentering the plain from the Lobau bridges.

Charles had sent a message to his brotherJohn to move from his positions nearPressburg and hurry to the battlefield, butJohn's men were scattered along the Danubeand he failed to appreciate the urgency ofCharles' request. It would be early the nextmorning before he would get his force onthe road. While John dawdled, Charles andEmperor Francis watched the French advancewith increasing trepidation.

As the four leading corps fanned out overthe Marchfeld, the heavy cavalry positionedon the Austrian right tried to disrupt theadvance by charging the Saxon cavalryopposite them. Although initially successful,they were soon driven back by the lighterSaxon horse. It had been a brave attempt bythe Austrians, but they had had themisfortune to face the finest line cavalry inthe world. There would be no further

After the failure of the bridges over the Danube duringthe battle of Aspern-Essling, Napoleon did not intend tobe dangerously exposed again. He supervised the bridgebuilding himself before the battle of Wagram. (Myrbach,Musee de I'armee)

attempts to stop Napoleon's deployment.It was now approaching evening and

Napoleon decided to try to exploit the gainsmade during the day. Ever fearful that hisadversary would slip away during the night,he ordered an assault along the line. Hismistake would be a lack of effective effort tocoordinate the several corps.

At about 7.00 pm Oudinot's Corps, withthe support of Dupas' small division fromBemadotte's Corps, attacked the center ofthe enemy line. The defense was centeredaround Baumersdorf. Spearheading theassault was Grandjean's division, the best inthe army apart from the Guard. The 'Terrible57th' Line attacked the southern end of thevillage and drove out two regiments facing


it, capturing many Austrians. Theycontinued over the little Russbach streamand into the northern half of the town.Here their furious attack ran out of steam,for Hardegg's men dug in and would notbudge. The Austrians knew that if thetown was taken, their position would behopelessly compromised. Both sides laiddown a withering fire and casualtiesmounted.

While this action was taking place, the10th Legere had crossed the marshy streamand had begun to climb the slopes beyond.Charles was there and knew that if theheights were taken, Baumersdorf would bequickly surrounded and would certainly fall.He ordered one of his cavalry regiments, theVincent Chevaulegers, to charge. Here was afight between one of the best cavalryregiments in the Habsburg army and one ofthe best French infantry regiments. The firstround went to the French and the cavalryrecoiled. Charles regrouped them and theycame on again, only to suffer the sameresult. While the 10th Legere repulsed thecharges, their progress was temporarilyhalted. They waited for two more divisionsof Oudinot's Corps to come up on theirflank. These two divisions were made up ofthe conscripts of the 4th battalions. Theyhad little stomach for the murderousartillery barrage that was pouring down onthem. After a brief attempt to advance theyhalted, then fell back.

The retreat of Oudinot's two divisions leftGrandjean's men isolated. It was at thismoment that Charles turned to thetwice-repulsed Vincent Chevaulegers andsaid: 'It is clear that you are no longerLatour's dragoons.' This was a reference totheir heroic past. Stung by the reproach, theregiment charged once more, with the corpscommander, Hohenzollern, leading. The10th could no longer hold on. They fellback, firing as they went, and were drivenacross the stream. The repulse of the10th Legere left the flanks of the 57th Lineopen to attack, so they too had to retire. TheFrench assault in the center was over, withnothing to show for it.

To the left of this action the elements ofthe army of Italy now attempted to assaultthe Russbach heights. Led by GeneralMacdonald, three divisions crossed thestream and attacked. Pressing uphill againstthe Austrian gun line, they were on the vergeof breaking through when fresh Habsburgreserves counterattacked. Macdonald's menrecoiled down the slope but regrouped andwere beginning a fresh advance when theVincent Chevaulegers attacked from theright flank. The heroic cavalry unit hadrallied from their assault on the 10th Legereand, seeing the opportunity, charged. Seras'division gave way and routed to the rear.While Macdonald's right flank wascollapsing, his left was doing no better.General Dupas' division had crossed theRussbach and had become mired in theswampy ground. Finally extricatingthemselves, they made a first assault up theslopes. The Austrian fire drove them back,and as they retreated, Macdonald's reservesmistook the white-coated Saxons attached toDupas as Austrians and opened fire. Since itwas Italian troops initiating the fire, they toowere clad in white and the Saxons returnedfire. Before the generals could restore thesituation, the Italians had been badly shakenand the hapless Saxons had completelydispersed. When the panic caused by thesituation on its right flank rippled down theline, the entire army of Italy dissolved into arout. A disconsolate Eugene was comfortedby Macdonald with the words that the attackhad been ill-considered and that Napoleonwould soon realize it. He did.

With half of his small division destroyed,Dupas could not hold on for long. Soon hismen began to flee to the rear. As they headedback, they were passed by a brigade ofSaxons aiming to take Wagram. It was nownearly 8.00 pm and Bernadotte had sentforward his three remaining infantrybrigades one at a time. Napoleon hadrealized that if the Saxon attack was to haveany hope of success, it had to have artillerysupport, so he deployed the horse artillery ofthe Guard and the Saxon and Bavarianbatteries to pulverize Wagram. The effect was

Wagram

, second day

Th

e fighting 4

3


devastating and allowed the single Saxonbrigade to gain a foothold in the town.Caught in a fierce firefight, the outnumberedSaxons held on until the next brigade cameup. These men penetrated to the other sideof Wagram but a counterattack threw themback. Retreating through the gloom andsmoke, they fell back to the third and finalbrigade of Bernadotte's troops which hadfinally entered the battle. Once more, theSaxons were mistaken for Austrians and werefired upon by their own side. With fire fromfriend and foe alike, their morale collapsedand they fled. This rout started a generalpanic and soon all hard-won gains weregone. The panicking infantry fell backtoward Aderklaa under the protection oftheir cavalry and guns. This attack had beenas dismal a failure as the others.

As Bernadotte's men had stepped off ontheir attack, Davout on the far French righthad crossed the Russbach and had met stiffresistance. Aware that darkness would makecoordination of any attack impossible,Davout wisely called it off and retreated tohis starting position.

The first day ended with the French armyunnerved by the mauling they had received.They were, though, firmly on the Marchfeldand still under their Emperor. During thenight, Charles surveyed the situation. Thingshad gone well, but it was too late to changethe orders for the next day. These called for adouble envelopment attack on the French.He had a sizable force that could attack onhis right, but unless Archduke John arrivedsoon, his left attack stood no chance.Napoleon planned for Davout on his right tobe the main attack, and for his other corps tobe committed as Davout's attack developed.

Napoleon felt confident that withAderklaa held and several corps in reserve,ready to fill any gaps that might develop, hisplan could succeed. What he did not knowwas that Bernadotte had pulled out ofAderklaa at 3.00 am and fallen back athousand yards. While it was true that theSaxon Corps had been roughly treated, topull out of such a key position was to invitedisaster. Bernadotte felt his men had been

One of the finest French generals, Andre Massena.Wagram was his last victory, and owed much to hisperformance, though he was confined to his carriage bya previous wound. (Ann Ronan Picture Library)

mistreated and deserved reinforcementswhich had not come. Telling anyone whowould listen that he could have turned theAustrians out of their position by a 'tellingmaneuver,' he would earn Napoleon's wraththe following day when these words reachedthe Emperor's ears.

The morning of 6 July 1809 broke hot andsweltering. Several of Charles' corps hadbeen on the march since the early hours.The key to Charles' attack was to turn bothof the French flanks and drive to thebridgehead at Lobau. There he could cut offthe French retreat and hopefully inducepanic in the enemy. The main attack on theFrench left would be spearheaded byKlenau's 6th Corps, with the support ofKolowrat's 3rd Corps. Charles further hopedthat John would appear on the French right

The fighting 45

Portrait of General Macdonald. He wore his oldRevolutionary War uniform for Wagram. emphasizingthat he had only just been rehabilitated after along period of disgrace. After the battle he wascompensated with the award of a marshal's baton.

and close the trap from that direction. Tosupport this he ordered Rosenberg's4th Corps to attack Davout's 3rd Corps.John's arrival would fall on Davout's flankand seal the victory.

Klenau's initial cannonade broke themorning stillness at about 4.00 am. Facingthem initially was Boudet's single division ofMassena's 4th Corps. Seeing the attack begin,Massena sent Legrand's division to aidBoudet. They would face the full wrath ofKolowrat's men. Badly outnumberedLegrand's division stood for a brief timebefore being overwhelmed, and a hole severalmiles wide was opened in the French line.

While this was taking place, Boudet's menwere grimly holding on to the charred ruinsof Aspern. Supporting their defense were twobatteries of guns, which poured fire into thepowerful tide of white-coated Austrians.When Legrand's division gave way and theFrench line was breached, Austrian cavalryflooded into the gap, circled around thenorthern flank of Boudet, and came chargingdown his flank and rear. The exposed

gunners were sabered and when an infantryregiment went into the plain to rescue theartillery, it too was cut up. At the same timethe left flank of Boudet was turned and soonalmost all of his division panicked and brokefor the rear. A brief stand was made atEssling, but there was to be no repetition ofthe hotly contested fighting of two monthsearlier. Essling was soon clear of the French.It was only as Klenau's men approached thetête de pont that the vast number of gunsleft on the island stopped the pursuit. Thefirst half of Charles' plan had beenachieved, but Klenau had no support, forKolowrat had stopped his advance and waslending lukewarm support to the actiondeveloping around Aderklaa. Further therewas no sign of a closing pincer comingfrom the other flank.

Rosenberg had made a good start. Hisattack has surprised Davout's men and sentthe outposts streaming to the rear in panic.However, once stability had returned to theFrench ranks, the attack petered out andquiet fell in that part of the field.

Napoleon had intended the attack byDavout to be a decisive blow. While theAustrian attack had failed to drive Davoutfrom his position, it had cost the French inthe area much of their ammunition. It wouldnow take several hours of re-supply andprepare for the planned attack. Perhaps moreimportant was that news of Rosenberg'sattack caused Napoleon to shift his reservesto the French right, away from the areawhere later it would be needed most.

The village of Aderklaa was a key positionon the battlefield and both commandersrecognized this. Charles had ordered hisI Corps under Bellegarde to attack and takethe village. Napoleon believed that theSaxon Corps under Bernadotte was still inpossession of Aderklaa and he sent most ofMassena's Corps to support them, butBernadotte had pulled his battered men fromthe position as he felt that it was tooexposed to the tremendous artilleryconcentration in the area. That danger wasreal enough, but the loss of this key positionposed an even greater threat.


Bellegarde's troops were able to take thevillage with few losses and began to dig in.When Napoleon returned from his ride toDavout's position, he ordered Bernadotte'smen to retake Aderklaa. The Saxons came onbut were devastated by the Habsburg guns thatthe marshal had so feared the night before.Soon the shaken men gave way and fled to therear. Bernadotte was carried along with them,frantically trying to rally his men, with littleeffect, when he came into the Emperor'spresence. Napoleon shook his head and askedif this was the 'telling maneuver' of whichBernadotte had spoken. The marshal had little

time to wallow in this humiliation, however,as the Saxon infantry retreat continued forsome time.

In truth much of the French left hadeffectively ceased to exist. The onlyorganized force was some cavalry and theremaining two divisions of Massena's4th Corps. These were now sent to attackAderklaa. Carra St Cyr's division went intothe attack to Massena's call to 'throw outthat merde.' The men came on through a hailof cannon shot and at the points of theirbayonets ejected the Austrians from thehouses. Following up their victory, St Cyr's

The fighting 47

men carried on past the village. They hadgone beyond their effective support and werecounterattacked so successfully that two oftheir 'sacred' eagles were lost. Charles hadbeen on the spot to rally his retreating menand led them forward to retake Aderklaa.Charles was wounded in the conflict, takinga bullet in the shoulder.

As St Cyr's men reeled back from thefighting, Massena sent in his last reserve,Molitor's division. These were the men whohad held on to Aspern against all odds inMay. They first repelled a vicious cavalryattack, then fell upon the defenders of the

Napoleon snatching a moment's nest on the battlefield ofWagram, his staff and household at work around him.(Edimedia)

burning village. Yard by yard, Aderklaa fellinto Molitor's hands, despite severalattempts to reclaim it for the Habsburgs.It was just past 9.00 am and the battle hungin the balance.

As Napoleon's reserves made their wayback from their march to the right flank,Charles organized a massive assault againstAderklaa. He committed his 1st ReserveCorps of elite grenadiers to support theefforts of Bellegarde's attack from the northand Kolowrat's from the south. Thisattack came after a two-hour pounding fromover 100 Austrian guns. Seeing that theirretreat would soon be cut off and down toalmost half their number, Molitor's troopsevacuated the village, firing as they went.Unlike the Saxons, however, they remained acohesive force.

Napoleon now needed to buy some time.With Davout's attack at last underway,Napoleon needed to hold his front longenough to allow Davout to win the battle.His first concern was to deal with the threatto his rear from Klenau, so he sent theremains of Massena's Corps south. He thenordered much of his center to swing to thewest and align themselves to face theadvancing troops under Kolowrat andLiechtenstein's reserve grenadiers. Thismaneuver would take over an hour. To buythis time, Napoleon sent in his heavy cavalryunder Nansouty. The 4,000 cuirassiers andcarabineers swept across the open plain. TheAustrian cannon rounds plowed the eartharound them and tore holes through theirranks, but the cavalry came on, and aftercrushing one battalion, dashed themselvesupon the grenadier squares. Here they hadno effect. They swung around the squaresand charged the Austrian gun line from theflank. Before they could do much good,however, they were themselves charged inthe flank by Austrian cavalry which hadhurried up. The melee was brief, and soonthe remaining French horse were flying back


to the safety of their lines. The charge haddone little more than stall the Austrians.

While the cavalry was creating this costlydiversion, Napoleon ordered a massivebattery to be formed opposite Rosenberg'smen. Made up mostly of Imperial Guardartillery, it had 112 guns and wascommanded by General Lauriston. Gallopinginto position under a hail of fire from theAustrian guns, the grand battery set up andbegan to bombard the luckless 3rd Corps.This was the largest concentration of artilleryever assembled during a field battle and itseffect was devastating. First Kolowrat's gunswere silenced, then the massed Austrianinfantry was targeted. The solid rounds torethrough the Austrian formations, taking outentire files with a single shot. To add to thesehorrors, the dry grass ignited and many ofthe wounded on both sides were burnedalive. Several times the Austrians tried todislodge the guns, but they were pulverizedbefore they could have any real effect. Thetide was finally turning in Napoleon's favor.

Davout had prepared his attack againstMarkgrafneusiedl, the linchpin of theAustrian left, with a heavy artillerybombardment. After pounding much of thevillage into rubble and setting many of thebuildings alight, Davout sent forward hisfour divisions. Those under Morand andFriant swung to the right of the village,while the other two, under Puthod andGudin, went straight in. Morand and Friantadvanced in echelon to the right and hit theback of the village. The leading troops werestopped and the Austrian general Nordmannsaw an opportunity to turn Morand's flank.Driving off one regiment with his attack,Nordmann was in turn hit in the flank byFriant's men. In the fighting Nordmann waskilled, and soon his men were running tothe rear.

Markgrafneusiedl was still in Austrianhands though, and the divisions of Puthodand Gudin were making slow progress. Indesperate house-to-house fighting Davout'smen eventually evicted Rosenberg's men.The fighting continued past the village tothe medieval tower above. This was taken

and retaken several times until it was finallyin French hands.

It was now around noon and thewounded Charles arrived with fresh troopsto stem the French tide. His cavalry was ableto repel the first assault, but was finallyoverwhelmed by superior numbers. Thewhole of the Austrian line on the Russbachheights began to give way and retreat tothe west.

When Napoleon received the news of thecapture of Markgrafneusiedl, he assumed,correctly, that any enemy reserves were beingsent in that direction to try to stop Davout.Knowing that the Habsburg line wasstretched to breaking point, he launchedGeneral Macdonald's three small divisions atthe Austrian center. Macdonald formed hismen into a huge square and began theadvance. Supported by Wrede's Bavariandivision on his right, the huge phalanxlumbered forward. The remaining Austrianguns turned all available fire upon them. Itwas impossible to miss a target of this size,and Macdonald's men paid a fearful price.On they came, nevertheless, and soon thedevastated Austrian line began to yield. Ahole was created, but soon closed becausethere were no cavalry to exploit the victory.With the Guard cavalry commander, MarshalBessieres, badly wounded in Nansouty'searlier attack, the orders to bring on theGuard cavalry were never executed. Isolated,Macdonald's men had to finally give wayand fall back the way they had come. Themoment passed and the complete victoryslipped away.

In the south, Massena had evictedKlenau's men from Essling and Aspern andKlenau was now in full retreat, having comewithin a hair of winning the day, but havingreceived no support.

Victory was in the capable hands ofDavout and he was making the most of it.Austrians in one position after another onthe Russbach heights had to turn and facehis flanking attack, while the Frenchopposite these positions added their weightto the onslaught. These were Oudinot's2nd Corps and Marmont's Corps. The

The fighting 49

pressure from two sides was too much andCharles ordered a retreat toward Bohemia.By 2.00 pm the field was in French hands,but the decimated French-Allied army hadno appetite for pursuit. Once the victory wasassured, many men collapsed in placeand rested.

It was about 4.00 pm when ArchdukeJohn's first troops arrived on the field.Besides scaring some understandablyskittish Saxons, he could do no good. Aftersizing up the situation, he too ordered aretreat to Bohemia.

The cost of the fighting

Losses on both sides were staggering,approximately 40,000 killed, wounded andmissing from each army. Among the upperranks losses had been equally devastating.The French lost five generals killed and38 wounded. The Austrians, less apt to leadfrom the front, still had four generals killedand 13 wounded. As a result of the battle,Napoleon honored three generals on thebattlefield. He made Oudinot, Marmont, andMacdonald into marshals. Bernadotte wasdismissed from command after he issued aletter of congratulation to the Saxons, givingthem great credit in the preceding day'sbattle. This was the Emperor's purview andBernadotte had once more overstepped hisauthority. The act was particularly gallinggiven that his withdrawal from Aderklaa hadcost the French so dearly, but his earliercomments had not been forgotten either.

The following day the French reorganizedtheir army while Charles retreated towardZnaim. Marmont's Corps caught up with theAustrians on the evening of 10 July and triedto pin the Habsburgs before they couldretreat across the Thaya River. Though hetook heavy losses, Marmont succeeded inpinning much of the army until Napoleonshowed with reinforcements. The battle wasin full progress the following day when anAustrian rode out between the lines with anarmistice request. Many French veteranswept at the thought of their old enemy

escaping once more with a punitivepeace treaty.

Napoleon met with Liechtenstein and aone-month truce was signed. Napoleonneeded the rest to recoup from this bloodycampaign, as did the Austrians. The latterhoped though that they could gain someleverage from the now imminently expectedBritish invasion of the Dutch coast.

After months of dithering, the Britishforce finally set sail in the last week of July1809. Their object was the port of Antwerpand its naval base, but first the British had totake the island of Walcheren. Located at themouth of the Scheldt River, they needed theisland as a base of operations from which tolaunch the attack on Antwerp. The army,under the Earl of Chatham, was thestrongest Britain could muster and the navalsupport enormous.

A 20,000-strong force landed on theisland and advanced on Flushing. Defendingthis fortified town was a rag-tag force underGeneral Monnet. While delays allowed theFrench to send over more troops, the finaloutcome seemed predetermined. Monnetflooded the island, which is mostly belowsea level, delaying the British advance, butwhen the massive fleet ran the French fort atthe mouth of the Scheldt, the Britishbombardment secured the outcome. On15 August, the French asked for surrenderterms.

Chatham's victory was in vain, for hetook far too long organizing his force topush up the Scheldt for Antwerp. Probeswere made in several directions, but no firmdecision was taken about which path totake. Meanwhile Bernadotte had beenappointed to take over command of thedistrict defenses. Sensing that this wasperhaps his last chance to recover hisreputation, Bernadotte pitched in andorganized his forces so that every Britishattempt was frustrated.

As continued attempts were made to seeka weak spot in the French defenses, avirulent fever broke out in the British army.The marshy ground of Walcheren was aperfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and


soon 100 men were dying each day. Aftermore than a month of terrible losses theBritish gave up and set sail for home.There recriminations waited for all theleaders involved.

In the Tyrol, Napoleon sent in troops insuch numbers that the outcome was nolonger in doubt The rebels were suppressedone band at a time. Finally, AndreasHofer was captured and sent to his trialand martyrdom. After that, all rebellionwas quelled.

As the months dragged on, Napoleonwaited for the negotiations in the ViennesePalace of Schönbrunn to reach a conclusion.There he put on parades and entertained hisAustrian counterparts. He even had time tore-visit the battlefield of Austerlitz, scene ofhis greatest triumph. Once the Walcherenexpedition had failed, it was merely a matterof working out the details of the penalty tobe suffered by the Habsburgs for theirviolation of peace and their alliance with thehated British.

It was during one of many reviews at thistime that General Rapp noticed a young manacting suspiciously. Searching him he founda large knife. The young Saxon, FriedrichStapps, soon confessed to planning toassassinate Napoleon. Brought before theEmperor, he explained that the reason for hisplan was to liberate his subject country.Napoleon offered clemency for an apology,but Stapps refused. His plot and subsequentexecution deeply troubled Napoleon. Thiswas the tip of the iceberg, a symptom ofgrowing German nationalism. The FrenchRevolution had spread the modern ideas ofliberty, but the young men of Europe did notnecessarily believe that it should happenunder French rule. However, these werespecters of the future: for the time being,there was peace to be settled.

Heading up the negotiations for Franciswas Prince Metternich. He had the same goalas Charles, the preservation of the HabsburgEmpire. Promising peace and friendship, hesucceeded in fooling Napoleon into makingmore modest demands for peace than hecould have exacted. Napoleon received

Carinthia, Carniola, and the Adriatic ports;part of Galicia was regained by the Poles; theSalzburg area of the Tyrol was given to theBavarians; and the small Tarnopol area wasgiven to the treacherous Russians. However,most of the hereditary lands remained withFrancis' crown.

Napoleon made the critical error ofbelieving that a permanent peace with thegreat monarchies of Europe was possible.Austria, Russia, and Prussia believed thatpeace should only be made in order to regainlost strength, but that ultimately the'Corsican usurper' had to be removed. Itwould have been better for Napoleon had hedismantled the Habsburg holdings, perhapsgiving Bohemia to Bavaria or Saxony,making Hungary independent, and leavingthe Habsburgs with Austria alone. Thisarrangement would have left Austria in noposition to turn against him, as they woulddo four years later. Metternich understood allthis, and directed negotiations towards amore moderate conclusion.

A false peace

The year 1809 had been difficult for EmperorNapoleon. He had withstood threats onevery front. When peace was finally signed,on 14 October 1809 at the Schönbrunnpalace, Napoleon was already planning totake the Austrian princess Marie-Louise as hisnew wife. Josephine could no longer bearchildren, and Napoleon believed that a sonand heir was needed to continue the regime.Originally, Napoleon had approached TsarAlexander with the idea of marrying hissister Catherine, but because the dowagerempress rejected the idea of a family alliancewith heretic France, or because of a possibleincestuous relationship with her, Alexanderhad spurned the offer. He quickly married offCatherine to the Prince of Oldenburg andkept her at close quarters. The offer to marrythe younger sister Anne was put off until shewas older.

Napoleon was no fool and knew he hadbeen rejected a second time. So when peace

The fighting 51

came with Austria, he turned his attention tocreating an alliance with them instead.Metternich could not have been happier, asthis sacrifice assured that Napoleon turnedhis eyes away from the Habsburgs. Marriedby proxy, the princess was brought toFrance where Napoleon met her nearCompiegne and hosted the bridal partyprior to the formal church wedding held inthe Louvre. While the marriage was hailed asa harbinger of peace for Europe, many ofNapoleon's men felt that the ideals of theRevolution were being lost and that theirgood luck charm, Josephine, had beendiscarded.

Josephine went to Malmaison where shelived out most of her remaining life.Napoleon saw her little, for Marie-Louiseresented the continuing friendship.Napoleon clearly loved his new bride andshe him. He became much more domesticand housebound, and the pace of hisprevious frenetic activity slackened. The warin Spain was not going as well as it should,but he never managed to pull himself awayfrom his bride long enough to take the fieldin Spain again.

One of the greatest armadas Britain had ever seenbombarding the fortress of Flushing on the Dutch coast.(National Maritime Museum)

The new empress fulfilled her part in thebargain as she was soon pregnant. It was on19 March 1811 that the King of Rome,Napoleon II, was born.

T h e w a r w i t h Russia, 1812

CausesWhile Napoleon and his new bride visitedsights around his empire in 1810 and1811, the relationship with Russia wasdeteriorating. Tsar Alexander had been underpressure ever since Tilsit in 1807 to break therestrictions on trade that the treaty hadimposed. His first response was to permitopen smuggling, but this was soon decried bythe French and he looked for another answer.

Napoleon was well aware of Alexander'sduplicity. The rejection of Napoleon'smarriage proposal and the lacklusterperformance of the Russians in 1809 hadirritated Napoleon so much that he struck


back by incorporating large parts ofGermany and the Balkans into the Frenchempire. Included in this was the Duchy ofOldenburg, whose ruler had just marriedinto the Tsar's family.

Alexander resented these actionsintensely. He was even affronted byNapoleon's marriage to an Austrian princess.He declared in December of 1810 that hewould no longer refuse to trade with neutrals

Napoleon had difficulty in believing thatAlexander wanted war, but he prepared toassemble his army in Poland to deal with theerrant ally. Napoleon approached the Swedeswith the prospect of regaining Finland shouldthey join the war effort. Bernadotte hadbecome the Swedish crown prince and defacto ruler, and he was more than willing tolisten to these proposals, but the Frenchambassador in Stockholm became incensedthat Sweden continued to trade with neutralsand broke off relations. Bernadotte went toTsar Alexander looking for a better deal. Hewas offered Norway, a Danish possession, forhis cooperation. Bernadotte accepted andturned his back on his homeland. Alexanderwould find that Bernadotte was as unreliablean ally in 1812 as he had been a marshal forNapoleon.

Russia wanted war by the beginning of 1811and was making plans to invade Poland. Onlypoor finances made this impossible. A signalsuccess in Turkey led to a peace that releasedRussian troops in the south for use againstNapoleon. Alexander had a million men underarms by 1812, but they were scatteredthroughout the vast Russian territories. It tookenormous time to mobilize them, but this hadsome advantages for the Tsar.

In Paris a spy ring had been discovered,which particularly embarrassed Napoleon.One of the key players was AlexanderTchernishev, a Russian colonel who had madefriends with Napoleon. The Emperor wasparticularly chagrined to discover, after theRussian's return to Moscow, that a worker inthe French Ministry of War had been handingover to the spy every return of the troops inthe field. When this was announced, it wastreated as proof of Russia's bad faith.

Napoleon had his own successes. TheFrench Foreign Minister Champigny showeda forged document to the King of Prussiaindicating that the Tsar proposed theelimination of Prussia in the near future.This threw the King into France's arms andhe provided a corps for the war effort againstRussia. Austria was equally compliant. Whenpromised that they would be able to keeptheir existing territories if they contributed30,000 men, they quickly agreed.

Napoleon had received repeated warningsthat to invade Russia could be disastrous,particularly from Caulaincourt, his recentambassador to St Petersburg. But Caulaincourthad been fooled before by Alexander'sprotestations. Napoleon assumed that threatsof war to the death should the Russianborders be violated were nothing more thanbluster. What Napoleon did not know wasthat the vacillating Tsar had experienced amystical vision in which he saw himself asGod's shield against the Antichrist Napoleon.This gave the barely-sane Tsar a new resolve.

By August 1811 Napoleon had acceptedthat war was inevitable. He began to plan forthe campaign the following year, with600,000 men beginning their march to theborders of Russia, with few knowing theirfinal destination.

Napoleon enters Russia

The French-Allied invasion force designatedfor the campaign was divided into fivecommands. The three central armies werecommanded by Napoleon, his brotherJerome, who was King of Westphalia, and hisstepson Eugene Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy.One of the two flanking armies, thesouthern, was commanded by the AustrianPrince Schwarzenberg, while MarshalMacdonald led a combined French andPrussian corps. Napoleon's main force wasmade up of the Guard, Davout's 1st Corps,Ney's 3rd Corps, and two reserve cavalrycorps under Montbrun, and Nansouty. Onhis right Jerome had Poniatowski's (Polish)5th Corps, Vandamme's (Westphalian)

The fighting 53

8th Corps, and Reynier's (Saxon) 7th Corps,plus a cavalry corps under Latour-Maubourg. Eugene commanded his own4th Corps, the 6th Corps under St Cyr, anda cavalry corps under Grouchy. In all, thecentral forces totaled some 320,000 men.The central army began to cross theRiver Niemen early in the morning of 24June 1812. The flanking armies, with

Mane-Louise. Napoleons Austrian princess bride. (AnnRonan Picture Library)

another 115,000 men, also began theiradvance. Less than half Napoleon's menwere French.

The Russians were divided into threearmies: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armies of theWest, deployed over a wide front. The largest


of these armies was the 1st, commanded byBarclay de Tolly. His 126,000 men werefurther subdivided, for the 1st Corps underWittgenstein was separated by 100 milesfrom the main army, and Platov's Cossackswere even further away forming a link withBagration's 2nd Army. Bagration had about47,000 under his command, divided intotwo corps. The 3rd Army, under Tormasov,some 45,000 men, was so dispersed that itwould take several weeks to bring it together.A further 30,000 reserves under AdmiralChichagov would be called up from theCrimea during the campaign. All told theRussian field armies were outnumberedalmost two to one.

Napoleon's strategy was to advance uponBarclay and then turn and crush Bagrationwhen his anticipated advance into Polandbrought him into range. Ironically, this fittedwell with General Phull's plan for the Tsar.Phull, a Prussian in exile, had convinced theTsar that a fortified camp at Drissa would actas the anvil to Bagration's hammer. Just priorto Napoleon's invasion, however, others inthe Russian high command convinced theTsar that an initial defensive strategy wasrequired when new intelligence revealed thatNapoleon's army was much larger thanpreviously believed. So Bagration's offensivewas cancelled. When Barclay fell back towardhis camp at Drissa, Bagration began to fallback as well.

The French failure in the 1812 campaigncan be attributed to a number of factors.Much of the Franco-Allied army was madeup of recent conscripts. These soldiers werenot yet accustomed to the rigors of theextended marches that Napoleon required ofhis troops. Secondly, the supply system brokedown. While Napoleon had assembled thegreatest logistical train in history, the poorroads and lack of forage prevented thesupply wagons from keeping up with themain army. As the supply train failed,discipline went too. Men left the ranks tofind food and shelter, and many neverreturned. The long marches caused the men'shealth to break down and they diedingloriously from various maladies.

While the terrible hardship of the winterretreat is legendary, the stifling heatalternating with chilling thunderstormscaused more deaths on the march into theinterior of Russia than on the exit. Finally,the French were out-scouted throughout theentire campaign. The Russians knew theterrain and the French had few reliablesources of information. Murat, the King ofNaples, while dashing and the envy of everyallied cavalier as well as the Cossacks, ran hiscavalry into the ground. French cavalrymencomplained that they seldom had a chanceto unsaddle their horses, and the loss of mostof the good mounts would undermine manyof the later efforts of Napoleon's army andhaunt it for the rest of the Napoleonic era.

All these factors combined to doomNapoleon's enterprise. Many losses mighthave been avoided by a slower advance withfrequent stops to rest and allow the supplyto catch up. However, that would haveeliminated any chance of catching the

The fighting 55

Russian army and bringing them to thedecisive battle that Napoleon sought. Whilewe are ahead of our story, these causes of thedestruction of the Grande Armée werepervasive and had begun to tell from the firstday of the invasion. Indeed, the army'sexhaustion was already appreciable on theadvance to the frontier through Poland.

While his intelligence reports were slowand not very reliable, Napoleon soon came torecognize that his best opportunity for aquick victory was to pin Bagration's armyagainst the Pripet marshes. He devised apincer movement, hoping to catch theRussians between Davout's 1st Corps, on theleft, and Jerome's army, on the right. Once hearrived in Vilna, recently vacated by the Tsarand the main Russian army command,Napoleon sent Davout and two divisions withcavalry support to move toward Minsk. At thesame time, Jerome was to keep in contactwith Bagration's force and trap and destroyBagration between the two French

commands. However, Jerome had made littleprogress, and by the time he got his menmoving, a violent thunderstorm made theroads virtually impassable. He fell furtherbehind schedule, and compounded hisfailings by not keeping Napoleon informed ofhis progress. Jerome quarreled with his corpscommander General Vandamme and thenrelieved him. This was the only informationforwarded to the French emperor. Napoleon'sresponse was to send a blistering letter back,berating Jerome for letting a wonderfulopportunity slip away. He also sent a secretmessage to Davout, putting him in commandshould a battle with Bagration appear to beimminent. Jerome did little to communicatewith headquarters and sat in Grodno for aweek awaiting orders, despite instructions topress Bagration.

Napoleon commencing the campaign, crossing

the River Niemen which was then the Russian frontier

(Musée de I'armee)


Jerome Napoleon, posing here before one of his palaces, enjoyed areputation as a playboy prince. But not content as the King ofWestphalia, he wanted to rival his brother Napoleon as a general.His failure to perform his role was an important factor inNapoleon's defeat in Russia. (Roger-Viollet)

The fighting 57

For over two weeks Napoleon stayed inVilna trying to gather the informationrequired to formulate a new plan of attack.He called upon Schwarzenberg to move hisarmy to support Jerome, leaving only a smallcorps under Reynier to watch Tormasov's3rd Army. The latter had been badlyunderestimated because of poor intelligence.As these orders went out, there was littleNapoleon could do but wait. The raincontinued and supply suffered.

To the north, Macdonald was slowlyadvancing on Riga. There was little to opposehim besides the Cossacks, but again theFrench and Prussian troops provedineffective in scouting. South of Macdonald,Oudinot was advancing upon the DrinaRiver. Ney was ordered to support him, butin the wooded countryside was unable tokeep contact with his fellow marshal.

On 4 July, Napoleon was still in Vilna andBarclay was approaching the fortified campof Drissa, along with Phull's adjutant, vonClausewitz. He was horrified when they atlast arrived upon the scene. The camp wascompletely inadequate for their purposes and

to try to defend it would surely result in aRussian disaster. Barclay's army was beingdrained of men, like the French, and heneeded to rest for several days in order tostop the hemorrhaging.

Alexander was in a nervous state and tornby conflicting advice he was receiving fromall sides. Barclay advised retreat upon the lineof supply, while Bagration and others wouldnot consider giving up one more foot ofRussian soil. Two political camps haddeveloped. One centered on Barclay andvarious 'foreign' advisors around the Tsar; theother centered on ultra-nationalists whofollowed Arakcheev and Bagration. These twofactions sent advice and poison-pen letters tothe Tsar, who vacillated in order to try tokeep the peace.

One aspect where the inconclusiveness ofAlexander's policies was shown mosttellingly was in unity of command. The twomain armies under Barclay and Bagration

The Grande Armée crossing a river during the advanceinto Russia. Many of the losses to horses and menoccurred during this exhausting march.


1812 Russian campaign to the French invasion of Moscow

needed to act in concert to have any hope ofstopping the invader, but no general-in-chiefwas appointed. Barclay theoreticallycommanded Bagration by virtue of beingminister of war, but Bagration outrankedBarclay by seniority and had been Barclay'scommander in a previous campaign. It seemsthat Alexander wanted the coordination tobe handled by Barclay, but to avoid thewrath of the ultra-nationalists, he nevermade this formal. To further complicate thesituation, Bagration believed that Barclay wasbehind a campaign to discredit him andallow the 2nd Army to be crushed. There isno evidence of this, but Bagration wasobsessed by the thought.

One thing was certain: as long asAlexander failed to lead, yet remained inthe field, Russia's prospects were bleak. Aparty of generals, led by Arakcheev, and

statesmen, notably the secretary of stateShishkov, convinced the Tsar to leavethe front and rally the country to thecause. He left on 19 July and hurried toMoscow, where he called for a raising ofmore militia.

By 9 July, Napoleon had issued new orders,beginning a concentration between Bagrationand Barclay. By now Davout had taken Minskand was preparing to advance on Borisov. On12 July Jerome finally re-establishedcommunications with Davout and the twoforces were in a good position to attackBagration. Seeing the opportunity, Davoutapprised Jerome of Napoleon's secret ordergiving the marshal overall command on thisfront. Most likely transmitted in Davout's usualblunt manner, the insulted Jerome quit thearmy and left the command to Marchand. Thelatter had no instructions and understandably

The fighting 59

took several days to sort out the mess. In thattime, the opportunity slipped away.

Bagration fought a small battle againstDavout's lead column at Saltanovka on23 July but did not manage to break theFrench. He retreated and tried to slip aroundDavout's southern flank.

Barclay's first goal, after Alexander'sdeparture, was to link up with Bagration andinterpose himself between Napoleon andMoscow. He headed south-east towardVitebsk, where he hoped the junction wouldoccur. To protect the route to St Petersburg,he left General Wittgenstein to supportGeneral's Essen's men in Riga.

Napoleon had been maneuvering his armyto make a strike at Drissa. It took some timebefore his reconnaissance discovered that theblow would strike air. Finally divining that itwas Vitebsk that Barclay was heading for, heturned his army and made for the city. Herecalled Oudinot to protect his line ofcommunications. As Oudinot withdrew,Wittgenstein actively harassed him andfought a series of inconclusive actions. Thishad the effect of pinning Oudinot's men andpreventing them from close coordinationwith the main army. After the first battle ofPolotsk, on 18 August, where theoutnumbered Russians attacked Oudinot andfought him to a standstill, the front settleddown, with both sides digging in.

Barclay barely beat the French to Vitebsk.Marshal Murat had defeated a cavalryrearguard at Ostrovno on 25 July and learnedfrom prisoners that Barclay was ultimatelyheaded for Smolensk. Napoleon's army wasin bad shape and exhausted, so Napoleonhalted the advance on 29 July and waited forhis army to close up and for the laggingsupply to arrive. This pause of a weekallowed Bagration to swing around Davout'smen and head for Smolensk to join Barclay.

Word now reached Napoleon thatTormasov had defeated a portion of Reynier'sCorps, a small Saxon force at KobrinNapoleon ordered Schwarzenberg back tosupport Reynier against this unexpectedthreat. The initiative temporarily passed tothe Russians.

Once united with Bagration, Barclay'smind turned to the offensive. He was wellaware that the poison tongues ofSt Petersburg society were railing against the'foreigner' who had abandoned so much ofMother Russia. If he could now strikesuccessfully, his critics would be silenced, butthe continued lack of cooperation fromBagration and then a failure of resolve onBarclay's own part brought the plans tonothing. In the meantime, Napoleon wasclosing in on the Holy City of Smolensk.Only a heroic stand by General Neverovsky'sdivision at Krasnoi on 14 August preventedthe Russian army from being split in twoand destroyed.

Smolensk

Neverovsky fell back into Smolensk, a citydefended by massive ancient walls, and sentdesperate appeals for help. Barclay rushedGeneral Docturov's Corps to the rescue andthe French halted to plan for an assault.

The attack began just after noon on17 August. Leading his men, Marshal Neydrove the Russians out of the surroundingsuburbs and several times nearly cut thebridges over the Dnieper River. Napoleoncalled off the attack at 4.30 pm and broughtup more men to continue the next day.

That night, the Russian council of warsaw a heated debate between Barclay, GrandDuke Constantine, and Bagration. It wasclear that they were getting the worst of thefight, but the Tsar's thick-headed brother andthe hot-headed Bagration could think ofnothing besides the loss of anotherprovincial capital. Despite the opposition,Barclay ordered the retreat. Smolensk wasabandoned. Bagration started his 2nd Armyof the West on the road, but in doing so, lefta key ford uncovered. After Bagration'swithdrawal, Barclay was horrified to findthat Ney had crossed many of his men overthe river. The Russian counterattack failed todislodge Ney's men, and much of the1st Army's supplies had to be abandoned.Barclay started his hurried retreat on the


night of 18 August, and his menimmediately got lost.

As morning broke on 19 August, Ney'smen suddenly came upon Barclay's rearguardabout three miles from Smolensk. Probingthrough the broken terrain, Ney had no ideathat he had caught Barclay's main columnand was driving in its rear. Barclay turned hismen to face the growing threat. The Battle ofValutino swung back and forth for much ofthe day, as more French troops arrived. Atabout 4.00 pm Napoleon arrived and orderedGudin's division of Davout's Corps into theattack. This broke the Russian line. They fellback further to the east and established a newposition, and Ney began a bombardment toprepare for yet another assault.

Junot's 8th Corps had arrived on the fieldto the flank and rear of Barclay's men. Junothad been ordered to cross the Dnieperfurther downstream and move to support thecrossing of the remainder of the army. Themoment Napoleon sought had arrived. Thefate of the entire campaign might hang inthe balance. If Junot sent his men forward, avictory was assured, the only question wouldhave been its magnitude. Murat had movedwith Junot and urged him to attack, butJunot said he had no orders. Murat, whohimself did not fully appreciate theopportunity, rode off to find better terrain inwhich to operate his cavalry. Several localattacks were made by Junot's cavalry, ontheir own initiative, and all were successful.Yet Junot would not budge.

A mile away Ney made his attack as duskwas descending and once more dislodged theRussians. Darkness ended the battle, with theFrench never knowing how close they hadcome to winning the war. One more tragicnote for the French was that in the finalassault, General Gudin was fatally wounded.Gudin was one of the very best Frenchdivisional generals, a hero of 1806 and 1809,and from the beginning a stalwart supportto Davout.

As the two Russian armies streamedeastwards, their retreat was aided by a five-day rainstorm which allowed them to breakcontact. Napoleon rested his men prior to

resuming the advance on Moscow on24 August. He had received word thatSchwarzenberg had defeated Tormasov atGorodeczna on 12 August. This had relievedthe pressure on the southern flank and leftNapoleon in an aggressive mood. His lastchance to avoid disaster may have been tohalt and spend the winter in Smolensk, but italways appeared that his foe was just withinreach. A great victory like Austerlitz orFriedland and the campaign would be his.Three times he had the Russians within reach,only to watch them slip away. While his armywas dwindling, were not the Russians alsowatching their army drain away?

These same questions were haunting theTsar. With the failure to hold Smolensk, thedrum-beat for a 'proper Russian' to lead thearmy became too much. St Petersburg wasmilitant, demanding a change, and Alexanderremembered all too well that his father hadbeen murdered after losing the support of thenobles. He cast about for a general-in-chiefand finally, but reluctantly, chose GeneralMikhail Kutusov. While Kutusov was a hero ofthe Turkish War and a refined aristocrat,Alexander saw him as an intriguer and moraldegenerate, all probably true. Still, the newlycreated prince had the devout loyalty both ofhis men and of the xenophobic nobility.Barclay and Bagration kept their positions ascommanders of the 1st and 2nd Armiesrespectively.

Kutusov arrived with the Russian army on29 August 1812. He held several counsels inwhich he explained his determination tofight before Moscow while wanting toretreat until he found a proper site to offerbattle. It was at Bagration's suggestion thatthe fields around Borodino were chosen.Kutusov began to deploy his army on thesloping terrain and had redoubts dug onseveral rises.

Borodino

The leading elements of the French began toarrive on 5 September. They discovered aredoubt near the village of Shevardino,

The fighting 61

which was occupied by Russian artillery andprotected by a division of infantry withstrong light infantry and cavalry supports.Afternoon was passing, and Napoleonneeded to take the position so that he coulddeploy his men to face the rest of theRussian army waiting for him a mile-and-a-half beyond the redoubt. He ordered inCompans' 5th division of Davout's 1st Corps,supported by two cavalry corps. At the sametime the Emperor ordered Poniatowski'sPolish Corps to circle to the south and takethe position from the flank.

The French came on in skirmishformation and poured a terrific fire into theRussians. The latter responded as best theycould, with most damage coming from theircannon. The time had come to take theredoubt, and Compans sent in his besttroops. At the point of the bayonet, theTerrible 57th line swept the flankingdefenders away and entered the redoubt.

The battle of Vyazma on the way to Smolensk.(Roger-Viollet)

They found not a single man standing left tooppose them. The sun was setting and PrinceBagration mounted an attempt to retake thebloody position. His cavalry had a terrificclash with the French and got the best of it,but could not follow up in the darkness.Bagration claimed to have taken the redoubtand then withdrawn, but their relativelysmall losses suggest they did little more thanskirmishing. What is clear is that theRussians had a stiff fight over a relativelyuseless position.

Night fell cold and damp, and the Frenchcould only look on the Russian campfireswith envy as there was little firewood forthem to light their own. Napoleon workedthrough much of the night, making sure thatthe corps coming up moved to their properbattle positions.


Smolensk 17 August and Valutino 19 August

The following day both armiesreconnoitered their opponent's positionsand made plans for the battle. Kutusov haddeployed his men on a north-south axiswith Barclay's 1st Army in the north, behindthe Kolocha River, and Bagration's 2ndArmy in the south, anchored in a series ofwell built redoubts. The lynchpin toBagration's line, indeed the whole of theRussian position, was the Great Redoubt.This overlooked the crossing point of theriver above the village of Borodino. It wouldhave to be taken before Kutusov could bemade to yield. Its southern flank wasprotected by three smaller redoubts calledthe Fleches, positioned several hundredyards to the left.

Napoleon rode along the front examiningthe green-clad enemy and watching for anysign that they might once more slip away.He saw none and returned to his tent to rest,for he was feeling ill. There he presented a

painting of his son to the Guard. After awhile he had the portrait put away, sayingthat his son was 'too young to see thecarnage of the battlefield.' These words wereprophetic. An unwelcome omen arrived atabout this time. Napoleon received wordfrom Spain of Wellington's defeat of MarshalMarmont at Salamanca.

In his headquarters, Kutusov wasspending his time drinking and tradingstories with his staff. Most of the final detailswere left to his chief of staff, Bennigsen. Thiswas not altogether ideal since Bennigsen hadno firm idea of what Kutusov had in mind.In several instances he realigned troops to fithis own concepts, not knowing that theydisrupted his commander's plans. The mostcritical among these changes was Bennigsen'smoving Tuchkov's Corps out of a hiddenreserve position and into an exposedposition near the town of Utitsa. This wouldmean that when Poniatowski's Poles attacked

The fighting 63

the next day, they fell upon the exposedtroops.

During the night, Napoleon had hisreserve artillery arrive on the field, adding tothe already sizable number of guns. Hepositioned most of it to begin the battle witha bombardment. At about 6.00 am on 7September the earth shook as the French lineof guns opened fire. The Russians answeredwith their own cannon and soon the fieldwas covered with a thick blanket of blue-graysmoke. Thousands of solid shot plowed theearth and made bloody messes of those thatblocked their path.

Napoleon opened with Eugene's4th Corps attacking Borodino itself. TheFrench came through the smoke and fellupon the Russian Guard Jaegers. Thesetroops had been battered by the artillery andquickly gave way. The French rashly pursuedtoo far, however, and were themselvesdefeated. Eugene still held the town andused this position to deploy his guns so as tobring flanking fire upon the Great Redoubt.

Napoleon now ordered his main effort tobegin. He wanted to attack the whole of theRussian left flank. To accomplish the assaulthe sent in three divisions of Davout's

Borodino 7 September 1812


1st Corps against the three Fleches, and heordered Prince Poniatowski's 5th Corps toattack the position around Utitsa further tothe south. In support of both, he had Junot's8th Westphalian Corps.

Poniatowski had done little fighting inthe campaign so far, and was anxious tocome to grips with the hated Russians. Inhis impatience, he drove his men intoconstricted terrain and had to retrace hissteps to meet the enemy. This causedapproximately a two-hour delay. Napoleonwas unaware of this delay because of thesmoke and terrain. The lack of an immediatethreat to his front allowed Tuchkov to shiftone of his divisions north to aid Borozdin'sVIII Corps defending the Fleches. Bagration,whose army was taking these assaults, wasriding along his front and feeding in reservesas fast as he could.

Davout's leading division, Compans',drove forward against a terrific poundingdelivered by massed Russian guns. Yet hiselite 57th was able to seize the first of theredoubts, consolidate, and await the supportcoming up from Dessaix's division. Thissupport was not forthcoming since Dessaixwas intercepted by troops sent by Tuchkov.In a vicious fight along the Utitsa wood-line,Dessaix went down with a critical woundand his men first faltered, then fell back,leaving Compans' men unsupported.Compans went down wounded and Davouttook personal command. He too was slightlywounded and his French were ejected byBagration's grenadier reserves. Seeing theFrench fall back before him, Bagration senthis supporting cavalry forward in pursuit.

The splendid cavalry dashed down theslope and sabered the running infantry.Their charge carried into the squares formedby Friant's division, held in support byDavout. A swirling melee developed, but wascut short by Murat's French cavalry riding tothe rescue. The French cavaliers plowed intothe disordered ranks of the Russians and sentthem streaming back toward their own lines.

Napoleon now sent forward Ney's3rd Corps to renew the attack. Movingaround Davout's northern flank, he advanced

through the same barrage that had takensuch a toll on Davout's first wave. This attackwould match the two greatest firebrands inEurope; Ney and Bagration. The red-headedNey, sword in hand and leading from thefront, charged with his men and swept allbefore them. This time all three Fleches weretaken and the supporting guns overrun.Bagration countered by sending in hismassed cuirassiers. The pride of the Russiancavalry swept forward and ejected Ney's menfrom the hard-won positions. Marshal Murathad come forward with his cavalry and wascut off by the unexpected fury of the Russianheavy cavalry charge. Jumping into themiddle of a friendly Wurttemberg infantrybattalion, he rallied the shaken Germans sothat they fended off every attack and wereable to withdraw safely.

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Poniatowski and his Poles were nowdrawing near to Utitsa. The prospect ofcoming to grips with the 'defilers' of theirhomeland gave them all the elan needed.Tuchkov had an elite grenadier divisionwaiting for them. The Poles closed topoint-blank range and started a firefight.The Russians held on grimly, but whenPoniatowski used his superior numbers tooverlap the flanks of the grenadiers, Tuchkovordered his men to set fire to Utitsa and fallback to the woods to their rear. It had beena vicious fight and the Poles now pausedto reorganize.

Barclay had been up early and riding thefield. He worried about French strength onthe left. When the bombardment started,Bagration immediately called for help.Wishing to respond, Barclay ordered

Kutusov conferring with his generals. Patriotic myth sosoon obscured the truth of the 1812 campaign it is hardto tell what Kutusov actually did during the Borodinobattle. (Painting by A.V. Kivchenko, Roger-Viollet)

Bagavout's II Corps to move to supportBagration. He also shifted more of his armyto a central position. The animosity betweenBagration and Barclay did not deter the latterfrom his duty.

It took two hours before Bagavout couldget underway and a further hour for him toget into a useful position. This made thedelays in Poniatowski's morning attack allthe more regrettable: when he was oncemore able to renews the attack, Bagavout wasalready arriving on the scene.

The Polish prince had massed his corps'guns and began to pound the hill position


behind Utitsa. Tuchkov's artillery was on thepoint of annihilation when a fresh battery-heralded Bagavout's arrival. These guns tookup the duel and momentarily stalled theassault. Soon, though, the Poles came onwith their infantry and the Russian guns hadto retreat. Onward came the two divisions. Asthey reached the wood-line, they were metby a crushing volley, for not only were theelite grenadiers waiting for them, but manyof Bagavout's men had taken up positions.The determined fighting again provedexpensive for all involved. Tuchkov took aposition at the head of the Pavlov Grenadiersand charged. These troops, perhaps the finestin Russia, swept forward into the Poles. Asbrave as Poniatowski's men were, the Pavlovswere not to be denied. Soon the entire Polishcorps was being pressed back to beyondUtitsa. It was at this point that Tuchkovwas struck in the head by a bullet andfell mortally wounded; the Russiancounterattack subsequently waned.

Russian officers. (Engraving after Finart, Roger-Viollet)

Napoleon now sent Junot's Westphaliansto Poniatowski's support. The North Germansadvanced and entered the woods. There theyencountered the Jaegers responsible forputting flanking fire into both Poniatowski'sand Davout's corps. Pushing them steadily-back, Junot's men relieved some of thepressure on the Poles and allowed them to re-form for another effort.

While the combat in the woods wasprogressing, Ney and Davout had come onagain and taken the Fleches once more.Bagration counterattacked and took thepositions one last time. As this last attackwas sweeping over the redoubts, Bagrationwas hit in the leg by a shell fragment. Heremained on the field to see this last Russiansuccess in his sector and then retired. Hedied of the wound seven days later.

Ney was in a frenzy and led his menforward once more. Davout did the sameand this time the blood-soaked Fleches weretaken for good. It was about 11.30 am.

To the north, Prince Eugene had organizedhis forces to prepare an assault across the riveron the Great Redoubt. He first launched aprobing attack at mid-morning with Brossier'sdivision. While this made little impact on theRussians, it did provide the intelligenceneeded to make a more determined assault.This was delivered by Morand's division, whoswept up the rise and caught the gunnersworking the 18 guns by surprise. A fiercehand-to-hand left most of the gunners deadand the French in control of this key position.

General Yermolov, Barclay's chief-of-staff,was leading troops toward the crisis to thesouth when Morand's attack occurred.Rallying the fleeing troops and calling for alllocal support, he charged the redoubt.Sensing the crisis, the Russians attacked witha fanatic zeal and overwhelmed the Frenchbefore further supports could arrive to securetheir gain. During this attack GeneralKutaisov, who commanded Barclay's artilleryreserve, heroically led forward an infantryregiment whose flag he grabbed. Killed amoment later, his death meant that thesubstantial 1st Army artillery was paralyzedfor the remainder of the battle.

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Eugene now prepared to make an assaultthree times stronger than before, but a crywent up that a large Russian force wasdescending on him from the north. This wasPlatov's Cossacks and Uvarov's line cavalry.Platov, the Ataman of the Don Cossacks, hadgone to Kutusov early in the battle andpointed out that nothing opposed him.'Would it not be a good idea to try and turnthe French flank?' Kutusov had approved theplan and Platov had started back to hisposition to prepare the advance. This decisionis the only one that can be definitivelyattributed to Kutusov during the battle.

The two Russian cavalry formations crossedthe Kolocha River and slowly made their waytoward Eugene's troops in Borodino. Theirattack caused few French losses but cost thema great deal in panic and lost time. It alsocaused Napoleon to send over some of hisreserves to meet the threat. Further, Eugeneput off all plans for another attack on theGreat Redoubt until he was satisfied that the

The Battle of Borodino. 7 September 1812. Napoleon'sillness after the battle meant that there was no pursuit ofKutusov, who withdrew to Moscow. (Engraving by LeBeau, after Naudet. Roger-Viollet)


threat had disappeared. 'Uvarov's diversion'had delayed the French by nearly two hours.

This gave the Russians time to restoretheir line and pound the French oppositethem with a merciless bombardment.The brunt of this fire fell upon the cavalryassembled for the anticipated attack on theGreat Redoubt. During this barrage GeneralMontbrun, commander of the 2nd ReserveCavalry Corps, was directing his menwhen a cannonball tore across his stomach.He looked down at the gore, said: 'Goodshot,' and fell dead from the saddle.A similarly terrible fate faced Latour-Maubourg's 4th Reserve Cavalry Corps,who stood impotently by and watchedtheir numbers dwindle.

Kutusov's army held the key position ofthe Great Redoubt but was being threatenedby developments occurring to the south. Thefinal taking of the Fleches threatenedBagavout as his flanks could now be turned,but he also faced a new attack by Poniatowskiand Junot. While the tired Russians made theFrench pay for the ground dearly, the Frenchpressure was now irresistible. Finally driventhrough the protective woods, Bagavout'smen quickened their retreat and fell a mile tothe rear astride the Old Smolensk Road.

The appearance of unexpectedly large numbers ofCossacks like these upset the French plan of campaign.Uvarov's use of them in his flanking maneuver atBorodino cost the French valuable time they needed toachieve a decisive result. (Roger-Viollet)

The last Russian stronghold, besides theGreat Redoubt itself, was the small village ofSemyonovskaya. Ney had earlier made anattempt to take it, following the final seizureof the Fleches, but had been repulsed. Nextcame Murat's cavalry. The troopers ofNansouty and Latour-Maubourg were nowcommitted against the position. Nansoutyattacked south of the town and found theground less than ideal for cavalry. His menran into firm infantry, and despite their bestefforts could not make them give way. To the

The fighting 69

north of Semyonovskaya, Latour-Maubourg'smen had fared better. Catching severalgrenadier regiments out of square, they rodethem down and were only stopped whenRussian cavalry hit their disorderedformations. However, coming fast on theirheels was Friant's division from Davout'sCorps. Despite a fearful pounding from theRussian guns, Murat urged them on. Frianthurried to the aid of the hard-pressed cavalryand the position was theirs.

Barclay now sent his IV Corps to try tore-take Semyonovskaya. Napoleon hadhimself come up and he ordered the GuardHorse Artillery to open up on the denseformation of IV Corps. The initial roundsstopped their advance, and the continuedfire by the finest artillery in the world had

the expected terrible results. In fact,Napoleon now had almost 500 guns pouringfire into the area between Semyonovskayaand the Great Redoubt. Virtually all theremaining troops in good order of Kutusov'sarmy were in this area. Any round fired intothis spot could hardly fail to find its mark.

It was now almost 2.00 pm and theFrench made a massive push to take theGreat Redoubt. The three infantry divisionsof Broussier, Morand, and Gerard attackedfrom the front while the cavalry ofMontbrun, now under General Caulaincourt,and of Latour-Maubourg hit the flanks. Thehonor of being the first unit to enter the fort

French and allied cavalry finally storm the Great Redoubtto finish the battle. (Charpentier. Roger-Viollet)


seems to have belonged to the SaxonZastrow cuirassiers from Latour-Maubourg'sCorps. This superb unit slaughtered thegunners as the supporting French quicklyjoined in the fight. The resisting Russianunits were destroyed. Caulaincourt chasedoff the Russian supporting cavalry oppositehim before swinging in from the rear of theredoubt to close the trap. Unfortunately, hewould pay for this success with his life.

Grouchy's cavalry, following up theFrench attack, now charged into theremaining Russians. Barclay committed theRussian Guard cavalry in order to stop them.

The entire Russian line was now shattered.Barclay re-formed the remaining units on aridgeline a mile to the rear. There he waitedfor Napoleon's next move. Several marshalsurged their Emperor to send in the Guard andcomplete the victory. Napoleon hesitated,then declined. He reasoned that he was a longway from home and that his Guard ensuredhis survival. It was also not clear to him thatthe Russians were entirely beaten. Napoleon,

tired and ill, was satisfied that a victory hadbeen won. For that day, it was enough.

That night Kutusov sent a message to theTsar announcing a great victory. When hisgenerals asked to retreat he was at firstangered by the suggestion, but as theevening wore on, it was clear the Kutusov'sarmy had taken a fearful beating. He had lost45,000 men out of 120,000. While he didnot know Napoleon's losses (about 30,000),it became clear that the French wereprepared to fight the next day. The Russianswere low on artillery ammunition as well.Reluctantly, Kutusov ordered the retreat.

Napoleon had trouble even rising the nextday, 8 September. His illness and the terriblecarnage of the battle had caused a lethargicdepression to set in. It was some time beforehe ordered the army to prepare to resumethe advance to Moscow.

When the final reckoning was done it wasclear the Kutusov could not face Napoleon

The fire in Moscow forced even Napoleon to flee.

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1812 Russian campaign:The retreat from Moscow

again until fresh reinforcements had swelledhis ranks. So the decision was taken not todefend Moscow. On 14 September the Russianarmy passed through the city, taking whatthey could, and marched to the east. TheFrench army entered the capital that sameevening. The object of so much hardship wasnow Napoleon's, but where were themessengers from the Tsar asking for terms?

The French enter Moscow

That same evening Napoleon received ananswer of sorts. Fire had broken out inseveral places in the city. The governor-general of the city, Rostopchin, had orderedthat Moscow should burn to the groundrather than be possessed by the French.Ironically, this act of a man driven insane byhis responsibility almost saved Napoleon'sarmy. For had much more of the city beenincinerated, the Emperor would surely have

started his withdrawal west earlier.After the first day, the fire seemed to be

contained, so Napoleon rode into the cityand entered the Kremlin. From here he sawthe fire leap up in several new spots andreports came back to him that it was theRussians deliberately setting the fires.Incredulous that men would do that to theirown cherished city, he ordered all mencaught setting fires shot. He surveyed thesituation until it was almost too late.It was only with repeated urgings of hisstaff that he consented to leave the inferno,barely escaping as the flames closed inaround him.

The fire burned for four days anddestroyed three-quarters of the city. TheFrench were able to preserve some of themost historic buildings, but the ancientcity of the Tsars of Russia was no more.Re-occupying the burnt-out shell, the Frenchsat down and waited for the Russiansurrender that they were sure would come.


Napoleon deployed his army in a ringaround the city and guarded the approachesfrom which any attacks might come. Theproblem was that while the troopsimmediately around Moscow were stillgetting regular food, the outlying units werenot. This left these men vulnerable to attackas they spread out desperately foraging forsomething to eat.

Following his retreat from Moscow,Kutusov had taken his army in a wide circleto the south. This left him in a position toreceive reinforcements coming up from theOrel region. He also had the option ofmoving against Napoleon's supply line.

Napoleon sent out several feelers for peacebut received no response. Finally he sentGeneral Lauriston on a mission to Kutusov.After meeting with the aged general,Lauriston delighted Napoleon with the newsthat an emissary had been dispatched to theTsar. This surely would bring about thedesired end to war, so Napoleon decided toput off any thoughts of withdrawal until ananswer arrived. This delay proved fatal.

As Napoleon sat in the Kremlin, sendingletters to govern his vast holdings, his menhad begun to fraternize with the Russians inan informal truce. This laxness led to asurprise attack on Sebastiani's cavalry atVinkovo. Here were some of the men left tofend for themselves, and they had becomescattered when the attack came. It was onlythe quick thinking of Murat that prevented amajor defeat. The dashing King of Naples puthimself at the head of the Carabiniers andcharged the enemy. The attack sent theRussians reeling back and by the time thatthey had recovered, the French had restoredtheir order. Seeing this, the Russian attackwas abandoned.

The defeat at Vinkovo convincedNapoleon that no peace was in the offing,and he made plans to leave Moscow.Examining the possibilities, the bestdirection seemed to be a march to thesouth-west, where he could either take theunravaged route to the west or possibly bringKutusov to a decisive battle while the Frencharmy could still fight. Planning his departure

for several days he slipped out of Moscow on19 October. This proved to be far too late.

The retreat begins

As Napoleon was pulling out of Moscow, theRussians were going over to the offensive.While Kutusov watched Napoleon's mainarmy, the other armies were to strike thestrategic flanks north and south. AdmiralChichagov had joined Tormasov and tookcommand of the combined force. He swungwest around the Pripet Marches and movedagainst Schwarzenberg's rear. When theAustrian gave way and positioned himself toprotect Warsaw, Chichagov sent Sacken with25,000 men to pursue and took hisremaining army of 38,000 around to thenorth of the marshes and headed towardNapoleon's rear. Schwarzenberg reacted bydefeating Sacken and heading off in pursuitof Chichagov, but it was clear the Austrian'sheart was no longer in the campaign.

To the north, the Russian commanderWittgenstein, who had received largereinforcements, advanced on St Cyr, butdivided his command into two parts.Wittgenstein himself was defeated at Polotsk,while his other wing, under Steingell, lost abattle to the Bavarian General Wrede.However, Wittgenstein did succeed intemporarily diverting Marshal Victor's Corpsfrom moving to support Napoleon.

Napoleon planned to make his way backto Smolensk via a southern route. Marchingout of Moscow, he headed south for the keytown of Maloyaroslavets, which guarded thecrossing of the Lutza River. Prince Eugene ledwith his French troops and upon arrival atthe town, on the evening of 23 October,found it free of any enemy. He placed twobattalions in Maloyaroslavets, south of theriver, and kept the remainder on the bettercamp site north of the river. What Eugeneand Napoleon did not yet know was thattheir maneuver had been detected byGeneral Docturov and that he had beenshadowing the French on a parallel road.Furthermore, he had alerted Kutusov, and

The fighting 73

the remainder of the Russian army was inhot pursuit.

Docturov launched an attack on thetwo isolated battalions before dawn thefollowing day. His men threw back thesurprised French and headed for thebridgeheads over the Lutza. Eugene reactedby counterattacking with Delzon'sdivision. They pushed their way into thetown but were repelled when they tried toexit on the other side. The Russians werecoming onto the field quickly and deployedin a strong position on a ridge above thetown. The battle continued throughout theday, with the final outcome much in doubt.Finally, Napoleon, who arrived at the scene,committed sufficient troops to widen thebridgehead so as to allow his army to cross.The battle sputtered to a close with nightfall.The following day, Napoleon rode out tosurvey the field and consider his prospects. Abody of Cossacks swept down and took hissmall escort by surprise. The outnumberedGuard cavalry was able to repulse the attack,but not before several of the enemy hadcome very close to the Emperor. Napoleonwas visibly shaken by this incident. The

The army of France on its return from Moscow.(Engraving. Roger-Viollet)

prospect of being captured so unnerved himthat he ordered his doctor to prepare apouch of poison that he could take shouldthis ever happen again.

That night Napoleon ordered a council ofwar to discuss the options with hiscommanders. This extremely unusualoccurrence shows how unsettled he was: hehad lost his confidence. Only Muratsuggested a renewed attack. The othersproposed various courses of retreat.Napoleon ordered the retreat. Ironically,Kutusov had ordered a disengagement aswell, for he was sure that his raw army couldnot withstand another full battle.

The two armies broke away from eachother, with Kutusov heading west andNapoleon heading north-west towardMozhaisk. This line of retreat would takehim over the same devastated route that hehad taken on the way to Moscow.

Kutusov divided his army, with one wingmoving parallel with the French, ready tostrike at any opportunity, and the main force


Ney's heroic command of the rearguard madehim a legend. (Edimedia)

following a similar course outside of strikingdistance. He also pushed his cavalry ahead toraid the French outposts and depots.

The French army was strung along 40 milesof road. The troops with intermixed, at leastin the beginning, with caravans of carriagesbearing loot, camp followers, and Frenchactresses rescued from Moscow. Davout wasbringing up the rear, trying to gather all thestragglers and wounded. Kutusov in a earliercorrespondence with Napoleon had made itclear that prisoners could expect no mercyfrom the Russians because of the impassionedfeeling against the invaders of Mother Russia.This meant that any French soldier who fellout of line would probably die.

When Napoleon learned that Kutusov wastrying to make an end run around his armyand destroy the essential depots, heincreased the pace and drove his Guard onto Vyazma. This preserved the key depot, but

strung out his army even more. The Russiansattacked the rear on 31 October and3 November, but with little effect.

On 4 November, it began to snow. Theweather worsened over the next few daysand the last semblance of order within theFrench supply system disintegrated. Everynight hundreds of men froze to death. Therewas little, if any, shelter and men huddledtogether for warmth. Setting villages on firebecame common practice in order to providesome respite from the cold.

As supply broke down, the men began towander off in search of food. Most wouldnever return, falling victim to the cold or toCossacks. The French had little left by way oforganized cavalry, so any small contingent ofmen were susceptible to the great bands ofCossack raiders that swooped down on theshivering enemy, slaughtered them, and lootedthe bodies. In one incident a brigade underGeneral Baraguay d'Hilliers was surroundedand annihilated. Images of Cossackdepredations terrorized Napoleon's men.

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On the retreat, illness was an almostcertain death sentence, and disease becamerampant as the men were increasinglymalnourished. A healthy well-fed man couldhave dealt with the cold, but the soldiers ofthe Grande Armée were starving, sick, andforced marching. A fatalism set in among theranks and the French high command, aseach day they stumbled upon a dead man inthe snow who only the day before had beenamong the 'healthy' ones.

Napoleon halted in Smolensk to try toreorder the army. Discipline had become sobad that the stores of food and clothing werebroken into and looted by his men. Vastamounts of supplies were thus wasted. Withthe army losing cohesion, the Emperorresumed the retreat in an effort to save whathe could. His army was now only half thestrength it had been in Moscow and dwindlingfast. The various corps left Smolensk over the

next four days on the road to Krasnoi.There Kutusov prepared a trap for the

French. As Napoleon and his Guard caughtup his army's leading troops on15 November, the Russians attacked to theFrench front, flank, and rear, in an effort tosplit the army in two. The first two attacksfailed but the third cut the road.

In the army's vanguard, Napoleon wentover to the attack. He sent in his Guardartillery and it more than held its ownagainst the Russians, who were driven fromKrasnoi and the battle subsided. That nightNapoleon sent his Guard Infantry in a riskynight attack against several Russiaencampments, reflecting his increaseddesperation. The bitter cold prevented theenemy from properly deploying pickets, andthe Guard exacted a terrible revenge uponthe dazed Russians. This French successmade Kutusov cautious and he went back to

Crossing the Beresina


striking only when Napoleon was in theprocess of retreating. The road was openagain, at least for a time.

The victory at Krasnoi allowed Napoleononce more to gather his army, with theexception of Ney's Corps. Ney had lingeredtoo long in Smolensk to gather up stragglersand had been cut off. Called on to surrender,he refused and tried to fight his way out.Failing in this, he lit fires to fool the Russiansand slipped around the Russian northernflank in the darkness.

The Beresina

When Ney's tiny command rejoined the mainarmy there was rejoicing. The marshal wasnow lauded by Napoleon as 'the bravest of thebrave.' By now Victor had joined Napoleon,swelling the ranks, but Admiral Chichagovhad cut off the army at the Beresina River. Hehad surprised the garrison at Borisov andstood between Napoleon and safety. A thawhad not proved kind, leaving an impassableriver. Oudinot, who had taken over St Cyr'scommand when the latter was wounded,surprised Chichagov's garrison at Borisov andtook the depot. The Russians burned thebridge and still had their main force on thewestern bank of the Beresina. As Napoleon

approached, he was being encircled by threeRussian armies: Wittgenstein's, Chichagov's,and Kutusov's. Time was of the essence and itwas clear that Schwarzenberg was not going toarrive to attack Chichagov from the rear. Aford had to be found and quickly. By24 November Napoleon arrived ahead of themain army. Victor was deployed to slowWittgenstein, Oudinot was demonstrating infront of Chichagov, and the remainder of thearmy struggled onward towards Borisov.

On the night of 25 November, engineersbegan building three bridges over theBeresina at Studenka, about 10 miles northof Borisov. Standing in chest-deep freezingwater, many of the men sacrificed their livesfor these constructions. By late afternoon ofthe 26 November they were complete andthe troops began to cross. Both Oudinot'sand Ney's men crossed and took up positionsto oppose Chichagov's expected attack. Whatlittle remained of the army fought well.

The crossing points were a confused massof the wounded and stragglers crowding toget over the bridges. Victor's Corps weredeployed as a rearguard and for over a day

Many failed to cross the Beresina bridges when they had achance because they were exhausted mentally and physically.When they realized time had run out the chaos at thebridges was brutal. (Lithography by V.Adam, Edimedia)

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withstood the weight of Wittgenstein's men.By the night of 27 November it was clearthat Victor could not hold out much longer.Ammunition was running low and moreRussians were arriving by the minute. Justafter midnight Victor evacuated the eastbank of the river and passed to the otherside. There he stood guard over the bridge inorder to allow as many stragglers as possibleto reach safety. Many were too exhaustedand apathetic. Victor preserved the bridge aslong as possible, but finally set it on fire,abandoning many to their fate.

The remnant of the French and alliedarmy headed toward Vilna. It was then thatthe temperature plummeted, and many whohad survived that far now died. The Cossackswere about the only troops that couldoperate off the roads, and daily they addedto the French casualties.

Napoleon had received word of anattempted coup d'etat in Paris orchestrated bya madman, General Malet. For a day he hadtaken the reins of power before beingarrested, claiming Napoleon had died inRussia. This plot, along with the knowledgethat new troops would be needed tocontinue the campaign, prompted Napoleonto leave the army and return to Paris. On5 December, he left the army at Smorgonie.While his generals had agreed with the

decision, many in the ranks felt abandoned.Murat was given overall command.

When the army arrived at Vilna, it was arepeat of Smolensk. Stores were sacked andfood and supplies wasted. With disorderrampant, Murat ordered the retreat tocontinue. Ney fought several rearguardactions and kept the Russians at bay. Whenthe army reached the Niemen, it was Neywho on 9 December stayed behind todestroy the last baggage. He then crossedthe river and in so doing was the lastFrenchman to leave Russian soil, makinghimself a legend.

One final piece of bad news for theFrench was that Count von Yorck haddefected to the Russians with his men. Yorck,who had led the Prussian half ofMacdonald's command, even failed to alertMacdonald of his actions. Macdonald metmost of the remaining army in Konigsbergwhere the retreat finally ended on13 December. The news of Yorck's defectionpanicked Murat and he left the army,turning over command to Eugene. It was atypical act for the mercurial marshal.

The Grande Armée was dead. Prussia wasclearly beginning to rebel and Europe sawNapoleon as vulnerable. The campaign of1812 was over and the campaign of 1813was beginning.

Portrait of a soldier

Barclay de Tolly andJacob Walter

Barclay de Tolly:Portrait of a commander

The popular history of the Russian campaignof 1812 comes from Tolstoy's novel War andPeace. It is Marshal Kutusov who is portrayedas the great Russian hero of the campaign.This is a great disservice to the real hero,Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly-

Barclay de Tolly was born on 24 December1761 in Polish Lithuania. He was descendedfrom a minor Scottish nobleman who hadgone to the Baltic to seek his fortune. TheBarclays had prospered in the GermanicLutheran provinces and Michael's father hadserved in the Russian army prior to receivinghis patent of nobility from the Tsar.

Michael grew up in St Petersburg wherehe was raised by his aunt. This was acommon occurrence among the GermanProtestants and gave the young man theexposure to upper society unavailable in theBaltic provinces. His foster-father was also inthe military and enrolled the youngBarclay in a cavalry regiment at the age ofsix. He would spend the rest of his lifewithin the military.

Barclay's schooling was basic, but he was avoracious reader and pursued studies beyondthe normal requirements. Among hisacquired talents was a fluency in Russian andFrench, to accompany his native German. Healso devoured anything that would expandhis military knowledge.

During his youth he developed a quiet,taciturn personality quite in keeping with hisGerman upbringing. His contemporariesdescribed him as meticulous, brave, honest,modest, bright, and somewhat humorless.

Barclay joined the Jaegers in 1787 and hisunit joined the army of Prince Potemkin (ofPotemkin Village fame). Here the captaincaught the attention of his superiors and

became an aide to one of the wingcommanders, Prince Anhalt-Bernburg.During the victorious siege of Ochakovagainst the Turks, Barclay participated in thedesperate sortie in which most of his fellowofficers were casualties, including theseverely wounded Mikhail Kutusov.

Barclay continued to serve withdistinction until 1789, when he wastransferred to the Finnish front. The ongoinghostility between Russia and Sweden turnedto war when King Gustavus decided to takeadvantage of Tsarina Catherine's Turkish warto move troops into his Finland provincewith an eye toward taking St Petersburg. Theaddled king lacked good organization,however, and when Russia's ally, Denmark,invaded Sweden in support of Russia,Gustavus' attention was diverted, givingCatherine time to move enough troops intoplace to counter the Swedish threat. The warwas bloody and inconclusive on both sidesand came to a halt when Sweden's internalproblems caused the king to end the warwith things back to pre-war status.

For Barclay, marriage to his cousinfollowed the next year before a posting asmajor and battalion commander of the StPetersburg Grenadier Regiment sent him toPoland to participate in its partition. The warlasted till 1793 and flared up again thefollowing year when the Poles underKosciuszko revolted. Distinguishing himselfat the battles of Vilna and Grodno, hecontinued the campaign under GeneralSuvorov when the Warsaw suburb of Pragawas stormed. This brutal event ended therebellion and led to the final destruction ofwhat remained of Poland. Barclay waspromoted to lieutenant-colonel for hisconduct and to full Colonel in 1796. Heremained in Russia commanding the3rd Jaegers, missing Suvorov's campaign in

Portrait of a soldier 79

Italy and Switzerland but performing withsuch efficiency that he was promoted tomajor-general in March 1799.

When war against Napoleon came in1805, Barclay was posted under Bennigsen.Fortunately Bennigsen's army avoided thedebacle of Austerlitz, though its arrival theremay have swung the balance. There was tobe no promotion for battlefield heroics, butneither was there any blame.

The war came to life again for theRussians in 1806 as they moved to supporttheir Prussian allies. Unfortunately, theywere unable to arrive before Napoleoncrushed the Prussians at Jena-Auerstadt and

Barclay de Tolly, to whom the lion's share of the creditshould go for a reformed and reinforced Russian armyfor the 1812 campaign. (Roger-Viollet)

the pursuit that followed. The leadingRussians took up their positions aroundWarsaw and awaited the French and theirsupporting armies. Napoleon moved uponthem quickly and after forcing a rivercrossing fought the twin battles of Pultuskand Golymin. It was at the battle of Pultuskthat Barclay, by now a lieutenant-general,received his baptism of fire as a commandinggeneral. Leading one of the advance guards,his men faced the brunt of the redoubtable


Barclay's great rival, Prince Bagration. Despite his great

suspicions of his fellow general, Bagration did finally join

Barclay at Smolensk. He became a Russian martyr for his

mortal wound at Borodino. (Roger-Viollet)

Marshal Lannes' attack. A desperate fight inthe woods swung back and forth. Lannes,realizing the French were facing the mainRussian army and not a rearguard, broke offthe attack. Barclay won praise for his calm,skillful performance

The three advance guards wereconsolidated under the command of PrinceBagration. Barclay led the most active troopsof this command. He continued thecampaign and covered himself with gloryfor several rearguard actions. At Eylau on7 February 1807, his men defended thevillage against determined assaults by the

French. It was only an attack of the OldGuard that finally expelled Barclay's men.Once more he mounted a counterattack.Barclay, leading cavalry, was hit by canisterin the arm and narrowly avoided beingcrushed by the stampede of horses beforeone of his men scooped him up.

After being rushed to a hospital inKonigsberg, Barclay's arm was saved.However, this wound would never fully heal,nor would Barclay ever again have the fulluse of the arm. It was serious enough that hewould not be fit for action again until afterFriedland and the Russian surrender at Tilsit.During his convalescence Barclay becamefriends with the Tsar. Visiting his woundedgeneral in the hospital, Alexander was struckby Barclay's modest and honest character - awelcome contrast to the vain, preeningdegenerates who so often surrounded theyoung Tsar.

Following the Peace of Tilsit, Napoleonsuggested to his new Russian allies an attackon Sweden. This served the French needs intwo ways: first it would close one of Britain'smost lucrative ports left in Europe; andsecondly it would draw Russia away fromcentral European affairs. Still, an attack onthis traditional enemy was very appealing toTsar Alexander. The campaign got underway,with Barclay commanding a column in themain army. After initial successes the tideturned against the Russians as all of Finlandrose up in a guerrilla war. Barclay showedinitiative to the point where he disobeyed adirect command in order to save acontingent which was about to be crushed.Demands were made in the army hierarchyto have him court martialed, but defendersarose to support Barclay. In the end the Tsarsided with Barclay and he was promoted toGovernor of Finland.

The second phase of the war called for acrossing of the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. Thisscheme seemed insane since it called forcrossing the frozen waters- a march of24 miles, a brief rest on a snowy islet, thenanother 36 miles over the ice. Throughoutthey would be subjected to the near-arcticwinter with no possible protection. Despite


these tremendous obstacles, Barclay led hismen safely to the Swedish side of the gulfand captured the fortified city of Umea. Thislegendary effort was temporarily lost in thenews that a coup d'etat had overthrown theKing of Sweden and peace had been declared.

Barclay remained as Governor of Finlanduntil the end of 1809. His careful andefficient performance earned himAlexander's praise and promotion to Ministerof War on 20 January 1810. He immediatelyset about reforming the field regulations.This massive effort was compiled anddistributed in what became known as the'Yellow Book' because of the color of itscover. This was the first change to be madeto the regulations since the days of Peter theGreat in the early 1700s.

He next lobbied to establish a series ofdefensive fortifications along the frontier.While he started the program, little wascompleted prior to the 1812 campaign. Itwas his belief that the Russians should bepassive in the campaign and grudgingly fallback upon their lines of communicationuntil they could effectively counterattack.This is not to say that he advocated a totalFabian strategy, rather that he believed thattrading space for advantage was a soundoption. This policy set him at odds withBagration, who felt that any abandonmentof Russian soil was a sin.

When the war began, he was directlyunder the command of the capricious Tsarand dutifully fell back on the camp of Drissa.It was only after the Tsar's departure that hewas able to formulate his own plan. He fellback toward Smolensk and prepared to takethe initiative. Bagration joined him with hisarmy and graciously placed himself underBarclay's command.

It was only now that Barclay seemed tolose his nerve. He vacillated between attackand a further retreat. He sent confusingorders and had his troops marching incircles. When Napoleon made a move onSmolensk he regained focus and ordersbecame firm and clear. Following the battle,Barclay decided on a further retreat, and thegenerals around him became enraged.

He had been under suspicion for being a'foreigner' and his behavior brought thiscriticism to a new height. Tsar Alexander felta change was required and placed MikhailKutusov in overall command. Barclay tookthis demotion with equanimity andperformed heroically at the following battleof Borodino. At that battle, Bagration wasmortally wounded. With his great rival gone,Barclay continued to act as the 1st Armycommander. A fortnight after the fall ofMoscow the two armies were consolidated.Soon thereafter Barclay left the army andKutusov for reasons of health, but in reality,with the joining of the two armies, his rolewas at an end.

He took no further part in the 1812campaign, but was placed in charge of theRussian 3rd Army in February 1813. Hemaneuvered skillfully and once more earnedthe confidence of the Tsar. Following thetwin defeats of Lutzen and Bautzen, Barclaywas made commander-in-chief of all Russianarmies. He remained in the field at the Tsar'sside throughout 1813 and entered France forthe campaign of 1814. He was promoted tofield marshal for his service.

In 1815, Barclay organized the army for asecond invasion of France followingNapoleon's return. Though he saw nofighting, he was made a prince of Russia. Hecontinued his role as commander-in-chief forthe next three years, when ill health causedhim to ask for a leave of absence. TheTsar, wishing to reward this most loyalservant, granted him a two-year leaveand 100,000 rubles for expenses.

Barclay was not to enjoy this rest, for onhis way to a spa in Bohemia he stopped atone of his homes near Riga for a rest. Hedied that night, 25 May 1818, apparently ofa heart attack.

In the end it was his organizational skills,more than his bravery, that had proved themore valuable to Russia. By preserving theRussian army, he set the stage for Napoleonto make the fatal error of advancing too farand remaining too long in Russia. Hissteadying influence may have made thecrucial difference in Russia's struggle.


Jacob Walter:Portrait of a common soldier

Jacob Walter, from Wurttemberg (now insouth-west Germany) was drafted into thearmy in the autumn of 1806. He wasinducted into the 4th (or Franquemont)Infantry Regiment and sent to guardNapoleon's line of supply as the campaignmoved into old Poland. During 1809 hefought the rebels in the Vorarlberg who wereattacking Napoleon's rear. During thecampaign of 1812 his regiment was part ofNey's Corps. Apart from fighting at the battleof Smolensk, he participated in no majoraction. He followed the army during theretreat and was mustered out of the regimentfor reasons of poor health upon returninghome in 1813.

There was nothing remarkable abouthim and he contributed little to the wareffort, but he was an honest chroniclerof his experiences and he recorded theattitudes common among the Germansoldiers of his day.

Walter had been brought up a Catholic,the brother of a priest. This had allowed himthe opportunity to learn to read and write.While he considered himself devout, heexhibited relative or situational morals.Stealing was wrong, unless you neededsomething. Kindness to your fellow men wasto be shown at all times, unless they werepeasants in an enemy land. It is interestingthat Walter sowed his wild oats in 1806, 'anelement of my youth', but became religiousduring the retreat from Moscow.

In 1807, Walter was guarding a rear areawhen a spy was brought in. The evidenceseemed clear enough, so the man waswhipped 150 times prior to being shot. Thereseemed to be no purpose for the floggingother than the amusement of the soldiersand officers, but Walter found nothing oddin this. Following this incident, he was sentout to requisition food from the localvillages. Not having a map, he sought a localguide. Naturally, he picked on the mostdown-trodden section of society to find hisman, the Jews. The man tried to hide but

was found and dragged down two flights ofstairs. His misery was of great amusement.Walter's attitude was typical of the time, andhe never noted any disapproval amonghis comrades.

The process of finding food often differedlittle from outright theft. The peasants intheir huts made of straw could not defendthemselves against pillaging troops. On oneoccasion, Walter shot a pet dog for his ownamusement and then was surprised that thelocals were uncooperative.

Walter had contempt for other beliefs,including the Prussian Lutheranism. Heobserved that these people were superstitious,while exhibiting his own superstitions onrepeated occasions. The ideas of theEnlightenment had not penetrated farbeyond the upper and educated classes.

Walter's fondest recollections were of hisfamily. The highlight of a campaign waswhen his regiment was stationed in the sameplace as his brother's.

In 1809 Walter's battalion was sent to putdown the rebellion in the Vorarlberg, whichhad risen in sympathy with the Tyrol. Hesaw action in the fighting around Bregenz on29 May, where he gained experience as askirmisher. Taking a position on the staircaseof a building, he shot off most of hisammunition before making a mad dash tothe rear. In the subsequent fighting in thetown, he shot a man at point blank range. Atno other time does he mention that heactually hit an opponent. At Bregenz, wherehis men made a hurried withdrawal, Waltermakes it quite clear that he considered hisrunning ability his key asset.

Complaints about the local breads andgrain, which differed from those at home,were typical among soldiers at the time andWalter makes repeated commentsthroughout his memoirs.

In 1812 his regiment marched to theRussian border. Throughout the march, hewas unaware of the ultimate destination.This was the only time he rememberedseeing the high command. The CrownPrince ordered his Wurttembergers to gothrough maneuvers when it was a holiday.


This was pointed out by one of the lesserranking Wurttemberg generals and theprince threatened to arrest him. It seems thatthe prince was annoyed that he had had hiscommand placed under Ney, and was takingout his displeasure on his men.

Walter remembered the march into Russiafor its heat, choking dust, and longdownpours. He soon began a campaign-longeffort to find food. Often the only foodavailable had to be purchased from thedespised Jews. The irony that his salvationlay in their willingness to sell to him was loston him.

At Smolensk, Jacob Walter fought in theonly major battle of his military career. Hisblue-coated comrades and he assaulted thebridgeheads in an effort to cut off the city'sdefenders. Breaking into the city, he saw thedevastation of the fires caused by the battle.His impression was one of total chaos.Finally he rested near a hospital station, tobe treated to the sight of piles ofamputated limbs.

Walter did march past the carnage of thebattle of Borodino, but made little commentabout it. By the time he reached Moscow, hiscompany was down to 25 men, from astarting strength of about 1 75.

During the retreat, Walter became theservant or batman of a major. This he hopedwould provide him with a better chance ofsurvival, but it soon was clear that the majordepended more on Walter than vice-versa.Hunger was a daily concern and the resultingweakness led to disease and death all alongthe march. Lice covered every part of hisbody and the cold wore him down. If he hadnot stolen a horse, he thought he wouldhave perished; instead someone else did.Indeed, Walter claimed that no-one survivedwithout a horse. This was an exaggeration,

but clearly it was important, since thesoldiers kept stealing each others' horses.

Near Borisov he was reunited with afellow Wurttemberger, cold and wet fromfording a river, who shared his loaf of breadwith Walter. For this Walter pledged alifetime's devotion. They finished their mealand mounted their horses to continue thejourney, but the generous friend was deadby morning.

The horror of the Beresina crossing is told,with dazed men sitting down in the snow,never to rise. It was here that Walter sawNapoleon. He comments on the unmovedexpression on the Emperor's face, though itis hard to believe that he got close enough toget a good look. It is more likely that heprojected his own disillusionment.

Near Vilna, he was with a small group ofmen when the Cossacks came upon them. Atfirst he tried to flee, but he was stabbed atand knocked off his horse. He lay in thesnow and did not move while hiscompatriots were massacred. Finally theCossacks rode off and Walter stole away torejoin the army.

At the Niemen he met up with someWestphalian soldiers. Offered hospitality bysome local peasants, the men were pliedwith alcohol and soon set upon andmurdered. Walter escaped only by sensing atrap at the last moment.

On Christmas eve, he finally reach a placewhere he could bath and get a change ofclothes. The filth and lice were caked on like'fir-bark.' Soon he had his first square mealin months and headed back home with asupply and hospital train. On reachingWurttemberg his was mustered out of thearmy for reasons of ill health. He returnedhome and made a full recovery within acouple weeks.

The world around war

Vienna

Vienna was a changing city in 1809. Theaustere moralism of Emperor Leopold hadbeen replaced with easier virtue and goodtimes. The cafes were teeming with peopleand there was much more freedom ofthought than a generation earlier. One crazethat swept Vienna was the waltz. This danceoriginated at the turn of the century,developed from an Austrian creation, thehandler. At first the quick whirling aroundthe floor of partners locked in an embracewas thought scandalous, but by 1809 politesociety had long since given up theirobjections and joined the dance floor.

In some ways, though, Vienna was still theproduct of her great empress, Maria Theresa.The Imperial edifices that adorned the capitalwere by and large her handiwork. True, thewalls that had withstood the two sieges by theTurks, in 1529 and 1683, still encircled themain city, but what lay within exemplified themajesty of the Habsburg dynasty. Vienna wasfilled with magnificent churches and palaces.Of equal importance to the Viennese were thetheaters and opera houses which nightly werefilled with the music of the greatest collectionof composers ever assembled. Mozart, Gluck,Haydn, and Beethoven have left a legacyunsurpassed to this day.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was thedominant composer in the years leading upto 1809. He is most famous for developingthe classical style. This new style wasconsidered liberating when compared to theolder Baroque style. Music was mostlywritten for wealthy patrons, usuallyecclesiastic or aristocratic. In Haydn's case itwas the Esterhazy family, for whom heworked from 1761 till his death.

Haydn acted as a bridge in the classicalmusic period. He was a contemporary ofWolfgang A. Mozart (1756-1791), and wenton to be an instructor of Ludwig von

Beethoven (1770-1827). He was popularthroughout his career and died wealthy.He was one of the few non-Italian ornon-French composers that Napoleon greatlyadmired. This sentiment was not returnedby Haydn, however, perhaps wisely for hiscareer in Vienna.

As the French approached Vienna in1809, Haydn was already dying. Napoleonhad a guard put on his home out ofadmiration for the great composer. Haydndied on 31 May 1809 and his funeral washeld at the Schottenkirche, where Mozart'sRequiem was performed. His casket wassurrounded by French soldiers acting as aguard of honor. His body was transportedthrough the lines, where an Austrian honorguard took over from their Frenchcounterparts. He was buried at HundsturmChurchyard near his home.

Even 18 years after his death, the shadowof Mozart still cast his mark upon Vienna. Hehad been typical of the composers of theperiod, working for patrons, but hadalienated them in one way or another.Specifically, his flirting with themes that castthe nobility of the time in a less thanfavorable light and had left him withoutpatronage. Friends supported him and gavehim commissions to write for the Opera Buffa.Mozart took to comic opera and wrote suchenduring works as The Marriage of Figaro andThe Magic Flute. Twenty years later all societynow flocked to the theaters to see this style,and Mozart was much more popular than hehad been during his lifetime.

The classical music era was at its height in1809, and part of the change was theinstrumentation of the works beingcomposed. The piano had replaced theharpsichord, and the mark of the new stylewas a composer's production of music for thepiano. The ability to vary the level of sound

The world around war 85

produced a dynamism that seemed inkeeping with the spirit of the new thinkingpervasive after the French Revolution.

Personifying this thinking was Beethoven.He was imbued with the ideas ofRepublicanism, and had renounced hisadmiration of Napoleon upon hearing of himtaking the crown of France. His vibrant workswere popular among all classes and he wasevolving the medium to a point that a newage called Romanticism would follow, withmany of his works being in the vanguard. It isamusing to reflect that his most popularworks of that time were rather pedestrian,such as Wellington's Victory, a piece celebratingthe British victory at Salamanca in 1812.

The Viennese people were perhaps themost cosmopolitan in the world at the time.While they would nearly bankruptthemselves in trying to defeat the French,they made a distinction when it came to

Napoleon. He was, after all, the most famousman alive. Dezydery Chlapowski, an aide toNapoleon, describes the reaction Napoleonreceived when he first arrived at the gates ofthe city:

'Here I saw a sight which I would not havebelieved had I not seen it with my own eyes andheard it with my own ears. The city walls werenot crowded, but there were still a good manywell-to-do inhabitants on the ramparts. TheEmperor rode right up the glacis, so only a ditch10 meters wide separated him from these people.When they recognized him, they took off theirhats and began cheering. I could only explainsuch behavior by the devotion which a man likethe Emperor inspired in all around him.'

It is little wonder that the Frenchsoldiers found Vienna a pleasurable place tospend time.

Portrait of a civilian

Louise Fusil

Napoleon's army had found a flourishingFrench colony in Moscow. Some of theseemigres had fled the political persecutions ofthe French Revolution, but many others wereartists and tradespeople seeking to tap theMoscow market. Among the Russianaristocracy, fashion and the arts still imitatedFrench styles, so there had been plenty ofopportunities for ambitious French people.While Fedor Rostopchin, the governor ofMoscow, had taken the director of theFrench theater company as a hostage, therest of the troupe had been left behind. TheFrench decided to celebrate their victory byenjoying some good plays.

The performers had suffered growinghostility from the suspicious Moscowpopulace. Now they had the honor ofperforming for Napoleon himself and hisglittering entourage. Some officers sniffedthat the performance was not up to Parisstandards, but the actors must have thoughttheir luck had changed. The 38-year-oldactress Louise Fusil enjoyed not only a newprotector, an urbane soldier-diplomat,General Armand de Caulaincourt, but alsothe distinction of being asked by Napoleonhimself for an encore of a song.

Distracted by the company of the mostpowerful men in the world, it came as acomplete surprise to Louise when a Frenchofficer told her the army had to leaveMoscow. Fearing what the Russian soldierswould do when they saw the wreckage ofMoscow, Louise decided it would be wise forher to leave. She hoped she could findsanctuary in Minsk or Vilna until calm wasrestored and she could safely return toMoscow. Many other actresses and Frenchand allied civilians also decided that safetylay in following the French army. Shethought herself fortunate to be offered a ridein the splendid carriage of Caulaincourt's

nephew, also on Napoleon's staff. Though theweather struck her as beautiful, fortunatelyshe remembered to bring her furs.

The carriage was designed to allow itsoccupant to sleep in comfort, so Louise wascomfortable during the first stage of theretreat. The pace was punishing, and outsidethe wounded were being abandoned, fooddistribution had ceased, and the nights weregetting very cold. The horses began failing,and some were not even dead before thestarving troops clamored to cut them upbefore the flesh froze. At this stage womenand children were still getting help, but thebonds of comradeship were fraying fast.

Louise, close to headquarters, was sparedmuch of this. Nothing would have beenfunnier at other times, she thought, than thesight of an old grenadier, with his mustacheand bearskin, covered in pink satin fur. Butthe poor fellow was perishing from cold. Shenarrowly evaded disaster when thecoachman carelessly let two of the horsesfreeze to death one night. The tworemaining could not pull the carriage andshe desperately considered ways to continue,but the driver managed to turn up with tworeplacements, obviously stolen.

Another general took pity on her anddetached a gendarme to see her through thechaos that surrounded the column. OutsideSmolensk, a Guard colonel held up hercarriage, accusing it of blocking his regiment,threatening to have it cast aside despite theservant's insistence of the august rank of itsowner. The sight of Louise softened hisheart: 'Oh, I'm sorry, 1 didn't realize therewas a lady inside,' he said.

Louise had to smile at him, for thegrenadier colonel was covered in blue satinfur. He had not lost his sense of humor yet,and soon turned into another protector. Heshared his dinner with her in his quarters,

Portrait of a civilian 87

The sight of Napoleon, like this, without his famous hatand showing the strains of campaigning demoralized oneof Louise's fellow actresses. (V.Vereschagin. Roger-Viollet)

but in the cold there was nothing romanticabout it. In the end she had to abandon hercarriage to get through the crush at the gatesof Smolensk. Yet to her surprise, the carriageturned up again though it had been looted,by Cossacks it is said, though probably bythe servants. What food was available inSmolensk was selling at famine prices andeven the servants of prominent courtierswere in danger of starving.

In Smolensk, Louise regained thecompany of her fellow actresses. One ofthem was rattled. Napoleon himself hadcome over to give her some words ofcomfort, but his headgear, a green velvetbonnet trimmed with fur, instead of histrademark hat, struck her as incongruousand sinister.

Still, the actresses were able to get out ofSmolensk as far as Krasnoi. There theRussians had cut the road: Louise sawcannonballs bouncing across it. The carriagewas abandoned again, and the horses wereused to carry the actresses cross-country.However, the horses were exhausted and thesnow very deep, and soon they were able togo no further. Louise struggled into town onfoot. Remarkably the Polish coachman, whoLouise regarded as a careless brute, wasresourceful enough to go back later andrecover the carriage.

Krasnoi was a nightmare. Alone amongstthe mob, Louise found no-one who coulddirect her to Imperial Headquarters. Anofficer told her it had already gone. Knowingshe was not able to catch up with it, herstrength failing, Louise resigned herself todie. She found herself falling asleep. Deathby cold seemed very gentle, and the shakinggiven to her by a savior seemed veryannoying. She passed out, and woke to findherself in a room surrounded by officers.One of the Emperor's surgeons had saved herlife by wrapping her in furs and placing herin a quiet corner. Placing a frozen personnext to a big fire, as some officers had triedto do with her, could have been fatal.

Marshal Lefebvre, the grizzled war-horse,regarded her with interest. He was one ofthose who had picked her up out of thesnow in the street. As she thawed out, hebrought her some coffee. Louise had found anew protector. Soon she was in the marshal'scarriage, following behind a Guarddetachment. Behind, the road was litteredwith abandoned wagons and artillery andmany corpses. Ney and his corps were farbehind, presumed lost. One of her actressfriends made it out of the debacle perchedatop one of the few remaining cannons.

On to Liady, where the dignitaries of theImperial Headquarters packed into some ofthe squalid houses of the poor Jewishinhabitants. A few miserable potatoes wereextorted from the Jews with threats or gold.Louise was more considerate than most:'They were Jews, but at least living beings.I'd gladly have embraced them.' Outside the

Essential Histories • The Napoleonic Wars

crowded shelter, the unlucky ones weredying by the battalion.

On to the Beresina. The old warriorMarshal Lefebvre had grown a white beard,and leant on a knobby stick. At the bridges,Napoleon himself stood, seeming to Louiseto be as calm as he would be at a Parisreview. 'Don't be frightened, go on, go on,'Napoleon said, presumably to her as she wasthe only woman present.

Characteristically, Murat did not miss achance to flirt with a pretty woman. Hestood at her carriage door, chatting, dressedlike a hero in a melodrama she thought,even to the undone collar in the biting cold.The favored Louise experienced a differentBeresina than most, but even she thoughtshe heard from a mile or so away the screamof the many stragglers lost on the far bankwhen the bridges were broken and theRussian artillery opened on them. MarshalLefebvre was as tough as a soldier could be,but she saw even he turned pale at theghastly sound.

Some of her fellow actresses did notmake it across the Beresina. Some were

rounded up by the Cossacks and sparedperhaps, as were many of the officers.The rank and file were given no quarter. AtVilna was another bottleneck where more ofthe French civilians from Moscow died,unable to get through the crowded gate tothe shelter within. Louise did get throughthanks to Lefebvre and Murat, and there sherepaid one of her benefactors, volunteeringto stay behind to nurse and protectLefebvre's sick son. Besides, she was sick,exhausted too, and the French army,abandoned by Napoleon, had still a longway to go to safety, beset by Cossacksall the way.

Twenty thousand French were leftbehind in Vilna to fall into Russian hands,three to four thousand of them officers,some of them the poor civilians whomistakenly left Moscow in the army'sprotection. Even after the Russians arrived,many were to die of privations and anepidemic of typhus. Louise survived to writeher memoirs. If it was like that for apampered actress, what must have it beenlike for the less fortunate?

How the period ended

Napoleon under pressure

The destruction of the Grande Armée inRussia was the greatest disaster, bothmilitarily and politically, to have befallenNapoleon since he came to power. With hisenemies determined to continue the fight,Napoleon had to find a way of opposingthem. That he did so is testimony both tohis own determination and to the resourcesof his empire.

Although the retreat from Moscow hadended at Konigsberg, this was not a positionthat could be held. Before leaving the army,and before turning over commmand toEugene, Murat had placed most of hisserviceable troops into Danzig, where aconsiderable force was to remain besiegeduntil they were compelled to surrender on29 November 1813. These troops were thusdenied to Napoleon for operations in thefield; but having called off the pursuit of theremnant of the Grande Armée, the Russianswaited until the spring of 1813 beforerecommencing major offensive movements.This gave Napoleon a respite of a fewmonths in which to assemble a new army tosupport the troops already in Germany, aforce insufficient on its own to resist adetermined Russian advance.

Napoleon's problems were not evenconcentrated in this one area of operations.Since 1807 increasing numbers of Frenchtroops had been engaged in the PensinsularWar, which had arisen from Napoleon'sattempt to occupy the Iberian peninsula bydeposing the Spanish monarch andreplacing it with his brother Joseph, whohad been proclaimed as king of Spain inJune 1808. This was so unpopular that mostof Spain rose in revolt which, aided by thepresence of the energetic and successfulBritish army commanded by ArthurWellesley (later Duke of Wellington), hadturned the French occupation into a

running sore, a 'Spanish ulcer' as Napoleondescribed it, which constituted a severe andcontinual drain upon his resources. By theend of 1812, the war in Spain had turneddecisively against the French; by the end ofthe following year they would be expelledfrom the Peninsula, and southern Francewould be threatened with invasion (seeOsprey Essential Histories, The NapoleonicWars: The Peninsular War 1807-1814, byGregory Fremont-Barnes). Napoleon'sdecision to withdraw numbers ofexperienced troops from Spain, to assist himin continuing the fight in Germany, servedonly to make the French position in Spaineven worse, and confirmed the fataldifficulty of attempting to maintaincampaigns upon two widely separatedfronts.

For the remainder of his new army,Napoleon drew some troops from internalsecurity units and recalled retired veterans,but assembled most from newly or recentlyconscripted men. In the following months,such was the demand for troops thatconscripts were called up years before theywere due officially, resulting in regimentsfilled with increasing numbers ofever-younger recruits; experienced officersand NCOs trained them, but they did notpossess either the experience or the physicalabilities of the battle hardened men lost inRussia. Nevertheless, in numerical termsNapoleon was able to field an impressivearmy for a campaign which was to begin inspring 1813, even if it was deficient incavalry, the most difficult troops to replace.

Napoleon's defeat in Russia also had themost profound political consequences,beginning with the Convention ofTauroggen (30 December 1812) by whichGeneral Hans David von Yorck's Prussiancontingent of the Grande Armée signed a

pact of neutrality with the Russians. Thiswas done without reference to KingFrederick William III of Prussia, nominallyNapoleon's ally, and together with elementswithin the Prussian military and civilestablishments which were stronglyanti-French, it placed great pressure uponthe king to take a stronger stance againstNapoleon. The situation was compoundedwhen Austria also adopted a position ofneutrality, and Schwarzenberg's troops,which had formed the right flank of theadvance of the Grande Armée against Russia,retired to Austrian territory, compelling theremaining French and allied forces inPoland to retire further west. Thesemeasures caused great concern amongNapoleon's German allies of theConfederation of the Rhine, many of whosetroops had been lost in Russia, but despitetheir misgivings, these states remained loyalto Napoleon at least for the earlier stages ofthe 1813 campaign. This was not the casewith Prussia: emboldened by the

catastrophe that had overtaken Napoleon in1812, on 28 February 1813 that statesecretly joined Russian by the Treaty ofKalisch, and as French forces withdrewwestwards to regroup, Prussia declared waron Napoleon (16 March 1813).

Napoleon still enjoyed some advantagesas the campaign of 1813 opened, notably'unity of command' in that all his resourceswere under his control, whereas his enemieswere to some degree mutually distrustfuland lacked co-ordination. Thus upon therenewal of hostilities, Napoleon was toenjoy some successes, but the entry ofAustria into the war against him (12 August1813) was to cause a fatal shift in thebalance of power. Supported by a tide ofpublic enthusiasm, the 'War of Liberation'in Germany was to cause the collapse of theConfederation of the Rhine as Napoleon'sallies changed sides, and France itself was tobe laid open to invasion; all consequences ofNapoleon's catastrophic decision to invadeRussia in 1812.

Conclusion and consequences

The campaign which had set out to bringAlexander to his senses and close offRussian ports to Great Britain had endedin disaster. Britain, which had beenhard-pressed financially in 1810/11, wasresurgent. Only the war with the UnitedStates prevented her from pouring massivesubsidies into the Continent.

Napoleon had started the campaign with600,000 men and when it had finished,400,000 had died or never returned to theranks. The massive loss of horses furthercompounded the tragedy, crippling theFrench army in its future campaigns, as theywere unable to exploit their victories ortransport supplies, artillery, and the wounded.

Russia had lost some 250,000 men andwas almost as battered as France, butAlexander, now in the grips of a growingmessianic complex in which he saw himselfas God's deliverer and Napoleon as the

Antichrist, determined to pursue the war,against the wishes of Kutusov.

One key to the future was the defection ofthe Prussian General Yorck, who made aprivate treaty with the Russians and his entirecontingent changed sides. This eventprecipitated Prussia's entry into the waragainst Napoleon. At the same time, Austriawithdrew from Napoleon's coalition andwaited on the sidelines for furtherdevelopments.

Napoleon hurried back to France torebuild his army. He did a remarkable jobbut his German allies were increasinglywar-weary and questioning of the benefits ofremaining within the French sphere.Sweden, directed by Bernadotte, was

Eventually the exhausting pace and killing coldreduced most of the Grande Armée to everyman for himself. (Roger-Viollet)


preparing to join in the alliance againstFrance. The story in Spain was no better:things had definitely turned against theFrench, and Napoleon needed to take troopsout rather than send in more.

Europe was now transfixed by the clearvulnerability of the French. The Russiancampaign had changed the opinion of themonarchies regarding their ability to standagainst Napoleon. Like the circling crowswhich had followed the Grande Arméeduring the retreat, waiting for an opening toprey on a carcass, the crowned heads of

Europe saw in the 1812 defeat a chance todestroy the meaning of the FrenchRevolution, and perhaps acquire additionalterritories into the bargain. The one thingthat they did not forget was that Napoleonhad not personally lost a single battle duringthe campaign. Even so, he could not be in allplaces at once and there were two or threefronts besides the main one where the Frenchcould be hit. What this Mars now lacked wasable marshals to cover the fronts where hewas not. This his enemies knew and this theywould exploit.

Further reading

Arnold, James, Crisis on the Danube:Napoleon's Austrian Campaign of 1809,Paragon House, 1990

Bond, Gordon, The Great ExpeditionBowden, Scott, Armies on the Danube 1809,

Emperor's Press, 1989Chlapowski, Dezydery, Memoirs of A Polish

Lancer, Emperor's Press, 1992Clausewitz, Carl von, The Campaign of 1812

in Russia, Greenhill Books, 1992Duffy, Christopher, Borodino, Cassell & Co.,

1999Epstein, Robert, Prince Eugene at War, Empire

Press, 1984Epstein, Robert M., Napoleon's Last Victory

and the Emergence of Modern War,University Press of Kansas, 1994

Esposito, Vincent J., and Elting, John R.,Military History & Atlas of the NapoleonicWars, Greenhill Books, 1999

Gill, John H., With Eagles to Glory: Napoleonand his German Allies in the 1809Campaign, Greenhill Books, 1992

Josselson, Michael, The Commander: A Life ofBarclay de Tolly, Oxford University Press,1980

Nafziger, George, Napoleon's Invasion ofRussia, Presidio Press, 1988

Palmer, Alan, Napoleon in Russia: The 1812Campaign, Simon & Schuster, 1967

Petre, F. Lorraine, Napoleon and the ArchdukeCharles, Greenhill Books, 1991

Walter, Jakob, (trans. Marc Raiff), The Diary ofa Napoleonic Foot Soldier, Doubleday, 1991

Index

Figures in bold refer to illustrations

Abensberg, Battle of 9, 22-23Alexander, Tsar 8, 9, 52, 54, 55, 58Arakcheev, Alexei 17, 58Aderklaa 46-48artillery 34

Austrian 16-17French 13, 14Russian 17, 18

Aspern-Essling, Battle of 9, 31-38, 32, 35, 48Austria 8, 12Austrian army 14-17Austrian campaign 19-28, 29-49

Bagration, Prince 54-62, 66, 80Barclay de Tolly 17, 54-60, 62, 78-81, 79Bavaria 19-28Beauharnais, Prince Eugene de

Austrian campaign 19, 28, 30, 31, 39, 42Russian campaign 54, 63-64, 66, 67-68,72

Beresina, River 75, 76-77, 76-77Bernadotte, Marshal 31, 40, 44, 46, 50, 52Berthier, Marshal 19, 40Bessieres, Marshal 29, 32, 34, 38Bettelberg 26Borodino 61-71, 63, 67Boudet, Jean 33, 37, 46Bucharest, Treaty of 9

Caulaincourt, General 52, 69-70cavalry

French 13-14Austrian 16, 24-25, 36Russian 17-18

Charles, Archduke 12, 14, 16-17, 19, 19-20,22, 25-28, 29, 31-33, 35, 37, 37-38, 40-49

Chastelier, General 28, 31Chatham, Earl of 49Chichagov, Admiral 76Compans, General 21, 61Confederation of the Rhine 12, 14Cossacks 18, 67, 68, 74

Davout, MarshalAustrian campaign 19-21, 22, 23, 24-26,31, 34, 44-48Russian campaign 54, 59, 66

Docturov, General 59, 72-73

Eckmühl, Battle of 9, 24-27

Edelsberg, Battle of 30Erfurt, Congress of 7, 8Espagne, General 37Eugene, Prince see Beauharnais, Prince

Eugene deEurope

in 1809 11

Ferdinand, Archduke 19, 28Fleches 62, 64, 66, 68Flushing 49, 51Fontainbleau, Treaty of 7-8Fouché, Joseph 11Francis II of Austria 12, 41Frederick Wilhelm, King of Prussia 12, 52French army 13-14Friant, Louis 20-22, 48, 69Fusil, Louise 86-88

Grande Armée 55, 57, 89-90, 91Graz 38-39Great Britain 12, 31, 40, 49, 91Great Redoubt 63, 66, 68-70, 68-69Grenadiers

Austrian 15Hungarian 16Russian 18

Grenzers, Austrian 15Guard Cavalry 13-14Guard Corps 13Gudin, General 60

Hausen see Teugen-Hausen, Battle ofHiller, Johann Freiherr 29-30, 33Hofer, Andreas 28, 50Hohenzollern, Field-Marshal the Prince of

20, 21, 22

infantry 34Austrian 15, 15French 32Hungarian 15Russian 17

Innsbruck 28, 31, 40Italy 28

Jellacic, General 38John, Archduke 28, 30-31, 38, 39-40, 41, 45,

49Joseph, King of Spain 8, 9Josephine 51Junot, Andoches 60, 66

Index 95

Klenau, Johann 44, 45, 47Kolowrat, General 31, 45, 47Krasnoi 59, 75-76Kutaisov, General 66Kutusov, General Mikhail 60, 62, 64-65, 67,

69-70, 72-76

Landshut 19, 21, 22, 23Landwehr, Austrian 16Lannes, Marshal Jean 22, 27, 29, 30, 32-36, 38Latour-Maubourg, Marie Charles de Fay 68-70Lauriston, General 48, 72Lefebvre, Marshal 24, 31, 87, 88Liechtenstein, General Alois 21-22, 33, 49Linz, Battle of 31Lobau Island 31, 38,40losses 49-50, 91Lutza, River 72-73

Macdonald, General 38, 39, 42, 45, 48, 52,57, 77

Malet, General 9, 77Maloyaroslavets, Battle of 72-73Marie-Louise 50-51, 53Markgrafneusiedl 48-49Marmont, Marshal 38-39, 49Massena, Marshal 22, 28, 29-30, 32, 33, 34,

44, 46Metternich, Prince 12, 51Molitor, Gabriel Jean Joseph 32, 33, 47Monnet, General 49Montbrun, General 20, 24, 25, 68Moscow 58, 71-72

fire 70, 71-72retreat 71, 72-77

Mouton, Georges 21, 37Murat, Marshal, King of Naples 54, 59, 64,

88

Nansouty, Etiennes Marie AntoineChampion, comte de 68-69

Napoleon 1 7, 10, 46-47, 55, 87assassination plot 50

Napoleon II, King of Rome 51Napoleon, Jerome, King of Westphalia 54,

56, 56-57, 58Ney, Marshal 57, 59, 60, 64, 66, 74, 76, 77Niemen, River 54-55

Oudinot, Marshal 41, 42, 49, 59, 76

peace negotiations 50-51Phull, General 54-55Piave, Battle of the 31, 38Piré, General 24Pius II, Pope 11

Poland 28, 40Poniatowski, Prince 28, 40, 64, 65

Raab, Battle of 39Rapp, General 37-38, 50Raszyn, Battle of 9, 28Regensburg 20-28, 22, 23, 27river crossings 41

see also Beresina, RiverRosenberg, Field-Marshal 20, 25, 33, 34, 37,

45Russian army 17-18, 53-54Russian campaign 52-77, 58Russian Guard 18

Sadie, Battle of 28, 31Salamanca, Battle of 9, 62Schill, Major 29Smolensk, Battle of 59-61, 62Spain 7-8spies 52St Cyr, Carra 32, 33, 34, 47, 53St Hilaire, General 35, 36St Michael, Battle of 38Stapps, Friedrich 50Stoichewich, General 28, 38

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de 7, 8Tchernishev, Alexander 54Teugen-Hausen, Battle of 20-22Tilsit, Treaty of 8, 11Tyrol 28, 31

rebels 39, 40, 50

Unterlaiching 26Utitsa 65-66

Valutino, Battle of 60, 62Vandamme, General 26, 31, 52Vyazma, Battle of 61, 74Victor, Marshal 72, 76-77Vienna 30-31, 84-85Vilna 77, 88Vinkovo 72

Wagram, Battle of 40-49, 43, 46-47Walcheren 49Walter, Jacob 82-83Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of 8,

62, 89Wittgenstein, General 59, 72

Yermolov, General 66Yorck, Count von 77, 91

Znaim, Armistice of 9, 49

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