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French invasion of Russia

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French invasion of Russia
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Top to bottom, left to right:
  • Italian soldiers struggling with thirst and heat by Albrecht Adam
  • The end of Borodino battle by Vasily Vereshchagin
  • Moscow burning by Viktor Mazurovsky
  • French soldiers attacked by Russian Cossacks
  • Crossing the Berezina River by Victor Adam
  • Marshal Ney at the Kowno redoubt by Auguste Raffet
Date24 June – 24 December 1812
(6 months)
Location
Result
  • Russian victory
Belligerents

First French Empire French Empire
Duchy of Warsaw
Italy
Naples
Swiss Confederacy

Template:Country data Denmark–Norway
 Austrian Empire
 Prussia
 Russia
Commanders and leaders

First French Empire Napoleon I
other commanders:

Russian Empire Alexander I
other commanders:

Strength

600,000–685,000 total:[1][2][3]

571,000–713,000 total:[9][4]

Casualties and losses

500,000[1]

  • 300,000[12][13]–350,000 dead
  • 180,000[18]–212,800[19] wounded (including those who died, deserted or captured)
  • 50,000 deserted[13][12]
  • 100,000 prisoners (including those who died)[12][13]

410,000

Total military and civilian deaths:
c. 1,000,000[22]
French soldiers in Russia

The French Invasion of Russia in 1812, also known as the Russian Campaign in France[23] (French: Campagne de Russie) and the Patriotic War of 1812 in Russia (Russian: Отечественная война 1812 года), was Napoleon I leading the French Empire to invade Russia. That was the turning point during the Napoleonic Wars, because it was the first major defeat for Napoleon.

It greatly reduced the French and allied invasion forces (the Grande Armée).[24] It started a major change in European politics by greatly weakened the French power over Europe. French allies, at first Prussia and then Austria, broke their alliance with France. They fought France instead, which started the War of the Sixth Coalition.[25]

References

[change | change source]
  1. 1 2 Mikaberidze 2020, p. 539.
  2. Riehn 1990, pp. 77, 501.
  3. Bodart 1916, p. 126.
  4. 1 2 Sokolov 2020, p. 412.
  5. 1 2 Riehn 1990, p. 159.
  6. Riehn 1990, p. 241.
  7. Riehn 1990, p. 491.
  8. 1 2 Bodart 1908, p. 445.
  9. 1 2 Bodart 1916, pp. 126–127.
  10. Riehn 1990, p. 239.
  11. Riehn 1990, p. 493.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Clodfelter 2008, p. 175.
  13. 1 2 3 Bodart 1916, p. 127.
  14. Clodfelter 2008, p. 163.
  15. Lentz 2004, vol. 2.
  16. "The retreat from Moscow". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  17. Zamoyski 2005, p. 536
  18. Bodart 1916, p. 130.
  19. Uralanis 1960, p. 77.
  20. Bogdanovich, "History of Patriotic War 1812", Spt., 1859–1860, Appendix, pp. 492–503.
  21. 1 2 Bodart 1916, p. 128.
  22. Zamoyski 2004, p. 536.
  23. Boudon Jacques-Olivier, Napoléon et la campagne de Russie: 1812, Armand Colin, 2012.
  24. Why The #1 Fact Of Military History Is A Lie - Hilarious Helmet History on YouTube
  25. Fierro; Palluel-Guillard; Tulard, p. 159-161

Other websites

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