Napoleon Retreats from Moscow: Empire Crumbles
Napoleon entered Moscow on September 14, 1812, expecting Tsar Alexander to negotiate. Instead, fires consumed three-quarters of the city within days, probably set by Russian agents. Napoleon waited five weeks for a surrender offer that never came. On October 19, he ordered the Grande Armee to retreat. Of the 685,000 soldiers who had crossed into Russia in June, roughly 400,000 were already dead or captured. The retreat turned into a death march through early winter. Soldiers ate their horses, then their boots. Cossack raiders picked off stragglers. Temperatures dropped to minus 30. At the crossing of the Berezina River in November, thousands drowned or froze. Fewer than 27,000 effective soldiers reached the border. The disaster emboldened Prussia and Austria to join Russia against Napoleon, leading to his abdication in 1814.
October 19, 1812
214 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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