Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==Invasion of Russia, 1812==
{{Main|French invasion of Russia}}
[[File:Battle of Borodino 1812.png|thumb|The [[Battle of Borodino]] as depicted by [[Louis-François, Baron Lejeune|Louis Lejeune]]. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars.]]

The [[Treaty of Tilsit]] in 1807 resulted in the [[Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)|Anglo–Russian War]] (1807–1812). Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] declared war on Britain after the British attack on Denmark in September 1807. British men-of-war supported the Swedish fleet during the [[Finnish War]] and won victories over the Russians in the [[Gulf of Finland]] in July 1808 and August 1809. The success of the Russian army on land, however, forced Sweden to sign peace treaties with Russia in 1809 and with France in 1810, and to join the blockade against Britain. But Franco–Russian relations would become progressively worse after 1810, and the Russian war with Britain effectively ended. In April 1812, Britain, Russia, and Sweden signed secret agreements directed against Napoleon.{{sfn|Palmer|1974}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

The central issue for both [[Emperor of the French|Emperor]] [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]] and [[Emperor of Russia|Tsar]] [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] was control over Poland. Each wanted a semi-independent Poland he could control. As Esdaile notes, "Implicit in the idea of a Russian Poland was, of course, a war against Napoleon."{{sfn|Esdaile|2009|p=438}} Schroeder says Poland was "the root cause" of Napoleon's war with Russia, but Russia's refusal to support the Continental System was also a factor.{{sfn|Schroeder|1994|p=419}}

In 1812, at the height of his power, Napoleon invaded Russia with a pan-European {{lang|fr|[[Grande Armée]]}}, consisting of 450,000 men (200,000 Frenchmen, and many soldiers of allies or subject areas). The French forces crossed the [[Neman|Niemen]] river on 24 June 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, and Napoleon proclaimed a Second Polish war. The Poles supplied almost 100,000 men for the invasion force, but against their expectations, Napoleon avoided any concessions to Poland, having in mind further negotiations with Russia.{{sfn|Riehn|1990}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

The {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} marched through Russia, winning some relatively minor engagements and the major [[Battle of Smolensk (1812)|Battle of Smolensk]] on 16–18 August. In the same days, part of the French Army led by [[Marshal of France|Marshal]] [[Nicolas Oudinot]] was stopped in the [[First Battle of Polotsk|Battle of Polotsk]] by the right wing of the Russian Army, under command of General [[Peter Wittgenstein]]. This prevented the French march on the Russian capital, [[Saint Petersburg]]; the fate of the invasion was decided in Moscow, where Napoleon led his forces in person.

[[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Napoleon]]'s withdrawal from Russia'', a painting by [[Adolph Northen]]]]

The main [[Imperial Russian Army]] was commanded by [[Field Marshal]] [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly]], who recognized that Napoleon's immediate goal was a decisive battle to crush the main Russian force in the west. In response, the Russian army used [[scorched-earth]] tactics as it withdrew east, and harried the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} with light [[Cossack]] cavalry. The {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} did not adjust its operational methods in response.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|pp=138–140}} Provisioning such an enormous army with adequate food and fresh water had proven difficult since the very start of the campaign, exacerbated by the sparse terrain of [[western Russia]]; diseases such as [[typhus]] and [[dysentery]] rapidly became rampant among the rank and file. These factors led to most of the losses of the main column of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}}, which in one case amounted to 95,000 men, including deserters, in a week.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=185}}

The main Russian army retreated for almost three months. This constant retreat led to the increasing unpopularity of Barclay de Tolly (who was a [[Baltic German]] and already mistrusted by the Russian elite) and a respected Russian veteran, Prince [[Mikhail Kutuzov]], was made the new Commander-in-Chief by Tsar Alexander. Finally, the two armies engaged in the [[Battle of Borodino]] on 7 September,{{sfn|Haythornthwaite|2012}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}} in the vicinity of Moscow. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 men and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. 

The battle was indecisive; the French captured the main positions on the battlefield but failed to destroy the Russian army. While Kutuzov had recognized the political need to give battle, he also recognized that Barclay de Tolly's strategies had proven effective, and that the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} was bleeding personnel and supplies more and more severely with every step they took deeper into Russia. Napoleon's logistical difficulties meant that French casualties simply could not be replaced, whereas the Russian army could reinforce itself far more readily.

[[Napoleon|Napoleon I]] entered [[Moscow]] on 14 September, after the Russian Army had retreated yet again.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|pp=253–254}} By then, the Russians had largely evacuated the city and released criminals from the prisons to inconvenience the French; the governor, Count [[Fyodor Rostopchin]], ordered the city [[Fire of Moscow (1812)|to be burnt]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=With Napoleon in Russia, The Memoirs of General Coulaincourt |publisher=William Morrow and Co |year=1945 |at=Chapter VI 'The Fire', pp. 109–107}}</ref> Alexander I refused to capitulate, and the peace talks attempted by Napoleon failed. Rather than withdraw further east, the Russian army withdrew south, rebuilding its strength and preparing to interfere with a French withdrawal. In October, with no sign of clear victory in sight, Napoleon began the disastrous Great Retreat from Moscow.

[[File:Minard's Map (vectorized).svg|upright=1.35|thumb|[[Charles Joseph Minard]]'s graph of the decreasing size of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} represented by the width of the line as it marches to Moscow (tan) and back (black)]]

The French tried to reach [[Kaluga]] and swing through southern Russia, where they could find food and forage supplies. In the [[Battle of Maloyaroslavets]], the replenished Russian army blocked the road to Kaluga. While an indecisive engagement, it nevertheless doomed the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}}; with the Russians refusing to be dislodged, Napoleon was forced to retreat back down the [[Smolensk]] road along which he had already advanced, and which had already been denuded of supplies – most crucially, food. 

The French supply chain, already in tatters from the attrition of wagons and horses, began to collapse completely. The lack of horses also rendered Napoleon's cavalry ineffective, leaving the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} vulnerable to sustained [[guerrilla warfare]] by Russian peasants and irregular troops. The {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} was dealt a further catastrophic blow by the onset of the [[Russian Winter]], which the underfed and undersupplied {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} was unprepared to cope with.

When the remnants of Napoleon's army [[Battle of Berezina|struggled across the Berezina River]] in November with the Russian army in pursuit, only 27,000 fit soldiers survived, with 380,000 men dead or missing and 100,000 captured.{{sfn|Upshall|p=17|1993}} Napoleon then left his men and returned to Paris to prepare the defence against the advancing Russians. The campaign had effectively ended on 14 December 1812, when the last enemy troops left Russia. The Russians had lost around 210,000 men, but with their shorter supply lines, they soon replenished their armies. For every six soldiers of the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} that entered Russia, only one would make it out in fighting condition.