| Show fr from frim im olsons outlines ot of history i NAPOLEONS NAPOLEON RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN during the reverse to the thi french armies Armi esin egin in 15 spain events of grei grel greater iter lter mag magnitude nitride than those of ti the peninsular war were ware occupying the personal attention atten otten fion flon of f napoleon the jealousy of russia at his repeated encroachments encroach ments in central and northern rn europe was at its hei hel height alt ait moreover the tire comm ercul interests of russia in common with those of the other Nort norf northern hern bern powers had bee been 11 greatly injured by bythe the measures of napoleon for destroying the trade of england but the french emperor refused to abandon his filiz favorite policy and the angry discus discussions lois lors between tile the cabinets of st SL petersburg and wid versailles led to the assembling of vast armies on both sides and ani the tile commencement men cement of hostilities in the early parfir part of the eummer summer of 1812 Nal nai napoleon oleon had kad driven sweeden an alliance with russia and a ad england but he be arrayed round his standard stan dard the ahe immense forces of germany the G C tiong nong of the rhine poland and two monarchies prussia and austria tile the grand army assembled in fit poland for the russian russi in war amounted corthe gate of more than men mon of whom were cavalry caval rythe the whole supported by 1300 pieces af cannon nearly chariots or carts of all descriptions follow edthe army while the whole number of horses amounted to pose this vas vast army the tho russians had collected at the beginning of the contest nearly men but as the war waly was carried into the interior their forces increased in numbers until the armies on both sides were nearly equal I 1 on the hof of june 1812 napoleon crossed Ni ernen einen atthe head of the grand army and entered upon ills his ever memorable fustian campaign As the enormous superiority of his hib forces rendered it hopeless forthe for the Ras russians to attempt any immediate i les ler es istance hey their gradually fell back before the fhe invaders wasting ille fhe countey as s they retreated the wisdom of thili hi course soon became apparent ap arent A terrible ter tempest soon set in crifesi and he ie hordes in the french army perished by thousands from the combined effects of f incessant rain and scanty forage the soldiers a ekener in grea great numbers and before a yih sin single le shot haa had been fired sick and ding d ine inz men filled the hopi tais dead horses strewed the road roud to wll wil na and igo pieces of cannon were abandoned for tile tiie want of the means of ran port S ill napoleon pressed onward in several divisions frequently skirmishing with the driving them before him until lie arrived within t ie fortified forli bied fied walls of ensko where thirty thou sand russians made a stand to oppose him A hundred and fifty cannon were brought up to battor the walls but without vit hout effect for the thickness of the ramparts defied the efforts of the artillery but eat the french Fren cli howitzers howit set fire to some house houses near the ramparts the flame spread with wonderful rapidity and daring during the night which followed the battle a lurid light from the burning city was cast over the tho french preach bivouacs grouped in dense masses for several miles in circumference at three in the morning a solitary french soldier scaled the wall and aud penetrated into tile tho interior but be het found neither inhabitants nor opponents rhe rho wort of destruction had hid been completed hv tary sacrifice of the inhabitants who had with the army leaving leafing a ruined cily cy naked walls and the cannon which mou mounted them as the only trophy to the conqueror the tho cli iii vision of the army led by napoleon followed the file russians on the road to moscow engaging in frequent but b it eneny encounters aters with the tha rear guard when th r retreating forces had reached the small village of Bo borodic Boro rodiun diu their commander general Ku kutusoff lusoff resolved ved to risk a abat bat 13 iii the hope of sm moscow on tile the eve ung ning of the eth ot of the two ast vast armies took their positions facing facia each othar each numbering mo e than oue our hundred and thi ty t thousand nen caen bussh russians ris lis rit fit vying iving six hubred and forty pieces of cannon ano vw fie french five hundred and ninety napoleon otlo sought nought otio ht to stir pailee palLee tile tiie enghu sum eum of or his lus soldiers by bv recounting to them the glories ot Mar Marc marengo erigo ugo of J jelia jella iia lia aud and of austerlitz while a procession of dignified clergy passed through the rus in i n tanks ranks bestowing their thein blessing upon the soldier soldiers nid mid invoking g che aid of the god of battes battles to drive the invaders from fr nn the land at six 0 clock on or fe Tr morning orning of the thi ah a gun fired eom pom he file fr n nah h lines ilius announced the com earn nt of tbt hamp h the tb roa if more than a hoa housand nhon hon and sand cannon cannoa S TK X ti t earth v st clouds clouis of sm smoke 0 ile ice a the light liht of the ohp s a ll 11 arose in i sublimity vr ohp ih scene pud nd two hundred attil andery thousand aidi tani lani led on n the ga hering nerine gloom by tile I 1 glit gilt of canno i and aid ald rv ry in nn ulf work wora of deah the battle r aged with desala tine i w a uv V u until attil n ili tit put an end tois to ls horrors I 1 1 tie ne was immense the luss loss oil on both sid gid a was equal amounting I 1 0 i the aggregate lo 10 ni t ey ely thousand tind find iu in killed and wounded wona woun ded the tilo RUSSIA position was eventually eventual i y earned carried but neit nelt lipi siao aimed inird a decisive doci sive victory jit 04 the day after lie ilie t bittie hittie ilia russians retired perfect order on ahr th g eat road riad to moscow dlo Alo scow P were lately made by the inhabitants lor abandoning that city long iong levered evered I 1 as the cradit of the empire and when on the na golfon entered it no deputation of citizens awaited him to cepi deprecate ecate his ins hostility but the dwellen dw dwellings ellin of or thre ihre hundred thousand persona were as sil sli silent t a the wilder rices it seemed like a city of the e dead Nt napoleon took up tys lys it s reci reel residence denee in the ile lle kemiel kremli Ke the ancient palace of the cairs but the lie lle had determined that their belched beloved city city should not afford a shelter to the invaders A at t midnight on ilia he a vast light was s sen spen an to illuminate the mo mot moot t distant parts parta of the city fires tirone out in n all directions and moscow soon exhibited a hu huga huge n ocean of flame agitated by the wind nine tenths of the city were consumed and napoleon was driven to seek a temporary refuge for bulerin in the country but fitter jitter afterwards wards return returning ing lug to the krein kremlin lin which add escaped the ravages aIres ot 01 the fire he remained there until tile the ith irli of octo ber her when all his proposals of peacie glo eing ng r rejected ej act lie he was compelled to order a re retreat treat the horrors of that retreat which during hirty fifty five ve dai days glat that inter intervened veneA until the re crossing of ti the le was almost one continual battle exceeded c ceedee eded anything any thin before known in the annals annais of war the exasperated intercepted the retreating army whenever opportunity offered and a cloud of cossacks hovering incessantly around the w wearied earled columns gradually wore away their numbers but the severities of the russian winter which setin on the ath of november were far gore goro more moro more destructive of nga ufa than the sword or the enemy the weather before mild sud suddenly deril derli X chan changed grillo intense cold the wind howled frightfully I 1 through tb the forests or swept over the plains with resistless fury and the snow fell in thick and continued showers soon confounding all 01 objects j acts and leaving the army to wander without ia landmarks through an icy desert thousands of the soldiers falling benumbed eliji cold and exhausted perished miserably in 9 of their companions pari pan ions lorts and the route of the rear guard of ta tie tip e arin arrn army v as literally choked up by tile the icy ley mound af the te dead in their nightly bivouac crowds of starving men man prepared around their scanty fire a miserable meal of rye mixed with water and s never awoke from tife the slumbers stu m lers bers tl ti at followed and the sites pi of the night fires were jn in irked by circles of dead bodies lodies with their teet feet still resti resting iw on the extinguished kiers piers Cloud clouds of ravens issuing from the forests hovered over the dying diirr remains of the soldiers while troops of famished dogs which had hal followed the lle lie tie army fram moscow howled in the rear and 0 often orten fell on their victims before bedfor life ivis lvis was extinct the ambition of napoleon had bad led the pride mid and chivalry of europe to perish amid thespo ws of a russian winter and he be bitterly felt the tha taunt of the tho enemy could the tha french Trench find no graves raves ill lil in thel own land napoleon had first thought of remaining in winter quarters quartets it fet ensko but the exhausted state of his mw magazines abines and the uie concentrating around him of vast forces of the enemy enema enemy which threat med wed soon on to overwhelm him convinced him that roso stay was impossible and on oil the of november the retreat was renewed ewed ila lla napoleon pleon still in the midst of his faithful i bards leading the ad advance adv varce iTce and the heroic ney bringing up the rear but the enemy harrasser harr assed hem item at every step dil during ring the C ith alth tit and in inthe lathe the ille battles of krassoi Kra suoi napoleon lost ten fen thousand killed twenty thousand were taken akeli prison prisoner prisoners ers ors cr and more than ihan a hull buti bundred hundred dred pieces of carillon cannon fell into the hands of the enemy the terrible passage of the Beres beresina inq which was purchased by the loss of sixteen ell eli thousand prisoners and twenty thousand killer or drown drowned d in the stream completed the ruin of tile the grand arav all subordination now ceased and it was with rith difficulty that alar diar marhal hal hai ney could collict collect three thousand men on foot to form the reaf rear guard arid and protect the helpless multitude arb fram m ta ll 11 j gable cossacks and when at length th the few re daining fugitives reached reache dille the passage of the nie 1 men the rear guard was reduced to thirty men the veteran marshall bearing the musket and still facing the enemy was the last of the grand gran d ar my mv who ift ohp th russian territory napolon Na Napo polop loop had already abil abandoned the remnant arces forces and setting a sledge for pris prig lie he aniced alriq arim thare at midnight on the of december even before the news of his terrible reverses had bad reached the tile capital it has been estimated that in this russian campaign one hundred and twenty five fire thousand men of lie the ile army of napoleon perished 4 in the battle battie and ani one hu hundred adred and aud thirty t wo ailo alto u sand died of fatigue hunger aid cold and that nearly two hundred thousand were taken pr toner ioner |
