7 things that shocked Napoleon in Russia

August 15, 1769 on the island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte was born. In 1812, the French emperor, the successful military leader, was a fiasco in the campaign against Russia. On the day of the birth of Napoleon remember 7 things that shocked him in Russia.

1. The tactics of the Russian army

Tactics of Russian troops and Napoleon was struck in the literal and figurative sense. Russian army under the leadership of General Barclay de Tolly was kept constant retreat tactics. The troops went from Vitebsk, Smolensk, Moscow. Before castling Tolly and Kutuzov French given only two battles.

By the retreat of Russian troops, Napoleon treated ambiguously. At the beginning of the campaign is the enemy's behavior was to hand the French emperor, he wanted to get to Smolensk with small losses. Smolensk French are not captured, and received in a completely unpresentable form. Stop in the city proved pointless to move on was terrible. Army, hoping for a blitzkrieg move farther into the depths of the vast country.

Soldiers entered the empty city, had finished the last stocks and panic. Bonaparte sitting on the island of Saint Helena, recalled: "My shelves, amazed that after so many difficult transitions and murderous fruits of their efforts are constantly removed from them, began to anxiously look to the distance separating them from France."

2. Thick walls

The story about the impenetrable walls of Smolensk Napoleon takes a whole page. From the description of the beautiful view of the city, Napoleon refers to the meaningless attempts to capture him, "I used the whole reserve artillery to break through the gaps in the curtain, but in vain - our core stuck in extremely thick walls, there is no activity. The only way it was possible to make a break: direct all our fire against the two round towers, but the difference in the thickness of the walls was not known to us. "

3. Fire

If it was not published memories of Bonaparte, one would think that it was the French brought to the Russian ground fire. Napoleon's troops movement was accompanied by fire - burned cities and roads. In Smolensk, Gzhatsk, Small Jarosławiec extinguished fires the French themselves. Russian burned everything - houses, shops, streets, crops. The middle of Moscow, Napoleon wondered - why is it burning? And then the sad but beautifully wrote: "Moscow has become a sea of ​​fire. Kremlin view from the balcony was worthy of Nero, burned Rome, and as for me, I've never been like that monster, and when you look at this terrible picture of my heart bled. "

4. Cities

Art of Russian architects admired Napoleon, in his memoirs, he described Smolensk tower, apart from the siege of failures. Moscow and at all has struck the French emperor "built like Rome, on seven hills, Moscow is a very scenic view. We must see the big picture, which represents the city, half-European, poluvostochny, with its two hundred churches and thousands of colorful chapters, towering over them, to understand the feelings that we experienced when from the height of the Poklonnaya Mountain Moscow saw in front of him. "

5. Roads

Napoleon was a lot of Russian roads, and none of it was not satisfied. The reason is not the weather, it has developed from the Emperor a separate opinion. In his memoirs, Napoleon called the Russian impassable roads only: "The lack of information about the state of roads, incomplete and inaccurate edge of the map, was the reason that I did not dare to put the body in different directions, as there is nothing to prove the existence of udoboprohodimyh roads."

6. Weather

Napoleon invaded Russia in the early summer, and get out of it is already closer to spring. Emperor of France had to lay down their opinion about the weather in Russia, for example, the fall was the "most beautiful, unusual in these harsh lands." With severe cold Napoleon had to face in the most unfavorable point on the way home: "On November 7 the cold and increased with alarming rapidity developed a degree of military disorder that began already at Vyazma".

7. The guerrillas

Nice to know that most of Napoleon was shocked and delighted the behavior of the Russian people. About the people's war, Napoleon said: "The most formidable army can not successfully wage war against an entire people, who decided to conquer or die. We had to deal not with the people of Lithuania, indifferent spectators of the great events occurring around them. The entire population, made up of natural Russian, at our approach to leave their homes. On our way we met only abandoned or burnt villages. Fleeing residents formed a gang that operated against our foragers. They never bothered themselves troops, but exciting all the looters and the stragglers. "