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Napoleon I. Battle of Smolensk, engagement of the Napoleonic Wars fought in eastern Russia on August 16–18, 1812, and the first large-scale battle of the French campaign in Russia. When Napoleon invaded Russia in June 1812, he led a multinational army of more than half a million soldiers.
Aug 24, 2023 · Napoleon wins the Battle of Maroyaroslavets but is forced to retreat along the devastated Smolensk route. 9 Nov 1812 Napoleon reaches Smolensk during his retreat from Moscow; his fighting strength has dwindled to 60,000.
- How large was Napoleon's invasion of Russia?Napoleon's invasion of Russia involved around 615,000 men, 200,000 horses, and 1,300 guns along with a supply train of 7,848 vehicles.
- What happened when Napoleon invaded Russia?Napoleon invaded Russia on 24 June 1812 but suffered heavy losses as the Russians engaged in a war of attrition. Napoleon won the Battle of Borodin...
- How many of Napoleon's troops made it out of Russia?Of Napoleon's initial 615,000 men, less than 100,000 returned from Russia. Of the half-million losses, 380,000 had died, 120,000 were taken prisone...
- Why did France invade Russia in 1812?France invaded Russia in 1812 primarily to force it to rejoin the Continental System embargo against Britain.
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- Entering Moscow
- Waiting For Peace
- The Battle of Tarutino
- Leaving Moscow
- Retreat
- News from Paris…
- Smolensk and Beyond
- Berezina
- The Incredible Ride
On the 15th September, a week after the bloody battle of Borodino, Napoleon entered Moscow. He had expected to enter with glory, met by a delegation of the city's highest officials assembled in recognition of his victory and ready to negotiate peace. But there was no delegation; in fact, there was hardly anyone left there at all. Of Moscow's 200,00...
On the 18th September, Major General Ivan Tutolmin was received at the Petroff Palace. The subsequent letter he wrote to the Tsar's mother Maria Feodorovna, on Napoleon's request, regarding the opening of peace talks received no reply. A similar attempt by Napoleon to open dialogue around peace came on the 22nd September, soon after the end of the ...
On the 18th October, the Battle of Tarutino (also known as Vinkovo) took place. The Russian army had arrived at Tarutino on 2-3 October, and began to make entrenchments to defend it immediately. Murat pursued (and indeed harried) the Russian rearguard as far as the outskirts of Tarutino, but was unable to capitalise on his superiority. Setting up o...
On the 19th October, the French evacuated Moscow and its surrounding area. As the Grande Armée was leaving the city, Mortier, governor of Moscow, set up explosives around the Kremlin to carry out Napoleon's (strategically irrelevant) orders to destroy it. Whilst light rain and some intervention by Muscovites prevented all the fuses from firing, nev...
The French retreat began on the following day, and on the 26th October, Napoleon informed Berthier of his intention to go on the route to Viazma (fatefully, the same road by which the Grande Armée had entered Russia); fighting ensued on the way there later that day. On the 28th October, Napoleon reached Vereya, while Davout and Prince Poniatowski b...
On the 6th November, in Mikhaïlovka, Napoleon received news of General Malet's coup d'état. A fortnight earlier, on the 23rd October, a radical army general with a history of opposition to the Napoleonic regime, Claude-François Malet, had attempted to bluff his way into power by announcing that the Emperor had been killed in Russia. His plot was fo...
On the 9th November, Napoleon arrived at Smolensk, where he remained for several days. There he learned of the setbacks affecting General Augereau and Eugène de Beauharnais, and reorganised the Grande Armée accordingly for retreat. On the 12th November, the advance guard of Napoleon's Grande Armée left Smolensk with the intention crossing the river...
On the 22nd November, Admiral Pavel Vasilievich Chichagov, in command of newly created Russian Third Western Army, moved his headquarters across the river Berezina and into the town of Borisov on his arrival there. However, some of his men were overwhelmed by Napoleon's advance guard, so he and his staff were forced to decamp back over the river, l...
On the 5th December, Napoleon left the army at Smorgon to return to Paris. Unsettled by Malet's attempted coup, he confided to Caulaincourt that ‘in the current state of affairs, I can command in Europe only from the Tuileries palace.' The journey was swift; Napoleon was accompanied by Caulaincourt in a series of vehicles (changed according to the ...
Smolensk. 17 August 1812. Map. The battle of Smolensk was the first time since invading Russia that Napoleon Bonaparte had an opportunity to fight the defending armies. The Russian generals Barclay de Tolly and Bagration had traded space for time, but had reluctantly joined together - the pair disliked each other - at the city of Smolensk.
The battle of Smolensk (16-17 August 1812) was the disappointing end to one of Napoleon's most impressive manoeuvres, an outflanking move that promised to bring him the decisive battle he desired but ended with a costly and unsuccessful attack on the walls of Smolensk.
On 25 August, Napoleon – based near Dorogobuzh (about ninety kilometres east of Smolensk) – received the wounded Tuchkov, where he proposed peace talks. Tuchkov refused and later that autumn was dispatched to Metz.
Avoiding the decisive battle sought by Bonaparte, they retreated eastwards deep into Russian territory in an orderly fashion. On August 3, the First and Second Western Armies united outside Smolensk.
