1812: The Russian Campaign

CHAPTER 8 · 1812 · The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848

On 24 June 1812 the largest army ever assembled in Europe — some 600,000 men, nearly half of them unwilling allies from twenty nations — crosses the Niemen. Why? Tilsit has rotted: Russia has reopened trade with Britain (the Continental System again — the same decree that opened the Spanish wound now opens a Russian one), and two emperors cannot share one continent. Napoleon’s plan is his standard one, scaled up: force a decisive battle near the frontier, destroy the Russian army, dictate terms in weeks. Follow the red arrows and watch the plan fail by succeeding: the Russians retreat and retr

The turn: Moscow, September–October 1812.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.