Bone-Chilling Facts About Napoleon’s Calamitous Invasion Of Russia
All Of Napoleon’s Worst Fears Came True
Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia was a disastrous saga of brutal battles, blistering heat, and bitter cold that ultimately shattered his empire. From reports of cannibalism towalls built out of corpses, this was Napoleon’s nightmare.
1. It Started With A Revolution
Following the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power as France’s first emperor. Just a decade later, his unmatched martial genius and gutsy battlefield gambles made him the most powerful ruler in all of Europe. But it was getting lonely at the top.
2. Napoleon’s Empire Kept Growing
Napoleon’s victories against the First, Second, and Third Coalitions led to the fall of the millennia-old Holy Roman Empire. Later conflicts saw Napoleon expanding his empire…right up to the borders of his frenemy, Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
3. France And Russia Started Out As Friends
In 1807, to prevent conflict from breaking out, Napoleon and Alexander I signed the Treaty of Tilsit. The treaty marked the start of a fragile Franco-Russian alliance, and a tenuous bromance between the two rulers. But the deal turned out to be a little too one-sided for Alexander’s liking.
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4. Russia Backed Out Of The Treaty First
Part of the Treaty of Tilsit was the Continental System; a blockade that Napoleon had designed specifically to cripple his archenemy, Britain. But, by 1810, the blockade had backfired, and who paid the price? Alexander and Russia.
The Russian economy crumbled from the effects of the standoff. Finally, Alexander had enough, and he broke the treaty after three years. Napoleon’s response was anything but friendly.
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