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Moscow in Ashes

nlike other cities he had conquered, Moscow sent no delegation of citizens to greet Napoleon. No crowds of

common folk waited to hail him as a deliverer, as had happened in other places. Napoleon met no one, for

scarcely anyone was left in the city. After receiving the news that Kutuzov would not defend Moscow, her

peopleabout 200,000 of them, the rich and poor, the high placed and the lowlyhad gathered what they could of

their possessions and fled. It was an empty, silent city into which Napoleon made his triumphant entry on September

16, 1812.UThat day, the emperor of the French took up his quarters in the Kremlin, the ancient abode of the tsar of theRussians. From its windows, he could look out on the strangely beautiful city, so different from any other city in

Europe. It was a city of wooden tenements and elaborate palaces, of modern 18th-century structures alongside

fanciful churches that seemed like visions of fairyland. It was the legendary capital of that strange oriental land, Russia,

and it now belonged to Napoleon I, Emperor of

the French!

But, that night of September 16,Napoleons wonder and pride turned to

foreboding and dismay. From those same Kremlin

windows he now saw flames arising in different

sectors of the city. Soon he learned that these were

not isolated fires; as night gave way to day, it

became clear that fire was rapidly laying waste to

the wooden structures of the poor as well as the

stately palaces of the rich.

All of Moscow was burning. Napoleon

gave way to rage. It hardly seemed possible that

so great a fire could have been started by chance;

but was it possible that the Russians themselves

would have given their beloved capital over to

such horrible destruction? Were they destroying

it, as they had their villages and fields all along the road from Smolensk? These are Scythians, indeed! cried

Napoleon. Moscow no longer exists, the Russians are burning it themselves. What a people!

When Tsar Aleksandr heard of the burning of Moscow, he burst into tears and swore he would never, never

surrender to the barbarous French. If his army were destroyed, said the tsar, he would lead the common people of

Russia against the enemy. He would not subscribe to the shame of my country and my good subjects, whose self-

sacrifice I know how to value. God is trying us, he said. Let us hope he will not leave us. Either Napoleon or II or

Napoleon; but we cannot rule together. I have already learned his character; he will deceive me no more.

The fires raged in Moscow for two weeks, and while they raged, the Grand Arme carried out its own

destruction. Soldiers desecrated churches, stripping them of their ornaments; they dug the bones of saints from their

shrines, casting them into the streets. The sanctuaries of many churches were used as stables or as places for drunken

revelry. Gods human temples fared no better. The few Russians left in the city (some criminals, others just unfortunate

poor) were treated with great brutality. And, though he protected one church and a hospital, Napoleon did nothing to

2011 Catholic Textbook Project

Napoleon and the Moscow fire, 1812

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stop the violence. Indeed, it seemed it had all passed beyond even his power to control.

And while most of Moscow was burning to a heap of ashes, autumn was moving toward winter. The

destruction of the city meant the Grand Arme was without sufficient food or fuel; it could not survive the winter in the

depths of Russia. Napoleon realized this and knew he had lingered in the city too long. He had to get back to his

encampment on the Niemen, or all was lost.

Thus, on October 19, 1812, the great imperial army of France began its retreat from Moscow. Now only about115,000 soldiers remained out of the over 400,000 who had crossed the Niemen only four months before. Following the

army in a long train as it passed through the city gates were thousands of wagons, loaded with the spoils of Moscow.

The Long Retreat

About 550 miles lay between

Moscow and safety; 550 miles of

devastated fields and burned

villages. No food. No supplies of

warm coats or new boots. Only

cold and terror. Not content that

the enemy was fleeing, Kutusov

led the Russian army in pursuit of

the Grand Arme. He sent out small

guerrilla bands to harass the long

lines of the French, killing

thousands of troops whose only

thought now was flight. Peasants

too joined in the war of vengeance

the War of the Fatherland.

Bands of peasants fell on

stragglers, torturing and killing

them in the most brutal ways.

Both daytime and the dark of night held unknown terrors for the desperate army of the great Napoleon Bonaparte.

November brought a new enemy against the fleeing Frenchthe bitter cold of a Russian winter. And this

winter was very cold, even by Russian standards; it was colder than any winter Russia had known for many years.

Snow, ice, frigid winds that cut like bayonet thrusts through thin blue uniforms, assailed the French. They abandoned

their carts loaded with booty; they collapsed on the hard road, frozen solid. Many just lay down and died. The path of

the Grand Armes retreat was lined with the dead bodies of men and horses, broken wagons. Thousands upon

thousands died horrible deaths.

On November 11, Napoleon entered Smolensk, but he remained there only three days. Before departing, he

ordered that the walls and towers of the city be blown up. He now pushed on to the Berezina River, where he had

ordered that supplies be gathered. When he reached that place, however, he discovered to his rage and dismay that his

orders had been disobeyed. There were no supplies, and hundreds of miles still lay between him and safety. His army

stretched for miles behind him, starving, harried by the enemy. Grimly, Napoleon pushed on.

The journey from the Berezina to the Niemen was the most terrible and deadly of the entire retreat. The cold

Cossack soldiers assail French troops retreating from Moscow

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was so great that men found it nearly impossible to breathe. So cold was it that

even the Russians, used to the coldest winters, suffered greatly. The French

now lost all discipline. Casting aside even their weapons, the men trudged on

in a vast, confused mass. Finally, on December 14, they reached the Niemen

and safety. But the mob that crossed the river was not the Grande Arme;

Russias winter and her people had destroyed that once victorious army. Of thegreat host that had entered Russia in June, only 40,000 broken men remained.

Napoleon himself, however, did not cross the Niemen with his army. A

week before, he had received some disturbing news from Paris. An abband a

general had told the French senate that Napoleon had been killed. Ignoring the

King of Rome, a new government had proclaimed a republic; and the

conspirators, with 1,200 soldiers, had imprisoned the prefect of police and

taken control of the Paris city government.

Revolution!

To save his throne and, possibly, the lives of Empress Maria Louisa and

his young son, Napoleon resolved to return to the capital. Promising his commanding officers to return with 300,000

more men, Napoleon on December 6 abandoned his army. When the French finally crossed the Niemen, their emperor

was already halfway to Paris.

Emperor Napoleon I