Napoleon's matchmaking, a map with errors and other little-known facts about the Patriotic War of 1812

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In December 1812, Napoleon abandoned his retreating army from Russia and fled to Paris, guarded by two hundred elite guards. December 14, 1812 is considered the day of the end of the Patriotic War. It was during these days that Napoleon uttered one of his legendary aphorisms "from the great to the ridiculous - just one step, and let posterity judge him …" Today about the interesting facts of the Russian-French war.

Napoleon wooed Russian princesses twice

Napoleon, as you know, did not inherit the title of monarch. At one time he had a fix idea - to marry a representative of some monarchical house, which would allow him to legitimize his coronation. In 1808, he wooed Grand Duchess Catherine, the sister of Alexander I, but was refused. He was informed that the princess was engaged to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg.

In 1810, the persistent Napoleon repeated the attempt. This time, the object of his lust was the Grand Duchess Anna, who at that time was 14 years old. But Napoleon was again refused. Of course, these events did not become the reasons for the start of the war, but the Russian-French "friendship" was significantly "tarnished".

Napoleon Bonaparte tried to enlist in the Russian army

It is known that Napoleon was an excellent mathematician and even found a way to construct a square with one ruler and two serifs. He was very fond of opera, but at the same time he never gave out applause and did not allow others to do it.

Back in 1788, Lieutenant Napoleon wanted to join the Russian army. But just a month before Napoleon filed a petition, a decree was issued in Russia stating that foreigners, entering the Russian service, lose one rank. The careerist Napoleon, of course, did not agree to this.

The French, advancing on Russia, used a map with errors

Barclay de Tolly's military intelligence worked just fine. It is known for certain that in 1812 Napoleon, without suspecting anything, used a copy of the "capitalist" map of Russia, which was obtained by French intelligence in St. Petersburg before the start of the war. But, advancing on Moscow, the French faced a problem - errors were deliberately introduced into the map.

The murder of a Russian officer by their own soldiers was a common thing in the war of 1812

Ordinary soldiers, when recognizing "friends or foes", were guided primarily by speech, especially if a person approached in the dark and from afar. Russian officers preferred to communicate in French rather than Russian. For this reason, educated Russian officers died at the hands of their own.

The words "skier" and "bistro" are from 1812

In the fall of 1812, the soldiers of the invincible Napoleonic army, exhausted by the cold and the partisans, turned from “gallant conquerors of Europe” and hungry ragamuffins. They no longer demanded, as a few months ago, but asked the Russian peasants for food. In this case, they addressed them as “cher ami” (“dear friend”). The peasants in the French language were not strong and the French soldiers began to be called "skiers".

When the Russian army entered Paris with a return, so to speak, visit after the Napoleonic army was ingloriously expelled from Moscow, Russian soldiers in Parisian restaurants behaved without much ceremony, did not bother to respect the interiors and loudly demanded vodka with a snack, accompanying the demands with the words “Quickly! Quickly!". A certain enterprising Frenchman, trying to avoid the ruin of his institution, came up with the idea of meeting Russian soldiers at the entrance with a tray on which immediately stood "a drink and a snack." This institution laid the foundation for a new type of restaurant business - "bistro", and the word stuck in France.

Kutuzov wore a black armband only a few times

Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, who led the Russian army in the war with Napoleon, received 2 wounds in the head one after the other. Moreover, each medicine of that time was regarded as fatal. The bullet passed twice from the left temple of Kutuzov to the right. "" - Derzhavin said about Kutuzov. Ordinary soldiers spoke of him only as the chosen one of heaven. This is understandable: the bullets of smooth-bore pistols and rifles of the late 18th century smashed the skull to smithereens.

Although terrible wounds spoiled the vision of the great commander, he could see well with his right eye until the end of his days and could read. Field Marshal Kutuzov wore a blindfold only a few times in his life - as a rule, on marches, when dust rose. There is not one lifetime image of Kutuzov with a bandage. It was put on the commander in 1944 by the creators of the film "Kutuzov".

Most of the French prisoners of war remained in Russia

The Patriotic War of 1812 was the first massive infusion of foreign blood after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. At the beginning of 1813, the number of French prisoners of war in Russia was 200 thousand people, and most of them remained to live in Russia. Russian nobles dragged many prisoners into their service. Of course, they were not suitable for work in the field, and teachers, governors and leaders of serf theaters turned out to be excellent from them.

100 years after the war, all its living participants were gathered

In 1912, on the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, the government of the Russian Empire decided to find the living participants and eyewitnesses of the war. In the Tobolsk region, they found Pavel Yakovlevich Tolstoguzov, a participant in the Battle of Borodino, who at that time was 117 years old.

The Patriotic War of 1812 - the record holder for the number of studies devoted to it

The Patriotic War of 1812 until 1917 was the leader among other historical events in terms of the number of studies devoted to it. More than 15 thousand articles and books have been written about this war. In memory of the victory over Napoleon's army, many memorials and monuments have been erected, the most famous of which are the Palace Square ensemble with the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

In the Military Gallery in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, in the city the most famous Russian duels, there are 332 portraits of Russian generals who participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. Most of them belong to the brush of Briton George Doe.