Table of contents:
- A bit of history
- Russian soldiers and Don Cossacks in Paris
- Paris events of 1814 through the eyes of the German artist Georg Opitz
Video: What the Don Cossacks did in Paris in 1814, and how they were captured by European artists
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
From historical treatises, literary and pictorial works, it is known about the invasion of Napoleon's army to Russia in 1812, his triumphant capture of Moscow and the shameful flight from it. And also about the robberies and robberies of the French army in the occupied territories. However, very little has been written by Russian writers and artists about how the Russians, in pursuit of Napoleon, entered Paris as winners … But these historical events are reflected in the work of European artists and writers.
A bit of history
The year ended in 1813. The French retreated day after day until they were on French territory. Napoleon, having up to seventy thousand soldiers at hand, put up fierce resistance to the 200-thousandth army of the allies, which included the soldiers of Prussia, Russia, Austria.
On March 29, the outnumbered Allied army came close to the front line of the defense of Paris. The small number of the French army was partially offset by the high morale of the capital's defenders.
Therefore, the battle for Paris became one of the bloodiest for the allied army, which in one day of battles on March 30 lost more than eight thousand soldiers, of which more than six thousand were Russians.
This was the most severe battle of the French campaign of 1814, which determined the further fate of the French capital and the entire empire of Napoleon, who, after the fall of Paris, was forced to abdicate the throne.
As we remember from history, the French while in Russia shamelessly robbed the local population. Therefore, the Parisians, fearing revenge from the "Russian barbarians", feared that they would suffer the same fate. However, the Allied troops entered quite peacefully.
Russian soldiers and Don Cossacks in Paris
So, on January 1, 1814, the Russian guard, led by Emperor Alexander, entered France from Switzerland. And on March 31, with the triumph of the winners - to Paris. From the moment he entered the territory of France, Alexander gave an order to his army:
The day after the capture of Paris, all government offices were opened, the post office started working, banks accepted deposits and issued money. The French were allowed to enter and leave the capital without hindrance.
Paris events of 1814 through the eyes of the German artist Georg Opitz
The popularity of the Cossacks and the great interest of the Parisians in them is evidenced by the large number of references to them in literature and painting.
In those days, there were no photographers who could capture the events taking place in Paris, but there were artists who left drawings and canvases, as well as eyewitness memoirs. There is another kind of evidence of how the Russian "occupiers" behaved in Paris: watercolors by the artist Georg Emmanuel Opitz.
Georg Emmanuel Opitz - German artist worked in the technique of engraving and watercolors. In 1814 he found himself in Paris and witnessed the Parisian events, created a lot of full-scale watercolor sketches, which formed a kind of artistic reportage from the collective images of the Russian Cossacks. The liveliness of observation and veracity made the watercolors documentary evidence. There are 40 known works from this series, 10 of which are kept in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
From the memoirs of I. Radozhetsky:
In the first days of the stay of the Russian troops in Paris, the Cossacks handed out leaflets to the townspeople with the printed declaration of Alexander I.
The published proclamation of the Russian tsar, in which he promised the Parisians special patronage and protection, caused great excitement and crowds rushed to the northeastern part of the capital in order to look at the Russian emperor with one eye.
The Don Cossack broke away from his troops at the moment of entering Paris and is surrounded by curious Parisians, he salutes them.
On the left hand of the Cossacks there are white bands. White is the color of the royalists who advocated the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. The arm band was introduced to avoid confusion between the Allied troops. The Austrians, for example, carried green branches.
The Cossacks have already become heroes of local caricature masters, they themselves look at these pictures with interest and make fun.
In the notes of Muravyov-Karsky you can read:
Communicating with the French, Russians now and then had language difficulties. THEM. Kazakov wrote in his memoirs:
During their stay in Paris, the Cossacks turned the banks of the Seine into a beach area: they bathed themselves and bathed their horses. "Water treatments" were taken in underwear or completely naked. The spectators of this action on the embankment of the city have always been unmeasured.
Throughout the wartime, the Cossacks had a dry law. After three years of war, it was not a sin to celebrate, they arranged a gulbische with dancing and drinking.
From the memoirs of eyewitnesses:
Guards Cossacks were very popular with French women, but they turned out to be not very gallant gentlemen: they gripped the hands of Parisians like a bear, gorged themselves on ice cream on Boulevard Italians and stepped on the feet of visitors to the Louvre.
Quoting lines from the book "Russians in Paris in 1814":
Carefully examining the works of the artist Opitz, one can pay attention to the inscriptions with the names of the streets, which makes it possible to find these places at the present time and imagine how they looked then.
There is a well-known story that led to the appearance in the French language of the term referring to the name of small catering establishments - "Bistro". When the Russian Cossacks, living in Paris, went into a cafe and hurried the food carriers, they said "Quickly, quickly!"
The game of roulette was not yet popular in Russia at that time, so many played out of curiosity and sometimes even lost knights.
The history of the Cossacks in the Slavic lands goes back several centuries, during which many Cossack traditions and legends arose. Which of the Cossacks wore long forelocks, why did they need them and why losing a forelock was worse than death for a Cossack in the review.
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