Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BATTLE OF MOSCOW - 1812
In 1807 Tsar Alexander I negotiated the Treaty of Tilsit. It left Napoleon emperor of the
west of Europe and Alexander emperor of the east, united (in theory) against England.
The alliance lasted until 1810, when Russia resumed trade with England. A furious Na-
poleon decided to crush the tsar with his Grand Army of 700,000 - the largest force
the world had ever seen for a single military operation.
The vastly outnumbered Russian forces retreated across their own countryside
throughout the summer of 1812, scorching the earth in an attempt to deny the French
sustenance, and fighting some successful rearguard actions.
Napoleon set his sights on Moscow. In September, with the lack of provisions begin-
ning to bite the French, Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov finally decided to turn and
fight at Borodino, 130km from Moscow. The battle was extremely bloody, but incon-
clusive, with the Russians withdrawing in good order. More than 100,000 soldiers lay
dead at the end of a one-day battle.
Before the month was out, Napoleon entered a deserted Moscow. Defiant Muscov-
ites burned down two-thirds of the city rather than see it occupied by the French in-
vaders. Alexander, meanwhile, ignored Napoleon's overtures to negotiate.
With winter coming and supply lines overextended, Napoleon declared victory and
retreated. His badly weakened troops stumbled westward out of the city, falling to
starvation, disease, bitter cold and Russian snipers. Only one in 20 made it back to the
relative safety of Poland. The tsar's army pursued Napoleon all the way to Paris, which
Russian forces briefly occupied in 1814.
Moscow Boom Town
Moscow was feverishly rebuilt in just a few years following the Napoleonic War. Monu-
ments were erected to commemorate Russia's hard-fought victory and Alexander's
'proudest moment'. A Triumphal Arch, inspired by their former French hosts, was placed at
the top of Tverskaya ul on the road to St Petersburg, and the immensely grandiose Cathedral
of Christ the Saviour, which took almost 50 years to complete, went up along the river em-
bankment outside the Kremlin.
The building frenzy did not stop with national memorials. In the city centre, engineers di-
verted the Neglinnaya River into an underground canal and created two new urban spaces:
the Alexander Garden, running alongside the Kremlin's western wall; and Teatralnaya pl,
featuring the glittering Bolshoi Theatre and later the opulent Hotel Metropol. The rebuilt
