the Russian generals are present: Barclay de Tolly, Beningsen,
Bagration (who is killed), all under Kutusoff. Russians lose
30,000 men, French 20,000, including many generals who had
survived all the campaigns of the Revolution. The French, hungry
and soaked in rain, have no energy to pursue.
_September 14th._--Occupation of Moscow; fired by emissaries of
Rostopchin, its late governor. Of 4000 stone houses only 200
remain, of 8000 wooden ones 500. Over 20,000 sick and wounded
burnt in their beds. Fire lasts till September 20th.
_September 18th._--Russian Army of the Danube under Admiral
Tschitchagow joins the Army of Reserve.
_September 26th._--Russian troops from Finland disembark at Riga.
_September 30th.--Napoleon finds a copy of Treaty of Bucharest at
Moscow._
_October 11th._--Admiral Tschitchagow with 36,000 men reaches
Bresc, on the Bug, threatening the French communications with
Warsaw.
_October 17th-19th._--Second combat of Polotsk. Wittgenstein again
defeated by St. Cyr, who is wounded.
_October 18th._--Combat of Winkowo; Kutusoff defeats Murat.
Americans defeated at Queenston Heights, on the Niagara, and lose
900 men.
_October 19th._--Commencement of the Retreat from Moscow.
_October 22nd._--Burgos captured by Wellington.
_October 23rd._--Conspiracy of Malet at Paris; Cambaceres to the
rescue. Evacuation of Moscow by Mortier after forty days'
occupation. The French army now retreating has only half its
original strength, and the best cavalry regiments boast only 100
horses.
_October 24th.--Battle of Malo-Jaroslavitz. Eugene with 17,000_
_men defeats Kutusoff with 60,000; but Napoleon finds the enemy
too strong and too tenacious to risk the fertile Kaluga route._
_November 3rd._--Battle of Wiazma. Rearguard action, in which Ney
and Eugene are distinguished.
_November 9th.--Napoleon reaches Smolensk and hears of Malet
conspiracy._
_November 14th._--Evacuation of Smolensk.
_November 16th._--Russian Army (of the Danube) takes Minsk, and
cuts off the French from the Niemen.
_November 16th-19th._--Combat of Krasnoi, twenty-five miles west
of Smolensk. Kutusoff with 30,000 horse and 70,000 foot tries to
stop the French, who have only 25,000 effective combatants.
Magnificent fighting by Ney with his rearguard of 6000.
_November 21st._--Russians seize at Borizow the bridges over the
Beresina, which are
_November 23rd._--Retaken by Oudinot.
_November 26th-28th._--French cross the Beresina, but lose 20,000
prisoners and nearly all their cannon (150).
_November 29th.--Napoleon writes Maret he has heard nothing of
France or Spain for fifteen days._
_December 3rd._--Twenty-ninth bulletin dated Malodeczna, fifty
miles west of Borisow.
_December 5th.--Napoleon reaches Smorgoni, and starts for
France._
_December 10th._--Murat, left in command, evacuates Wilna. French
retreat in utter rout; "It is not General Kutusoff who routed the
French, it is General Morosow" (the frost), said the Russians.
_December 14th.--Napoleon reaches Dresden, and_
_December 18th.--Paris._
_December 19th._--Evacuation of Kovno and passage of the Niemen.
_December 20th.--Napoleon welcomed by the Senate in a speech by
the naturalist Lacepede: "The absence of your Majesty, sire, is
always a national calamity."_
_December 30th._--Defection of the Prussian General York and
Convention of Taurogen, near Tilsit, between Russia and Prussia.
This defection is the signal for the uprising of Germany from the
Oder to the Rhine, from the Baltic to the Julienne Alps.
1813.
_January 5th._--Konigsberg occupied by the Russians.
_January 13th._--Senatus Consultus calls up 250,000 conscripts.
_January 22nd._--Americans defeated at Frenchtown, near Detroit,
and lose 1200 men.
_January 25th.--Concordat at Fontainebleau between Napoleon and
Pope Pius VII., with advantageous terms for the Papacy. The Pope,
however, soon breaks faith._
_January 28th.--Murat deserts the French army for Naples, and
leaves Posen. "Your husband is very brave on the battlefield, but
he is weaker than a woman or a monk when he is not face to face
with an enemy. He has no moral courage"_ (_Napoleon to his sister
Caroline, January 24, 1813._ Brotonne, 1032). _Replaced by Eugene
(Napoleon's letter dated January 22nd)._
_February 1st._--Proclamation of Louis XVIII. to the French people
(dated London).
_February 8th._--Warsaw surrenders to Russia.
_February 10th._--Proclamation of Emperor Alexander calling on the
people of Germany to shake off the yoke of "one man."
_February 28th._--Sixth Continental Coalition against France.
Treaty signed between Russia and Prussia at Kalisch.
_March 3rd._--New treaty between England and Sweden at Stockholm:
Sweden to receive a subsidy of a million sterling and the island
of Guadaloupe in return for supporting the Coalition with 30,000
men.
_March 4th._--Cossacks occupy Berlin. Madison inaugurated
President U.S.A.
_March 9th._--Eugene removes his headquarters to Leipsic.
_March 12th._--French evacuate Hamburg.
_March 21st._--Russians and Prussians take new town of Dresden.
_April 1st._--France declares war on Prussia.
_April 10th._--_Death of Lagrange, mathematician_; _greatly bemoaned
by Napoleon, who considered his death as a "presentiment"_
(D'Abrantes).
_April 14th._--Swedish army lands in Germany.
_April 15th.--Napoleon leaves Paris; arrives Erfurt (April 25th)._
Americans take Mobile.
_April 16th._--Thorn (garrisoned by 900 Bavarians) surrenders to
the Russians. Fort York (now Toronto) and
_April 27th._--Upper Canada taken by the Americans.
_May 1st._--Death of the Abbe Delille, poet. Opening of campaign.
French forces scattered in Germany, 166,000 men; Allies' forces
ready for action, 225,000 men. Marshal Bessieres killed by a
cannon-ball at Poserna.
_May 2nd.--Napoleon with 90,000 men defeats Prussians and Russians
at Lutzen (Gross-Goerschen) with 110,000; French loss, 10,000.
Battle won_ _chiefly by French artillery. Emperor of Russia and
King of Prussia present._
_May 8th.--Napoleon and the French reoccupy Dresden._
_May 18th._--Eugene reaches Milan, and enrols an Italian army
47,000 strong.
_May 19th-21st.--Combats of Konigswartha, Bautzen, Hochkirch,
Wuerschen. Napoleon defeats Prussians and Russians; French loss,
12,000; Allies, 20,000._
_May 23rd.--Duroc (shot on May 22nd) dies. "Duroc," said the
Emperor, "there is another life. It is there you will go to await
me, and there we shall meet again some day."_
_May 27th._--Americans capture Fort George (Lake Ontario) and
_May 29th._--Defeat English at Sackett's Harbour.
_May 30th._--French re-enter Hamburg and
_June 1st._--Occupy Breslau. British frigate _Shannon_ captures
_Chesapeake_ in fifteen minutes outside Boston harbour.
_June 4th.--Armistice of Plesswitz, between Napoleon and the
Allies._
_June 6th._--Americans (3500) surprised at Burlington Heights by
700 British.
_June 15th.--Siege of Tarragona raised by Suchet; English
re-embark, leaving their artillery. "If I had had two marshals
such as Suchet, I should not only have conquered Spain, but I
should have kept it"_ (_Napoleon in_ Campan's Memoirs).
_June 21st._--Battle of Vittoria; total rout of the French under
Marshal Jourdan and King Joseph. In retreat the army is much more
harassed by the guerillas than by the English.
_June 23rd._--Admiral Cockburn defeated at Craney Island by
Americans.
_June 24th._--Five hundred Americans surrender to two hundred
Canadians at Beaver's Dams.
_June 25th._--Combat of Tolosa. Foy stops the advance of the
English right wing.
_June 30th.--Convention at Dresden. Napoleon accepts the mediation
of Austria; armistice prolonged to August 10th._
_July 1st._--Soult sent to take chief command in Spain.
_July 10th._--Alliance between France and Denmark.
_July 12th.--Congress of Prague. Austria, Prussia, and Russia
decide that Germany must be independent, and the French Empire
bounded by the Rhine and the Alps; "but to reign over 36,000,000
men did not appear to Napoleon a sufficiently great destiny"_
(Montgaillard). _Congress breaks up July 28th._
_July 26th._--Moreau arrives from U.S., and lands at Gothenburg.
_July 31st._--Soult attacks Anglo-Spanish army near Roncesvalles
in order to succour Pampeluna. Is repulsed, with loss of 8000
men.
_August 12th._--Austria notifies its adhesion to the Allies.
_August 15th.--Jomini, the Swiss tactician, turns traitor and
escapes to the Allies. He advises them of Napoleon's plans to
seize Berlin and relieve Dantzic [see letter to Ney, No. 19,714,
20,006, and especially 20,360 (August 12th) in_ Correspondence].
_On August 16th Napoleon writes to Cambaceres: "Jomini, Ney's
chief of staff, has deserted. It is he who published some volumes
on the campaigns and who has been in the pay of Russia for a long
time. He has yielded to corruption. He is a soldier of little
value, yet he is a writer who has grasped some of the sound
principles of war."_
_August 17th.--Renewal of hostilities in Germany. Napoleon's army,
280,000, of whom half recruits who had never seen a battle; the
Allies 520,000, excluding militia. In his counter-manifesto to
Austria, dated Bautzen, Napoleon declares "Austria, the enemy of
France, and cloaking her ambition under the mask of a mediation,
complicated everything.... But Austria, our avowed foe, is in a
truer guise, and one perfectly obvious. Europe is therefore much
nearer peace; there is one complication the less."_
_August 18th._--Suchet, having blown up fortifications of
Tarragona, evacuates Valentia.
_August 21st._--Opening of the campaign in Italy. Eugene, with
50,000 men, commands the Franco-Italian army.
_August 23rd._--Combats of Gross-Beeren and Ahrensdorf, near
Berlin. Bernadotte defeats Oudinot with loss of 1500 men and 20
guns. Berlin is preserved to the Allies. Oudinot replaced by Ney.
Lauriston defeats Army of Silesia at Goldberg with heavy loss.
_August 26th-27th.--Battle of Dresden.--Napoleon marches a hundred
miles in seventy hours to the rescue. With less than 100,000 men
he defeats the Allied Army of 180,000 under Schwartzenberg,
Wittgenstein, and Kleist. Austrians lose 20,000 prisoners and 60
guns. Moreau is mortally wounded (dies September 1st)._ Combat of
the Katzbach, in Silesia. Blucher defeats Macdonald with heavy
loss, who loses 10,000 to 12,000 men in his retreat.
_August 30th._--Combat of Kulm. Vandamme enveloped in Bohemia, and
surrenders with 12,000 men.
_August 31st._--Combat of Irun. Soult attacks Wellington to save
San Sebastian, but is repulsed. Graham storms San Sebastian.
_September 6th._--Combat of Dennewitz (near Berlin). Ney routed by
Bulow and Bernadotte; loses his artillery, baggage, and 12,000
men.
_September 10th_--Americans capture the English flotilla on Lake
Erie.
_September 12th._--Combat of Villafranca (near Barcelona). Suchet
defeats English General Bentinck.
_October 7th._--Wellington crosses the Bidassoa into France. "It
is on the frontier of France itself that ends the enterprise of
Napoleon on Spain. The Spaniards have given the first conception
of a people's war versus a war of professionals. For it would be a
mistake to think that the battles of Salamanca (July 22nd, 1812)
and Vittoria (June 21st, 1813) forced the French to abandon the
Peninsula.... It was the daily losses, the destruction of man by
man, the drops of French blood falling one by one, which in five
years aggregated a death-roll of 150,000 men. As to the English,
they appeared in this war only as they do in every world-crisis,
to gather, in the midst of general desolation, the fruits of their
policy, and to consolidate their plans of maritime despotism, of
exclusive commerce" (Montgaillard).
_October 15th._--Bavarian army secedes and joins the Austrians.
_October 16th-19th.--Battles of Leipsic._ _Allied army_ 330,000
men (_Schwartzenberg_, _Bernadotte_, _Blucher_, _Beningsen_),
_Napoleon_ 175,000. _Twenty-six battalions and ten squadrons of
Saxon and Wurtemberg men leave Napoleon and turn their guns
against the French. Napoleon is not defeated, but determines to
retreat. The rearguard (20,000 men) and 200 cannon taken.
Poniatowski drowned; Reynier and Lauriston captured._
_October 20th._--Blucher made Field-Marshal.
_October 23rd._--French army reach Erfurt.
_October 30th.--Combat of Hanau. Napoleon defeats Wrede with heavy
loss._
_October 31st._--Combat and capture of Bassano by Eugene. English
capture Pampeluna.
_November 2nd.--Napoleon arrives at Mayence (where typhus carries
off 40,000 French), and is_
_November 9th.--At St. Cloud._
_November 10th._--Wellington defeats Soult at St. Jean de Luz.
_November 11th._--Surrender of Dresden by Gouvion St. Cyr; its
French soldiers to return under parole to France. Austrians refuse
to ratify the convention, and 1700 officers and 23,000 men remain
prisoners of war.
_November 14th.--Napoleon addresses the Senate: "All Europe
marched with us a year ago; all Europe marches against us to-day.
That is because the world's opinion is directed either by France
or England."_
_November 15th._--Eugene defeats Austrians at Caldiero.
Senatus-Consultus puts 300,000 conscripts at disposal of
government.
_November 24th._--Capture of Amsterdam by Prussian General Bulow.
_December 1st._--Allies declare at Frankfort that they are at war
with the Emperor and not with France.
_December 2nd._--Bulow occupies Utrecht. Holland secedes from the
French Empire.
_December 5th._--Capture of Lubeck by the Swedes, and surrender of
Stettin (7000 prisoners), Zamosk (December 22nd), Modlin (December
25th), and Torgau (December 26th, with 10,000 men).
_December 8th-13th._--Soult defends the passage of the Nive--costly
to both sides. Murat (now hostile to Napoleon) enters Ancona.
_December 9th-10th._--French evacuate Breda.
_December 11th.--Treaty of Valencay between Napoleon and his
prisoner Ferdinand VII., who is to reign over Spain, but not to
cede Minorca or Ceuta (now in their power} to the English._
_December 15th._--Denmark secedes from French alliance.
_December 21st._--Allies, 100,000 strong, cross the Rhine in ten
divisions (Bale to Schaffhausen). Jomini is said to have
contributed to this violation of Swiss territory.
_December 24th._--Final evacuation of Holland by the French.
_December 28th._--Austrians capture Ragusa.
_December 31st.--Napoleon, having trouble with his Commons,
dissolves the Corps Legislatif._ Austrians capture Geneva. Blucher
crosses the Rhine at Mannheim and Coblentz. Exclusive of Landwehr
and levies en masse, there are now a million trained men in arms
against Napoleon.
* * * * *
1814.
"The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon was
the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of the Peace of Europe,
the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he
renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and
Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of life
itself, that he will not be ready to make for the sake of
France."--(_Act of Abdication._)
* * * * *
_January 1st._--Capitulation of Danzic, which General Rapp had
defended for nearly a year, having lost 20,000 (out of 30,000) men
by fever. Russians, who had promised to send the French home,
break faith, following the example of Schwartzenberg at Dresden.
_January 2nd._--Russians take Fort Louis (Lower Rhine); and
_January 3rd._--Austrians Montbeliard; and Bavarians Colmar.
_January 6th._--General York occupies Treves. Convention between
Murat and England and (January 11th) with Austria. Murat is to
join Allies with 30,000 men.
_January 7th._--Austrians occupy Vesoul.
_January 8th._--French Rentes 5 per cents. at 47.50. Wurtemberg
troops occupy Epinal.
_January 10th._--General York reaches Forbach (on the Moselle).
_January 15th._--Cossacks occupy Cologne.
_January 16th._--Russians occupy Nancy.
_January 19th._--Austrians occupy Dijon; Bavarians, Neufchateau.
Murat's troops occupy Rome.
_January 20th._--Capture of Toul by the Russians; and of Chambery
by the Austrians.
_January 21st._--Austrians occupy Chalons-sur-Saone. General York
crosses the Meuse.
_January 23rd._--Pope Pius VII. returns to Rome.
_January 25th._--General York and Army of Silesia established at
St. Dizier and Joinville on the Marne. Austrians occupy
Bar-sur-Aube. _Napoleon leaves Paris; and_
_January 26th.--Reaches Chalons-sur-Marne; and_
_January 27th.--Retakes St. Dizier in person._
_January 29th.--Combat of Brienne. Napoleon defeats Blucher._
_February 1st._--Battle of La Rothiere, six miles north of
Brienne. French, 40,000; Allies, 110,000. Drawn battle, but French
retreat on Troyes; French evacuate Brussels.
_February 4th._--Eugene retires upon the Mincio.
_February 5th.--Cortes disavow Napoleon's treaty of Valencay with
Ferdinand VII._ Opening of Congress of Chatillon. General York
occupies Chalons-sur-Marne.
_February 7th._--Allies seize Troyes.
_February 8th._--Battle of the Mincio. Eugene with 30,000
conscripts defeats Austrians under Bellegarde with 50,000
veterans.
_February 10th.--Combat of Champaubert. Napoleon defeats
Russians._
_February 11th.--Combat of Montmirail. Napoleon defeats Sacken.
Russians occupy Nogent-sur-Seine; and_
_February 12th.--Laon._
_February 14th.--Napoleon routs Blucher at Vauchamp. His losses,
10,000 men; French loss, 600 men. In five days Napoleon has wiped
out the five corps of the Army of Silesia, inflicting a loss of
25,000 men._
_February 17th.--Combat near Nangis. Napoleon defeats Austro-Russians
with loss of 10,000 men and 12 cannon._
_February 18th._--Combat of Montereau. Prince Royal of Wurtemberg
defeated with loss of 7000.
_February 21st._--Comte d'Artois arrives at Vesoul.
_February 22nd._--Combat of Mery-sur-Seine. Sacken defeated by
Boyer's Division, who fight in masks--it being Shrove Tuesday.
_February 24th._--French re-enter Troyes.
_February 27th._--Bulow captures La Fere with large stores. Battle
of Orthes (Pyrenees), Wellington with 70,000 defeats Soult
entrenched with 38,000. Foy badly wounded.
_February 27th-28th._--Combats of Bar and Ferte-sur-Aube. Marshals
Oudinot and Macdonald forced to retire on the Seine.
_March 1st._--Treaty of Chaumont--Allies against Napoleon.
_March 2nd._--Bulow takes Soissons.
_March 4th._--Macdonald evacuates Troyes.
_March 7th.--Battle of Craonne between Napoleon (30,000 men) and
Sacken (100,000)._ Indecisive.
_March 9th._--English driven from Berg-op-Zoom.
_March 9th-10th.--Combat under Laon: depot of Allied army.
Napoleon fails to capture it._
_March 12th._--Duc d'Angouleme arrives at Bordeaux. This town is
the first to declare for the Bourbons, and to welcome him as Louis
XVIII.
_March 13th._--Ferdinand VII. set at liberty.
_March 14th.--Napoleon retakes Rheims from the Russians._
_March 19th._--Rupture of Treaty of Chatillon.
_March 20th._--Battle of Tarbes. Wellington defeats French.
_March 20th-21st._--Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube. Indecisive.
_March 21st._--Austrians enter Lyons. Augereau retires on Valence.
Had Eugene joined him with his 40,000 men he might have saved
France after Vauchamp.
_March 25th._--Combat of Fere-Champenoise. Marmont and Mortier
defeated with loss of 9000 men.
_March 26th.--Combat of St. Dizier. Napoleon defeats Russians, and
starts to save Paris._
_March 29th.--Allies outside Paris. Napoleon at Troyes (125 miles
off)._
_March 30th.--Battle of Paris._ The Emperor's orders disobeyed.
Heavy cannon from Cherbourg left outside Paris, also 20,000
men. Clarke deserts to the Allies. Joseph runs away, leaving
Marmont permission to capitulate. After losing 5000 men (and
Allies 8000) Marmont evacuates Paris and retires. _Napoleon
reaches Fontainebleau in the evening, and hears the bad news._
_March 31st._--Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and 36,000 men
enter Paris. Stocks and shares advance. Emperor Alexander states,
"The Allied Sovereigns will treat no longer with Napoleon
Bonaparte, nor any of his family."
_April 1st._--Senate, with Talleyrand as President, institute a
Provisional Government.
_April 2nd._--Provisional Government address the army: "You are no
longer the soldiers of Napoleon; the Senate and the whole of
France absolve you from your oaths." They also declare Napoleon
deposed from the throne, and his family from the succession.
_April 4th.--Napoleon signs a declaration of abdication in favour
of his son, but after two days' deliberation, and Marmont's
defection, Alexander insists on an absolute abdication._
_April 5th._--Convention of Chevilly. Marmont agrees to join the
Provisional Government, and disband his army under promise that
Allies will guarantee life and liberty to Napoleon Bonaparte.
Funds on March 29th at 45, now at 63.75.
_April 6th._--New Constitution decreed by the Senate. The National
Guard ordered to wear the White Cockade in lieu of the Tricolor.
_April 10th._--Battle of Toulouse. Hotly contested; almost a
defeat for Wellington.
_April 11th.--Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Allies
(Austria, Russia, and Prussia). Isle of Elba reserved for Napoleon
and his family, with a revenue of L200,000; the Duchies of Parma
and Placentia for Marie Louise and her son. England accedes to
this Treaty. Act of Abdication of the Emperor Napoleon._
_April 12th._--Count d'Artois enters Paris.
_April 16th._--Convention between Eugene and Austrian General
Bellegarde. Emperor of Austria sees Marie Louise at the little
Trianon, and decides upon his daughter's return to Vienna.
_April 18th._--Armistice of Soult and Wellington.
_April 20th.--Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau, and bids adieu to his
Old Guard: "Do not mourn over my fate; if I have determined to
survive, it is in order still to dedicate myself to your glory; I
wish to write about the great things we have done together."_
_April 24th._--Louis XVIII. lands at Calais, and
_May 3rd._---Enters Paris.
_May 4th.---Napoleon reaches Elba._
_May 29th.--Death of Josephine, aged 51._
_May 30th.--Peace of Paris._
FOOTNOTES
[40] Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the
numbers 155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the
secession of the Austrian and Prussian contingents and for
30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French death-roll by
February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.
NOTES
_THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS, 1796-97_
SERIES A
(_The numbers correspond to the numbers of the Letters._)
No. 1.
_Bonaparte made Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy._--Marmont's
account of how this came to pass is probably substantially correct, as
he has less interest in distorting the facts than any other writer as
well fitted for the task. The winter had rolled by in the midst of
pleasures--soirees at the Luxembourg, dinners of Madame Tallien,
"nor," he adds, "were we hard to please." "The Directory often
conversed with General Bonaparte about the army of Italy, whose
general--Scherer--was always representing the position as difficult,
and never ceasing to ask for help in men, victuals, and money. General
Bonaparte showed, in many concise observations, that all that was
superfluous. He strongly blamed the little advantage taken from the
victory at Loano, and asserted that, even yet, all that could be put
right. Thus a sort of controversy was maintained between Scherer and
the Directory, counselled and inspired by Bonaparte." At last when
Bonaparte drew up plans--afterwards followed--for the invasion of
Piedmont, Scherer replied roughly that he who had drawn up the plan of
campaign had better come and execute it. They took him at his word,
and Bonaparte was named General-in-Chief of the army of Italy (vol. i.
93).