The French Invasion of Russia started in June 1812. First Napoleon's Grande Armée won various smaller battles and advanced to Moscow. The withdrawing Russian troops did not leave anything in the captured territories and as part of the scorched-earth tactic Cossacks were instructed to burn villages, towns and crops, sothat the French invaders were not able to live off the land. After the bloody Battle of Borodino in September 1812 the French troops entered the evacuated Moscow, which was later set ablaze at the behest of the city's governor. After moving his troops to Kaluga one month later, Napoleon had to withdrew them to the west because of the beginning of the winter. During the withdrawal the French troops were often attacked by smaller Russian forces and a loss of discipline was recorded. During this Patriotic War of 1812 the Grande Armée lost around 380000 men and another 100000 were captured. The campaign was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.
The Triumphal Arch of Moscow was built between 1829 and 1834. It was dismantled when Josef Stalin reconstructed Moscow's downtown in 1936, but was rebuilt between 1966 and 1968.
After the invasion Prussia and Austria broke their alliance with France and formed a new coalition with Russia. The coalition was later joined by Sweden, the United Kingdom and other countries. The War of the Sixth Coalition and the German Wars of Liberation started.
The Battle of Nations was the decisive battle of this war. Between the 16th and 19th October 1813 soldiers from Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden fought against Napoleon's Grand Armée. All together 520000 soldiers took part in the battle, of which 90000 lost their life. The Battle of the Nations was then the largest battle in human history.
The Monument to the Battle of the Nations is the biggest monument in Germany. It was built between 1900 and 1912. It was opened in 1913 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Nations.
After the lost War of the Sixth Coalition Napoleon had to abdicate and was sent to Elba. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 new borders in Europe were drawn.
On 20th May 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte returned from his exile on Elba and quickly regained the power in France. Napoleon's Hundred Days began. First he was backed by a big part of France's population, but the flare-up of a new war, the War of the Seventh Coalition, soon decreased his popularity. Also the other European powers were not willing to accept a new reign of Napoleon and so they declared him an outlaw and concentrated an army in modern day Belgium.
The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815 near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras. It was contested between Wellington's Anglo-Allied army and a part of France's army under Marshal Michel Ney. Although the Allies won the field, the French prevented them from coming to the aid of the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18th June 1815 between France and the armies of the Seventh Coalition. It ended with a decisive defeat of Napoleon and finally ended his reign.
After the lost battle Napoleon went back to Paris, where he had lost all support. The Allies later sent him to a new exile in Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. The battle was followed by almost four decades of international peace in Europe.
31.10.2015, 16.10.2016
