Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia

CAM BAIGN . SERIES, ., No. 1 9 APOLEONS INVASION OF RUSSIA By LIEUT.-COLONEL R. G. BURTON Indian Army AUTHOR OF NAPOLEONS CAMPAIGNS IN ITALY, FROM BOULOGNE TO AUSTERLITZ, ETC. WITH SIX MAPS AND PLANS Lesgrandes errtreprises lointaines p rissentpar la grandeur m6me Ss pr paratifs quon fait pour en assurer la re ussite. 3 MONTESQUIEU. LONDON GEORGE ALLEN COMPANY, LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE, 44 AND 45 RATHBONE PLACE NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1914 THE SPeiAV- SERIES Crown 8v0 9 cloth tofzGMJfy supplied with Maps and Plans. P tce s. net each. L SAARBRtJCK TO PARIS THE FRANCO GERMAN WAR. By COL. SISSON C. PRATT, late R. A. II. THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, 1877. By MAJOR F. MAURICE. III. FREDERICKSBURG A STUDY IN WAR, 1862. By MAJOR G. W. REDWAY. IV. THE CAMPAIGN OF MAGENTA and SOLFERINO, 1859. By COL. H. C. WYLLY, C. B. V. THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN. By COL. SISSON C. PRATT, late R. A. VI. THE CAMPAIGN IN BOHEMIA, 1866. By LT.-COL. G. J. R. GLUNICICE. VII. THE LEIPZIG CAMPAIGN, 1813. By COL. F. N. MAUDE, C. B., late R. E. VIII. GRANTS CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA, 1864 THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. By CAPT. VAUGHAN SAWYER, Indian Army. IX. THE JENA CAMPAIGN, 1806. By COL. F. N. MAUDE, C. B., late R. E. X. THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. By CAPT. F. R. SEDGWICK, R. F. A. XI. THE WAR OF SECESSION, 1861-1862 BULL RUN TO MALVERN HILL. By MAJOR G. W. REDWAY. XII. THE ULM CAMPAIGN. By COL. F. N. MAUDE, C. B., late R. E. XIII. THE WAR OF SECESSION, 1863 CHANCELLORSVTLLE AND GETTYSBURG. Bv COL. P. H. DALBIAC, C. B. XIV. THE WAR OF SECESSION, 1862 CEDAR RUN, MANASSAS, AND SHARFSBURG. Bv E. W. SHKPPARD. y XV. NAPOLEONS CAMPAIGNS IK ITALY, 1796-1797 and 1800. By LT.-COL. R. G. BURTON. XVL THE CAMPAIGN IN MANCHURIA, 1904-1905. DoubleVolume. los. net. By CAPT F. R. SEDGWICK, R. A. XVIL FROM BOULOGNE TO AUSTERLITZ. By LIEUT .-COLONEL R. G BURTON, Indian Army XVIII. OUTLINE OF MARLBOROUGHS CAM PAIGNS. By CAPTAIN F. W. O. MAYCOCK, B. S. O. PBEFACE WHILE the great tragedy of 1812 must ever excite the interest and wonder of mankind, like all the deeds of its mighty actor, the lessons to be derived from it are its most important if not its most attractive feature. We may point to the vanity of human greatness, here shown in its decline, and the limitations imposed by adverse circumstance on genius even in its most exalted mani festation. We may indicate the futility of undertaking a great enterprise with inadequate means, without the power and perhaps even the will to carry it to a successful conclusion and the limits thatar6 fixed to human ambition as much by the forces of nature as by the hostility of man. Napoleon, the embodiment of in tellectual force, the incarnation of mental and physical energy, contrived for a time to control the conditions he created in Europe. He rode the whirlwind by virtue of character, of personality, of intelligence, and of imagina tion which made up the sum of his genius. But in course of time he created forces, not only in his enemies but in himself, which ranged beyond the power of control. There arose in him an almost blasphemous self-confidence a belief in Ms star that led him to neglect the elements ri PREFACE necessary to success, which may be illustrated by hi own saying It is a proof of the weakness of human nature that men imagine that they can oppose me Well migkt Goethe say of him He lives entirely in the ideal but can never consciously grasp it. The military lessons of theRussian campaign numerous. In its general features, in the grandeur of its conception, and in some respects in its execution, as well as in its abysmal end, this gigantic invasion was splendid and awe-inspiring. Who can contemplate un moved the sublime spectacle of that mighty human stream pouring across Europe into Eussia, fighting its way to Moscow, and its shattered remnants struggling back across the Berezina, in whose icy flood so many thousand lives were quenched in circumstances of tragic horror...