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Napoleon won some initial victories against his enemies, but he suffered a crushing defeat in October 1813 at the Battle of Leipzig.īy the following March, Paris had been captured and Napoleon was forced into exile on the island of Elba. Although the French emperor was able to raise another massive army, this time it was short on both cavalry and experience. Nine days later, what little remained of the Grande Armée’s rear guard stumbled back across the Niemen River.Įmboldened by the defeat, Austria, Prussia and Sweden re-joined Russia and Great Britain in the fight against Napoleon. On December 5, Napoleon left the army under the command of Joachim Murat and sped toward Paris amid rumors of a coup attempt. “From then on, it was almost every man for himself,” Paine said. In late November, the Grande Armée narrowly escaped complete annihilation when it crossed the frigid Berezina River, but it had to leave behind thousands of wounded. READ MORE: The Personality Traits that Led to Napoleon's Epic Downfall The summer heat had likewise become oppressive, and Grande Armée soldiers were coming down with insect-borne diseases such as typhus and water-related diseases like dysentery. Bell, a history professor at Princeton University and author of The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It. “Certainly, the scorched earth tactics were incredibly important in denying the French army sustenance,” said David A. Many peasants, meanwhile, burned their crops to prevent them from falling into French hands. Then, in mid-August, they retreated from Smolensk and torched that city. In late July, the Russians similarly abandoned Vitebsk, setting fire to military stores and a bridge on their way out. They must be pushed back into their ice, so that for the next 25 years they no longer come to busy themselves with the affairs of civilized Europe.” “I have come once and for all to finish off these barbarians of the North,” he purportedly declared to his top military advisors.
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Nonetheless, Napoleon remained confident.
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