“Where did the conquest of the world stop? Composition of the Russian Empire Borders of the Russian Empire in 1812

The first Patriotic War in Russian history occurred in 1812, when Napoleon I Bonaparte, following his bourgeois ideas, attacked the Russian Empire. All segments of the population rose up against a single enemy, both old and young fought. For such a rise in the national spirit and the entire population with hostility, the war was officially dubbed the Patriotic War.

This event is firmly imprinted in the history of our country and the whole world. The bloody battle between the two great empires was reflected in literature and culture. Napoleon Bonaparte planned to quickly bleed the Russian Empire through quick and deliberate attacks on Kyiv, St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Russian army, led by the greatest leaders, took the battle in the very heart of the country and won, driving the French back beyond the Russian border.

Patriotic War of 1812. Minimum for the Unified State Examination.

At the end of the 18th century, an incident occurred in France that claimed thousands and thousands of lives and brought Napoleon I Bonaparte to the throne of the overthrown Bourbon dynasty. He glorified his name during the Italian and Egyptian military campaigns, establishing his fame as a valiant military leader. Having secured the support of the army and influential people, he disperses Directory, the main ruling body of France at that time, and appoints himself consul, and soon emperor. Having taken power into his own hands, the French emperor quickly launched a campaign aimed at the expansion of European states.

By 1809, almost all of Europe had been conquered by Napoleon. Only Great Britain remained unconquered. The dominance of the British fleet in the English Channel made the peninsula virtually invulnerable. Adding fuel to the fire, the British took away colonies in America and India from France, thereby depriving the empire of key trading points. The only correct solution for France would be to deploy a continental blockade to cut off Britain from Europe. But to organize such sanctions, Napoleon needed the support of Alexander I, Emperor of the Russian Empire, otherwise these actions would have been meaningless

Map: Napoleonic Wars in Russia 1799-1812. "The path of the Napoleonic wars before the war with Russia."

Causes

It was concluded in the interests of Russia World of Tilsit, which was, in essence, a reprieve for the accumulation of military power.

The main points of the agreement were:

• support for the continental blockade of Britain;
• recognition of all French conquests;
• recognition of the governors appointed by Bonaparte in the conquered countries, etc.

The deterioration of relations was caused by non-compliance with the points of the peace agreement, as well as the refusal to allow Napoleon to marry Russian princesses. His proposal was rejected twice. The French emperor needed to marry to confirm the legitimacy of his title.

Occasion

The main reason for the Russian-French war was the violation of the border of the Russian Empire by French troops. You need to understand that Napoleon did not intend to conquer the entire country. His worst enemy was the impregnable Great Britain. The purpose of the campaign against Russia was to inflict military defeat on it and make peace on its own terms against the British.

Participants

"Twenty Language", this is what the troops of the captured states who joined the French army were called. The name itself makes it clear that there were many countries participating in the conflict. There were not many allies on the Russian side.

Goals of the parties

The main reason for this war, as indeed for all conflicts, was the problem of dividing influence in Europe between France, Britain And Russia. It was in the interests of all three to prevent absolute leadership of one of the countries.

The goals were the following:

Balance of power

At the time Napoleon crossed the Russian border, the military power of both sides could be expressed in the following figures:

Available Russian army There was also a Cossack regiment that fought on the side of the Russians with special rights.

Commanders and military leaders

The commanders-in-chief of the Grand Army and the Russian Army, Napoleon I Bonaparte and Alexander I, respectively, had the most talented tacticians and strategists at their disposal.

From the outside France The following commanders are especially noteworthy:

Louis-Nicolas Davout- “Iron Marshal”, Marshal of the Empire, who did not lose a single battle. He commanded the Guards Grenadiers during the war with Russia.

Joachim Murat- King of the Kingdom of Naples, commanded the reserve cavalry of the French army. He took direct part in the Battle of Borodino. Known for his ardor, courage and hot temper.

Jacques MacDonald- Marshal of the Empire, commanded the French-Prussian infantry corps. Served as the reserve power of the Grand Army. Covered the retreat of the French military forces.

Michelle Ney– one of the most active participants in the conflict. The Marshal of the Empire earned the nickname “bravest of the brave” in battle. He fought desperately in the Battle of Borodino, and then covered the retreat of the main parts of his army.

Russian Army She also had many outstanding military leaders in her camp:

Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly- at the beginning of the Patriotic War, Alexander I gave him the opportunity to be Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, with the words, - “I have no other army”. He held this post until the appointment of Kutuzov.

Bagration Pyotr Ivanovich- Infantry General, commanded the 2nd Western Army at the time the enemy crossed the border. One of Suvorov's most famous students. He insisted on a general battle with Napoleon. In the Battle of Borodino he was seriously wounded by a fragment of an exploding cannonball and died in agony in the infirmary.

Tormasov Alexander Petrovich- Russian general who commanded the cavalry of the Russian Army. In the south of the Empire, the 3rd Western Army was under his command. His task was to contain France's allies - Austria and Prussia.

Wittgenstein Peter Christianovich- Lieutenant General, commanded the first infantry corps. He stood in the way of the Great Army, which was moving towards St. Petersburg. With skillful tactical actions, he seized the initiative in the battle with the French and pinned down three corps on the way to the capital. In this battle for the north of the state, Wittgenstein was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield.

Golenishchev-Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in the War of 1812. An outstanding strategist, tactician and diplomat. Became the first full holder of the Order of St. George. During World War II, the French nicknamed him "The old fox from the North." The most famous and recognizable person of the war of 1812.

Main stages and course of the war

Division of the Great Army into three directions: Southern, Central, Northern.

March from the Neman River to Smolensk.

March from Smolensk to Moscow.

• Reorganization of command: approval of Kutuzov to the post of commander-in-chief of the Russian army (August 29, 1812)

Retreat of the Great Army.

• Flight from Moscow to Maloyaroslavets

  Retreat from Maloyaroslavets to the Berezina

  Retreat from Berezina to Neman

Map: Patriotic War of 1812

Peace treaty

While in burning Moscow, Napoleon I Bonaparte tried three times to conclude a peace agreement with the Russian Empire.

The first attempt was made with the help of the captured Major General Tutolmin. Feeling his dominant position, Napoleon continued to demand from the Russian emperor a blockade of Great Britain, an alliance with France and the renunciation of lands conquered by Russia.

For the second time, the commander-in-chief of the Great Army sent a letter to Alexander I with the same negotiator offering peace.

The third time Bonaparte sent his general Lauriston to the Russian emperor with the words, “ I need peace, I need it absolutely, at all costs, save only honor».

All three attempts were ignored by the command of the Russian Army.

Results and consequences of the war

The Great Army lost about 580 thousand soldiers during the six months of the war on the territory of the Russian Empire. These include deserters, allied troops who fled to their homeland. Some 60 thousand people were sheltered by local residents and the nobility alone from Napoleon's army in Russia.

The Russian Empire, for its part, also suffered considerable losses: from 150 to 200 thousand people. About 300 thousand people were injured in varying degrees severity and about half of them remained disabled.

At the beginning of 1813 The foreign campaign of the Russian army began, which passed through the lands of Germany and France, pursuing the remnants of the Great Army. By pinning Napoleon on his territory, Alexander I achieved his surrender and capture. In this campaign, the Russian Empire annexed the Duchy of Warsaw to its territory, and the lands of Finland were again recognized as Russian.

Historical significance of the war

Patriotic War of 1812 immortalized in the history and culture of many peoples. A large number of literary works are dedicated to this event, for example “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, “Borodino” by M.Yu. Lermontova, O.N. Mikhailov "Kutuzov". In honor of the victory, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built, and in the hero cities there are memorial obelisks. On the Borodino field, a reconstruction of the battle is held every year, where an impressive number of people who want to plunge into the era take part.

References:

1. Alexey Shcherbakov - “Napoleon. The winners are not judged."
2. Sergey Nechaev – “1812. An hour of pride and glory."

On October 7 (19), 1812, Napoleon, at the head of the main forces of the Great Army, left Moscow and headed along the Old Kaluga Road. Intending to secretly bypass the Russian camp located in the area of ​​the village of Tarutino, Napoleon's troops crossed to the New Kaluga Road near the village. Fominsky. The chief surgeon of one of the Württemberg cavalry regiments, Heinrich Ulrich Ludwig von Roos, recalled: “While we were moving from this area, from the old Kaluga road to the new one leading to Borovsk, various events occurred, of which I will note the following. The first rumor that spread at the time of our meeting said that Napoleon was going to penetrate the southern provinces, the breadbasket of Russia, defeat the Russians along the way, ruin the Tula arms factories and then either give us good winter quarters or take us home through rich lands.”.

The Russian command did not know about these plans. Only on October 10 (22) the flying detachment of captain A.N. Seslavin was discovered in the area of ​​the village. Fominsky, the main forces of Napoleon, led by the emperor himself. Having received a report about this, M.I. Kutuzov sent a detachment under the command of D.S. to meet the enemy towards Maloyaroslavets. Dokhturov himself, together with the main forces of the Russian army, also headed towards this city in the morning of the next day.

On October 11 (23), at about 6 p.m., the 13th Infantry Division of the 4th Army Corps, under the command of General A.Zh., advancing in the vanguard of the Great Army. Delzona was occupied by Maloyaroslavets. The next morning, at about 5 o’clock, D.S.’s troops approached the city. Dokhturova. An 18-hour battle began, during which the small county town changed hands several times and, as a result, was almost completely destroyed. A participant in the battle, an officer of the Grand Army Labom, recalled: “...The interior of Maloyaroslavets presented a terrible sight. The city in which they fought no longer existed!

The streets could only be distinguished by the numerous corpses with which they were littered. At every step one came across severed arms and legs, and heads crushed by passing artillery pieces lay lying around. All that was left of the houses were smoking ruins, under the burning ashes of which half-collapsed skeletons could be seen...”

In total, more than 55 thousand people took part in the battle, and the losses on both sides were enormous. There were up to 7,000 killed and wounded Russian soldiers, and the enemy lost the same number.

As a result of the battle, which ended only late at night, Maloyaroslavets, or rather the place where it was located, remained in the hands of the French. But the Russian troops who retreated from it took up positions on the heights around the city, blocking all roads to Kaluga and thereby solving the main task facing them.

“This day is one of the most significant in this bloody war. For the lost battle of Maloyaroslavets would have entailed the most disastrous consequences and would have opened the way for the enemy through our most grain-producing provinces.”, wrote M.I. Kutuzov.

Two days later, on October 15 (27), Napoleon gave the order to retreat to the Old Smolensk Road, which had already been devastated during the first stage of the campaign. One of Napoleon's close associates, Count Philippe Paul de Segur, later recalled Maloyaroslavets as “the ill-fated battlefield on which the conquest of the world stopped, where 20 years of continuous victories crumbled into dust, where the great collapse of our happiness began”.

To this day, the city sacredly preserves the memory of the fierce battle, which became the “beginning of the end” of the great empire of Napoleon and brought great glory to Maloyaroslavets.

2011 “Museum-panorama “Battle of Borodino”

Along with the collapse Russian Empire the majority of the population chose to create independent national states. Many of them were never destined to remain sovereign, and they became part of the USSR. Others were incorporated into the Soviet state later. What was the Russian Empire like at the beginning? XXcenturies?

By the end of the 19th century, the territory of the Russian Empire was 22.4 million km 2. According to the 1897 census, the population was 128.2 million people, including the population of European Russia - 93.4 million people; Kingdom of Poland - 9.5 million, - 2.6 million, Caucasus Territory - 9.3 million, Siberia - 5.8 million, Central Asia - 7.7 million people. Over 100 peoples lived; 57% of the population were non-Russian peoples. The territory of the Russian Empire in 1914 was divided into 81 provinces and 20 regions; there were 931 cities. Some provinces and regions were united into governorates-general (Warsaw, Irkutsk, Kiev, Moscow, Amur, Stepnoe, Turkestan and Finland).

By 1914, the length of the territory of the Russian Empire was 4383.2 versts (4675.9 km) from north to south and 10,060 versts (10,732.3 km) from east to west. The total length of the land and sea borders is 64,909.5 versts (69,245 km), of which the land borders accounted for 18,639.5 versts (19,941.5 km), and the sea borders accounted for about 46,270 versts (49,360 .4 km).

The entire population was considered subjects of the Russian Empire, the male population (from 20 years old) swore allegiance to the emperor. The subjects of the Russian Empire were divided into four estates (“states”): nobility, clergy, urban and rural inhabitants. The local population of Kazakhstan, Siberia and a number of other regions were distinguished into an independent “state” (foreigners). The coat of arms of the Russian Empire was a double-headed eagle with royal regalia; the state flag is a cloth with white, blue and red horizontal stripes; The national anthem is “God Save the Tsar.” National language - Russian.

Administratively, the Russian Empire by 1914 was divided into 78 provinces, 21 regions and 2 independent districts. The provinces and regions were divided into 777 counties and districts and in Finland - into 51 parishes. Counties, districts and parishes, in turn, were divided into camps, departments and sections (2523 in total), as well as 274 landmanships in Finland.

Territories that were important in military-political terms (metropolitan and border) were united into viceroyalties and general governorships. Some cities were allocated into special administrative units - city governments.

Even before the transformation of the Grand Duchy of Moscow into the Russian Kingdom in 1547, at the beginning of the 16th century, Russian expansion began to expand beyond its ethnic territory and began to absorb the following territories (the table does not include lands lost before the beginning of the 19th century):

Original title in French: "Carte de la Russie Europeenne en LXXVII feuilles executee au Depot general de la Guerre." Scale 1:500000.

In preparation for the war with Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte was tasked with creating several topographic maps our country. To quickly complete the job, the French spies needed to obtain detailed map Russian Empire and redraw it in your own way.

The so-called " table map"of the territory of Russia, published in 1801-1804. There are several assumptions about how such a map could get to France. According to a more conspiracy theory, copper prints of the map were secretly purchased by the French ambassador J.A. Lauriston from one of the employees of the state archive in St. Petersburg , as evidenced by Colonel J.B. Marbot. According to a more prosaic version, the map, already printed, was purchased from a French second-hand bookseller in December 1810. The map was not secret.

After receiving the original map, the French translated it using the transliteration method, added their intelligence data, engraved all the sheets of the map again, and already in February 1812 the first 40 copies were printed using the stamping method Big cards Russian Empire.

The map consisted of 104 sheets 79x50 cm and was divided into European and Asian parts. The European one consisted of 77 sheets. It was marked settlements: provincial cities with hexagons, district cities with pentagons, as well as the main roads deep into Russia, indicating the distances between cities. A Russian-French dictionary of topographical terms is placed on the tab sheet.

The map itself is very conventional; topographers of that time did not yet have the proper skills and tools to compile accurate maps, but from a toponymic point of view it is of great value. Despite the low accuracy, which objectively deserves a one-star rating on our website: “Poor,” we still gave it a “Satisfactory” rating so that this card could be used for calibration by the correction function.

Our website contains a collection of 29 main map sheets from the Baltic Sea to the Caucasus. Also on the site are several sheets from

The most interesting:

Huge army Endless army play

Reconstruction of lightsaber fencing 7th form of lightsaber wielding

To find a fraction from a number, the rule is Explanation of the topic of finding a fraction from a number