The French invasion of Russia of 1812 (also known as the Patriotic War of 1812, Russian: Отечественная война 1812 года) was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, which reduced the French and allied invasion forces (the Grande Armée) to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics, as it dramatically weakened the previously dominant French position on the continent. The campaign's sustained role in Russian culture may be seen in Tolstoy's War and Peace, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and the Soviet identification of it with the German invasion of 1941–45.
An event of epic proportions and momentous importance for European history, the French invasion of Russia has been subjected to overtly political uses throughout the decades, to a larger extent than any other military campaign. Thus, throughout the 19th and early 20th century, events and facts were sometimes distorted to accommodate the foreign politics agenda of either Imperial or Communist Russia.
The campaign itself was marked by extreme savagery and by the fact that both sides claimed victory in every engagement; however, if the military engagements proved less decisive than before, by the end of 1812, the French defeat was clear, even though the Russians could hardly be said to have won. It did however weaken the French hegemony in Europe to such an extent that the former allies of the French Empire, at first Prussia, then Austria were encouraged to break their alliance with France and switch camps, which would trigger the War of the Sixth Coalition. |
