Napoleon's Invasion of Russia (jun 24, 1812 – dec 14, 1812)
Description:
The French invasion of Russia began on June 24, 1812, when Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed the Neman River, attempting to engage and defeat the Russian Army. At the start of the invasion, the Grande Armée had around 685,000 soldiers, which was known as the largest army ever to have been assembled in the history of European warfare up to that point. In an attempt to destroy the Russian army, they won numbers of minor engagements and a major battle, the Battle of Smolensk. Napolean was hoping that this battle would give them the win, but the Russian Army continued and retreated. Then there was the bloodiest single-say action of the Napoleonic wars, the Battle of Borodino, with 72,000 deaths. The Russians withdrew the next day.Added to timeline:
Date:
jun 24, 1812
dec 14, 1812
~ 5 months and 23 days