The Fall of Napoleon 1812–1815

Napoleon's downfall was swift and dramatic. Within three years, he went from commanding the largest army ever assembled in European history to exile on a small Mediterranean island. The Russian campaign, the Battle of the Nations, the first abdication, the Hundred Days, and Waterloo form one of the most extraordinary sequences in modern history. The A-Level question is: was Napoleon's fall the inevitable consequence of overreach, or could he have survived?

Key Definition: The Grande Armée was the multinational army of approximately 600,000–685,000 men that Napoleon assembled for the invasion of Russia in 1812. It was the largest military force Europe had ever seen.

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The Russian Campaign (1812)

Causes

Factor	Explanation
Continental System	Russia's withdrawal from the Continental System (December 1810) challenged Napoleon's entire strategic framework
Poland	Russia feared Napoleon would create a fully independent Poland from Russian territory
Personal rivalry	The Tilsit alliance had deteriorated; Alexander I refused to subordinate Russian interests to French demands

The Invasion

Date	Event
24 June 1812	The Grande Armée crosses the Niemen River into Russia
June–August	Russians retreat, refusing to give battle; scorched-earth strategy denies the French supplies and forage
17 August	Battle of Smolensk: Russians fight but retreat; the city is destroyed
7 September	Battle of Borodino: the bloodiest single day of the Napoleonic Wars (~70,000 combined casualties); the Russians withdraw but are not destroyed
14 September	Napoleon enters Moscow — but finds it largely deserted. Fires (probably set by Russians) destroy much of the city
19 October	After five weeks waiting for Alexander's surrender (which never came), Napoleon orders the retreat

The Retreat

The retreat from Moscow is one of the great catastrophes of military history:

Factor	Impact
Winter	Temperatures fell to -30°C; soldiers froze, starved, and died of disease
Russian harassment	Cossack cavalry and partisan forces attacked the retreating columns relentlessly
Crossing of the Berezina (26–29 November)	The army forced a crossing of the river under attack, but thousands of stragglers were killed or captured
Losses	Of the ~600,000 who invaded, fewer than 100,000 returned. Perhaps 370,000 died and 200,000 were captured

A-Level Analysis: The Russian campaign was not a simple story of winter defeating Napoleon. The campaign was already in serious difficulty before winter set in: the logistics were inadequate for the distances involved, the Russian refusal to fight a decisive battle frustrated Napoleon's strategy, and Borodino, though technically a French victory, failed to destroy the Russian army.

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The War of Liberation (1813)

The Sixth Coalition

Napoleon's catastrophic losses in Russia encouraged Prussia, Austria, Sweden, and Russia to form a new coalition. Despite raising new armies with remarkable speed, Napoleon faced overwhelming numerical superiority:

Battle	Date	Result
Lützen	2 May 1813	French victory, but Napoleon's new conscripts lacked the quality of his veterans
Bautzen	20–21 May 1813	Another French victory; but without adequate cavalry, Napoleon could not pursue
Dresden	26–27 August 1813	Napoleon's last great victory in Germany
Leipzig ("Battle of the Nations")	16–19 October 1813	The decisive battle: Napoleon defeated by combined Austrian, Russian, Prussian, and Swedish armies; ~38,000 French casualties; French forces retreated across the Rhine

Key Insight: Leipzig was the largest battle in European history before the First World War, involving approximately 500,000 troops. It ended Napoleon's control of Germany and marked the beginning of the end.

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The Campaign of France and the First Abdication (1814)

The Invasion of France

In January 1814, Allied armies crossed the Rhine and invaded France. Napoleon fought a brilliant defensive campaign with an army of only ~70,000:

Battle	Date	Significance
Champaubert	10 February	Defeated a Prussian corps
Montmirail	11 February	Defeated Russian forces
Montereau	18 February	Forced the Austrians back