{ Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia Some public-domain images from the internet

There is no shortage of good maps and art about Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in This is a West Point map of the situation in Europe before the invasion. Napoleon was somewhere around here. And Moscow was here, more than 800 miles away.

There are also plenty of good maps of battles before, during, and after the ill-fated invasion.

The activity is based on some historical maps and data about armies at specific places.

Many of these maps show the alliances that linked many countries together on each side.

We found more than fifty original works of art that dealt with this topic. (It was, like, viral at the time!)

Many of these painting capture the confusion and horror of war.

The artists came from many countries – on both sides, in between, and neutral bystanders.

Some painters tried to show the massed cannons and other tactics of Napoleonic war.

Others are less flattering about the generals and Napoleon himself!

That same artist (a Russian named Vasily Vereshchagin) also tried to show the effects of weather.

The message was clear, and it was duly reported in many old paintings – Russian winters are rough!

If anything, that message was clearer than the efforts to paint individual generals as heroes or villains.

When your students finish their activity maps, the results will look like one of the most famous maps ever made.

Question: Would Napoleon have invaded Russia if his fleet had been victorious at Trafalgar? Was Borodino the real turning point in history? Or was it Trafalgar? Waterloo? Would Napoleon have sold Louisiana if things in Europe were different?