“Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia!”

 The Patriotic War  Not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War

 The First Fatherland War  Not be confused with the Second Fatherland War

 The War of 1812  Not to be confused with War of 1812 between England and America

 Continental system imposed on Napoleon’s empire and allies  This hurt Russia’s economy  Czar Alexander tacitly allowed Russians to break the trade embargo with England  His actions irritated Napoleon

 Largest army assembled in Europe up that point  Around 600,000 men crossed Neman river headed towards Moscow  Of these, 300,000 were French

 Vastly outnumbered  Army facing Napoleon immediately comprised of 175,000 men  Total army, including reserves, numbered 488,000  Russia’s only ally, Sweden, did not send troops to its aid

 Generals knew they could not defeat French in battle  Strategic retreats burning crops as they went along

 Czar Alexander insisted on a battle for Moscow  After bloody battle, Kutuzov gave up Moscow to the invaders  Napoleon had captured the enemy’s capital  He waited for five weeks for Alexander to negotiate  Alexander refused so Napoleon decided to withdraw his hungry, ragged, troops

 Contributed to Napoleon’s downfall  Russian foreign policy after this was focused on preventing another invasion  Russia became more isolated and fearful of the outside world  Russian people were more patriotic than before  Mother Russia

 Focus on Russian people  All the main characters are Russian  Svidrigailov ‘s dislike of being abroad  “Marfa Petrovna herself invited me to go abroad, seeing I was bored, but I’ve been abroad before, and always felt sick there… it’s better at home” (284)  Attachment to ‘Mother Russia’

 Tsarevskaya, Lyubov. "Napoleon's Invsion of Russia." Voice of Russia. Jacques-Louis David, 11 August Web. 14 Nov  Moore, Richard. "1812 Invasion of Russia: Napoleonis Wars." Richard Moore, Web. 14 Nov <  "History and Culture of Russia." geographia.com, n.d. Web. 18 Nov  "French Invasion of Russia." Article Base 9 October 2010: n. page. Web. 14 Nov  Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. The Story of Civilization: The Age of Napoleon: A History of European Civilization from 1789 to XI. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster, Print.