Treaty of Tilsit

July 7, 1807

On a raft in the middle of the Niemen River, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander embraced and divided Europe. Prussia was halved; the Duchy of Warsaw resurrected Poland in miniature. For five years the two emperors would pretend to be friends, and the world would hold its breath between them. Their alliance collapsed over the Continental System, and within five years Napoleon would march into Russia with 600,000 men.