Grande Armée Crosses the Niemen
June 24, 1812
Six hundred thousand men - French, Polish, Italian, German - waded into Russia on a summer morning. By December, fewer than a hundred thousand would stagger back over the same river. Napoleon had met a country that traded space for time and winter for victory. The empire's long unraveling had begun.
In context
Also in 1812 (5 other events on record)
- Battle of Borodino · Europe · War
- Moscow Burns · Europe · Disaster
- United States Declares War · North America · War
- Treaty of Bucharest · Europe · Politics
- Detroit Surrenders · North America · War
Before and after in Europe
- Before: 1811: Luddites Smash Frames
- After: May 2, 1813: Lützen and Bautzen
Before and after in War
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources