#26 – The Invasion Of Russia (Part III)

Recorded on Napoleon’s 238th birthday, we celebrate by making this our LONGEST show yet! 93 minutes of Napoleonic fun! Well, actually, as the subject is the Russian campaign, perhaps not so much fun for Napoleon and his troops, but fun for us to discuss nonetheless.

In this episode we find Napoleon marching into Moscow, the Russians (yes, the Russians!) setting fire to their ancient city, Napoleon waiting for Alexander to make peace, finally realizing that isn’t going to happen, and then marching (what remains of) the Grand Armee back to France. Of course, this “retreat” (or “strategic withdrawal”, as David insists on calling it) is perhaps one of the most tragic stories in military history.

Some objects from David’s personal collections:

Borodino

General Frost

For further reading, I recommend:

 

Napoleon Gance Poster

Napoleon Gance Poster (2)

Originally uploaded by cameronreilly

Isn’t David Markham the bomb!?! He sent me this marvelous, fully framed and original poster from the 1980 restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 silent epic “Napoleon”. I love it. This is going in the pool room. Thank you David-san!

#25 – The Invasion Of Russia (Part II)

In this episode, David talks us through The Battle of Borodino, which took place on September 7, 1812, and was the largest and bloodiest single-day battle of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than a quarter of a million soldiers and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. Next stop – MOSCOW.

The Battle of Borodino

For further reading, I recommend:

 

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