1812 - Political Events

Political Events

Napoleon invades Russia (see commerce, 1811) as Britain and the United States go to war over issues that include British impressment (abduction) of U.S. seamen.

The Treaty of Bucharest signed May 28 ends a 6-year war between Russia and the Ottoman Turks, who cede Bessarabia to Russia. Russian forces have occupied Moldavia and Wallachia, and Russia now annexes the most fertile part of Moldavia—a territory between the Prut and Dneister rivers whose population is 90 percent Romanian. The Prut becomes the new Russian-Turkish border, and Russia receives guarantees that her ships can use the Danube for trading purposes.

Former Dutch admiral Jan De Winter dies at Paris June 2 at age 62.

The Grande Armée of nearly 600,000 men that invades Russia June 24 includes Austrians (under the command of Field Marshal Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg), Dutch, Germans, Italians, Poles, Prussians, and Swiss as well as Frenchmen, but 80,000 are sick with dysentery, enteric fever, or typhus after the Battle of Ostrowo July 12, and thousands of their horses have died. Lithuanian-born Mikhail Bogdanovich, General Barclay de Tolly, 50, lost an arm 5 years ago fighting Napoleon at the Battle of Eylau, Czar Aleksandr I has made him minister of war and given him command of an army, but he is defeated at Smolensk, forced to resign, and replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov, now 66. The Battle of Borodino September 26 (September 7 Old Style) is a bloody encounter on the Moskova River: Knyaz (Prince) Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, 47, is killed, as are thousands on both sides. The wily field marshal Prince Kutuzov retreats to save his army. Napoleon enters Moscow, but most of the city's 300,000 inhabitants have fled, and fires set by the Russians burn much of Moscow in the next 5 days. Foot soldier Nicolas Chauvin's unswerving devotion to the emperor and all things military has led to the coining of the word chauvinism, but one-quarter of Napoleon's army deserted even before the Battle of Borodino and the survivors are exhausted.

The Battle of Tarutino at the Chernishna River October 18 (October 6 Old Style) ends in victory for the Russian infantry of General Dmitri S. Dokhturov and the cossack cavalry of General Vasily Vasilievich Orlov-Denisov, 37, who take a further toll of Napoleon's forces, but the French inflict heavy losses and retire in good order. The little corporal begins a retreat from Moscow October 19; his army moves west through country that has been laid waste to deny it sustenance, and the retreat turns into a rout as the army runs out of provisions. Marshal Kutuzov defeats Marshal Michel Ney, 43, who has led the rear guard, and defeats Marshal Davout at Smolensk in November, although Ney acquits himself with such heroism, as he did at Borodino, that he will receive the title Prince of the Moskwa (Marshal Kutuzov receives the title Prince of Smolensk). Field Marshal Schwarzenberg retreats into Austrian territory, thereby facilitating a link-up between Russian and Prussian forces, and will hereafter lead the court faction favoring war against Napoleon. The emperor hears rumors of a coup at Paris and leaves his army on the evening of December 5, having given orders that it is to regroup at Vilna, but the troops that stagger into that city in -20° F. weather can think only of trying to eat and keep warm. Crippled by hunger, cold, frostbite, and lack of salt, harassed by Cossack troops and Russian irregulars wearing silks, kerchiefs, and women's clothes, the Grand Armées remnants leave Vilna December 10 as the Russians approach; the invading force has dwindled to no more than 95,000 by mid-December, when those who have not been killed, died of hunger, or frozen to death finally straggle across the Nieman River.

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Russia's cold vastness and wily Cossack leaders forced Napoleon's Grande Armee to turn tail and take heavy losses.

A 15,000-man Allied army under the command of Viscount Wellington lays siege to the fortress city of Ciudad Rodrigo on the Spanish-Portuguese border 50 miles west of Salamanca January 7 and storms its ramparts January 19, killing or wounding 300, taking 1,500 prisoners, and capturing 153 guns; his own casualties number 710 killed, including General Robert Craufurd, and 580 wounded; a 32,000-man Allied army under the earl of Wellington lays siege to the fortress of Badajoz March 16 and takes it by storm April 6.

Britain's prime minister Spencer Perceval is shot May 11 while entering the House of Commons and dies at age 49 (deranged and bankrupt Liverpool broker John Bellingham will be convicted of murder and hanged); Perceval is succeeded June 8 by London-born secretary for war and the colonies Robert Banks Jenkinson, 41, 2nd earl of Liverpool, who will serve until 1827 under the shadow of his more brilliant colleagues George Canning and Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh.

British forces under the earl of Wellington defeat the French July 22 at Salamanca, 100 miles northwest of Madrid, where Marshal Auguste Marmont's Army of Portugal has tried to stem his advance with 46,600 infantry, 3,400 cavalry, and 78 guns. Wellington has 47,449 infantry, 3,254 cavalry, and 60 guns but takes 7,000 prisoners, captures 20 guns, and leaves 7,000 dead or wounded (his own casualties total 5,200). Among those severely wounded on the French side is Marshal Marmont; those lightly wounded on the British side include Irish-born lieutenant William F. P. (Francis Patrick) Napier, 26. Wellington enters Madrid in mid-August but withdraws in October to winter quarters in Portugal. Spaniards not under French control adopt the Constitution of Cádiz (but see 1813).

The War of 1812 begins June 18 as the United States declares war on Britain (see Leopard-Chesapeake affair, 1807). Parliament has acted 2 days earlier to rescind at least temporarily its January 1807 Order in Council prohibiting neutral nations from trading with Napoleon's France or her allies, but news of that action has not yet reached Washington, D.C. Undaunted by the fact that the War Department is a shambles, the U.S. Army has only 6,700 men led by superannuated commanders, and the U.S. Navy only nine frigates plus eight smaller ships to face a Royal Navy with 1,048 vessels, a handful of "War Hawks" has been pressing for months to have Congress appropriate funds for military preparations. New Englanders have urged caution, and House minority leader Josiah Quincy, 40, of Massachusetts antagonizes his colleagues by his violent opposition to the war (he will resign from Congress next year), but President Madison has sent a war message to Congress June 1.

President Madison names Continental Army veteran Henry Dearborn, now 61, senior major general in command of the northern border, General Dearborn delays action, but a force of 2,000 U.S. troops invades Canada from Detroit in July under the command of former Continental Army officer William Hull, now 59, who has been made a brigadier general but pursues such a cautious, time-consuming strategy that he is easily outmaneuvered and defeated by the British. Gen. Dearborn has failed to advance on Niagara, British troops under the command of Gen. Isaac Brock reinforce their positions in the West, and they force Hull back to Detroit. General Hull orders the evacuation of Fort Dearborn on Lake Michigan; its inhabitants are massacred August 15 by Indians while being escorted to Fort Wayne, and all are killed including 12 children. Fort Dearborn is sacked and burned August 16 and General Hull forced to surrender; he will be court-martialed, convicted of cowardice and neglect of duty, and sentenced to be shot in 1814, but President Madison will stay his sentence in light of his service during the American Revolution.

Boston-born master-commandant David Porter, 32, wins promotion to captain July 2, leaves port the next day aboard the U.S.S. Essex, captures the British ship Alert, and goes on to take eight other prizes, but aside from their brigs and sloops the Americans have only eight frigates, and although three of them are superior in firepower to anything in the Royal Navy the British have more than 600 cruisers at sea.

The British frigate H.M.S. Guerrière that has seized so many U.S. seamen comes to grief off Nova Scotia August 19 when it encounters the 14-year-old U.S. frigate Constitution under the command of Isaac Hull, 39. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides" because enemy cannonballs appear to bounce off her tumble home, the U.S.S. Constitution reached the open waters of the Atlantic July 17, was sighted off the coast of southern New Jersey by the Guerrière and a squadron of five other British ships, came under continuous fire for 60 hours, but despite unfavorable winds succeeded in eluding the enemy and reaching safety in Boston; her victory gives heart to the Americans.

The U.S. sloop Wasp under the command of Jacob Jones, 44, captures the frigate H.M.S. Frolic October 18, but Jones loses both his prize and his own ship when he encounters the 74-gun British vessel H.M.S. Poictiers while en route home.

The frigate U.S.S. United States under the command of Stephen Decatur defeats the frigate H.M.S. Macedonian October 25.

H.M.S. Java is defeated and destroyed off the coast of Brazil December 20 by the U.S.S. Constitution, this time under the command of William Bainbridge, 38, but while the U.S. victories at sea win wide acclaim in America, the British blockade U.S. ports and actually enjoy more success in the sea war than do the Americans.

Louisiana enters the Union April 30 as the 18th state.

The Mississippi Territory is established May 14 (see statehood, 1817), the Missouri Territory west of the Mississippi River June 4 (see statehood, 1821).

U.S. frontiersmen eager for lands that may be gained by war give James Madison his margin of victory over New York's Lieut. Governor De Witt Clinton, now 43, in the November elections. Eastern shipping interests support Clinton and say President Madison's neutrality policy is helping the despot Napoleon, "war hawks" support Madison, Clinton carries every northern state except Pennsylvania and Vermont, but the South continues to enjoy a majority in the Electoral College by virtue of the three-fifths rule adopted in the Constitution, and Madison receives 128 electoral votes to Clinton's 89, easily winning reelection.

The term gerrymander is introduced to describe the redrawing of election district boundaries for political purposes. When the Massachusetts legislature redraws senatorial districts to isolate Federalist strongholds and ensure Republican domination of future elections, painter Gilbert Stuart adds a head, wings, and claws to a map of the districts, saying, "That will do for a salamander." Editor Benjamin Russell of the Centinel replies, "Better say a Gerrymander," but Governor Elbridge Gerry has not been responsible for the redistricting (now 68, Gerry wins election as vice president under James Madison; see human rights, 1960).

A March 26 earthquake in Venezuela spares territories held by the Spanish royalists but wreaks havoc among Francisco de Miranda's revolutionists, demoralizing the liberation forces (see 1811). Priests call the catastrophe divine retribution for disloyalty, Miranda is made dictator to reorganize the revolutionary elements, but he surrenders in July at San Mateo when he sees that his position is hopeless, Simón Bolívar and the other revolutionary leaders regard the surrender as treasonable, they block Miranda's escape, he falls into Spanish hands, and the Spaniards send him in chains to Cádiz (see Bolívar, 1813).

The Cádiz Constitution promulgated by Spain's cortes (national assembly May 8 provides for universal suffrage and other democratic principles; see 1836). It also provides for colonial representation in the Spanish parliament and elections for municipal and provincial offices; the reforms spark increased demand for democracy among Creole populations in Latin America. Ferdinand VII will annul the constitution in 1814.

Mexican revolutionists led by José María Morelos take Oaxaca and move on to Acapulco, but the peasant army commits atrocities against elite Creoles (see 1811; 1813).

Spanish colonial troops quickly suppress revolutions in the captaincy general of Guatemala, which includes territory that will become Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Chiapas.

Chilean revolutionist José Miguel Carrera finds his dictatorial rule opposed by patriot Bernardo O'Higgins, 34 (see 1811; 1817).

The Anglo-Nepal War in the Himalayas wins renown for the Nepali Ghurkas, who stand their ground against the colonial invaders. The tough fighting men offer to join forces with the British rather than continue the battle, and the British are quick to accept (see 1857).