Retreat from Moscow

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Article abstract: Type of action: Guerrilla fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Result: A crushing defeat for the Grand Armée of Napoleon I.

After Napoleon I occupied Moscow on September 2, 1812, he waited six weeks in the Kremlin for Czar Alexander I to surrender. On October 5, fearing the onset of winter and anxious to settle problems at home, Napoleon decided to bring his 110,000 soldiers home. Russian general Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, realizing the enemy’s need for food, hastened Napoleon’s withdrawal by suddenly striking at French general Joachim...

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