The full story of Napoleon’s legendary escape from Russia under seemingly impossible odds is recounted in this thrillingly vivid military history. In the winter of 1812, Napoleon's army retreated from Moscow under appalling conditions, hunted by three separate Russian armies. By late November, Napoleon had reached the banks of the River Berezina—the last natural obstacle between his army and the safety of the Polish frontier. But instead of finding the river frozen solid enough to march his men across, an unseasonable thaw had turned the Berezina into an icy torrent. Having already ordered the burning of his bridging equipment, Napoleon's predicament was serious enough: but with the army of Admiral Chichagov holding the opposite bank, and those of Kutusov and Wittgenstein closing fast, it was critical. In a gripping narrative that draws on contemporary sources—including letters, diaries and memoirs—Alexander Mikaberidze describes how Napoleon rose from the pit of despair to execute one of the greatest escapes in military history.

October 1812, Napoleon enters Moscow. The Russians have set fire to the city, soon it will be reduced to a pile of ash. The Emperor equivocates, decides to turn back. This is the beginning of the retreat from Russia, a page of history that has become legendary for its degree of suffering and horror, but also for the heroic acts that took place. Two hundred years later, Sylvain Tesson, accompanied by four friends (two Russians and two French), decides to follow the route of the retreat. Perched on two Soviet Ural sidecar motorcycles, they will rejoin Paris from Moscow, guided only by the spectres of the two hundred thousand soldiers who died through cold, starvation, and in battle. Twenty five hundred miles travelled in a wild escapade to salute the ghosts of history, across the white plains of Russia.

A superbly illustrated narrative of how Napoleon skilfully extracted his Grande Armee from the clutches of the pursuing Russian armies. Much has been written about the Battle of the Berezina and the 1812 Russian campaign in general, during which the cold winter devastated the Grande Armée. Historians often praise Napoleon for his actions at the Berezina and attribute his success to a brilliant strategic mind, laying a trap that deceived the Russians and resulted in a remarkable feat in the history of warfare. Drawing on contemporary sources (letters, diaries, memoirs), and featuring an extensive order of battle, this book recreates in hourly detail one of the great escapes in military history, a story often told with embellishments that require a more critical examination. Although the core of Napoleon's army escaped, tens of thousands were killed in the battle, trampled in the rush for the bridge, drowned in the icy waters of the Berezina, or captured. Written by an acknowledged expert on the period, and using a broad range of sources from all sides, this title brings to life in stunning visual detail, using maps, battlescene artworks and period illustrations, the events of late November 1812, as Napoleon's retreating, desperate Grand Armée extricated itself from the clutches of the Russian armies under Kutuzov, Wittgenstein and Chichagov in an epic feat of heroism and masterful tactics.

Moscow is now in French hands, but a large part of the city has burned down, and it’s been emptied of all food, fodder and warm clothes. Even as winter approaches, and against the advice of his generals, Napoleon insists on staying, convinced that the Czar will soon surrender to him. But both soldiers and civilians increasingly suffer from hunger and the cold, and the terrifying Cossacks constantly harry any troops sent out to forage for food ...

Get the Summary of Sylvain Tesson and Katherine Gregor's Berezina in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Berezina" by Sylvain Tesson is a travelogue that intertwines a historical reenactment with a modern adventure. Tesson, alongside his friends Cédric Gras, Thomas Goisque, and Russian companions Vitaly and Vassily, embarks on a journey from Moscow to Paris on a Russian Ural motorcycle. Their expedition aims to trace the route of Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812, coinciding with the bicentennial of the event...

Napoleon had failed to tame the Russian Bear and winter made that dream impossible. The Grande Armee was retreating under constant attack from the Cossacks. The Berezina was the last obstacle that had to be crossed. Discover how this terrible episode was a true victory for French military genius.

Russia played a decisive role in the Napoleonic wars and the success in the struggle against France allowed Russian leaders to profoundly influence the course of European history. Over the last 200 years, the Napoleonic era has been discussed and analysed in numerous studies, but many fail to fully portray the Russian side of events due to the relative scarcity of Russian sources in English. Only a handful of Russian memoirs have been translated, while dozens remain unknown outside Russia. This book seeks to fill this gap by providing, in English, previously unavailable memoirs of Russian participants. Defeat at Leipzig in 1813 had driven Napoleon back across the borders of France, and in January 1814 the Russians, Austrians, Prussians and their other German allies stood poised to cross the Rhine. But the French Emperor was far from beaten, and the ensuing campaign saw desperate fighting, with the outcome very much in the balance. This book is the first to bring together dozens of letter, diaries and memoirs of Russian participants of the 1814 Campaign. Reading these documents we see both what Russian officers and soldiers experienced during the final months of the three-year-long campaign as well as their joy at defeating Russia’s most dangerous enemy. We follow them not only through the heat of battle but also on delightful tours of Paris which they describe as the pleasure and entertainment capital of the world.