The Great Fire of Moscow begins as Napoleon enters the city and retreating Russians burn it - September 14th, 1812

Fresh from his victory over Russian forces at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon Bonaparte and his Grand Armée marched triumphantly into the city of Moscow.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that proves history waits for no one. I'm
Gabe Louizier, and today we're talking about the time Napoleon

(00:23):
Bonaparte made an ill fated trip to Moscow. The day
was September eighteen twelve. Fresh from his victory over Russian
forces at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon Bonaparte and his

(00:44):
Grand Army marched triumphantly into the city of Moscow. To
their surprise, the city was deserted. Normally home to two
hundred and seventy five thousand Russian citizens, only if few thousand,
about two percent remained when Napoleon made his not so

(01:05):
grand entrance. The people weren't the only thing missing either.
The city had been swept of food and supplies, leaving
little reward for the tired and hungry French soldiers who
now occupied an abandoned city. This disappointing situation got even
worse for Napoleon when, just after midnight, fires erupted across

(01:27):
the city, the handiwork of the remaining Russians, who would
have rather seen their city burn than fall under the
rule of their enemy. One day earlier, high ranking Russian
officials had held a meeting just outside of Moscow. They
debated whether to step aside and allow Napoleon to enter
the city or to mount a stand against him. It

(01:50):
was not an easy decision. Losing the city would, of
course be a disgrace, but an attempt to defend it
would almost certainly fail. The Russian army had just lost
about forty five thousand soldiers during the Battle of Borodino
one week earlier. The remaining troops were exhausted, demoralized, and

(02:12):
in no shape to fight again so soon. With all
of this in mind, Russia's commander in chief, General Mikhail Kutuzov,
made the difficult decision to order a strategic retreat. He
wrote a consoling letter to Emperor Alexander, the first saying, quote,
your Majesty, Napoleon entering Moscow does not mean him conquering

(02:36):
Russia yet. Kutuzov was right, but Napoleon was inching closer
to that goal. At the time, the French Emperor was
at the height of his power. His European Empire was
expanding by the day, with Britain being the only real holdout.
Napoleon knew that if Russia were to join his continental blockade,

(02:58):
Britain would be economic comically isolated and would have no
choice but to submit to his rule. But when this
plan was presented to Alexander the First, the Russians are
adamantly refused. In retaliation, Napoleon ordered his Grand Army into
Russia on June eighteen twelve. At the time, it was

(03:20):
the largest European military ever assembled, featuring more than five
hundred thousand soldiers and staff. He had expected to steam
roll the Russian army, but rather than surrender, Russian forces
just kept fleeing deeper and deeper into their own territory.
The retreating Russians made a point to either seize or

(03:43):
burn any supplies that might otherwise fall into French hands.
They knew that Napoleon's supply lines would be over extended
the deeper they went into Russian territory. Eventually, though the
Russian public grew tired of their armies perpeed chual retreat.
Under immense pressure, General Kutuzov finally agreed to face the

(04:06):
French head on at the town of Borodino, about seventy
miles west of Moscow, and as I mentioned earlier, it
did not go well for the Russians, who were compelled
to give up Moscow and retreat. Yet again. Napoleon wasn't
pleased with how the Russian campaign had gone so far,
but he still believed that storming Moscow would force Alexander

(04:29):
the First to surrender and join his blockade. But when
he marched into a mostly deserted city on September four,
he probably started to have some doubts. At first, Napoleon
took up residence in a house on the edge of
the city, then when news came that a fire had
broken out, he moved to the Kremlin, where he could

(04:50):
better monitor the situation. But soon a fire broke out
in the Kremlin to supposedly started by a Russian officer
who was immediately caught and killed. With the flame spreading
out of control, Napoleon and his forces fled through the
burning city streets, nearly choking to death in the process.

(05:10):
The fires continued for the next three days, and when
they were finally out, more than two thirds of Moscow
was gone. Despite the poor outcome of his invasion, Napoleon
still held out hope that Alexander would agree to join forces.
He wrote to the Russians are three times, proposing peace,

(05:31):
but his requests were ignored. For his part, Alexander the
First said the burning of Moscow had quote illuminated his
soul and that he would never negotiate peace with Napoleon.
After a month spent waiting in a burned out city,
Napoleon was forced to accept that no surrender was coming.

(05:52):
He reluctantly led his starving army back along the war
torn route by which they had come to Moscow. On
the long road back to Paris, Napoleon's army was attacked
again and again by Russian forces. A lack of food
and the sub zero temperatures of a Russian winter also
took their toll. At last, in mid December, the Grand

(06:15):
Army finally made it out of Russia. Over the course
of their unsuccessful coup, the five hundred thousand strong army
had dwindled to less than one hundred thousand. General Kutuzov's
gamble had paid off, and Napoleon's humiliating failure in Russia
marked the beginning of the end of his empire. Two

(06:37):
years later, a coalition of European armies defeated his remaining
forces and exiled the former emperor to the island of Elba.
In eighteen fifteen, Napoleon mounted a short lived comeback, escaping
to France and raising a new army once again, though
an allied force fought back and put an end to

(06:58):
his reign for good at the Attle of Waterloo in
June of that year. This time Napoleon was exiled to
the even more remote island of St. Helena, where he
remained until his death six years later. I'm Gabe Louisier
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you have any comments

(07:22):
or suggestions, you can send them my way at this
day at i heart media dot com. Thanks as always
the Channeler Mays for producing the show, and thank you
for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for
another Day in History class. For more podcasts from my

(07:45):
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