The History of Russia Podcast

This week's episode features a diplomatic game that Napoleon somehow found a way to lose.

The invasion of France itself, an abdication, exile and the last shots of a six-year war fought by two men who didn't know it was already over.

There is also a parallel drama unfolding in Washington and Baltimore plus the status quo gets rearranged in Scandinavia.

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It's 1813 - Napoleon is back in Paris and he has put together a new army.

But... a new coalition has been formed and as the year progresses things start to look increasingly desperate for the French.

Also and as per usual, we will be spending some time observing what was going on in the Caucasus, North America and the Iberian Peninsula plus, this time around, Northern Germany and Denmark will also get a look in.

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In the sixth and final part of this min-series we follow the remnants of Napoleons Grande Armée as they plod they plod their way, half-starved and half-frozen, back towards safety.

But, up ahead, at a river called the Berezina, three Russian armies were converging from three different directions, and this time there would be no cautious shadowing.

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Napoleon had sat in an empty, burned-out Moscow for weeks waiting for a response from Alexander.

But the Russian emperor had stayed silent and so Bonaparte had decided it was time to head back west.

What he didn't know is that his retreat would become one of the biggest military disasters of all time.

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Today we are going to see how and why Napoleon reached Moscow so easily 

But, here's the question. Would he be able to do the second of the two things he wanted to do and force Alexander to the negotiating table and get him to surrender? 

We’ll also be making short visits to Iberia and the Caucasus, and then for no other reason than I think it’s interesting and it puts things into context in terms of events happening on the global stage, we’ll cover a couple of slight diversions that had taken place over in the UK and the USA, which would involve an assasination and the start of yet another war.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions then you can send them across to me via good old-fashioned email -

[email protected]

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This week we follow the Grande Armée on the road to Moscow. However, in between Napoleon and Russia's ancient capital was the village of Borodino which Kutusov had occupied and this time it looked like the Russians were going to stand and fight.

We'll also be taking a brief look at what was going on in Spain and the Caucasus and I offer my thoughts on why Napoleon was aiming for Moscow and not St Petersburg and what it was actually like to be an ordinairy soldier in a Napoleonic era army

Please note that from now on, the 1812 mini series is going to become increasingly grim so perhaps best not to listen when little ears are around.

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Today’s episode will feature two main events - a long, muddled chase. Barclay De Tolly pulling back, Bagration trying to catch up with him, neither of them quite knowing where each other was and Napoleon's marshals trying to make sure that the two Russian armies never quite managed to meet up and combine forces

And in August, almost 2 months after the invasion had started, we will have our first battle - well sort of.

We also have a couple of other sideshows to keep an eye on, neither of which were at the forefront of either Napoleon’s or Alexander’s minds - the Iberian campaign and the continuing rumbling in the Caucasus.

By the way if there is a medical term for the fear of saying the place-name' Smolensk", I've got it.

If you want to get in touch it's -

[email protected]

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This time around, we’ll be covering just the two things, the somewhat inevitable fall of Speransky and the events that would lead up to and include Napoleon’s full scale invasion of Russia in June 1812.

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In Today's episode we'll be visiting a number of different locations.

First, Iberia — because Napoleon's other war, the one being fought in Spain and Portugal, was quietly draining exactly the men, materiel and focus that would be ideally required in the east. 

Then we’ll head east ourselves, to the Ottoman front and take a short detour into the Caucasus. 

Next it’s back to St Petersburg, to watch Speransky's reform programme start to come apart at the seams. 

And then finally, the main event — the actual mechanics of how France and Russia went from suspicious allies to open enemies over the course of 1811, and what both sides were doing about it.

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Today we're going to look at what Tilsit actually meant first of all for Russia. 

What it did to the domestic mood, what it meant economically, how it left a messy war with the Ottomans (yes, Russia nd Turkey were at it gain), hanging in mid-air

We will also be covering what the reform minded civil servant Mikhail Speransky was quietly trying to do in the background.

And then finally, we’ll examine the hairline cracks that were starting to appear with regard to the Franco-Russian relationship and how they started to impact upon the bigger European picture.

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