A different perspective on the annihilation of an army All students of the Napoleonic era know that the Emperor marched the 'Grande Army' of nearly 430,000 men across the Niemen and eastwards into Russia. After the pyrrhic victory of Borodino the French occupied Moscow in the expectation of wintering behind the comfort of its walls in readiness for the reopening of campaigning weather the following spring. The Russians were determined to deny them that luxury and set Moscow ablaze before retreating farther into the vastness of their land, adopting a scorched earth policy that stripped the countryside of anything useful to their enemy. Napoleon realised that his position was untenable and that retreat was inevitable. The Grande Army had already been reduced to 100,000 men simply to arrive a this hopeless position. As winter-the Russian's best ally-closed in, the temperature plummeted to extremes even by Russian standards. Fatigue, hypothermia, starvation and disease added to...

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