CONVENTION THEME 2012
1812, A WORLD AT WAR
The French invasion of Russia of was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe. The reputation of Napoleon I as an undefeated military genius was severely shaken, while the French Empire's former allies, at first Prussia, then Austria, broke their alliance with France and switched camps, which triggered the War of the Sixth Coalition.
The campaign began on 24 June 1812, when Napoleon's forces crossed the river Neman. Napoleon aimed to compel Emperor of Russia Alexander I to remain in the Continental Blockade of the United Kingdom; an official aim was to remove the threat of a Russian invasion of Poland. Napoleon named the campaign a Second Polish War; the Russian government proclaimed a Patriotic War.
Napoleon entered Moscow on September 14, after the Russian Army had again retreated. But by then the Russians had largely evacuated the city and even released criminals from the prisons to inconvenience the French; furthermore, the governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered the city to be burnt. Alexander I refused to capitulate and the peace talks that Napoleon initiated failed. In October, with no clear sign of victory in sight, Napoleon began his disastrous Great Retreat from Moscow.
When the remnants of Napoleon's army crossed the Berezina River in November, only 27,000 fit soldiers remained; the Grand Armée had lost some 380,000 men dead and 100,000 captured. Napoleon then abandoned his men and returned to Paris to protect his position as Emperor and to prepare to resist the advancing Russians. The campaign effectively ended on 14 December 1812, when the last French troops left Russia.
An event of epic proportions and momentous importance for European history, the French invasion of Russia has been the subject of much discussion among historians. The campaign's sustained role in Russian culture may be seen in Tolstoy's War and Peace, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and the identification of it with the German invasion of 1941–45, which became known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and Russia.
--INFORMATION TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG--
Napoleon's invasion is better known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812, not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War which refers to Hitler's, rather than Napoleon's, invasion of Russia. The Patriotic War of 1812 is also occasionally referred to as the "War of 1812", which is not to be confused with the conflict of the same name between the United Kingdom and the United States. It was also termed the "Fatherland War", and later the "First Fatherland War", with both World Wars later being termed the "Second Fatherland War". In pre-revolutionary Russian literature, the war was occasionally described as "an invasion of twelve languages". In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon in his own words termed this war the "Second Polish War" (the first Polish war being the creation of Duchy of Warsaw from parts of Prussian and Austrian partitions), because one of the stated goals of the war was the resurrection of the Polish state on the territories of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (modern territories of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine).
COLD WARS 2013 - MARCH 7 - 10
WOMEN WARRIORS: 3,000 YEARS OF COURAGE AND HEROISM
COLD WARS 2014 - MARCH 6 - 9
FORGOTTEN HISTORY: NOT SO FAMOUS BATTLES AND CONFLICTS
COLD WARS 2015 - MARCH 5 - 8
THEME: TBD
The information on this page iis Subject to Change! Please check back often for the latest information.
Please Email the Webmaster regarding any questions or concerns about this Website!