The secret of victory. Memo on World War 1812 of the year
I apologize for another educational program. But - since the year is jubilee - the closer to the date of the Borodino battle, the more sensational historical revelations, the essence of which, as usual, will boil down to "ours filled the French with cannon fodder." So it makes sense to briefly explain what the secret of victory really was.
In short, there were no secrets to the victory of the Russian Empire in the Patriotic War of 1812: there were many factors leading to victory, not secrets.
The most well-known “secret” among the people is the “club of the people's war”, beautifully shown by Leo Tolstoy. If it’s quite primitive, then this factor looks like this - our army, heroically fighting, retreated with battles, unable to stop the great forces of the great commander Napoleon (and he really was a great commander and his forces were really huge - more than 600 thousand people). But the Russian people, rising against the invaders, in the partisan struggle, broke the back of Napoleon's “Great Army”.
True, the Spanish people, having risen to the “guerrilla” and leading an even more large-scale and successful partisan struggle, could not liberate their country in 7 years, although they bound the 300-thousandth army of Bonaparte. Well, the guerrillas themselves can not defeat the occupying regular army. They even cannot paralyze its activity - they can only permanently cause one or another damage. For the liberation of Spain, it was necessary to crush Napoleon’s entire coalition forces. So this “secret” cannot claim to be the main secret of victory.
Another "secret" is the amazing resilience and courage of Russian soldiers and officers. And this is an important factor. Without the heroism, skill and courage of the Russian soldier, it would not have been possible to stop Napoleon. But this factor, the most important one, is smoothed by the fact that Napoleon’s troops also fought bravely and skillfully. And there were more of them. 444 Thousands of persistent and skillful soldiers - this is stronger than 220 Thousands of persistent and skilled soldiers. And this is confirmed by the fact that Napoleon was not stopped at the border, did not stop near Smolensk, and was not stopped even at Borodino. Moscow and that Napoleon left. Now, if our soldiers were steadfast and skillful, and the Napoleonic - cowardly and inexperienced, then this factor could be decisive. But, unfortunately, the enemy was strong in this respect, although not stronger than us.
Many rest on the great talent and courage of our generals. But the French marshals, too, were not recruited by ad, but achieved their position by personal courage and leadership skills. Our best commanders, Barclay and Bagration, Napoleon at Smolensk beat in the maneuver, like kittens. So here the parties are also close in level.
We did not have both tactical superiority and technical - here, too, Napoleon and I were equal.
So what's the secret? How did it happen that during the first months of the war we retreated in front of a much stronger opponent, and then drove both Napoleon in the center and his marshals on the flanks?
In fact, the “secret” is extremely simple, known to almost any military man and works in most wars. This “secret” is military potential and its use.
Napoleon invaded us with the army in 444 thousand people. During the war, he was able to pull in the form of reserves and marching battalions about another 170 thousand people. Total - more than 600 thousand.
The Russian army, concentrated against Napoleon, numbered more than 230 thousand people. In addition, reserve corps were pulled up (more than 30 thousand), the Danube army, liberated after the war with Turkey (about 60 thousand) moved from the south to the theater of operations. But all this was not enough.
However, by 1812, the Russian Empire was one of the Great Powers. She had great human resources and powerful military production. By the year 1812, after the reforms of Arakcheyev and Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army was at the forefront of organization, tactics and armaments, had considerable mobilization reserves of equipment and armaments, powerful horse-breeding factories.
Over the 1812 year, the Russian Empire put under the gun more than 400 thousands of recruits and 280 thousands of militiamen. And this with the acting army is already much more than Napoleon’s. And all this mass of troops could equip, arm, provide with equestrian personnel. Of course, not all of these forces managed to take part in the battles of the 1812 campaign of the year and fought already in the foreign campaign of the Russian army. But the majority - had time.
It is thanks to this that the Russian strategic plan worked. And while the Russian troops, keeping the backbone of the army, retreated and exhausted in the defensive battles of the enemy, the balance of forces was constantly changing in our favor. And when in all directions the Russian troops outnumbered the enemy, then Napoleon was driven in the center, and his marshals were on the flanks.
That is, the decisive "secret" turned out to be that Russia could constantly build up forces, had military reserves and military production, which was enough for that war. And there no one spoke about the “small professional army”, about the procurement of main armaments abroad, and even about horror, about the restoration of icons on the Kremlin as a means of increasing the country's defense.
That's all.
In short, there were no secrets to the victory of the Russian Empire in the Patriotic War of 1812: there were many factors leading to victory, not secrets.
The most well-known “secret” among the people is the “club of the people's war”, beautifully shown by Leo Tolstoy. If it’s quite primitive, then this factor looks like this - our army, heroically fighting, retreated with battles, unable to stop the great forces of the great commander Napoleon (and he really was a great commander and his forces were really huge - more than 600 thousand people). But the Russian people, rising against the invaders, in the partisan struggle, broke the back of Napoleon's “Great Army”.
True, the Spanish people, having risen to the “guerrilla” and leading an even more large-scale and successful partisan struggle, could not liberate their country in 7 years, although they bound the 300-thousandth army of Bonaparte. Well, the guerrillas themselves can not defeat the occupying regular army. They even cannot paralyze its activity - they can only permanently cause one or another damage. For the liberation of Spain, it was necessary to crush Napoleon’s entire coalition forces. So this “secret” cannot claim to be the main secret of victory.
Another "secret" is the amazing resilience and courage of Russian soldiers and officers. And this is an important factor. Without the heroism, skill and courage of the Russian soldier, it would not have been possible to stop Napoleon. But this factor, the most important one, is smoothed by the fact that Napoleon’s troops also fought bravely and skillfully. And there were more of them. 444 Thousands of persistent and skillful soldiers - this is stronger than 220 Thousands of persistent and skilled soldiers. And this is confirmed by the fact that Napoleon was not stopped at the border, did not stop near Smolensk, and was not stopped even at Borodino. Moscow and that Napoleon left. Now, if our soldiers were steadfast and skillful, and the Napoleonic - cowardly and inexperienced, then this factor could be decisive. But, unfortunately, the enemy was strong in this respect, although not stronger than us.Many rest on the great talent and courage of our generals. But the French marshals, too, were not recruited by ad, but achieved their position by personal courage and leadership skills. Our best commanders, Barclay and Bagration, Napoleon at Smolensk beat in the maneuver, like kittens. So here the parties are also close in level.
We did not have both tactical superiority and technical - here, too, Napoleon and I were equal.
So what's the secret? How did it happen that during the first months of the war we retreated in front of a much stronger opponent, and then drove both Napoleon in the center and his marshals on the flanks?
In fact, the “secret” is extremely simple, known to almost any military man and works in most wars. This “secret” is military potential and its use.
Napoleon invaded us with the army in 444 thousand people. During the war, he was able to pull in the form of reserves and marching battalions about another 170 thousand people. Total - more than 600 thousand.
The Russian army, concentrated against Napoleon, numbered more than 230 thousand people. In addition, reserve corps were pulled up (more than 30 thousand), the Danube army, liberated after the war with Turkey (about 60 thousand) moved from the south to the theater of operations. But all this was not enough.
However, by 1812, the Russian Empire was one of the Great Powers. She had great human resources and powerful military production. By the year 1812, after the reforms of Arakcheyev and Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army was at the forefront of organization, tactics and armaments, had considerable mobilization reserves of equipment and armaments, powerful horse-breeding factories.
Over the 1812 year, the Russian Empire put under the gun more than 400 thousands of recruits and 280 thousands of militiamen. And this with the acting army is already much more than Napoleon’s. And all this mass of troops could equip, arm, provide with equestrian personnel. Of course, not all of these forces managed to take part in the battles of the 1812 campaign of the year and fought already in the foreign campaign of the Russian army. But the majority - had time.
It is thanks to this that the Russian strategic plan worked. And while the Russian troops, keeping the backbone of the army, retreated and exhausted in the defensive battles of the enemy, the balance of forces was constantly changing in our favor. And when in all directions the Russian troops outnumbered the enemy, then Napoleon was driven in the center, and his marshals were on the flanks.
That is, the decisive "secret" turned out to be that Russia could constantly build up forces, had military reserves and military production, which was enough for that war. And there no one spoke about the “small professional army”, about the procurement of main armaments abroad, and even about horror, about the restoration of icons on the Kremlin as a means of increasing the country's defense.
That's all.
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