"This is the Berezina!" . In French, the term is synonymous with unparalleled disaster, disaster, total, complete rout. It stems directly from this dark episode of the gesture apparently Napoleonic crossing the Berezina remains of the Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow, between 26 and 29 November 1812 . However, the recent historiography, both French-speaking Anglo-Saxon, tends to relativize this image d'Epinal in insisting that the emperor was first actually saved his army, albeit with heavy losses. And then, she has beautiful game to show how the Russians have missed an opportunity to end the imperial adventure.
Mikaberidze Alexander (University of Louisiana, of Georgian origin, who specializes in the Napoleonic Wars) part, at least did it seem to start in this historiographic trend: the subtitle of the book there is a direct reference, since he speaks of "Great Escape" Napoleon's Glance at famous film about the escape of a German prison camp for Allied airmen during the Second World War. His purpose is yet more nuanced we shall see. The historian recalls in the introduction to his book how the episode took a dramatic range, starting 1812 with the story of survivors of the Grand Army. Yet contemporaries, not least, also emphasize that it is a real stroke of genius that of Napoleon crossing the Berezina, which allowed him to save his army. Jomini, the renowned military theorist, speaks " one of the most remarkable shots of Napoleon . It was only then that the writers of the nineteenth century, Balzac and Hugo, draw up a romantic image of any portion of the river, where is highlighted the heroic action of pontonniers General Eble . In Russia, however, the episode almost banished from the historical memory of the War of 1812. The Russians blame the missed opportunity to defeat of Napoleon on Admiral Tschitschagow , the army commander involved in the fighting. The contribution of this interesting book on this battle is that of Russian sources, present to a lesser extent in French historiography of the subject, but much less so in the Anglo-Saxon. In Russia, it took until 2001 to see a recent review devoted to the subject, which renews a little bit of historiography, but while continuing to rent while blaming Tschitschagow Kutuzov.
Alexander Mikaberidze think ultimately that crossing the Berezina was one of the battles over Grand Army of the bloody , losing in three days maybe 20 to 25 000 men (17% of officers killed during the Russian campaign), let alone over 20 000 others taken prisoner by the Russians. Joseph de Maistre have over 30,000 dead horses and human beings on the banks of the Berezina in spring 1813. On the other hand, the Russians have probably lost at least 10 to 15 000 men during the fighting. Ultimately, Napoleon has managed to escape the trap into which he had left locked: if capitulation of the Grand Army, the fate of Europe had been changed. Is it the Chief Strategic lumber from Napoleon, as some historians are trying to make believe? In fact, the remains of the Grand Army are a mere shadow of what they were a few months earlier: the Berezina, Napoleon has lost what was its power, its military chip. The " success" of the Emperor explained, according to the historian, by three factors: the role of experienced troops and determined excellence allied command at the corps and regimental and, above all, lack of initiative of the Russian command . This last factor, the most important explains that the Russian side blames Admiral Tschitschagow which, indeed, was perhaps not best suited to command an army of Foot ... but other Russian leaders, and Wittgenstein Kutuzov (who wishes to preserve the Grand Army and its leader for political purposes, to maintain the European balance) also bear some responsibility. However, these two great Russian military leaders were heroes in the eyes of the population: Admiral, despite its undoubted mistakes during the campaign, was an easy scapegoat , and he knew himself at the end of the crossing River by Napoleon. Exiled in England, where he died in 1849, Tschitschagow remains in popular memory the head of the Russian defeat the Berezina.
be found at the end of book an extensive bibliography. The book includes many tables of figures inserted in the body text, rather interesting. However, the cards are all in front of the volume and it is impractical to identify and track the maneuvers over the chapters. The central photo booklet would also have benefited from being longer provided.
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