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08 - Story of Napoleon by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall · Story of Napoleon

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of the Story of Napoleon the Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Patrick Seville. Chapter eight Napoleon in Russia. On the tenth
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  Speaker 1: of March eighteen eleven, a little son was born to Napoleon,
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  Speaker 1: who at once gave him the title of King of Rome,
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  Speaker 1: with a son to follow him upon the throne. Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: seemed to be at the very height of his glory.
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  Speaker 1: Now begins the finest epoch of my reign, he said.
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  Speaker 1: At forty one, he seemed to have the world at
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  Speaker 1: his feet. Really, his doubtful had begun. The people of
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  Speaker 1: Russia had found Napoleon's orders not to trade with Britain
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  Speaker 1: very hard, and the Csar became less and less inclined
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  Speaker 1: to make his people keep them. As more and more
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  Speaker 1: British goods were allowed to pass into Russia, Napoleon grew
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  Speaker 1: more and more angry. They were other reasons for quarreling,
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  Speaker 1: and at last war broke out between the two rival emperors,
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  Speaker 1: who at Tilsit had sworn to be friends. Napoleon decided
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  Speaker 1: utterly to crush his great rival and to force all
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  Speaker 1: Europe over which he had control to help him. So
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  Speaker 1: he gathered a mighty army six hundred thousand strong from
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  Speaker 1: all states of Germany, from Prussia, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Switzerland,
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  Speaker 1: even from Spain and Portugal. Soldiers came to swell the host,
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  Speaker 1: which poured across the Niemen and three great bodies. But
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  Speaker 1: it was a barren, empty country into which they passed.
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  Speaker 1: No enemy even awaited them. Only a few horsemen watched
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  Speaker 1: as they came. Why do you come into Russia? They asked?
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  Speaker 1: To conquer you, was the reply, and the horsemen galloped
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  Speaker 1: silently away and disappeared into the forest beyond. With the
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  Speaker 1: French army came an enormous baggage train. But Napoleon had
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  Speaker 1: so long used his armies to believe that they would
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  Speaker 1: find all they needed in the countries they invaded that
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  Speaker 1: this part of the army was very badly managed. Almost
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  Speaker 1: at once, the soldiers began to suffer from hunger as
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon advanced into the country. The Russians retreated day after
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  Speaker 1: day along dusty, sandy roads, past burned and deserted villages
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  Speaker 1: and towns, through dreary, silent, barren plains to retreat and
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  Speaker 1: chase went on. The air was hot and close, the
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  Speaker 1: sun shone pitilessly. The men marched wearily, for they were
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  Speaker 1: parched with thirst, and always hungry. They had little to
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  Speaker 1: eat except what they could find by scouring the country
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  Speaker 1: far and wide. There was much fierce fighting by the way.
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  Speaker 1: One of these fights, called the Battle of Borodino, is
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  Speaker 1: the deadliest battle of all Napoleon's wars, and it is
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  Speaker 1: known as the General's Battle, for twenty two Russian and
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  Speaker 1: eighteen French generals were among the slain. At last, one
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  Speaker 1: beautiful autumn morning, about a week after the Battle of Borodino,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon and his army caught the first sight of Moscow
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  Speaker 1: from the top of a little hill called the Hill
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  Speaker 1: of Salvation, which overlooks it. Moscow, Moscow. The cry ran
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  Speaker 1: down the lines to the weary men. Moscow was the
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  Speaker 1: haven of rest towards which they had been struggling those
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  Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of dreary miles. Now it lay before them,
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  Speaker 1: glittering white in the sunshine, with its many colored roofs,
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  Speaker 1: gilded domes, spires and turrets. The Asiatic town of countless churches. Moscow,
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  Speaker 1: the holy, cried Napoleon, reining in his horse. There at
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  Speaker 1: last is the famous town. It was time. But when
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon and his army marched through the streets, they were
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  Speaker 1: silent and deserted. Here and there a timid or scowling
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  Speaker 1: face might be seen, but the streets echoed with a
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  Speaker 1: hollow sound, and the empty houses stared down upon the
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  Speaker 1: soldiers with closed shutters, like sightless eyes. For days, every
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  Speaker 1: one who could lead the city had been hurrying away,
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  Speaker 1: and the roads had been full of a constant stream
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  Speaker 1: of clattering carriages and rumbling carts, laden with people and
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  Speaker 1: their goods. The night before Napoleon had entered, the troops
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  Speaker 1: also had gone. All night long, the steady tramp tramp
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  Speaker 1: had sounded through the streets. The great military stores had
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  Speaker 1: been burned or destroyed, the prisons opened and the prisoners
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  Speaker 1: set free, the fire engines made useless, and the great city,
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  Speaker 1: mostly built of wood, left to the mercy of the
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  Speaker 1: rabble and the foe. Scarcely two hours after the last
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  Speaker 1: soldier had gone, the French arrived, and when they found
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  Speaker 1: the city silent and empty, they broke into the deserted homes,
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  Speaker 1: robbing and wrecking them. Decking themselves in ridiculous finery, drinking
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  Speaker 1: wildly until the army became a drunken mob. But at
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  Speaker 1: last the noise of laughter and corraus ceased, and the
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  Speaker 1: city sank to rest. The weary soldiers, who for many
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  Speaker 1: weeks had slept under the open sky and on the
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  Speaker 1: bare ground, slept this night and splendid palaces, on soft
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  Speaker 1: couches and wrapped in silken covers. But in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the night the cry of fire arose. Soon the
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  Speaker 1: city was bright with flames, and morning dawned before they
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  Speaker 1: were put out. But again, when night came, the fire
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  Speaker 1: broke out, and not in one place only, but in
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  Speaker 1: many From every quarter north, south, east, and west, fire
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  Speaker 1: burst until the city was a blazing sea of flame.
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  Speaker 1: A strong wind arose, blowing the flames now here now there,
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  Speaker 1: till palaces and churches, shops and houses were wrapped in
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  Speaker 1: fire and sank together, and piles of charred in blackened dashes.
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  Speaker 1: For two days, Napoleon gloomily watched the fearful destruction. Then,
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  Speaker 1: yielding to the entreaties of his officers, he rode from
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  Speaker 1: the burning town through a whirlwind of flame, a raging
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  Speaker 1: hail of sparks and rolling clouds of smoke. He took
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  Speaker 1: refuge and a palace belonging to the Tsar, which was
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  Speaker 1: beyond the city. But even there the heat of the
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  Speaker 1: flames was so great that the stones were hot to touch.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever the fire seemed to die down in one place,
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  Speaker 1: it kindled again in another. But at last, when four
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  Speaker 1: fifths of the city was a blackened ruin, when there
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  Speaker 1: was little left to burn, the flame ceased. Napoleon then returned,
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  Speaker 1: and among the ruins he awaited in answer to a
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  Speaker 1: letter which he had written to the Tsar by the
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  Speaker 1: light of the burning city. It was a letter proposing
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  Speaker 1: terms of peace, but no answer to it ever came.
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  Speaker 1: Day after day passed. At first there had been food
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  Speaker 1: enough for the great army, splendid wines and dainty fare,
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  Speaker 1: such as they were little accustomed to, but these soon
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  Speaker 1: gave out. Now of bread there was none, and only
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  Speaker 1: horse flesh for meat. The Russians had swept the country bare.
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  Speaker 1: It was in Vain that the French soldiers scoured it
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  Speaker 1: in search of food. It was in Vain that Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: issued proclamations to the peasants, telling them that they would
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  Speaker 1: be well paid for anything that they might bring. Their
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  Speaker 1: hatred of the French was such that not all the
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  Speaker 1: gold in the country could tempt them to Moscow. They
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  Speaker 1: would rather have cut off the right hands than have
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  Speaker 1: helped Napoleon in the slightest The autumn had been unusually warm.
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  Speaker 1: The sunny weather had lasted late, but at length it
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  Speaker 1: came to an end. A slight snow fell as a
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  Speaker 1: warning that the fearful Russian winter was about to begin.
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  Speaker 1: It is a winter of keen cold, such as the
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  Speaker 1: French had no knowledge of. They were ill fed and
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  Speaker 1: worse clothed, and in no way fit to endure it. Again,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon wrote to Alexander again, no answer was returned. Then,
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  Speaker 1: seeing the uselessness and danger of trying to spend the
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  Speaker 1: winter in a barren country hundreds and hundreds of miles
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  Speaker 1: from his own kingdom, Napoleon gave the order to march back.
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon had to face defeat, yet even to himself he
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  Speaker 1: would not own it. Moscow has been found not to
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  Speaker 1: be a good military post, he writes. It is necessary
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  Speaker 1: for the army to breathe in a wider space. The
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  Speaker 1: sick and wounded were left behind. Was not to burden
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  Speaker 1: the army. But every soldier was laden with booty, gold
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  Speaker 1: and silver plate, silk and gems were piled in wheelbarrows.
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  Speaker 1: Beautiful carriages were laden with all kinds of spoil, and
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  Speaker 1: a train of Russian prisoners marched bowed beneath heavy loads.
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  Speaker 1: So the march began. But soon the road was strewn
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  Speaker 1: with these bunded spoils. Hunger, fearful, gnawing hunger, took hold
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  Speaker 1: upon the men. There was nothing to eat but horse flesh.
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  Speaker 1: When a horse died, the men fell upon it like
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  Speaker 1: hungry wolves, tearing it to pieces. They were ready to
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  Speaker 1: kill each other for a few potatoes or a handful
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  Speaker 1: of rye. All order and discipline was lost. Many broke
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  Speaker 1: from the ranks and wandered about, seeking vainly for food,
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  Speaker 1: perished on the barren steps, harassed by cossacks. Their wretched
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  Speaker 1: army still pressed forward. Then came the snow, and with
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  Speaker 1: it bitter cold. The snow fell and fell, blotting out
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  Speaker 1: the road, blotting out every landmark. Blinded by the whirling flakes,
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  Speaker 1: chilled to the bone by cutting winds, the men wandered on,
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  Speaker 1: hardly knowing whither. Numbed and frozen, Unable to crawl farther,
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  Speaker 1: many fell, and the white snow became their winding sheet.
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  Speaker 1: At night, perhaps they bivouacked, and in the morning a
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  Speaker 1: circle of white mounds alone told where they had lain
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  Speaker 1: down to sleep their last sleep. Pursuing Russians killed those
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  Speaker 1: who straggled behind. Often they had no strength to resist.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes even they had no arms, for their muskets would
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  Speaker 1: drop from their frozen fingers and be left in the snow.
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  Speaker 1: Yet through all the misery and cold and famine, a
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  Speaker 1: few lived and struggled on Smolunsk. Smolunsk, they said that
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  Speaker 1: was their goal, the paradise of rest and plenty, to
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  Speaker 1: which they pressed. But when Smolunsk was at last reached,
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  Speaker 1: they found neither arrest nor plenty. There. The town was
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  Speaker 1: as much a ruin as Moscow had been. The stores
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  Speaker 1: of food and clothes were exhausted. After a few days halt,
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  Speaker 1: the retreat continued. Near the town of Borisov, the river
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  Speaker 1: Beresina had to be crossed by two frail bridges, and
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  Speaker 1: here one of the most terrible scenes of the war
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  Speaker 1: took place. While the French crossed, they were attacked by
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  Speaker 1: the Russians. As men, frantic with terror, crushed onto the bridges.
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  Speaker 1: One of them gave way, and all upon it were
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  Speaker 1: thrown into the half frozen river below. Over the second bridge,
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  Speaker 1: the French now rushed madly, trampling and killing each other
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  Speaker 1: in their haste. Shot down in crowds by the Russian bullets.
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  Speaker 1: Shrieks of terror and pain filled the air, mingling with
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  Speaker 1: the crash and thunder of the Russian guns and the
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  Speaker 1: savage chairs of the Russian soldiers. Twelve thousand at least
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  Speaker 1: perished at this fearful crossing. The rest continued their march
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  Speaker 1: of agony towards Vilna. Ten days later, a miserable, ragged,
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  Speaker 1: limping crowd crept into that town. Remove all strangers from Vilna,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon had written. The army is not beautiful to look
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  Speaker 1: upon just now. But ere the ragged remnant of the
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  Speaker 1: once grand army had reached Vilna, Napoleon had deserted it.
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  Speaker 1: He had heard that there was a rising in Paris,
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  Speaker 1: so leaving his soldiers to their misery. Wrapped in furs,
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  Speaker 1: he hurried as fast as horses could carry him homeward. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: the miserable specter of an army staggered on, chased by
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  Speaker 1: the pitiless Cossacks. At last, in the middle of December,
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  Speaker 1: they crossed the Niemen and found a refuge for a
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  Speaker 1: time in and near Kronicksburg. Of all the magnificent army
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  Speaker 1: that had set out to conquer Russia, not twenty thousand
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  Speaker 1: famine stricken men returned. End of Chapter eight.