Russia Against Napoleon

by Lieven, Dominic

  7 For Shishkov’s conversation with Kutuzov, see N. Kiselev and Iu. Samarin (eds.), Zapiski, mneniia i perepiska Admirala A. S. Shishkova, 2 vols., Berlin, 1870, vol. 1, pp. 167–9. For Toll’s memorandum, see T. von Bernhardi, Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem Leben des kaiserlichen russischen Generals der Infanterie Carl Friedrich Grafen von Toll, 5 vols., Leipzig, 1858, vol. 3, book 5, pp. 469–70.

  8 VPR, 7, no. 12, Nesselrode to Alexander I, early Feb. 1813, pp. 33–4.

  9 L. G. Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod russkoi armii protiv Napoleona v 1813 g. i osvobozhdenie Germanii: Sbornik dokumentov, Moscow, 1964: no. 24, Chernyshev to Kutuzov, 1/13 Jan. 1813, p. 23.

  10 ‘Perepiska markviza Paulushi s imperatorom Aleksandrom, prusskim generalom Iorka i drugimi litsami’, in K. Voenskii (ed.), Akty, dokumenty i materialy dlia istorii 1812 goda, 2 vols., SPB, 1910–11, vol. 2, pp. 330–443.

  11 See F. Martens (ed.), Sobranie traktatov i konventsii, zakliuchennykh Rossiei s inostrannymi derzhavami, vol. 7: Traktaty s Germaniei 1811–1824, SPB, 1885, no. 254, pp. 40–62.

  12 See F. Reboul, Campagne de 1813: Les préliminaires, 2 vols., Paris, 1910, vol. 1, pp. 194–6, on Yorck’s numbers.

  13 See Paulucci’s letter to Alexander I of 27 Dec. 1812 (OS), in Voenskii, Akty, vol. 2, pp. 400–402, and Wittgenstein’s angry letter to Chichagov about Paulucci’s idiotic behaviour: MVUA 1813, vol. 2, no. 24, Wittgenstein to Chichagov, 4 Jan. 1813 (OS).

  14 Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 16, pp. 14–15.

  15 Ibid., no. 7, 6/18 Dec. 1812, pp. 6–8, and no. 53, 25 Jan./6 Feb. 1813, for two important memorandums by Stein to Kutuzov about feeding the Russian troops and utilizing the Prussian administration.

  16 There are any number of documents to this effect, but see e.g. Wittgenstein’s report to Kutuzov of 31 Dec. 1812/12 Jan. 1813 (Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 21, pp. 19–20) in which he states that the troops’ behaviour in Königsberg had been exemplary and the local population had greeted them as liberators and was providing food through local Prussian officials in the manner prescribed by Kutuzov’s orders.

  17 E. Botzenhart (ed.), Freiherr vom Stein: Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen, 8 vols., Berlin, 1957–70, vol. 4, Stein to Alexander I, 27 Feb./11 March 1813, pp. 234–6.

  18 The discussion of Frederick William’s attitudes and policies in the following paragraphs owes much to T. Stamm-Kuhlmann, König in Preussens grosser Zeit, Berlin, 1992, pp. 365 ff.

  19 W. Oncken, Österreich und Preussen in Befreiungskriege, 2 vols, Berlin, 1878: the discussion of the Knesebeck mission is in vol. 1, pp. 137–56, with the Knesebeck quotation on p. 166.

  20 Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 33, 10/22 Jan. 1813, Chernyshev to Kutuzov, pp. 31–3.

  21 Ibid., no. 48, 22 Jan./3 Feb. 1813, Chernyshev to Kutuzov, pp. 43–4.

  22 On the battle on the Warthe, see Chernyshev’s journal: RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3386, fos. 6ii–7i, and his report to Wittgenstein of 31 Jan./11 Feb. 1813 in RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3905, fo. 2ii; on Benckendorff, see Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 80, 15/27 Feb. 1813, Wittgenstein to Kutuzov, pp. 80–81.

  23 See e.g. Reboul, Campagne de 1813, vol. 2, ch. 5, and Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire militaire sous le Directoire, le Consulat et l’Empire, vol. 4, Paris, 1831, ch. 1.

  24 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3386, fo. 8.

  25 See e.g. reports by Benckendorff to Repnin of 22 Feb. (10 Feb. OS) and of Chernyshev to Wittgenstein on the previous day: RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3905, fo. 8ii; Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 86, 20 Feb./4 March 1813, Wittgenstein to Kutuzov, p. 89.

  26 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3416, fos. 1–2.

  27 A. G. Tartakovskii (ed.), Voennye dnevniki, Moscow, 1990: A. I. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, pp. 319–20.

  28 On the treaty, see Martens, Sobranie traktatov, vol. 7, pp. 62–82. For Stein’s views on Poland, see Botzenhart, Stein, vol. 4, Stein to Münster, 7/19 Nov. 1812, pp. 160–62.

  29 Oncken, Österreich, vol. 1, pp. 359–60; vol. 2, p. 287. VPR, no. 50, Nesselrode to Stackelberg, 17/29 March 1813, pp. 118–22. Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 131, Kutuzov to Winzengerode, 24 March/5 April 1813, p. 132.

  30 The fullest source on Austrian policy remains Oncken’s two volumes, Österreich und Preussen. Apart from general works on the diplomacy of the period already cited, see E. K. Kraehe, Metternich’s German Policy, vol. 1: The Contest with Napoleon 1799–1814, Princeton, 1963, and the essays in A. Drabek et al. (eds.), Russland und Österreich zur Zeit der Napoleonischen Kriege, Vienna, 1989.

  31 Oncken, Österreich, vol. 1, p. 423: no. 19, Instructions for Lebzeltern, 8 Feb. 1813; vol. 2, pp. 323–4, conversation with Count Hardenberg, 30 May 1813. On military preparations, see the first two volumes of Geschichte der Kämpfe Österreichs: Kriege unter der Regierung des Kaisers Franz, Befreiungskrieg 1813 und 1814, vol. 1: O. Criste, Österreichs Beitritt zur Koalition, Vienna, 1913; vol. 2: W. Wlaschutz, Österreichs entscheidendes Machtaufgebot, Vienna, 1913.

  32 Count A. de Nesselrode (ed.), Lettres et papiers du Chancelier Comte de Nesselrode 1760–1850, Paris, n.d., vol. 5, e.g. Gentz to Nesselrode, 16 Jan. 1813, pp. 12–21; 28 Jan. 1813, pp. 27–31; 10 March 1813, pp. 35–44; 12 March 1813, pp. 44–7; 17 March 1813, pp. 48–51; 18 March 1813, pp. 51–5; Nesselrode to Gentz, 14/26 March 1813, pp. 58–60; Gentz to Nesselrode, 11 April 1813, pp. 64–70; 16 April 1813, pp. 70–78; 2 May 1813, pp. 83–90; 16 May 1813, pp. 96–101; 13 June 1813, pp. 104–7; 23 July 1813, pp. 122–4.

  On Gentz’s position in Vienna, see Helmut Rumpler, Österreichische Geschichte 1804– 1914, Vienna, 1997, pp. 78–80.

  33 Most of the later negotiations were conducted by Fabian von der Osten-Sacken and the relevant documents are in his journal of outgoing correspondence: RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3403. The Austrians passed on considerable information about Polish movements. The text of the original armistice is in Martens, Sobranie traktatov, vol. 3, no. 67, pp. 70–91. Subsequent agreements are in VPR, 7, p. 118, and no. 74, pp. 184–5.

  34 Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 320, Order of the Day, 16 Feb. 1813 (OS), pp. 282–4. N.S. Pestreikov, Istoriia, leib-gvardii Moskovskago polka, SPB, 1903, vol. 1, pp. 115–19.

  35 Pestreikov, Istoriia, vol. 1, p. 115; on the Kexholm Regiment, see B. Adamovich, Sbornik voenno-istoricheskikh materialov leib-gvardii Keksgol’mskago imperatora Avstriiskago polka, vol. 3, SPB, 1910, p. 300.

  36 On the Iaroslavl Regiment, see RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Delo 1098, fos. 46–71.

  37 Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 59, Tettenborn to Alexander, 31 Jan. 1813, pp. 54–6. For his reports to Wittgenstein, see RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3905: the two reports cited are Tettenborn to Wittgenstein, 9 March 1813 (OS) (fos. 22ii–23i) and 11 March 1813 (OS) (fos. 24ii–25i).

  38 Londonderry, Narrative, p. 63.

  39 J. von Pflugk-Harttung, Das Befreiungsjahr 1813: Aus dem Geheimen Staatsarchivs, Berlin, 1913, no. 136, conversation of Bernadotte with Pozzo and Suchtelen, June 1813, pp. 175–7.

  40 R. von Friederich, Die Befreiungskriege 1813–1815, vol. 1: Der Frühjahrsfeldzug 1813, Berlin, 1911, pp. 196–7; C. Rousset, La Grande Armée de 1813, Paris, 1871, pp. 96–7; A. Vallon, Cours d’hippologie, 2 vols., Paris, 1863, vol. 2, p. 473. I am grateful to Professor Thierry Lentz for bringing Vallon’s work to my attention.

  41 A. Uffindell, Napoleon’s Immortals, Stroud, 2007, pp. 76, 88–90.

  42 The two key sources here are Rousset, Grande Armée, chs. I–XII; Friederich, Frühjahrsfeldzug, pp. 162–80. Friederich states that Napoleon withdrew about 40,000 veterans from Spain: Scott Bowden writes that ‘the Army of Spain immediately provided 20,000 proven veterans for Napoleon’s new Grande Armée’, so the difference between the figures may be a question of the precise period involved. S. Bowden, Napoleon’s Grande Armée of 1813, Chicago, 1990, p. 29.

  43 Mémoires de Langeron, Général d’Infanterie dans l’Armée Russe: Campagnes de 1812, 1813 1814, Paris, 1902, p. 190.

  44 Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, n
o. 141, Kutuzov to Golenishchev-Kutuzov, 28 March/9 April 1813, p. 142.

  45 Ibid., no. 131, Kutuzov to Winzengerode, 24 March/5 April 1813, p. 132.

  46 Tartakovskii, Voennye dnevniki, p. 329: this is an extract from Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky’s diary for 1813. Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod, no. 105, Kutuzov to Wittgenstein, 8/20 March 1813, pp. 107–8; no. 123, Kutuzov to Wittgenstein, 17/29 March 1813, pp. 125–6; no. 94, Wittgenstein to Kutuzov, 26 Feb./10 March 1813, pp. 95–6; no. 150, Volkonsky to d’Auvray, 8/20 April 1813, pp. 151–2.

  47 K. von Clausewitz, Der Feldzug in Russland und die Befreiungskriege von 1813–15, Berlin, 1906, pp. 196–202.

  48 Pflugk-Harttung, Befreiungsjahr, no. 82, Blücher to Wittgenstein, c. 20 April 1813, pp. 106–7: no. 45, Scharnhorst to Volkonsky, 22 March 1813, pp. 62–5.

  49 P. Pototskii, Istoriia gvardeiskoi artillerii, SPB, 1896, pp. 220–21.

  50 I. Radozhitskii, Pokhodnyia zapiski artillerista s 1812 po 1816 god, 3 vols., Moscow, 1835, vol. 2, pp. 22–5.

  51 S. G. Volkonskii, Zapiski Sergeia Grigorovicha Volkonskogo (dekabrista), SPB, 1902, p. 232: there are many similar comments, e.g. by young staff officers, as a group the best educated men in the army.

  52 Tartakovskii, Voennye dnevniki, pp. 333, 345.

  53 Hon. George Cathcart, Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany in 1812 and 1813, London, 1850, pp. 122–30. J. P. Riley, Napoleon and the World War of 1813, London, 2000, pp. 79–89 (the description of the villages is on p. 80).

  54 Clausewitz, Feldzug, p. 209.

  55 On this, see Botzenhart, Stein, vol. 4, memorandums and correspondence with Scharnhorst, Hardenberg and Nesselrode in April 1813, pp. 274–6, 289–90, 293–4, 299–300, 304–6.

  56 VPR, no. 102, Alexander to Bernadotte, 26 May/7 June 1813, pp. 238–42; Oncken, Österreich, vol. 2, no. 46, Stadion to Metternich, 3 June 1813, pp. 660–63.

  57 Oncken, Österreich, vol. 2, nos. 33 and 34, Metternich to Lebzeltern, 29 April 1813, pp. 630–34.

  58 Ibid., vol. 2, no. 38, Instructions for Stadion, 7 May 1813, pp. 640–44.

  59 VPR, no. 80, Nesselrode to Alexander, 1/13 May 1813, pp. 196–7.

  60 VPR, no. 101, Nesselrode to Alexander, 24 May/5 June 1813, pp. 236–7.

  61 Langeron, Mémoires, pp. 169–78. Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 3, p. 39.

  62 In addition to the basic texts already cited (Bogdanovich, Friederich, Chandler, Riley and Hofschroer), Baron Müffling’s memoirs are a vital source on this, but his figure of 5,000 for Barclay’s corps should be discounted since Langeron, who commanded this unit, states that 8,000 men were present that day: Baron Karl von Müffling, The Memoirs of Baron von Müffling: A Prussian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars, London, 1997, pp. 36–8.

  63 Langeron, Mémoires, p. 189. Baron von Odeleben, A Circumstantial Narrative of the Campaign in Saxony in the Year 1813, 2 vols., London, 1820, vol. 1, p. 95.

  64 Odeleben, Narrative, vol. 1, p. 103.

  65 Oncken, Österreich, vol. 2, pp. 323–4, and no. 46, Stadion to Metternich, 3 June 1813, pp. 660–63.

  66 For Alexander’s view on Schweidnitz, see RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3905, fo. 51ii, Volkonsky to Wittgenstein, 11 May 1813 (OS); Müffling, Memoirs, pp. 44–9.

  67 RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, Delo 34, fo. 18, Kankrin to Barclay de Tolly, 23 May 1813; RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, fos. 158–9, Barclay to Wittgenstein, 26 June 1813. Botzenhart, Stein, vol. 4, Kutuzov to Stein, 6/18 April 1813, p. 287.

  68 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3905, fo. 55ii, Volkonsky to d’Auvray, 19 May 1813 (OS); Pflugk-Harttung, Befreiungsjahr, no. 135, L’Estocq to Hardenburg, 30 May 1813, pp. 171–5; M. I. Bogdanovich, Istoriia voiny 1813 g. za nezavisimost’ Germanii, 2 vols., SPB, 1863, vol. 1, pp. 299–301.

  69 F. Ley, Alexandre Ier et sa Sainte-Alliance (1811–1825), Paris, 1975, pp. 63–5. On Alexander’s behaviour, see e.g. Oncken, Österreich, vol. 2, p. 330.

  70 Langeron, Mémoires, p. 199.

  Chapter 10: Rebuilding the Army

  1 RGVIA, Fond 1, Opis 1/2, Delo 2888, fos. 11–13.

  2 John Keep, ‘The Russian Army in the Seven Years’ War’, in E. Lohr and M. Poe (eds.), The Military and Society in Russia, 1450–1917, Leiden, 2002, pp. 197–221. For an overall view of logistics in the Seven Years War campaigns, see F. Szabo, The Seven Years War in Europe 1756–1763, Harlow, 2008.

  3 MVUA 1813, 1, pp. 119–20. The army law of January set out the basic arrangements for military roads: see PSZ, 32, no. 24975, 27 Jan. 1812 (OS), pp. 116–18. Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 461, Order of the Day, 15 March 1812 (OS), pp. 416–17.

  4 PSZ, 32, no. 24975, 27 Jan. 1812 (OS), part 3, pp. 107–58.

  5 Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 255, Kutuzov to Stein, 31 Jan. 1813 (OS), pp. 214–15; L.G. Beskrovnyi (ed.), Pokhod russkoi armii protiv Napoleona v 1813 g. i osvobozhdenie Germanii: Sbornik dokumentov, Moscow, 1964, no. 7, Stein memorandum to Alexander, 6/18 Dec. 1812, pp. 6–8, and no. 53, Stein to Kutuzov, 25 Jan./6 Feb. 1813, pp. 47–8.

  6 F. Martens (ed.), Sobranie traktatov i konventsii, zakliuchennykh Rossiei s inostrannymi derzhavami, vol. 7: Traktaty s Germaniei 1811–1824, SPB, 1885, no. 258, pp. 88–96. See also p. 123 of Upravlenie General-Intendanta Kankrina: General’nyi sokrashchennyi otchet po armiiam…za pokhody protiv Frantsuzov, 1812, 1813 i 1814 godov, Warsaw, 1815.

  7 In late 1813, for example, the Russian war ministry calculated that in the previous four months it had spent 3.9 million rubles feeding units of the Reserve Army deployed within the empire, and only 1. 1 million on the much more numerous forces stationed in the Duchy. Even this 1. 1 million was only due to Alexander’s order that the Reserve Army’s meat and spirits rations should be paid for by the Russian treasury, and no longer by the Poles: ministry of war memorandum for Prince Aleksei Gorchakov, 30 Dec. 1813 (OS), RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3441, fos. 100–101.

  8 Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 370, Law on the Provisional Government of the Duchy of Warsaw, 1/13 March 1813, pp. 329–35; quotation on p. 332.

  9 Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 34, Kutuzov’s proclamation to the Polish population, 27 Dec. 1812 (OS), p. 29, and no. 326, Kutuzov to Alexander, 18 Feb. 1813 (OS), p. 291. MVUA 1813, vol. 2, no. 96, Vorontsov to Chichagov, 1 Feb. 1813 (OS), p. 70.

  10 For Kankrin’s instructions, see RGVIA, Fond 474, Opis 1, Ed. Khr. 1204, fos. 4i–ii. Kutuzov, vol. 5, no. 442, Kutuzov to his wife, 11 March 1813 (OS), p. 400. Adamovich, Sbornik, III, pp. 302–5, has interesting statistics on victualling the Kexholm Regiment in the advance guard in January–April. On Frederick’s treatment of Saxony, see Szabo, Seven Years War, pp. 119–20.

  11 RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 208a, Sv. 28, Delo 31, fos. 161–7, Barclay to Alexander, 18 June 1813 (OS). There is another copy of this letter in Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, Delo 34, fos. 100–106.

  12 There are two key reports on Chichagov’s mobile magazine: see RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 18, Delo 76, fos. 20–25: report of Lisanevich to Kankrin, 5 Dec. 1813 (OS); RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, Delo 34, fos. 184–7: report by Major Alekseev to Kankrin, 25 June 1813 (OS). See also Kutuzov, vol. 5, Kutuzov to Chichagov, 31 Jan. 1813 (OS), pp. 212–13.

  13 On the deal with Adelsohn and co., see RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, Delo 34, fos. 240–41, 317–18. The first document is a report by a senior Prussian court official, Count de Bethusy, dated 25 July. The second is a report submitted by Adelsohn himself on 8 November. On the main army’s magazine, see in particular the reports by Kankrin to Barclay of 6, 10 and 16 July 1813 (OS): RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 17, Delo 34, fos. 207–8, 226, 251–3. On peasant carts’ operational limits, see Keep, ‘Russian Army’, p. 215.

  14 This was mostly money in the so-called exchange offices set up to remit back to Russia paper rubles which foreigners had received and which they wished to exchange for their own currencies.

  15 Alexander’s orders to Gurev are in SIM, 3, no. 136, Alexander to Gurev, 14 June 1813 (OS), pp. 100–101. Two of Gurev’s letters to Barclay, dated 28 June and 1 July (OS), are of interest: see R
GVIA, Fond 103, Opis 208a, Sv. 28, Delo 31, fos. 125 and 219.

  16 SIM, 1, section B, ‘Sekretnyia ofitsial’nyiia svedeniia o polozhenii nashikh finansov v 1813g i ob izyskanii sredstv k prodolzheniiu voennykh deistvii v chuzhikh kraiakh’: no. 1, memorandum by Gurev of 24 April 1813 (OS), pp. 47–50 and 54.

  17 Ibid., pp. 55–63.

  18 VPR, 7, nos. 13 and 14, Alexander to Lieven, 20 Jan./1 Feb. 1813, pp. 36–9.

  19 VPR, 7, no. 55, Lieven to Alexander, 25 March/6 April 1813, pp. 132–7; no. 84, Gurev to Nesselrode, 5/17 May 1813, pp. 203–6. E. Botzenhart (ed.), Freiherr vom Stein: Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen, 8 vols., Berlin, 1957–70, Stein to Kochubei, 31 May 1813, pp. 350–51. The biggest remaining problem was the exchange costs of British treasury bills on the continent.