French commander about the world war. French generals What year was the French war

Napoleon I Bonaparte

Emperor of France in 1804-1815, the great French commander and statesman, who laid the foundations of the modern French state. Napoleone Bonaparte (as his name was pronounced until about 1800) his professional military service started in 1785 with the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery; promoted during the Great French Revolution, reaching the rank of brigadier under the Directory (after the capture of Toulon on December 17, 1793, the appointment took place on January 14, 1794), and then a divisional general and the post of commander of the military forces of the rear (after the defeat of the revolt of 13 Vendemier in 1795), and then the commander of the Italian army (the appointment took place on February 23, 1796). The crisis of power in Paris reached its climax by 1799, when Bonaparte was with troops in Egypt. The corrupt Directory was unable to secure the gains of the revolution. In Italy, the Russian-Austrian troops under the command of Field Marshal A.V.Suvorov eliminated all Napoleon's acquisitions, and even there was a threat of their invasion of France. Under these conditions, the popular general returning from Egypt, with the help of Joseph Fouche, relying on an army loyal to him, dispersed representative bodies and the Directory and proclaimed the regime of the consulate (November 9, 1799). Under the new constitution, the legislative power was divided between the Council of State, the Tribunate, the Legislative Corps and the Senate, making it helpless and clumsy. The executive branch, on the other hand, gathered in one fist of the first consul, that is, Bonaparte. The second and third consuls had only advisory votes. The constitution was approved by the people in a plebiscite (about 3 million votes against 1.5 thousand) (1800). Later, Napoleon passed through the Senate a decree on the life of his powers (1802), and then proclaimed himself emperor of the French (1804). Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was not a dwarf, his height was 169 cm, above the average height of a French grenadier.

Louis-Nicolas Davout

Duke of Auerstedt, Prince of Eckmühl (fr. Duc d "Auerstaedt, prince d" Eckmühl), Marshal of France. He had the nickname "Iron Marshal". The only marshal of Napoleon who did not lose a single battle. Born in the Burgundian town of Anne into a noble family, he was the eldest of the children of the cavalry lieutenant Jean-François d'Avou.

He was brought up at the Brienne military school at the same time as Napoleon. True to family tradition, in 1788 he entered the service in the cavalry regiment, where his grandfather, father and uncle had served before. He commanded a battalion under the command of Dumouriez, took part in the campaigns of 1793-1795.

During the Egyptian expedition, he contributed a lot to the victory at Abukir.

In 1805, Davout was already a marshal and took an outstanding part both in the Ulm operation and in the battle of Austerlitz. In the last battle, it was Marshal Davout's corps that withstood the main blow of the Russian troops, practically ensuring the Great Army's victory in the battle.

In 1806, heading a corps numbering 26 thousand people, Davout inflicted a crushing defeat on the twice strongest army of the Duke of Braunschweig at Auerstedt, for which he received the ducal title.

In 1809 he contributed to the defeat of the Austrians at Eckmühl and Wagram, for which he received the princely title.

In 1812 Davout was wounded in the Battle of Borodino.

In 1813, after the battle of Leipzig, he locked himself in Hamburg and surrendered it only after Napoleon's overthrow.

During the first restoration, Davout was out of work. Turned out to be the only one Napoleonic Marshal who did not deny the exile. On the return of Napoleon from the island of Elba, he was appointed Minister of War and commanded troops near Paris.

Nicola Charles Oudinot

(1767 — 1847)

He served in the royal army, but soon left it. The revolution made him a soldier again. In 1794 he was already a general.

As chief of staff, Massena became famous for the defense of Genoa (1800).

In the campaigns of 1805-1807 he commanded a grenadier corps; participated in the battles of Ostrolenka, Danzig and Friedland. In 1809 he was at the head of the 2nd Army Corps; for the battle at Wagram he received the marshal's baton, and soon after that the title of duke.

In 1812, at the head of the 2nd Army Corps, Oudinot fought the Russian General Count P. Kh. Wittgenstein; On August 17, seriously wounded in the first battle near Polotsk, he surrendered command to Gouvion Saint-Cyr, from whom he took it back 2 months later. During the crossing over the Berezina, he helped Napoleon to escape, but he himself was seriously wounded. Not yet recovering from his wounds, he took command of the 12th Army Corps, fought at Bautzen and was defeated at Lucau on June 4, 1813.

After the armistice, Oudinot received command over the army, which was intended to act against the capital of Prussia. Defeated on 23 August at Großbeeren, he was placed under the command of Marshal Ney and, together with the latter, was again defeated at Dennewitz (6 September). In 1814 he fought at Bar-sur-Aub, then defended Paris against Schwarzenberg and covered the emperor's retreat.

Arriving at Fontainebleau with Napoleon, Oudinot persuaded him to abdicate and, when the Bourbons were restored, joined them. He did not take any part in the events of the Hundred Days (1815). In 1823 he commanded a corps during the Spanish expedition; after the July revolution he joined Louis-Philippe.

Michelle Ney

Michel Ney was born on January 10, 1769 in the French enclave of Saarlouis with a predominantly German-speaking population. He became the second son of the cooper Pierre Ney (1738-1826) and Margaret Grevelinger. After graduating from college, he worked as a scribe for a notary, then as an overseer at a foundry.

In 1788 he joined a hussar regiment as a private, took part in the revolutionary wars in France, and was wounded during the siege of Mainz.

In August 1796 he became a brigadier general in the cavalry. On April 17, 1797, Ney was captured by the Austrians in the battle of Neuwied, and in May of the same year he returned to the army as a result of exchange for an Austrian general.

In March 1799 he was promoted to divisional general. Later that year, when he was sent to reinforce Massena in Switzerland, he was badly wounded in the thigh and hand near Winterthur.

In 1800 he distinguished himself at Hohenlinden. After the Peace of Luneville, Bonaparte appointed him inspector general of the cavalry. In 1802, Ney was ambassador to Switzerland, where he held a peace treaty and mediation acts on February 19, 1803.

In the Russian campaign of 1812, he commanded a corps and received the title of Prince of Moscow for the Battle of Borodino). After the occupation of Moscow, Bogorodsk occupied, and his patrols reached the Dubna River.

During the retreat from Russia, after the battle at Vyazma, he stood at the head of the rearguard, replacing the corps of Marshal Davout. After the retreat of the main forces Of the Great Army from Smolensk covered her retreat and ordered the preparation of the fortifications of Smolensk to undermine. After delaying the retreat, he was cut off from Napoleon by Russian troops under the command of Miloradovich; he tried to break through, but, having suffered heavy losses, could not carry out his intention, took the best parts of the corps numbering about 3 thousand soldiers and with them crossed the Dnieper north, near the village of Syrokorenye, leaving most of his troops (including all the artillery), which the next day they surrendered. At Rawroot, Ney's troops moved across the Dnieper along thin ice; planks were thrown onto areas of open water. A significant part of the soldiers drowned while crossing the river, so when Ney joined the main forces at Orsha, only about 500 people remained in his detachment. With iron severity, he maintained discipline, while crossing the Berezina he saved the remnants of the army. During the retreat of the remnants of the Great Army, he led the defense of Vilna and Kovno.

When retreating from Russia, he became the hero of a famous incident. On December 15, 1812, in Gumbinnen, a tramp entered the restaurant where the French senior officers were dining, in tattered clothes, with matted hair, with a beard that covered his face, dirty, terrible and, before they had time to throw him onto the pavement, raising his hand, loudly declared : "Do not hurry! Do you not recognize me, gentlemen? I am the rearguard of the “great army”. I am Michelle Ney! "

Prince Eugene Rose (Eugene) de Beauharnais

Viceroy of Italy, divisional general. Napoleon's stepson. The only son of Napoleon's first wife Josephine Beauharnais. His father, Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais, was a general in the revolutionary army. During the Terror, he was undeservedly accused of treason and executed.

Eugene became the de facto ruler of Italy (the title of king was borne by Napoleon himself) when he was only 24 years old. But he managed to govern the country quite firmly: he introduced the Civil Code, reorganized the army, equipped the country with canals, fortifications and schools and managed to earn the love and respect of his people.

In 1805, Eugene received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Iron Crown and the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Hubert of Bavaria. On December 23, 1805, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the corps blocking Venice, on January 3, 1806, as commander-in-chief of the Italian army, and on January 12, 1806, as governor-general of Venice.

The coronation ceremony of the Italian Viceroy, prepared by Count Louis-Philippe Segur, took place at the Cathedral of Milan on May 26, 1805. Green was chosen for coronation robes and white colors... The portraits of the artists A. Appiani and F. Gerard captured these luxurious garments. The combination of elegant cut and virtuoso performance suggests that the costume was made in the workshop of the court embroiderer Pico, who carried out orders for the production of the coronation costumes of Napoleon I, using models proposed by the artist Jean-Baptiste Isabe and approved by the Emperor himself. The stars of the Orders of the Legion of Honor and the Iron Crown are embroidered on the cloak. (The small coronation costume is on display in State Hermitage... He came to Russia as a family heirloom along with a collection of weapons brought by the youngest son of Eugene de Beauharnais - Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, husband of the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I, Maria Nikolaevna).

After the first abdication of Napoleon, Eugene de Beauharnais was seriously considered by Alexander I as a candidate for the French throne. For giving up his Italian possessions, he received 5,000,000 francs, which he handed over to his father-in-law, King of Bavaria, Maximilian-Joseph, for which he was “pardoned” and granted the titles of Landgrave of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstaet (according to other sources, he bought them in 1817).

Having given his word not to support Napoleon anymore, he did not take part (unlike Hortense's sister) in its restoration during the "Hundred Days", and in June 1815 he was granted the title of peerage of France by Louis XVIII.

Until his death he lived in his Bavarian lands and active participation in European affairs he did not.

Jozef Ponyatovsky

Polish prince and general, Marshal of France, nephew of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanislav August Poniatowski. Initially he served in the Austrian army. From 1789 he was engaged in the organization of the Polish army, and during the Russian-Polish war of 1792 he was the commander of the Polish army corps operating in Ukraine. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Zelentsy - the first victorious battle of the Polish army since the time of Jan Sobieski. The victory gave rise to the establishment of the Virtuti Militari Order. The first to be awarded were Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

After Poland's defeat in the war with Russia, he emigrated, then returned to his homeland and served under the command of Kosciuszko during the Polish uprising of 1794. After the suppression of the uprising, he remained for some time in Warsaw. His estates were confiscated. Refusing to take a place in the Russian army, he was ordered to leave Poland and went to Vienna.

Paul I returned the estates to Poniatovsky and tried to attract him to the Russian service. In 1798, Poniatovsky came to St. Petersburg for his uncle's funeral and stayed for several months to settle property and inheritance matters. From St. Petersburg he left for Warsaw, by that time occupied by Prussia.

In the fall of 1806, when the Prussian troops were preparing to leave Warsaw, Poniatowski accepted the offer of King Friedrich Wilhelm III to lead the city militia.

With the arrival of Murat's troops, after negotiations with him, Poniatovsky went into the service of Napoleon. In 1807 he took part in the organization of the interim government and became Minister of War of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

In 1809 he defeated the Austrian troops who invaded the Duchy of Warsaw.

Participated in Napoleon's campaign against Russia in 1812, commanding the Polish corps.

In 1813 he distinguished himself at the Battle of Leipzig and, the only foreigner in the service of the emperor, received the rank of Marshal of France. However, after 3 days, covering the retreat of the French army from Leipzig, he was wounded and drowned in the Weisse-Elster river. His ashes were transferred to Warsaw in 1814, and to Wawel in 1819.

On the island of St. Helena, Napoleon said that he considered Poniatowski born for the throne: “The real king of Poland was Poniatowski, he possessed all titles and all talents for this ... He was a noble and brave man, a man of honor. If I had succeeded in the Russian campaign, I would have made him the king of the Poles. "

A memorial plate in memory of Poniatowski is installed on the monument to the Battle of the Nations. A monument to Poniatowski was erected in Warsaw (sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen). Among the sculptural images that adorn the facade of the Louvre, there is a statue of Poniatowski.

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

He entered the service during the revolution, in 1794 he already had the rank of divisional general; participated with honors in revolutionary wars; in 1804 he was appointed French ambassador to the Madrid court.

In 1808, during the war in the Iberian Peninsula, he commanded a corps, but for indecision during the siege of Gerona he was deprived of command.

In the Russian campaign of 1812, Saint-Cyr commanded the 6th corps (Bavarian troops) and was elevated to the rank of marshal for actions against Wittgenstein. In 1813, he formed the 14th corps, with which he was left in Dresden, when Napoleon himself with the main army retreated from Elba. Upon learning of the outcome of the battle at Leipzig, Saint-Cyr tried to link up with Davout's troops occupying Hamburg, but this attempt failed, and he was forced to surrender.

From 1817 to 1819 he was the Minister of War of France. He possessed high education and remarkable strategic abilities. Buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Jean-Louis-Ebenezer Rainier

Born January 14, 1771 in Lausanne in the family of a famous doctor. His father wanted to make him an architect, and therefore Rainier devoted his studies to mathematical sciences; to improve them, he went to Paris in 1792.

Carried away by the revolutionary spirit prevailing in France at that time, Rainier decided to serve as a simple gunner and took part in the campaign to Champagne, after which Dumouriez assigned him to the General Staff. The excellent abilities and service of young Rainier in the rank of adjutant general of Pischegru in Belgium and during the conquest of Holland brought him the rank of brigadier general in 1795. In 1798 he was given command of a division in an army sent to Egypt. During the capture of Malta, he commanded an army landed on the island of Gozzo and was severely wounded in this case. His division distinguished itself at Shebreiss, in the battle at the Pyramids and in the pursuit of Ibrahim Bey to Cairo. After the capture of this city, Rainier was entrusted with the command over the province of Karki. In the Syrian expedition, his division was the vanguard; On February 9, she attacked El Arish, on February 13, captured a large transport of life supplies sent there from Saint-Shan d'Acr, and thus facilitated the provision of food for the main French army, which arrived in El-Arish two days after this successful case.

In the 1809 campaign against Austria, Rainier distinguished himself in the battle of Wagram, then arrived in Vienna and was made, instead of Marshal Bernadotte, the head of the Saxon corps in Hungary.

He was then sent to Spain, where in 1810 he commanded the 2nd Corps of the Portuguese Army, led by Massena. He participated in the Battle of Busaco on October 27 and in the movement to Torres Vedras, and in 1811, during the retreat of Massena to Spain, he followed separately from the other troops. After many rather successful deals with an enemy who exceeded his strength, especially on April 3 at Sabugal, Rainier's corps rejoined the main army, and at Fuentes de Honoro, on May 5, fought with excellent courage, but unsuccessfully. After the battle, Rainier went to meet the Almeida garrison, which had broken through the British, and brought him out of a very dangerous situation.

When Massena left the main command over the army in Spain, Rainier, in order not to obey the junior general, without Napoleon's permission, retired to France, which, however, did not have unpleasant consequences for him.

Napoleon drafted him into an army assembled against Russia, and appointed him chief of the 7th corps, which consisted of 20,000 Saxon troops and the French division of Durutte. The purpose of this corps in the campaign of 1812 was to hold on the extreme right wing, in Lithuania and Volyn, the offensive operations of the Russian 3rd Western Army under the command of General Tormasov.

Immediately after the opening of hostilities, on July 15, Klengel's Saxon brigade was taken prisoner at Kobrin; Rainier with a forced march tried to come to the aid of Klengel, but was late and retreated to Slonim. This prompted Napoleon to reinforce the Saxons with the Austrians and subordinate Rainier to the command of Prince Schwarzenberg. Both of them prevailed over Tormasov at Gorodechna and moved to the Styr River; but when in September the arrival of Admiral Chichagov strengthened the Russian army to 60,000 men, the Austrian-Saxon corps had to withdraw beyond the Bug.

At the end of October, Chichagov and half of his troops went to the Berezina, pursued by Schwarzenberg; General Osten-Sacken, taking command over the Russian army that remained in Volhynia, stopped the Austrians with a bold attack on Rainier's corps at Volkovisk, and although he was defeated, depriving Napoleon of the assistance of numerous and fresh troops, he contributed a lot to the complete defeat of the French.

Claude-Victor Perrin

Marshal of France (1807), Duke de Belluno (1808-1841). For some unknown reason, he is known not as Marshal Perrin, but as Marshal Victor.

The son of a notary. He entered the service at the age of 15, becoming in 1781 the drummer of the Grenoble artillery regiment. In October, he became a volunteer for the 3rd battalion of the Drome department.

In the Republican Army, he quickly made a career, moving from a non-commissioned officer (early 1792) to a brigadier general (assigned on December 20, 1793).

Participated in the capture of Toulon (1793), where he met Napoleon (then only a captain).

During the Italian campaign of 1796-1797, he captured Ancona.

In 1797 he was awarded the rank of divisional general.

In subsequent wars, he contributed to the victory at Montebello (1800), Marengo, Jena and Friedland. For this last battle, Perrin received the marshal's baton.

In 1800-1804 he was appointed commander of the troops of the Batavian Republic. Then in the diplomatic service - the French ambassador to Denmark.

In 1806, again in the army, he was appointed chief of staff of the 5th corps. Danzig was besieging.

In 1808, while operating in Spain, he won victories at Ucles and Medellin.

In 1812 he took part in a campaign to Russia.

In 1813 he distinguished himself in the battles of Dresden, Leipzig and Hanau.

In the campaign of 1814 he was seriously wounded.

Due to his lateness for the battle of Montreux, he was removed from command of the corps by Napoleon and replaced by Gerard.

After the Paris Peace, Perrin went over to the side of the Bourbons.

During the so-called Hundred Days, he followed Louis XVIII to Ghent and on his return was made the peer of France.

In 1821 he received the post of Minister of War, but left this post at the beginning of the Spanish campaign (1823) and followed the Duke of Angoulême to Spain.

After his death, his memoirs Extraits des mémoires inédits du duc de Bellune (Par., 1836) were published.

Dominique Joseph Rene Vandam

French divisional general, participant in the Napoleonic wars. He was a brutal soldier known for robbery and insubordination. Napoleon once said of him “If I lost Vandam, I don’t know what I would give to get him back; but if I had two, I would have to order one to be shot. "

By the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, he was a brigadier general. He was soon convicted of robbery by a tribunal and removed from office. Having recovered, he fought at Stockach on March 25, 1799, but due to disagreement with General Moreau, he was sent to the occupation forces in Holland.

In the battle of Austerlitz, he commanded a division that broke through the center of the Allied position and captured the Pratzen Heights.

In the 1809 campaign, he fought at Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmühl and Wagram, where he was wounded.

At the beginning of the campaign to Russia in 1812, Vandam was appointed deputy commander of the 8th Westphalian corps, Jerome Bonaparte. However, since the inexperienced Jerome Bonaparte was in command of a group of corps operating against Bagration, Vandam turned out to be the de facto corps commander. However, at the very beginning of the campaign in Grodno, Vandam was removed from command of the corps by Jerome due to sharp disagreements.

In 1813, Vandam was finally appointed commander of the corps, but at Kulm, Vandam's corps was surrounded by the allies and captured. When Vandam was introduced to Alexander I, in response to charges of robbery and requisitions, he replied: “At least I cannot be accused of murdering my father” (an allusion to the murder of Paul I).

During the Hundred Days, he commanded the 3rd Corps under the command of Grusha. Participated in the Battle of Wavre.

After the restoration of Louis XVIII, Vandam fled to America, but in 1819 he was allowed to return.

Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexander MacDonald

Descended from the Scottish surname of the Jacobites, who moved to France after the Glorious Revolution.

Distinguished in the battle at Jemappa (November 6, 1792); in 1798 he commanded French troops in Rome and the Church area; in 1799, after losing the battle on the Trebbia River (see Suvorov's Italian campaign), he was recalled to Paris.

In 1800 and 1801, MacDonald ruled Switzerland and Graubünden, from where he drove out the Austrians.

For several years he was under the disgrace of Napoleon due to the zeal with which he defended his former comrade-in-arms, General Moreau. Only in 1809 was he again called up to serve in Italy, where he commanded a corps. For the battle at Wagram he was awarded a marshal.

In the wars of 1810, 1811 (in Spain), 1812-1814. he also took an outstanding part.

During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he commanded the X Prussian-French corps, which covered the left flank of the Grand Army. Having occupied Courland, MacDonald stood near Riga for the entire campaign and joined the remnants of the Napoleonic army during its retreat.

After Napoleon's abdication, he was appointed peer of France; during the Hundred Days he retired to his estates, so as not to break the oath and not to oppose Napoleon.

After the second occupation of Paris by the allied forces, MacDonald was entrusted with a difficult task - to dissolve the Napoleonic army that had retreated beyond the Loire.

Pierre-Francois-Charles Augereau

He received a very meager education. At the age of 17 he entered the Royal Army of France as a soldier, then served in the armies of Prussia, Saxony, Naples. In 1792 he joined the battalion of volunteers of the French revolutionary army. Distinguished in the suppression of the counter-revolutionary uprising in the Vendée.

In June 1793 he received the rank of captain of the 11th hussar regiment. In the same year he received the ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel. And on December 23, 1793, he was promoted immediately to divisional generals.

During the Italian campaign of 1796-97, Augereau especially distinguished himself in the battles at Loano, Montenotta, Millesimo, Lodi, Castiglione, Arcole, successfully commanding a division.

For example, under Arcola, he led a column and won an almost lost battle. At the Battle of Castiglione, according to Stendhal, Pierre Augereau "was a great commander, which never happened to him again."

In 1797, he led the troops in Paris and, at the direction of the Directory, suppressed the royalist revolt on September 4. From September 23, 1797 - Commander of the Sambre-Meass and Rhine-Moselle armies. In 1799, being a member of the Council of Five Hundred, Augereau first opposed Bonaparte's plans, but soon became friends with him and was appointed commander of the Batavian army (from September 28, 1799) in Holland, in which he remained until 1803. He invaded southern Germany, but achieved no results. He actively opposed the signing of a concordat between France and the Pope, saying: “A beautiful ceremony. It’s a pity that one hundred thousand killed were not present at it so that such ceremonies would not take place. " After that, he was ordered to retire to his estate of La Usse. On August 29, 1803, he was appointed commander of the Bayonne military camp. On May 19, 1804, he was promoted to Marshal of the Empire.

He participated in the campaigns of 1805, 1806 and 1807. On May 30, 1805, he led the 7th Corps, which provided the right flank of the Great Army. In November of the same year, the troops of General Jelachich, who had broken through from Ulm, overtook and forced him to surrender at Feldkirch. During the battle of Preussisch-Eylau (February 7-8, 1807), Augereau's corps lost its way and entered the Russian artillery, suffered huge losses and was actually defeated. And the marshal himself was wounded.

In February 1809, by his second marriage (his first wife Gabriela Grasch died in 1806), he married Adelaide Augustine Burlon de Chavange (1789-1869), who received the nickname "Beautiful Castiglione". On March 30, 1809, he was appointed commander of the 8th corps of the units of the Great Army in Germany, but already on June 1, he was transferred to Spain to the post of commander of the 7th corps. From February 8, 1810 - commander of the Catalan army. His actions in Spain were not marked by anything outstanding, and after a series of setbacks, Augereau was replaced by Marshal MacDonald.

Augereau stood out among the generals of the Grand Army for bribery and a desire for personal enrichment. Already during the campaign to Russia on July 4, 1812, Augereau was appointed commander of the 11th corps, which was located in Prussia and served as the closest reserve of the Great Army. The corps did not participate in hostilities in Russia, and Augereau never left Berlin. After the flight of Napoleon's army from Russia, Augereau, who barely escaped from Berlin, received the 9th corps on June 18, 1813. He took part in the battle of Leipzig, but did not show any activity. On January 5, 1814, he led the Rhone army, assembled from the formations that came to hand in the south of France, led its actions in the battle of Saint-Georges. He was entrusted with the defense of Lyons; unable to withstand the attacks of the enemy, Augereau surrendered the city on March 21. "The name of the victor at Castiglion may remain dear to France, but she rejected the memory of the traitor of Lyons," Napoleon wrote.

Augereau's sluggishness was reflected in the fact that the French troops could not take Geneva. After that, Augereau withdrew his troops south and withdrew from active operations. In 1814, he was one of the first to side with the Bourbons, sending on April 16 to the troops a declaration welcoming the restoration of the Bourbons. 21 June 6, 1814 became the governor of the 19th military district. During the "Hundred Days" he unsuccessfully tried to earn Napoleon's trust, but he faced an extremely cold attitude towards himself, was named "the main culprit in the loss of the 1814 campaign" and on April 10, 1815 was excluded from the list of French marshals. After the 2nd Restoration, he did not receive any posts and on December 12, 1815, he was dismissed, although the title of peerage was retained for him. Died from "chest dropsy". In 1854 he was reburied at the Pere Lachaise cemetery (Paris).

Edouard Adolph Casimir Mortier

He entered the service in 1791. In 1804 he was made a marshal. Until 1811, Mortier commanded a corps in the Iberian Peninsula, and in 1812 he was entrusted with the command of the Young Guard. After the occupation of Moscow, he was appointed its governor, and after the French left there, he blew up part of the Kremlin walls by order of Napoleon.

In 1814 Mortier, commanding Imperial Guard, participated in the defense and surrender of Paris.

After the fall of the Empire, Mortier was appointed peer of France, but in 1815 he sided with Napoleon, for which, and most importantly, for declaring an illegal sentence on Marshal Ney, he was deprived of the title of peerage by the Second Restoration (it was returned to him in 1819).

In 1830-1832, Mortier was ambassador to the Russian court; in 1834 he was appointed minister of war and prime minister (he lost his last post shortly before his death); in 1835 he was killed by the "infernal machine" during Fiesca's assassination attempt on the life of King Louis Philippe.

Joachim Murat

Napoleonic Marshal, Grand Duke of Berg in 1806-1808, King of the Kingdom of Naples in 1808-1815.

He was married to Napoleon's sister. For military successes and outstanding bravery, Napoleon rewarded Murat in 1808 with the crown of Naples. In December 1812, Murat was appointed by Napoleon as commander-in-chief of the French forces in Germany, but left the post without permission at the beginning of 1813. In the 1813 campaign, Murat took part in a number of battles as Napoleon's marshal, after being defeated in the Battle of Leipzig, he returned to his kingdom in southern Italy, and then in January 1814 went over to the side of Napoleon's opponents. During Napoleon's triumphant return to power in 1815, Murat wanted to return to Napoleon as an ally, but the emperor refused his services. This attempt cost Murat the crown. In the fall of 1815, according to the investigation, he tried to take back the Kingdom of Naples by force, was arrested by the authorities of Naples and shot.

Napoleon on Murat: "There was no more decisive, fearless and brilliant cavalry commander." “He was my right hand, but left to himself, he lost all energy. In view of the enemy, Murat excelled in bravery all in the world, in the field he was a real knight, in the office - a braggart with madness and decisiveness. "

Napoleon seized power in France as first consul, while still retaining nominal co-rulers.

On January 20, 1800, Murat became related to Napoleon, taking his 18-year-old sister Caroline as his wife.

In 1804 he was acting governor of Paris.

Since August 1805, he was the commander of Napoleon's reserve cavalry - an operational unit within the Great Army, designed to deliver concentrated cavalry strikes.

In September 1805, Austria, in alliance with Russia, began a campaign against Napoleon, in the first battles of which it suffered a number of defeats. Murat distinguished himself by daring capture of the only complete bridge over the Danube in Vienna. He personally convinced the Austrian general who was guarding the bridge about the beginning of a truce, then with a sudden attack prevented the Austrians from blowing up the bridge, thanks to which the French troops crossed to the left bank of the Danube in mid-November 1805 and ended up on the line of retreat of Kutuzov's army. However, Murat himself fell for the cunning of the Russian commander, who managed to assure the marshal of the conclusion of peace. While Murat was checking the message of the Russians, it took Kutuzov only one day to lead his army out of the trap. Later, the Russian army was defeated in the battle of Austerlitz. However, after this serious defeat, Russia refused to sign the peace.

On March 15, 1806, Napoleon awarded Murat the title of Grand Duke of the German principality of Berg and Cleve, located on the border with the Netherlands.

In October 1806 began new war Napoleon with Prussia and Russia.

In the battle of Preussisch-Eylau on February 8, 1807, Murat showed himself to be a brave massive attack on Russian positions led by 8 thousand horsemen ("attack of 80 squadrons"), however, the battle was the first in which Napoleon did not win a decisive victory.

After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit in July 1807, Murat returned to Paris, and not to his duchy, which he clearly neglected. At the same time, in order to consolidate peace, he was awarded by Alexander I with the highest Russian Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

In the spring of 1808, Murat was sent to Spain at the head of an 80,000-strong army. On March 23, he occupied Madrid, in which an uprising against the French occupation forces broke out on May 2, up to 700 Frenchmen were killed. Murat decisively suppressed the uprising in the capital, dispersing the rebels with grapeshot and cavalry. He established a military tribunal under the command of General Grusha, by the evening of May 2, 120 captured Spaniards were shot, after which Murat stopped the execution of sentences. A week later, Napoleon castled: his brother Joseph Bonaparte resigned the title of King of Naples for the crown of Spain, and Murat took Joseph's place.

Marie Victor Nicolas de Latour-Mobourg de Fay

On January 12, 1800, Colonel Latour-Mobourg was sent to Egypt with a message to the commander of the French expeditionary army, General J.-B. Kleber. Participated in the Battle of Abukir and in the Battle of Cairo. From March 22, 1800 - brigade commander in the Eastern Army, from July 22 - temporarily acting commander of the 22nd Horse Jaeger Regiment. Distinguished in the battle of Alexandria. On March 13, 1801, he was seriously wounded by a fragment of an exploding shell. He was treated for a long time from a wound. In July 1802 he was approved as regiment commander.

In 1805, Colonel L.-Mobourg was sent to Germany. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Austerlitz and was promoted to brigadier general on December 24, 1805.

On December 31, 1806, in connection with the appointment of Lassalle as the commander of the light cavalry division, he took command of his famous "Infernal Brigade" (fr. Brigade Infernale). From June 1807 he commanded the 1st Dragoon Division under Marshal I. Murat. Distinguished in the battle of Heilsberg, was seriously wounded in the battle of Friedland (June 14, 1807). On October 14, 1807, he left for France for treatment. On August 5, 1808, he returned to his division and in November of the same year he headed to Spain in order to take part in the Spanish-Portuguese campaign of Napoleon. He participated in the following affairs of this campaign: the battle of Medellin, the battle of Talavera, the battle of Ocania, the battle of Badajoz, the battle of Gebor, the battle of Albuera, the battle of Campomaiore. In May 1811, he replaced Marshal Mortier as commander of the 5th Corps of the Spanish Army. He won the battle at Elvas on June 23, 1811. Since July, the commander of a cavalry division in Andalusia with Marshal Soult. November 5, 1811 led the entire reserve cavalry of Andalusia. On January 9, 1812, Brigadier General Latour-Mobourg was appointed commander of the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Corps, but 3 weeks later he was replaced by General E. Grusha. From February 7, 1812 he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Division, and from March 24 - the 4th Cavalry Corps.

As commander of the 4th Cavalry Corps, Divisional General Latour-Mobourg took part in the Russian campaign of 1812. At the start of the campaign, his corps consisted of 8,000 people. On June 30, 1812, his corps crossed to the Russian bank of the Neman near Grodno. Latour-Mobourg, commanding Napoleon's cavalry vanguard, was one of the first generals of the Grand Army to face the enemy in this campaign. Its units clashed with the Cossacks in the battle at the town of Mir and the battle at Romanov. Until early August 1812 Latour-Mobourg pursued Bagration in order to prevent his army from joining with the army of Barclay de Tolly. At that time he carried out cavalry raids deep into Russian territory and reached Bobruisk. In the middle of the Borodino battle, together with E. Grusha's cavalry, he entered into a fierce battle with the Russian cavalry corps of F.K.Korf and K.A.

1. Nominally - the Holy Roman Empire. The Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan included in it were under the direct control of Austria. Within the empire, there were also many other Italian states, in particular, other states under the rule of the Habsburgs, such as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
2. Neutral according to the Basel Peace Treaty of 1795.
3. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1st January.
4. Declared war on France in 1799, but withdrew from the Second Coalition the same year.
5. In allied relations with France, according to the Second Treaty concluded in 1796 in San Ildefonso.
6. Almost all Italian states, including the neutral Papal States and the Venetian Republic, were captured during the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, and became satellites of France.
7. Most of the army fled without engaging French forces. Under the terms of the Basel Peace of 1795, the Netherlands entered into an alliance with France (the Batavian Republic).
8. They raised a revolt against English rule (see Irish uprising (1798)).
9. They arrived in France after the termination of the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a result of the Third Partition of Poland in 1795.
10. Officially maintained neutrality, however, the Danish fleet was attacked by the British in the Battle of Copenhagen.

French Revolutionary Wars- a series of conflicts with the participation of France, which took place in Europe in the period from 1792, when the French revolutionary government declared war on Austria, to 1802, namely before the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens.

Collegiate YouTube

• 1 / 5

  The Great French Revolution of 1789 had a strong impact on the neighboring states, prompting them to take decisive measures against the threatening danger. The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Leopold II and the Prussian king Frederick William II on a personal meeting in Pilnitz agreed to stop the spread of revolutionary ideas. They were also prompted to do this by the insistence of the French emigrants, who formed a corps of troops in Koblenz under the command of the Prince of Condé.

  Military preparations were launched, but the monarchs did not dare to open hostile actions for a long time. The initiative came from France, which on April 20, 1792 declared war on Austria for its hostile actions against France. Austria and Prussia entered into a defensive and offensive alliance, which was gradually joined by almost all other German states, as well as Spain and the kings of Sardinia and Neapolitan.

  First coalition (1792-1797)

  1792 year

  The campaign of 1797 in Germany was not marked by anything particularly important. After the departure of Archduke Charles, appointed commander-in-chief to Italy, the French crossed the Rhine again (in mid-April) and won several successes over the Austrians, but the news of the armistice in Leoben stopped further hostilities.

  In Italy, the Pope suffered the first blows from the French, who violated the treaty with the French Republic: he paid with the concession of several cities and the payment of 15 million francs.

  On March 10, Bonaparte moved against the Austrians, whose weakened and frustrated troops could no longer offer stubborn resistance. Twenty days later, the French were only a few crossings from Vienna. Archduke Charles, with the permission of the emperor, proposed a truce, to which Bonaparte willingly agreed, since his position was becoming difficult due to the remoteness from the sources of the army's allowance; moreover, he was concerned about news of hostile movements in Tyrol and Venice. On April 18, 1797, an armistice was concluded in Leoben.

  Immediately thereafter, Bonaparte declared war on the Venetian Republic for violating neutrality and killing many of the French. On May 16, Venice was occupied by his troops, and on June 6, Genoa, called the Ligurian Republic, fell under French rule.

  At the end of June, Bonaparte declared the independence of the Cisalpine Republic, made up of Lombardy, Mantua, Modena and some other adjacent possessions. On October 17, in Campo Formio, peace was concluded with Austria, ending the first Revolutionary War, from which France emerged victorious.

  Austria abandoned the Netherlands, recognized the left bank of the Rhine as the border of France and received part of the possessions of the destroyed Venetian Republic. The Dutch stadtholder and the imperial owners, who had lost their trans-Rhine lands, were promised a reward by the abolition of independent spiritual dominions in Germany. To resolve all these extremely complicated issues, it was decided to gather in the city of Rastat a congress from representatives of France, Austria, Prussia and other German possessions.

  Second coalition (1797-1802)

  Congress has opened; but simultaneously with the negotiations taking place there, the French continued military operations in southern Italy and even invaded Switzerland.

  During a riot that broke out in Rome at the end of 1797, a French general was killed Dufo; the directory took advantage of this to occupy the Papal States with French troops. On February 16, 1798, the people in Rome proclaimed the abolition of papal power and the establishment of a republican government. The pope was forced to give up his rights; a few months later he was taken prisoner to France. These events alarmed the Neapolitan king and forced him to take up arms.

  Before his rather strong army, the small French troops occupying the Papal States began to retreat, and on November 19, the king solemnly entered Rome. The French, reinforced with fresh troops, soon went on the offensive, inflicted several severe defeats on the enemy, and at the end of the year the king of Naples had to flee to Sicily.

  At the beginning of the next year, the Austrian general Mack, who commanded the Neapolitan army, concluded an agreement with the French, according to which Campania was given to them and 10 million francs were paid, and the harbors of Naples and Sicily were declared neutral. Following this, an uprising broke out in the Neapolitan people and army; Mack, fearing for his life, resigned his leadership and asked the French for permission to return to Germany, but was detained and taken prisoner to France.

  Meanwhile, in Naples itself, complete anarchy was established; an armed mob, led by priests and royalists, took possession of Fort St. Elm. A three-day bloody struggle with the French and their adherents ended in victory for the latter, who proclaimed a republic in Naples under the name of Parthenopeia.

  The occupation of Switzerland was a consequence of the desire of the French government to create around France a number of possessions, albeit independent, but consisting under its direct influence and patronage. These states, serving as a fence for France from external enemies, at the same time had to maintain her preponderance in the general affairs of Europe. For this purpose, the Batavian, Cisalpine, Roman and Parthenopean republics were established, and now it was decided to do the same in Switzerland.

  French agents stirred up disagreements between the individual cantons; at the end of 1797, French troops occupied several points in the western districts of Switzerland and began to openly interfere in the internal affairs of the country. In the fight that then ignited and continued for about six months against the enemy invasion, the Swiss showed a lot of courage and selflessness, but they showed complete disagreement among themselves and ignorance of military affairs. After the occupation of the entire country by the French troops (except for Graubunden, which was guarded by a strong Austrian corps), Switzerland was turned into the Helvetic Republic under the auspices of France.

  In view of the new expansion of the sphere of French influence, a second coalition was formed, which included England, Austria and Russia, and then Turkey, Naples and some sovereign princes in Italy and Germany. On December 16, 1798, without a preliminary declaration of war, the French troops unexpectedly crossed the Rhine, occupied Mainz and Castel, besieged Ehrenbreitenstein and, in general, ruled on the Rhine quite arbitrarily. The French delegates to the Congress were arrogant and demanding.

  April 8, 1799 c. Metternich, the representative of Austria at the Rastat Congress, announced to the French mission that the emperor considered all decisions of the Congress invalid, and demanded the immediate removal of the French deputies. When the latter left the city, they were attacked by Austrian hussars, two were killed and all their papers were seized. This served as a signal for a new war.

  Austria's courage after so many defeats was based on confidence in the support of other powerful powers. Emperor Paul I, who assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, was irritated by the seizure of the island of Malta by French troops sent on an Egyptian expedition, and was preparing to take an active part in the struggle against the republicans he hated. As early as November 1798, 40,000 Russians entered Austrian borders and then moved to Italy; another column, led by General Rimsky-Korsakov, was sent to Switzerland.

  In January 1799, Turkey declared war on the French Republic. Prussia was neutral.

  Even before the rashtat catastrophe, Jourdan, commander-in-chief of the Danube army, crossed the Rhine between Basel and Strasbourg (at night from February 28 to March 1), and Massena, having assumed command of the French troops in Switzerland, entered Graubinden on March 6. The French captured the passages to Tyrol, but were then driven back by the Austrian general Bellegarde. At the same time, Jourdan's army, having suffered a series of setbacks in encounters with the Austrian troops of Archduke Charles and completely defeated in the battle of Stockach (March 24-25), had to retreat beyond the Rhine.

  In early May, the Archduke turned against the French operating in Switzerland, and at first pushed them back, but then success began to lean towards the French troops. For some time the main forces of both sides stood motionless near Zurich. When the troops of Rimsky-Korsakov began to approach, and Archduke Karl hurried back to Germany, up to 20,000 Austrian troops with a 10,000-strong reserve remained in Switzerland; the Russians occupied an extended line along the Aare and Limmat rivers. On the right bank of the Rhine, the French, under the command of General Miller, moved forward on August 26, but after an unsuccessful attempt to capture Philippsburg, they again retreated due to the approach of Archduke Charles.

  Plan
  Introduction
  1 Wars of the XVIII-XIX centuries
  1.1 Revolutionary wars
  1.2 Italian and Swiss campaigns of Suvorov
  1.3 Napoleonic Wars
  1.4 Patriotic War 1812 and campaigns 1813-1814
  1.5 Eastern War 1853-1856
  
  2 Wars of the XX century
  2.1 First World War
  2.2 Military intervention Entente to Russia (1918-1922)
  2.3 World War II
  
  3 ESBE on the Russo-French Wars
  3.1 Description of the war of 1805

  3.2 Description of the war of 1806

  
  Bibliography

  Introduction

  Russian-French wars - wars of different eras between France and Russia, in the broad sense of the latter, including the Russian Empire and the USSR. In a broader sense, the topic of this article is a summary description of the military-political interaction between France and Russia, composed of a listing of other articles, existing or planned, provided with an annotation or abstract of each of them. A separate part is made up of review and analytical materials on the topic in question, posted after a brief listing of all articles on military campaigns.

  1. Wars of the XVIII-XIX centuries

  1.1. Revolutionary wars

  Revolutionary wars- a series of conflicts with the participation of France, which took place in Europe in the period from 1792, when the French revolutionary government declared war on Austria, to 1802, namely before the conclusion of the Amiens peace. Russian empire- a permanent member of both anti-revolutionary coalitions, in alliance with Great Britain and Austria.

  · War of the First Coalition - military actions that took place in 1793-1797 with the aim of destroying revolutionary France and restoring the monarchy.

  · War of the Second Coalition - the general name of all battles of France with the Second Coalition in 1799-1802.

  · Wars of revolutionary France - all military events in this category.

  1.2. Suvorov's Italian and Swiss campaigns

  Suvorov's Italian campaign

  Suvorov's Swiss campaign - September 1799

  1.3. Napoleonic Wars

  War of the Third Coalition

  Fourth Coalition War

  War of the Fifth Coalition

  1.4. Patriotic War of 1812 [&] [#] 160 [;] and campaigns 1813-1814 [&] [#] 160 [;]

  · Patriotic War of 1812

  · Foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813-14.

  Capture of Paris (1814)

  Vienna Congress

  1.5. Eastern War 1853-1856

  · Crimean War

  Wars of the 20th century World War I The military intervention of the Entente in Russia (1918-1922) World War II ESBE on the Russian-French wars

  In writing this article, material from Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907).

  Russian-French wars- except for the occasional hostile meeting near Danzig in 1734 (see Danzig and Leszczinsky), the first armed clashes between the Russians and the French followed only at the very end of the last century, under Emperor Paul. The actions of the Russian troops in 1799 were successful only in Northern Italy; in other theaters of war they were either fruitless or unsuccessful (cf. Suvorov's Italian and Swiss campaigns, Zurich, the Russian-English expedition to Holland).

  3.1. Description of the war 1805 [&] [#] 160 [;] g.

  For the circumstances under which Russia began, in 1805, a new coalition against France, see Napoleonic Wars. The main Austrian army was to invade Bavaria and stop on the Lech River, awaiting the arrival of Russian auxiliary troops. A special Russian-Swedish corps (about 30 thousand) was entrusted with sabotage in Hanover; another sabotage was to be carried out by the 30-thousandth Russian-English corps, from Corfu and Malta, through Naples.

  Military operations were launched by the Austrians ahead of the agreed time. Kutuzov, with the 1st Russian army (about 56 thousand), hastily followed through Moravia to join with Makk, but, having received, upon arrival on the Inn River, the news of the Ulm catastrophe, was convinced of the impossibility of further offensive movement and decided to retreat by the Danube valley, until the arrival of reinforcements makes it possible to engage in a decisive battle with the enemy.

  The French relentlessly pursued the allies and were successful in various rearguard affairs. To support the left flank of the French army, Napoleon ferried the Mortier corps to the left bank of the Danube, which was supposed to follow at the same height with the other corps.

  Having received an order from Emperor Alexander not to engage in battle with the French before joining the 2nd army (General Count Buxgewden) that was marching towards him and not being able, due to the weakness of his forces, to cover Vienna, Kutuzov decided to leave it to his own fate and choose for further retreat road to Moravia, on the left bank of the Danube. On October 28 (November 9), he crossed to this bank at Krems and, destroying the bridges, stopped at a position in front of Dirnstein to cover the retreat of the convoys; the Austrian troops, separating from the Russians, headed for Vienna. Mortier, deprived of communication with the main French army, found himself in front of the excellent Russian forces; his main troops, attacked at Dirnstein, were completely defeated.

  This success, however, did not eliminate the reasons forcing Kutuzov to hasten to retreat. On October 31 (November 12), Russian troops moved towards Schrattenthal and Znaim towards Brunn. Meanwhile, Napoleon freely occupied Vienna and planned to cut off the path of retreat for the Russian army. For this, three corps (Murat, Lanna and Soult) were sent through Korneiburg and Stockerau to Znaym, and the other two (Bernadotte and Mortier) had to delay Kutuzov's movement in order to give Murat time to warn him in Znayme.

  The position of our army, after the French occupied Vienna, became very critical, the troops, delayed by bad roads and tired of the reinforced transitions, moved so slowly that on November 2 (14) they were still 60 versts from Znaim, while the forward French corps of Murat nothing prevented us from occupying this city on the same day. To cover Znaym, Kutuzov sent 7 thousand people, under the command of Prince Bagration, to Gollabrunn, with orders to stay there at all costs until the rest of the troops passed by. On November 2 (14), Murat met this detachment at Gollabrunn and, not wanting to waste time in the battle, demanded passage, on the basis of an alleged armistice.

  Kutuzov pretended to agree to a suspension of hostilities and sent Adjutant General Vintsingerode to Murat, as if for final negotiations. The proposed conditions seemed so favorable to Murat that he immediately sent them to Napoleon for ratification and, in anticipation of it, stopped at Gollabrunn. Napoleon, realizing the cunning of Kutuzov, immediately and strictly ordered Murat to go forward and take Znaym.

  While the dispatches were going to Vienna and back, about a day passed, and by the evening of 3 (15) November our army managed to pass Znaym. On November 4 (16), the detachment of Prince Bagration, standing near Gollabrunn, was attacked by the superior forces of the enemy, but held out all day and on November 5 (17) arrived in Znaim. Napoleon's intention to cut off the Russian retreat failed. On November 7 (19), in the city of Vishau, our 2nd Army joined Kutuzov. At the council of war, it was decided to withdraw to Olmutz, wait for reinforcements there and then proceed to offensive actions, together with Archduke Charles.

  Napoleon, for his part, decided to give the troops the rest they badly needed. From 8 (20) to 17 (29) November, the temporary inaction of the opponents continued. Napoleon was able to instill in the allies the conviction that he was in shortage of everything, that his troops were upset and, with the slightest effort, would be completely exterminated. On the other hand, the food supplies of the allied army, which stood in front of Olmutz, were so badly organized that the surrounding area was finally exhausted by requisitions, and it was impossible to stay in the position occupied any longer. On November 15 (27), the Allies, without waiting for the arrival of the columns of Bennigsen and Essen following them, moved to the city of Vischau, and then to Austerlitz, in order to bypass the enemy's right wing and cut it off from Vienna, and to open the nearest communication with the Archduke Charles.

  Napoleon concentrated his main forces between Austerlitz and Brunn. On November 20 (December 2), the famous battle at Austerlitz took place, forcing the Austrians to ask for peace (see Peace of Presburg). Kutuzov's army was to return to Russia. The expedition of the Russian-Swedish troops to Hanover coincided in time with the battle of austerlitz, and could no longer bring any benefit; each of the allied detachments returned to the borders of their state. The sabotage of the Anglo-Russian troops in southern Italy also had no results (see Adriatic expedition).

  Literature

  · Wed Bülow, “Feldzug v. 1805 ";

  · Schönhals, “Der Krieg v. 1805 in Deutschland "(Vienna, 1857);

  · Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, "Description of the war of 1805".

  3.2. Description of the war of 1806

  When the short-term rapprochement between France and Prussia gave way to mutual cooling in the summer of 1806, Emperor Alexander promised to give the 60-thousandth Russian army... At the beginning of September 1806, on the western border of Russia, in addition to Michelson's Dniester army, 8 more divisions were assembled, divided into 2 corps: Bennigsen and Count Buxgewden.

  At the first news of Napoleon's opening of military action against Prussia, Bennigsen was ordered to go through Warsaw to Silesia; but on the eve of the performance, the Prussian commissars arrived with the notification that food had not yet been prepared for the Russian troops. The hike had to be postponed; meanwhile, the defeat of the Prussians followed (see Napoleonic Wars), and the emperor ordered Bennigsen not to cross the Vistula, but to place the corps on its right bank, between Warsaw and Thorn. Mikhelson was ordered to send two divisions, under the command of General Essen, to Brest, and Buxgewden to assemble his corps between Brest and Grodno.

  The political controversy has escalated so much
  that one cannon shot in America
  threw all of Europe into the flames of war.
  Voltaire

  The French and Indian Wars are the generic American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763, which resulted in a sprawling conflict known as the Seven Years' War. French Canadians call her La guerre de la Conquête.

  
  

  The confrontation between the British and French in the North American colonies lasted from the very early XVIII century. These episodes were usually named by the names of the reigning persons - the War of King William (during the nine-year war of the Augsburg League), the War of Queen Anne (during the War of the Spanish Succession), the War of King George (during the War of the Austrian Succession). During all these wars, the Indians fought for both sides of the conflict. These wars and those described by American historians are called the Four Colonial Wars.

  Situation in 1750

  North America east of the Mississippi was almost completely approved by Great Britain and France. The French population was 75,000 and was most concentrated in the St. Lawrence, partly in Acadia (New Brunswick), Ile Royale (Cap Breton Island), as well as very few - in New Orleans and small trading posts along the Mississippi - French Louisiana. French fur traders traveled all over the watershed of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, traded with Indians and married local squaws.

  British colonies numbered 1.5 million and were located along the eastern coast of the continent from Virginia in the south to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the north. Many of the oldest colonies had lands that stretched uncontrollably to the west, since no one knew the exact extent of the continent. But the rights of the provinces were assigned to the lands, and although their centers were located along the coast, they were rapidly populated. Nova Scotia, conquered from France in 1713, still had a significant number of French settlers. Britain also secured Rupert's land, where the Hudson's Bay Company traded with the natives in fur.

  In between the French and British possessions were vast territories inhabited by Indians. In the north, Mikmak and Abenaki still dominated parts of Nova Scotia, Acadia, and the eastern provinces of Canada and today's Maine. The Iroquois Confederation was represented in present-day New York State, the Ohio Valley, although it later also included the Delaware, Swaney, and Mingo peoples. These tribes were under the formal control of the Iroquois and did not have the right to conclude treaties. The next southern span was inhabited by the peoples of Catoba, Choctaw, Creek (Muskogee) and Cherokee. When the war broke out, the French used their trade connections to recruit warriors into western regions The countries of the Great Lakes, where the peoples of the Hurons, Mississauga, Iowa, Winnipeg and Potawatomi lived. The British were supported in the war by the Iroquois, as well as by the Cherokee, until discord sparked the Anglo-Cherokee War of 1758. In 1758, the Pennsylvania government successfully negotiated the Easton Treaty, in which 13 nations agreed to be allies of Britain, in exchange for which Pennsylvania and New Jersey recognized their ancestral rights to hunting grounds and encampments in Ohio. Many tribes to the north sided with France, their trusted trading partner. The Creek and Cherokee peoples were neutral.

  Spain's representation in the east of the continent was limited to Florida; it also held Cuba and other West Indian colonies, which were targeted during the Seven Years' War. Florida's population was small and limited to the settlements of St. Augustine and Pentacola.

  At the beginning of the war in North America there were only a small number of British regular units, and there were no French ones at all. New France was defended by 3,000 marines, colonial companies, and could deploy an irregular militia if necessary. Many British colonies gathered militias to fight the Indians, but did not have troops at all.

  Virginia, due to its long border, had many scattered regular units. The colonial governments performed their functions independently of each other and the London metropolis, and this circumstance complicated relations with the Indians, whose lands were squeezed between different colonies, and with the beginning of the war and with the command of the British Army, when its commanders tried to impose restrictions and requirements on the colonial administrations. ...

  
  North America in 1750

  Causes of the war

  Seloron's expedition

  In June 1747, worried about the invasion and expanding influence of British traders such as George Crogan in Ohio, Roland-Michel Barrin, the Marquis de la Galissonière, Governor-General of New France, sent Pierre-Joseph Celoron to lead a military expedition to the area. His task was to establish French rights to the territory, destroy British influence, and arrange a show of power in front of the Indians.

  Seloron's detachment consisted of 200 Marines and 30 Indians. The expedition traveled nearly 3,000 miles from June to November 1749, passed along the northern coast of Lake Ontario, ferried across Niagara, and then passed the southern coast of Lake Erie. On the Chautauqua haul, the expedition turned inland towards the Allegheny River, which directed them to present-day Pittsburgh, where Celoron buried the branded lead plates confirming French rights to this territory. Whenever he met English fur traders, Seloron informed them of the French rights to this land and ordered them to get out.

  When the expedition arrived in Longstown, the Indians of the area told him that they belonged to Ohio territory and would trade with the British regardless of the opinion of France. Celoron continued south until his expedition reached the confluence of the Ohio and Miami rivers, which lies south of the village of Pikavilani, owned by the leader of the Miami people. nicknamed "Old Briton". Celoron informed him of the dire consequences, which would not be slow to occur if the elderly leader did not refrain from trading with the British. Old Briton ignored the warning. In November 1749, Celoron returned to Montreal.

  In his report detailing the journey, Celoron wrote: “All I know is that the Indians of these places are very badly disposed towards France and are completely devoted to England. I don't know how to change the situation. " Even before his return to Montreal, reports on the situation in Ohio were sent to London and Paris, along with action plans. William Shirley, the expansionist governor of Massachusetts, has been particularly assertive in stating that British colonists will not be safe as long as the French exist.

  Negotiation

  In 1747, some Virginian colonists created the Ohio Company to develop trade and settlements in the area of ​​the same name. In 1749, the company received funds from King George II with the condition to settle on this territory 100 colonist families and build a fort to protect them. Pennsylvania also claimed this land and a struggle for dominance began between the colonies. In 1750, Christopher Gist, acting on behalf of Virginia and Company, explored Ohio and began negotiations with the Indians in Longstown. This initiative resulted in the Treaty of Longstown of 1752, in which the Indians, represented by their "half-king" Tanagrisson, in the presence of representatives of the Iroquois, worked out conditions, including permission to build a "fortified house" at the source of the Monongahela River (present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

  The War of the Austrian Succession formally ended in 1748 with the signing of the Second Peace of Aachen. The treaty was mainly focused on solving European problems, and the problems of territorial conflicts between the French and British colonies in North America remained unresolved and returned to the settlement commission. Britain has delegated Governor Shirley and Earl of Albemarle. The Governor of Virginia, whose western border was one of the causes of the conflict, to the commission. Albemarle was also ambassador to France. Louis XV, for his part, dispatched Galissonier and other hardliners, and the commission met in Paris in the summer of 1750 with a predictable zero result. The borders between Nova Scotia and Acadia in the north and the country of Ohio in the south have become a stumbling block. The debate extended to the Atlantic, where both sides wanted access to the rich fisheries in Newfoodland's Big Bank.

  Attack on Pikavillani

  On March 17, 1752, the Governor-General of New France, the Marquis de Jonquières, died and was temporarily replaced by Charles le Moine de Longueville. This continued until July, when he was succeeded in a permanent capacity by the Marquis of Dukusnay de Meneville, who arrived in New France and took office. Continuing British activity in Ohio prompted Longueville to send another expedition there, under the command of Charles Michel de Langlade, a Marine Corps officer. Langlade was given 300 people, including Ottawa Indians and French-Canadians. His task was to punish the people of Miami in the village of Pikavillani for disobeying Celoron's order to stop trading with the British. On June 21, a French squad attacked a trading post at Picavillani, killing 14 Miami, including Old Breton, rumored to have been traditionally eaten by the squad's Aborigines.

  French fort

  In the spring of 1753 Pierre-Paul Marina de La Malget was sent with a detachment of 2,000 Marines and Indians. His task was to protect the royal lands in the Ohio Valley from the British. The detachment followed the path that had mapped Celoron four years earlier, only instead of burying the lead tablets, Marina de la Malgé built and fortified forts. He first built Fort Presqueville (Erie, Pennsylvania) on the southern shore of Lake Erie, then founded Fort Leboeuf (Waterfort, Persylvania) to protect the upper reaches of Leboeuf Creek. Moving south, he drove out or captured British residents, alarming both the British and the Iroquois. Tanagrisson, the Mingo chieftain, burning with hatred for the French, whom he accused of killing and eating his father, came to Fort Leboeuf and issued an ultimatum, which Marina contemptuously rejected.

  The Iroquois sent messengers to William Johnson's estate, New York. Johnson, known to the Iroquois as "Warrahiggi," which means "Doing Great Deeds," became a distinguished delegate to the Iroquois Confederation. In 1746 Johnson became a colonel of the Iroquois, and later a colonel of the western New York militia. He met in Albany with Governor Clinton and representatives from other colonies. Chief Hendrick insisted that Britain would stick to its commitments and stop French expansion. After receiving an unsatisfactory response from Clinton, Hendrick said that the chain of the treaty that had linked Britain and the Iroquois for many years by the bond of friendship was now severed.

  Virginia's answer

  Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie found himself in a quandary. He was a major investor in the Ohio Company and would have lost money if the French had gotten their way. To counter the French presence in Ohio, Major George Washington, 21 (whose brother was also a major investor in the Company) from the Virginia militia was sent there to invite the French to leave Virginia. Washington left with a small detachment, taking with him the translator Van Der Braam, Christopher Gist, a group of auditors to check the work, and several Ming Indians led by Tanagrisson. On December 12, they reached Fort Leboeuf.

  Jacques Legadour de Saint-Pierre, who replaced Marina de la Malget as commander of the French after the death of the latter on October 29, invited Washington to dine in the evening. After lunch, Washington presented Saint-Pierre with Dinwiddy's letter demanding the immediate withdrawal of the French from Ohio. Saint-Pierre was very polite in his reply, saying that "I do not consider your order to get out of my way to be obeyed." He explained to Washington that the French rights to this territory are more justified than the English ones, since Robert Cavelier de la Salle explored it a whole century ago.

  Washington's group departed Leboeuf on December 16 and arrived in Williamsburg a month later, on January 16, 1754. In his report, Washington stated: "The French have conquered the south." In more detail, they took up the strengthening of the territory and discovered an intention to strengthen the confluence of the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela.

  Hostilities

  Before Washington's return, Dinwiddy had dispatched a 40-man detachment led by William Trent to the point where they set about building a small palisade fort in early 1754. The governor of Duquesne at the same time sent an additional French detachment under the command of Claude-Pierre Picadie de Conrecourt to help Saint-Pierre, and on April 5 his detachment ran into Trent's detachment. Considering that there were 500 Frenchmen, is it worth talking about the generosity of Konrecourt, when he not only let Trent and his companions go home, but also bought their entrenching tool and began to continue the construction they had begun, thus founding Fort Duquesne.

  After Washington returned to receive his report, Dinwiddie ordered him to come with a larger force to help Trent. He soon learned of Trent's exile. With Tanagrisson promising support, Washington continued towards Fort Duquesne and met with the Ming chief. Having learned about the group of Canadian scouts, on May 28, Washington with Tanagrisson, 75 Englishmen and a dozen Mingos silently surrounded their camp and. suddenly attacking, they killed ten people on the spot, and 30 were taken prisoner. Among those killed was their commander de Jumontville, from whom Tanagrisson scalped.

  After the battle, Washington retreated several miles and founded Fort Nesesset, which was attacked by the French on July 3 at 11 o'clock. They had 600 Canadians, and 100 Indians, Washington had 300 Virginians, but regular soldiers, protected by a picket fence and makeshift parapets and a couple of small grape-shots. After the skirmish, in which many Indians were wounded, it began to rain and the gunpowder got wet. It seemed. The situation of the Virginians became desperate. But the French commander was aware that another British detachment was approaching to help Washington. Therefore, he decided not to risk it and start negotiations. Washington was asked to surrender the fort and get the hell out of it, to which he readily agreed. In Virginia, one of Washington's companions reported that the Shawnee, Delaware and Mingo Indians were the French companions - those who did not obey Tanagrisson.

  When news of the two skirmishes reached Foggy Albion in August, the Duke of Newcastle, the former prime minister, after months of negotiations, decided to send a military expedition the following year to expel the French. Major General Edward Braddock was elected head of the expedition. Rumors of British preparations reached France even before Braddock went to North America, and Louis XV in 1755 dispatched six regiments under the command of Baron Deskau. The British intended to blockade French ports, but the French fleet had already gone to sea. Admiral Edward Hawke dispatched a detachment of fast ships to intercept the French. The next act of British aggression was the attack by the squadron of Vice Admiral Edward Boscoven on the 64-gun battleship Elsid, which was captured by the British on June 8, 1755. Throughout 1755, the British captured French ships and sailors, contributing to this final official declaration of war in the spring of 1756.

  British campaign of 1755.

  For 1755, the British developed an ambitious plan of military action. General Braddock was entrusted with an expedition to Fort Duquesne, Governor of Massachusetts Shirley was entrusted with the task of strengthening Fort Oswego and attacking Fort Niagara, Sir William Johnson was to take Fort St. Frederick, and Colonel Mongton was to take Fort Bosazhur on the border between Nova Scotia and Akadi.

  I intend subsequently, in another article, to analyze the causes of Braddock's disaster in the battle on the Monongahela River. Here I will tell you only in general terms. Braddock's army numbered 2,000 regular army soldiers. He divided the army into two groups - the main column of 1300 people, and the auxiliary one, 800 people. The hostile garrison at Fort Duquesne had only 250 Canadians and 650 Native American allies.

  Braddock forced Monongahela unopposed. Three hundred grenadiers with two guns under the command of Thomas Gage formed the vanguard and put a hundred Canadians to flight from the vanguard. The French commander Beaujou was killed by the first salvo. It seemed that the battle was developing logically, and Braddock was going to succeed. But suddenly the Indians are ambushed. However, the French themselves assured that there was no ambush, and they were no less surprised than the enemy when they saw the flight of the English vanguard. Rolling back, the vanguard crashed into the ranks of Braddock's main column. In a narrow space, the troops huddled together. Recovering from their amazement, the Canadians and Indians embraced the column and began to shoot it. In such a situation, each bullet found its target. In the general turmoil, Braddock abandoned attempts to rebuild the soldiers and began firing cannons through the forest - but this gave absolutely nothing, the Indians hid behind trees and bushes. In addition to the general confusion, the irregular militia soldiers covering the British mistakenly began to fire on their own. In the end, the bullet found Braddock, and Colonel Washington, although not authorized in this battle, formed a cover and helped the British to get out of the fire. For this he received the offensive nickname "Hero of Monogakhela". The British lost 456 people killed and 422 wounded. Accurate Canadians and Indians skillfully chose targets - out of 86 officers, 26 were killed, 37 were wounded. They even shot almost all the wagons. Canadians killed 8, wounded 4, Indians killed 15, wounded 12. In a word, defeat, as in Fadeev's novel. The British were so discouraged that they did not realize that even after this lesson they outnumbered the enemy. They retreated, and while retreating, they burned their wagon train of 150 carts, destroyed the cannons, and threw part of their ammunition. So ingloriously ended the campaign of Braddock, on which the British had pinned so many hopes.

  Governor Shirley's efforts to fortify Fort Osuigo were bogged down in logistical difficulties and demonstrated Shirley's ineptitude in planning major expeditions in all its glory. When it became clear that he was unable to establish communication with Fort Ontario, Shirley deployed forces at Osuigo, Fort Bull, and Fort Williams. Equipment supplies allocated for the attack on Niagara were sent to Fort Bull.

  Johnson's expedition was better organized, and it did not escape the watchful eye of the Governor of New France, the Marquis de Vaudrell. He first took care of maintaining a line of forts in Ohio, and in addition sent Baron Deskau to lead the defense of Frontenac against the expected attack by Shirley. When Johnson became more dangerous, Vaudrell sent Descau to Fort Saint-Frederic to prepare him for the defense. Deskau planned to attack the British camp near Fort Edward, but Johnson strongly fortified these positions, and the Indians refused to risk it. In the end, the troops nevertheless clashed in a bloody battle at Lake George on September 8, 1755. Deskau had more than 200 grenadiers, 600 Canadian militiamen, and 700 Indians - Abenaki and Mohawks. Johnson succeeded, having learned about the approach of the French, to send for help. Colonel Ephraim Williams with the Connecticut regiment (1000 people) and 200 Indians opposed the French, who found out about this and blocked his path, and the Indians settled in ambushes. The ambush worked perfectly. Williams and Hendrick were killed, as were many of their men. The British fled. However, experienced scouts and Indians covered the retreat, and the pursuit attempt failed - many pursuers were killed by well-aimed fire. Among them is Jacques Legadour de Saint-Pierre, memorable to us at lunch with Washington.

  The British fled to their camp, while the French set out to build on their success and attacked it. The British, loading their three guns with buckshot, opened deadly fire. The French attack collapsed when Deskau was mortally wounded. As a result, the losses were a draw, the British lost 262, the French 228 killed. The French retreated and settled in Ticonderoga, where they founded the Carillon fort.

  The only British success of this year was that of Colonel Monckton, who managed to take Fort Beaussajour in June 1755, cutting off the French fortress of Louisbourg from the reinforcements base. To deprive Louisburg of all support, the Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, ordered the deportation of the French-speaking population from Acadia. The atrocities of the British caused hatred not only among the French, but also among the local Indians, and there were often serious clashes when trying to deport the French.

  French successes 1756-1757

  After Braddock's death, William Shirley assumed command of the troops in North America. At a meeting in Albany in December 1755, he reported on his plans for the next year. In addition to new attempts to take Duquesne, Crown Point and Niagara, he proposed an attack on Fort Frontenac on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, an expedition into the wilderness of Maine and down the Chadier River to attack Quebec. Drowned in disagreement, without the support of either William Johnson or Governor Hardy, the plan did not meet with approval, and Shirley was removed, and Lord Loudoun was appointed in his place in January 1756, with Deputy Major General Abercrombie. None of them had even a tenth of the experience that the officers sent against them by France had. French reinforcements of the regular army arrived in New France in May, led by Major General Louis Joseph de Montcalm, Chevalier de Levy and Colonel Francis-Charles de Burlamac, all seasoned veterans of the Austrian Succession War.

  
  Louis-Joseph de Montcalm

  Governor Vaudrell, who cherished dreams of becoming the French commander-in-chief, acted through the winter before reinforcements arrived. The scouts reported weaknesses in the line of English forts, and he ordered an attack on Shirley's forts. In March, a terrible but predictable disaster happened - the French and Indians stormed Fort Bul and scalped the garrison, and burned the fort. It must have been a lovely fireworks display, considering that it was where the 45,000 pounds of gunpowder had been carefully amassed over the past year by the hapless Shirley, while the stockpile of gunpowder at Osuigo was paltry. The French in the Ohio Valley also stepped up, intriguing and pushing the Indians to attack the British border settlements. Rumors of this gave rise to anxiety, which in turn prompted the flight of local residents to the east.

  The new British command did nothing until July. Abercrombie, arriving in Albany, was afraid to do anything without the approval of Lord Loudoun. Montcalm opposed his inaction with stormy activity. Leading Vodrell to trouble the Osuigo garrison, Montcalm performed a strategic maneuver, moving his headquarters to Ticonderoga, as if he was about to repeat the attack along Lake George, then suddenly turned on Osuigo and by 13 August took him in one digging trenches. In Osuigo, in addition to 1,700 prisoners, the French also captured 121 cannons carefully delivered here by the generous Shirley. I will tell you more about all these taken forts later. It was here that the Europeans did not allow the Indian allies to rob the prisoners, and the Indians were extremely indignant.

  Loudoun, a capable administrator, but a wary commander. I planned only one operation. In 1757 - an attack on Quebec. Leaving significant forces at Fort William Henry to distract Montcalm, he began organizing an expedition to Quebec, but was suddenly directed by William Pitt, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to attack Louisburg first. After various delays, the expedition finally prepared to sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in early August. In the meantime, the French squadron had managed to infiltrate the British blockade in Europe, and a numerically superior fleet awaited Loudoun in Louisburg. Afraid of meeting him. Loudoun returned to New York, where news of the massacre at Fort William Henry awaited him.

  French regular forces - Canadian scouts and Indians - have been hovering around Fort William Henry since the beginning of the year. In January, they killed half of a detachment of 86 British in a "battle on snowshoes", in February they crossed a frozen lake on ice, burned external buildings and warehouses. In early August, Montcalm, with 7,000 troops, appeared in front of the fort, which surrendered with the possibility of the withdrawal of the garrison and residents. When the column left, the Indians seized the moment and pounced on it, sparing neither men, nor women, nor children. This massacre may have been the result of rumors of smallpox in remote Indian villages.

  British conquests 1758-1760

  In 1758, the British blockade of the French coast made itself felt - Vaudrell and Montcalm received practically no reinforcements. The situation in New France was exacerbated by the poor harvest of 1757 in a harsh winter and, it is assumed, by the machinations of Francis Bejo, whose schemes for inflating the prices of supplies allowed him and his partners to significantly fill their pockets. A powerful outbreak of smallpox among the western Indian tribes incapacitated them. In the light of all these conditions, Montcalm concentrated his meager forces on the fulfillment of the main task - the protection of the St. Lawrence, and above all the defense of Carillon, Quebec and Louisburg, while Vaudrell insisted on the continuation of raids similar to last year's.

  British failures in North America and the European theater led to the downfall of the Duke of Newcastle and his chief military adviser, the Duke of Kimberland. Newcastle and Pitt entered into a strange coalition in which Pitt was engaged in military planning. As a result, Pitt was not worthy of anything else but to take the old plan of Loudoun (the latter, by the way, already held the post of commander-in-chief, replacing the indifferent Abercrombie). In addition to the task of attacking Quebec, Pitt found it necessary to attack Duquesne and Louisburg.

  In 1758, Major General John Forbes' 6,000-strong detachment set off in the footsteps of Braddock; On September 14, his vanguard of 800 soldiers under the command of Grant approached Fort Duquesne and was utterly defeated by an equal force of Canadians and Indians, Grant himself was captured. However, upon learning that more than 5,000 Forbes soldiers were marching on them, the French burned the fort and left home. Arriving at the scene, Forbes found the bodies of scalped Scots from his army and the smoking ruins of the fort. The fort was rebuilt by the British and named Fort Pitt, and today it is Pittsburgh.

  On July 26 of the same year, in the face of the 14,000th army, the British surrendered after the siege of Louisburg. The road to Quebec was open. But then something happened that no one could have foreseen. 3,600 French were stronger than 18,000 English at the Battle of Carillon. This battle will also receive special attention due to its exclusivity. So far, only briefly about how the most respectful English general to his superiors put a pig on his superiors.

  British forces landed on the north shore of Lake George on 6 July. The advance of the British to the fort was accompanied by major battles with French troops. At the council of war, it was decided to attack the fort on July 8, without waiting for the approach of the three thousandth French detachment of General Levy. The battle began on July 8 with minor skirmishes between the advancing British forces and the French troops remaining in the vicinity of the fort. British troops, according to the order of the commander-in-chief, lined up in 3 lines and launched a frontal attack on the fortified heights occupied by French troops.

  At 12:30 the signal to attack was given. While the British were planning a simultaneous attack along the entire front, the advancing right column pulled away strongly forward, disrupting the usual order of battle. The French had undoubted advantages over the British troops, as they could fire at the British from an advantageous position under the protection of high wooden fortifications. The few English soldiers who managed to climb the rampart were killed by French bayonets. British troops were literally mowed down by French fire. The bloody carnage lasted until the evening, when the defeat of the British became obvious. Abercrombie ordered his troops to retreat back to the crossings. Already on July 9, the remnants of the defeated English army reached the camp near the ruins of Fort William Henry. The losses of the British amounted to about 2,600 people. Abercrombie was replaced by Geoffrey Amherst, who took Louisburg. The remnants of Abercrombie's reputation were saved by John Bradstreet, who had just managed to destroy Fort Frontenac.

  This brilliant victory for Montcalm became his swan song. The French completely abandoned the North American War. A completely different plan was born in their heads - an invasion of Britain directly. But instead of an invasion, the British were shining the happiness of 1759, which they called the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, or the Year of Miracles.

  First, Ticonderoga fell, which the French were forced to abandon in front of powerful artillery fire and 11,000 British and retreat. Then the French were forced to leave Corillon as well. Fort Niagara surrendered on July 26. Finally, in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Battle of Quebec), the remnants of the French were defeated. The British in battle were 4,800 regular troops, and the French 2,000, and about the same militia. Both commanders were killed - General Wolff from the British and General Montcalm from the French. Quebec has surrendered. The French withdrew to Montreal.

  A year later, the French attempted revenge at the Battle of Saint-Fo on 28 April 1760. Levy attempted to recapture Quebec. He had 2,500 soldiers and the same number of irregulars with only three guns. The British have 3,800 soldiers and 27 guns. At first, the British had some success, but their infantry blocked the ability to fire their own artillery. And she herself got bogged down in the mud and snowdrifts of the spring thaw. As a result, realizing that he was threatened with defeat, the commander of the British, Murray, abandoned the cannons and withdrew his frustrated troops. This was the last victory for the French. But it did not lead to the return of Kvbek. The British took refuge behind its fortifications and help was sent to them. The British lost 1182 people killed, wounded and captured, the French 833.

  After the British moved from three sides to Montreal, Vaudrell in September 1760 had no choice but to surrender on honorable terms. Thus ended the war in the North American theater. But for several more years it continued for others.

  The Treaty of Paris was signed on February 10, 1763. Under the terms of the peace, France renounced all claims to Canada, Nova Scotia and all the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Together with Canada, France ceded the Ohio Valley and all of its territory on the east coast of the Mississippi, with the exception of New Orleans. England's triumph was deafening.

  British conquests

  Finally, a bit of irony. The Paris Peace Treaty also gave France the right to fish off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which she used before. At the same time, this right was denied to Spain, which demanded it for its fishermen. This concession to France was among those most attacked by the opposition in England. There is a kind of dark irony in the fact that the war started with a bang and ended. The French defended their demand for fish - at the cost of half the continent ...

  On the eve of World War II, the French army was considered one of the most powerful in the world. But in a direct clash with Germany in May 1940, the French had enough resistance for a few weeks.

  Useless superiority

  By the beginning of World War II, France had the 3rd largest army in the world in terms of the number of tanks and aircraft, second only to the USSR and Germany, as well as the 4th navy after Britain, the USA and Japan. The total number of French troops was over 2 million.
  The superiority of the French army in manpower and equipment over the forces of the Wehrmacht on the Western Front was indisputable. For example, the French Air Force included about 3,300 aircraft, of which half were the latest combat vehicles. The Luftwaffe could only count on 1,186 aircraft.
  With the arrival of reinforcements from the British Isles - an expeditionary force of 9 divisions, as well as air units, including 1,500 combat vehicles - the advantage over the German forces became more than obvious. Nevertheless, in a matter of months, not a trace remained of the former superiority of the allied forces - the well-trained and tactical superiority of the Wehrmacht army eventually forced France to surrender.

  The line that did not protect

  

  The French command assumed that german army will act as during the First World War - that is, it will launch an attack on France from the northeast from Belgium. The entire load in this case was to fall on the defensive redoubts of the Maginot Line, which France began to build in 1929 and improved until 1940.

  On the construction of the Maginot Line, which stretches for 400 km., The French spent a fabulous sum - about 3 billion francs (or 1 billion dollars). The massive fortifications included multi-level underground forts with living quarters, ventilation units and elevators, electrical and telephone exchanges, hospitals and narrow gauge railways... The gun casemates were supposed to be protected from aerial bombs by a 4-meter-thick concrete wall.

  The personnel of the French troops on the Maginot Line reached 300 thousand people.
  According to military historians, the Maginot Line, in principle, coped with its task. There were no breakthroughs by German troops in its most fortified sectors. But the German army group "B", bypassing the fortification line from the north, threw the main forces on its new sections, which were being built on swampy terrain, and where the construction of underground structures was difficult. There the French could not hold back the onslaught of German troops.

  Surrender in 10 minutes

  

  On June 17, 1940, the first meeting of the collaborationist government of France, headed by Marshal Henri Petain, took place. It lasted only 10 minutes. During this time, the ministers unanimously voted for the decision to appeal to the German command and ask him to end the war in France.

  For these purposes, we used the services of an intermediary. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs P. Baudouin, through the Spanish Ambassador Lekeric, sent a note in which the French government asked Spain to ask the German leadership to cease hostilities in France, as well as to find out the terms of the armistice. At the same time, a proposal for an armistice was sent to Italy through the papal nuncio. On the same day, Petain on the radio addressed the people and the army, urging them to "stop fighting."

  The last stronghold

  

  At the signing of the armistice (act of surrender) between Germany and France, Hitler looked with apprehension at the vast colonies of the latter, many of which were ready to continue resistance. This explains some of the relaxation in the treaty, in particular, the preservation of a part of the French navy to maintain "order" in their colonies.

  England was also vitally interested in the fate of the French colonies, since the threat of their capture by German forces was highly appreciated. Churchill hatched plans to create an émigré government of France, which would provide de facto control over the French overseas possessions of Britain.
  General Charles de Gaulle, who created a government that was opposed to the Vichy regime, directed all his efforts towards conquering the colonies.

  However, the North African administration rejected the offer to join the Free French. A completely different mood reigned in the colonies of Equatorial Africa - already in August 1940, Chad, Gabon and Cameroon joined de Gaulle, which created the conditions for the general for the formation of the state apparatus.

  Mussolini's Fury

  

  Realizing that the defeat of France by Germany is inevitable, Mussolini on June 10, 1940 declared war on her. The Italian army group "West" of Prince Umberto of Savoy with over 300 thousand people, supported by 3 thousand guns, launched an offensive in the Alps. However, General Aldrie's opposing army successfully repelled these attacks.

  By 20 June, the Italian divisions' offensive had become more fierce, but they had only managed to advance slightly in the Menton area. Mussolini was furious - his plans to capture a large chunk of its territory by the time of France's surrender had failed. The Italian dictator has already begun to prepare an airborne assault, but did not receive approval for this operation from the German command.
  On June 22, an armistice was signed between France and Germany, and two days later the same agreement was concluded between France and Italy. So, with "victorious embarrassment" Italy entered the Second World War.

  Victims

  

  During the active phase of the war, which lasted from May 10 to June 21, 1940, the French army lost about 300 thousand people killed and wounded. One and a half million were taken prisoner. The tank corps and the French air force were partially destroyed, the other part went to the German armed forces. At the same time, Britain is eliminating the French fleet to avoid falling into the hands of the Wehrmacht.

  Despite the fact that the capture of France took place in a short time, its armed forces gave a worthy rebuff to the German and Italian troops. For a month and a half of the war, the Wehrmacht lost more than 45 thousand people killed and missing, about 11 thousand were wounded.
  The French victims of the German aggression could not have been in vain if the French government had made a series of concessions put forward by Britain in exchange for the entry of the royal armed forces into the war. But France chose to capitulate.

  Paris - a place of convergence
  
  

  Under the armistice treaty, Germany occupied only West Coast France and the northern regions of the country where Paris was located. The capital was a kind of place of "French-German" rapprochement. Here German soldiers and Parisians lived peacefully: they went to the cinema together, visited museums or just sat in a cafe. After the occupation, theaters also revived - their box-office receipts tripled in comparison with the pre-war years.

  Paris very quickly became the cultural center of occupied Europe. France lived as before, as if there were no months of desperate resistance and unfulfilled hopes. German propaganda succeeded in convincing many French people that surrender is not a shame for the country, but a road to the "bright future" of a renewed Europe.