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In 1811, Napoleon controls Europe,
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from the Mediterranean to the Niemen River.
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He's counting on Russian support
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to fight the British.
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But Alexander doesn't approve of Napoleon's
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expansionist strategy,
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and irrespective of their treaties,
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allows the British access to his ports.
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For Napoleon, Russia's behavior
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makes it an enemy of France.
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Caulaincourt, his closest advisor,
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tries to convince him not to embark
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on another devastating campaign,
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but Napoleon will hear nothing of it.
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In June 1812,
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the Grande Armee crosses the Nieman River
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and enters Russian territory in a declaration of war.
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Napoleon's aim is a lightning campaign.
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Alexander chooses to avoid conflict,
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and allows the Grande Armee to invade his land.
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General Kutuzov is named supreme commander
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of the Russian army.
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The French continue their march on Moscow
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in the intense heat,
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but the Russian strip the land bare
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as part of a scorched Earth policy.
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Ill health and desertions decimate the Grande Armee.
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Despite his victory at the Battle of Borodino,
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also called the Battle of La Moskova,
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Napoleon cannot annihilate his enemy.
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The Grande Armee arrives in a deserted Moscow.
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The city's governor, Count Rostopchin,
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has decided to burn it down
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to leave nothing to the French.
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Get down!
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The Russians are willing to do anything
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to destroy the Grande Armee.
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The artillery's in place.
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The cavalry, too.
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Larry Bourgierre tells me the stables are burning,
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and the fire may spread to the arsenal.
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Four hundred crates of gunpowder?
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The slightest spark could blow the lot.
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We don't have a moment to lose.
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We have to leave the Kremlin.
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I am the first sovereign for more than two centuries
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to have conquered this fortress.
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There is no question.
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This isn't about retreating,
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it's about keeping you safe.
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The fire spreads,
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and it's impossible to predict
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where or when it will stop.
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But Napoleon wants to prove
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his determination to the czar.
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Savages.
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Burning their city like this.
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This is not how a war is fought.
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The results of the fire in Moscow were impressive.
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More than sixty percent of the wooden constructions
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in the city burned down.
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For six days, the flames are fanned
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by the wind, and destroy the university library,
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palace, and theaters.
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They reduce countless wooden constructions to ashes,
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houses, warehouses, shops, and churches.
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The governor of Moscow, Count Rostopchin,
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writes to his wife,
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"By the time you receive this letter,
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Moscow will be reduced to ashes.
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Forgive me."
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Rostopchin undoubtedly was responsible
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for the fire of Moscow,
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and he actually ordered
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a number of his junior officials
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to set fire in various places in the city.
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It is based on the idea
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that you will deprive the enemy
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of accommodation, comfort,
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and you will also persuade him
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that this is a war to the death.
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The fires in Moscow were a catastrophe
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for Alexander I.
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Later on, he would say that it was a fundamental element.
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He said, "The fires in Moscow lit up my soul."
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It was a real trauma for him.
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In abandoning Moscow,
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Alexander loses the support of the Russian people
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and starts to doubt his generals.
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Devastated, he confides in his favorite sister,
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the Grand Duchess, Caterina Pavlovna.
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Alexander...
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How could you allow the Corsican
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to take residence up in Moscow?
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Kutuzov led me to believe that our armies
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triumphed in Borodina,
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he tricked me, and...
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You weren't responsible, brother.
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I didn't want to listen to Kutuzov.
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I was just giving in to the general consensus.
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They are accusing you of betraying
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the honor of the country.
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And, ruining the people.
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All the classes are united now
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in their condemnation of you.
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I don't have the skills.
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Stop doubting yourself.
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I am badly advised, badly served,
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and facing an adversary who has
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the whole of Europe at his disposal.
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Do you intend to abandon your empire
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to this scoundrel?
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If that monster, who wanted to marry me,
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to whom you almost promised my hand?
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Don't worry.
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I will refuse any negotiation with him
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while there is a single French soldier
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present on imperial soil.
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And if my dynasty ever ceases to reign,
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I will grow a beard.
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I will go and eat potatoes in deepest Siberia,
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because I love potatoes.
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Gradually, the czar ends up laying
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the blame on the French for the fires,
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in an attempt to reunite the population.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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The fires in Moscow were a new catalyst
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in terms of the resistance of the Russian people
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because these invaders had taken over the historic
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capitol of mother Russia and set it on fire.
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So long as Napoleon didn't succeed
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in doing that, Alexander would fight,
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and there was no reason for him to make peace
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just because Napoleon had got to Moscow.
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And he knew that the longer Napoleon stayed in Moscow
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the more difficult the French position would become.
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Torrential rain eventually
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quenches the fires.
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In the heart of this wasted city,
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Napoleon is cradling illusions
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that the czar will beg for mercy and ask for peace
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and that it will only be a matter of days.
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There's no question of weakening.
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The arsonists are arrested in their hundreds
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and escorted to the scaffold.
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Convicts, middle class bourgeoisie, Russian policemen.
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Most of them plead innocence,
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but the order is given to kill with bayonets
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those who attempt to run away.
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Sergeant Borgogne remembers,
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"Until Moscow, I had always been a fairly carefree person
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who was above the problems burdening us.
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It seemed that the more danger in suffering there was,
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the more there needed to be glory and honor."
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The majority of accounts and stories
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from soldiers who arrived in Moscow
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describe scenes of pillage.
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After the fires, Napoleon left people
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to their own devices.
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He allowed the city to be pillaged,
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and his soldiers amassed a wide range of objects,
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including antiques, jewelry, and paintings.
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There was meat to be found,
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vegetables and drink,
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and there were a lot of stories that showed
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that the soldiers who were allowed to break into the cellars
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of the Moscow bourgeoisie,
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found plenty of alcohol there,
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emerging completely incapable of
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doing their jobs as soldiers.
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Day eight in Moscow,
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and no news of Alexander.
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Napoleon finds a way to contact him.
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Sir, Captain Yakovlev.
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Ah, Captain.
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I hear your family is one of
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the most respectable in the city,
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and that you tried to run away,
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but you didn't have time.
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You are well informed.
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In exchange of illicit passe
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for you, your mistress, and your child,
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would you please deliver this letter
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to your sovereign.
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I cannot guarantee that he will
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agree to read it.
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Do your best.
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The emperor hopes to push the czar
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into an honorable capitulation.
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Alexander, my brother,
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I am a peace loving man.
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It's not with pleasure that I am camped here.
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I miss my wife and son,
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and I wish you no harm.
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But those who serve you are only
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seeking personal glory.
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I am convinced that if nobody comes between us,
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our former friendship will soon return,
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and all this unhappiness will be over.
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He thinks I am being influenced
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by my entourage.
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It is I and I alone who refuses to grant him peace.
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You didn't know that I gave an order
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to not embark under any circumstances
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on any negotiations with Bonaparte?
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Your majesty, I am but the messenger.
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Take him to the Peter and Paul Fortress,
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where he can await a verdict for treason.
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I was forced to do it.
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For Alexander I, signing a peace treaty
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would probably have been a suicide mission.
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He would have been removed from the throne and replaced,
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and Alexander I knew that very well.
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The czar was categorical.
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Not only did he not want to negotiate,
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but he didn't even want anyone
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to speak with the French emissaries
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on his behalf.
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And above all, Napoleon considered
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that having taken the historic capitol of Russia,
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he had won the war,
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and now it was just down to threshing out
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the peace treaty.
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While he wait for Alexander to capitulate,
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Napoleon manages French affairs from Moscow.
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He also organizes the daily lives of his soldiers
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to keep them busy and to lift their spirits.
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As such, he reopens the French theater in Moscow,
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but only for the troops stationed in the city.
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With Moscow having been largely destroyed by the fire,
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the majority of the soldiers
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have to camp out in the suburbs.
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Outside the city walls,
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they are much more exposed to the enemy,
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and are attacked by partisans,
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helped by armed women and peasants
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determined to support their fathers and husbands
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and to avenge their brothers and sons.
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In terms of the partisans,
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there's only one thing you can say.
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They were army brigades made up of cossacks and hussars.
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It was the biggest force that had
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ever fought the French.
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The cossacks came
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from the south of the country
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and formed communities of free men.
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They had preserved a certain autonomy
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and used unusual tactics
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inherited from the people of the steppes.
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They were used to harass the enemy,
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attack its flanks and rear guard,
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and damage communication lines night and day.
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These tens of thousands of cossacks
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inspired terror in their enemies,
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and wore down their spirits
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like diabolical apparitions.
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Alexander still refuses to answer.
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What ridiculous stubbornness.
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He will regret this.
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I'm sending you back to St. Petersberg, Caulaincourt.
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You will see the emperor Alexander,
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and you will make peace.
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He knows you.
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He will refuse to see me.
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He knows that time is on his side.
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Winter is coming.
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Oh, stop with the winter!
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The fall is milder here than in--
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Don't count on it, sir.
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Winter will come, and in the state we're in,
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it will hit us like a bomb.
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Continue.
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We need to re-equip the army.
274
00:13:18,552 --> 00:13:22,871
We need sheepskins, gloves, hats, fur-lined boots.
275
00:13:22,871 --> 00:13:26,146
The things one needs for winter.
276
00:13:26,146 --> 00:13:27,799
I'm listening.
277
00:13:27,799 --> 00:13:29,399
Many of our men have already perished
278
00:13:29,399 --> 00:13:31,980
between the Nieman River and La Moskova.
279
00:13:31,980 --> 00:13:34,369
And believe me, we are lacking so much.
280
00:13:34,369 --> 00:13:36,855
We haven't prepared the winter horseshoes,
281
00:13:36,855 --> 00:13:39,340
so how will they man it, with the artillery,
282
00:13:39,340 --> 00:13:41,519
with the diseased and wounded.
283
00:13:41,519 --> 00:13:42,895
The weather is still good.
284
00:13:42,895 --> 00:13:44,890
Let us profit from it, and leave Moscow.
285
00:13:44,890 --> 00:13:47,727
Leaving Moscow would be admitting defeat.
286
00:13:47,727 --> 00:13:50,607
I understand your scruples about meeting Alexander,
287
00:13:50,607 --> 00:13:52,676
while Russia is so devastated.
288
00:13:52,676 --> 00:13:54,201
If that's the case, go and see Kutuzov.
289
00:13:54,201 --> 00:13:55,321
He will not give in either.
290
00:13:55,321 --> 00:13:56,708
Well, then, I'll send Lorentzen,
291
00:13:56,708 --> 00:13:58,478
and he will have the honor of having made peace,
292
00:13:58,478 --> 00:14:01,721
and of having saved the crown of your friend Alexander.
293
00:14:01,721 --> 00:14:05,320
You're dismissed, Caulaincourt.
294
00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:11,480
There is no question
295
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:12,845
of a Russian capitulation.
296
00:14:12,845 --> 00:14:14,541
In sending the Marquis of Lauriston to negotiate
297
00:14:14,541 --> 00:14:16,653
with General Kutuzov,
298
00:14:16,653 --> 00:14:18,584
Napoleon hopes above all to save face,
299
00:14:18,584 --> 00:14:20,514
and save his troops.
300
00:14:20,514 --> 00:14:21,858
Like Caulaincourt before him,
301
00:14:21,858 --> 00:14:25,703
Louriston had been the French ambassador in St. Petersberg.
302
00:14:26,178 --> 00:14:27,340
The emperor, my master, would have liked
303
00:14:27,340 --> 00:14:30,318
to handled Moscow like Vienna and Berlin.
304
00:14:30,318 --> 00:14:31,923
But in setting it ablaze,
305
00:14:31,923 --> 00:14:33,420
your compatriots have destroyed
306
00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:34,673
the work of several centuries.
307
00:14:34,867 --> 00:14:38,306
(speaking in foreign language)
308
00:14:39,603 --> 00:14:42,067
We have never made war in this way.
309
00:14:42,067 --> 00:14:44,296
Our soldiers are not arsonists.
310
00:14:44,296 --> 00:14:45,618
Unfortunately, the people
311
00:14:45,618 --> 00:14:47,688
are convinced of the contrary.
312
00:14:47,688 --> 00:14:49,778
For the Russians, this war is as devastating
313
00:14:49,778 --> 00:14:51,453
as a Tartar invasion.
314
00:14:51,453 --> 00:14:53,938
You cannot compare Napoleon to Genghis Khan.
315
00:14:53,938 --> 00:14:55,218
Oh, you're right.
316
00:14:55,218 --> 00:14:57,767
Genghis Khan was never so disrespectful
317
00:14:57,767 --> 00:15:00,210
as to turn our churches into stables.
318
00:15:00,210 --> 00:15:01,767
Your peasants have demonstrated
319
00:15:01,767 --> 00:15:03,505
extreme cruelty towards their prisoners.
320
00:15:03,505 --> 00:15:05,617
They scored them, and impale them alive.
321
00:15:05,617 --> 00:15:08,220
Their ferocity is contrary to the rules of war, and--
322
00:15:08,220 --> 00:15:11,099
Is our regular army also so dishonorable?
323
00:15:11,099 --> 00:15:12,582
No, but...
324
00:15:12,582 --> 00:15:16,646
Alas, I cannot control the serfs.
325
00:15:16,646 --> 00:15:19,942
They need to be completely reeducated.
326
00:15:19,942 --> 00:15:23,195
Let us at least organize an exchange of prisoners.
327
00:15:23,195 --> 00:15:26,331
The emperor sincerely desires to put an end
328
00:15:26,331 --> 00:15:29,253
to this quarrel between two such generous nations.
329
00:15:29,253 --> 00:15:31,024
Let us find a compromise.
330
00:15:31,024 --> 00:15:34,149
A compromise?
331
00:15:34,149 --> 00:15:37,935
Do you want me to be damned by posterity?
332
00:15:37,935 --> 00:15:40,719
This war cannot go on any longer.
333
00:15:40,719 --> 00:15:42,415
Let us try to conclude an armistice.
334
00:15:42,415 --> 00:15:44,921
Oh, I am absolutely forbidden
335
00:15:44,921 --> 00:15:47,155
from speaking that word.
336
00:15:50,105 --> 00:15:51,545
Three times, Alexander refused
337
00:15:51,545 --> 00:15:54,403
to enter into negotiations, and it paid off.
338
00:15:54,403 --> 00:15:58,137
A battle-weary Napoleon was forced
339
00:15:58,137 --> 00:15:59,834
on the 19th of October
340
00:15:59,834 --> 00:16:02,366
to announce his withdrawal.
341
00:16:03,046 --> 00:16:04,839
Napoleon is not a complete idiot.
342
00:16:04,839 --> 00:16:07,324
He can add it up the realities
343
00:16:07,324 --> 00:16:09,086
of military logistics.
344
00:16:09,086 --> 00:16:10,760
And he knows what will happen to him
345
00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:12,819
if he stays in Moscow over the winter
346
00:16:12,819 --> 00:16:14,376
and all of his horses die,
347
00:16:14,376 --> 00:16:16,031
as they undoubtedly will.
348
00:16:16,031 --> 00:16:19,583
And he imagines, again, not entirely realistically,
349
00:16:19,583 --> 00:16:22,601
what might happen in Paris if the emperor
350
00:16:22,601 --> 00:16:25,129
is cut off from his capitol for four months
351
00:16:25,129 --> 00:16:28,056
at the other end of Europe.
352
00:16:38,131 --> 00:16:40,136
In his last letter from the Kremlin,
353
00:16:40,136 --> 00:16:44,162
the emperor announces his retreat.
354
00:16:51,133 --> 00:16:54,439
This letter reveals a man overwhelmed.
355
00:16:54,439 --> 00:16:56,658
He had arrived in Moscow at the top of his power,
356
00:16:56,658 --> 00:16:59,489
but he is leaving in a weakened state.
357
00:17:01,095 --> 00:17:04,673
It is the start of an unstoppable decline.
358
00:17:08,113 --> 00:17:10,246
Nobody had ever seen him express himself
359
00:17:10,246 --> 00:17:11,782
with such emotion,
360
00:17:11,782 --> 00:17:13,222
even when he talked of his love
361
00:17:13,222 --> 00:17:15,467
for the empress or his son.
362
00:17:21,414 --> 00:17:24,607
Moscow has floored him.
363
00:17:29,818 --> 00:17:33,417
The Grande Armee prepares to leave the city.
364
00:17:33,839 --> 00:17:36,122
Among us, there was a young and attractive person,
365
00:17:36,122 --> 00:17:39,945
who it was said belonged to one of Moscow's first families.
366
00:17:43,599 --> 00:17:45,967
In a moment of madness, she had become involved
367
00:17:45,967 --> 00:17:49,134
with one of our superior officers,
368
00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:51,172
and in another, bigger, moment of madness,
369
00:17:51,172 --> 00:17:53,928
she followed him in the retreat.
370
00:17:57,091 --> 00:17:59,022
The fatal convoy.
371
00:17:59,022 --> 00:18:01,827
A ragtag caravan of all kinds of vehicles,
372
00:18:01,827 --> 00:18:05,234
stuffed with the most unlikely bounty.
373
00:18:06,168 --> 00:18:08,963
Whole bookcases of beautiful volumes.
374
00:18:08,963 --> 00:18:12,900
Old masters rolled up for easier transportation.
375
00:18:12,900 --> 00:18:15,556
Despite the premonition of misery they bear,
376
00:18:15,556 --> 00:18:18,127
each is carrying their share of the spoils,
377
00:18:18,127 --> 00:18:19,684
along with several pounds
378
00:18:19,684 --> 00:18:22,265
of sugar, rice, biscuits, and liquor,
379
00:18:22,265 --> 00:18:24,702
to head off the future deprivation.
380
00:18:26,350 --> 00:18:28,515
Behind the fighters come the non-combatants
381
00:18:28,515 --> 00:18:29,817
of the Grande Armee,
382
00:18:29,817 --> 00:18:32,739
ambulance drivers, engineers, blacksmiths,
383
00:18:32,739 --> 00:18:36,056
bakers, furriers, cooks, women and children,
384
00:18:36,056 --> 00:18:38,200
all of whom have also profited
385
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,632
from their stay in Moscow.
386
00:18:40,632 --> 00:18:42,957
The presence of the non-combatants
387
00:18:42,957 --> 00:18:44,653
mingling with the rear guard
388
00:18:44,653 --> 00:18:47,783
will soon prove to be a terrible handicap.
389
00:18:55,074 --> 00:18:58,284
Kutuzov's strategy is, in a way, simple.
390
00:18:58,284 --> 00:19:01,409
He believes that the climate will help
391
00:19:01,409 --> 00:19:03,574
to destroy the French army.
392
00:19:03,574 --> 00:19:05,548
He knows that his cossacks,
393
00:19:05,548 --> 00:19:07,564
backed by regular light cavalry,
394
00:19:07,564 --> 00:19:11,329
will force the French army to stay on the roads,
395
00:19:11,329 --> 00:19:14,443
make it impossible for the French to forage,
396
00:19:14,443 --> 00:19:17,579
and therefore doom most of them to starvation.
397
00:19:17,579 --> 00:19:21,173
And that was no doubt Kutuzov's masterstroke,
398
00:19:21,173 --> 00:19:23,541
obliging him to retrace his steps,
399
00:19:23,541 --> 00:19:26,464
and, indeed, a few days after leaving Moscow,
400
00:19:26,464 --> 00:19:29,258
the soldiers were crossing the battlefields of Borodino
401
00:19:29,258 --> 00:19:32,175
that nobody had had the time to clean up.
402
00:19:35,103 --> 00:19:38,335
The remains of the Battle of Borodino.
403
00:19:38,335 --> 00:19:40,532
"We wondered what had been the point of this victory,"
404
00:19:40,532 --> 00:19:42,484
writes Sergeant Bourgoine.
405
00:19:42,484 --> 00:19:45,108
"This battle already celebrated by the number of victims
406
00:19:45,108 --> 00:19:47,662
whose lives it took."
407
00:19:52,638 --> 00:19:55,262
As far as the eye could see, there was an almighty stench,
408
00:19:55,262 --> 00:19:58,675
with legs, arms, and heads poking out of the Earth.
409
00:19:58,675 --> 00:20:00,947
The rain had left open graves.
410
00:20:00,947 --> 00:20:04,221
There is nothing more pitiful than all those dead,
411
00:20:04,221 --> 00:20:06,611
who had barely kept their human form,
412
00:20:06,611 --> 00:20:09,442
52 days after the battle.
413
00:20:11,807 --> 00:20:15,711
Grande Armee doctor Heinrich von Russ remembers,
414
00:20:15,711 --> 00:20:18,079
"Everywhere we camped, or on the road,
415
00:20:18,079 --> 00:20:20,350
when the wounded needed to get down from their transport
416
00:20:20,350 --> 00:20:22,004
or to redo their bandages,
417
00:20:22,004 --> 00:20:24,606
they were abandoned by cruel cooks,
418
00:20:24,606 --> 00:20:27,155
arrogant women with their newly-found riches,
419
00:20:27,155 --> 00:20:29,545
or merciless brothers in arms.
420
00:20:29,545 --> 00:20:31,358
I saw some of them moaning and begging
421
00:20:31,358 --> 00:20:34,473
for help on the road."
422
00:20:34,473 --> 00:20:37,684
Like Armonde de Caulaincourt had sadly predicted,
423
00:20:37,684 --> 00:20:41,353
the winter arrives without warning in early November.
424
00:20:41,353 --> 00:20:44,851
Temperatures fall below -20 degrees Celsius.
425
00:20:44,851 --> 00:20:47,763
The horses have not been shod for ice,
426
00:20:47,763 --> 00:20:50,291
and as a result, every movement makes them slip,
427
00:20:50,291 --> 00:20:52,477
and they become exhausted.
428
00:20:52,477 --> 00:20:54,653
The loads in the wagons need to be lightened,
429
00:20:54,653 --> 00:20:58,066
forcing the Grande Armee to off-load their booty.
430
00:20:58,066 --> 00:21:01,826
Moscow is already little more than a distant memory.
431
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,362
I think the Grande Armee was not prepared for the winter
432
00:21:05,362 --> 00:21:07,495
because Napoleon never expected to fight
433
00:21:07,495 --> 00:21:10,866
a winter campaign.
434
00:21:10,866 --> 00:21:13,671
Studies have shown that a combination of three factors,
435
00:21:13,671 --> 00:21:15,943
exhaustion, stress, and cold,
436
00:21:15,943 --> 00:21:18,545
wreak havoc on a soldier's metabolism.
437
00:21:18,545 --> 00:21:20,262
So much so that if they receive
438
00:21:20,262 --> 00:21:22,684
the equivalent of 500 calories a day,
439
00:21:22,684 --> 00:21:25,329
their body can only absorb a fraction.
440
00:21:25,329 --> 00:21:27,142
The harassment tactics of the Russians,
441
00:21:27,142 --> 00:21:29,734
combined with the weather and rationing of supplies,
442
00:21:29,734 --> 00:21:32,475
therefore accelerates the onset of malnutrition,
443
00:21:32,475 --> 00:21:35,547
amplifies the famine, and multiplies the number
444
00:21:35,547 --> 00:21:37,637
of those dying of hunger.
445
00:21:37,637 --> 00:21:39,504
From the start, he expected to defeat
446
00:21:39,504 --> 00:21:41,285
the Russian army within two months.
447
00:21:41,285 --> 00:21:43,962
That was the whole logic of his strategy.
448
00:21:43,962 --> 00:21:48,436
But he gets drawn into a longer campaign.
449
00:21:51,151 --> 00:21:53,455
On the ground, the men are freezing.
450
00:21:53,455 --> 00:21:55,450
They're so hungry that they slit open the bellies
451
00:21:55,450 --> 00:21:57,871
of abandoned horses, collect their blood,
452
00:21:57,871 --> 00:22:00,377
and cook it for food.
453
00:22:00,377 --> 00:22:02,628
The Russians profit from this terrible situation
454
00:22:02,628 --> 00:22:05,177
to attack their prey.
455
00:22:05,177 --> 00:22:07,086
The Grande Armee falls apart,
456
00:22:07,086 --> 00:22:10,696
while in Paris, the balance of power is shifting.
457
00:22:11,427 --> 00:22:14,030
On the night of the 23rd of October in Paris,
458
00:22:14,030 --> 00:22:15,832
General Malet and a few of his men
459
00:22:15,832 --> 00:22:19,160
go to the prefecture, cease the Minister of Police, Savary,
460
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:23,202
and take him to La Force Prison.
461
00:22:23,202 --> 00:22:24,888
Malet and his accomplices then go
462
00:22:24,888 --> 00:22:27,053
to the high command in Plasvandeux
463
00:22:27,053 --> 00:22:30,233
without encountering the slightest resistance.
464
00:22:30,233 --> 00:22:31,907
Malet has spread a rumor
465
00:22:31,907 --> 00:22:35,182
that the emperor has been killed at the gates of Moscow.
466
00:22:35,182 --> 00:22:37,059
He wants to set up a provisional government
467
00:22:37,059 --> 00:22:39,619
and put an end to the war.
468
00:22:39,619 --> 00:22:43,282
The emperor's popularity in Paris is waning.
469
00:22:44,141 --> 00:22:47,138
When Napoleon hears of this attempt at a coup d'etat,
470
00:22:47,138 --> 00:22:49,773
he only has one thing in mind.
471
00:22:49,773 --> 00:22:51,885
I must return to Paris now.
472
00:22:51,885 --> 00:22:53,836
I cannot allow emotions to spiral out of control.
473
00:22:53,836 --> 00:22:55,874
Even if this business only lasted a few hours,
474
00:22:55,874 --> 00:23:00,033
there are always wise men to continue the work of fools.
475
00:23:00,033 --> 00:23:02,284
You cannot return to France before your army.
476
00:23:02,284 --> 00:23:04,513
They were ready to sound the death knell in Sanroc
477
00:23:04,513 --> 00:23:06,348
to announce my demise,
478
00:23:06,348 --> 00:23:08,481
and nobody even thought to designate
479
00:23:08,481 --> 00:23:09,921
Marie-Louis as regent.
480
00:23:09,921 --> 00:23:12,577
And I have a son, a successor.
481
00:23:12,577 --> 00:23:14,315
But they have forgotten him, Caulaincourt.
482
00:23:14,315 --> 00:23:18,096
They have forgotten the King of Rome.
483
00:23:21,376 --> 00:23:23,627
While Napoleon thinks about returning home,
484
00:23:23,627 --> 00:23:26,272
the massacre continues on the ground.
485
00:23:26,272 --> 00:23:28,992
In mid-November, only 4200 men remain
486
00:23:28,992 --> 00:23:32,095
of the 104,000 who left Moscow.
487
00:23:32,095 --> 00:23:33,962
The others have perished from hunger,
488
00:23:33,962 --> 00:23:36,650
exhaustion and disease, or deserted,
489
00:23:36,650 --> 00:23:38,740
some of the stragglers falling into the hands
490
00:23:38,740 --> 00:23:40,212
of cossack detachments,
491
00:23:40,212 --> 00:23:42,484
and others dying in combat.
492
00:23:42,484 --> 00:23:45,934
Smolensk is no longer very far away.
493
00:23:47,178 --> 00:23:49,290
Napoleon had hoped to pass more to the south,
494
00:23:49,290 --> 00:23:51,658
on the richer lands that hadn't been touched,
495
00:23:51,658 --> 00:23:53,791
where they might find food.
496
00:23:53,791 --> 00:23:56,650
But he was prevented from doing this
497
00:23:56,650 --> 00:23:58,111
by the Russian army,
498
00:23:58,111 --> 00:24:00,297
which forced him to return the way he had come,
499
00:24:00,297 --> 00:24:02,862
via Smolensk.
500
00:24:03,966 --> 00:24:05,193
They all hoped to find food
501
00:24:05,193 --> 00:24:07,209
and fodder for the horses in Smolensk,
502
00:24:07,209 --> 00:24:11,128
thanks to the levies imposed on the local population.
503
00:24:11,998 --> 00:24:14,387
The survivors believed that the end of their hardships
504
00:24:14,387 --> 00:24:16,408
is close.
505
00:24:17,736 --> 00:24:20,861
In Smolensk, Napoleon had given orders for provisions,
506
00:24:20,861 --> 00:24:24,599
so the men would have something to eat when they arrived.
507
00:24:25,490 --> 00:24:27,602
But the troops he had left there had already started
508
00:24:27,602 --> 00:24:29,064
on these reserves,
509
00:24:29,064 --> 00:24:30,663
which meant that there wasn't enough
510
00:24:30,663 --> 00:24:33,356
to fulfill the needs of the returning army.
511
00:24:37,927 --> 00:24:40,071
It's a huge disappointment.
512
00:24:40,071 --> 00:24:42,161
Starving and weakened, the Grande Armee
513
00:24:42,161 --> 00:24:44,551
has to leave Smolensk.
514
00:24:44,551 --> 00:24:46,726
It's but a shadow of what it once was,
515
00:24:46,726 --> 00:24:49,052
and the cossacks profit from this vulnerability
516
00:24:49,052 --> 00:24:51,179
to attack its flanks.
517
00:24:51,675 --> 00:24:53,745
This constant harassment forces Napoleon
518
00:24:53,745 --> 00:24:55,953
to keep his surviving troops on a route
519
00:24:55,953 --> 00:24:58,474
that has been stripped bare.
520
00:24:59,526 --> 00:25:02,363
As for Kutuzov, he has 80,000 men in pursuit,
521
00:25:02,363 --> 00:25:05,909
and is getting dangerously close to Napoleon's position.
522
00:25:06,352 --> 00:25:09,157
He's supported in the north by General Wittgenstein
523
00:25:09,157 --> 00:25:11,717
who has 40,000 troops, and is preparing
524
00:25:11,717 --> 00:25:14,127
to bear down on the middle of the French army,
525
00:25:14,127 --> 00:25:17,242
while General Chichikov completes the Russian encircling
526
00:25:17,242 --> 00:25:20,815
of the French with 27000 troops and a hundred cannon
527
00:25:20,815 --> 00:25:23,812
upstream of the Berezina River.
528
00:25:23,812 --> 00:25:25,465
The noose is tightening,
529
00:25:25,465 --> 00:25:28,569
especially as Chichikov has taken a key position.
530
00:25:28,569 --> 00:25:30,244
He's controlling the only crossing point
531
00:25:30,244 --> 00:25:31,780
of the Berezina River,
532
00:25:31,780 --> 00:25:35,229
the bridge at Borozov.
533
00:25:35,630 --> 00:25:37,230
The Grande Armee is exhausted,
534
00:25:37,230 --> 00:25:39,832
and its numbers are reducing a little more each day.
535
00:25:39,832 --> 00:25:41,528
The wind is like a razor blade,
536
00:25:41,528 --> 00:25:43,224
cutting to the marrow.
537
00:25:43,224 --> 00:25:44,941
The ice seals their eyelids,
538
00:25:44,941 --> 00:25:47,768
and their fingers stick to the metal of their guns.
539
00:25:47,768 --> 00:25:51,042
It makes their legs as fragile as alabaster.
540
00:25:51,042 --> 00:25:52,557
The joints in their feet and hands
541
00:25:52,557 --> 00:25:54,413
break at the slightest pressure,
542
00:25:54,413 --> 00:25:57,425
yet, they feel no pain.
543
00:25:59,085 --> 00:26:00,887
To remove the clothes of the fallen,
544
00:26:00,887 --> 00:26:03,906
one cannot wait until their bodies are frozen stiff.
545
00:26:03,906 --> 00:26:06,327
More than one finds himself stripped
546
00:26:06,327 --> 00:26:10,801
before breathing his last.
547
00:26:16,097 --> 00:26:18,379
Sergeant Bourgogne remembers,
548
00:26:18,379 --> 00:26:20,886
"Exhausted by this inhuman march,
549
00:26:20,886 --> 00:26:24,950
I left the ranks and joined up with a few soldiers.
550
00:26:32,309 --> 00:26:34,912
I had one potato left to eat.
551
00:26:34,912 --> 00:26:38,421
In a fit of selfishness for which I never forgave myself,
552
00:26:38,421 --> 00:26:40,437
I didn't share it with my friends,
553
00:26:40,437 --> 00:26:42,901
who were dying of hunger.
554
00:26:42,901 --> 00:26:45,172
But, it was frozen solid.
555
00:26:45,172 --> 00:26:48,878
My teeth slid across it, unable to take a bite.
556
00:26:56,926 --> 00:26:58,900
I was taken by an overwhelming desire
557
00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:02,168
to sleep, but I knew it would be fatal.
558
00:27:03,721 --> 00:27:05,843
I had to move, march, and stay awake,
559
00:27:05,843 --> 00:27:09,176
so I went back on my way."
560
00:27:11,624 --> 00:27:15,432
Bourgogne's disoriented by the blizzard and the darkness.
561
00:27:15,432 --> 00:27:18,824
The snow covers his footprints.
562
00:27:18,824 --> 00:27:22,813
He marches like this until dawn, looking for his regiment.
563
00:27:22,813 --> 00:27:24,605
He can no longer feel his limbs,
564
00:27:24,605 --> 00:27:28,246
nor the rats gnawing at him.
565
00:27:32,007 --> 00:27:35,569
At dawn, he discovers the remains of a convoy,
566
00:27:35,569 --> 00:27:38,257
and the hope of finding something to eat,
567
00:27:38,257 --> 00:27:40,646
something to keep him alive for a few more hours
568
00:27:40,646 --> 00:27:43,595
on this miserable Earth.
569
00:27:48,283 --> 00:27:52,021
(speaking in foreign language)
570
00:28:42,594 --> 00:28:44,589
Sergeant Bourgogne remembers,
571
00:28:44,589 --> 00:28:47,959
"One has to have felt the rage of hunger to understand.
572
00:28:47,959 --> 00:28:51,213
We would have eaten the devil, had he been cooked.
573
00:28:51,213 --> 00:28:54,801
(speaking in foreign language)
574
00:28:56,876 --> 00:28:59,575
Hatred mingles with compassion,
575
00:28:59,575 --> 00:29:04,076
but the Russian soldiers are also deprived.
576
00:29:07,563 --> 00:29:10,561
A prisoner means one more mouth to feed.
577
00:29:10,561 --> 00:29:13,616
Choices have to be made.
578
00:29:23,104 --> 00:29:26,325
As the troops progressed,
579
00:29:26,325 --> 00:29:29,045
they left behind the stragglers and the sick,
580
00:29:29,045 --> 00:29:32,313
who were immediately taken prisoner.
581
00:29:33,738 --> 00:29:35,338
The prisoners' fates varied
582
00:29:35,338 --> 00:29:37,471
depending on their circumstances.
583
00:29:37,471 --> 00:29:40,308
Those who were lucky enough, if you can put it like that,
584
00:29:40,308 --> 00:29:42,324
to be handed over to the regular army
585
00:29:42,324 --> 00:29:47,092
were escorted east, to stop them returning to fight.
586
00:29:47,092 --> 00:29:49,417
Others met an even worse fate.
587
00:29:49,417 --> 00:29:51,411
They had everything taken from them,
588
00:29:51,411 --> 00:29:54,035
and were turned over to village communities,
589
00:29:54,035 --> 00:29:56,888
who often put them to death.
590
00:29:58,515 --> 00:30:01,000
Alexander is shocked by these revelations,
591
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,677
and does everything he can to forbid such practices,
592
00:30:03,677 --> 00:30:06,386
promising a reward for soldiers and peasants
593
00:30:06,386 --> 00:30:08,968
who hand prisoners over to a civil authority
594
00:30:08,968 --> 00:30:11,218
to have them locked up.
595
00:30:11,218 --> 00:30:13,213
But the abuse of prisoners isn't just limited
596
00:30:13,213 --> 00:30:14,791
to the Russians.
597
00:30:14,791 --> 00:30:16,999
In Smolensk, 600 Russian prisoners
598
00:30:16,999 --> 00:30:18,951
considered unable to march
599
00:30:18,951 --> 00:30:22,065
are executed by the French.
600
00:30:22,065 --> 00:30:23,964
Alexander's getting impatient.
601
00:30:23,964 --> 00:30:26,215
He knows the endgame is coming.
602
00:30:26,215 --> 00:30:28,166
The Berezina is his one chance,
603
00:30:28,166 --> 00:30:31,904
and he gives his men the order to capture Napoleon.
604
00:30:34,641 --> 00:30:36,273
The Battle of the Berezina
605
00:30:36,273 --> 00:30:38,268
is a battle that made a real impact
606
00:30:38,268 --> 00:30:41,127
on Napoleon's campaign.
607
00:30:41,127 --> 00:30:42,641
The name refers to a river,
608
00:30:42,641 --> 00:30:46,257
which was an obstacle for Napoleon's army,
609
00:30:46,257 --> 00:30:49,396
and Kutuzov thought that the Berezina would be the obstacle
610
00:30:49,396 --> 00:30:51,806
that would enable him to surround Napoleon
611
00:30:51,806 --> 00:30:54,222
and seize his army.
612
00:30:55,774 --> 00:30:57,705
The army that came from Moscow
613
00:30:57,705 --> 00:30:59,891
approached the Berezina River
614
00:30:59,891 --> 00:31:02,771
and hoped to cross it at a place called Borosov,
615
00:31:02,771 --> 00:31:05,272
where there was a bridge.
616
00:31:06,412 --> 00:31:07,852
Under orders from Napoleon,
617
00:31:07,852 --> 00:31:11,148
Marshal Udino boldly swoops upon the town of Borisov,
618
00:31:11,148 --> 00:31:14,740
capturing it without difficulty.
619
00:31:14,740 --> 00:31:17,065
But, the Russians have burned the bridge,
620
00:31:17,065 --> 00:31:19,380
destroying the Grande Armee's only route
621
00:31:19,380 --> 00:31:21,076
over the Berezina,
622
00:31:21,076 --> 00:31:23,992
and out of Kutuzov's pincer movement.
623
00:31:27,763 --> 00:31:30,498
They need another route urgently.
624
00:31:34,686 --> 00:31:37,512
One of Marshal Udino's units, lost on the other bank,
625
00:31:37,512 --> 00:31:40,620
comes across a peasant soaked up to his armpits.
626
00:31:43,410 --> 00:31:45,405
They deduce there must be a place
627
00:31:45,405 --> 00:31:48,631
where the river can be forded nearby.
628
00:31:49,309 --> 00:31:51,591
They interrogate the peasant, who tells them
629
00:31:51,591 --> 00:31:54,258
that it is nearby the village of Studyanka,
630
00:31:54,258 --> 00:31:57,227
eight miles north of Borizov.
631
00:31:58,247 --> 00:31:59,847
But Napoleon is not the only one
632
00:31:59,847 --> 00:32:01,830
to understand the strategic importance
633
00:32:01,830 --> 00:32:04,352
of the bridge at Borizov.
634
00:32:04,870 --> 00:32:06,961
Chichikov is defending the west bank
635
00:32:06,961 --> 00:32:10,709
with 30,000 men and a hundred cannon.
636
00:32:10,971 --> 00:32:13,221
At the same time, Kutuzov is coming up behind
637
00:32:13,221 --> 00:32:14,854
the Napoleonic forces
638
00:32:14,854 --> 00:32:16,966
with his 80,000 troops,
639
00:32:16,966 --> 00:32:20,539
and he asks General Wittgenstein to complete the circle
640
00:32:20,539 --> 00:32:23,455
with a 30,000 strong force.
641
00:32:24,282 --> 00:32:26,874
But Napoleon predicts their charade.
642
00:32:26,874 --> 00:32:28,879
Udino and Mutto, you will discretely advance
643
00:32:28,879 --> 00:32:31,109
your troops toward Studyanka.
644
00:32:31,109 --> 00:32:33,935
When night falls, you will build two bridges there,
645
00:32:33,935 --> 00:32:36,356
one for the artillery and wagons,
646
00:32:36,356 --> 00:32:38,490
and the other for the infantry and cavalry.
647
00:32:38,490 --> 00:32:39,417
But sir, if we--
648
00:32:39,417 --> 00:32:40,879
Wait, Lorensten.
649
00:32:40,879 --> 00:32:43,385
At the same time, here, downstream from Borizov,
650
00:32:43,385 --> 00:32:44,430
visible to the enemy,
651
00:32:44,430 --> 00:32:47,033
we will rebuild the bridge there.
652
00:32:47,033 --> 00:32:50,190
But, contrary to what the Russians will think,
653
00:32:50,190 --> 00:32:51,587
we won't use it,
654
00:32:51,587 --> 00:32:55,086
and while Chichikov concentrates most of his troops here,
655
00:32:55,086 --> 00:32:58,915
our troops will cross the river here,
656
00:32:58,915 --> 00:33:02,262
in Studyanka.
657
00:33:02,262 --> 00:33:04,054
The apparently helpless situation
658
00:33:04,054 --> 00:33:05,238
of the Grande Armee
659
00:33:05,238 --> 00:33:08,022
did nothing to disturb the emperor's serenity.
660
00:33:08,022 --> 00:33:11,477
"Everyone else was in a panic," writes Caulaincourt,
661
00:33:11,477 --> 00:33:13,824
"but Napoleon was bigger than that.
662
00:33:13,824 --> 00:33:15,594
Hope intoxicated him more
663
00:33:15,594 --> 00:33:19,279
than the most terrible setback could drag him down."
664
00:33:21,535 --> 00:33:24,202
Napoleon had the great idea of using a decoy,
665
00:33:24,202 --> 00:33:27,178
which, in fact, worked very well.
666
00:33:27,178 --> 00:33:30,708
Because he ordered Borisov to be retaken by the French,
667
00:33:32,094 --> 00:33:36,648
and ordered a lot of ostentatious construction in Borisov
668
00:33:37,209 --> 00:33:40,925
to make the Russians think he was going to cross there.
669
00:33:42,531 --> 00:33:44,877
But, at night, secretly, in the dark,
670
00:33:44,877 --> 00:33:47,949
he ordered the transfer of his men to begin,
671
00:33:47,949 --> 00:33:50,157
in the wake of Eblais' bridge builders,
672
00:33:50,157 --> 00:33:52,013
who were in charge of the construction
673
00:33:52,013 --> 00:33:55,004
of the two famous bridges at Studyanka.
674
00:34:07,105 --> 00:34:09,847
If Napoleon's army cannot cross the Berezina,
675
00:34:09,847 --> 00:34:12,278
they have no choice but to surrender.
676
00:34:12,278 --> 00:34:15,590
France's fate hangs in the balance.
677
00:34:18,315 --> 00:34:20,779
Napoleon goes to the riverbank several times
678
00:34:20,779 --> 00:34:23,286
to observe the fires in the Russian camp.
679
00:34:23,286 --> 00:34:25,419
Their number and density reassure him
680
00:34:25,419 --> 00:34:28,015
that his plan is working.
681
00:34:29,301 --> 00:34:31,531
The Russians think that the main crossing point
682
00:34:31,531 --> 00:34:33,130
will be in Borizov,
683
00:34:33,130 --> 00:34:36,170
but Studyanka is only a couple hours march away
684
00:34:36,170 --> 00:34:38,005
for a trained army.
685
00:34:38,005 --> 00:34:39,679
The risk of being caught and attacked
686
00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:42,201
remains very real.
687
00:34:53,812 --> 00:34:56,094
The Western bank of the Berezina at Studyanka
688
00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:58,462
must be protected.
689
00:34:58,462 --> 00:34:59,966
Napoleon orders the fifty members
690
00:34:59,966 --> 00:35:01,662
of General Corpinoux's cavalry
691
00:35:01,662 --> 00:35:04,147
to swim across the river.
692
00:35:04,147 --> 00:35:07,070
Each horse also carries an infantryman on its neck.
693
00:35:10,065 --> 00:35:12,870
Four hundred soldiers join the brave cavalrymen
694
00:35:12,870 --> 00:35:15,516
on makeshift rafts.
695
00:35:15,516 --> 00:35:19,413
There is a constant back-and-forth between the two banks.
696
00:35:20,838 --> 00:35:24,272
In parallel, the weakened Russian forces of General Cornilov
697
00:35:24,272 --> 00:35:26,203
are crushed by fifty cannon
698
00:35:26,203 --> 00:35:29,194
being directly commanded by Napleon.
699
00:35:31,909 --> 00:35:34,783
The Western bank is soon cleared.
700
00:35:39,269 --> 00:35:43,354
Two hours later, they start to install the uprights.
701
00:35:43,354 --> 00:35:45,124
General Eblaix leads the way,
702
00:35:45,124 --> 00:35:47,785
throwing himself into the icy water.
703
00:35:59,406 --> 00:36:00,910
Eblaix's heroic bridge-builders
704
00:36:00,910 --> 00:36:03,118
remove their clothes and get down to work,
705
00:36:03,118 --> 00:36:07,148
ignoring the huge blocks of ice floating in the river.
706
00:36:07,148 --> 00:36:09,377
These blocks are as sharp as blades,
707
00:36:09,377 --> 00:36:13,019
making their task particularly dangerous.
708
00:36:15,766 --> 00:36:18,390
The bridge builders are up to their shoulders in the water
709
00:36:18,390 --> 00:36:20,758
installing the uprights.
710
00:36:20,758 --> 00:36:24,426
Many lives are lost, abandoned to the current.
711
00:36:24,426 --> 00:36:27,764
They are soon replaced by other brave men.
712
00:36:27,764 --> 00:36:29,119
By the end of the morning,
713
00:36:29,119 --> 00:36:32,590
the infantry bridge is complete.
714
00:36:34,110 --> 00:36:36,478
By one P.M., Udino's troops are crossing
715
00:36:36,478 --> 00:36:38,515
the newly constructed bridge.
716
00:36:38,515 --> 00:36:40,905
In a hurry to reinforce the western bank,
717
00:36:40,905 --> 00:36:43,992
they hasten across the wobbly construction.
718
00:36:44,691 --> 00:36:46,526
By four P.M., the second bridge is completed
719
00:36:46,526 --> 00:36:48,317
beside the first.
720
00:36:48,317 --> 00:36:50,408
By the evening, almost ten thousand soldiers
721
00:36:50,408 --> 00:36:52,008
have crossed the bridge and reached
722
00:36:52,008 --> 00:36:54,306
the west bank of the river.
723
00:36:57,117 --> 00:37:01,042
Night falls, and they must take advantage of the darkness.
724
00:37:01,042 --> 00:37:04,332
Wagons and cannon are brought across the river.
725
00:37:05,383 --> 00:37:08,242
The bridge vibrates and three times gives way,
726
00:37:08,242 --> 00:37:10,923
failing to support the weight.
727
00:37:14,044 --> 00:37:16,316
The loyal bridge builders jump back in the water
728
00:37:16,316 --> 00:37:19,194
to repair or replace the broken parts.
729
00:37:19,194 --> 00:37:21,028
It's a race against time,
730
00:37:21,028 --> 00:37:23,535
and the temperature is -30 degrees
731
00:37:23,535 --> 00:37:27,283
as they fix the bridge in under three hours.
732
00:37:34,190 --> 00:37:36,067
Napoleon and his general staff
733
00:37:36,067 --> 00:37:37,902
cross to the west bank later on,
734
00:37:37,902 --> 00:37:39,971
continuing to encourage the never-ending
735
00:37:39,971 --> 00:37:42,616
flow across the bridge.
736
00:37:42,616 --> 00:37:44,867
This morning, Napoleon's orders were clear:
737
00:37:44,867 --> 00:37:47,608
only ordered army troops were to cross.
738
00:37:47,608 --> 00:37:50,786
The rest, hawkers, stragglers, and non-combatants,
739
00:37:50,786 --> 00:37:53,639
are roughly pushed back.
740
00:38:01,399 --> 00:38:03,511
After several days of solitary marching,
741
00:38:03,511 --> 00:38:05,761
Sergeant Bourgogne eventually meets up
742
00:38:05,761 --> 00:38:08,460
again with his companions.
743
00:38:08,460 --> 00:38:10,550
He joins non-combatants and stragglers
744
00:38:10,550 --> 00:38:12,310
who have been waiting since the previous day
745
00:38:12,310 --> 00:38:15,077
to cross the bridge.
746
00:38:15,425 --> 00:38:18,486
One witness wrote, "Those who entered Russia
747
00:38:18,486 --> 00:38:21,259
to fight barbarism and introduce civilization
748
00:38:21,259 --> 00:38:24,299
are now nothing more than debris,
749
00:38:24,299 --> 00:38:27,098
pathetic ghosts."
750
00:38:28,427 --> 00:38:30,912
During the night of the 27th of November,
751
00:38:30,912 --> 00:38:33,493
something incredible happens.
752
00:38:33,493 --> 00:38:36,885
There's virtually nobody pushing to cross the bridge.
753
00:38:36,885 --> 00:38:39,295
The way across is clear.
754
00:38:39,295 --> 00:38:41,503
But an exhausted and feverish Bourgogne
755
00:38:41,503 --> 00:38:44,516
is asleep beside a fire.
756
00:38:50,879 --> 00:38:55,310
At dawn, he is woken by cannonfire.
757
00:38:58,451 --> 00:39:01,427
He then understands that to be in with a chance of survival,
758
00:39:01,427 --> 00:39:04,220
he absolutely must cross the bridge.
759
00:39:04,220 --> 00:39:08,673
Better die from a cannonball than from cold or hunger.
760
00:39:11,868 --> 00:39:14,204
At 7 A.M., completely alone,
761
00:39:14,204 --> 00:39:16,156
he gets up, takes his gun,
762
00:39:16,156 --> 00:39:18,161
and without saying a word to anyone,
763
00:39:18,161 --> 00:39:20,038
goes towards the bridge.
764
00:39:20,038 --> 00:39:23,259
His limbs are frozen, his bones as fragile as glass,
765
00:39:23,259 --> 00:39:26,250
making walking extremely difficult.
766
00:39:29,371 --> 00:39:31,696
Sergeant Bourgogne remembers,
767
00:39:31,696 --> 00:39:35,269
"I saw women demonstrating admirable courage,
768
00:39:35,269 --> 00:39:37,776
tolerating pain.
769
00:39:37,776 --> 00:39:39,514
Some even put men to shame,
770
00:39:39,514 --> 00:39:42,469
men who did not know how to tolerate adversity
771
00:39:42,469 --> 00:39:45,406
with bravery and resignation.
772
00:39:48,090 --> 00:39:53,090
I crossed the Borozino River on a totally deserted bridge.
773
00:39:58,510 --> 00:40:00,227
When I reached the other side,
774
00:40:00,227 --> 00:40:03,993
I saw on my right a large shack made from planks.
775
00:40:03,993 --> 00:40:06,776
It was there where the emperor had slept,
776
00:40:06,776 --> 00:40:09,042
and where he still was."
777
00:40:13,546 --> 00:40:17,588
Bourgogne reaches the west bank and joins his comrades,
778
00:40:17,588 --> 00:40:20,329
but little does he know that four hours later,
779
00:40:20,329 --> 00:40:23,715
the nightmare would begin all over again.
780
00:40:27,891 --> 00:40:29,427
On the same side of the river,
781
00:40:29,427 --> 00:40:33,054
General Chichikov and 27,000 men are swooping down
782
00:40:33,054 --> 00:40:35,123
on Udino's troops.
783
00:40:35,123 --> 00:40:36,509
The fight is a terrible one.
784
00:40:36,509 --> 00:40:38,141
Udino must remain in control
785
00:40:38,141 --> 00:40:40,115
of the western bank at all costs,
786
00:40:40,115 --> 00:40:42,700
it being a vital crossing point.
787
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:44,712
At the same moment, on the east bank,
788
00:40:44,712 --> 00:40:47,442
General Wittgenstein is leading 40,000 soldiers
789
00:40:47,442 --> 00:40:50,557
to attack Marshal Victor's 10,000 troops,
790
00:40:50,557 --> 00:40:53,340
As the rear guard has stayed near to Studyanka,
791
00:40:53,340 --> 00:40:55,894
Napoleon's army is trapped.
792
00:40:57,479 --> 00:40:59,612
It is panic on the eastern bank.
793
00:40:59,612 --> 00:41:01,660
In the middle of the fighting and cannonfire,
794
00:41:01,660 --> 00:41:03,910
thousands of stragglers and non-combatants
795
00:41:03,910 --> 00:41:06,118
who have been waiting for two days
796
00:41:06,118 --> 00:41:09,131
race pell mell onto the ramps leading to the bridges.
797
00:41:09,691 --> 00:41:11,505
Terrified men, women and children
798
00:41:11,505 --> 00:41:13,382
are shot down by cannonfire,
799
00:41:13,382 --> 00:41:15,430
trampled by horses, or fall
800
00:41:15,430 --> 00:41:17,621
from the slippery wooden structures.
801
00:41:19,067 --> 00:41:21,925
Grande Armee surgeon Baron de Laree remembers:
802
00:41:21,925 --> 00:41:24,762
"The horror was everywhere.
803
00:41:24,762 --> 00:41:26,821
The strongest killed the weakest,
804
00:41:26,821 --> 00:41:29,402
who were crushed beneath the feet of the crowd.
805
00:41:29,402 --> 00:41:33,167
The air was filled with terrible screams.
806
00:41:33,167 --> 00:41:34,980
A few managed to swim across,
807
00:41:34,980 --> 00:41:37,039
but others drowned, and more still
808
00:41:37,039 --> 00:41:40,051
were trapped by the floating blocks of ice."
809
00:41:43,353 --> 00:41:46,233
The ferocious fighting continues until 11 P.M.,
810
00:41:46,233 --> 00:41:48,260
to the sound of cannon and gunfire
811
00:41:48,260 --> 00:41:50,877
in a terrible snowstorm.
812
00:41:51,438 --> 00:41:54,595
At the end of one exhausting day, heavy with loss,
813
00:41:54,595 --> 00:41:56,408
the Russian armies are pushed back,
814
00:41:56,408 --> 00:42:00,136
and Napoleon controls both sides of the Berazina.
815
00:42:02,232 --> 00:42:05,624
At the Battle of Berazina, Napoleon took a decision
816
00:42:05,624 --> 00:42:07,042
as head of the army.
817
00:42:07,042 --> 00:42:09,197
It was the only option open to him.
818
00:42:09,197 --> 00:42:10,552
He wanted to save his army
819
00:42:10,552 --> 00:42:12,706
and continue his military campaign.
820
00:42:12,706 --> 00:42:14,615
The stragglers did not want to cross the bridges at night,
821
00:42:14,615 --> 00:42:16,002
and the Russians were coming,
822
00:42:16,002 --> 00:42:19,206
so he gave the order to burn the bridges.
823
00:42:20,834 --> 00:42:22,881
During the night, General Eblais urges
824
00:42:22,881 --> 00:42:25,015
the survivors on the east bank to cross
825
00:42:25,015 --> 00:42:28,326
the last bridge that could still be crossed.
826
00:42:28,662 --> 00:42:31,564
Eblais was a remarkable man.
827
00:42:31,564 --> 00:42:34,699
By that, I mean he was devoted to his cause,
828
00:42:34,699 --> 00:42:36,555
extremely devoted to the emperor,
829
00:42:36,555 --> 00:42:39,595
but at the same time, he was a deeply humane person,
830
00:42:39,595 --> 00:42:42,987
and when Napoleon gave him the order to burn the bridges,
831
00:42:42,987 --> 00:42:45,909
he knew very well what that meant.
832
00:42:45,909 --> 00:42:47,744
It meant that thousands of people would be left
833
00:42:47,744 --> 00:42:50,287
to the violence of the cossacks.
834
00:42:52,106 --> 00:42:55,594
The fatal command, burn the bridges.
835
00:42:55,594 --> 00:42:57,098
Seeing the cossacks approaching,
836
00:42:57,098 --> 00:42:59,189
General Eblais accepts that he must do it,
837
00:42:59,189 --> 00:43:01,412
but he is sick at heart.
838
00:43:09,364 --> 00:43:11,636
In the first flames, there is a mad scramble
839
00:43:11,636 --> 00:43:13,289
to cross the bridge.
840
00:43:13,289 --> 00:43:17,112
The stragglers are running all over the place.
841
00:43:24,990 --> 00:43:27,357
A disordered and confused crowd of people
842
00:43:27,357 --> 00:43:29,160
stumbles around.
843
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,421
12,000 stragglers and non-combatants
844
00:43:31,421 --> 00:43:33,394
and around 3,000 fighters
845
00:43:33,394 --> 00:43:36,450
are desperately fighting to survive.
846
00:43:41,469 --> 00:43:44,327
As seen by the powerless spectators on the right bank,
847
00:43:44,327 --> 00:43:47,553
this is a spectacle of horror and suffering.
848
00:43:47,836 --> 00:43:50,247
It's a free-for-all, these unfortunate souls
849
00:43:50,247 --> 00:43:52,081
caught between two evils,
850
00:43:52,081 --> 00:43:54,780
cornered by the cossacks who are not giving an inch,
851
00:43:54,780 --> 00:43:57,504
and trapped by the flaming bridges.
852
00:43:58,257 --> 00:44:01,685
There is no way forward and no way back.
853
00:44:05,574 --> 00:44:08,490
In the rush, the bridge collapses.
854
00:44:17,552 --> 00:44:20,506
Men, women and children are consumed
855
00:44:20,506 --> 00:44:24,095
by flames or drowned in the icy water.
856
00:44:26,351 --> 00:44:29,252
The death toll is catastrophic.
857
00:44:29,252 --> 00:44:32,286
Kutuzov missed his chance at the Berazina.
858
00:44:33,177 --> 00:44:37,177
7,000 of Napoleon's soldiers and 2,000 of his officers,
859
00:44:37,177 --> 00:44:39,545
his imperial guard, his marshals, and his high command
860
00:44:39,545 --> 00:44:44,545
manage to escape three Russian armies of many more men.
861
00:44:47,203 --> 00:44:48,600
Napoleon had lost no battles,
862
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,448
but he had lost his entire campaign.
863
00:44:51,448 --> 00:44:53,261
More than 600,000 were gone,
864
00:44:53,261 --> 00:44:55,917
either dead or taken prisoner in Russia.
865
00:44:55,917 --> 00:44:58,322
That was the result of this campaign.
866
00:44:59,949 --> 00:45:02,532
In fact, for the Russians, the Battle of Berazina
867
00:45:02,532 --> 00:45:03,929
was a failure,
868
00:45:03,929 --> 00:45:06,056
because they wanted to capture Napoleon.
869
00:45:06,404 --> 00:45:09,177
The Battle of the Berazina is both a disaster
870
00:45:09,177 --> 00:45:12,142
for the French army and a victory,
871
00:45:12,142 --> 00:45:14,169
indeed, in many ways, its proudest moment.
872
00:45:14,169 --> 00:45:18,856
Of course, thousands of French soldiers die at the Berazina,
873
00:45:19,854 --> 00:45:21,965
but what really matters is that the core
874
00:45:21,965 --> 00:45:23,779
of the French army escapes,
875
00:45:23,779 --> 00:45:25,794
and by the core of the French army I mean
876
00:45:25,794 --> 00:45:28,482
its generals, its staff officers,
877
00:45:28,482 --> 00:45:31,661
its vital professional cadre.
878
00:45:31,661 --> 00:45:33,197
Napoleon was able to put together
879
00:45:33,197 --> 00:45:36,716
a very formidable new army in 1813.
880
00:45:36,716 --> 00:45:39,825
So, it was a French victory of a sort.
881
00:45:42,135 --> 00:45:45,292
On the 5th of November, day 48 of the retreat,
882
00:45:45,292 --> 00:45:47,212
Napoleon, who can no longer not knowing
883
00:45:47,212 --> 00:45:48,961
what is happening in the capitol,
884
00:45:48,961 --> 00:45:51,408
takes the decision to return to Paris.
885
00:45:52,044 --> 00:45:54,603
He orders Caulaincourt to accompany him.
886
00:45:54,603 --> 00:45:57,125
In ten days and ten nights, they reach Germany.
887
00:45:57,846 --> 00:45:59,798
After crossing the duchy of Warsaw,
888
00:45:59,798 --> 00:46:01,536
they stop over in Germany.
889
00:46:01,536 --> 00:46:03,915
Incognito, they hope.
890
00:46:03,915 --> 00:46:05,771
As soon as I'm back in Paris I'll reassure my people
891
00:46:05,771 --> 00:46:08,314
and explain to them the reasons for our battles.
892
00:46:11,637 --> 00:46:14,095
Caulaincourt.
893
00:46:20,138 --> 00:46:22,303
The events have proven you right, Caulaincourt,
894
00:46:22,303 --> 00:46:24,927
but I did not lead this campaign like some Don Quixote
895
00:46:24,927 --> 00:46:27,316
in search of adventures. No.
896
00:46:27,316 --> 00:46:30,238
The only difference between me and other sovereigns
897
00:46:30,238 --> 00:46:32,233
is that problems stand in their way,
898
00:46:32,233 --> 00:46:33,886
whereas I like to overcome them,
899
00:46:33,886 --> 00:46:35,742
especially when the rewards are grand and noble,
900
00:46:35,742 --> 00:46:38,110
worthy of me and the nation.
901
00:46:38,110 --> 00:46:39,902
If it hadn't been for the weather,
902
00:46:39,902 --> 00:46:42,680
the Russians would have capitulated.
903
00:46:43,571 --> 00:46:46,515
Look, our disasters were limited to a week.
904
00:46:46,515 --> 00:46:48,488
We stayed a week too long in Moscow,
905
00:46:48,488 --> 00:46:49,971
but nothing is over.
906
00:46:49,971 --> 00:46:50,792
We'll prove ourselves yet.
907
00:46:50,792 --> 00:46:51,623
Do you not think we should--
908
00:46:51,623 --> 00:46:53,842
I know what you think of me, Caulaincourt.
909
00:46:53,842 --> 00:46:55,368
But I have no more ambition.
910
00:46:55,368 --> 00:46:59,463
I'm too old for it. Believe me. I yearn to rest.
911
00:46:59,463 --> 00:47:02,817
But I want to finish my oeuvre.
912
00:47:08,999 --> 00:47:12,502
(speaking in foreign language)
913
00:47:38,448 --> 00:47:40,090
Convinced the innkeeper is deliberately
914
00:47:40,090 --> 00:47:41,413
holding them up,
915
00:47:41,413 --> 00:47:43,337
Caulaincourt fears an ambush.
916
00:47:43,599 --> 00:47:47,422
(speaking in foreign language)
917
00:48:07,555 --> 00:48:12,344
Three days later, Napoleon enters the Tourlouries.
918
00:48:12,344 --> 00:48:15,128
Meanwhile, the Grande Armee continues to beat a retreat
919
00:48:15,128 --> 00:48:18,264
through the snowy, marshy, and icy forests.
920
00:48:18,264 --> 00:48:19,710
Still pursued and harassed
921
00:48:19,710 --> 00:48:23,395
by the cossacks and Kutuzov's troops.
922
00:48:24,115 --> 00:48:27,411
The French population had no doubts about Napoleon
923
00:48:27,411 --> 00:48:29,225
after 1812.
924
00:48:29,225 --> 00:48:32,030
In fact, it didn't doubt Napoleon right until the end,
925
00:48:32,030 --> 00:48:34,291
until 1814.
926
00:48:34,291 --> 00:48:35,731
This is in part down to Napoleon
927
00:48:35,731 --> 00:48:37,277
being relatively popular.
928
00:48:37,277 --> 00:48:39,347
He was extremely popular, even,
929
00:48:39,347 --> 00:48:42,578
but in particular, the people really trusted him.
930
00:48:42,578 --> 00:48:44,552
He was, after all, a man who had spent
931
00:48:44,552 --> 00:48:46,685
the last twelve years winning every battle
932
00:48:46,685 --> 00:48:47,965
he fought.
933
00:48:47,965 --> 00:48:49,543
So, people thought that in Russia,
934
00:48:49,543 --> 00:48:50,965
he'd slipped up because of the winter,
935
00:48:50,965 --> 00:48:53,877
despite it not only being down to the winter,
936
00:48:53,877 --> 00:48:56,218
and that the emperor would fix everything.
937
00:49:00,074 --> 00:49:01,727
The Russia campaign marked the start
938
00:49:01,727 --> 00:49:04,351
of the decline of the First Empire.
939
00:49:08,585 --> 00:49:09,963
Two years later, the English
940
00:49:09,963 --> 00:49:11,904
would win the battle of Waterloo,
941
00:49:11,904 --> 00:49:15,780
and France would be reduced to its pre-1790 frontiers.
942
00:49:22,655 --> 00:49:25,556
However, it was the start of a new era for Russia,
943
00:49:25,556 --> 00:49:28,878
which found a new place as a major global power.
944
00:49:30,857 --> 00:49:32,692
A year later and this patriotic war
945
00:49:32,692 --> 00:49:35,433
had helped Russia forge a national identity,
946
00:49:35,433 --> 00:49:38,819
that was celebrated by writers and musicians alike.
947
00:49:41,524 --> 00:49:42,644
Being used to success
948
00:49:42,644 --> 00:49:44,756
cost us dear in Russia.
949
00:49:44,756 --> 00:49:47,476
We had never learned to beat a retreat.
950
00:49:50,766 --> 00:49:52,403
During this long debacle,
951
00:49:52,403 --> 00:49:55,230
the emperor was as unsure and undecided on the first day
952
00:49:55,230 --> 00:49:57,453
as he was on the last.
953
00:49:59,368 --> 00:50:01,683
Fate had so often smiled upon him
954
00:50:01,683 --> 00:50:03,101
that he was never able to believe
955
00:50:03,101 --> 00:50:04,887
it might betray him.
956
00:50:06,515 --> 00:50:07,752
If you count the survivors
957
00:50:07,752 --> 00:50:09,330
from the Battle of the Berazina,
958
00:50:09,330 --> 00:50:11,325
and the troops stationed in Lithuania,
959
00:50:11,325 --> 00:50:14,519
fewer than 30,000 cross back over the Nieman River.
960
00:50:15,527 --> 00:50:19,169
30,000 out of 500,000 six months earlier.
961
00:50:19,772 --> 00:50:22,215
More than 200,000 soldiers from the Grande Armee
962
00:50:22,215 --> 00:50:24,465
died in combat, from the cold,
963
00:50:24,465 --> 00:50:26,443
from hunger, or from sickness.
964
00:50:26,727 --> 00:50:30,112
More than 150,000 were taken prisoner.
965
00:50:30,364 --> 00:50:31,580
On the Russian side,
966
00:50:31,580 --> 00:50:34,150
the losses were set at 300,000 dead,
967
00:50:34,150 --> 00:50:36,427
half of whom were killed in combat.
968
00:50:39,867 --> 00:50:42,982
Sergeant Bourgogne remembers,
969
00:50:42,982 --> 00:50:45,328
"The Battle of the Berazina was not the end
970
00:50:45,328 --> 00:50:47,419
of our struggle.
971
00:50:47,419 --> 00:50:50,576
I was taken prisoner a short time later.
972
00:50:50,576 --> 00:50:52,453
The Russians decided to send us east,
973
00:50:52,453 --> 00:50:55,151
towards Siberia.
974
00:50:55,151 --> 00:50:57,242
My unlucky companions thought it better
975
00:50:57,242 --> 00:50:59,887
to be held captive and fed potatoes
976
00:50:59,887 --> 00:51:03,966
than to die free men from cold or hunger on the march.
977
00:51:09,359 --> 00:51:10,799
But I pointed out to them
978
00:51:10,799 --> 00:51:14,248
that it would be much better to escape their clutches.
979
00:51:16,953 --> 00:51:21,075
Several thousand of us died before reaching Siberia.
980
00:51:22,734 --> 00:51:24,686
Other accepted the czar's offer
981
00:51:24,686 --> 00:51:26,126
to take Russian nationality
982
00:51:26,126 --> 00:51:29,597
and settle in this land they had been asked to conquer.
983
00:51:32,482 --> 00:51:35,896
As for me, I eventually managed to escape,
984
00:51:38,969 --> 00:51:43,880
and in the spring of 1813 I arrived back in France.
74638
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