Description:

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
(1769 - 1821) The 'Little Corporal' whose brilliance in the field of battle and as Emperor of France has made him perhaps the most important figure of post-Renaissance Europe. NAPOLEON ISSUES ORDERS FROM MOSCOW. Important, historical content manuscript L.S. 'Napol', 2pp. 8vo., Moscow, Oct. 9, 1812, to Marshal LOUIS-ALEXANDRE BERTHIER (1753-1815), his chief of staff. In part: '...My cousin, I gave you the order on September 11 to bring the Heudelet division into Swedish Pomerania and Mecklenburg, the 32nd military division being guarded by 12 cohorts of National Guards. The Morand division which was in Swedish Pomerania...received the order to go to Danzig...Write to the Duke of Castiglione [Marshall Charles-Pierre Augereau, 1757-1816] to ask him why he has not yet reported on the execution of this order. In the same letter warn the Duke of Castiglione that the Grenier division, with 18 battalions and a cavalry regiment, forming a total of 18,000...will go to Berlin during December, which may put me able to call the Heudelet division or the Lagrange division, on the Vistula...It is therefore appropriate that the Duke of Castiglione applies himself to putting his troops in good condition; let him even write to France so that all the battalions are completed by 800 hours. To interest the Duke of Castiglione, you will tell him that perhaps he and his army corps will be called up for the next campaign, if his troops are in good condition....'. Very good to fine condition. A revealing letter for the student of Napoleon and military tactician, the start of many blunders that would lead to the defeat of the Grande Armee and Napoleon's ultimate ruin. Instead of concentrating his forces for a decisive showdown with the enemy's main force in Prussia, as evidenced here, Napoleon repeatedly detached large numbers of troops under ineffective commanders to capture the Prussian capital of Berlin. The heavy losses and strategic reverses sustained by the French in these questionable undertakings left Napoleon's Grande Armee vulnerable to the massive Allied coalition that would confront him at Leipzig almost exactly one year from the writing of this letter. Napoleon also chastises Augereau, whom as it turns out would miss the German campaign in spring 1813 due to illness. Before the Battle of Leipzig in October, Napoleon would again reproach him, almost accusing him of cowardice. Heudelet would be taken prisoner at Danzig, and it would be only Charles-Antoine Morand who, having distinguished himself at Moscow, would garner further honors in the German Campaign of 1813. As for Napoleon himself, on September 14, 1812, Napoleon's army had advanced into Moscow. Forty-eight hours later, three quarters of Moscow was reduced to ashes by arson. It was impossible to adequately provision the Grande Armee in a burnt city, with guerrilla warfare by the Cossacks against French supplies and a total war by the peasants against foraging. The campaign to take Saint Petersburg, Russia's official capital, was out of the question as winter was closing in. The main French army's combat effectiveness had been further reduced by lack of discipline and idleness. Nine days after this letter was written, on 18 October, General Bennigsen's Russian force defeated Murat's French force at the Chernishna River in, the Battle of Tarutino. The Second Battle of Polotsk saw another French defeat. Finally, with little other recourse available, on October 19, the main French army began what would become its long and tragic retreat to the west. This excessively rare letter from Moscow vividly depicts Napoleon's epic determination to achieve his expansive military dreams...on the very eve of his tragic downfall.

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August 16, 2024 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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