Russia Against Napoleon (104 page)

30 Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Pokhod
, no. 300, Diebitsch’s account of the battle of Leipzig, 1813, pp. 360–81, at pp. 363–5.

31 Cathcart,
Commentaries
, pp. 306–7.

32 Ibid., pp. 307–8.

33 Ibid., p. 308; P. Pototskii,
Istoriia gvardeiskoi artillerii
, SPB, 1896, pp. 271–2; A. Mikaberidze,
The Russian Officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,
1795–1815, Staplehurst, 2005, p. 382.

34 Bogdanovich,
Istoriia
…1813, p. 460; Pototskii,
Istoriia gvardeiskoi artillerii
, pp. 270–73. Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Pokhod
, no. 299, Sukhozhanet to Iashvili, 29 Dec. 1813/10 Jan. 1814, pp. 358–60; no. 300, Diebitsch’s account of Leipzig, 1813, pp. 365–7.

35 ‘Vospominaniia Matveia Matveevicha Muromtseva’,
RA
, 27/3, 1890, pp. 366–94, at p. 378.

36
Dnevnik Pavla Pushchina
, Leningrad, 1987, p. 128.

37 S. Gulevich,
Istoriia leib gvardii Finliandskago polka
1806–1906, SPB, 1896, pp. 303–13;
Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka za sto let
1796–1896, SPB, 1906, pp. 144–50; Griois,
Mémoires
, pp. 202–3.

38 Gulevich,
Istoriia leib gvardii Finliandskago polka
, pp. 312–15.

39 ‘Zapiski soldata Pamfila Nazarova’,
RS
, 9/8, 1878, pp. 536–7.

40 There is a good description of Vasilchikov’s attack in Smith,
Leipzig
, pp. 166–8.

41 Hoen,
Feldzug von Leipzig
, pp. 619–27.

42 D. V. Dushenkovich, ‘Iz moikh vospominanii ot 1812 goda’, in 1812
god v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov
, Moscow, 1995, pp. 124–6.

43 Langeron,
Mémoires
, p. 330.

44 Ibid., pp. 326–34; Radozhitskii,
Pokhodnyia zapiski
, vol. 2, pp. 269–74.

45 Bogdanovich,
Istoriia
…1813, vol. 2, pp. 550–51.

46 On the 39th Jaegers, see RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Ed. Khr. 1802,
passim
, but also Sacken’s reports after the fall of Czenstochowa (RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3403, fos. 8ii–9i: Sacken to Kutuzov, 25 March 1813 (OS)) and the battle of Leipzig; Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Pokhod
, no. 293, pp. 349–51: Sacken to Barclay, 18/30 Oct. 1813.

47 See RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Delo 1855, fos. 2 ff., for the 45th Jaegers (‘Spisok…45go Egerskago polka’ dated 1 July 1813) and Delo 1794, fos. 2 ff., for the 29th Jaegers (‘29-go egerskago polka…o sluzhbe ikh i po prochim’, dated 1 Jan. 1814). Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Pokhod
, no. 300, Diebitsch’s account, pp. 379–82; Langeron,
Mémoires
, p. 343.

48 Smith,
Leipzig
, p. 272, on attempts to shift responsibility.

49 On allied losses, see e.g. Smith,
Leipzig
, p. 298; on French statistics, see J. Tulard (ed.),
Dictionnaire Napoléon
, Paris, 1987, p. 354; on lost guns, see Hoen,
Feldzug von Leipzig
, pp. 652–4.

Chapter 13: The Invasion of France

1 F. Martens (ed.),
Sobranie traktatov i konventsii, zakliuchennykh Rossiei s inostrannymi derzhavami
, vol. 3:
Traktaty s Avstrieiu
, SPB, 1876, no. 70, pp. 111–26, and vol. 7:
Traktaty s Germeniei
1811–1824, SPB, 1885, no. 259, pp. 96–112, for Russia’s treaties with Austria and Prussia. The Austro-Prussian treaty was identical.

2 See e.g. a letter from Count Münster, the Hanoverian statesman, to the Prince Regent (the future George IV of Britain) about the arguments over military and diplomatic policy towards France in January: ‘The main factor in all these disagreements is that Russia has not stated how far it wishes to extend its borders in Poland.’ A. Fournier,
Der Congress von Chatillon: Die Politik im Kriege von
1814, Vienna, 1900, sect. IV, no. 1, Münster to Prince Regent, 30 January 1814, pp. 295–6.

3 There is a large literature even in English about Metternich and his policies. The two great pillars of this literature are Paul W. Schroeder,
The Transformation of European Politics
1763–1848, Oxford, 1994, and Henry Kissinger,
A World Restored
, London, 1957. Schroeder’s book in particular is a splendid piece of scholarship. Alan Sked punctures some of the more elevated interpretations of Metternich’s ‘system’ in
Metternich and Austria
, London, 2008. As regards this book’s focus, in other words Metternich’s role in Napoleon’s overthrow, I have some sympathy with his scepticism.

4 On Knesebeck’s views, see R. von Friederich,
Die Befreiungskriege
1813–1815, vol. 3:
Der Feldzug
1814, Berlin, 1913, pp. 81–2.

5 Baron Karl von Müffling,
The Memoirs of Baron von Müffling: A Prussian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars
, London, 1967, pp. 92–3, 100–101, 418–19.

6 On Frederick William, see Chapter 9, n. 18.

7 Fournier,
Congress
, p. 10. Paul Schroeder tries to defend Aberdeen, not altogether convincingly, in ‘An Unnatural “Natural Alliance”: Castlereagh, Metternich, and Aberdeen in 1813’,
International History Review
, 10/4, Nov. 1988, pp. 522–40.
VPR
, 7, no. 191, Alexander’s instructions to Lieven and Pozzo di Borgo, 6 Dec. 1813, pp. 492–500.

8 N. A. M. Rodger,
The Command of the Ocean
, London, 2004, pp. 572–3, sets out the elements of British power.

9
VPR
, 7, no. 249, Dubachevsky to Rumiantsev, 2 April 1814, pp. 230–37.

10 Castlereagh’s statement is in a key letter to Aberdeen on British war aims, dated 13 November 1813. See Marquess of Londonderry (ed.),
Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh
, 12 vols., vol. 9, London, 1853, pp. 73–6.

11
VPR
, 7, no. 180, n.d. but not later than 20 Nov. 1813: Chernyshev to Alexander, pp. 447–51.

12
VPR
, 7, no. 171, Gurev to Nesselrode, 3 Nov. 1813, pp. 429–31; N. Kiselev and I. Iu. Samarin (eds.),
Zapiski, mneniia i perepiska Admirala A. S. Shishkova
, 2 vols., Berlin, 1870; A. de Jomini,
Précis politique et militaire des campagnes de 1812 à 1814
, 2 vols. in 1, Geneva, 1975, vol. 2, pp. 231–2; Fournier,
Congress
, annex VI, Hardenberg’s diary, 27 Feb. 1814, p. 364.

13
VPR
, 7, no. 197, Nesselrode to Gurev, 19 Dec. 1813, pp. 512–14. Count A. de Nesselrode (ed.),
Lettres et papiers du Chancelier Comte de Nesselrode
1760–1850, Paris, n.d., vol. 6, pp. 152–3: Nesselrode to his wife, 16 Jan. 1814.

14
SIRIO
, 31, 1881, pp. 301–3: ‘Memoire présenté par le comte de Nesselrode sur les affaires de Pologne’.

15
VPR
, 7, no. 207, Nesselrode to Alexander, 9 Jan. 1814, pp. 539–41.

16
Nesselrode
, vol. 6, pp. 161–3, Nesselrode to his wife, 28 Feb. 1814; Countess Nesselrode to her husband, 9 April 1814, pp. 188–90.
Castlereagh
, vol. 9, Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool, 30 Jan. 1814, pp. 212–14.

17 See Baron Hardenberg’s comments in his diary entry for 27 Feb.: Fournier,
Congress
, p. 364.

18
Castlereagh
, vol. 9, Stewart to Castlereagh, 30 March 1814, pp. 412–13.

19 Fournier,
Congress
, Metternich to Hudelist, 9 Nov. 1813, p. 242.

20 The manifesto is reproduced in Baron Fain,
Manuscrit de Mil Huit Cent Quatorze
, Paris, 1825: no. 5, pp. 60–61.

21 Fournier,
Congress
, p. 8, mentions the agreement between Alexander and Metternich in Meiningen. Fain,
Manuscrit de Mil Huit Cent Quatorze
, nos. 1 and 2, pp. 49–56, gives Saint-Aignan’s report to Napoleon and his memorandum stating the allied terms.

22 On Alexander’s innermost thoughts, see ‘Grafinia Roksandra Skarlatovna Edling: Zapiski’, in A. Libermann (ed.),
Derzhavnyi sfinks
, Moscow, 1999, p. 181;
SIRIO
, 31, 1881: ‘Considérations générales sur la politique du Cabinet de Russie à la fin de la Campagne de 1813’, pp. 343–5. For Castlereagh’s very measured subsequent ‘advice’ to Aberdeen, see
Castlereagh
, vol. 9, Castlereagh to Aberdeen, 30 Nov. 1813, pp. 73–6.

23 Fain,
Manuscrit de Mil Huit Cent Quatorze
, no. 5, pp. 60–61.

24 Benckendorff’s own account is in
Zapiski Benkendorfa,
1812
god: Otechestvennaia voina.
1813
god. Osvobozhdenie Niderlandov
, Moscow, 2001, pp. 205–38. On the jaegers, see V. V. Rantsov,
Istoriia 96-go pekhotnago Omskago polka
, SPB, 1902, pp. 187–90. The French comment is by Captain Koch in
Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de la campagne de
1814, 3 vols., Paris, 1819, vol. 1, p. 69.

25 The fullest recent study of events in the Netherlands is M. V. Leggiere,
The Fall of Napoleon: The Allied Invasion of France
1813–1814, Cambridge, 2008, pp. 100–104, 145–87. For the background to the revolt, see Simon Schama,
Patriots and Liberators
, London, 2005.

26 See e.g. Friederich,
Feldzug
, pp. 6–10.

27
VPR
, 7, no. 172, Barclay to Alexander, 9 Nov. 1813, pp. 431–3. For Blücher, see e.g. his report to Alexander of 23 Nov.: RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3915, fos. 121–2. The historian of the Riazan Regiment wrote that ‘the storming of Schönefeld had weakened the regiment and the march to the Rhine almost destroyed it’: I. I. Shelengovskii,
Istoriia 69-go Riazanskago polka
, 3 vols., Lublin, 1911, vol. 2, p. 246.

28 For most of these statistics, see M. I. Bogdanovich,
Istoriia voiny
1814
goda vo Frantsii
, 2 vols., SPB, 1865, vol. 1, pp. 35–40, 48–9. He states that 45 squadrons had arrived by

27 December from Lobanov but 18 more were on the way, and in fact still more arrived subsequently. See e.g. Lobanov’s report to Alexander of 15 Nov. 1813 (OS) in RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 1, Delo 148, fos. 44–7.

29 S. Panchulidzev,
Istoriia kavalergardov
, SPB, 1903, vol. 3, p. 433. Barclay reported to Alexander that of the 6,250 men on the rolls of the reserve units reaching Wittgenstein, only 48 had been left behind in hospital en route:
MVUA
1813, 1, Barclay to Alexander, 22 Dec. 1813 (OS), p. 276.

30
MVUA
1813, 1, Barclay to Alexander, 30 Nov., 1 and 22 Dec. 1813 (OS), pp. 258–60, 276; Barclay to Army Corps GOCs, 21 Dec. 1813 (OS), p. 275. Bogdanovich,
Istoriia
…1814, vol. 1, p. 80.
SIM
, 4, no. 3, Alexander to Lobanov, 3 Jan. 1814 (OS), p. 3. On the general appearance of the line army in the 1814 campaign, see Il’ia Ul’ianov, ‘I eti nas pobedili’,
Rodina
, 8, 2002, pp. 74–8; Oleg Sheremet’ev, ‘Katat’ shineli, gospoda’,
Rodina
, 6, 2006, pp. 53–9.

31 Bogdanovich’s and Friederich’s histories of the 1814 campaign say something about this, but the key text is by Peter Graf von Kielmansegg,
Stein und die Zentralverwaltung 1813/14
, Stuttgart, 1964.

32 For Kutuzov’s comments, see Count de Puybusque,
Lettres sur la Guerre de Russie en
1812, Paris, 1816, pp. 153 ff., 18 Dec. 1812. For the fortresses, see a recent work by Paddy Griffith,
The Vauban Fortifications of France
, Oxford, 2006.

33 See e.g. Barclay’s report to Alexander of 9 Nov. 1813 (
VPR
, 7, no. 172, pp. 431–3), but also his letter to Kankrin of 29 Jan. 1814 (OS), in RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/210, Sv. 18, Delo 17, fo. 128.