The Chesterfield Advertiser

THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS
ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE

Napoleon Bonaparte
(Part III)

For years Europe crouched cringing and helpless at Napoleon's feet. The British bulldog snarled unconquered defiance and the Man of Destiny was wise enough to leave Great Britain alone. So England continued to stand as the one obstacle between the Corsican and the rule of the whole world. Yet Europe, though cowed, waited patiently for a chance to avenge itself of its tyrant. And that chance came in 1812.

Russia broke certain clauses in her treaty with France, and in May, 1812, Napoleon declared war on her. With 600,000 men he began his invasion. Barely 300,000 Russians opposed the advancing French hosts, but their tactics were unexpected. Avoiding a general engagement wherever possible, the Russians continually fell back before Napoleon's advance, wasting the country they passed through so that the pursuing French found neither provisions nor fuel.

Now and then—at Borodino and elsewhere—the French caught up with their teeing enemies and won decisive victories, though at great cost. Following out tactics similar to those he had used so successfully against Prussia and Austria, Napoleon struck straight at Russia's heart by marching on Moscow. He arrived there on September 15, to find the city deserted and in flames. The patriotic Russians had sacrificed home, property and wealth in order to block the advance and mar the conquest of their hated foe. Napoleon could pursue the retreating patriots no further over a desolate territory. His mighty army of 700,000 had dwindled to 120,000. So he ordered a retreat.

The merciless northern winter was setting in. The country was stripped of provisions. Bands of mounted Cossacks harassed the diseased, starving, half-frozen soldiers. Of all the vast army of invasion barely 25,000 reached France alive. Napoleon had, long before this, left his army, hurried to Paris and ordered a conscription of recruits to press the war. But his luck was gone. The 'chance' for which ten beaten nations had waited so long had at last come. The climber had stumbled. The invincible general had been beaten. France's unbroken triumph had been turned into defeat. All Europe was roused. The Russian disaster had proven that Napoleon was only mortal. His name lost its terror.

An alliance was formed by Russia, England, Prussia, Sweden and Spain, and in 1813 they massed an army near the Elbe. Napoleon had 350,000 soldiers in Germany. For months he beat the allies in battle after battle, and at last forced them to a truce. They took advantage of this armistice to persuade Austria to join their league. Then at the truce's end, the united armies concentrated at Dresden. There he again routed them. But Napoleon's army was so weakened by the campaign that he was forced to fall back on Leipzig, where the allies hemmed him in. And there, in October, 1813, 'the Battle of the Nations' was fought. Napoleon was beaten. Refusing to see that his star had set, he returned to Paris and ordered 300,000 recruits raised.

The allies entered France, and there a second campaign—this time on French soil—was waged. From January to March, 1814, Napoleon once more beat the invaders at every point. But Wellington, with an English army, was advancing on Paris from the south, and force of numbers proved too much for the Corsican.

The veterans who had won him so many victories were dead. Their places were taken by raw recruits. His best generals, too, were gone. The men to whom his name had been a slogan of success were replaced by a generation weary of war. On March 30 Paris was captured by the allies, and the populace hailed the invading armies as deliverers. Talleyrand, Fouche and other diplomats made great by Napoleon, deserted him and went over to the enemy.

France was worn out. For 17 years Napoleon had paralyzed trade and home life by dragging off to war the young men of the nation. Taxes had been heavy. Coming as it did on top of the horrors of the revolution, Napoleon's rule had nearly wrecked the country. For over a decade he had turned all Europe into an armed camp; had changed pastures into battle fields; had sacked and devastated populous districts, and slain hundreds of thousands of men who should have been helping their countries' progress. With iron hand he had swayed the destinies of the continent, changed its map and crushed patriotism and national independence everywhere save in France. Europe loathed him; France was tired of him and tired of fighting.

The emperor had sense enough to see this, and abdicated in favor of his son. This compromise the allies would not accept. They packed their former conqueror off to exile on the Island of Elba and installed Louis XVIII (younger brother of the beheaded Louis XVI) on the French throne. Then Europe rested from its long era of terror and bloodshed.

But the respite was brief. The most dramatic events in the Corsican's career were still to be enacted.