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Napoleon's goal was to get around Kutuzov, but on the 24th he was stopped at Maloyaroslavets on his way to Medyn and forced to go north on the 26th. After the Battle of Maloyaroslavets , fought with a 1:1 ratio of French and Russian soldiers, Napoleon decided to avoid a decisive battle and marched north via Mozhaisk to Smolensk into a higher ...
A week of close escapes on the part of the Russian army followed. Napoleon and Kutuzov even slept on the same bed in the manor of Bolshiye Vyazyomy just one night apart, as the French chased the Russians down. Napoleon and his army entered Moscow on 14 September. To Napoleon's surprise, Kutuzov had abandoned the city, and it fell without a fight.
Napoleon realized that to capitalize on the success at Ulm, he had to force the Allies to battle and then defeat them. [59] On the Russian side, Kutuzov also realized Napoleon needed to do battle, so instead of clinging to the "suicidal" Austrian defense plan, Kutuzov decided to retreat.
Kutuzov "escorted" Napoleon on the more southern roads with better supply of food and shelter, securing the south against the French army. The next battle for Kutuzov was the Battle of Krasnoi on 15 November 1812. [15] The last battle in this campaign for Napoleon was the Battle of Berezina on 26–29 November 1812.
Napoleon fought against General Mikhail Kutuzov, whom the Emperor Alexander I of Russia had appointed to replace Barclay de Tolly on 29 August [O.S. 17 August] 1812 after the Battle of Smolensk. After the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon remained on the battlefield with his army; the Imperial Russian forces retreated in an orderly fashion southwards.
The military machine Napoleon the artilleryman had created was perfectly suited to fight short, violent campaigns, but whenever a long-term sustained effort was in the offing, it tended to expose feet of clay. [...] In the end, the logistics of the French military machine proved wholly inadequate. The experiences of short campaigns had left the French supply services completed unprepared for ...
Before leaving Moscow, Count Rostopchin supposedly gave orders to the head of police (and released convicts) to have the Kremlin and major public buildings (including churches and monasteries) set on fire. During the following days, the fires spread. According to Germaine de Staël, who left the city a few weeks before Napoleon arrived, and afterward corresponded with Kutuzov, it was ...
Having lost contact with Kutuzov over the past two weeks, Napoleon mistakenly assumed that the Russian army had suffered equally due to harsh conditions and was a couple of days behind. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] Underestimating the potential for a Kutuzov-led offensive, Napoleon made the tactical blunder of resuming his retreat.