The Campaign of 1812
Описание книги
This is a rare objective example of the war record created by the eye-witness. The value of this work is enormous, as the author, General von Clausewitz, was neither French nor Russian himself, therefore as free from national sentiments. The book gives an accurate and scientific record of all events from the arrival to Wilna campaign start to the Battle of Borodino and further retreat. You will also read about the most prominent personalities of the time, like Napoleon Buonaparte, Kutuzov, Ouspensky, Czar Alexander, and others. An author gives a deep strategic-level historical, political, and social analysis of events of the French campaign. For example, he touches upon the burning of Moscow, whether it was necessary, and what would be the consequences if the city had been preserved. Clausewitz tries to analyze other scenarios for Napoleon's retreat. Was it possible for him to save his army, and what factors did a great leader miss? Generally, «The Campaign of 1812» is a valuable source of rare information and analysis on one of the most crucial war campaigns in the history of humanity.
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Carl von Clausewitz. The Campaign of 1812
The Campaign of 1812
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL AT WILNA. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. CAMP OF DRISSA
CHAPTER II. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE INCIDENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812 IN RUSSIA
Part I
Part II
Review of the Losses of the French Army of the Centre on the Advance and Retreat
The Retreat
CHAPTER III. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN
APPENDIX
Отрывок из книги
Carl Von Clausewitz
Translated by Francis Egerton
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The fortified position of Drissa had therefore remained a mere idea—an abstraction, for not one of all its essential requisites was forthcoming. A slight curve upon a plain surface, surrounded with wood at the distance of 800 paces, and leaning on either side on a fordable river, is a bad field of battle. A point, moreover, which does not lie on the direct line of retreat, but is tom out of the system of operations, and left to itself, which leans neither on the sea, nor on a fortress, nor even on a town, properly so called (Drissa is a wooden village, and lay not directly behind the camp, but sideways, and beyond the system of defence)—such a point is indeed anything but one of strategical value.
We cannot, however, lay on Lieutenant-Colonel Wolzogen the blame of these defects. General Phull had prescribed the ground to him; and in this part of Lithuania we must thank God if we find a space vacant in the forest large enough for us to draw up in it a considerable body of men.
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