ON 24 June 1812, against the warnings of his closest advisors, invaded Russia with a huge army of almost 600,000 soldiers and 50,000 horses. Napoleon had boasted he would defeat Russia in 20 days. Yet he failed miserably. The Russians retreated, following a scorched-earth policy, burning the countryside along the way. Napoleon鈥檚 soldiers found it harder and harder to forage for food, and they started to die from hunger, exhaustion and sickness: more than 5000 died each day. Within a few weeks, before any major battle, Napoleon had lost 100,000 men. What went wrong?
Napoleon鈥檚 disastrous Russian campaign is the subject of 鈥榮 new book. He focuses on and foiled Napoleon鈥檚 ambitions for Russia. He tells a gripping tale of man against microbe, set against the stark backdrop of one of history鈥檚 most notorious military campaigns.
Crown