Why was Napoleon defeated in Russia in 1812?

Napoleon was unable to conquer Russia in 1812 for several reasons.  Napoleons soldiers were not well disciplined.  They encountered disease and severe weather conditions that they were not prepared for.  Napoleons army also out ran its supply train.  The soldiers traveled at a much faster pace than the supply train.  Napoleon entered Russia with an army of over 500,000 men and approximately 50,000 horses.  His plan was to engage the Russians in battle and defeat them in 20 days.  Just in case it took longer his supply train had enough food for 30 days.

Napoleon soon learned Russia had very poor roads and this slowed them down.   He planned on his soldiers living off the land to supplement their food supply.  This did not happen.  The Russians did not help because as they retreated they destroyed everything Napoleons army could use.  Napoleons army soon became weak from lack of food.  Many of the soldiers started getting sick. The horses started suffering from lack of food.  The further the soldiers traveled in Russia the less there was for the horses to eat.  Over 10,000 horses died in the first month.

The soldiers became infested with lice and they came down with Typhus.  The soldiers also got diarrhea and dysentery.  It took Napoleon 3 months to get to Moscow and he had lost 200,000 soldiers.  Some had died and others were sick or exhausted and could not go on.

Napoleons commanders soon lost control of their soldiers.  The soldiers had to go long distances in search of food and some never came back to the camp.  Napoleons army soon became a mob that was out of control.  When Napoleons troops retreated in the fall it was a disaster.  The soldiers broke into supply warehouses and they destroyed more supplies than they used.

Napoleons army became more of an out of control mob than a fighting force.  In Smolensk the troops rioted and destroyed a warehouse and most of the food stored there.  In Berezina thousands of soldiers panicked when the Russians attacked them.  Over 10,000 soldiers were killed or captured when they tried to cross a bridge. 

The weather in Russia was not kind to Napoleon.  The French were not used to Russia’s type of weather conditions.  At first the weather was hot.  This made it a very miserable march to Moscow.  When Napoleons army started it was cold.  The temperature was below zero.  The weak started dying.  The food supplies ran out and the stronger soldiers began to get weak.  To make things worse the weather warmed up and the frozen roads thawed.  The rivers thawed and the soldiers had to build bridges in order to be able to cross them.  When the soldiers crossed into Poland there were less than 100,000 left.  This was 5 months after Napoleon started his march into Russia.

After Napoleons failure to conquer Russia his empire started to collapse.  England, Russia, Prussia and Austria banned together to fight the French.  In March of 1814 they captured Paris.  Napoleon gave up the throne in April of 1814.  Napoleon misjudged Russia and the determination of its people.  Napoleons march on Russia cost him his empire.

Article sources:

http://www.english.ruvr.rec/radio_braodcast/2249374/2317726.html

http://www.tristarmedia.com/bestofrussia/napoleon.html