The invasion of Russia clearly and dramatically…
June 1812 CE
Napoleon and the Grande Armée have developed a proclivity for living off the land that had served it well in the densely populated and agriculturally rich central Europe with its dense network of roads.
Rapid forced marches had dazed and confused old-order Austrian and Prussian armies and much had been made of the use of foraging.
In Russia, many of the Grande Armée's methods of operation will work against it, and they will be additionally seriously handicapped by the lack of winter horse shoes, which will make it impossible for the horses to obtain traction on snow and ice.
Forced marches will often make troops do without supplies as the supply wagons struggle to keep up.
Lack of food and water in thinly populated, much less agriculturally dense regions will lead to the death of troops and their mounts by exposing them to waterborne diseases from drinking from mud puddles and eating rotten food and forage.
The front of the army will receive whatever can be provided while the formations behind will starve.
Napoleon makes extensive preparations providing for the provisioning of his army.
The French supply effort is far greater than in any of the previous campaigns.
Twenty train battalions, comprising seven thousand eight hundred and forty-eight vehicles, are to provide a forty-day supply for the Grande Armée and its operations, and a large system of magazines is established in towns and cities in Poland and East Prussia.
Napoleon has studied Russian geography and the history of Charles XII's invasion of 1708–1709 and understands the need to bring forward as many supplies as possible.
The French army already had previous experience of operating in the lightly populated and underdeveloped conditions of Poland and East Prussia during the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806–1807.
People
Groups
Austria, Archduchy of
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Denmark-Norway, Kingdom of
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Portugal, Bragança Kingdom of
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Russian Empire
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Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
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Switzerland
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France, (first) Empire of
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Italy, Bonapartist Kingdom of
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Naples, Bonapartist Kingdom of
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Rhine, Confederation of the (Rhine Confederation)
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Warsaw, Duchy of
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Spain, Bonapartist Kingdom of
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