At the end of June 1812, the 220 thousandth army of Napoleonic France crossed the Neman River and invaded the territory of Russia. Thus began the war, which went down in history as the Patriotic War of 1812.
Start of war
The main causes of the war were: the policy of Napoleon, which he pursued in Europe, not taking into account the interests of Russia and the reluctance of the latter to tighten the continental blockade of Great Britain. Bonaparte himself preferred to call this war the Second Polish War or the “Russian Company”, since he considered the main goal of the military invasion to be the revival of the Polish independent state. In addition, Russia demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Prussia, who were there contrary to the Treaty of Tilsit, and 2 times rejected Napoleon's proposals for marriages with Russian princes.
After the invasion, the French quickly enough, from June to September 1812, managed to advance deep into the territory of Russia. The Russian army with fights retreated to Moscow itself, giving the famous Borodino battle on the outskirts of the capital.
