The Patriotic War of 1812 is an important page in the history of not only our country, but the whole of Europe. Having entered a series of "Napoleonic wars", Russia acted as the protector of monarchical Europe. Thanks to the Russian victories over the French, the global revolution in Europe was delayed for some time.

The war between France and Russia was inevitable, and on June 12, 1812, having gathered an army of 600,000, Napoleon crossed the Neman and invaded Russia. The Russian army had a plan to counter Napoleon, which was developed by the Prussian military theorist Ful, and approved by Emperor Alexander I.

Ful divided the Russian armies into three groups:

• 1st commanded;
• 2nd;
• 3rd Tormasov.

Foul assumed that the armies would systematically retreat to fortified positions, unite, and hold back the onslaught of Napoleon. In practice, it was a disaster. Russian troops retreated, and soon the French were not far from Moscow. Ful's plan failed completely, despite the desperate resistance of the Russian people.

The current situation called for decisive action. So, on August 20, he took the post of commander-in-chief, who was one of the best students of the Great. During the war with France, Kutuzov will utter an interesting phrase: "To save Russia, you must burn Moscow."

Russian troops will give a general battle to the French near the village of Borodino. There was a Great Slash, which received the name. No one came out as a winner. The battle was fierce, with an abundance of casualties on both sides. A few days later, at a military council in Fili, Kutuzov will decide to retreat. On September 2, the French entered Moscow. Napoleon hoped that the Muscovites would bring him the key to the city. No matter how… Deserted Moscow met Napoleon not at all solemnly. The city burned down, barns with provisions and ammunition burned down.

Entering Moscow was fatal for Napoleon. He didn't really know what to do next. The French army every day, every night, was pestered by partisans. The War of 1812 was truly Patriotic. In the Army of Napoleon, confusion and vacillation began, discipline was broken, the soldiers got drunk. Napoleon stayed in Moscow until October 7, 1812. The French army decided to retreat to the south, to the grain, not devastated by the war region.

The Russian army gave battle to the French at Maloyaroslavets. The city was mired in fierce fighting, but the French faltered. Napoleon was forced to retreat along the Old Smolensk road, the very one along which he had come. The battles near Vyazma, Krasnoye and at the crossing over the Berezina put an end to the Napoleonic intervention. The Russian army drove the enemy from their land. On December 23, 1812, Alexander I issued a manifesto on the end of the Patriotic War. The Patriotic War of 1812 ended, but the campaign of the Napoleonic Wars was only in full swing. The fighting continued until 1814.

The Patriotic War of 1812 is an important event in Russian history. The war caused an unprecedented surge of national self-consciousness among the Russian people. Everyone defended their Fatherland, from young to old. By winning this war, the Russian people confirmed their courage and heroism, showed an example of self-sacrifice for the good of the Motherland. The war gave us many people whose names will be forever inscribed in Russian history, these are Mikhail Kutuzov, Dokhturov, Raevsky, Tormasov, Bagration, Seslavin, Gorchakov, Barclay De Tolly,. And how many more unknown heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, how many forgotten names. The Patriotic War of 1812 is a great event, the lessons of which should not be forgotten today.

The War of 1812 (sometimes called the First Patriotic War) is one of the most iconic in Russian history. For a long time she was considered the standard of manifestation of patriotism and heroism. And besides, all its participants received in the end not what they expected and what they deserved.

The last step to conquer the world

This is how Napoleon himself assessed his attack on Russia (he did not perceive the Western Hemisphere as part of the world). But the megalomania of the emperor of the French was only in words; in fact, he was quite pragmatic and did not start the war without good reasons:

1. Systematic violations by Russia of the continental blockade of England, to which she undertook to join under the Treaty of Tilsit.
2. The desire to put an end to the numerous anti-French coalitions in which Russia was a participant.
3. The desire to expand the zone of its direct influence in Europe at the expense of the former lands of the Commonwealth, which after its division went to Russia.
4. To ensure the possibility of a subsequent attack on India (for some reason, all the great conquerors of modern and recent times were sure that England could not live without this colony).

As you can see, Russia, without directly starting the war, openly provoked it. Russian troops have already fought against Napoleon, and in 1805-1807, when he did not make any claims to Russia.

Scorched Earth, Borodin Day and General Frost

The Patriotic War of 1812 began on June 12 (24), at night, when the Napoleonic troops began crossing the Neman. The first stage of the war was unsuccessful for the Russian army. Although it was only slightly outnumbered by the French (a little over 400,000 Russians against a little less than 600,000 French), General Foul's defense plan was no good.

Nevertheless, the army retreated with battles. The most significant were the battles near Saltanovka (11 (23) July) and (4-6 (16-18) August). Napoleon acted not only in the central (main) direction, but significant events did not happen in other areas. A huge achievement during the first stage of the war was the use of an invention that was not officially evaluated - the scorched earth tactics. Other military leaders reproached him for retreating (it almost came to obstruction), but Barclay's tactics turned out to be correct in the end.

On August 17 (29) the army was received by a new commander-in-chief -. On August 26-27 (September 7-8) the legendary battle of Borodino, but after him Kutuzov continued Barclay's tactics and retreated. On September 1 (13), a council was held in Fili, at which it was decided to leave Moscow.

This decision cost the capital a fire. But the army got the opportunity to arm itself at the expense of the Tula factories and receive reinforcements. The Tarutino maneuver made it possible to disorientate the enemy, who remained in devastated Moscow without reinforcements and supplies.

Napoleon made attempts to make peace, but Russia no longer needed it. In October, the French army was forced to withdraw from Moscow. The autumn turned out to be cold, the frost was dangerous for southerners who were not accustomed to the cold.

Napoleon expected to leave along the Kaluga road, but the battle near Maloyaroslavets (October 24) deprived him of this opportunity, and the army retreated along the "scorched earth" of the Smolensk road. In addition to Russian regular units, she was annoyed by Cossacks and partisans from among ordinary residents and the military (in 1812, the idea of ​​​​an organized and led by the state was born, so successfully applied in the Great Patriotic War).

Many consider the end of the war (November 25-27). But in fact, only on December 30 did all French troops leave Russia. Officially, the victory was celebrated on Christmas Day.

Winning with a trick

The result of the war was actually a turning point in the course of the Napoleonic wars. The great commander lost almost everyone in Russia best fighters(including a significant part of the guard). In the Europe he conquered, a movement against the French began, and Prussia and Austria, which he defeated, became more active (which, together with Russia and England, formed a new anti-French coalition).

The war contributed to the unity of Russian society, the rise of the national idea. Class interests were less significant. The events of the war have long been used for educational purposes. Its participants became an ideal for future servicemen.

But there was also a downside. Many officers were convinced that life in the country of the "usurper and invader" is much more reasonable than in Russia. They remained patriots, but now love for the motherland was calling them to Senate Square...

Otechestvennaya voina 1812 year

War of 1812 beginning
War of 1812 causes
War of 1812 stages
War of 1812 results

The War of 1812, in short, became the most difficult and important event of the 19th century for the Russian Empire. In Russian historiography, it was called the Patriotic War of 1812.

How did it happen that France and Russia, who had friendly relations and were allies for many years, became adversaries and began hostilities against each other?

The main reason for all the military conflicts of that time with the participation of France, including the war of 1812, in short, were associated with the imperial manners of Napoleon Bonaparte. Having come to power thanks to the French Revolution, he made no secret of his desire to extend the influence of the French Empire to as far as possible. more countries. Huge ambition, magnificent data of the commander and diplomat made Napoleon the ruler of almost all of Europe in a short time. Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, Russia withdrew from the alliance with France and joined England. So former allies became adversaries.

Then, during the unsuccessful wars of the allies with the troops of Napoleon, the Russian Empire was forced to agree to a peace agreement with France. Thus the Peace of Tilsit was signed. Its main condition was the maintenance by Russia of the continental blockade of England, which Napoleon wanted to weaken in this way. The authorities of the Russian Empire wanted to use this truce as an opportunity to build up forces, since everyone understood the need to continue the fight against Napoleon.

But the blockade threatened the Russian economy, and then the Russian authorities went to the trick. They began to trade with neutral countries, through which they continued to trade with England, using them as intermediaries. At the same time, Russia did not formally violate the terms of peace with France. She was furious, but she couldn't do anything.

War of 1812, briefly about the causes

There were many reasons why it became possible to conduct hostilities directly between France and Russia:
1. Failure by Russia to comply with the terms of the Tilsit peace treaty;
2. Refusal to marry the emperor of France, first the sisters of Alexander I Catherine, and then Anna;
3. France violated the agreements of the Tilsit peace, continuing the occupation of Prussia.

By 1812, war had become inevitable evidence for both countries. Both France and Russia hastily prepared for it, gathering allies around them. On the side of France were Austria and Prussia. Russia's allies are Great Britain, Sweden and Spain.

The course of hostilities

The war began on June 12, 1812 with the crossing of Napoleon's army across the border river Neman. The Russian troops were divided into three parts, since the exact place where the enemy crossed the border was not known. French troops crossed it in the area of ​​​​the army under the command of Barclay de Tolly. Seeing the huge numerical superiority of the enemy and trying to save his forces, he ordered a retreat. The armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration managed to unite near Smolensk. The first battle of this war took place there. The Russian troops failed to defend the city, and in August they continued their retreat inland.
After the failure of the Russian troops near Smolensk, the people joined the fight against Napoleon's army. Active partisan actions of the inhabitants of the country against the enemy began. The partisan movement provided great support to the army in the fight against the French troops.

In August, General M. Kutuzov became the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. He approved the tactics of his predecessors and continued the organized retreat of the army to Moscow.
Near Moscow, near the village of Borodino, the most significant battle of this war took place, which completely debunked the myth of Napoleon's invincibility - the Battle of Borodino. The forces of the two armies by that time were almost the same.

After the Battle of Borodino neither side could claim to be victorious, but the French troops were badly exhausted.
In September, by decision of Kutuzov, with whom Alexander I agreed, the Russian troops left Moscow. Frosts began to which the French were not accustomed. Virtually locked in Moscow, Napoleon's army was completely demoralized. The Russian troops, on the contrary, rested and received support with food, weapons and volunteers.

Napoleon decides to retreat, which soon turns into a flight. Russian troops force the French to retreat along the Smolensk road completely devastated by them.
In December 1812, the army under the command of Napoleon finally left the territory of Russia, and the war of 1812 ended with the complete victory of the Russian people.

More wars, battles, battles, riots and uprisings in Russia:

Beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the military-historical patriotic event - the Patriotic War of 1812, which is of great importance for the political, social, cultural and military development of Russia.

The beginning of the war

June 12, 1812 (old style) Napoleon's French army, having crossed the Neman near the city of Kovno (now it is the city of Kaunas in Lithuania), invaded the Russian Empire. This day is recorded in history as the beginning of the war between Russia and France.

In this war, two forces clashed. On the one hand, Napoleon's half-million army (about 640,000 men), which consisted of only half the French and included, in addition to them, representatives of almost all of Europe. An army intoxicated with numerous victories, led by famous marshals and generals, led by Napoleon. Strengths the French army was a large number, good material and technical support, combat experience, faith in the invincibility of the army.

She was opposed by the Russian army, which at the beginning of the war represented one-third of the French army. Before the start of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812 had just ended. The Russian army was divided into three groups far apart from each other (under the command of Generals M. B. Barclay de Tolly, P. I. Bagration and A. P. Tormasov). Alexander I was at the headquarters of Barclay's army.

The blow of Napoleon's army was taken over by the troops stationed on western border: 1st Army of Barclay de Tolly and 2nd Army of Bagration (total 153 thousand soldiers).

Knowing his numerical superiority, Napoleon pinned his hopes on a blitzkrieg war. One of his main miscalculations was the underestimation of the patriotic impulse of the army and the people of Russia.

The beginning of the war was successful for Napoleon. At 6 am on June 12 (24), 1812, the vanguard of the French troops entered the Russian city of Kovno. The crossing of 220 thousand soldiers of the Great Army near Kovno took 4 days. After 5 days, another grouping (79 thousand soldiers) under the command of the Viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beauharnais, crossed the Neman to the south of Kovno. At the same time, even further south, near Grodno, the Neman was crossed by 4 corps (78-79 thousand soldiers) under the general command of the King of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte. In the northern direction, near Tilsit, the Neman crossed the 10th Corps of Marshal MacDonald (32 thousand soldiers), which was aimed at St. Petersburg. In the southern direction from Warsaw through the Bug, a separate Austrian corps of General Schwarzenberg (30-33 thousand soldiers) began to invade.

The rapid advance of the powerful French army forced the Russian command to retreat inland. The commander of the Russian troops, Barclay de Tolly, evaded the general battle, saving the army and striving to unite with Bagration's army. The numerical superiority of the enemy raised the question of an urgent replenishment of the army. But in Russia there was no universal military service. The army was completed by recruiting sets. And Alexander I decided on an unusual step. On July 6, he issued a manifesto calling for the creation of a people's militia. So the first partisan detachments began to appear. This war united all segments of the population. As now, so then, the Russian people are united only by misfortune, grief, tragedy. It didn't matter who you were in society, what wealth you had. Russian people fought unitedly, defending the freedom of their homeland. All people became a single force, which is why the name "Patriotic War" was determined. The war became an example of the fact that a Russian person will never allow freedom and spirit to be enslaved, he will defend his honor and name to the end.

The armies of Barclay and Bagration met near Smolensk at the end of July, thus achieving the first strategic success.

Battle for Smolensk

By August 16 (according to the New Style), Napoleon approached Smolensk with 180 thousand soldiers. After the connection of the Russian armies, the generals began to insistently demand a general battle from the commander-in-chief Barclay de Tolly. At 6 am August 16 Napoleon launched an assault on the city.

In the battles near Smolensk, the Russian army showed the greatest stamina. The battle for Smolensk marked the unfolding of a nationwide war between the Russian people and the enemy. Napoleon's hope for a blitzkrieg collapsed.

Battle for Smolensk. Adam, circa 1820

The stubborn battle for Smolensk lasted 2 days, until the morning of August 18, when Barclay de Tolly withdrew troops from the burning city in order to avoid a big battle with no chance of victory. Barclay had 76 thousand, another 34 thousand (Bagration's army). After the capture of Smolensk, Napoleon moved to Moscow.

Meanwhile, the protracted retreat caused public discontent and protest among most of the army (especially after the surrender of Smolensk), so on August 20 (according to the new style), Emperor Alexander I signed a decree appointing M.I. Kutuzov. At that time, Kutuzov was in his 67th year. The commander of the Suvorov school, who had half a century of military experience, he enjoyed universal respect both in the army and among the people. However, he also had to retreat in order to gain time to gather all his forces.

Kutuzov could not avoid a general battle for political and moral reasons. By September 3 (according to the New Style), the Russian army retreated to the village of Borodino. Further retreat meant the surrender of Moscow. By that time, Napoleon's army had already suffered significant losses, and the difference in the size of the two armies was reduced. In this situation, Kutuzov decided to give a pitched battle.

To the west of Mozhaisk, 125 km from Moscow near the village of Borodina August 26 (September 7, new style), 1812 there was a battle that went down in the history of our people forever. - the largest battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 between the Russian and French armies.

The Russian army numbered 132 thousand people (including 21 thousand poorly armed militias). The French army, pursuing her on the heels, 135,000. Kutuzov's headquarters, believing that there were about 190 thousand people in the enemy's army, chose a defensive plan. In fact, the battle was an assault by French troops on the line of Russian fortifications (flashes, redoubts and lunettes).

Napoleon hoped to defeat the Russian army. But the steadfastness of the Russian troops, where every soldier, officer, general was a hero, overturned all the calculations of the French commander. The fight went on all day. Losses were huge on both sides. The Battle of Borodino is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century. According to the most conservative estimates of cumulative losses, 2,500 people died on the field every hour. Some divisions lost up to 80% of their composition. There were almost no prisoners on either side. French losses amounted to 58 thousand people, Russian - 45 thousand.

Emperor Napoleon later recalled: “Of all my battles, the most terrible is what I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory in it, and the Russians - to be called invincible.

Cavalry fight

On September 8 (21), Kutuzov ordered a retreat to Mozhaisk with the firm intention of preserving the army. The Russian army retreated, but retained its combat capability. Napoleon failed to achieve the main thing - the defeat of the Russian army.

September 13 (26) in the village of Fili Kutuzov held a meeting on a further plan of action. After the military council in Fili, the Russian army, by decision of Kutuzov, was withdrawn from Moscow. “With the loss of Moscow, Russia is not yet lost, but with the loss of the army, Russia is lost”. These words of the great commander, which went down in history, were confirmed by subsequent events.

A.K. Savrasov. The hut in which the famous council in Fili was held

Military Council in Fili (A. D. Kivshenko, 1880)

Capture of Moscow

In the evening September 14 (September 27, new style) Napoleon entered deserted Moscow without a fight. In the war against Russia, all the plans of Napoleon were consistently destroyed. Expecting to receive the keys to Moscow, he stood for several hours in vain on Poklonnaya Hill, and when he entered the city, he was met by deserted streets.

Fire in Moscow on September 15-18, 1812 after the capture of the city by Napoleon. Painting by A.F. Smirnova, 1813

Already on the night of 14 (27) to 15 (28) September, the city was engulfed in fire, which increased so much by the night of 15 (28) to 16 (29) September that Napoleon was forced to leave the Kremlin.

On suspicion of arson, about 400 townspeople from the lower classes were shot. The fire raged until September 18 and destroyed most of Moscow. Of the 30 thousand houses that were in Moscow before the invasion, after Napoleon left the city, "hardly 5 thousand" remained.

While Napoleon's army was inactive in Moscow, losing combat effectiveness, Kutuzov retreated from Moscow, first to the southeast along the Ryazan road, but then, turning to the west, went to the flank of the French army, occupied the village of Tarutino, blocking the Kaluga road. gu. In the Tarutino camp, the foundation was laid for the final defeat of the "great army".

When Moscow was on fire, bitterness against the invaders reached its highest intensity. The main forms of the war of the Russian people against the invasion of Napoleon were passive resistance (refusing to trade with the enemy, leaving bread unharvested in the fields, destroying food and fodder, going into the forests), partisan warfare and mass participation in militias. To the greatest extent, the course of the war was influenced by the refusal of the Russian peasantry to supply the enemy with food and fodder. The French army was on the verge of starvation.

From June to August 1812, Napoleon's army, pursuing the retreating Russian armies, traveled about 1,200 kilometers from the Neman to Moscow. As a result, her communication lines were greatly stretched. Given this fact, the command of the Russian army decided to create flying partisan detachments for operations in the rear and on the enemy’s communication lines, in order to prevent his supply and destroy his small detachments. The most famous, but far from the only commander of the flying detachments was Denis Davydov. Army partisan detachments received comprehensive support from the spontaneous peasant partisan movement. As the French army moved deep into Russia, as violence from the Napoleonic army grew, after the fires in Smolensk and Moscow, after the decrease in discipline in Napoleon's army and the transformation of a significant part of it into a gang of marauders and robbers, the population of Russia began to move from passive to active resistance to the enemy. Only during their stay in Moscow, the French army lost more than 25 thousand people from the actions of the partisans.

The partisans constituted, as it were, the first ring of encirclement around Moscow, occupied by the French. The second ring was made up of militias. Partisans and militias surrounded Moscow in a dense ring, threatening to turn Napoleon's strategic encirclement into a tactical one.

Tarutinsky fight

After the surrender of Moscow, Kutuzov apparently avoided a major battle, the army was building up strength. During this time, a 205,000 militia was recruited in the Russian provinces (Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Tula, Kaluga, Tver and others), and 75,000 in Ukraine. By October 2, Kutuzov led the army south to the village of Tarutino closer to Kaluga.

In Moscow, Napoleon found himself in a trap, it was not possible to spend the winter in the city devastated by fire: foraging outside the city was not successful, the stretched communications of the French were very vulnerable, the army was beginning to decompose. Napoleon began to prepare for a retreat to winter quarters somewhere between the Dnieper and the Dvina.

When the "great army" retreated from Moscow, its fate was sealed.

October 18(according to the new style) Russian troops attacked and defeated near Tarutino Murat's French corps. Having lost up to 4 thousand soldiers, the French retreated. The battle of Tarutino became a landmark event, marking the transition of the initiative in the war to the Russian army.

Napoleon's retreat

October 19(according to the new style) the French army (110 thousand) with a huge convoy began to leave Moscow along the Old Kaluga road. But the road to Kaluga to Napoleon was blocked by Kutuzov's army, located near the village of Tarutino on the Old Kaluga road. Due to the lack of horses, the French artillery fleet was reduced, large cavalry formations practically disappeared. Not wanting to break through a fortified position with a weakened army, Napoleon turned in the area of ​​the village of Troitskoye (modern Troitsk) onto the New Kaluga Road (modern Kiev highway) in order to bypass Tarutino. However, Kutuzov transferred the army to Maloyaroslavets, cutting off the French retreat along the New Kaluga road.

Kutuzov's army by October 22 consisted of 97 thousand regular troops, 20 thousand Cossacks, 622 guns and more than 10 thousand militia warriors. Napoleon had at hand up to 70 thousand combat-ready soldiers, the cavalry practically disappeared, the artillery was much weaker than the Russian one.

October 12 (24) took place battle near Maloyaroslavets. The city changed hands eight times. In the end, the French managed to capture Maloyaroslavets, but Kutuzov took a fortified position outside the city, which Napoleon did not dare to storm. On October 26, Napoleon ordered a retreat north to Borovsk-Vereya-Mozhaisk.

In the battles for Maloyaroslavets, the Russian army solved a major strategic task - it thwarted the plan for the French troops to break through to Ukraine and forced the enemy to retreat along the Old Smolensk road he had devastated.

From Mozhaisk, the French army resumed its movement towards Smolensk along the same road along which it had advanced on Moscow.

The final defeat of the French troops took place at the crossing of the Berezina. The battles of November 26-29 between the French corps and the Russian armies of Chichagov and Wittgenstein on both banks of the Berezina River during Napoleon's crossing went down in history as battle on the Berezina.

The retreat of the French through the Berezina on November 17 (29), 1812. Peter von Hess (1844)

When crossing the Berezina, Napoleon lost 21 thousand people. In total, up to 60 thousand people managed to cross the Berezina, most of them civilian and non-combatant remnants of the "Great Army". Unusually severe frosts, which hit even during the crossing of the Berezina and continued in the following days, finally destroyed the French, already weakened by hunger. On December 6, Napoleon left his army and went to Paris to recruit new soldiers to replace those who died in Russia.

The main result of the battle on the Berezina was that Napoleon avoided complete defeat in the face of a significant superiority of Russian forces. In the memoirs of the French, the crossing of the Berezina occupies no less place than the largest Battle of Borodino.

By the end of December, the remnants of Napoleon's army were expelled from Russia.

The results of the war

The main result of the Patriotic War of 1812 was the almost complete destruction of Napoleon's Great Army. Napoleon lost about 580,000 soldiers in Russia. These losses include 200 thousand killed, from 150 to 190 thousand prisoners, about 130 thousand deserters who fled to their homeland. The losses of the Russian army, according to some estimates, amounted to 210 thousand soldiers and militias.

In January 1813, the "Foreign campaign of the Russian army" began - the fighting moved to the territory of Germany and France. In October 1813, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Leipzig, and in April 1814 he abdicated the throne of France.

The victory over Napoleon as never before raised the international prestige of Russia, which played a decisive role at the Congress of Vienna and in the following decades exerted a decisive influence on the affairs of Europe.

Main dates

June 12, 1812- The invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia across the Neman River. 3 Russian armies were at a great distance from each other. Tormasov's army, being in Ukraine, could not participate in the war. It turned out that only 2 armies took the blow. But they had to retreat in order to connect.

August 3rd- the connection of the armies of Bagration and Barclay de Tolly near Smolensk. The enemies lost about 20 thousand, and ours about 6 thousand, but Smolensk had to be left. Even the united armies were 4 times smaller than the enemy!

8 August- Kutuzov was appointed commander in chief. An experienced strategist, wounded many times in battles, Suvorov's student fell in love with the people.

August, 26th- The Battle of Borodino lasted more than 12 hours. It is considered a pitched battle. On the outskirts of Moscow, the Russians showed mass heroism. The losses of the enemies were greater, but our army could not go on the offensive. The numerical superiority of the enemies was still great. Reluctantly, they decided to surrender Moscow in order to save the army.

September October- Seat of Napoleon's army in Moscow. His expectations were not met. Failed to win. Kutuzov rejected requests for peace. The attempt to move south failed.

October December- the expulsion of Napoleon's army from Russia along the destroyed Smolensk road. From 600 thousand enemies, about 30 thousand remained!

December 25, 1812- Emperor Alexander I issued a manifesto on the victory of Russia. But the war had to continue. Napoleon had armies in Europe. If they are not defeated, then he will attack Russia again. The foreign campaign of the Russian army lasted until victory in 1814.

Perception of the events of the Patriotic War of 1812 by the Russian common people

The theme of the perception of the events of the war of 1812 by contemporaries remains one of the least developed in the extensive historiography of this event. The focus continues to be exclusively on the military and political aspects of the topic.

This problem has been of interest for a long time. Back in 1882, N.F. Dubrovin spoke about the need to create a non-military history of 1812, in 1895 he published a number of interesting articles on the perception of Napoleon by Russian society in the early 19th century.

In 1893, on the pages of the Russian Starina magazine, V.A. Bilbasov wrote that it is especially interesting for history to study the influence of the war of 1812 on contemporaries (both on representatives of the educated class and on the common people), numerous memoirs of the era contain valuable material on this issue. In the famous seven-volume book "Patriotic War and Russian Society", which was created with the participation of more than 60 prominent Russian historians, only a few articles contained material on the perception of the events of the Patriotic War by Russian contemporaries (an educated society). Almost nothing was said about the attitude towards the war of the bulk of the population (the peasantry, the common people in the cities, the semi-educated urban society), only information was given about the anti-serf uprisings of 1812, as well as some general arguments about the “people in 1812”, which were not based on to sources.

Until the revolution of 1917, according to the prominent historian K.A. Voensky, the "everyday" history of 1812 remained completely undeveloped.

In the Soviet period, the theme of the Patriotic War of 1812 remained unclaimed until 1937. In the 1920s, the theory of “historian number one” M.N. Pokrovsky, voiced in his "History of Russia in the most concise essay", as well as in the collection "Diplomacy and wars of tsarist Russia in the 19th century". The author, as he himself admitted, basically "turned the face of literature", he portrayed the war of 1812 as a struggle between reactionary Russia and the progressive Napoleonic army, the bearer of democratic principles. The people in 1812 thought only of the liberation and overthrow of the hated regime. In the same spirit, the work of Z. and G. Gukovsky "Peasants in 1812" was written.

From the end of the 1930s, and especially after 1951, Soviet historians actually revived the monarchical myth about the people during the Patriotic War of 1812, only without the tsar. The people acted as a faceless gray mass, doing nothing but performing patriotic deeds.

From the works related to the topic of the perception of the war of 1812 by contemporaries, two articles devoted to the educated Russian society came out in the Soviet period.

Of the latest studies, only one article can be noted, also devoted to the reflection of the events of 1812 in the minds of an educated society (based on letters from contemporaries). The bulk of Russians in 1812 again remained out of sight of researchers. As far as we know, there are no special studies of the problem of the perception of the war of 1812 by the common people.

The main source for studying the Russian common people in 1812 are the memoirs of Russians and foreigners. Among the memoirs of the Russian educated society, there is very little information about the people, since the memoirists had almost no contact with them and, as a rule, did not consider the “rabble” worthy of their attention. Typical example- famous memoirs of A.T. Bolotov, who left one of the largest memoirs of the epoch of the 18th - early 19th centuries. (completely not yet published). As soon as in his notes it comes to the “mob”, “vile people”, the author immediately says that everything related to this “does not deserve any attention”. As Bolotov himself points out, he first became acquainted with the "Russian people" in 1762, when he rounded up all his peasants to equip the garden. The nobles of 1812 did not know their people at all, revolving exclusively in a narrow circle of an elected society - for example, the landowner M.A. Volkova in 1812 first became acquainted with the provincial society (Tambov), this happened due to extreme military circumstances that forced her to leave Moscow. Also as a result of this move, she gained some insight into the "people" by watching the warriors from the window of her house.

Of the memoirs of an educated society, the memoirs of Muscovite A. Ryazantsev, who survived the entire period of the occupation of the capital and left detailed notes about this time, are of the greatest interest for research. The author himself was very close to the urban common people, in 1812 he was 14 years old, he studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. His memoirs draw a detailed portrait of Moscow in 1812: the author used many records of peasant conversations, dialogues between the Moscow common people and residents of villages near Moscow, described in detail the situation in Moscow under the French, and provided valuable data on contacts between the local population and the enemy.

In addition, some curious information about the masses of the people in 1812 is scattered throughout the extensive memoirs of other representatives of the educated Russian class, of particular interest are synchronistic sources - diaries and letters.

The main source for studying our topic is the memoirs of the representatives of the common people themselves in 1812: soldiers, peasants, courtyards, poor merchants and lower-ranking priests. Unfortunately, the tradition of writing memoirs among the bulk of Russian contemporaries of 1812 was completely absent: in the entire 18th century, only 250 Russians left memoirs, of which only one peasant. The memoirs created by the representatives of the common people themselves in 1812 are an extremely rare phenomenon, as a rule, their memoirs have come down to us in the form of records of oral stories.

We know one memoir of a soldier in 1812 and two memoirs of 1839 from the words of a private and a non-commissioned officer who participated in the Battle of Borodino. "Notes" by Pamfiliya Nazarov is the rarest memoir written by a soldier in 1812. The author is completely alien to any historical or ideological assessments of the events of 1812-1814, he is poorly aware of the importance of what he experienced. In form, these are notes for himself and a narrow circle of relatives, which he wrote in 1836 at the end of his service life. The publishers of "Russian Antiquity" noted the uniqueness of this source, which "does not resemble anything."

The works of I.N. Skobelev, published in the 1830-1840s. In the 1800s, the author served in the lower ranks for more than four years, subsequently rising to the rank of general, a participant in the Patriotic War (with the rank of captain). Contemporaries quite reasonably asserted that he knew the Russian soldier like no one else. In his works “Soldier's Correspondence of 1812” and “Stories of a Russian Armless Disabled Man”, the author describes the events of the Patriotic War on behalf of a simple soldier. These books contain the most valuable material: this is the soldier's language of the era of 1812 and the peculiarities of the perception of the war by Russian soldiers, transmitted by Skobelev.

Of particular interest are the memoirs of A.V. Nikitenko - in 1803-1824. Serf Count Sheremetyev, later a professor at St. Petersburg University and a prominent official of the Ministry of Public Education. The author describes in detail the life and customs of serfs, the provincial society of Russia in the 1800-1820s.

The most valuable material on the topic was collected in the 1860s - 1880s. writer E.V. Novosiltseva (pseudonym T. Tolycheva). She focused on collecting memories of 1812 among the common people, as a result of searches in Moscow and Smolensk, she collected unique memories of witnesses of the Patriotic War living out their lives from peasants, former serfs and courtyards, merchants and clergy. In total, she managed to record the memoirs of 33 witnesses to the war of 1812. In 1894, Novosiltseva created a work for the people "The Old Woman's Tale of the Twelfth Year" - a story about the events of 1812 from the beginning of the invasion to the expulsion of Napoleon from Russia, where the story is told in the first person. As Novosiltseva pointed out in the preface, the information given in the book was not fictitious, all of it was gleaned by her during a survey of her contemporaries in 1812 from the people, many of the memoirs collected by the author were not published, but were reflected in this book.

An analysis of the memoirs published by Novosiltseva shows that the original notes were stylistically and systematically reworked to give them a more coherent and literary look.

In 1912, on the centenary of the Patriotic War, interesting memoirs and legends of the inhabitants of the Smolensk province about the period of the Napoleonic invasion were published in the Smolensk Diocesan Gazette, based on materials from local archives, as well as on the basis of questions from old-timers. It is also worth noting the records of the memoirs of three peasants published in 1869, witnesses of the crossing of Napoleon's army across the Berezina, which, unfortunately, are extremely short and uninformative.

Rumors were the main source of information about the war for most Russians in 1812 (for both the educated society and the common people). Important role printed materials were played, on their basis some rumors were formed that circulated among the people; during the Patriotic War, the indirect influence of the press on the population was quite significant. It is impossible to clearly separate the influence of oral and printed sources of information on Russians, since both sources were closely related.

More or less reliable information about the war of 1812 was provided by printed materials. Their use presupposes the ability to read, and the level of literacy in Russia in 1812 was negligible. The most detailed study of literacy in Russia, closest to the period under study, took place in 1844; 735,874 people were surveyed. :

Thus, only 3.6% of all respondents were literate and semi-literate. In France, even by the end of the Old Order (1788-1789), the total number of literates was at least 40% of the population (52% of men and about 27% of women), during the Revolution and especially under Napoleon, many new schools were opened, education was provided free of charge or at the most reasonable cost.

Under Alexander I, they talked a lot about "enlightenment", but all the achievements in this environment were exclusively in words: the total number of secular students educational institutions Russia increased from 46 thousand (1808) to 69 thousand (1824), the numbers are so insignificant that it is hardly worth mentioning them! For comparison - in 12 million Prussia in 1819, more than 1.5 million people studied in elementary secular schools alone (already then almost All population school age received an education), in 1830 this number exceeded 2.2 million people.

in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. up to 2.8 million people lived in cities, the main population of cities were philistines, merchants and courtyards, as can be seen from the table, their level of education was approximately the same, on average about 30% of them knew how to read, this amounted to 750 thousand people per the whole empire. The average literacy rate among peasants did not exceed 3%, or about 1 million people. So, the number of literate people in the cities in 1812 was almost equal to the number of literate people throughout the rest of Russia.

In addition, bookstores were located exclusively in cities (in 1811, out of 115 bookstores, 85 were located in Moscow and St. Petersburg), it was possible to subscribe to time-based publications. In addition to total illiteracy, the most important obstacle to the distribution of printed matter was its high cost and, of course, the poverty of the population: in 1812, as can be seen from the advertisements placed in the St. 5-7 rubles, and the price of an annual subscription to a newspaper or magazine is 15-20 rubles, amounts unthinkable for most Russians. For clarity, we will give information about the earnings of residents of territories that were invaded by Napoleonic troops (although these data refer to the 1840s, they almost correspond to the realities of 1812): in a fairly rich Moscow province, a farmer earned an average of 35-47 rubles. per year, in the Vitebsk province - 12-20 rubles, less often - 36 rubles, in Smolensk - 10-15 rubles, very rarely - up to 40 rubles. (women and teenagers were paid several times less); the majority of urban residents (philistines) at that time did not have a regular income, their incomes were extremely low; in the most privileged position were Moscow coachmen, who received up to 20-30 rubles. per month (240-360 rubles per year), as well as watchmen and janitors, who earned 100-130 rubles each. per month, but the latter constituted an extremely small part of the population.

Domestic books had the least influence on the population. According to researchers, the total number of active readers of Russia in 1820 was only 50 thousand people, or less than 0.1% of the population of the Empire. The number of publications was extremely small, they hardly touched on any topical topics, most of them were novels. In the most educated Moscow in 1803, only about 20 thousand books were sold with a population of 250 thousand people, that is, one book for ten people. Presumably greatest influence the common people of the era of the Patriotic War had a small essay by F.V. Rostopchin “Thoughts aloud on the Red Porch of the Russian nobleman Sila Andreevich Bogatyrev”, published in 1807 and sold in an unprecedented circulation of 7 thousand copies. As far as we know, this is the most circulated work of secular literature of that time, moreover, it is one of the few books addressed to the people. The work is a monologue of a tipsy nobleman trying to speak in a "folk style". In fact, this is a continuous abuse against the French and their imitators, where the French are presented as worthless and insignificant people. The book contributed to the maintenance of frivolous and hatred moods among the people. During the campaign of 1812, only a few propaganda books about the war were published, they initially focused on the upper strata of society, in general, their influence was negligible.

More or less up-to-date information about the events was provided by the periodical press. Due to censorship restrictions (despite the liberal censorship charter of 1804), she also hardly touched on topical topics, in fact she had no right to express her point of view on anything. The situation as a whole almost corresponded to the words of L.V. Dubelt on the rights of the periodical press, said in a conversation with F.V. Bulgarin in 1826: “The theater, exhibitions, guest houses, flea markets, taverns, confectioneries - this is your area, and not a step further!”

In 1801-1806. in Russia there were only 27 newspapers and magazines, by 1810 - 60, by 1824 - 67 (of which only 33 were in Russian). The most circulation time-based publications during this period were the newspaper Severnaya Pochta, which had 1768 subscribers in 1810, by 1816 - 2306 people, the journal Vestnik Evropy with a circulation of 1200 copies. (1802), by 1820 this figure had dropped to 1,000 copies. The popular patriotic magazine of S. N. Glinka "Russian Messenger" in 1811 had only 750 subscribers (300 of them in Moscow). Other publications were issued in microscopic editions. Under Alexander I, the newspaper "Russian Invalid" had the largest circulation - 4 thousand copies (1821). In general, the reading audience of the Russian periodical press was very small, however, as already mentioned, it had an indirect influence on the common people.

In Russian villages in 1812, newspapers and magazines met, here literate people read them in the presence of the entire population. It should be especially noted that the common people of that time had great confidence in the printed word. In 1807-1812. for political reasons, the government diligently concealed its contradictions with France, only brief correspondence appeared on the pages of newspapers, reporting, as a rule, on the successes of the French. Extremely valuable evidence of the influence of the press on the common people is contained in the secret report of the head of the office of the Special Department of the Ministry of Police M.Ya. von Fock (dated May 15, 1812): “unenlightened people living inside the Empire, and especially the middle class and commoners, who are accustomed to considering everything that is printed as undeniable truth, become discouraged and hear only about victories and conquests Napoleon, who enslaves all peoples, lose their spirit of vivacity, especially in remote cities and villages, where every sexton and clerk is a luminary and every printed line is a Gospel.

Information from the pre-war press about the successes of Napoleon caused panic among the Russian population, the rumors generated by them, which greatly exaggerated everything, convinced many common people that the enemy was invincible.

During the war, Russian newspapers and magazines published official news from the army about the course of hostilities, letters, captured documents (rarely), correspondence from different places, and translations of foreign articles. In journalistic articles, the enemy was humiliated in every possible way, often in a rude way, the idea was carried out about the superiority of everything Russian over foreign. During 1812, the main printed source of information about the war was flyers, published by the army's camp printing house and sent to officials, the texts of these leaflets were reprinted by newspapers and published as supplements (often in a distorted form). In total, in July-December 1812, about 80 such leaflets were issued. They contained daily records of the movements of the army, military clashes, enemy losses and trophies (always greatly exaggerated), from the autumn of 1812 they described the plight of the French army.

It was difficult for a simple person to delve into the text of many leaflets published in the summer - early autumn of 1812, since they contained a lot of meaningless titles settlements, many names unknown to him. The leaflets were read publicly large cluster people. DI. Zavalishin recalled how the governor of Vologda read the news about military operations, and the people listened to him and sobbed. All that could be understood was that the Russian army was retreating, and from October 1812 it was advancing.

In Moscow, the posters of F.V. Rostopchin, the printed appeals of the governor to the residents, written in a folk style, they very much resembled the chatter of the tipsy Sila Andreevich Bogatyrev. In total, the researchers identified 57 Moscow “posters” created in July-December 1812, of which 23 are attributed to F. V. Rostopchin. The author reassured and encouraged the inhabitants, assuring them that the enemy was about to be defeated, sneered at the French, sometimes recounted the content of official news about military operations, and cited astronomical figures about the number of Russian troops. Posters were famous not only in Moscow.

As early as 1811, a wide variety of rumors about the coming war with Napoleon were circulating among the Russian common people, and quite reliable information was circulating among the mass of absurdities that England and Sweden would help Russia. However, it was not political news that had the greatest influence on the Russians of that time, but the famous comet of 1811, which began to pay close attention from August. Here is what D.I. wrote about this. Zavalishin, who lived at that time in Tver: “It was in August and, therefore, when we went to church, it was still very light. But towards the end of the vigil, but even before the time when the people dispersed, there was an unusual movement on the porch at the door of the church. Somehow people would come out and come in again, and as they went in, they sighed heavily and began to pray fervently. Finally, the time came to leave the church, but the first ones to leave stopped, and the crowd thickened so that it was impossible to squeeze through it. And those standing behind, having lost patience, began to loudly ask: “What is it there? Why don't they come?" The answer was: "Star". Little by little, however, the crowd dispersed, so that we, too, could go out almost behind everyone and saw the famous comet of 1811 directly in front of us.

The next day, even before sunset, people began to go out into the street and look at the place where yesterday they saw the rising of a star. At twilight, our square was almost completely crowded with people, so that it was very difficult not only for the carriages to pass, but also to push through on foot. In place of yesterday's appearance of the star, however, there was a black cloud. Despite all this, the people did not leave, but persisted in waiting. In other parts of the sky it was clear and there were already small stars. But as soon as 9 o'clock struck, the cloud seemed to settle under the horizon, and yesterday's star appeared in an even more formidable form. As if on cue, everyone took off their hats and crossed themselves. I heard heavy, where suppressed, where loud sighs. For a long time they stood in silence. But then one woman fell into hysterics, others sobbed, a conversation began, then loud exclamations: “It’s true, the Lord was angry with Russia”, “They sinned in a wrong way, well, they waited,” etc. Comparisons began: who said that the tail of a comet this is a bunch of rods, who likened a broom to sweep all the lies out of Russia, etc. Since then, the people crowded the streets every evening, and the star became more and more terrible. Rumors began about the end of the world, about the fact that Napoleon is the predicted Antichrist, indicated directly in the Apocalypse under the name of Apollyon.

Interesting information about the comet of 1811 was recorded by a contemporary of the Patriotic War, Muscovite Pyotr Kicheev (according to "Annuaire pour l'an 1832"): the light from this comet at the moment highest voltage was equal to 1/10 of light full moon, October 15, 1811, the comet approached the Earth at a minimum distance (47 million leagues), the diameter of its core was 1089 leagues, and the length of the tail reached 41 million leagues (172 million 200 thousand versts). In the vault of heaven, the comet occupied up to 23 degrees. Kicheev also noted the great impression made by the comet on Muscovites.

An inexperienced Russian in 1812 was convinced that war is God's punishment, therefore, it cannot depend on the tricks of diplomats and the will of individuals; he tried to unravel the traces of its approach and its course by various signs (the comet of 1811, frequent fires, etc.). During the war, the Russians tried to find answers to all questions in the most revered and authoritative source - the Bible. D. Zavalishin recalled how the inhabitants of the province came to people who had a Slavic Bible and asked them what was written there about Bonaparte and what he would do with Russia, deeply convinced that all this was described there. In 1812, various predictions, revelations, descriptions of signs, etc., became extremely widespread among the people.

The Muscovite A. Ryazantsev left the most detailed notes on the reaction of the common people to the invasion: after the news of the declaration of war, the people of Moscow gathered in the square and began to reason. First of all, it was unanimously decided that war was God's punishment and that one should pray fervently, and one merchant said that he had long smelled something was wrong: and the porridge in his pot was cooking wrong, and brownie got naughty and the cat Vaska began to look unkindly. Fables about the French began to spread intensively, here is one of them: “The French, leaving the Christian faith, turned into idolatry, invented some kind of god Egghead and slavishly worship him, that this blockhead Egghead ordered them all to be equal and free, forbade them to believe in true God and not recognize any earthly authorities. The idolaters, obeying their idol, rebelled, plundered their churches and turned them into places of entertainment, destroyed civil laws and, to complete their atrocities, killed their innocent, good, lawful king. This description of the French Revolution coincides almost verbatim with the description of F.V. Rostopchin from the mentioned book "Thoughts aloud on the Red Porch ...", which is why it is more or less plausible, here we are dealing with the indirect influence of his work, which confirms its importance for the formation public opinion. Or: “The French surrendered themselves to the Antichrist, chose his son Appolion as their commander, a wizard who, by the course of the stars, determines, predicts the future, knows when to start and when to end the war, moreover, has a wife, a sorceress who speaks firearms that are opposed to her husband why the French come out victorious. E.V. Novosiltseva wrote down some folk legends in 1812, which said that the French were afraid of the cross, etc. A. Ryazantsev recalled that in the summer of 1812, from everything he heard, his “young fantastic imagination painted the French not as people, but as some kind of monsters with wide mouth, huge fangs, bloodshot eyes with a copper forehead and an iron body, from which, like peas from a wall, bullets bounce off, and bayonets and sabers break like torches. At the end of August 1812, he went to look at a group of prisoners of war who had arrived in Moscow to make sure "whether the enemy soldiers really do not look like people, but like terrible monsters?" . Almost all of Moscow gathered to look at the prisoners.

In the described rumors, the worldview of the Russians is clearly traced - a bizarre mixture of pagan and Christian ideas. The pagan element seems to be stronger. This is most clearly confirmed by the following example: a Moscow janitor explained the cause of death of the French cavalrymen killed by the Cossacks as follows: they were strangled by the brownie, because they did not pray to God when they went to bed. A.T. Bolotov was convinced that the majority of Russian peasants remained pagans. A.V. Nikitenko, having visited the village of Timokhovka in the Mogilev province in the summer of 1839, wrote in his diary that local peasants go to pray to the gods and gods.

Oil was added to the fire by official propaganda, in 1812 the Synod, as before in 1807, obediently proclaimed Napoleon the Antichrist; for propaganda in the army, professor at Dorpat University V. Getzel sent M.B. Barclay de Tolly, an article in which he argued that Napoleon is the Antichrist, he proposed to distribute its content among the soldiers. For the French, this had the most sad consequences. Among the Russian common people and soldiers, the Great Army was perceived in the most literal sense as the army of the devil. I.N. Skobelev in "Soldier's Correspondence of 1812" calls Napoleon "the warlock Bounaparte", Napoleonic soldiers - "sorcerers", describing the retreat of the Napoleonic army, he writes that Napoleon calculated when to retreat "according to his black (i.e. witchcraft - L.A.) books.

Repeatedly distorted and completely ridiculous rumors reached the provinces, a resident of the Smolensk province F.I. Levitsky recalled: “It was terrible in Moscow, and it was even more terrible in county towns and villages. Something that was not told by the people! You used to hear enough of these rumors, so you won’t fall asleep at night. ” Many residents were sure that the French... eat people! Back in 1807, when Napoleon was first declared the Antichrist by the Synod, one captured Russian officer asked the French not to eat his subordinates! Such absurd statements were based on primitive counter-revolutionary propaganda, in every possible way depicting that in France since 1793 almost the end of the world had come. F.V. Rostopchin in "Thoughts aloud ..." claimed that the French during the revolution fried people and ate! F.N. Glinka seriously believed that the French during the revolution unnecessarily “killed, fried and ate many of their mayors. Their own history is not silent about this. Colonel M.M. Petrov believed that the French during the revolution guillotined millions their compatriots. Peasant woman Agafya Ignatieva of the village of Volti (Smolensk province) recalled that in 1812 she was sure that the French would eat her (she was then 9 years old), all peasant children thought so. Meanwhile, the French (natural French, not their allies) almost never offended children and treated them very kindly. In a number of settlements, nothing was known about the war at all. This was due to the fact that in 1812, on the territory of Belarus and central Russia (the main theater of military operations), the vast majority of villages were located far from roads, population migration was minimal, many villages were in impenetrable wilderness, where no stranger had ever set foot. in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. the bulk of the population had absolutely no experience of communicating with foreigners, the enemy did not appear on the primordially Russian territories for almost 200 years, which was quite rightly pointed out by M.I. Kutuzov in a conversation with the French ambassador Lauriston in the autumn of 1812. Russian peasants lived in isolation and traditionally, everything new was decidedly alien to them. As can be seen from a number of reminiscences, for many residents of the Russian hinterland, a meeting with a Napoleonic soldier was an event more surprising than a meeting with an alien for a modern person. As we have shown above, the imagination of the peasants was fueled by the most monstrous rumors about the enemy, very often it is fear before the enemy as such forced them to leave their homes. Napoleonic officer Italian C. Laugier in his diary describes the occupation of Smolensk by the Great Army - locals most of them fled, those who remained hid in churches and prayed fervently, hoping that Holy place protect them from the enemy. The Italian soldiers who entered the church, wishing to distribute food to them, were themselves dumbfounded with fear, when those who were there began to utter wild cries of horror, it was truly animal fear .

In August 1812, a deaconess from the village of Novy Dvor (Smolensk province), having seen the French cavalrymen, lost consciousness and did not recover for a long time, she was introduced to Napoleon, and she, trembling, continuously crossed herself and prayed, convinced that the French were devils out of hell .

Of course, not all representatives of the common people perceived the French so primitively: an old peasant woman from the village of Staraya Rusa (80 miles from Moscow) was not afraid of the French, saying: “They won’t touch me, an old woman. And what profit would they have to kill me? After all, they are not animals either.

Kuzma Egorovich Shmatikov, a resident of Smolensk, tells how the people perceived the war of 1812 in their own way, as he describes the assault on Smolensk in August 1812: “I can’t tell you what fear we were in, because until then we hadn’t assumed how the city would be taken. Well, let's say we were children and there were all women around us. Yes, some men reasoned no smarter than us: they thought that the armies would go one against the other in a fistfight. Many climbed up the trees to watch it.” Comments are generally unnecessary here. When Napoleon's army entered Moscow, crowds of people for about two hours (exactly the French troops entered the capital) argued whether it was the Swedes or the British who came to our aid.

Having processed a large array of materials, we came to the conclusion that the behavior of the inhabitants of central Russia during 1812 can be divided into four main types: 1) panic; 2) perfect calmness and arrogant hatred moods; 3) the desire to throw off the serf yoke, the hope for the help of Bonaparte; 4) absolute ignorance or indifference. Arrogant moods, the belief in absolute superiority over the enemy were extremely common among the people, especially in territories that had not been invaded. Similar sentiments were even among the most educated segments of the population, the commander-in-chief of the 2nd Western Army P.I. Bagration was deeply convinced that the French would be defeated instantly, on June 8, 1812, he wrote to the tsar, begging him to allow the Russians to advance and invade Poland themselves. Many other memoirs also record similar hatred moods, they were actively supported by the press, especially Rostopchin's posters. Grandfather P. Kicheev firmly believed them and therefore remained in Moscow, one Moscow priest on the very day of the surrender of Moscow laughed at his wife, who claimed that there were French in the city, his argument was as follows: “You believe the deacon, but you don’t believe the governor-general!” When the French came to his house, he fell silent and tore up the poster.

I must say that such moods instantly disappeared with the approach of the enemy, impudent self-confidence was instantly replaced by panic and apathy, which is described in detail in the memoirs.

In Russia in 1812 there were many people who thought about the possibility of freeing themselves from the serfdom, the war provided a good opportunity for this. In 1812, the serfs made up about 44% of the population of the Empire (23 million people), the living conditions of the majority of the serfs were monstrous both materially and morally. Recently, the realities of serfdom have been actively hushed up in historiography, trying in every possible way to embellish it. The most detailed and accurate life of the serfs of the early XIX century. described in the memoirs of A.V. Nikitenko, it is supplemented by the memoirs of the surgeon F. Mercier, who spent two years in Russian captivity. The vast majority of Russian landowners were small landlords and owned, as a rule, several dozen peasants, and in order to live “decently for their rank”, they needed hundreds, or even thousands of rubles a year. Knowing the size of the earnings of the peasants (see above), it is easy to calculate that the serf gave most of the money earned to the landowner, who sucked all the juice out of him. Add to this the robbery of estate managers, whom no one actually controlled, oppression by wealthy peasants, etc. For thinking people, such as Father A.V. Nikitenko, the most terrible thing in their position was the complete lack of rights and the terrible humiliations associated with it, to which this noble man was subjected until his death. The following figure gives an idea of ​​the scope of the atrocities committed by the landowners against the serfs: only in 1834-45. 2838 landlords were brought to trial for cruel treatment of peasants, of which 630 were convicted. At the same time, the vast majority of the crimes of the landowners remained unpunished.

According to historians, only for 1796-1825. more than 1,200 major peasant uprisings took place in Russia, these figures are far from complete. Since 1961, it is believed that in 1812 there were 60-67 anti-serf uprisings, this figure is greatly underestimated and needs to be clarified. Here, information about uprisings in the occupied territories, which were most affected by the anti-serfdom movement, is almost completely ignored. As contemporaries note, in particular, Brigadier General of the Great Army Dedem de Gelder, quartermaster of the Vitebsk province A. Pastore (an official of the French occupation administration), who acted in the rear of the French partisans A.Kh. Benckendorff, all Belarus (the territories of the Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev provinces) was engulfed in an anti-serfdom fire, the peasants here rebelled against their landowners everywhere.

Sometimes anti-serf uprisings took place "not without instigation from the enemy", such as a major uprising on the Baryshnikov estate in the Dorogobuzh district.

Hatred of the nobles continued to smolder among the people; only 37 years had passed since the time of the Pugachevshchina in 1812. The nobles themselves instinctively felt this hatred and were extremely afraid of it. The number of uprisings cannot be used to estimate the scope of anti-serfdom sentiments in 1812; it is clear from the memoirs that the hope for freedom from Bonaparte was extremely widespread. A memoirist from the Moscow common people heard with his own ears from the peasants near Moscow who were ordered to prepare horses in the bar: “How! We will prepare horses about the master's good. Bonaparte will come, he will give us freedom, but we don’t want to know the gentlemen anymore! Former serf A.A. Sazonova recalled that “the people grumbled at the gentlemen very much”, Muscovite G.Ya. Kozlovsky, who survived the occupation of Moscow, claimed that he was much more afraid of Russian peasants than the French. D.M. Volkonsky, in his diary on September 10, 1812, noted with horror that the people were already ready for excitement. Marshal L.G. Saint-Cyr was absolutely right when he wrote that the war of 1812 demonstrated the internal weakness of Russia, the French simply did not take advantage of it.

About the attitude towards the war in the provinces, A.V. Nikitenko (in 1812 he lived in Ukraine): “It is strange that at this moment of great upheavals that Russia was experiencing, not only our close circle, with the exception of the young Tatarchukov, but also the entire surrounding society was indifferent to the fate of the fatherland. ... I never heard notes of warm participation in the events of the time in their conversations. Everyone seemed to be only interested in their own personal affairs. The name of Napoleon caused more surprise than hatred. In a word, our society was striking in its imperturbable attitude towards the misfortune that threatened Russia. This could partly come from the remoteness of the theater of war ... But main reason that, I believe, was hiding in the apathy characteristic of people who were alienated, as the Russians were then, from participation in public affairs and accustomed not to talk about what was happening around, but only to unquestioningly obey the orders of their superiors.

In Russian historiography, the myth is often repeated that in 1812 the people happily joined the army. It is based on the memoirs of representatives of the nobility. Let us cite the most valuable evidence from the diary of the Rostov official M.I. Marakuev, entry dated July 12, 1812: Emperor Alexander arrived in the Kremlin, a huge number of people gathered, a rumor suddenly spread that they would be ordered to “lock all the gates and take everyone by force into soldiers. As soon as this rumor rushed, the mob rushed out and in a few minutes the Kremlin was empty. From the Kremlin, an echo spread throughout Moscow and many black people fled from it. This happened in the presence of the emperor himself! The next day, outside Moscow, he met crowds of peasants who had fled the capital. They asked him if they were recruiting soldiers in Moscow. P. Nazarov, drafted into the army in September 1812, wrote that no one from his village wanted to serve. During the war, the authorities repeatedly reassured the militias, confirming that they were serving in the army only temporarily. The war ends sooner or later, and you will have to serve for 25 years, if you are not killed, you will be disabled, most likely without a pension. P. Nazarov received a pension of 20 rubles for 25 years of service and several severe wounds. per year, which was barely enough to live on. Here is what the soldiers themselves said about their problems (from the memoirs of D.I. Zavalishin): “I tell the truth that even after December 14, the soldiers of those regiments and detachments where there were no members of society and were not, therefore, the goals of the coup were explained to them, entered willingly talking with us ... talking about the double oath to Konstantin and Nikolai, they constantly told us the same thing: “We didn’t care either one or the other. Now, if, gentlemen, you then told us that there would be a deduction from service, that they would not be driven into a coffin with sticks, that you would not walk around with a bag after retirement, that children would not be irrevocably taken to the soldiers, well, we would have gone for this ” » . Only for 1815-1825. 15 uprisings took place in the Russian army.

As a result of the study, we outlined some prospects for studying the theme of the perception of the Patriotic War by the common people.

Target: To form an idea of ​​the Patriotic War of 1812 as one of the most glorious milestones national history, which reflected the mass heroism, patriotism and readiness for self-sacrifice of soldiers and officers.

Lesson objectives:

• to form students' ideas about the causes of the war, the forces and plans of the parties, the nature of the war, its main stages, the main sources of Russia's victory in the war;
• develop the ability to draw conclusions and generalize the material;
• to cultivate respect for the past of their people through the impact of historical images on the personality of students.

Equipment:

• textbook A.A. Danilov, L.G. Kosulina History of Russia in the 19th century. 8 cells
• educational card "Patriotic War of 1812";
• school atlas on the history of Russia. nineteenth century;
• scheme "Causes of the Patriotic War of 1812";
• table "The main events of the Patriotic War of 1812";
• reproductions: V. Vereshchagin “The End of the Battle of Borodino”, S. Gerasimov “M.I. Kutuzov on the Borodino field”, P. Hess “The Battle of Maloyaroslavets”, A. Kivshenko “Military Council in Fili”, F. Roubaud “Battle of Borodino”.
• Fragments from the feature film "War and Peace".

Basic concepts:

• Patriotic War;
• general battle;
• fodder;
• infantry;
• flushes;
• redoubt;
• militia;
• partisans.

Main dates:

• June 12, 1812 - the beginning of the war;
• August 26, 1812 - Battle of Borodino;
• December 25, 1812 - the manifesto of Alexander I on the end of the Patriotic War.

Persons:

• M.I. Kutuzov;
• Alexander I;
• M.B. Barclay de Tolly; P.I.Bagration;
• A.P. Tormasov;
• N.N. Raevsky;
• D.V. Davydov;
• A.S. Figner;
• G. Kurin;
• V. Kozhina.

Plan for studying new material:

1. Causes of the Patriotic War of 1812
2. The beginning of the war. Plans and forces of the parties.
3. Battle of Borodino.
4. Confrontation of two armies, partisan movement.
5. The retreat of Napoleon, the death of the French army.
6. The nature of the war historical meaning Patriotic War of 1812

The main stages of the lesson:

1. Introduction by the teacher.
2. Learning new material / role-playing game- interview: "Alexander I and Napoleon", teacher's story, students' reports, filling in the scheme "Causes of the Patriotic War of 1812", work with a historical map, table "Main stages of the Patriotic War of 1812", dramatization element "Council in Fili", viewing fragments of the feature film "War and Peace"./
3. Consolidation of the studied material / conversation during the lesson /.
4. Homework.

Epigraph:

The storm of the twelfth year has come -
Who helped us here?
The frenzy of the people, Barclay, winter
Or a Russian god?

A.S. Pushkin.

There are still many controversial and unclear issues in the history of the war of 1812, which we will get acquainted with in the lesson.

So, Russia and France are preparing for war. What are the causes of the war? The emperor of Russia - Alexander I and the emperor of France - Napoleon Bonaparte will help us to understand, to understand the situation on the eve of the war.

Student message: Alexander I - Russian emperor, liberal, supporter of the French Revolution, constitutional monarchy. At the beginning of the war, he was commander-in-chief, but was soon forced to leave the army, as he was far from military affairs.

Emperor, do you think that the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 was one of the reasons for the war with France?

Alexander I: The Peace of Tilsit, the peace treaty with France was a forced agreement. Yes, Russia got a free hand with respect to Turkey, Iran and Sweden, but we were forced to accept the French conquests in Europe.

In addition, Russia was obliged to join the "continental blockade" of England.

However, this hurt not only England, but also Russia itself. Russia has suffered great economic damage. The authority of Russia "fell" and the country found itself in international isolation. All this complicated and exacerbated relations with France.

Irresolvable contradictions arose between our countries, which, perhaps, only war can solve.

Student's message: Napoleon Bonaparte is a great commander, first consul, emperor of France, in his youth a supporter of the Great French Revolution.

Conquered Western Europe, Egypt, Syria...

Emperor, you are a great commander. In the conquered territory, you spread the bourgeois order, destroying feudal remnants. At the same time, the ancients were plundering

cities, sending the values ​​of banks, museums, palaces and churches by convoys to Paris.

Your army is turning from a liberation army into a predatory and conquering one.

To what do you attribute these changes?

Napoleon Bonaparte: “I am either a fox or a lion. The whole secret of management is knowing when to be this or that.” I do not hide the fact that I love power, but I love it as a violinist loves his violin. Power opens up huge opportunities. Subdue the world - that's my goal. I am a person called to influence the destinies of peoples. France will be proud of me. And my "great" army will help me in this. I believe in my soldiers, because I am sure that "in the knapsack of every soldier lies a marshal's baton."

Students draw conclusions: determine the causes of the Patriotic War of 1812 and write it down in a notebook / work with the diagram “Causes of the Patriotic War of 1812.”

Napoleon, you created a huge army for a military campaign in Russia. What did she represent? What were your goals and plans?

Napoleon: The army was really huge, it numbered 600 thousand. man and 1372 guns. It was called the "Great Army", as it was multinational: there were only about half the French, the rest were Austrians, Italians, Dutch, Poles, Prussians. It was "an army of twelve languages".

My plan was the following: to move with the main forces to Moscow, to prevent the unification of the two armies, to defeat them in the course of a general battle near the border / work with a training map / I did not intend to conquer Russia. Alexander I became a dependent ruler, like all Western European monarchs. And through the territory of Russia /together with Russian troops/ it was planned to deliver a mortal blow to England, depriving it of India.

Question to Alexander I: Was the attack unexpected for you? What are the strengths of the Russian army, alignment, and plans?

Alexander I: We were preparing for war, but the attack was unexpected. The Russian army had only 210 thousand soldiers and officers. It was divided into three parts and dispersed along the western border. The 1st Army was headed by Minister of War M.B. Barclay de Tolly. It was located along the Neman River. In Belarus, the 2nd army of P.I.Bagration was located. Kyiv was covered by the 3rd army of A.P. Tormasov. It was supposed

that Napoleon would advance on Petersburg. Therefore, there was a plan for a general battle near the border / work with the map / forces of the 1st Army with the support of Bagration's army. Soon, I left the army, and the general leadership of the troops was carried out by the Minister of War, Barclay de Tolly.

Student's message: Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly, Russian General Field Marshal, Prince. He came from an old Scottish family who moved to Riga. On military service since 1776. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791 and the Russian-Swedish war of 1788-1790. He distinguished himself during the war with France in 1806-1807, since 1807. commanded a division. In 1809-1810. Governor General of Finland. From January 1810 war minister.

Student's message: Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration / 1765-12.09.1812 / prince, Russian general from infantry. A native of an old Georgian princely family. In military service.

since 1782. Served in the Caucasus, participated in the Russian-Turkish battle of 1787-1791. and the Polish campaign of 1793-1794. In the Italian and Swiss campaigns of A.V. Suvorov in 1799

in the rank of major general, he commanded the vanguard and distinguished himself in all major battles.

During the war with France 1805-1807. led the rearguard of the Russian army. Participated in the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809. commanded a division. From March 1812 commanding.

2nd Western Army.

Student's message: Alexander Petrovich Tormasov / 1752-1819 / Count, Russian military leader, cavalry general. In military service since 1772. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. and the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1794. In 1803-1808 - Kyiv and Riga Governor General. In 1808-1811 commander-in-chief in Georgia and on the Caucasian line. Since 1811 member of the State Council. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812. commanded the 3rd Army. In the spring of 1813, during the illness of M.I. Kutuzov, he was acting commander in chief. Since 1814 commander-in-chief in Moscow, did a lot to restore it after the fire of 1812.

Students are given the task in the course of the story, to compose chronological table"The main events of the Patriotic War of 1812".

At dawn on June 12, 1812, the "Great Army" of Napoleon, having crossed the Neman, invaded the Russian Empire / watching an excerpt from the video /. The rapid advance of the powerful French army changed the plans of the Russian command. Barclay de Tolly makes the only correct decision: to retreat, to save the troops at any cost, not to engage in a general battle, to unite the forces of the 1st and 2nd armies. The retreat was carried out with small battles, which greatly exhausted the enemy, and Napoleon took each battle as the beginning of a general battle.

The numerical superiority of the enemy raised the question of an urgent replenishment of the army. But in Russia there was no universal military service. The army was completed by recruiting sets. And Alexander I decided on an unusual step. On July 6, he issued a manifesto calling for the creation of a people's militia, and fundraising for the active army began. A rescript was signed that legalized guerrilla warfare. But the peasants, having left their dwellings and armed with what they could, went into the forest, not knowing anything about the rescript. Their struggle against the invaders unfolded independently of the royal rescripts. The peasants refused to sell food and fodder to the French, and when the enemy approached, they burned huts, barns with harvested bread, and stole cattle.

In August, the first partisan detachments were already operating on Smolensk land.

The French army advanced, losing soldiers as a result of quick marches and skirmishes with partisans. The "Great Army" was melting before our eyes. Only 200 thousand came to Smolensk. Human.

What was the significance of this event? /Napoleon's original plan was thwarted/.

At the beginning of August /August 4-6/ a major battle took place near Smolensk. It was not possible to keep the city, but here Napoleon lost about 20 thousand soldiers. Russian troops and the population left the city, and the enemy got only the charred ruins of the city. Neither food nor fodder / horse feed / French failed to capture.

What do you think, what was the significance of the battle near Smolensk?

/ The Russian army was not only saved, but also convinced that the “Great” and invincible army was not so invincible, the war took on a protracted character /.

The Russian army was retreating and the public was dissatisfied, so there is talk about the betrayal of Barclay de Tolly. In the army and in Moscow they said that Barclay "leads

guest in Moscow. A good strategist and courageous warrior, he was silent, withdrawn and inaccessible. Bagration, a supporter of more active actions, openly expressed disagreement with Barclay's tactics. The generals did not get along with each other. In the inconsistency of their actions, many saw the reason for the loss of Smolensk after a bloody battle.

The public demanded the appointment of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, the popular general, Prince M.I. Kutuzov.

Student's message: Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov / 1745-1813 / - a great commander and diplomat. After graduating in 1795 with honors from the Noble School, he was invited to be a teacher of mathematics. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. distinguished himself in battle. In the battle near Alushta /1774/ he was seriously wounded in the temple and right eye. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. commanded the left column of Russian troops in the Balkans.

Participated in the capture of Ishmael. A.V. Suvorov, highly appreciating the actions of his student and associate, said about him: "He fought on the left flank, but was my right hand."

One of the main features of Kutuzov is caution. “It is better to be cautious than to be deceived.”

The other trait was cunning. “The old fox of the North,” Napoleon called him.

Alexander I did not like Kutuzov, could not forgive him for the defeat at Austerlitz, could not forgive his independence and popularity, but was forced to give in.

On August 8, having become commander in chief, Kutuzov, first of all, declared the actions of Barclay de Tolly correct and retreated closer to Moscow.

And 110 km from Moscow near the village of Borodino, Kutuzov decided to give a pitched battle.

In the Battle of Borodino, M.I. Kutuzov set the task of weakening the enemy, making his further advance impossible and raising the spirit of the Russian army. Napoleon sought to defeat the Russian army, capture Moscow and end the war.

By this time, the forces were almost equal: the enemy had a 132,000-strong army, the Russians had 132,000 with more artillery.

August 26, 1812 at dawn a major battle began. Kutuzov undertook active defense tactics, exhausting the enemy forces.

Napoleon on this day experienced a change of 2 moods. At dawn, when the sun was just beginning to rise, he cheerfully exclaimed: “Here it is the morning of Austerlitz!” The French, to the sound of drumming, launched an offensive. And this mood lasted all morning.

The French sought to break through the center, bypass the left flank, clear the way to Moscow / work with a training map /. However, the resistance of the Russians made this impossible. Fierce battles unfolded on Bagration's flashes / land fortifications /. The battle lasted 6 hours under artillery fire. The flushes were only captured in the middle of the day.

A terrible battle ensued because of the Semyonov flushes. Within hours, flushes changed hands. 700 guns thundered here, Russians and French more than once engaged in hand-to-hand combat. It was here that the mortally wounded Prince Bagration fell - the best, according to Napoleon, the general of the Russian army. Under a hail of bullets, he was carried away from the Borodino field.

It was the middle of the day. And the mood of Napoleon quickly and greatly changed. The fact is that his illustrious military leaders asked to send reinforcements, to give guards.

But Napoleon could not fulfill the request, since the cavalry of Uvarov and Platov unexpectedly attacked the convoy and the division.

Later, the battle began on the battery of General Raevsky. Here the Russians pushed the French back several times, and only in the evening the French managed to capture the fortifications.

Kutuzov gave the order to retreat to Moscow.

Watching a fragment of the video film "War and Peace".

The number of losses was great. The French polo has about 600 thousand people, in the Russian army - 44 thousand. Later, Napoleon, assessing this victory, said: “The most terrible of all battles is what I gave near Moscow. The French showed them worthy of victory, and the Russians turned out to be worthy of being invincible.

Kutuzov failed to defeat the French army, failed to stop the offensive.

Students are offered a problem task: Is Borodino a victory or a defeat?

Conclusion: Despite heavy losses, the Russian army was saved and able to continue the war. Kutuzov won a moral victory over Napoleon, raised the spirit of the Russian army. It was a moral victory. The battle of Borodino once again demonstrated all the superiority of the Russian army and the military art of Kutuzov over the military art of Napoleon.

Kutuzov retreated to Moscow, Napoleon followed on his heels.

September 1, 1812 in village near Moscow Fili hosted a military council, which decided the fate of the ancient capital of Russia.

Element of dramatization "Military Council in Fili". /Annex 1/

After watching, students are invited to answer the question: what decision was made at the military council and why?

It was the only the right decision to save Russia.

The population followed suit.

Napoleon approached Moscow. He stood on Poklonnaya Hill and waited for the keys to the city. So he was met in Berlin, Vienna, Milan, presenting the golden or silver keys to the city on satin pillows. But soon a message came that the city was empty. Napoleon entered Moscow and declared it a trophy - there were no local authorities left in the city and the "trophy of war" meant that the city was given up for plunder. The whole army of Napoleon plundered - even the burial places of the tsars in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin were plundered.

The result of the robbery was a sharp drop in discipline, usually very high in the French army. The soldiers did not obey not only the officers, but also the generals. In addition, another problem was added: the national relations of the "Great Army" became aggravated.

The Germans were at enmity with the Poles, the Italians with the Croats.

What did Napoleon count on these days?

Having captured Moscow and struck it to the very heart, he was sure that he would achieve peace. In Moscow, the army receives winter apartments, and in the spring continues the war. But what Napoleon saw in Moscow was not like either Milan or Rome.

On the same day, fires broke out in different parts cities. The Moscow fire has become a symbol

war of 1812, a symbol of self-sacrifice of the Russian people, ready to go to the end in their struggle.

Napoleon realized that Moscow was a trap lured by Kutuzov. And the longer he stays, the sooner he will lose his army. Now Kutuzov dictated his own rules.

Meanwhile, the Russian army made a brilliant maneuver. Retreating along the Ryazan road to the east, she suddenly turned south and camped near the village of Tarutino. /Job

with educational card/.

What was Kutuzov's trick?

Kutuzov blocked the city of Tula, where there were arms factories and 240 thousand soldiers, and the city of Kaluga, where food warehouses were located.

The cold and rainy Russian autumn was approaching, and with it the early winter.

The marshals demanded military action from Napoleon, realizing that time was working for the Russians.

Murat, one of Napoleon's commanders, was completely defeated near the village of Tarutino.

Maloyaroslavets changed hands 8 times, but even here Kutuzov won.

For this, Alexander I awarded Kutuzov with a sword with a diamond and a laurel wreath, and the French

They were forced to retreat to the Smolensk road devastated by them.

The enemy retreated, he was pursued by the Russian army and partisan detachments.

/Denis Vasilyevich Davydov; Alexander Figner; Gerasim Kurin and Vasilisa Kozhina/

The war took on a popular character.

An early and harsh winter was one of the disasters for the French. The "Great Army" has turned into a huge uncontrollable crowd. When crossing the Berezina River, Napoleon lost another 30 thousand soldiers. Only the pitiful remnants of the army crossed the border.

Napoleon himself abandoned the troops and fled to Paris.

At the end of December 1812 Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov reported to the Tsar:

"The war ended with the complete annihilation of the enemy."

Students are offered the task: to determine the nature of the war of 1812.

Conclusion: on the part of Russia, the war had a just, liberating, truly popular character.

Representatives of various segments of the population took part in this struggle, but mostly ordinary people - peasants who defended not only the Russian Tsar, but also the Fatherland.

Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs participated in this war...

In the conditions of a general tragedy, all insults and sufferings were forgotten. People strive for unity, they are ready to stand up for the defense of the Russian land. This feeling of hidden patriotism

lives in every person and the person himself does not always presuppose it. But the hour of trials comes and a person, driven by the first impulse of the heart, does what duty, the call of ancestors, memory requires. This is what patriotism is.

Homework: prepare messages "Monuments related to the events of the Patriotic War of 1812"

"Military awards of the Patriotic War of 1812"