1812: The Great Retreat

The third volume of this in-depth study examines Napoleon’s dramatic retreat from Russia with vividly detailed and newly translated firsthand accounts.

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was one of history's most disastrous military campaigns. Historian Paul Austin vividly captures the entire campaign in his magisterial 1812 trilogy. His previous books brought the Grand Armee to the empty victory over an abandoned Moscow, and on to the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, where Napoleon was forced to order a retreat for the first time in his entire career.

1812: The Great Retreat follows the army's withdrawal through 800 miles of devastated countryside, crossing the relics of the Borodino battlefield, fighting its way through the Russian General Kutusov's successive attempts to cut it off, and winning, against overwhelming odds, the battle of the Berezina crossing. First-hand narratives, many published in English for the first time, describe Marshal Ney's astounding achievement in holding together the rear-guard until he himself, musket in hand, was the last man to re-cross the Niemen into Poland.

Using the words of the participants themselves, Austin brings unparalleled authenticity and immediacy to his unique account of the closing stages of Napoleon's tragic 1812 campaign.