Background

The campaign of 1812 was more frankly imperialistic than any other of Napoleon's wars; it was more directly dictated by the interests of the French upper class. The basic purposes of the war were to subject Russia to the economic interests of the upper class and to create an eternal threat against her in the shape of a vassal Poland, united with Lithuania and White Russia. Only by resisting this aggregation could Russia preserve her economic and political independence.

Napoleon had tried to conquer England, but was defeated at Trafalgar. The English also succeeded in organizing a new anti-French coalition consisting of Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Naples.
On December 2, 1805, in his greatest victory, Napoleon defeated the combined Austrian and Russian armies in the Battle of Austerlitz.

In September 1806 Prussia entered the war against France, and on October 14 the Prussian armies were defeated at Jena and at Auerstädt. The Russians put up a better resistance at Eylau in February 1807 but were routed at Friedland in June.

The Russian emperor Alexander I could have continued the struggle, but he was tired of the alliance with the British. He met Napoleon at Tilsit, in northern Prussia near the Russian frontier. There, on a raft anchored in the middle of the Niemen River, they signed treaties that created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw from the Polish provinces detached from Prussia and, in effect, divided control of Europe between the emperors.

At this time the French and their allies were maintaining a blockade against England. Russia was not effectively pursuing this blockade, and the Frech upper class wanted the complete elimination of England fram European markets. Napoleon made this his primary excuse for the war.

Since the Congress of Erfurt, the Russian emperor had shown himself less and less inclined to deal with Napoleon as a trusted partner. In the spring of 1812, therefore, Napoleon massed his forces in Poland to intimidate Alexander. After some last attempts at agreement, in late June his Grande Armée--about 453,000 men, including contingents extorted from Prussia and from Austria--began to cross the Niemen River.