LIS 385T.16 - Fall 1997: The Napoleon Project
User-System Interface Design Course

Moscow

Advancing to Moscow, Napoleon waited outside the city gates for prominent civic authorities to greet him and to discuss terms of surrender. None arrived. Moscow had been deserted. Napoleon entered the city and took up residence in the czar's palace. That night the city was set on fire by the few inhabitants that remained. Fire-fighting equipment had either been removed or destroyed. Napoleon called upon the Tsar to surrender, who ignored his request.

Realizing that Moscow would be uninhabitable for the six months of winter, Napoleon decided on a strategic retreat. Unfortunately, he didn't make his decision until he had been in Moscow for nearly three weeks. It was now mid-October.


March Through Russia (Image Map):

The advance: Niemen River | Kovno | Vitebsk | Smolensk | Borodino | Moscow |
The retreat: Malo-Jaroslavetz | Orsha | Berezina | Smorgoni |