200 years ago - June 24th 1812: Napoleon’s invasion of Russia begins

On this day in 1812, 200 years ago, Napoleon’s Grand Armee crossed the Neman River, thus beginning his invasion of Russia. This ill-planned invasion was a major turning point in the Napoleonic Wars as France’s failure weakened Napoleon’s army and his reputation. Napoleon had failed to supply his army well, and the Russian scorched earth policy didn’t allow the French to ‘live off the land’ as they previously had. Thus, the Grand Armee was poorly supplied and this was exacerbated by the onset of Russian Winter; almost 400,000 French soldiers died. Napoleon abandoned the invasion and it ended in December 1812. This very significant event in European and world history occurred 200 years ago.