N & E
Napoléon & Empire

Napoleonic Timeline: 1812

Chronology of the Napoleonic era [1769...] [1789...] [1794...] [1796] [1797] [1798] [1799] [1800] [1801] [1802] [1803] [1804] [1805] [1806] [1807] [1808] [1809] [1810] [1811] [1812] [1813] [1814] [1815] [1816...] [1840]
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812
 Enlarge

18 January 1812 – Order is given to send to Rome two thousand workers for the restoration of ancient monuments. – 26 January – Meeting of Catalonia to France; it will form four departments.

23 February 1812 – Concordat of 1801 is broken. – 24 February – The King Frederick William III of Prussia is forced by Napoleon 1 to supply a contingent of twenty thousand men.

14 March 1812 – The Emperor of Austria Francis I is ordered to supply thirty thousand men.

9 April 1812 – Russia and Sweden conclude an alliance. – 18 April – The Army Corps stationed in Germany is ordered to be ready for war. – 22 April – At Vilna, Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, takes command of his army. – 24 April – Russia issues an ultimatum.

1st May 1812 – An employee of the French Department of War, convicted of spying for the Russians, is condamned and executed. He provided information on the French armies in Germany. – 9 May – Napoleon 1 arrives in Dresden. – 21 May – Transfering the Pope Pius VII to Fontainebleau is decided. – 29 May – Napoleon leaves Dresden. He will take command of the army.

19 June 1812 – Puis VII arrives at Fontainebleau as a prisoner. – 22 June – Napoleon 1 sends a proclamation to the Grand Army. – 24 June – The Neman river is reached. – 28 June – Entry of Napoleon in Vilna. He stays in the house occupied by the Tsar Alexander 1 a few days earlier. – 29 June – Evacuation of Grodno by General Platov. – 30 June – Jerome Bonaparte enters the city of Grodno. The Russian army retreats on Mostoui.

1st July 1812 – At Vilna, Napoleon 1 installs the Administrative Commission of Lithuania. It must govern Lithuania and White Russia and load requisitions among the peasants and landowners. – 2nd July – Napoleon orders that the soldiers found guilty of plundering or marauding should be arrested, tried by martial court and shot, if convicted. – 8 July – Occupation of Minsk by Marshal Davout. – 16 July – The Grand Army marches on Vitebsk. – 28 July – Napoleon enters Vitebsk. He says to Marshal Murat that the first Russian campaign is over. 1813 will see us in Moscow, 1814 in St. Petersburg. The Russian war is a war of three years.

14 August 1812 – Passage of the River Dnieper. Fight of Krasnoi. – 16 August – Battle of Smolensk. – 17 August – Evacuation of Smolensk by the Russians. – 18 August – Entry of Napoleon at Smolensk. – 25 August – Departure from Smolensk. – 26 August – Letter to Empress Marie-Louise. Napoleon writes: My vanguard is forty miles from Moscow. – 29 August – Entry to Wiazma. Appointment of General Kutuzov as commander of Russian troops.

1st September 1812 – In France, class 1813 (137,000 men) is called in advance. – 2nd September – Napoleon 1 writes to Marie-Louise: I have been making war for nineteen years, I have given many battles and made many sieges in Europe, Asia, Africa. I'm going to hurry and finish it for seeing you again soon. – 5 September – French troops attack the Russian avant-garde and reject it to Borodino, a village nearby. – 6 September – Occupation of Borodino. The portrait of the King of Rome painted by François Gérard is exposed to the tent of the Emperor. Napoleon sends a proclamation to the army: Soldiers, this is the battle you have so desired. Victory now depends on you, we need it, it will give us plenty of good winter quarters and a speedy return home. – 7 September – New proclamation: Soldiers, the day you desired has arrived. The enemy's army who fled is now in front of you. Remember that you are French soldiers . Battle of Borodino. – 8 September – Kutuzov's troops retreat to Moscow. – 13 September – Kutuzov decides to evacuate Moscow. – 14 September – Napoleon enters Moscow. The Russians burn the city. – 15 September – Installation of Napoleon in the Kremlin. Spread of fire. – 16 September – Napoleon settles in Petrovsk palace, outside the city in flames. – 18 September – Wellington besieges Burgos, Spain. – 23 September – Napoleon sends a letter from Moscow to Marie-Louise: The weather is beautiful, we shot so many incendiaries that they have ceased. – 24 September – Napoleon makes to the Tsar confidential offers of peace; the latter takes no action.

5 October 1812 – Napoleon 1 begins to make arrangements for departure. He orders to evacuate the wounded soldiers. – 13 October – First snow. – 15 October – Napoleon signs the Decree of Moscow reorganizing the French Comedie. – 19 October – Napoleon gives the signal for retreat and leaves Moscow, ordering to blow up the Kremlin. – 22 October – Faced with the heroic resistance of General Dubreton and its 1,800 men, Wellington raises the siege of Burgos. – 23 October – In Paris, attempted coup of General Malet. – 24 October – Battle of Maloyaroslavets. – 25 October – At Ghorodnia, a group of Cossacks just miss to capture Napoleon. – 28 October – In Paris, Malet and his accomplices are judged by a council of war. – 29 October – They are shot. – 31 October – Napoleon arrives in Wiazma. He had entered the city as a winner two months earlier.

3rd November 1812 – Command of the rearguard is given to Marshal Ney. – 7 November – Napoleon is informed of the conspiracy of Malet. – 9 November – Napoleon arrives in Smolensk. – 16 November – The Russians take over Minsk. – 19 November – Passage of the river Dnieper. In Orscha, Napoleon personally takes care of burning everything he intends avoiding to fall into the hands of the Russians. – 21 November – Russians take control of bridges at Borisov. – 23 November – Napoleon orders the construction of bridges over the Berezina river, and the burning of all bodies' Imperial eagles. – 24 November – Vans and cars will also burn. – 27 November – The Emperor, custody and artillery cross the Berezina river. – 28 November – The rest of the army fights against the Russians: it's the battle of the Berezina.

5 December 1812 – Napoleon 1 entrusts the command of the army to Joachim Murat, and leaves for Warsaw. – 10 December – Napoleon arrives in Warsaw and leaves it at once. – 18 December – Napoleon reaches the Tuileries palace, shortly before midnight. – 20 December – The wreck of the army arrives in Königsberg. – 25 December – For Christmas, Napoleon grants a major hearing in the Throne Room. – 26 December – Napoleon hunts in the park of Marly, then attends a military parade at the Carrousel  Arch of the Carrousel in Paris. – 28 December –Napoleon visits the annual Salon of Painters installed in the Louvre. – 29 December –Again hunting, in the forests of Versailles.