04/27/09The Storms of 1812… Exhibition
 The exhibition called The Storms of 1812… was opened at the Palaty museum complex in Vladimir. The exhibition from the State Historical Museum in Moscow (the leading national museum of the country) is devoted to the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. This was one of the most significant events, which had a special influence on the history of Russia.
 On June 12, 1812 the Napoleon’s Grande Armée numbering 600 thousand and assembled from the entire Europe invaded the territory of Russia. Frenchmen composed only a half of this army, the rest (Germans, Italians, Poles, Swiss, Spaniards, Portuguese, Belgians, Dutchmen, Austrians, Croats) were recruited in the countries dependent from France.
 Sovereignty and independence of Russia were set under the threat. “The time of misfortunes, the time of glory” or the 1812 Patriotic War – such were the names given by historians to the six months of the military campaign, which woke up the dozing forces and national pride in the Russian people.
At the beginning of the war (because of the enemy’s superiority in numbers) the Russian troops, avoiding a pitched battle, withdrew. Two Russian armies joined their forces near Smolensk and after the battle for this city continued their retreat. At the moment of the decisive battle on August 26 near the village of Borodino a relative parity of forces had already been established. But the united Russian armies sustained tremendous losses in the bitter Borodino battle and they were forced to withdraw and then left Moscow, the capital of Russia, to the enemy.
 The war acquired the Russia-wide scope. All social strata were pulled into the orbit of events, first of all in the central provinces, where with the nearing of the enemy people burned down their houses and fled to the woods with their cattle leaving nothing behind. Peasants rose to the defense of their settlements against the encroachments of hostile foragers and marauders. Provincial militias were formed as the reserve and second echelon of the defense for the regular army.
Napoleon moved his army back after only 40 days of his stay in Moscow and after the abortive attempts to enter the peaceful negotiations. This retreat became one of the most tragic pages in the military history of France. Hunger, cold, guerrilla warfare, strong pressure from the pursuing Russian troops led to the almost total loss of the Napoleon’s army. It was possible to leave only the pitiful remainders from the 600-thousand group: less than 80 thousand people. The complete catastrophe and destruction of the Grande Armée in Russia was the main result of the war of 1812.
The foreign campaign of the Russian army took place in 1813–1814 and was the logical continuation of the events of 1812. The entrance of the anti-Napoleon allies into Paris in 1814 was the peak of the international prestige of Russia and the highest point of the glory of emperor Alexander I. On his initiative the Holy Alliance (a union of monarchs), was formed to solve basic European problems.
There are about 200 exhibits from the collection of the State Historical Museum presented in Vladimir. Among the most interesting items are uniforms and weapons of the Russian and French armies, documents, engravings and pictures including the paintings by the outstanding Russian artist V. Vereshchagin. Some of the museum objects are exhibited for the first time.
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