Transcript Y8HiU1F Russian Oct16 PP - InterHigh-History

Napoleon’s Major Military Campaigns
1805:
France 
Sea
Power
 Britain
Trafalgar (Lord Nelson: Fr. Navy lost!)
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Battle of Trafalgar
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The Continental System
a GOAL  to isolate Britain and promote Napoleon’s
mastery over Europe.
a Having been beaten soundly by the English at
Trafalgar, Napoleon knew an invasion was out of the
question.
a Unable to beat the British at sea, Napoleon launched
the Continental System with the Berlin Decrees of
1806 (expanded through the Milan Decree of 1807).
a Any ship from Britain of caring British goods were
banned from European ports.
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The Continental System
a The blockade hurt British trade and caused soaring
unemployment and rioting in 1811, although quite soon
Britain found ways around and under the blockade
a But France suffered from a lack of imported raw
materials. French satellites suffered as well, causing
widespread discontent, even though smuggling was
rampant.
a Portugal, Sweden and Russia resisted joining the
blockade. Tensions rise between Napoleon and Tsar
Alexander I. Napoleon took his usual position on such
occasions. It could only be war!
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Napoleon’s Family & Friends/Allies
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The “Big Blunder” -- Russia
aIn July, 1812 Napoleon led his
Grand Armee of 614,000 men
eastward across central Europe
and into Russia. He said he would
complete the mission in 3 months.
The Russians avoided a direct
confrontation with Napoleon.
They retreated to Moscow,
drawing the French into the interior of Russia [hoping
that it’s size and the weather would act as “support” for
the Russian cause].
The Russian nobles abandoned their estates and burned
their crops to the ground, leaving the French to operate
far from their supply bases in territory stripped of food
– it was called scorched earth policy. It reminds me of
William the conqueror and the ‘Harrying of the North’
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Napoleon’s Troops at the Gates of Moscow
a
September 14, 1812  Napoleon reached Moscow,
but the city had largely been abandoned.
a
The Russians had set fire to the city.
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Moscow Is On Fire!
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Napoleon’s Retreat
from Moscow (Early 1813)
100,000
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French troops retreat—40,000 survive!
The green line represents Napoleon’s passage across Europe to Russia and
the orange one represents his return. The thickness of the line is the number of
soldiers under his command at each stage. The graph at the bottom charts the
temperature at each point of his return.
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After the French retreat …
• The allies got together.
• During the retreat of Napoleon from Russia,
Britain started an offensive upon France in
Spain.
• Prussia and Austria joined Russia against
France on the eastern front and finally
together took Paris on 30 March 1814.
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Now to Hitler
• He and Jo Stalin had been friends, but
secretly Hitler only maintained that situation
as long as it suited him!
• He saw Russia as a source of food and
minerals – they were afterall (according to
Hitler) Untermenshen, sub-humans, fit only
for slave labour!
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• Hitler attacked on 3
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fronts, Leningrad in
the north, Moscow in
the middle and
Stalingrad towards
the south.
He said he would
complete the attack
in 6 weeks!
At the start it looked
as if that was an
over estimate!
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What happened next!
• Jo Stalin was a particularly unpleasant leader
and when the Germans first invaded, the
Russians thought taking his side might be a
better option.
• But they soon found out that Hitler, if
anything, was worse, so they began fighting
back.
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Advantages for Russia
• The Germans had a really easy time in the beginning. This
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meant that they spread their formations thin as their early
successes meant they moved further forward that they
thought possible
Because of Hitler’s attitude, the people retaliated by
wrecking troop trains, poisoning wells, murdering soldiers.
At first these acts were scattered and spontaneous, but the
resistance gradually took on organization and discipline.
Very soon the partisans behind the lines were playing an
important part in the war.
Prevented by the Fuehrer’s order from withdrawing and
regrouping, the German generals found it difficult to meet
the stiffening Russian resistance.
Meanwhile Scorched Earth policy – familiar??
Nothing was to be left for the invaders. Houses were
burned, cattle were slaughtered and eaten, roads were
wrecked and power plants blown up, crops were plowed
under and factories dismantled.
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War in Russia
• In three weeks, Germany was within 70 miles of
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Moscow
And then the attack is bogged down. Hitler’s
generals argued that it should be called off and
renewed in the spring. The Russian winter was
falling early, but Hitler would not agree.
All during Nov. of 1941 the troops ground slowly
toward Moscow. Snow, fog, and rain engulfed
them in a cold sea of misery. Temperatures were
dropping rapidly. But they struggled on.
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Moscow
• Orders were given for a mass evacuation of the city. In two
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weeks, two million people left Moscow and headed east.
Stalin rallied morale by staying in Moscow, in a bomb-proof
air raid shelter positioned under the Kremlin,
Thermometers fell to zero. Equipped with light clothing,
accustomed to nothing like the bitter Russian winter, the
German solders suffered torments. Weapons froze, food
froze, flesh froze. Tankmen and truckers had to run their
engines every few hours lest they freeze and burst.
Sometimes they had to build fires beneath them. Rations
were slow in coming to the front. Soon the German soldiers
were eating frozen horses to stay alive
The Russians were equipped for winter. While the Soviet
troops held the freezing German’s at arm’s length, a huge
reserve of troops and tanks was being built up to the rear.
When this force was ready, Marshal Georgi Zhukov sent it
surging forward against the Germans.
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Moscow
• Hitler’s divisions were caught with their tanks and
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trucks frozen in the snow and were driven back.
Eventually, the Russian offensive would send the
Germans reeling back a distance of two hundred
miles.
Hitler’s losses in five months of furious fighting
would total nearly 800,000 casualties, and he would
never get so close to Moscow again.
Dec. 6, 1941 was the day Zhukov launched his
counterattack; that was the date the Russian bear
turned on the tormentor.
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The Siege At Leningrad
• Leningrad was cut off from the rest of Russia and suffered in
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a siege. Leningrad had enough food to feed its three million
people for little more than a month.
A trickle of foodstuffs was flown in , but the defenders put
their hopes on circumventing the German blockade but
organizing the route took time, and for a multitude there was
not enough time.
They dropped of hunger and died even as they walked along
the streets or worked at their factory jobs.
They ate their dogs and cats; they swallowed hair oil and
Vaseline, they made soup of dried glue from furniture joints
and wall paper.
By January the supply line began to catch up with food
needs but the effects of the famine were felt for months.
Close to a million may have died as a result of the siege.
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The final reckoning
• Once the Germans had withdrawn, the
Russians moved forward towards Germany.
Meanwhile the British, American and French
armies were making slow progress from the
west until they met in Berlin in May 7th 1945
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Now to use the things you explored
• Look for things that are the same and things that are
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different between the 2 campaigns
Please look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELG5c3jo34&fe
ature=player_embedded
Or by going direct to the wiki and looking at the last
video on that page
http://interhigh-history.wikispaces.com/Jaguars
Do you remember the first video – the one with no
English in it but you heard Russia and French
spoken – what you see and what did you hear?
The other Hitler one – the bitty one – how did
Hitler's army look? What did you hear?
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Open up the discussion
What did you find out?
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