14. “From the Sublime to the Ridiculous“
When Napoleon belatedly turned his back on Moscow, winter was nigh, and his unprepared army was caught by the bitter cold during the retreat. That was exacerbated by his choice of route: he had two options, and picked a route that was struck by severe winter storms, while the one he didn’t take saw little snow that year. Most of his army starved or froze to death, while many were killed by Cossacks who harried the rear and flanks of the retreating columns. Napoleon had marched into Russia with 685,000 men – at the time, the largest army the world had ever seen. He came out with only 35,000 Frenchmen still under his command, with the remainder either dead (over 400,000), deserting, or switching sides. Reflecting upon the debacle, Napoleon commented: “From the sublime to the ridiculous, it is only one step“.
