Anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte's announcement of the alleged "second Polish war".
Today in our historical calendar we will look at the 1812 French-Russian War.
The Emperor of France thought that he could win against Britain only on the road of its naval blockade. I'm going to block this, against the rules. peace in Tyljah of 1807, Russia was notoriously breaking. Therefore, Napoleon made the intention of beating Russia and forcing it to respect its obligations. To this end, he gathered in the territory of East Prussia and the Duchy of Warsaw a multinational army of almost 600 1000 soldiers (including 300 1000 French, Italian and Belgian, 180 1000 Germans, 90 1000 Poles).
On 22 June, during his stay in his quarters in Wyczków (now Lithuania), he issued a peculiar call to his subordinate troops. He explained the motives of his actions and the reasons why the war with Russia is inevitable. He called the upcoming clash "the Second Polish War", in mention to the earlier war fought on Polish lands, i.e. the conflict from 1806 to 1807. In response, we read:
Soldiers, the Second Polish War began. The first ended in Frydland and Tylsha. In Tilza Russia swore to France an eternal alliance and war of England. Today, he's raping his vows. She gave us no explanation for her unusual behavior, so that French eagles, relying on the secrecy of our allies, were forced to cross the Rhine. Russia's destiny fair, its destiny should be fulfilled. Does she think we're degenerate?
Aren't we more soldiers from Austerlitz? She put us between disgrace and war: the choice should not rise any doubt, so let us march forward! We went through Niemen, moving the war into her territory. The Second Polish War, as the first will be glorious for French troops. The peace treaty that we will sign will warrant us that it will put an end to this conceited influence that Russia has had on European affairs for 50 years.
The attack on Russia resulted in the defeat of French revolutionary troops and their allies. Interestingly, precisely 129 years after Napoleon announced the “second Polish war”, another leader struck Russia (this time Soviet) who was besides dreaming of hegemony over Europe – Adolf Hitler.
Link to erstwhile entry from our calendar Here.
