Napoleon going for St. Petersburg instead of Moscow

All,

I am more into the history "after 1900" so please bear with me.

This may have been debated to death here, ok.

I am busy reading a very interesting book on the 1812 French invasion of Russia.

It states that, according to Napoleon, going for St. Petersburg would be like going for the brain, but going for Moscow would be going for the heart.


Well and good.

Apparantly, Napoleon considered going for St. Petersburg by way of the baltic coastline.

Comments on such a strategy? Would it still have involved a Polish kngdom perhaps?

Apparantly, Napoleon was not interested in "conquering" russia, more interested in bringing the Russian armies to battle, defeating them, and THEN have a nice peace treaty again.

Would St Petersburg have offered that?

Was it feasible?

Was it too late in the day anyway? starting out in June?

Ivan
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
I have thought about this as well but the big problem will be the supply-lines which would be insanely vulnerable from sea-borne interdiction.
 
I have thought about this as well but the big problem will be the supply-lines which would be insanely vulnerable from sea-borne interdiction.


n
Not in the slightest! whoever proposed that knows what he did!The Gulf of Finland can be blocked and siege guns(minimum 45 pounders..) could be placed in the North and south promontories also along the way that supply ships would follow close to the coast,at regular intervals.That would create a whole lot of new parametres:the Russians would have to stop a fully supplied Napoleon whose numbers would be augmented by more units and flanked by Polish lancers and Dragoons.Now the Russians would have to come to him to protect or liberate their capital,whatever the case might be, at the end of a very long supply line against entrenched French whose back is on the sea ,but protected by batteries of 45 pounders or even heavier never mind gunships with giant mortars...
 
This would effectively lead to a Napoleon victory, methinks. Now, Napoleon was right, Moscow is the heart, but the French couldn't really handle Russia's 'love' for them.;)
 
The Russian navy was quite strong at this time, as was the Royal Navy squadron that entered the Baltic 1808, they would have no problems dealing with any coastal defence the French can put up quickly.

Napoleon tried to go after S:t Petersburg - his troops were stopped outside Riga and outside Polotsk when they tried to flank the Russians at Riga, so he opted to go after Moscow instead.
 
This strategy wouldn't be adopted because of Napoleon's mindset. He thought he just had to win enough victories to get Alexander I to see sense and quit the war. If he understood Alexander I really did want to fight him, his whole MO would have been vastly different than IOTL.
 
This strategy wouldn't be adopted because of Napoleon's mindset. He thought he just had to win enough victories to get Alexander I to see sense and quit the war. If he understood Alexander I really did want to fight him, his whole MO would have been vastly different than IOTL.
To win victories? of course,but it would be better if the Russians came to him out of no choice and different playing Kutuzov's scorched earth games all the way to Moscow.
 
Apparantly, Napoleon hoped and waited for Russia to attack. He was convinced (as was Barclay) that in a war of maneouvre he would win.

However, was the Baltic really that dangerous to France? Britain still had to get past Denmark to get there.

A coastal supply route looks more convincing than all the other stuff through Poland, etc.

Still not coinvinced if St.Peterburg would not have been a "better" target"


Ivan
 
Apparantly, Napoleon hoped and waited for Russia to attack. He was convinced (as was Barclay) that in a war of maneouvre he would win.

However, was the Baltic really that dangerous to France? Britain still had to get past Denmark to get there.

A coastal supply route looks more convincing than all the other stuff through Poland, etc.

Still not coinvinced if St.Peterburg would not have been a "better" target"


Ivan
It was the capital city of all Russias and a matter of honour for the Czar to expel the French from his capital(matters of honour involving a major European Sovereign still counted then).Moscau was not a capital city and Kutuzov didn't have a problem not defending it after Borodino.
 
Top