In this TL, the Russians, which found out about the planned Napoleonic invasion in mid 1811, are worried about how to defend their nation against the Napoleonic threat.
Petrograd, June 12th, 1811:
Tsar Alexander I desperately walks around his office. Someone knocks on the door. "Who's there?" "Pyotr Bagration, Tsar!" "Come in." the Tsar replies. His loyal general immediately comes in and tells him about the meeting he just came from.
"Sir, in the meeting, we agreed that it'd perhaps be possible to lure the French into a trap. You, tsar, would lead our First Western Army, together with Bogdanovich and De Tolly. Your army consists of roughly 105 thousand men, including a number of 5 to 7 thousand Cossacks. And over 500 guns."
"Sounds good. What will you do?"
"I will lead the Second Western Army, numbered 35 thousand men. Including a few thousand Cossacks. And i will possess around 200 guns."
"I see. What's the strategy, Bagration?"
"The problem is, we would have to mobilize our troops for a full victory. This would take too long and it would be very risky, sir. We could fight them and surrender to Moscow though, burning all possible food-wares on the way. But, an even bigger problem exists."
"And what would that be?"
"Our spies have discovered the amount of French forces deployed for the invasion."
"Go on."
Bagration sighes and sits down.
"Sir, it's the largest force to have ever been assembled in European history. Due to foreigners from conquered or surrendered nations joining the army, 600 to 700 thousand men are deployed. We'll hardly be able to win against this force. Even if we would use the strategy, our 250 thousand men would likely make no chance. As i told you before, sir, we'd have to mobilize our troops for it."
"What other choices do we have?"
"Well... ...we could, perhaps, join the Continental Alliance, but i don't think that'll be the solution..."
Deep silence starts, and only ends after five minutes, with the following sentence:
"Disagreed! Losing is betrayal! Thus, I'd rather betray the Coalition than my own people!"
Map of 1812, by Knight Templar:
The first part will come up really soon. This time, i will try not to make any mistakes (especially not concerning the Ottomans and the Danish).
