That retreat was a frightful one. The army had been reduced to 103,000 men; the army followers had also greatly decreased in numbers. But it was still a large host that set out upon its long march over the frozen Russian plains.
The Russian policy now changed. The retreating army was attacked at every suitable point. The food supply rapidly failed. On again reaching Smolensk the army was only 42,000 strong, though the camp followers are said to have still numbered 60,000.
On the 26th of November the ice-cold River Beresina was reached, destined to be the most terrible point on the whole dreadful march. Two bridges were thrown in all haste across the stream, and most of the men under arms crossed, but 18,000 stragglers fell into the hands of the enemy. How many were trodden to death in the press or were crowded from the bridge into the icy river cannot be told. It is said that when spring thawed the ice, 30,000 bodies were found and burned on the banks of the stream. A mere fragment of the great army remained alive. Ney, who had been the hero of the retreat, was the last man to cross that frightful stream.
On the 13th of December some 16,000 haggard and staggering men, almost too weak to hold the arms to which they still despairingly clung, recrossed the Niemen, which the “Grand Army” had passed in such magnificent strength and with such abounding resources less than six months before. It was the greatest and most astounding disaster in the military history of the world.
DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG
The lion was at bay, but there was fight left in him still. He hurried back to France, gathered another army, refused all offers of peace on the terms suggested by his enemies, and concentrated an army at Dresden. Here on August 26, 1813, his last great victory was won.
The final stand came at Leipzig, where, October 16–18, he waged a three days’ battle against all the powers of central and eastern Europe. Then, his ammunition nearly exhausted, he was forced to give the order to retreat.
The struggle was soon at an end. France was quickly invaded, Paris was obliged to surrender, and on April 7, 1814, the emperor signed an act of abdication and was exiled to the small island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, with an army of 400 men, chosen from his famous Old Guard. But the Powers of Europe, despite their long experience of Napoleon, did not yet recognize the ability and audacity of the man with whom they had to deal. While the Congress of Vienna, convened to restore the old constitution of Europe, was deliberating and disputing, word came that their dethroned enemy was again on the soil of France and Louis XVIII, his successor, was in full flight. He had landed on March 1, 1815, and was marching back to Paris, the people and the army rallying to his support.
THE HUNDRED DAYS
Then came the famous Hundred Days, in which Napoleon showed much of his old ability, rapidly organizing a new army, with which in June he marched into Belgium, where the British under Wellington and the Prussians under Blucher had gathered to meet him.