was this Napoleon's biggest mistake in 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte was at the peak of his powers he had a vast Army under his control and wanted to force Russia to stop trading with Britain Napoleon truly thought he was invincible so he sent six hundred thousand soldiers to Russian territory the Russians tried to avoid conflict where possible deploying a scorched Earth policy when they retreated they would burn shelter and supplies as they did so the French Advanced successfully winning a number of minor engagements as well as the major battles of Smolensk and borodino sustaining heavy losses during
the latter Napoleon and his army occupied an abandoned Moscow waiting five weeks for a peace offering that never came the French army retreated from Russia but faced the harsh winter the lack of supplies in combination with the climate and guerrilla warfare from Russian peasants meant that Napoleon sustained further losses of the six hundred thousand French soldiers that entered Russia only 100 000 returned
