Why was Napoleon's decision to invade Russia the biggest mistake of his military career?

Answer 1

He lost big. He thought by capturing Moscow he could dictate terms to Russia. The Russians fought back with harassing small scale attacks. Napoleon was forced to retreat in winter at great loss.

Napoleon had been undefeated before he invaded Russia in 1812 and he controlled the rest of Europe firmly except Britain. Afterwards he was weakened and the rot set in. By 1813 Napoleon was on the run and Europe was under a wave of unstoppable Nationalism.

Sign up to view the whole answer

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Sign up with email

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.