In the summer of 1812 Napoleon gathered his fearsome Grande Armée, more than half a million strong, on the banks of the Niemen River. He was about to undertake the most daring of all his many campaigns: the invasion of Russia. Meeting only sporadic opposition and defeating it easily along the way, the huge army moved forward, advancing ineluctably on Moscow through the long hot days of summer. On September 14, Napoleon entered the Russian capital, fully anticipating the Czar's surrender. Instead he encountered an eerily deserted city--and silence. The French army sacked the city, and by October, with Moscow in ruins and his supply lines overextended, and with the Russian winter upon him, Napoleon had no choice but to turn back. One of the greatest military debacles of all time had only just begun.

In this famous memoir, Philippe-Paul de Ségur, a young aide-de-camp to Napoleon, tells the story of the unfolding disaster with the keen eye of a crack reporter and an astute grasp of human character. His book, a fundamental inspiration for Tolstoy's War and Peace, is a masterpiece of military history that teaches an all-too-timely lesson about imperial hubris and its risks.
About the Author: Philippe-Paul de Ségur (1780-1873), the scion of an old French aristocratic family, was the son of Louis-Philippe de Ségur, a diplomat and historian who welcomed the Revolution and aligned himself with Napoleon. Sharing his his father's sympathies, the young Ségur enlisted in the French cavalry in 1800 and quickly rose to became a member of Napoleon's personal staff. Ségur distinguished himself repeatedly in battle and supported the Emperor until the final defeat at Waterloo. His History of Napoleon and the Grande Armée in the Year 1812 was published in two volumes in 1824, and the book, a great success which sold out ten editions in three years, was widely translated. Effectively retired from the army during the Restoration, Ségur was promoted to lieutenant general and received a peerage after the establishment of the July Monarchy in 1830. He was enrolled in the French Academy in 1830 and received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1847. His other books include a History of Russia and Peter the Great as well as his posthumously published memoirs.

Mark Danner has written about war and politics for two decades, covering conflicts in Latin America, the Balkans, and the Middle East, among other stories. His books include The Massacre at El Mozote, Torture and Truth, and The Secret Way to War.

J. David Townsend was a Methodist minister who served for sixteen years as a missionary in Algeria and was the pastor of churches in Paris and in Cohasset, Massachusetts. His translation and abridgement of Ségur's masterpiece was first published in 1958 as Napoleon's Russian Campaign.