The russian army had about 40,000 cossacks in its ranks at the beginning of the patriotic war of 1812. they were mostly the don cossacks under ataman matvei platov, joined by the black sea. Definition. napoleon 's invasion of russia, also known as the second polish war or, in russia, as the patriotic war of 1812, was a campaign undertaken by french emperor napoleon i (r. 1804 1814; 1815) and his 615,000 man grande armée against the russian empire. it was a catastrophic defeat for napoleon and one of history's deadliest military.
The cossacks avoided regular battles in preference to hit and run attacks. napoleon's polish cavalry suffered heavy casualties when ambushed on two occasions at mir and romanov. at borodino, one of the great military showdowns of the war, platov's regiments played a vital role in a surprise attack in the rear of the french army. Their fighting peak came in the 1812 1814 war against napoleon, in which over 40,000 don horsemen battled the french army. the first clashes showed that the invaders were dealing with a formidable. The cossacks and uhlans had encountered each other before. on june 23, on the eve of the ‘grande armée’s’ full scale invasion of the russian empire, 300 poles had crossed the river neman on. Russian napoleonic cavalry. don cossack in campaign dress, 1812 14. trooper of the 1st st. petersburg cossacks, 1812. bashkir, 1812. ural cossack in campaign dress. plates and text from the book “the russian army of the napoleonic wars 2 cavalry” osprey series.
Comments are closed.