the heights of power. He was determined never to lose his power. He was not a tyrant; he was essentially an enlightened despot.Napoleon did not identify with the republicanism and democracy of the Jacobins; rather, he belonged to the tradition of eighteenth-century enlightened despotism. Like the reforming despots, he admired administrative uniformity and efficiency, disliked feudalism, religious persecution, and civil inequality, and favored government regulation of trade and industry.The disastrous defeat of the Prussian at Jena in 1806 and French domination of Germany stimulated a movement for reform among members of the Prussian high bureaucracy and officer corps. To survive in a world altered by the French Revolution, Prussia would have to learn the principal lessons of the Revolution that aroused citizens fighting for a cause to make better soldiers than mercenaries and oppressed serfs. Officers selected for daring and intelligence command better than nobles possessing only a gilded birthright. The reformers believed that the elimination of social abuses would overcome defeatism and apathy and encourage Prussians to serve the state willingly and to fight bravely for national honor. A revitalized Prussia could then deal with the French.In June of 1812, the Grand Army, 614,000 men strong, crossed the Neman River into Russia. Fighting mainly rear-guard battles and retreating according to plan, the tsar’s forces lured the invaders into the vastness of Russia. On September 14, the Grand Army entered Moscow, which the Russians had virtually evacuated.Napoleon was in a dilemma:To penetrate deeper into Russia was certain death, to stay in Moscow with winter approaching meant possible starvation. Faced with these alternatives, Napoleon decided to retreat westward. On October 19, 1812, 95,000 troops and thousands of wagons loaded with loot left Moscow for the long trek back.In early November came the first snow and frost. ...
