NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 269 cided to go on with his enterprise ; so he advanced, and at first the Russians were in no condition to meet him, their forces being scattered. If Napoleon could have advanced rapidly to Smolensk, he might have cut the Russian forces in two, but his vast host appears to have been unmanageable. Barclay de Tolly and Bagration succeeded in uniting at Smolensk, but were driven from it on August 1 8th, after an obstinate defence. At Smolensk Napoleon again hesitated as to whether he should go into winter-quarters, but eventually decided to press on to Moscow, trusting to the moral effect of the fall of the ancient capital. It seems as if, while his superstitious belief in his star still remained, bodily ailments had caused a de- terioration in his power of rapid decision and in his energy of action. Meanwhile, great discontent had been caused in Russia by the continued retreat of the armies. Kutusoff was appointed to the chief command, and stood to fight at Borodino on September 6th. Napoleon won the battle, but with unwonted and misplaced caution refused to engage his Guard, and the victory was almost fruitless. He entered Moscow on September 14th, and fire broke out the next night, the first effect of which was still further to alarm the Russians, who believed it to be the work of the French. The fire raged fiercely till the 20th, and a great part of the city was burned to the ground. Had the victory of Borodino been more de- cisive the czar might now have yielded ; but as it was he listened to the advice of Stein and Sir R. Wilson and refused to treat, thus putting Napoleon in a di- lemma. His plans were always made on the basis of immediate success, and the course to be adopted in case of failure was not considered. Again he hesitated, with the result that when at last he resolved to retire from Moscow, the winter, coming earlier than usual, upset his calculations, and the miseries of that terrible retreat followed. He left Moscow on October i8th, and, reaching the Beresina with but 1 2,000 men, was joined there by Oudinot and Victor, who had been hold- ing the line of the Dwina, with 18,000. His passage of the river was opposed, but he succeeded in crossing, and on December 6th the miserable remnant of the Grand Army reached Vilna. Macdonald, Reynier, and Schwarzenberg, with 100,000 men, on the Polish frontier and in the Baltic provinces, were safe ; but this was the whole available remnant of the 600,000 with which the campaign commenced. All Europe now united against him. The French armies were discouraged, and the allies enthusiastic ; but the latter had difficulties to contend with from their heterogeneous composition and diversity of interests. The campaign opened with varying fortune. A blow at Berlin was parried by Bulow at Gross Beeren on August 23d. Napoleon himself forced Blucher back to the Katzbach, but had to retire again to defend Dresden from the Austrians ; and his lieutenant, Mac- donald, was defeated in the battle of the Katzbach on August 26th. Napoleon in- flictjed a crushing defeat on the Austrians before Dresden on the 27th, but, while pre- paring to cut off their retreat, was disturbed by the news of Gross-Beeren and the Katzbach and by sudden illness, and at Kulm lost Vandamme with 20,000 men. September was spent m fruitless marches, and toward the end of the month the allies began their converging march on their preconcerted rendezvous at Leip sic. At the same time the Confederation of the Rhine began to dissolve. The
