1812 NEPOLEON GOT VICTORY ENTERED MOSCOW 1812 SEPTEMBER 14. RUSSIANS SET FIRE ON THAT NIGHT

1812 NEPOLEON GOT VICTORY ENTERED 

MOSCOW  SEPTEMBER 14.

RUSSIANS SET FIRE ON THAT NIGHT 

The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino. 

The fire raged until September 18, destroying an estimated
 three-quarters of Moscow.

Feodor Rostopchin

Feodor Rostopchin had great influence over the Tsar Paul I, who in 1796 made him adjutant general, grand-marshal of the court, and then Foreign Minister. In 1799 he was given the title of count. His opposition to the French alliance in 1801 resulted in his falling out of favor, but he was restored to favor in 1810 as conditions between France and Russia began to deteriorate. Shortly thereafter he was appointed military governor of Moscow.









During the French invasion of Russia he was responsible for the defence of the city against Napoleon, and he took every means available to rouse the population of the town and district to arm and join the army to defend the city against the invaders. After the Battle of Borodino it was clear that the French could not be denied the city. 

Rostopchin had the city evacuated, including all the city administrators and officials, leaving behind only a few French tutors, foreign shop keepers and those that were the lowest class of society.[1] In addition, the prisons were opened and the prisoners set free by his order. 









No one met the Emperor Napoleon when he arrived at the city gates on
14 September1812. 

On the first night of French occupation a fire broke out in the bazaar and a number of small fires erupted in other quarters, but these were thought to be due to accident.[2] The following day as Napoleon rode through the streets to the Kremlin he found the streets deserted.[3]









That night the city began to burn in earnest. Rostopchin had left a small detachment of police, whom he charged with burning the city to the ground. Houses were prepared with flammable materials. The city's fire-engines were disassembled. Fuses were left throughout the city to ignite the fires.[4]

Years later he claimed innocence against the charge of arson, and had a pamphlet printed and distributed in Paris proclaiming so in 1823, but subsequently admitted to his role in ordering the city's destruction. 

He was disgraced shortly after the Congress of Vienna, to which he had accompanied Tsar Alexander I. He returned to Russia in 1825 and died in Moscow in February of the next year.

Extent of the disaster[edit]

1817 map, destroyed area shaded dark

Ivan Katayev (1911) summarized losses as 3/4 of all properties in the city:

6,496 of 9,151 private houses 

(this total included 6,584 wooden and 2,567 brick buildings)

8,251 retail shops and warehouses (including most of Kitai-gorod and Zamoskvorechye business districts)

122 of 329 churches (counting total losses only)

Some 12,000 bodies were recovered[1] of which an estimated 2,000 were wounded Russian soldiers perished in the fire. 

Moscow State University, Buturlin's library, Petrovsky and Arbatsky theaters were completely destroyed; many pieces of art, notably the source manuscript of epic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign, were lost forever.

RUSSIANS ABANDONED MOSCOW

The Moscow Orphanage near Kitai-gorod, converted to a hospital, was saved by local police. The population of Moscow in 1811 is estimated at 270,000; after the war, when residents returned to the city, it decreased to 215,000;