In the summer of 1812 Napoleon gathered his fearsome Grande Armee, 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 Segur, 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. Publikace: Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign - Philippe-Paul Ségur. Philippe-Paul de SĂ©gur was an aide-de-camp to Napoleon, privy to the councils of the emperor's inner circle. There he witnessed the debates surrounding the decision to invade Russia in the summer of 1812. The emperor's generals opposed the venture, and even Napoleon entered on it against his better judgment. Nonetheless, Napoleon found the undertaking too tempting to resist. SĂ©gur describes the subsequent campaign with a reporter's eye both for the big story and for the telling detail: we witness the march through the long hot days of the summer; the supply lines growing more stretched with every effortless victory; the Grande ArmĂ©e suffering unanticipated losses; the taking and sacking of Moscow, and its abandonment; the disastrous winter retreat that destroyed Napoleon's army and insured his downfall. SĂ©gur's account is to this day one of the greatest military disasters of all time and a masterpiece of military history, providing a vivid and unmistakable lesson about imperial hubris and its risks." Publikace: Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign - Philippe-Paul Ségur.