The French Gamble for Supremacy

In 1809 Austria had been crushed and Prussia was occupied. France was at war with England but had managed to vassalize Spain. Russia was her ally, and everything looked perfect until 1812, when the Russians did not fulfill their obligations in the Continental Blockade against England as they had become wary of French power. In June France invaded Russia with more than a half million men. The Russians made a slow retreat to even the odds as the French army was shrinking from attrition. The Battle of Borodino (September 5-7) started as a bloody struggle, but thanks to luck and a diversion attack by Marshal Ney, the Russian Army was annihilated. Napoleon then decided to hold his Grand Armee, spreading it out for winter. Supply lines were secured, and a smaller task force called L'Armee Baltique moved up occupying the Baltic coast up to St Petersburg, which it took by assault. When late spring came, Napoleon again had more than half a million men in Russia and was advancing. During the winter Napoleon had restructured Poland under Poniatowski and recreated the Kingdom of Ukraine under Chielmkowski, easing the supply effort. On 30 June 1813 Russia surrendered, unwilling to let Moscow perish in flames. France was the master of Europe...