[00:00.00]They say that pride comes before a fall.In the case of both Napoleon and Hitler,
[00:07.26]the many victories they enjoyed led them to believe that anything was possible,that nothing could stand in their way.
[00:15.67]Russia's icy defender was to prove them wrong.
[00:20.22]THE ICY DEFENDER                By hlila B.smith
[00:25.29]IN 1812,napoleon Bonapare,Emperor of the French,led, his Grand Army into Russia.
[00:33.49]He was prepared for the fierce resistance of the Russian people defending their homeland.
[00:40.10]He was preprared for the long march across Russian soil to Moscow,the capital city.
[00:46.86]But he was not prepared for the devastating enemy that met him in Moscow -the raw,bitter,bleak Russian winter.
[00:56.53]In 1941,Adolf Hitler,leader of Nazi Germany,launched an attack against the Soviet Uoion,as Russia then was called.
[01:07.76]Hitler's military might was unequaled.His war machine had mowed down resistance in most of Europe.Hitler expected a sort campaign
[01:19.99]but,like Napoleon before him,was taught a painful lesson.The Russian winter again came to the aid of the soviet soldiers.
[01:30.93]Napoleon'Campaign
[01:33.81]In the spring of1812,Napoleon assembled an army of six hundred thousand men on the borders of Russia.
[01:42.11]The soldiers were well trained,efficient,and well equipped.This military force was called the Grand Army.
[01:50.71]Napoleon,confident of a quick victory,predicted the conquest of Russia in five weeks.
[01:58.31]Shortly afterwards,Napoleon's army crossed the Neman River into Russia.
[02:04.03]The quick,decisive victory that Napoleon expected never happened.To his surprise,
[02:11.68]the Russians refused to stand and fight.Instead,they retreated eastward,burning their crops and homes as they went.
[02:20.59]The Grand Army followed,but its advance march soon became bogged down by slow moving supply lines.
[02:28.24]In August,the French and Russian armies engaged at Smolensk,in a battle that left over ten thousand deal on each side.
[02:37.31]Yet,the Russians were again able to retreat farther into Russian territory.Napoleon had won no decisive victory.
[02:45.83]He was now faced with a crucial decision.Should he continue to pursrue the Russian army?
[02:52.20]Or should he keep his army in Smolensk for the approaching winter?
[02:56.72]Napoleon took the gamble of pressing on to Moscow,448kilometers away.On September7,1812,
[03:07.04]the French and Russian armies met in fierce battle at Borodino,112kilometers west of Moscow.By nightfall,
[03:17.41]thirty thousand French and forty-four thousand Russians lay dead or wounded on the battlefield.
[03:24.36]Again,the Russian army retreated to safety.Napoleon had a clear path to Moscow,but the occupation of the city
[03:34.13]became an empty victory.The Russians fled their capital.Soon after the French arrived,a raging fire destroyed two-thirds of the city.
[03:45.12]Napoleon offered a truce to Alexander I,but the Russian czar knew he could bide his time:
[03:52.44]"We shall let the Russian winter fight the war for us."
[03:56.77]Napoleon soon realized he could not feed,clothe ,and quarter hts army in Moscow during the winter.
[04:04.04]In October 1812,he ordered hes Grand Army to retreat from Moscow.
[04:09.99]The French retreat turned into a nightmare.From fields and forests,the Russians launched hit-and-run attacks on the French.
[04:19.08]A short distance form Moscow,the temperature had already drppped to minus 4degrees Celsius.On November 3,
[04:27.73]the winter's first snow came Exhausted horses fell dead in their tracks.Cannon became stuck in the snow.
[04:36.90]Equipment had to be burned for fuel.Soldiers took ill and froze to death.
[04:43.27]The French soldiers dragged on,leaving the dead along every mile.
[04:48.84]As the Russian army was gathering its strength,the French had to flee Russia to avoid certain defeat.
[04:55.68]At the Berezina River,the Russians nearly trapped the retreating French by burning the bridges over the swollen river. 
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