The Russian Emperor Alexander I boldly repeated the grand words of distant ancestor Alexander Nevsky on the Russians taking Paris… “Whoever comes to us with a sword will perish by the sword”. The famous retreat of Napoleon from Russia after some battlefield victories but a grand strategic defeat is known to every schoolchild across the planet. Often this is where the story in our textbooks ends, but in reality the forces of the Russian Empire chased him all the way back to Paris itself and marched on the city.
Image above: Paris has capitulated.
Paris signed a document of capitulation at 2 a.m. on March 31st 1814 by our modern Gregorian calendar, which is equivalent to March 19th according to the old Julian calendar which was still in use at the time by the Russian Empire. It is this date that is considered the official day of the capture of the French capital. This often gets confused in documentation and in online historical debates. Thus, it has been two hundred and eleven years since the fall of Paris.
This historic event is very important because we can see that the attitudes between the European French and the Russians towards their opponents, life and war remain to this day distinctly different. The French force’s racism towards the Russians at the start of the war was only confirmed by their “Asian barbaric” irregular forces like waves of peasants, hordes of Cossacks, and various Muslims like the Bashkirs atop camels, that terrified French horses. The effective Russian way of war was also looked down upon as being “Mongolian” in nature in which partisans and hit-and-run tactics were being used.
Image above: Painting of an Orthodox Church being used as a stable by Napoleon’s men.
The French committed many atrocities against the locals on their way to Moscow and even more so on the way back. The French Revolution had an anti-religious undertone and many churches in Russia were looted and used as stables allowing the horses to defecate on and around sacred icons and other symbols of the Church and God. Many villages were also looted and destroyed for resources as French supply lines became desperately thin. The key thing to note was that looting and much more heinous acts were completely acceptable to the French leadership who either turned a blind eye to it or at times even openly condoned the behavior. Europe’s attitude towards Russia has changed little in two centuries. It was this massive abuse of subjects of the Russian Empire that prompted the ultimate march on Paris.
By early 1814, Napoleon’s empire was crumbling. After the catastrophic retreat from Russia in 1812 and the decisive defeat at Leipzig in 1813, the French emperor found himself fighting a desperate last stand on home soil. The armies of the Sixth Coalition—Russia, Prussia, Austria, and their allies—pushed into France from multiple directions. Despite Napoleon’s tactical brilliance in battles like Champaubert and Montmirail, he could not stop the Allies from advancing toward the ultimate prize: Paris. Regardless of the physical condition of Emperor Napoleon the Russians knew that if Paris fell, Napoleon would fall with it forever. Thus, the Russians and allies went right for the throat by trying to take the grandest city on the planet at that time.
The defense of Paris fell to Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier, who commanded roughly 23,000 troops, mostly National Guards and remnants of the Imperial Army. Napoleon, engaged in fighting south of the city, expected the Allies to follow him. This was yet another cultural miscalculation by Napoleon who assumed the barbarians were interested in his glorious persona and not a strategic victory. The Russians and allies pressed onward ignoring the petit emperor.
On March 30, 1814, the Russian forces, numbering around 100,000 men, launched their assault. The battle unfolded in several key engagements
Romainville: Russian grenadiers stormed French positions in fierce close-quarters combat.
Montmartre Heights: Prussian artillery bombarded French defenses, breaking their resistance.
Belleville: The Young Guard fought valiantly but were overwhelmed by superior numbers.
By late afternoon, Marmont and Mortier recognized the futility of further resistance and agreed to a conditional surrender.
Image above: Medal for “The Taking of Paris”.
“The French sent out a negotiating officer and the guns fell silent. Wounded Russian officers passed by us and congratulated us on our victory. ‘Thank God! We have seen Paris with sword in hand!” “We have avenged Moscow!” repeated the soldiers, dressing their wounds.” – Konstantin Batiushkov, who saw everything with his own eyes, wrote.
The surrender of Paris on March 31, 1814, was not merely a military victory but a chance to make a big statement to a Europe gone mad. Tsar Alexander I of Russia understood that the way he entered the defeated city would shape the continent’s future and his own legacy. Alexander displayed to the “civilized world” imperial grandeur with calculated restraint.
As the first foreign conqueror to enter Paris in four centuries, Alexander faced a delicate task: how to put Napoleon in his place without alienating the French people. His solution was a carefully choreographed display of mercy and authority.
Unlike the brutal sackings of earlier wars (or Napoleon’s own looting of Vienna, Berlin, and Russia), Alexander issued strict orders: no reprisals against civilians, no pillaging. Russian troops were disciplined, with harsh punishments for looters. Prussian forces, however, especially Blücher’s soldiers—reportedly ransacked wine cellars and private homes, forcing Alexander to intervene on behalf of those who tried to take his empire and maybe his life.
After WWII Stalin gave similar orders to the Red Army to not engage in pillaging in Berlin upon penalty of death. As we know Hitler did not provide such grace to those he conquered.
The Emperor of Russia paid respects at the tomb of Louis XVI in Saint-Denis, subtly endorsing the Bourbon restoration. He also attended a Te Deum mass at Notre-Dame, where he was hailed as a liberator by royalist crowds.
Pro-Russian public opinion on the matter emphasized that Alexander had spared the city from destruction, contrasting him with Napoleon, who had abandoned Moscow to flames. Pamphlets circulated praising the Emperor’s “Christian mercy” in contrast to the murderous artilleryman on the French throne.
It must be repeated that the “unwashed barbarians” from the east, this “mongol-tatar horde masquerading as Europeans” was very concerned with public perception and building a lasting peace by using the most humane military means possible to punish those truly responsible for the invasion of Russia.
Later, the Russian Emperor’s grand generosity gave him moral authority at the Congress of Vienna, where he positioned Russia as Europe’s arbiter. The many paintings and positive word of mouth about this conquest of the city of lights only further solidified the Russian position in the hearts and minds of people of the day.
Image above: Marshal Marmont presents the Russian Emperor with the keys to Paris
But sadly the bright images of the early 19th century have faded from the minds of EU politicians who are far more comfortable wallowing in a slop of the same Russophobia that did in Napoleon and later Hitler. For Russians these details are known to all, but modern politicians know nothing of history and may just doom themselves to another lesson in Russian civility. Let’s remember the fall of Paris not to gloat, but as a reminder that if Napoleon would have seen the Russians as peers, he and his progeny would probably rule continental Europe to this day.