Why did the Austrians take part in Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812?
The military campaign in Russia turned into a disaster for the ‘Grande Armée’. But, the Austrian corps managed to get off relatively lightly.
Initially, the Viennese court had no desire to send its troops to this war. For many years, the Russians and Austrians had fought side by side against revolutionary and then Napoleonic France.
However, after the defeat of the fifth anti-French coalition in 1809, the Austrian Empire fell into political dependence on Bonaparte. And, for the invasion of Russia in 1812, he demanded that it provide an auxiliary corps.
The Austrian contingent dispatched was under the command of Field Marshal Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg and was located on the southern flank of the ‘Grande Armée’, numbering about 30,000 soldiers. Emperor Franz II secretly promised Alexander I that its numbers would not be increased.
Schwarzenberg was then forced to act in accordance with Bonaparte's orders, but he did so extremely sluggishly and reluctantly. From Vienna, he had received specific instructions “not to be too zealous” during the military operations.
“The Viennese court has the right to our trust, for it cannot be denied that, during this war, it has given us numerous proofs of its favor…” noted Chancellor of the Russian Empire Karl Nesselrode.
During the flight of the ‘Grande Armée’, the Austrians secretly made a deal with the Russians and left them a number of settlements without a fight. Compared to other allied contingents of the French, they lost little – roughly 7,000 soldiers.
Then, on January 30, 1813, the Russian and Austrian empires concluded an armistice. And, in September of the same year, Vienna entered the war, this time against Napoleon.
