Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (1769 – 1834) was a French diplomat known primarily for his close relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte. His ‘Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte‘ is a work based on years of friendship and professional association. A couple of quotes from that book illustrate how Napoleon perceived Russia and Russians.
The first one is Napoleon’s Address to the Captive Generals after victory at the Battle of Ulm in 1805:
“Your names are known to me —they are honorably known wherever you have fought. Examine the conduct of those who have compromised you. What could be more unjust than to attack me without a declaration of war? Is it not unjust to bring foreign invasion upon a country? Is it not betraying Europe to introduce Asiatic barbarians into her disputes? If good faith had been kept, the Aulic Council, instead of attacking me, ought to have sought my alliance to force the Russians back into the north. The present alliance is that of dogs, shepherds, and wolves against sheep: such a scheme could not have been devised by any statesman. It is fortunate for you that I have been successful….”
The second one was made on the eve of his Campaign on Moscow:
“The most extraordinary reports were circulated respecting the Russians; they were represented as half-naked savages, pillaging, destroying, and burning wherever they went. It was even asserted that they were cannibals, and had been seen to eat children. It was at this time that they were denominated the northern barbarians, which has since been so generally applied to the Russians.”
In vol. 1 of the ‘Unpublished ‘Correspondence of Napoleon I: Preserved in the War Archives‘:
“The people of Vienna appear to look upon the [French] army with friendship. The Emperor orders the greatest respect for property and the utmost consideration for the people of this capital, who are grieved over the unrighteous war which has been waged against us, and who, by their conduct, express as much friendship for us as they have shown hatred for the Russians, a people who by their barbarous habits and customs must inspire all civilised peoples with the same sentiment.”
In 1817, Napoleon described his vision of Russian Campaign and made a prediction which in 2025 appears prophetic:
“One day Europe will realize how prudent my Russian campaign was. Europe does not have much time, and neither have I. Misfortune of barbarians inflow will become a revenge for rejecting my policy.”
Was there any truth about Russians savagery? German leaflet of 1561 depicting Russian atrocities >
< More historic facts about Russian barbarity
Fyodor Dostoyevsky held a similar opinion about Russians as Napoleon >
