The treaty of Tilsit brought a fragile five years' peace between France and Russia, but England remained defiant, finding in Spain a battleground to sap the strength of France. The Berlin Decrees failed to bring Britain to her knees. Although they harmed the British economy, the government was able to borrow unprecedented sums from the Rothschilds - the costs of which brought economic suffering, it is true, but only long after Napoleon's demise. For friend, foe, and those in-between, life went on.

The French Army developed a 'winner's complex', failing to institutionalize the lessons offered by their experiences. When in 1812 they began the drive on Moscow, they sought a chimerical strategic goal. Napoleon's operational planning was as good as ever, but could not work effectively in the absence of good roads and abundant crops. Worst of all, the French developed no tactics to overcome the Russians' massed batteries and sturdy divisions of Grenadiers.

In 1807, the French did not win tactically, as they did against the Prussians in 1806. Rather, they prevailed strategically and operationally, because the Russians were fighting a limited war on foreign soil. When the war moved onto Russian land, as Napoleon would discover to his surprise, Moscow did not represent what Koenigsberg represented in 1807. Rather than a prize to bring victory, it was merely a dangerous trap for its conquerer.

Had Napoleon conquered in 1812, the 1807 campaign would have been a mere footnote to an otherwise illustrious string of triumphs. But since he failed in that catastrophic expedition, we can see the campaign in Poland as a dress-rehearsal for 1812, where the Russians learned how to counter the new mobile warfare developed in the west. The Fabian strategy became a fixture of Russian defensive doctrine and was proven in guerrila wars throughout the 20th century. Strategic weapons have changed the face of warfare almost beyond recognition. But the Fabian strategy became a feature of strategy wherever forces are decidedly unequal.

Tsar Alexander (d. 1825)
Back in St. Petersburg after Tilsit, the Tsar faced a challenge. Only a small party supported the treaty. The Russian Army had lost the will to fight, but the popular sentiment would not accept peace. The aristocracy were furious and chose to reinterpret the pact as a mere 'truce.' They viewed Napoleon as a threat to the natural order and saw the pernicious influence of the revolution in a proposed constitution introduced by imperial secretary Speransky. In time, all idea of reform was abandoned and the Tsar became a harsh reactionary and mystic. A man full of contradictions, he appeared inspired to some and to others insane.

Pierre Francois Charles Augereau (d. 1816)
His health broken by campaigning in Poland, Augereau was able to enjoy his wealth for two years at his chateau of La Houssaye (Seine-et-Marne). Employed at the siege of Gerona in 1809, he was recalled from Catalonia on April 12, 1810. Governor of Berlin in 1812, he formed a conscript corps at Frankfurt in 1813. He escaped from the Battle of Leipzig with deep indignation against Napoleon. Assigned to defend Lyons in 1814, he welcomed Louis XVIII after the first abdication. He died at home on June 12, 1816.

Michael Andreas (Mikhail Bogdanovich) Barclay de Tolly (d. 1818)
Barclay's brilliant resistance in the Eylau campaign earned him advancement to the rank of lieutenant general. For the next fifteen months he recuperated on the disabled list, healing and exercising his partially-immobilized right arm and hand, writing with difficulty. In 1808-09 he returned to active duty, directing the victorious campaign against the Swedes in Finland. In January of 1810, Barclay was appointed minister of the Military Ground Forces (Minister of War). Barclay undertook the complete restructuring of Russia's Army, preparing a new set of military regulations, and combining the infantry divisions into 'corps' somewhat after the French model. In June 1812 he commanded the First Army of the West until promoted to commander-in-chief. After the fall of Smolensk he resigned to serve under Kutuzov, who continued Barclay's Fabian Strategy with success. Barclay reassumed the overall command in 1813, and after the Battle of Leipzig was made a count and later a Prince. He died at Insterburg in East Prussia in 1818.

Leonti Leontievich (Levin August) Bennigsen (d. 1826)
After his defeat at Friedland Bennigsen retired, but in 1812 he commanded the Russian center at Borodino and defeated Murat at Tarutino. Bennigsen led an army against Leipzig in 1813, and became a count. Thenceforth he operated against Davout in and near Hamburg. He retired in 1818 and settled on his Hanoverian estate of Banteln near Hildesheim.

Bernadotte, Jean; Prince Karl Johan (d. 1844)
Named governor of the occupied Hanseatic cities in July 1807. Commanding a corps of raw recruits he was disgraced at the Battle of Wagram in July 1809 and sent home in disfavor. His ambitions for a throne were finally fulfilled by his connections in Sweden. He participated in his typical hesitant fashion in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 against Napoleon. He campaigned against Denmark and Norway, becoming King of Sweden in 1818.

Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Neuchâtel (d. 1815)
Berthier married the duchess Marie of Bavaria in 1808. In 1809 he commanded at the outset of the campaign in Bavaria with almost disastrous consequences. Angry scenes with Napoleon became more frequent; in Russia in 1812 he was more often silent. A man of stronger character would have resigned rather than take part in a war he did not support. But his marshal's baton, his decorations, titles, his income-providing dotations, his fine townhouse in Paris and red-brick and white-stone chateau, his honor guard of Swiss soldiers in their doe-hued uniforms, even his wife—he owed it all to Napoleon. At the end of the retreat from Russia after Napoleon's departure he struggled devotedly to keep some kind of order in the army. After Napoleon's first abdication he submitted to Louis XVIII and, as captain of his guards, escorted him out of France when Napoleon returned. He then joined his wife in Bamberg rather than serve in the Waterloo Campaign. But at the sight of Russian troops passing through on their way into France he plunged to his death from a balcony window.

Gebhard Leberecht von Bluecher (d. 1819)
Bluecher retired after the 1807 campaign. Commanding an army in 1813, he defeated Marshal Macdonald at Katzbach and reached the rank of field marshal after Leipzig, entering Paris with the victorious allies on May 31, 1814. The next year he fought Napoleon at Ligny and arrived in the middle of the battle of Waterloo, insuring Napoleon's defeat. For this his monarch made him Prince of Wahlstadt.

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (d. 1834)
Recalled in disgrace from Hamburg at the close of 1810, he embraced the royal cause and in 1815 accompanied Louis XVIII to Ghent. Bourienne died insane.

Marshal Count Theodore Feodorowitch Buxhoewden (d. 1811)
Buxhoewden went north in January 1807 to serve as Governor in Lepaja in Lithuania. Commanded the successful invasion of Finland in 1808-09, with three columns under Tutchkof, Gortchakof and Kamenski.

Armand Augustin Louis, Marquis de Caulaincourt (d. 1827)
Caulaincourt became duc de Vicenze, working incessantly as ambassador to St. Petersburg, from November 1807 to February 1811, to save the Tilsit agreement. Striving to preserve peace against his master's arbitrary policy, he argued with Napoleon against the invasion of Russia, and he alone accompanied the Emperor in his sledge out of Russia. 'Napoleon was surrounded by capable men who told him the truth.' For all his devotion he never liked Napoleon personally. After the Battle of Leipzig, he replaced Maret as foreign minister, and signed the treaty which sent Napoleon to Elba. In retirement he tried to clear his name of complicity in the Enghien case.

Count Pierre Antoine Noel Bruno Daru (d. 1829)
Present at the interview of Napoleon with Goethe (1808), Daru coached the Emperor on the great poet's oeuvre. Elevated to Secretary of State on April 17, 1811, the staggering problems of keeping the Grande Armee supplied caused the efficient quartermaster general to advise against an advance beyond Vitebsk in 1812. Following the destruction of two massive armies in 1812 and again in 1813, he inherited insurmountable deficiencies as minister for the administration of war in November 1813. He returned as minister secretary of state during the Hundred Days. Under the second Restoration, in 1819, he was admitted to the Chamber of Peers, where he defended the cause of popular liberty against the ultra-royalist policy.

Marshal Louis Nicholas Davout, Duke of Auerstaedt (d. 1823)
Davout served as Governor-general in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw after Tilsit. His III Corps fought heroically during the long battle at Eckmühl (1809). Prince of Echmuehl in 1809, Davout became governor of the Hanseatic towns (1810). Still superbly led and prepared for war in 1812, Davout's now-renumbered I Corps had grown beyond managable proportions at six infantry divisions. At Borodino, their obstinate frontal assault ended in success. At last, however, at Vyazma (November 3, 1812) the I Corps broke, and at Krasnoe (November 17) Davout was held to have deserted Michel Ney and smudged his reputation as a leader in battle. In 1813, Davout recovered Hamburg and terrorized northern Germany. Europe long remembered his seizure of the bank of Hamburg as a war crime. Using its resources, by good organization he held Hamburg until the peace of Paris. As Minister of War during the Hundred Days, he collected the army for Waterloo, making mistakes in the choice of generals; isolated by his difficult character, he did not know many of them. Immediately after Napoleon's retirement he was commander in chief in Paris and on the Loire, in five painful weeks of undecided resistance. Then followed imprisonment until 1817. He died of tuberculosis in Paris on June 1, 1823.

General Geraud Christophe de Michel Duroc, Duc de Frioul (d. 1813)
In 1812, Caulaincourt rode with the Emperor on the retreat; Duroc and Mouton followed in another sledge. In 1813, he worked hard at the organization of the new army, attending at the battles of Lützen and Bautzen. In the Silesian outposts he came by chance under artillery fire and was mortally wounded. He died near Goerlitz on May 22, 1813.

Friedrich Wilhelm III (d. 1840)
Throughout the struggle with France he acted as faithful henchman of Alexander. The Revolution of 1830 brought out his reactionary tendencies.

August Wilhelm Anton, Graf Neithard von Gneisenau (d. 1831)
The successful defense of Kolberg against the French in 1807 laid the foundation for Gneisenau's advancement. Chief of staff to Bluecher at Waterloo, he died at his headquarters at Posen in August 1831, during the Polish revolution.

Marshal Kamenskoi (d. 1807)
Kamenskoi's violent character led to his assassination by a serf on his estate within months of his retirement.

Jean Lannes, duc de Montebello (d. 1809)
A subordinate whom Napoleon could confidently detach with an improvised army group to any objective, in 1808 Lannes became duc de Montebello and routed the Spaniards at Tudela. Commanded at the terrible siege of Saragossa. Took Regensburg after the Battle of Eckmuehl. At the battle of Aspern-Essling (May 21-22, 1809) he was the center of the defensive fighting, but the artillery fire was too heavy. During the withdrawal he was resting when a three-pounder hit his crossed legs. After nine days of great pain, he died in Vienna on May 31, 1809.

Francois Joseph Lefebvre (d. 1820)
The duc de Danzig fought the Battle of Durango (1808). Led the Bavarians against Andreas Hofer (1809). Lost his only surviving son in Russia (1812). In 1814 he marched patriotically with the Old Guard, but in April he voted in the senate for Napoleon's deposition. He died in Paris on September 14, 1820.

Anton Wilhelm L'Estocq (d.
With Scharnhorst's ascension to the commission presiding over military reforms after Tilsit, L'Estocq's career was finished.

Marshal Adolphe Edouard Casimir Joseph Mortier, Duke of Treviso (d.1835)
In 1812, Mortier commanded the three divisions of the Young Guard (one of them, the Vistula Legion, being entirely Polish).

Joachim Murat, King of Naples (d. 1815)
A king in name only, his wife Queen Caroline had more political intelligence in her little finger. In 1812, he agreed to command the cavalry reserve which was to spearhead the Grande Armee's advance. With his striped chamois-hued vest, a short cloak of gold-embroidered green velvet, amaranth-red trousers, polished yellow boots, and a quarter-moon marshal's hat magnificently plumed with aigrettes and ostrich feathers, the intrepid cavalryman at forty-five had lost none of his inimitable panache. His usual jaunty features were rendered even swarthier by his sojourns in Madrid and Naples. General Belliard continued on as his chief of staff.

Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1821)
In 1809 Napoleon defeated Austria for the last time, and his last four campaigns in 1812 through 1815 were all unsuccessful. Eight summers after reaching the apogee of power at Tilsit he was sailing for St. Helena, his island prison in the South Atlantic, a thousand miles from land. His remains returned for entombment at les Invalides, in Paris, in 1840.

Marshal Michel Ney, Prince de la Moskowa (d. 1815)
Ney displayed all of his skill during the retreat from Portugal in 1811, employing his infantry, cavalry and artillery in turn to stymie the pursuing British. Dubbed 'the bravest of the brave' during the retreat from Russia, the debacle nonetheless took its toll. Embracing Napoleon during the Hundred Days, his attacks at Waterloo were uncoordinated. He was executed on December 7th, 1815, in the Luxembourg gardens.

Prince Jozef Antoni Poniatowski (d. 1813)
At 44 years of age, the nephew of Poland's last king became the Grand Duchy's minister of war and enjoyed the greatest influence and prestige with his countrymen, though he had little influence with Napoleon. Napoleon blatantly exploited the Duchy. Property and land confiscated by Prussia in 1792 was now sold back to the Duchy by France at exorbitant rates. The economy could hardly flourish while Napoleon's European blockade bankrupted the grain trade. When the Duchy went bankrupt, France lent money and collected the interest in cannon fodder.

Although important reforms were introduced - the decree on personal liberty abolished feudal servitude - Napoleon's military schemes were burdensome. In 1812 Poniatowski commanded the Polish Fifth Corps of the Grande Armee, and at the debacle of Leipzig in 1813, having been five times wounded, he drowned attempting to swim across the Elster River on horseback. Of the Grand Duchy's population of 2.5 million, some 43,000 soldiers died in Napoleon's service.

Jean Rapp (d. 1821)
Governor of Danzig after May 1807, he warned against further war with Russia. Replaced Junot as head of the VIII Corps in 1812, and later Compans as commander of the 5th Division at Borodino, but was immediately wounded himself.

Anne Jean Marie Rene Savary, Duke of Rovigo (d. 1833)
In July, 1807, Savary proceeded as French ambassador to the court of St. Petersburg. He was soon on his way to fight in Spain. Replaced Fouche as Minister of Police, 1810-1814. One of the last to desert Napoleon during his downfall, he returned to favor with the revolution of 1830 and commanded the French Army in Algeria in 1831.

Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (d. 1813)
For his services at Eylau he received the order pour le merite. Promoted major-general a few days after the peace of Tilsit, he headed a reform commission, to which were appointed Gneisenau, Grolman, Boyen and others. He died in Prague in June, 1813, from wounds received at the battle of Luetzen.

Count Philippe Paul de Segur (d. 1873)
Returned from his captivity in St. Petersburg in 1807. When consulted, in 1812, about the feasibility of waging another war against Russia, Segur freely spoke his mind. His book, Histoire de Napoleon et de la grande armee pendant l'annee 1812, provoked General Gourgaud, who wounded de Segur in a duel.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (d. 1838)
Weary of serving a master whom he could not influence, he resigned from office after Tilsit. He remained on the council of state, and attempted to use his limited influence to moderate the policies of the Emperor. When he saw the coming invasion of Russia, he remarked, 'It is the beginnning of the end.'

Duke Carl August of Weimar (d. 1828)
The Duke championed Liberalism, philosophy, the sciences and arts in the years after Waterloo.' Of a silent nature, his words were always followed by action. He liked the rough and inconvenient, and was an enemy to effeminacy.' (Goethe)

Leaders before Tilsit