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Napoleon's Campaign in Russia Anno 1812 by Achilles Rose
page 51 of 207 (24%)

Many savageries have been committed by the low class of Russians who had
remained in Moscow. This is not surprising because these were of the most
depraved of the population, including especially many criminals who had
been set free to pillage and burn the city. "A little while before the
French entered," tells the serf Soimonof, "the order had been given to
empty all the vodka (whiskey) from the distilleries of the crown into the
street; the liquor was running in rivulets, and the rabble drank until they
were senselessly drunk, they had even licked the stones and the wooden
pavement. Shouting and fighting naturally followed."

The really good people of Moscow had given proofs of high moral qualities,
worthy of admiration, under the sad circumstances. Poor moujiks who had
learned of the defeat of the Russians at Borodino said their place was no
longer in a city which was to be desecrated by the presence of the enemy,
and, leaving their huts to be burned down, their miserable belongings to be
pillaged, they went on the highways at the mercy of God, disposed to march
as long as their eyes could see before them. Others, running before the
flames, carried their aged and sick on their shoulders, showing but one
sentiment in their complete ruin, namely, absolute resignation to the will
of God.

Some readers may say that the foregoing chapter does not give the medical
history of the campaign. To these I wish to reply that it is impossible to
understand the medical history without knowing the general conditions of
the Grand Army, which were the cause of the death of hundreds of thousands
of soldiers from cold and starvation.



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