La campagne de Russie

The Moskva, the burning of Moscow, the Berezina ... So many episodes of the campaign of Russia strongly anchored in the Russian and French national imaginary. At times, to hide the terrible realities of a confrontation between two giants. For the Russians, 1812 is a patriotic war, the mobilization of a whole people against the invader, a milestone in the strengthening of the national sentiment: the subsequent use of commemorations testifies to this. For the French, the campaign of Russia marks the decline of the Napoleonic Empire; the human catastrophe that it represented sometimes led to insist on the role of "General Winter" in order to overshadow the errors committed by the Grand Army. This work questions the process by which this historical fact turned into an event, and the event into a myth, by crossing the Russian and French eyes. The challenge of communication has had a central place in the running of the campaign. To establish his truth, to inform and to disinform was, for the French as for the Russians, a means of making a memory from the outset. The survivors seized it, conveying certain myths as undeniable facts. Early on, the Russian campaign became a literary, pictorial, cinematographic theme; it does not cease to inspire our authors and directors today.--Translation of page 4 of cover by Lecteurs.com