Since reading Troubetzkoy's Imperial Legend, I've been looking a bit more into Napoléon's ill-fated invasion of Russia. One element of this has always puzzled me, as seen in this quote from the French emperor, apparently uttered after the invasion had begun: "If necessary, I shall go as far as Moscow, the holy city of Moscow, in quest of battle, and I shall win the battle. . . . [F]or a capital to be occupied by an enemy is equivalent to a girl losing her honour." Did someone neglect to tell Napoléon that St. Petersburg, and not Moscow, was the capital of Russia at this time? If he had pointed his army towards the city at the mouth of the Neva, or if he had sent a fleet of ships there, would history have turned out differently? Would we all be speaking French?
Russia's would-be ruler
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