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the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

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withdrawal. Bagration thus decided to rest his forces before continuing march. However,<br />

ano<strong>the</strong>r unexpected order from <strong>the</strong> Tsar interfered with Bagration’s preparations.<br />

Not realizing <strong>the</strong> precarious position <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 2 nd Western Army, Alexander<br />

complained to Bagration for changing <strong>the</strong> direction <strong>of</strong> retreat. Describing his movement<br />

as being “so slow and so timid,” <strong>the</strong> Tsar tried to explain to Bagration <strong>the</strong> kind <strong>of</strong> war<br />

expected to wage. Alexander hoped that his aide-de-camp Benckerd<strong>of</strong>f, sent with <strong>the</strong> new<br />

orders, would bring Bagration “back to senses” and force him to march to Minsk and<br />

attack Davout <strong>the</strong>re. 77 Similarly, <strong>the</strong> Minister <strong>of</strong> War, Barclay de Tolly, blamed<br />

Bagration for wasting time and failing to withdraw as ordered. 78 “It is extremely<br />

disagreeable that Prince Bagration, instead <strong>of</strong> immediately executing Your Majesty’s<br />

orders, is wasting time in futile discussions, communicating <strong>the</strong>m to Platov and addling<br />

<strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> this poor general who is not very intelligent and quite uneducated,”<br />

complained Barclay de Tolly. 79<br />

The Minister <strong>of</strong> War was vexed because Bagration refused to believe that <strong>the</strong><br />

commands from <strong>the</strong> staff <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1st Western Army came from Tsar himself as Barclay<br />

had indicated. Bagration regarded this as an unmitigated deceit and that <strong>the</strong> orders were<br />

written by Barclay himself. Bagration was deeply hurt by this new, unjust criticism and<br />

reproach. Although <strong>the</strong> French invasion had begun two weeks earlier, Bagration believed<br />

nei<strong>the</strong>r Alexander I nor Barclay de Tolly had provided him with adequate information on<br />

<strong>the</strong>ir strategy. Although Benckerd<strong>of</strong>f delivered a brief message from General Phull to<br />

77 Kharkevich, “Perepiska imp. Aleksandra i Barklaia de Tolli ot nachala voennikh deistvii<br />

do ot’ezda Gosudarya iz armii,” [Correspondence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Emperor Alexander with Barclay de<br />

Tolly from <strong>the</strong> Commencement <strong>of</strong> War to <strong>the</strong> Departure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tsar from <strong>the</strong> Army, hereafter<br />

cited as Alexander’s Correspondence with Barclay] Voennii sbornik, (St. Petersburg, 1906), N4,<br />

194.<br />

78 Alexander to Barclay de Tolly, 29 June 1812, Correspondence <strong>of</strong> Bagration, 224.<br />

79 Barclay de Tolly to Alexander, 29 June 1812, Ibid., 194.<br />

668

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