ful scenes which appalled the heart, the passage
of the Beresina was the most dreadful. When the ice was dissolved in
the following spring, twelve thousand dead bodies were found upon the
shore. The shattered remnants of the Grand Army, after unparalleled
suffering, at length reached the bank of the Niemen. Not more than
twenty thousand of the vast host with which Napoleon passed Smolensko
left the Russian territory. Their course might be traced by the bones
which afterwards whitened the soil. But before the Polish territories
were reached, Napoleon had deserted his army, and bore to Paris
himself the first intelligence of his great disaster. One hundred and
twenty-five thousand of his troops had died in battle, one hundred and
ninety thousand had been taken prisoners, and one hundred and
thirty-two thousand had died of cold, fatigue and famine. Only eighty
thousand had escaped, of whom twenty-five thousand were Austrians and
eighteen thousand were Prussians. The annals of the world furnish no
example of so complete an overthrow of so vast an armament, or so
terrible a retribution to a vain-glorious nation.

This calamity proved the chief cause of Napoleon's overthrow. Had he
retained his forces to fight on the defensive, he would have been too
strong for his enemies; but, by his Russian campaign, he lost a great
part of his veteran troops, and the veneration of his countrymen.

His failure was immediately followed by the resurrection of Germany.
Both Austria and Prussia threw off the ignominious yoke he had
imposed, and united with Russia to secure their ancient liberties. The
enthusiasm of the Prussians was unbounded, and immense preparations
were made by all the allied powers for a new campaign. Napoleon
exerted all the energies, which had ever distinguished him, to rally
his exhausted countrymen, and a large numerical force was again
raised. But the troops were chiefly conscripts, young men, unable to
endure the fatigue which his former soldiers sustained, and no longer
inspired with their sentiments and ideas.

[Sidenote: Battles of Lutzen and Bautzen.]

The campaign of 1813 was opened in Germany, signalized by the battles
of Lutzen and Bautzen, in which the French had the advantage. Saxony
still remained true to Napoleon, and he established his head-quarters
in Dresden. The allies retreated, but only to prepare for more
vigorous operations. England nobly assisted, and immense supplies were
sent to the mouth of