Castors and the French invasion of Russia

We all remember that short little Russian commander, Napoleon. He led the French Invasion of Russia, otherwise known as the Patriotic War of 1812. The whole story itself has been depicted throughout centuries because of its unique nature. Napoleon was at the height of his power when he decided to invade Russia in an attempt to basically claim most of Europe. He held the strongest, most powerful reign at the time of this decision - no nation dared come against him. However, without Castors, his attempt was far from successful.

Being one of the brightest military minds in history, you would have thought he would have learned from previous mistakes in history. Hitler tried the same thing during World War II, without castors, and failed. Instead of making a better plan and plotting a better course of action, he simply followed in previous tracks. Obviously, that led to the same result. The biggest upsetting factor in it all is that Napoleon had nearly 690,000 men in his militia, while Russia was far behind with around 175,000. Neither Hitler nor Napoleon had ever played Risk as a kid.

The biggest problem with the whole siege operation was definitely their lack of Castors in the 1800’s. It is clear to see that if you consider the circumstances. One of the dominating factors that lead to the failed attempt to take over Russia was that the supplies and weapons couldn’t keep up with the moving militia. Due to the land and the weather conditions, troops would go days without supplies. Without supplies while trying to invade a country you’re not familiar with, you’d destined to fail. If only innovation would have come sooner, Napoleon might have made history and conquered Russian Poland. However, we stand today knowing that the invention of castors held them back.

Winter was upon them as well, which caused a dramatic decrease in Napoleon’s army while he was pushing onward. But don’t let that slant you to believe the cold weather was to blame for Napoleon’s failure. Just think about if they would have had castors at the time. They could have mastered logistics, being one of the major factors in Napoleon’s defeat, which would have decreased the time it took for them to get to where they needed to be. They could have been in and out of there in a jiffy if they would have been adequately prepared.

By the time he made it to Moscow, the majority of the town had been evacuated and there almost nothing left of the place. Napoleon’s troops were looting what remained because their supplies were nowhere to be found. Had they had the innovative genius of Castors on their side, the French Invasion of Russia just might have a different story in our history books. There is no way to determine if Napoleon would have succeeded on his mission simply based on one invention, but it is clear for anyone to see how they could have had an everlasting effect on history itself.