ABSTRACT
Completely as Napoleon's great Invasion of Russia had failed his repulse had by no means settled the question of his supremacy over Central Europe. Though the shattered and demoralised relics of the Grand Army which had straggled back across the Niemen in December 1812 hardly mustered a sixth of the mighty host which had crossed it on the Eastward way, it was far from certain that 1813 might not see the attack renewed by a new Grand Army. While the relics of the Grand Army had been thrown into the fortresses of Poland and Prussia and were endeavouring to hold the line of the Vistula, and so keep the Russians at bay, Napoleon was devoting all his marvellous energy and powers of organisation to the creation of an even vaster army with which to wipe out the memories of his defeats.
