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Oct. 15, 2023

4.25 - The Westward Retreat

4.25 - The Westward Retreat

Year(s) Discussed: 1812-1813

Though the French Army captured Moscow in the fall of 1812, Emperor Napoleon quickly learned that holding it and forcing the Russians to capitulate would prove to be a tougher prospect. Meanwhile, Russian Tsar Aleksandr, concerned about the impact of the War of 1812 on British resolve against France, puts forward an offer to bring about peace with the US, and in Paris, a plot is launched to overthrow the imperial government. Sources used for this episode can be found at https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.

Special thanks to Alex for providing the intro quote for this episode and to Christian of Your Podcast Pal for his audio editing services.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

  • Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1956.
  • Buel, Richard, Jr. Joel Barlow: American Citizen in a Revolutionary World. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
  • Hill, Peter P. Joel Barlow: American Diplomat and Nation Builder. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2012.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2017-2023. https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.
  • Madison, James. “To Thomas Jefferson, 10 March 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-06-02-0100. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 6, 8 February–24 October 1813, ed. Angela Kreider, J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, Anne Mandeville Colony, Mary Parke Johnson, and Wendy Ellen Perry. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 100–101.] [Last Accessed: 16 Jun 2023]
  • Rey, Marie-Pierre. Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon. Susan Emanuel, trans. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2012 [2009]
  • Schom, Alan. Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 [1997].
  • Traub, James. John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit. New York: Basic Books, 2017 [2016].

Featured Image: "French Retreat in Russia from 1812" by Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov [c. 1874], courtesy of Wikipedia

Intro and Outro Music: "Hull's Victory," as performed by David and Ginger Hildebrand, courtesy of the Colonial Music Institute at George Washington's Mount Vernon