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Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825
1453 Through the Reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) The Time of Troubles to the First Romanovs (1598-1682) Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682-1762) The Age of Catherine the Great (1762-1801) The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825)

                                     

Explore this Section:

The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825): A Summary of Russian History
Russia Symbol Introduction
Russia Symbol In the Spirit of His Grandmother
Russia Symbol A Law-based State
Russia Symbol The Napoleonic Wars
The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825): A Summary of World History
Europe
Eurasia


Russia's Globalization:
A Key

Events marked Russia Symbol are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
Those marked World Symbol are important world historical or cultural events.
Engagement Symbol indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.




















 

 

   Napoleon’s Nightmare
  Napoleon’s Nightmare
   Photographic Services & Permissions
  Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borck
Napoleon’s erster Traum in Moskwa [Napoleon’s First Dream in Moscow]
St. Petersburg: I. Glasunow, 1812
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division (originally in the collections of the Great Catherine Palace, Tsarskoe Selo)

Published in the immediate aftermath or perhaps even during the time of the French retreat, the engraved and colored frontispiece of this collection of commemorative poems depicts Napoleon waking to discover that his nightmare has become reality. Father Time draws back a curtain to reveal Moscow – intended as a place to comfortably billet and provision troops during the Russian winter – as an inferno, probably torched by its own inhabitants.