Napoleon Bonaparte Dbq

Q8. Napoleon Bonaparte, leader of France, and Adolf Hitler, leader of Germany, had several things in common when it came to attacking and having their downfall in Russia. Russia would be somewhat of a deciding factor, turning point, and or beginning of the downward spiral for both leaders and their countries. Russia posed a huge threat to both of them and it was an extensive country that stood in their way. Both invasions by Napoleon and Hitler into the Soviet Union were stopped by the same methods from the Russians.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a man of destiny who came to save the people of France after the French Revolution. He came to power by first winning over the people, especially the common people. Napoleon was a man of destiny, he was

During the time, Napoleon was actually an ally to Alexander I, the current leader in Russia. Many arguments arose between the two countries, specifically over Russian trading and they were both competing over Poland. Napoleon decided that the only way to put Russia in their place would be to attack. Napoleon marched his numerous army into Russia, unaware of what he had gotten himself into. Napoleon had gone into Russia without background knowledge of what he was truly up against. The Russians had two main things working for them during Napoleon’s attack. First of all, they had a large land mass/size, it would take an extensive amount of time for Napoleon to transport troops, food, clothing, etc. Secondly, Russia had weather as an advantage, more specifically their Russian winters. The reason behind this being so crucial was because Napoleon was completely unaware and unprepared for the major threat it posed to his men. Napoleon lost numerous amounts of men due to the Russian winter that he was

Hitler used this quote to describe himself, “I go the way providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker”. As soon as Hitler had come to power he won over the people, specifically the young. Hitler had his own Hitler youth where he won over children by making them feel like they were apart of something special. Hitler began taking over every European country, he was set out to rule the world. Hitler had been in a non-aggression pact with Russia, which stated that they would not attack each other. However, they both knew that this wasn’t true, they would eventually attack each other, the pat just bought them time. Hitler too would make the mistake in attacking Russia, he too would begin to spiral downward. Hitler lost in Russia due to being unprepared for the war and being blinded by his ego. His troops were not ready for the harsh Russian winter, and it did not help that they Russians once again used the Scorched Earth Policy as they retreated. Hitler severely msjudged the numerous amounts of soldiers Russia had. One person summed it up with this quote, “Attacking Russia is like an elephant attacking an ant hill, the elephant will kill millions of ants, but in the end, because of sheer numbers, the ants will eat the elephant to the bone”. This quote perfectly describes what it was like to face the massive Russian army. Hitler was blinded by ego;