After a coup d'etat of the French government in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte began his conquest of Europe. By 1804, Bonaparte had made himself the emperor of France and was quickly amassing power.
By 1812, Bonaparte controlled territory from Iberia, Spain, to the banks of the Nemen River in Russia. Because he could not take control of Great Britain, he initiated the continental system, a blockade that prevented the British from trading with the rest of Europe.
The blockade negatively impacted Russia, which then began illegally trading with Britain, leading Bonaparte to worry about possible allyship between the two countries.
In June 1812, Bonaparte invaded Russia, aiming to deal a decisive blow and force Alexander I into peace talks.
Through a series of strategic retreats and slash-and-burn techniques by the Russian army, in addition to the harsh Russian winter, the largest army Europe had ever seen found themselves retreating from Moscow.
The French Grand Army faced severe losses, and the campaign into Moscow severely weakened Bonaparte's grasp on power and is widely attributed as the beginning of the end of his rule.