The Russian forces pulled back in front of the French, conducting a scorched earth campaign to deprive the French of all food and supplies. On the 23 June 1812, Napoleon crossed the Neman River on the Russian border with a force numbering around 650 000 men, of which about half were French and half were German and polish allied troops. The goal of this expedition was to capture the Russian capital of Moscow and force the Russian Tsar Alexander to recommit to the continental system, from which Russia had been straying. Perhaps bored by the relative calm that had settled over Europe, Napoleon decided on an invasion of Russia. Furthermore, while the Duke of Wellington and his Anglo-Iberian army was advancing through Spain, this was but a minor threat to Napoleon’s empire. In 1812, the French empire was at its zenith, both Austria and Prussia had been subjugated and were in nominal alliance with France. The sixth coalition was the most unanimous display of European purpose in hundreds of years, it hemmed in French forces on all sides and allowed the allies to finally overpower Napoleon and throw off the French yoke of oppression. Consisting of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal. The war of the sixth coalition finally saw the removal of Napoleon from power in France and subsequent exile to the Italian island of Elba.
