Russia Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Great power and development of society, sciences and arts==== During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Russia joined alliances with various European powers, and fought against France. The [[French invasion of Russia]] at the height of Napoleon's power in 1812 reached Moscow, but eventually failed as the obstinate resistance in combination with the bitterly cold [[Russian winter]] led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in which the pan-European [[Grande Armée]] faced utter destruction. Led by [[Mikhail Kutuzov]] and [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly]], the [[Imperial Russian Army]] ousted Napoleon and drove throughout Europe in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]], ultimately entering Paris.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kroll |first1=Mark J. |last2=Toombs |first2=Leslie A. |last3=Wright |first3=Peter |title=Napoleon's Tragic March Home from Moscow: Lessons in Hubris |date=February 2000 |journal=The Academy of Management Executive |jstor=4165613 |pages=117–128 |publisher=[[Academy of Management]] |volume=14 |number=1}}</ref> [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] controlled Russia's delegation at the [[Congress of Vienna]], which defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ghervas |first=Stella |title=The Long Shadow of the Congress of Vienna |jstor=26266203 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishers]] |journal=Journal of Modern European History |volume=13 |number=4 |pages=458–463 |year=2015|doi=10.17104/1611-8944-2015-4-458 |s2cid=151713355 }}</ref> [[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|''[[Napoleon]]'s retreat from Moscow'' by [[Albrecht Adam]] (1851)]] The officers who pursued Napoleon into Western Europe brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia, and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive [[Decembrist revolt]] of 1825.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grey |first=Ian |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/decembrists-russia%E2%80%99s-first-revolutionaries |title=The Decembrists: Russia's First Revolutionaries |magazine=[[History Today]] |date=9 September 1973 |volume=23 |issue=9 |access-date=23 November 2021 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330122946/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/decembrists-russia%E2%80%99s-first-revolutionaries |url-status=live }}</ref> At the end of the conservative reign of [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] (1825–1855), a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe, was disrupted by defeat in the [[Crimean War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vincent |first=J.R. Vincent |title=The Parliamentary Dimension of the Crimean War |journal=[[Transactions of the Royal Historical Society]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=37–49 |volume=31 |year=1981 |jstor=3679044 |doi=10.2307/3679044|s2cid=153338264 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page