French invasion of Russia subject of much discussion among historians. The campaign's sustained role in Russian culture may be seen in Tolstoy's "War and Peace", Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", and the identification of it with the German invasion of 1941–45, which became known as the "Great Patriotic War" in the Soviet Union. French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 () and in France as the Russian Campaign (), began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon's crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian army. Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar
Results of the War of 1812 if the War of 1812 had not taken place, because more and more American settlers would have arrived and Canadian nationalism would not have developed. The War of 1812 was highly significant in Britain's North American colonies. After the war, British sympathizers portrayed the war as a successful fight for national survival against an American democratic force that threatened the peace and stability the Canadians desired. Throughout the war, most of Canada's inhabitants assigned the war to an American desire to annex the British colonies, a perception reinforced by American Generals like William Hull, who issued proclamations stating that Canada