French invasion of Russia 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 Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia. Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish
Sonya (War and Peace) Sonya (War and Peace) Sofya Alexandrovna "Sonya" (; ) is a character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel "War and Peace", and in Sergey Prokofiev's 1955 opera "War and Peace" and Dave Malloy's 2012 musical "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" based on it. She is the orphaned niece of Count and Countess Rostov. Although sometimes called "Sonya Rostova", it is not clear if that is her surname or not; the novel does not tell. "Alexandrovna" is a patronymic. At the start of the novel, 15-year-old Sonya is in love with her cousin, Nikolai Rostov, who initially reciprocates her