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
Lev Lvovich Tolstoy Lev Lvovich Tolstoy Count Lev Lvovich Tolstoy (; 1 June (Old style: 20 May) 1869 – 18 October 1945) was a Russian writer, and the fourth son of Leo Tolstoy. Lev Lvovich, whom his father once called "Leo Tolstoy, Junior" was a fairly well known and respected belletristic author and playwright in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Although he had enjoyed good relations with his parents, by the 1890s Lev Lvovich had come to doubt his father’s religious and moral teachings, eventually becoming an ardent monarchist and Russian patriot. While living in exile after the Russian Revolution in Sweden, he became a vocal