‭Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia: The Legacy‬

‭Adrian Iziliaev, Samuel Dickman, Lucas Akl‬

‭Senior Division‬

‭Group Website‬

‭Process Paper:‬

‭484 words‬
 ‭Our group chose our topic by using a document and a padlet to consider several topics‬

‭individually, we each did three. When we had completed this step, we were able to find common‬

‭ground in our interest with aspects pertaining to Napoleon’s rule of France, and after looking at‬

‭our options we decided on how Napoleon’s invasion of Russia had influenced his Empire. We‬

‭came to this conclusion as it was a clear turning point in History, which led to the eventual‬

‭collapse of Napoleon’s Empire.‬

‭As a group we conducted our research by using both materials provided by Gulliver and‬

‭other outside databases. We were able to use the Gulliver library to access Gale’s bibliographies,‬

‭events in history, and primary sources databases which helped us greatly to improve the quality‬

‭of our argument and our overall understanding of the topic. Furthermore, we used other means to‬

‭access databases like Hathitrust to gain access to more primary and secondary sources. In total,‬

‭each person in our group ascertained 5 secondary sources and 3 primary sources, and then‬

‭submitted them into noodletools, where we were able to add comments and notes to better‬

‭evaluate our sources and to not how to use them.‬

‭We created our project using the Weebly Website Editor, which is a very useful tool that‬

‭allowed us to focus on more important aspects of our project, such as the content of our‬
‭reasoning section, and the display of our primary sources, instead of having to code a base for a‬

‭website from scratch. We collaborated in order to create a website that has both functionality in‬

‭displaying information and a stylized look that makes the website feel professional.‬

‭Our historical argument was that while there are many factors that led to the end of‬

‭Napoleon’s empire, ultimately, Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 caused the end of his‬

‭empire. France's crushing defeat opened them up to attacks, directly caused Napoleon’s exile,‬

‭showed the instability of his empire, and resulted in a change of Europe's balance of power. It‬

‭was a clear turning point in History, as the invasion brought the Empire of France to it’s knees.‬

‭Our topic is very significant to History as a whole because the invasion of Russia caused‬

‭Napoleon’s fall, and t‬‭he fall of Napoleon significantly‬‭altered the balance of power in Europe‬

‭and on the global stage. This led to the rise of the United Kingdom as a dominant world power‬

‭and paved the way for the emergence of new powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Moreover,‬

‭Napoleon's defeat dealt a blow to the spread of revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and‬

‭fraternity, at least temporarily. However, these ideals continued to influence political movements‬

‭and revolutions in the years that followed. The fall of the French Empire changed history for‬

‭centuries to come.‬