About the book: 2012 / It is no coincidence that the cover of this book contains a drawing from the series “Russian Cossacks in Paris”, conveying the unusually peaceful atmosphere of the presence of the Russian army in the French capital in 1814. This is completely incomparable with how Napoleon’s soldiers behaved in Moscow in 1812, organizing a complete pogrom in the Mother See and stripping the ancient Russian capital like a stick. It is about the life of Moscow in that heroic year that this book narrates: the preparation of the city for war, its unexpected surrender to Napoleon, and then the forced self-immolation of the Mother See, the life of Muscovites during the occupation, Napoleon’s stay in Moscow and his unsuccessful attempts to conclude a truce, robberies and barbarism enemy soldiers, the destruction of Orthodox churches and noble estates...And also a psychological portrait of the Moscow Governor-General Rostopchin, who was the catalyst for the events of two centuries ago, his relationship with Kutuzov and Alexander I, details of the creation of a hot air balloon to fight the French, the spy network in Moscow, the Vereshchagin case , the story of the first mayor of Moscow, the plight of the Russian wounded, the attempt of the French before their flight to finally “finish off” Moscow... Moscow historian, writer Alexander Vaskin talks about this and much more. The book is equipped with a name index.