Part I: Napoleon What-Ifs: Tsar Alexander I Was Forced to Abolish Serfdom at Tilsit in 1807, which was unneeded in the Russian Campaign of 1812.
“The abolition of serfdom in Russia,” Napoleon scoffed, a sneer twisting his lips, “was not a stroke of genius, but a desperate act of a drowning man. The peasantry offered neither loyalty nor aid during the campaign, proving themselves to be nothing but a burden on Alexander’s resources. He would have been better served to have kept them chained to their fields, where they could at least have provided some semblance of productivity.”