On 24 June 1812 and the following days, the first wave of the multinational Grande Armée crossed the border into Russia with somewhere between 450,000 and 600,000 soldiers, the opposing Russian field forces amounted to around 180,000–200,000 at this time. The Second Polish Campaign, the Patriotic War of 1812, and the War of 1812, was begun by Napoleon to force Russia back into the Continental blockade of the United Kingdom. The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign,, the Second Polish War, Minard's Map of French casualties see also Attrition warfare against Napoleon
