Russia's fort in California was dedicated four days after Borodino.
Fort Ross opened on 11 September 1812 (New Style), Alexander I's name day — and three days later Napoleon entered Moscow.
The events
- Fort Ross, Russia's outpost in California1812–1841 · California. In 1812 Ivan Kuskov with 25 Russians and 80 Native Alaskans founded Fort Ross north of San Francisco, the southernmost settlement of Russian America. It had California's first windmills and shipyards. In 1841 it was sold to John Sutter, at whose mill gold was later found.
- Napoleon's invasion of Russia1812 · Borodino. In June 1812 Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed the Neman. After the Battle of Borodino the French took Moscow but, failing to force peace, retreated, and by year's end the army was almost destroyed. The campaign turned the tide of the Napoleonic Wars.
More amazing facts
- 1809 · 1859 · 1861 Darwin and Lincoln were born on the same day: 12 February 1809.
- 1810 · 1814 England's first Indian restaurant opened in London in 1810.
- 1810 · 1858 Canned food was invented nearly half a century before the can opener.
- 1810 · 1864 The inventor of canning never knew why it worked.
- 1810 · 1914 Wristwatches long counted as women’s jewellery: Breguet made the first for the Queen of Naples in 1810.
- 1814 · 1815 'The Congress dances, but it does not move forward,' went the joke about the Congress of Vienna: while diplomats spent months carving up post-Napoleonic Europe, Vienna went from ball to ball.