NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON

My God...! What time is it?

DUROC

Four o'clock.

NAPOLEON

My God, what a fire!

They stand in silence.

NAPOLEON

When did it start?

DUROC

The first reports came in at about

ten.

NAPOLEON

Why didn't you wake me then?

DUROC

At first, it hardly seemed more than

a routine fire.

NAPOLEON

How did it spread so quickly?

DUROC

It is the work of incendiaries.

NAPOLEON

I told Mortier that he would answer

with his life for any looting.

DUROC

Our troops have no part in this. It

has been started by the Russians!

NAPOLEON

Impossible, I don't believe it.

DUROC

We have already captured a dozen

incendiaries, convicts, released

just two days ago. They said they

were acting under orders of the

secret police.

NAPOLEON

But to start a fire like this in

five hours -- how is it possible?

It would take a carefully organized

plan, tons of combustibles and

hundreds of people.

DUROC

From what we can tell, there are

hundreds of agents, all over the

city. The combustibles seem to have

been carefully placed beforehand,

and all the fire-engines have been

removed from the city.

NAPOLEON

My God -- this could be very bad for

us... very bad, indeed.

EXT. MOSCOW STREET - NIGHT

Fires are started by wild-looking men and women in rags,

wandering about in the flames. An official of the secret

police gives orders and carefully writes something in a

notebook.

EXT. MOSCOW STREET - NIGHT

Three Russians, one of whom is armed with a lance, the

second with a sword, the third a lighted torch, are

setting fire to a house.

A party of 5, unarmed, French soldiers, dragging a cart

containing loot, surprises them.

The Russian with the lance puts himself in a position of

defense. The others simply ignore the French and continue

about their work.

One of the Frenchmen grabs a long pole from a smoldering

carriage, using it as a quarterstaff, and attacks the man

armed with the lance; he quickly breaks both his legs and

the Russian falls with a terrible cry of pain. The

Frenchman strikes him on the head killing him.

The other two Russians run away.

EXT. MOSCOW STREET - DAY

Some French soldiers making jam fritters in the

smoldering ruins of a bakery while the fire rages at the

other end of the street, and furniture, sliding down from

collapsing floors, crashes to the pavement.

INT. BEDROOM ST. PETERSBURG PALACE - NIGHT

Alexander is in bed with a heavy cold, and in a foul mood.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I hope you will forgive me, Your

Majesty, for requesting an audience

at such a late hour, but I have

traveled all the way from Moscow to

see you, on a matter which cannot

wait.

ALEXANDER

Very well, General, what is it you

wish to say?

GENERAL KUTUSOV

Your Majesty, I have been advised

that you have received a letter from

Napoleon, offering a peace treaty,

and that you have decided to accept

it.

ALEXANDER

I have decided to accept the

principle of a negotiation; the

terms are not established.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

If I may, Your Majesty, I would like

to offer a dissenting opinion.

ALEXANDER

General Kutusov, feel free to say

whatever you like.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I believe I am right in saying that,

before the fire, the country had

grown weary of the war, and there

were few who were interested in

continuing the battle.

ALEXANDER

Proceed.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

But, since the fire, a completely

new spirit has been aroused in the

nation. The French have become an

army of criminals, against whom

Russia must be avenged, against whom

she is now prepared to fight to the

death.

ALEXANDER

You know, General Kutusov, there is

a very strong possibility that the

fire was not started by Napoleon's

troops but was organized under the

orders of Rostopchin's secret

police.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I have heard that story but I do not

believe it.

ALEXANDER

Rostopchin is a fanatic and he is

capable of anything -- however, it

doesn't affect what we are talking

about. Please go on.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

The point I was trying to make is

that I think it is reasonable to say

that Your Majesty would not find

himself under unbearable pressure,

if he decided to make peace with the

Emperor, at least at this time.

ALEXANDER

For the sake of your argument, let

us say that is correct.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

Well, has Your Majesty considered

what Napoleon's alternatives might

be, if you simply chose to ignore

his note?

ALEXANDER

Yes, General Kutusov, I daresay that

this has been considered and

discussed at great length. Napoleon

would simply spend the winter in

Moscow and continue the campaign in

the spring. Another lesser

possibility might be to march on St.

Petersburg now, although there is

some doubt that he has the strength

to do this, until he refits his

army.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

You have my absolute assurance, Your

Majesty, that Napoleon does not have

the strength to attack St.

Petersburg now -- his army is

exhausted and ill-supplied, and he

would be defeated if he attempted

that.

ALEXANDER

I will accept your assurance, but

I'm afraid I don't see your point.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

Forgive me, Your Majesty, I am about

to make it.

ALEXANDER

Ah, yes -- proceed.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

The point is that I don't think

Napoleon will sit in Moscow until

the spring! I don't think he can

afford to.

Pause.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

It would be a sensible decision if

he were merely commander of the

army, but he is also the Emperor of

France. Can he afford to stay away

from Paris for what will amount to a

year by the time he commences his

campaign again in the spring? And,

even if he might consider this, his

lines of communication are over-

stretched and vulnerable -- they can

be easily cut by our cossacks. Will

he then be willing to remain,

completely out of touch with Paris

-- for a year? The French are like

women. You cannot stay away from

them for too long.

The Tsar sneezes and blows his nose.

ALEXANDER

Well, that is a very interesting

idea, General Kutusov, but I can

assure you that Napoleon is no

beginner at this. Whatever analysis

you have done on this situation, I

am sure that he has gone over the

same ground.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I have no doubt that he has, Your

Majesty, but does he have any strong

moves from which to choose?

ALEXANDER

Well, one thing immediately comes to

mind, if what you are saying is true

-- he would merely withdraw his army

from Moscow and return to Poland for

the winter.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

Your Majesty has grasped the

outlines of his problem in much less

time than it took me. This is a

crucial point -- and it is a

political one, which Your Majesty

will be in a far better position to

answer than I. Can Napoleon afford

to abandon Moscow without signing

even the preliminaries of a peace

treaty with you?

ALEXANDER

I must confess he would look a bit

silly, fighting his way to Moscow

and turning right around again.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

Perhaps it would be even more

serious than that, Your Majesty.

His European confederation is held

together by some very slender

threads. Your Majesty knows even

better than I that Austria and

Prussia are very doubtful allies,

and the Emperor has reason enough to

fear that they will turn on him, at

the first sign of weakness.

ALEXANDER

Proceed.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

If I can presume to go into the

Emperor's mind, I believe that he

has based his entire campaign

strategy on obtaining a peace treaty

after the fall of Moscow. When

Vienna fell, there was a peace

treaty. When Berlin fell, another

treaty. That has always been the

rules of the game. But what is he

to do now if no treaty is forth-

coming? He knows that beyond

Moscow, there is nothing, and that,

if he withdraws, there remains only

a fall into emptiness.

Alexander is thoughtful.

ALEXANDER

What do you think Napoleon will do?

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I, personally, am convinced that he

will withdraw his army from Moscow,

and attempt to establish himself in

Poland for the winter. In the end,

he will not allow himself to be cut

off from Paris. But I believe that

if he is offered any encouragement,

by Your Majesty, he will postpone

this decision as long as possible.

He is a gambler and he will trust to

his luck.

Pause.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

If he withdraws his army in good

order, it will be a serious

political defeat. But, if he should

be caught on the move, with his

army, in the full grip of winter,

then it will be a catastrophe. If

Your Majesty can prolong his hopes

for a treaty by silence, be deceit,

by any means, for another month,

thus postponing his departure, then

the graves of his army are already

dug in the soil of Russia.

ALEXANDER

General Kutusov, I would like to

call a meeting of my cabinet

tomorrow morning and have you

present this idea to them. I think

it has merit and is worthy of

consideration.

GENERAL KUTUSOV

I am at your disposal, Your Majesty.

EXT. KREMLIN BALCONY - DAY

It is a fine, fall day. Napoleon and a small entourage

are having lunch outside on a balcony overlooking Moscow.

NARRATOR

Day after day of fine autumn weather

was allowed to slip away, while

Napoleon waited for the word from

Alexander which would never come.

The weather was so fine and the

temperature so mild that it seemed

as if even the season was conspiring

to deceive Napoleon.

EXT. FIELD - DAY

Murat and his staff are exchanging gifts with the Cossack

officers and soldiers, who treat Murat with great respect.

Drinks, food and song: the mood is one of expansive

warmth, in the manner the Russians so easily generate.

NARRATOR

His troops fraternized with the

enemy and reported them demoralized,

and tired of war.

EXT. KREMLIN COURTYARD - DAY

The mail carriage being unloaded in the Kremlin courtyard.

Twelve large trunks with Imperial markings are carried

inside.

NARRATOR

Trunks, bearing dispatches and mail,

arrived regularly every day from

Paris. It seemed as easy to travel

from Paris to Moscow as from Paris

to Marseilles.

INT. KREMLIN SALON - NIGHT

A small theatrical performance for Napoleon and his inner

circle, performed in a Kremlin room, by a troupe of French

artists who were in Moscow at the time of the occupation.

They are playing a farce to polite laughter and applause.

NARRATOR

Thus, lulled by events, and by

realities he could not face,

Napoleon seemed to fall into a dream

in Moscow, and, amid the dreadful

storm of men and element gathering

around him, he spent his time

discussing the merits of some new

verses which he had received, or the

regulations for the Comedie

Francaise in Paris which took him

three evenings to prepare.

INT. NAPOLEON'S KREMLIN BEDROOM - DAY

Napoleon, alone in his room in the Kremlin. Vacant,

immobile, heavy.

NARRATOR

Napoleon was extremely superstitious

and retained a mystical belief in

his partnership with fate, a sense

that he could only do so much, and

that events must somehow complete

the decision. And, so it would be

in Moscow, where, without confidence

and full of apprehension, he would

cheerlessly pursue his destiny,

unaware that fortune, which had so

often smiled upon him, had now

abandoned his cause just when he

required miracles of her.

EXT. ROAD - SNOW - DAY

The Russian advance guard cavalry moves through the debris

of the retreat scattered along the sides of the road --

dead men and horses, overturned wagons containing the

booty taken from Moscow, gold candlesticks, porcelain

vases, paintings, beautifully bound books, silverware,

priceless furniture.

NARRATOR

It was not until October 20, that

Napoleon withdrew the Grand Army

from Moscow, to begin their thousand

mile march into oblivion.

EXT. SNOW - DAY

Napoleon on foot with his army.

NARRATOR

He had waited too long. But the

execution of his army would not be

principally caused by cold or

battle, but be starvation.

EXT. RUSSIAN VILLAGE - SNOW

French foragers loading carts, protected by a hundred

cavalry.

Thirty Cossack horsemen watch from some woods, a few

hundred yards away.

NARRATOR

In order to feed the army in the

barren and ravaged wasteland through

which it had to march, it was

necessary to send large foraging

parties deep into the surrounding

countryside, protected by strong

escorts of French cavalry, against

the clouds of Cossacks which flanked

and followed the march.

EXT. SNOW - DAY

A French trooper soothes and strokes his dying horse,

gives him a bit of sugar, then shoots him. The shot draws

attention of some ragged soldiers, who rush up for a meal

and are kept at bay by the trooper's pistol.

NARRATOR

But, by November 5, the temperature

was down to 30-degrees of frost, and

30,000 French horses were dead.

They were not bred to endure such

cold and, not being properly shod

for ice, had no chance to survive in

these conditions.

EXT. SNOW - DAY

The starving army stumbles along. Hundreds of Cossacks

flank the march, out of musket range, several hundred

yards off the road.

NARRATOR

The cavalry was now on foot and it

was a simple matter for the hordes

of Cossack cavalry to confine the

retreating French to their single

road, thus transforming the finest

army the world had ever seen into a

starving, feverish mob, without

purpose. General Famine and General

Winter, rather than Russian bullets,

would conquer the French.

EXT. ROAD - SNOW - DAY

A French soldier, Picart, struggling along with a dog tied

to his back. His friend, Didier, comes up to him.

DIDIER

Hello there, Picart.

PICART

Ah, Didier -- you are alive.

DIDIER

Why are you carrying the dog?

PICART

His paws are frozen and he cannot

walk.

DIDIER

When you eat him, may I have some?

PICART

My God -- don't you recognize Mouton

-- our regimental dog? I would

rather eat Cossack.

Didier looks disappointed.

EXT. FROZEN FIELD - DAY

A dozen French soldiers around a small fire, cooking bits

of horse-flesh, and a saucepan full of blood, while four

or five others fire at a small party of Cossacks, keeping

them at a distance. The men who are cooking are utterly

unconcerned with the fighting.