The book “The Russians and Napoleon Bonaparte” from the collection of the Museum of Moscow was one of the first Russian editions about the Patriotic War of 1812. It was published in Moscow in 1813 and 1814. Despite the fact that the author used the pseudonym “Muscovite”, the authorship was soon attributed first to Count Fyodor Rostopchin, Governor-General of Moscow, and later to Alexander Bulgakov, Director of Posts in Moscow. In September of 1812, during Napoleon’s occupation of Moscow, Bulgakov miraculously escaped captivity, and, returning to the burned capital, immediately began writing.

As a result, the book was rather complex: it included verified facts, real events and rumors that reached the headquarters of the governor of Moscow during the enemy’s stay in Moscow. Essentially, it offered a collection of historical anecdotes of varying degrees of reliability. The author also tried to describe crimes of the French and their allies in captured Moscow, to understand the causes of the Moscow fire, to rehabilitate his superior, Count Rostopchin, with whom Bulgakov was on good terms, and to lay all blame for the burning of Moscow at Napoleon’s feet. 

The author concludes the preface by speaking about the global significance of the victory of the Russian army:

The appendix includes the “General plan of the Capital City of Moscow” printed on a separate sheet, which showed all the city quarters lost in the fire and indicated the number of houses remaining after the departure of the French army in each of the 20 Moscow districts. The second edition featured an additional engraved title page and a frontispiece depicting the burning Moscow Kremlin.