Towards the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812

205 years ago on June 26 the Patriotic War of 1812 began, which had   became a heroic trial for the peoples of Russia. On this day Napoleon Bonaparte's troops crossed the Neman River without declaration of war and invaded Russia.

The army of Napoleon, which he himself called the "Great Army", numbered more than 600,000 people. In addition to the French, it included the national corps of European countries, subjugated or allied to Napoleon.

There were many reasons for the outbreak of the war, but the main ones were in the sphere of economy and politics: it was impossible for Russia to participate fully in a  continental blockade of Britain and Napoleon's desire to recreate an independent Poland within the Rzecz Pospolita, as well as personal contradictions between the monarchs - Bonaparte and Alexander I.

The Moscow campaign of Napoleon, which began in June with the retreat of the Russian armies and the loss of Moscow by September, resulted in the almost total extermination of the Great Army for winter and marked the beginning of the end of the era of Napoleon's rule in Europe.

The invasion of the "Twelve Languages" and the heroic actions of the Russian army stirred up the broadest popular masses of Russia, provoked an unprecedented energy of the people, awoke, as V.G.  Belinsky said, "people's consciousness and people's pride."

The National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan hosts the exhibition "The Thunderstorm of the Twelfth Year ...", which presents unique materials related to the course of the biggest battles of 1812-1814, the heroism of officers, soldiers and militia. Here you can see the weapons and portraits of the natives of the Kazan gubernia - participants in the military actions P.L. Tolstoy, V.P. Molostvoff, S.F. Zheltukhin, the cavalry-maiden N.A. Durova.

A significant place is made up of collections associated with little-known pages of the rear life of the Kazan province during the Patriotic War.

At the exhibition there are fund shows and interactive programs:

"We have something to be proud of, we have something to cherish,

"What they wore, what they fought,

"Shchi and kasha (porridge) - our food."