While Riga Burned

As the French occupied Vilnius, fires raged and smoke billowed some 300 kilometers away in Riga, destroying vast tracts of the outlying city and leaving upwards of 10,000 Latvians homeless.

The thrust of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia ended up cutting through Lithuania, with Vilnius becoming the main staging platform for the attack. But Czarist generals believed Napoleon, instead of marching towards Moscow, intended to head north to St. Petersburg through Latvia and Estonia—part of the Russian empire for 100 years by that time. So in a preemptive move to deny the French shelter and food, they ordered that the outskirts of Riga be set alight. (Some historians say the order for troops to torch the buildings was given when a watchman atop Riga’s St. Peter’s church spotted a cloud of dust that was assumed to have been kicked up by French soldiers; it turned out, according to this account, to be from a herd of cows.)

One consequence of the burning of Riga’s outskirts by the Czarist forces was that Riga planners had to come up with a new layout of the city, which has contributed in making the city what it is today.
Historians say Napoleon, considered one of the most brilliant military strategists of all time, may well have considered striking Russia via Riga. But he apparently feared his 500,000-strong Grand Army might become hemmed in by the Baltic Sea, with no escape route back to France, if he attacked through Latvia and Estonia.

Major clashes nevertheless took place between French and Russian forces on the territory of present day Latvia. Marshall Etienne MacDonald (above portrait), a Frenchman of Scottish decent, laid siege to Riga with some 30,000 men starting in July of 1812. But while his multi-national corps occupied much of Courland for months, they never managed to take Riga.

In Latvia, as in Lithuania, many local residents at first believed Napoleon’s army would improve their lot. Rumors spread among Baltic peasants that Napoleon might abolish serfdom in areas under French occupation. But that never happened. Instead, the plight of local residents swiftly deteriorated as normal trade was disrupted by the war conditions.

MacDonald’s presence in Latvia at least ensured Russian forces couldn’t attack the Moscow-bound French force from the rear. Napoleon is said to have described Riga as a “suburb of London,” for its strong trade links with France’s arch enemy, the British; by trying to occupy the seaside Latvian city, he also hoped to disrupt lucrative Russian trade with Great Britain.

MacDonald wrote in his memoirs that he spent most of the next several months holding his position in Courland as Czarist troops attacked from time to time. He continuously received reports of the disaster that was unfolding with the main French force under Napoleon’s command. “I was informed of the daily trials they had to meet with,” he complained. “And although I offered my services, together with those of my inactive, well-fed and warmly-clad troops, I was left stationary.”