Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars (GSC Game World, 2000) is set during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (1789–1815).
This era was entirely dominated by the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the explosive conflict that engulfed the entire European continent.
Muskets were highly inaccurate beyond 100 meters. Battles in this era were won by breaking the enemy’s spirit, not just killing them. Infantry used formations: line for firing, column for moving, and square to stop cavalry charges.
During this era, the Cossacks had been integrated into the Imperial Russian Army as elite, irregular light cavalry.
(Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard (J. Louis David, 1801-1805))
Following the French Revolution, Europe was terrified that revolutionary ideas would spread. A series of major conflicts broke out between the French Empire (led by Napoleon) and various coalitions of European monarchies.
Armies grew into hundreds of thousands of uniform-wearing professional soldiers marching in massive columns.
The main geopolitical heavyweights of the era: France, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and the Ottoman Empire (with Egypt).
The Battle of Austerlitz (1805)
Known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors." Napoleon brilliantly defeated a numerically superior Austro-Russian army, cementing his tactical genius.
The Battle of Borodino (1812): The deadliest single day of the Napoleonic Wars. It took place during Napoleon’s fateful invasion of Russia, involving over 250,000 soldiers and resulting in massive casualties on both sides.
During Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in the freezing winter of 1812 (Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia (A. Northen, 1851)), Cossack horsemen used guerrilla tactics. They harassed French supply lines, launched hit-and-run ambushes, and captured exhausted French soldiers. Napoleon reportedly said that if he had Cossacks in his army, he could conquer the world.
The Battle of Waterloo (1815): The ultimate climax where the British (under the Duke of Wellington) and the Prussians finally defeated Napoleon, ending his rule and reshaping European history for a century.