Every year three small villages in Ticino remember the men from their valley who took part in Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia. Local photographer Roberto Donetta (1865-1932) took their pictures in the second decade of the 20th century.
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The Russian campaign ended in disaster for Napoleon, who had assembled an army of more than half a million men from all over Europe. During the battle at the Berezina river, where the Swiss suffered terrible losses, the men of the Blenio valley are said to have taken an oath to parade annually in uniform in honour of their village saint if they returned. The tradition still survives. (Images: Fondazione Archivio Donetta)
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A 200-year old battle unites and divides the Swiss
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Of the 9,000 or so Swiss who took part in the campaign – enrolled under Switzerland’s treaty obligations with France – about 400 returned to tell the tale. It was a campaign with few pitched battles; many of those who died perished from cold, hunger and disease and in Russian guerrilla attacks. But the three-day…
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The invaders were almost completely wiped out by Russian scorched earth tactics and “General Winter”. The memoirs of the few who survived give a flavour of what it was like. Some described their experiences in letters, others wrote them down much later. Many were encouraged to do so in the 1850s, when Napoleon III gave…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.