Between public and private life : everyday dilemmas of the officers of Napoleon’s Great Army, in the basis of unknown letters of Jacques-Martin-Madelaine Ferrière of 1812 and 1813

The article constitutes an attempt to analyze the events of 1812 and 1813 from the perspective of an individual, in this case, Brigadier General Jacques-Martin-Madelaine Ferrière, governor of Białystok and military commander of Warsaw. It is based on a collection of letters which have not so far been used in the research on Ferrière’s biography. The correspondence between the general and his wife constitutes an interesting insight into the moods and feelings which prevailed in Napoleon’s Great Army in 1812, and particularly during the army retreat in 1813 (among numerous offi cers and soldiers, there prevailed a feeling of weariness and even discouragement with the protracted war activities). Moreover, the analysis of the above correspondence reveals a lot of interesting details concerning the everyday life of the offi cers of Napoleon’s army in the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw as well as during the army maneuvers in Silesia and Lusatia in 1813.