Indian March of Paul facts for kids
The Indian March of Paul was a secret plan for a joint expedition by the Russian and French armies. Their goal was to attack the British Company in India. However, this big plan was stopped when Emperor Paul I of Russia was assassinated in March 1801.
Before this, Russia and Britain were allies during the French Revolutionary Wars in the 1790s. But things changed after some failed military actions. For example, their joint invasion of the Netherlands in 1799 didn't work out. Also, Britain took control of Malta in October 1800. This made Emperor Paul very angry because he was the leader of the Knights Hospitaller, who had a special connection to Malta. Because of this, he quickly ended his alliance with Britain. Instead, he teamed up with Napoleon, who then came up with the grand idea of a combined Russian and French expedition to attack British lands in India.
Secret Expedition Plans
The secret plans for this expedition are still kept in Russian archives. They show that two large groups of soldiers were supposed to work together. One group would be French, and the other would be Russian. Each group would have 35,000 soldiers, plus artillery (big guns) and many Cossack horsemen. This would make a total force of 70,000 soldiers.
Napoleon wanted General André Masséna to lead the French soldiers. The French group was planned to start their journey in May 1801. They would travel along the Danube River and across the Black Sea. Then they would go through southern Russia, passing cities like Taganrog, Tsaritsyn, and Astrakhan.
At the mouth of the Volga River, the French soldiers were supposed to meet up with the Russian forces. After that, the combined Russian and French army would cross the Caspian Sea. They would land at a port called Astrabad in Iran. The whole trip from France to Astrabad was expected to take about eighty days. From there, they would travel for another fifty days through places like Herat and Kandahar. They hoped to reach the main parts of India by September of that same year.
The Indian March was designed to be similar to Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. It would include engineers, artists, and scientists. The plan also carefully thought about how to interact with the local people. For example, instructions for trading with locals suggested selling clothes "of the colorings most liked by the Asians." The expedition also planned to have fireworks for special celebrations.
Why the March Stopped
In January 1801, Vasily Petrovich Orlov, a leader of the Don Cossacks, received orders. His force of horsemen was told to march towards India. Their planned route was to reach the fort of Orenburg in about a month. From there, they would move through Bukhara and Khiva to the Indus River. Soon after getting these orders, about 20,000 Cossacks began their journey into the Kazakh steppes.
In his book about the Great Game, Peter Hopkirk writes that Emperor Paul didn't have a detailed map of India until the Cossacks had already left Orenburg. He quotes the Tsar telling Orlov: "My maps only go as far as Khiva and the Oxus River. Beyond these points it is your job to find out about the lands of the English, and the situation of the local people under their rule."
When Orlov's Cossack group had traveled as far south as the Aral Sea, they received important news. They learned that the Emperor had been assassinated. Because of this, the Indian March was immediately stopped. Soon after, the Cossacks were ordered to turn back and retreat.
What Happened Next
The British public only found out about this planned invasion years later. But the idea of it left a lasting impression. It helped create feelings of suspicion and distrust between Britain and Russia, which became known as the Great Game. Historian Hugh Seton-Watson noted that "the strange plan had no real military importance." Peter Hopkirk agreed, saying that "no serious thought or study has been given to this wild adventure." This means that while it was a big idea, it might not have been very practical or well-planned.
See also
- Duhamel plan (1854)
- Khrulev plan (1855)
