Two hundred years ago on Sunday, Napoleon crossed the Memel River into Russian territory with 600,000 men, the biggest army ever assembled. Only 16,000 came back to the Memel on the following December 16 after a terrible retreat, joined later by a few thousand stragglers. A million soldiers on both sides perished during those six months, a slaughter hitherto unimagined, along with up to half a million Russian civilians left to starve by the foraging of two enormous armies.

The anniversary of Napoleon’s march into Russia should be an occasion for democracies to take stock of their own vulnerability. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the affair is that so many followed Napoleon into Russia in the first place, and that even more followed him after the Russian catastrophe. The young men of Europe fought for him until there weren’t enough young men left to fight. What is it that motivates a generation to commit collective suicide in the service of a malicious leader?

There is an important parallel to the case of Hitler, and a vital consideration for America’s strategic position today. Americans relish the memory of democratic armies fighting for their homes and the principle of freedom. But they should not forget that some of the world’s most effective and courageous soldiers fought for the hope of advancement in an evil cause, and that the ultimate victory of the democracies was in part a matter luck or providence, as the case may be. Luck is good to have, but bad to rely on. [...]

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