"Spain or Russia?" Topic

Tough call. I went with Russia, since there was no coming back from that one, but it was Spain that started him on the downhill slope.

I'm with Robert on this one, though I don't know sufficient details, particularly on the decision to attack Russia, to make more than a guess. In terms of the outcome, Spain weakened France while Russia sent it into terminal decline. Without Russia, Napoleon might have recovered from the difficulties in Spain.

Spain was a nuisance

Russia was the nail in the coffin

Spain proved the French could be beaten and was an oozing sore that became gangrenous.

Nail? Russia was the coffin itself

Spain made 1809 possible, and you can see the decline in the quality of the French army. Of the seven corps trained at the Boulogne Camp, one was destroyed at Eylau, three went to Spain and slowly degraded, and the remaining three marched into Russia. That's an oversimplification, of course: but it's as good as most OOB work.

The 1805 army just might have caught and destroyed the Russian main body by Smolensk. But Napoleon no longer had that army at his disposal.

Not making a lasting alliance with Austria. Early campaigns
cost too many veterans.

If he hadn't gone into Spain it's quite possible he never would have thought it necessary to go into Russia.