What Napoleon saw and did in Lithuania – ‘these Poles aren’t like in Warsaw’ 22 Andrius Balčiūnas, LRT.lt2021.05.05 17:45 Napoleon's retreat from Moscow via Vilnius. Painting by Jan Damel (1812–1820) / Lietuvos dailės muziejus/Wikimedia During his 1812 Russian campaign, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte famously crossed Lithuania and spent some time socialising with the high society in Vilnius and Kaunas. The time is still remembered as the ‘French period’. Napoleon died on this day 200 years ago, dethroned and exiled. However, he was at his peak of power when he entered Vilnius – and the Lithuanians, like the Poles, hoped the French emperor would liberate them from the Russian Empire that had swallowed the lands just two decades prior.