The work was completed in 1880 and 10. It was commissioned by nikolai rubinstein and created by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky for the Moscow Art Industry Expo. It is also one of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's most popular works. The work was warmly welcomed by the audience when it premiered on August 8 1882. The patriotism shown in the music, together with the grand momentum of the band and the warm atmosphere of the bells and drums at the end of the music, made the audience very excited at that time and the performance was a great success. Super-large bands were used in the performance, and finally a military band and cannons were added. The author didn't expect this overture to win Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's reputation and be popularized as his masterpiece.

The historical content of the overture "18 12" is that French Napoleon mobilized tens of thousands of troops to invade Russia in 18 12, and paid a huge price before approaching Moscow. Russian commander Kutuzov adopted the strategy of strengthening the city wall and clearing the field, ordered to abandon Moscow, and 90% of the 300,000 residents were evacuated from Moscow. Farmers joined the guerrillas one after another, burning grain, leaving Napoleon's invading army to fight hungry in the ice and snow. Napoleon's army was defeated because it couldn't stand the Russian counterattack and guerrilla attacks. Napoleon fled back to France around the moral environment. The Russian people proudly read Kutuzov's telegram to the army: "Brave and victorious army! You are at the forefront of imperialism at last. Every one of you is the savior of the motherland. Russia welcomes you with this name. The extraordinary achievements you have made in this expedition have surprised the people of the whole country and brought us eternal glory. " The first half of the preface is a solemn hymn, which describes the distress of the masses when Napoleon invaded Russia and the scene of people praying for God's blessing in the face of catastrophe.

The melody is selected from the religious song "God, Save Your People". Subsequently, the intensity was strengthened and the speed was accelerated, which showed the enthusiasm of the Russian people to resist the enemy. At the end of the prologue, the horn sounded the theme of cavalry. The main part of the music mainly describes the battle and the advance of Napoleon's army. The scales hit each other up and down, describing the struggle between hostile forces, melody whirlwind and rhythm spasm. In the middle section, brass pipes, woodwinds and strings alternately play fragments of the French La Marseillaise, depicting the madness and tyranny of the French army. After the fierce fighting subsided, the theme of the Deputy Ministry revealed the feelings of Russian soldiers missing their hometown. Russian folk melody shows the soldiers' feelings of loving the motherland and missing their loved ones, and also depicts the happy scene when the soldiers are resting. Later, another Russian folk song, with melody as its theme, was humorous and enthusiastic, reflecting the confident and optimistic spirit of the Russian people. The above-mentioned music materials are used to describe the battle scenes in the unfolding and reappearing part of the music, but "La Marseillaise" has gradually lost its swaggering character and turned to the bass area, and the melody appears fragmented, which indicates that the invaders will surely fail, while the Russian people have been advancing and finally won. The ending is extremely gorgeous. At the beginning, a solemn hymn was reproduced, and later it became a song of thanks and victory. Drums, cymbals and bells sounded together, and a lively and enthusiastic cavalry theme appeared at the same time. Then, the bass brass and bass strings played the first half of the Russian national anthem, and combined with the theme of cavalry, accompanied by the roar of artillery, showed the grand scene of the Russian people celebrating the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. The whole song ended in an atmosphere of jubilation and victory.