7.9. 1812 Battle of Borodino

The Battle of Borodino began at 6.30am on 7 September 1812, when Napoleon ordered his artillery to open fire. Of all the battles he had fought so far, this was the bloodiest and most ferocious. Both

sides suffered huge casualties, which included a number of generals. Thus the Russians lost, among others, the famous General Bagration. After the terrible slaughter, which the writer Leo Tolstoy so vividly and graphically depicted in his famous novel "War and Peace", both sides were considered winners.

Napoleon, in his notes taken later during his exile on St. Helena, claimed, not quite in accordance with the truth, that Kutuzov had chosen an excellent position and very quickly occupied it. "He had all the advantages on his side, namely superiority in infantry, cavalry and artillery, excellent positions and more fortifications. Yet he was defeated! Brave heroes, Murat, Ney, Poniatowski, to you belongs this glorious victory!" wrote Napoleon.

For Tolstoy, too, Napoleon was a "great victor". In his view, there could be no doubt about it, because the French dominated the battlefield. But according to Otto Hans-Dieter, who wrote the book Shocking Victories: the Most Surprising Turns in the History of War, the reality is different.

He states that although the Russians lost 45,000 men, almost twice as many as Napoleon, they did not loseneither side gained a decisive advantage in the battle, so it's perfectly possible to talk about a draw.

"Since Kutuzov succeeded in retreating with about 50,000 men surviving and Napoleon did not achieve his intended goal of destroying his army, even the Russians can be considered moral victors. Napoleon was not in the best physical condition during the battle. He was suffering from a severe cold, fever, an irritating cough, and only gasping for air with difficulty," writes Hans-Dieter.

Napoleon is said to have sat in pain and with swollen legs, all hunched over his horse without any vigour, with orders from 7. On 7 September he prevented his soldiers from immediately pursuing the retreating Russians. But the gate to Moscow was now open to him. In 1812, after the indecisive Battle of Borodino, Napoleon and his army stood before Moscow. But on the orders of the commander Kutuzov, the city was burned and the population evacuated.

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