The Battle of Borodino

 They say people who learn from history have to watch while people who do not learn from history repeat it, making the same and sometimes new errors. 

Charles XII of Sweden was the Swedish king who invaded Russia in a campaign from 1707–1709 during the Great Northern War. The invasion ultimately ended in a disastrous defeat for the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava, and it led to the collapse of the Swedish empire and loss of its great power status. 

Hitler made the same mistake with Barbarossa. The Germans realized they could not maintain the logisitcs needed for a prolonged invasion so they simply decided they could capture Moscow by the end of September. Move the goalposts instead of dealing with the facts. 

Napoleon repeated Charkes XII mistake when he invaded Russia in 1812. He was used to rapidly marching his Grande Armee, living off the land. That worked in Europe but spelled disaster in Russia. Berlin and Prague are 500 km from Paris. Moscow is another 2000 km further. 

Russian General Kutuzov saw no need to fight as he knew Napoleon was beaten as soon as he crossed the Nieman river. Distance, disease and weather would beat him. However after the French destroyed the city of Smolensk, Kutuzov knew he had to fight as the Tsar, the Russian troops and Russia could not accept further retreat. So he picked a suitable spot just west of Moscow at Borodino and waited for the French to attack. 

Pictures from the Borodino Panarama Museum

By this time the ratio of French to Russian forces had shrunk from 3:1 to 5:4. The main part of Napoleon's army had entered Russia with 286,000 men, but by the time of the battle was reduced mostly through starvation, thirst and disease. 

The French army, led by Napoleon, won a tactical victory at the Battle of Borodino, but it was a costly and indecisive Pyrrhic victory. About 70,000 soldiers died in the battle. While the French gained control of the battlefield and forced the Russian army to retreat, Mikhail Kutuzov's forces remained intact. Russian losses could be replaced, French losses could not. The Russian Army retreated to east of Moscow and ordered the population of Moscow to evacuate eastward also. 

Napoleon entered a mostly deserted Moscow and camped. According to custom, the Tsar should now send an emmisary to sue for peace, pay a ransom and everyone go home. It didn't happen. Napoleon was left cooling his heels. There are any number of theories about how the fire started that destroyed most of Moscow but with thousands of soldiers cooking over open fires, it was inevitable. 

Winter was coming and eventually Napoleon decided to leave the city and head west. Kutuzov swung his army south, so Napoleon had to return the way he came. It was not only the winter that destroyed Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. There was no food and no forage for the horses. Men and horses died by the thousands. Of the 100 thousand that left Moscow, only about 49,000 soldiers and another 40,000 stragglers made it to the Berizina River. They were met there by the Rusian army led by Field Marshal Wittgenstein and Admiral Chichagov. 

Berezina Crossing

The battle didn't accomplish anything and the Russians let Napoleon escape with about 10,000 soldiers, thinking it didn't matter. A terrible error. It took another three years, losses of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and the Russian army in Paris before Napoleon was finally stopped and exiled to Elba. 

Diagramatic of Napoleon's Invasion of Russia in 1812

I have read several books on Napoleon's march on Moscow and to be honest, Tolstoy's War and Peace is as good an account as any. In 2006 on my way to meet Tanya in Krasnoyarsk, I was fortunate enough to visit the Borodino panarama from which these pictures come. I also spent an afternoon in the Tretyakov Art Gallery and saw less than 10%. One needs long three days and a guide who knows the paintings.