The village of Borodino, 115 kilometers west of Moscow, is famous as the battlefield where the Russians fought Napoleon's army in 1812.
An estimated 100,000 soldiers from both sides died that day and the French went on to capture the abandoned city of Moscow. But the toll the Russians took on Napoleon's forces at Borodino eventually proved too much, and with winter as their ally, the Russian troops beat the French into submission on their arduous trek back to Paris.
History buffs can walk the entire battlefield С more than a 100 square kilometers marked with obelisks dedicated to the fallen units on both sides. There is also a collection of bunkers, some dating to back to World War II when the Germans followed Napoleon's footsteps.
The nearby Borodino Museum offers a miniature overview of the battlefield.
Borodino Museum
Tel: 8-238-51057/51546
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
Closed last Friday of the month.
The Battle of Borodino was the largest and bloodiest single-day battle of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than a quarter of a million soldiers.
It was fought by the French Grande Armée under Napoleon I and the Imperial Russian army of Alexander I near the village of Borodino, west from the town of Mozhaysk. The battle ended with frustrated tactical results, although the French captured the main positions on the battlefield. Strategic considerations and the poor condition of the army forced the Russians to withdraw. The clash at Borodino was a pivotal point in the campaign as it was the last offensive battle fought by Napoleon in Russia.
The Russian retreat opened the way for the French to seize Moscow on September 14, 1812, but the capture of the city would prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for the French.
The battle was famously described by Leo Tolstoy in his novel War and Peace as "a continuous slaughter which could be of no avail either to the French or the Russians". A huge panorama representing the battle was painted by Franz Roubaud for the centenary of Borodino and installed on the Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow to mark the 150th anniversary of the event.
There exists the tradition to replay the battle at the same place on August 26. At the battlefield today the 'Bagration fleches' are still preserved; there is also a modest monument to the French soldiers fallen in the battle, and also remnants of the trenches from the 7 day battle fought at the same battlefield in 1941 between the Soviet and the German armies (which took fewer human lives than the one of 1812).
The French are said to have suffered 28,000 dead and wounded including 48 generals, according to historian Adam Zamoyski. Others put the figure as high as 50,000 (Stephen Pope). The Russians lost between 38,500 - 58,000 (45,000 is the generally accepted number). Some believe that combined casualties were as high as 125,000, but this is unlikely. The lowest casualty estimates (28,000 French and 38,500 Russians) together give a combined total of 66,500. The casualty figures, except for the lowest estimates, are high enough to make the Battle of Borodino the bloodiest single-day battle in modern human history. Though other modern battles may have ended with a higher number of casualties (the Somme, Battle of Stalingrad), none seems to have surpassed Borodino in only a single day. Controversial casualty figures of ancient times make accurate comparison with them problematical.
Around 8,500 casualties were sustained each hour of the conflict— the equivalent of a full-strength company wiped out every minute. In some divisions casualties exceeded 80% of the strength prior to the battle.
Modern reenactment of the battle.
Modern reenactment of the battle.
Adam Zamoyski, in his in-depth account of the Russian campaign, estimates that 1,400,000 rounds were discharged by the French infantry and a further 60,000 to 91,000 by the artillery. This averages as 2,300 rounds of musketry per minute from the French.
The cavalry assault on the Russian redoubt was not made by the French army, but led by Major Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Luffleholtz von Colberg, in command of the Saxon Heavy Cavalry, and by Oberstleutnant Christian Günther von Selmitz, leading the Zastrow Cuirassiers.
The Borodino Panorama Museum
The Borodino Panorama Museum was inaugurated in 1962 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the mighty battle fought between the massed French troops of Napoleon and the Russian soldiers under Field Marshal Kutuzov, which took place in August 1812 just 129 kilometers outside Moscow. The museum is built on the historic site of the village of Fili, where legend has it a council of war was held in a small peasant hut to decide the fate of Moscow and indeed the entire country.
The battle lasted for a staggering 15 hours and resulted in unprecedented casualties on both sides, although there is still considerable debate between the nations as to who was ultimately victorious. In the end Kutuzov's Russian troops retreated and the Field Marshal made a decision to surrender Moscow in order to preserve his army.
Kutuzov Monument, Moscow, Russia
The museum features an extraordinary 115-meter long circular painting by the Russian artist Franz Roubaud, depicting a particularly dramatic and crucial moment in the battle. Visitors can feel utterly absorbed in the atmosphere of the battle with the help of some authentic sound effects played at high volume to accompany the images in the painting.
There are also numerous exhibitions charting the origins of the Napoleonic Wars and the course of the campaign of 1812, displays of copies of original uniforms, banners and weapons as well as paintings and drawings featuring various scenes from the battle.
Just outside the museum visitors will find a bronze bust of Kutuzov, a former museum-chapel built to commemorate the centenary of the Patriotic War and an obelisk marking the common grave of some 300 Russia soldiers.
Directly in front of the museum visitors also cannot fail to see the enormous monument built in 1973 to commemorate the heroes of the war of 1812 and topped with an impressive equestrian statue of the Field Marshal.
Address: Kutuzovsky Prospect 38, Moscow 121170
Tel: (095) 148-1967
(095) 148-9489
Metro: Kutuzovskaya
Open: Saturday - Thursday 10am - 6pm, closed Friday and the last Thursday of the month
Einen Besuch wert ist auch das Panorama der „Schlacht von Borodino“, geschaffen von Franz Robaut (1856–1928), im Borodino-Panorama-Museum, oder eine der zahlreichen Kunstausstellungen.
)
)
The Borodino Panorama Museum was inaugurated in 1962 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the mighty battle fought between the massed French troops of Napoleon and the Russian soldiers under Field Marshal Kutuzov, which took place in August 1812 just 129 kilometers outside Moscow. The museum is built on the historic site of the village of Fili, where legend has it a council of war was held in a small peasant hut to decide the fate of Moscow and indeed the entire country.