Welcome to Russian History Retold.

Episode 308, the Battle of Borodino.

Last time, we discussed life as a surf in Russia, partially based on the memoir of Sava Dimitrievich Perlevsky.

Today we changed topics once again and cover one of the most monumental battles in Russian history, Borodino.

When Napoleon invaded Russia on June 24, 1812, he intended to fight the Russians in a decisive manner, similar to how he had fought against

his enemies in the past. Initially, his tactics proved correct as he achieved a significant victory at the Battle of Smolensk,

overcoming the Russian army led by generals Barclay de Touli and Piotr Baguaracian. Following the disastrous battle, Zor Alexander I replaced the two men with

Mikhail Katusov, who decided on a war of attrition against the invading Grand Armay of France.

This would impede Napoleon's plans and would lead to his eventual defeat. But as you might remember from the series on Katuzov from

2023, there was a great deal of pressure to fight a major battle against the invaders. This was going to be the Battle of Borodino.

Let's first situate ourselves. Napoleon had four hundred sixty thousand troops stationed in Russia, with another two

hundred thousand covering his lines of communications and supplies back all the

way into Poland. As Paul Davis writes in his book about the men in Napoleon's Army, and the book is

a hundred decisive battles from ancient times to the present, quote, however, about half of them were not French and therefore were potentially unreliable.

Napoleon was concerned that Russia was working with England against the French, which was indeed happening.

The trade between Russian England was up and running again as it was a significant part of the Russian economy.

Russia was concerned that Napoleon would recreate

the kingdom of Poland and old arch rival. On top of that, Napoleon had installed French Marshal Bernadou as Crown Prince of Sweden.

The Russians saw this as another indication that an invasion was imminent. The Russians though were on their own turf and while seemingly

alone they had several military advisors from Prussia, Britain and really surprisingly, the Ottoman Empire.

To top it off, Napoleon's closest advisors warned the general not to try to invade Russia, as it was

far too risky.

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