And the The Welcome to Russian History Retold, episode 136, The Battle of Borodino.

Last week, we covered the Big three generals of the Napoleonic War,

Piotr Baghrachon, Mikhail Andreas Barque du Lacosov. Today I want to review the Battle of Borodino, where all three men led troops

that would eventually bring a halt to Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

As with any Battle of the Magnitude of Borodino, invasion of Russia.

As with any battle of the magnitude of Borodino, it is difficult, to say the least, to get an

unbiased account of what went on.

Not only do the opposing sides disagree on what happened, infighting amongst the generals on both sides lead to confusing accounts.

I, as usual, will try to do my best to try to weed out the bias and provide an objective tale of the

events of that important day.

When Napoleon invaded Russia on June 16, 1812, he had one thing on his mind, engage the Russians in one decisive battle,

crush them and force them to the peace table and make them cease all trade with the British.

With the Russians out of the way, the French could turn westward and finish the peninsular

war in Spain and Portugal and defeat the British.

He knew a two-front war was unwinnable and he needed to knock the Russians out.

At the beginning of the invasion, Tsar Alexander I and German general Carl Ludwig van Foul, who was in the service of the emperor, decided that the Russians must face off against Napoleon in a decisive battle after he invaded on June 16th.

They believed it would be in the area of Vilnius.

Both Baghrachon and Barclay-Dutoli would lead the Russians against the French.

The plan would prove to be an utter folly. lead the Russians against the French.

The plan would prove to be an utter folly as the army they were up against

outnumbered the Russians more than 3 to 1.

And in some estimates it was 5 to 1.

...