Who actually won the Battle of Borodino. Title page of Times magazine

As you know, August 26 (September 7), 1812 the battle of the village of Borodino took place. In Russia, for many years, the assertion was unshakable that Kutuzov won this one; the genius of Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov as a commander was not in doubt.

But in Paris, on the Arc de Triomphe, you can still see a wreath in honor of Napoleon's victory "in the battle of Moscow."

At the present time and among Russian historianswe have at least two opinions about the outcome of the Patriotic War 1812 d: classical, which is known to every student and the so-called« antikutuzovskaya». Let's try to open the veil of mystery: who won at Borodino?

So, a word to historians:

“There were 154.8 thousand Russians and 640 guns, enemy - 134 thousand and 587 guns. Despite the fact that Napoleon's army was in the minority, the French constantly attacked and by the evening captured many Russian positions.

The field marshal had used up his reserves by the middle of the day, and the enemy had the "Old Guard" - about 20 thousand people. » The losses were as follows: the defending Russians lost 55 thousand people attacking the French - 34 thousand. Our army left the battlefield, which did not prevent Kutuzov from sending a report of victory to St. Petersburg. However, there was no satisfaction in the troops; after Borodin, mass desertion and looting among Russian soldiers began.

What was Kutuzov's plan: to defend Moscow or surrender the city to the enemy, wait for winter and freeze the French to death?

The documents show that 28 August, three days before the Soviet in Fili and the surrender of Moscow, Kutuzov did not make a final decision: he ordered the Kaluga governor to bring food supplies to the city, as if believing that Moscow was a safer place than Kaluga.

As the military action approached Moscow, the Moscow Governor-General Fyodor Rostopchin (in our time this position can be attributed to Mayor Luzhkov) asked what would happen to Moscow. After all, he, as the mayor, should have known what to prepare for. 200- thousandth city: for defense or evacuation. But Rostopchin did not receive a clear answer from Kutuzov and, at his own peril and risk, began the evacuation of state institutions: the Senate, the sacristy, the Armory, archives. In fear, the people ran, they did not have time to leave the city about 10 thousand Muscovites. Worst of all, that during the retreat they abandoned 22.5 thousand wounded.

Rostopchin was not allowed to the council in Fili, because, probably, by this moment Kutuzov had firmly decided to leave Moscow and did not want the speech of an influential and eloquent opponent. Kutuzov did not consider it necessary to inform even the emperor about the decision to leave Moscow. Rostopchin reported this to St. Petersburg. 1 September in St. Petersburg continued celebrations on the occasion of the Borodino victory. Therefore, the news of the surrender of Moscow to the French plunged the capital into shock.

But why today only one Kutuzov personifies the victory of Russian weapons in Patriotic war?

First, after the war 1812 years, the Russian people felt their strength and they needed their hero. These are the main points of the field marshal's theory of censure.

Still, the situation needs to be looked at.« without anger and passion».

In fact, Kutuzov unsuccessfully deployed forces on the Borodino field, which led to greater losses than the enemy. But Napoleon, who had lost a smaller number of soldiers, was left practically without cavalry after Borodin.

So the answer to the question« Who won the Battle of Borodino?» - secret of Her Majesty History.

The point of view of French historians is as follows. Napoleon in the war 1812 year has not suffered a single defeat. Even on the Berezina, he withdrew part of his combat-ready troops. But the paradox of history is that, without losing a single battle, he lost the campaign. And Kutuzov, who did not win a single battle, won the war.

We have to decide what is more important to us?

Literature:

http://humanities.edu.ru/db/msg

On September 7, 1812, one of the most brutal one-day battles took place. The French called it "Bataille de la Moskova", the Russians - the Battle of Borodino. Different names, unclear results - an ambiguous victory. 7 assessments of the "Russian victory" at Borodino.

Napoleon Bonaparte

“Of all my battles, the most terrible is the one I fought near Moscow. The French in it showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible. Of the fifty battles I have given, in the battle near Moscow the French showed the most valor and won the least success.

J. Rapp (Adjutant General of the Emperor)

“The battle was won, but the fierce fire still continued. I was bandaged by Napoleon's surgeon. The emperor himself visited me. "Again, so it's your turn? How are you?” - "Your Majesty, I think you will have to put the guards into action." - “I won't do it; I don't want to risk it. I'm sure I'll win the battle without her." And indeed, the guards did not participate in the battle, with the exception of thirty guns, which made direct miracles.

A. de Caulaincourt (chief master of the emperor)

“At night it was clearly noticeable that the enemy began to retreat: the army was ordered to follow him. The next day, only Cossacks could be found, and, moreover, only two leagues from the battlefield. The enemy carried away the vast majority of his wounded, and we got only those prisoners that I have already mentioned, 12 guns of the redoubt taken by my unfortunate brother, and three or four others taken during the first attacks.

L. de Bosse (palace prefect)

“Whatever it was, but the victory was complete, so complete that the Russian army could not believe for a single minute that it was possible to defend its capital. But this did not prevent them from serving prayers there.”

M.I. Kutuzov (Field Marshal General)

“This day will remain an eternal monument to the courage and excellent courage of the Russian soldiers, where all the infantry, cavalry and artillery fought desperately. Everyone's desire was to die on the spot and not yield to the enemy. The French army, under the leadership of Napoleon himself, being in excellent strength, did not overcome the firmness of spirit Russian soldier who sacrificed his life for his Fatherland.

D. N. Bolgovsky (duty staff officer)

“... We retreated the next day after the battle, not defeated, but due to a lack of capable of fighting, while the enemy still had fresh troops at his disposal. But where is the reason for this apparent and inexplicable inaction of Napoleon? How to understand that at the beginning of the battle he acted offensively and brought the matter to the end, and at three o'clock, at the moment when he managed to seize all the points that provided our front from the swiftness of his attacks, and, therefore, at the moment of achieving complete success he was more defensive than active."

A. B. Golitsyn (adjutant M. I. Kutuzova)

“Kutuzov never thought to give battle the next day, but he said this from one policy. At night, with Tol, I traveled around the position where our tired warriors slept dead sleep, and he reported that it was impossible to think of going forward, and even less to defend with 45 thousand those places that were occupied by 96 thousand, especially when Napoleon had a whole guard corps not participating in the battle. Kutuzov knew all this, but he was waiting for this report and, having listened to him, ordered that he retreat without delay, entrusting the rearguard to Platov. He retreated so quickly that at 2 o’clock he brought almost the entire French army to the position of Mozhaisk, where it was supposed to defend itself and not concede it to the French until the next day, but it didn’t happen.

Each of the great commanders - both Kutuzov and Napoleon - believed that the victory was his

205 years ago, on September 7 (August 26 according to the old style), 1812, a battle took place, which everyone remembers, including thanks to Lermontov's famous work about the “Borodin Day”. Main characters this battle - the commander-in-chief of the Russian army Kutuzov and the French emperor, he is also a commander, Napoleon– recorded themselves as a result of victory. Moreover, Napoleon objectively noted: “The French in it (battle - ed.) showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible. However, for two centuries there have been disputes about who won the victory after all.

How it all started

On June 24 (12th according to the old style), 1812, Napoleon attacked Russia with 450,000 soldiers at his disposal. Three hundred thousand people, who at that time were part of the active armed forces of Russia, were dispersed over three armies. The first (largest) commanded Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly(he was also the Minister of War), at the head of the second was Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, 3rd managed Alexander Petrovich Tormasov. The first two covered St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the third - the direction to Kyiv.

Napoleon knew the situation perfectly and decided to quickly defeat the main Russian forces one by one and achieve an early victory.

In order not to be in the position of mice, which will be caught in turn by an experienced predator, the Russian military leaders decided to immediately go to the connection. Barclay de Tolly and Bagration did the almost impossible: having passed 600 kilometers with rearguard battles, they managed to dodge the enemy and united near Smolensk.

Smolensk: a test of strength

The main thing that made up the military art of Napoleon was his ability to detect the enemy army and utterly defeat it. Without an army, any state is ready to capitulate. Therefore, for Bonaparte in the war itself, the key moment was the general battle. He moved his main forces not to the capital St. Petersburg, which the Russian imperial court was madly afraid of, but following the Russian armies - to Smolensk.

However, his original "lightning march" plan did not work. French troops bogged down in the vast expanse, losing people and equipment in endless skirmishes with the retreating Russians.

Only 180,000 reached Smolensk. This is where the battle took place. It went on for more than two days - August 16-18, and claimed 20 thousand French and 10 thousand Russian lives, but this was not the general battle that Napoleon dreamed of.

Ancient Smolensk burned like a torch, the surviving residents left the city, and the main forces of the Russian army again eluded Napoleon. Influenced by some of his marshals, Napoleon proposed AlexanderI make peace: he needed capitulation. But he did not receive an answer to the letter and decided to pursue the Russian troops and defeat them on the outskirts of Moscow.

Shevardinsky redoubt

Almost immediately after the battle in Smolensk, significant event: on August 20, instead of a native of an old Scottish family, cautious and prudent Barclay de Tolly, who used the tactics of retreat, was appointed commander-in-chief Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. The people demanded a "Russian commander", and the tsar, as he himself put it, yielded to "a unanimous desire."

The cunning Kutuzov hoped to reliably cover the road to Moscow and therefore carefully chose a position for a general battle. In its center was the village of Borodino, located 124 kilometers from Moscow.

Along the front, the Borodino position occupied 8 kilometers. Shevardinsky redoubt was built in front of her, the purpose of which was to delay the enemy in order to gain time for a better deployment of troops.

On September 5, French columns approached Borodino. Only a third of the force that crossed into Russia just two months ago remained - 135,000 soldiers and 587 guns. The Russians had 120 thousand soldiers and 649 guns. Napoleon ordered on the same day to eliminate the barrier in front of the main position - the Shevardino Redoubt. 35 thousand French attacked the twelve thousandth detachment of the lieutenant general A. I. Gorchakova. The redoubt changed hands several times. Our troops, having completed their task of delaying the enemy, withdrew at night to the main forces.

Borodin Day and its results

September 7th arrived. At 6 o'clock in the morning, French artillery hit the Russian army. The main events flared up at the Semenov flushes, which were defended by the troops of Bagration, and the batteries on Kurgan Mountain, where General Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky. Corps of marshals were thrown against the Bagration flushes Davout, Not me, Junot and Murat. A participant in the battle, a French officer, noted that the combatants "walked on the blood that the saturated earth refused to absorb." A fragment of a grenade seriously wounded General Bagration. This led to confusion and allowed the French to occupy the fleches. The new commander of the left flank, General Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn withdrew his troops behind the Semenovsky stream and built them for defense. Kutuzov sent his cavalry to help him.

And Napoleon threw the main forces at the main stronghold of the entire Borodino position - the Raevsky battery. Losses on both sides were terrible: the ditches were filled with the bodies of the dead, blocking the road going to the assault. General killed A. I. Kutaisov, the general was wounded A. P. Ermolov. The French also missed many generals. By evening, by the time the fifteen-hour battle was over, Napoleon had not been able to achieve decisive success in any of the directions, having lost more than 50 thousand killed, he withdrew his troops to their original positions.

Kutuzov's losses were also huge - 44 thousand people, but still there were much more forces left.

Officer, poet and future Decembrist Fedor Glinka then noted that the question of victory remained unanswered. But for Kutuzov, the main thing was to keep the main forces. At the Military Council in Fili, he decides to leave Moscow, for which he was mercilessly criticized. But, as history has shown, Kutuzov was right.

At 2 pm, September 13, 1812, a jubilant Napoleon rode with his retinue to Poklonnaya Gora. . Bonaparte believed that he had won the very victory that would be followed by the capitulation of Russia. But this did not happen. In the burnt-out Moscow there was neither food nor fodder, but the main thing is that no one asked him for peace. And to sit in Moscow when the Russian winter approached, when thousands of urgent matters demanded his presence in Paris, it was pointless. And then Napoleon himself persistently and energetically began to ask for "peace at any cost." However, the Russian Tsar did not give an answer to his requests.

At the end of November, Napoleon had to ingloriously leave Russia. In total, he lost 570 thousand soldiers here, all the cavalry and all the artillery.

Battle and war

Two centuries have passed, and so far the question of who won the Battle of Borodino has not found a definite answer. It is clear that Alexander I, in order to give additional fighting spirit to the troops, not only declared the battle victorious for the Russians, but also generously rewarded everyone - from Kutuzov to the rank and file. Subsequently, the opinion of the emperor was unanimously supported by Soviet historians, some even assured that the Russian army then "won a complete strategic and tactical victory." Foreign scientists have constantly argued and continue to argue with this point of view. And if many Soviet schoolchildren had no doubt that the Russian army won the battle of Borodino, then French students, for example, know from their textbooks that Napoleon won the battle.

Perhaps the most fair conclusion should be recognized Carla von Clausewitz, a participant in the fighting on the side of the Russian army, that battle of Borodino refers to those that have not received "full development".

But this point of view is valid only for the battle itself, and not for the outcome of the war. The strategic victory remained with Kutuzov. It was near Borodino that the Russian troops inflicted a crushing blow on the enemy, from which he recovered - neither in moral terms, nor in terms of replenishment of forces.

"RUSSIAN GOT THE GLORY TO BE UNDEFEATED"

After the battle near Smolensk, the retreat of the Russian army continued. This caused open discontent in the country. Under pressure public opinion, Alexander I appointed commander in chief of the Russian army. Kutuzov's task was not only to stop Napoleon's further advance, but also to expel him from Russian borders. He also adhered to the tactics of retreat, but the army and the whole country expected a decisive battle from him. Therefore, he gave the order to look for a position for a general battle, which was found near the village. Borodino, 124 kilometers from Moscow.

The Russian army approached the village of Borodino on August 22, where, at the suggestion of Colonel K.F. Tolya, a flat position up to 8 km long was chosen. From the left flank, the Borodino field was covered by the impenetrable Utitsky forest, and on the right, passing along the bank of the river. Kolochi, Maslovsky flashes were erected - earthen arrow-shaped fortifications. Fortifications were also built in the center of the position, which received different names: Central, Kurgan height, or Raevsky battery. On the left flank, the Semyonov (Bagrationov) flushes were erected. Ahead of the entire position, from the left flank, near the village of Shevardino, a redoubt was also begun to be built, which was supposed to play the role of an advanced fortification. However, the approaching army of Napoleon, after a fierce battle on August 24, managed to capture it.

Location of Russian troops. The right flank was occupied battle formations 1st Western Army General M.B. Barclay de Tolly, on the left flank were units of the 2nd Western Army under the command of P.I. Bagration, and the Old Smolensk Road near the village of Utitsa was covered by the 3rd Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General N.A. Tuchkov. Russian troops occupied a defensive position and were deployed in the shape of the letter "G". This situation was explained by the fact that the Russian command sought to control the Old and New Smolensk roads leading to Moscow, especially since there was a serious fear of the enemy's bypass movement on the right. That is why a significant part of the corps of the 1st Army turned out to be in this direction. Napoleon, on the other hand, decided to deliver his main blow to the left flank of the Russian army, for which on the night of August 26 (September 7), 1812, he transferred the main forces across the river. Kolochu, leaving only a few cavalry and infantry units to cover their own left flank.

The beginning of the battle. The battle began at five o'clock in the morning with an attack by parts of the corps of the Viceroy of Italy E. Beauharnais on the position of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment near the village. Borodin. The French took possession of this point, but it was their red herring. Napoleon brought down his main blow against Bagration's army. Corps of Marshals L.N. Davout, M. Ney, I. Murat and General A. Junot attacked the Semenov flushes several times. Parts of the 2nd Army fought heroically against the enemy outnumbered. The French repeatedly broke into the flushes, but each time they left them after a counterattack. Only by nine o'clock did the Napoleonic armies finally capture the fortifications of the Russian left flank, and Bagration, who tried to organize another counterattack at that time, was mortally wounded. “The soul seemed to fly off from the entire left flank after the death of this man,” witnesses tell us. Furious fury, a thirst for revenge took possession of those soldiers who were directly in his entourage. When the general was already being carried away, the cuirassier Adrianov, who served him during the battle (handing out a telescope, etc.), ran up to the stretcher and said: “Your Excellency, you are being taken to be treated, you no longer need me!” Then, eyewitnesses report, “Adrianov, in the sight of thousands, launched like an arrow, instantly crashed into the ranks of the enemy and, having hit many, fell dead.”

The struggle for the Rayevsky battery. After the capture of the flashes, the main struggle unfolded for the center of the Russian position - the Raevsky battery, which at 9 and 11 o'clock in the morning was subjected to two strong enemy attacks. During the second attack, the troops of E. Beauharnais managed to capture the height, but soon the French were driven out of there as a result of a successful counterattack by several Russian battalions led by Major General A.P. Yermolov.

At noon, Kutuzov sent the Cossacks to the cavalry general M.I. Platov and the cavalry corps of Adjutant General F.P. Uvarov to the rear of Napoleon's left flank. The raid of the Russian cavalry made it possible to divert Napoleon's attention and delayed a new French assault on the weakened Russian center for several hours. Taking advantage of the respite, Barclay de Tolly regrouped his forces and put fresh troops on the front line. Only at two o'clock in the afternoon did the Napoleonic units make a third attempt to capture Raevsky's battery. The actions of the Napoleonic infantry and cavalry were successful, and soon the French finally captured this fortification. The wounded Major General P.G., who led the defense, was captured by them. Likhachev. The Russian troops withdrew, but the enemy could not break through the new front of their defense, despite the best efforts of two cavalry corps.

Results of the battle. The French were able to achieve tactical success in all major areas - the Russian armies were forced to leave their original positions and retreat about 1 km. But the Napoleonic units failed to break through the defense of the Russian troops. The thinned Russian regiments stood to the death, ready to repel new attacks. Napoleon, despite the insistent requests of his marshals, did not dare to throw his last reserve - the twenty thousandth Old Guard - for the final blow. Intense artillery fire continued until the evening, and then the French units were withdrawn to their original lines. It was not possible to defeat the Russian army. Here is what the Russian historian E.V. Tarle: “The feeling of victory was definitely not felt by anyone. The marshals talked among themselves and were dissatisfied. Murat said that he did not recognize the emperor all day, Ney said that the emperor forgot his craft. Artillery thundered from both sides until evening and bloodshed continued, but the Russians did not think not only to flee, but also to retreat. It was already very dark. There was a light rain. "What are the Russians?" asked Napoleon. "Stand still, Your Majesty." - “Intensify the fire, it means they still want it,” the emperor ordered. “Give them more!”

Gloomy, not talking to anyone, accompanied by his retinue and generals who did not dare to interrupt his silence, Napoleon drove around the battlefield in the evening, looking with inflamed eyes at the endless piles of corpses. The emperor did not yet know in the evening that the Russians had lost not 30 thousand, but about 58 thousand people out of their 112 thousand; he also did not know that he himself had lost more than 50,000 of the 130,000 that he had brought to the Borodino field. But that 47 (not 43, as they sometimes say, but 47) of his best generals were killed and seriously wounded, he learned this in the evening. The French and Russian corpses covered the ground so thickly that the imperial horse had to look for places where to lower its hoof between the mountains of the bodies of people and horses. The groans and cries of the wounded came from all over the field. The Russian wounded struck the retinue: “They did not emit a single groan,” writes one of the retinue, Count Segur, “perhaps, far from their own, they counted less on mercy. But it is true that they seemed more firm in bearing pain than the French."

In the literature there are the most contradictory facts about the losses of the parties, the question of the winner is still controversial. In this regard, it should be noted that none of the opponents solved the tasks assigned to them: Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army, Kutuzov - to defend Moscow. However, the enormous efforts made by the French army were, in the end, fruitless. Borodino brought Napoleon bitter disappointment - the outcome of this battle did not at all resemble either Austerlitz, or Jena, or Friedland. The bloodless French army was unable to pursue the enemy. The Russian army, fighting on its territory, for short term was able to restore the number of its ranks. Therefore, in assessing this battle, Napoleon himself was most accurate, saying: “Of all my battles, the most terrible is the one I fought near Moscow. The French in it showed themselves worthy of victory. And the Russians have gained the glory of being undefeated.”

RESCRIPT OF ALEXANDER I

“Mikhail Illarionovich! The current state of the military circumstances of our active armies, although preceded by initial successes, but the consequences of these do not reveal to me that rapid activity with which it would be necessary to act to defeat the enemy.

Considering these consequences and extracting the true reasons for this, I find it necessary to appoint over all active armies one general commander-in-chief, whose election, in addition to military talents, would be based on seniority itself.

Your well-known virtues, love for the fatherland and repeated experiences of excellent deeds acquire for you the true right to this power of attorney of mine.

In choosing you for this important work, I ask the almighty God to bless your deeds to glory Russian weapons and let them be justified happy hopes which the fatherland imposes on you.

REPORT OF KUTUZOV

“The battle of the 26th, the former, was the most bloody of all those that modern times known. The place of the battle was completely won by us, and the enemy then retreated to the position in which he came to attack us; but the extraordinary loss, and done on our part, especially by wounding the most necessary generals, forced me to retreat along the Moscow road. Today I am in the village of Nara and must retreat to meet the troops coming towards me from Moscow for reinforcements. The prisoners say that the enemy's loss is very great, and that the general opinion in the French army is that they lost 40,000 men killed and wounded. In addition to Divisional General Bonami, who was taken prisoner, there are others killed. By the way, Davoust is wounded. Rearguard action happens daily. Now, I learned that the corps of the Viceroy of Italy is located near Ruza, and for this, a detachment of Adjutanate General Vintsengerode went to Zvenigorod in order to close Moscow along that road.

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF CALENCOUR

“We have never lost so many generals and officers in one battle ... There were few prisoners. The Russians showed great courage; the fortifications and territory which they were forced to cede to us were evacuated in order. Their ranks did not fall into disorder ... they bravely met death and only slowly yielded to our valiant attacks. Never before has an enemy position been attacked so fiercely and so systematically, and defended with such stubbornness. The emperor repeated many times that he could not understand how the redoubts and positions, which were captured with such courage and which we so stubbornly defended, gave us only a small number of prisoners ... These successes without prisoners, without trophies did not satisfy him ... »

FROM THE REPORT OF GENERAL RAEVSKY

“The enemy, having arranged his entire army in our eyes, so to speak, in one column, went straight to our front; approaching it, strong columns separated from its left flank, went straight to the redoubt and, despite the strong grapeshot fire of my guns, without a shot, their heads climbed over the parapet. At the same time, from my right flank, Major General Paskevich with regiments attacked with bayonets on the left flank of the enemy, located behind the redoubt. Major General Vasilchikov did the same on their right flank, and Major General Yermolov, taking a battalion of rangers of regiments led by Colonel Vuich, hit with bayonets right on the redoubt, where, having exterminated everyone in it, he took the general leading the columns prisoner . Major Generals Vasilchikov and Paskevich overturned the enemy columns in the blink of an eye and drove them to the bushes so hard that hardly any of them escaped. More than the action of my corps, it remains for me to describe in a nutshell that after the extermination of the enemy, returning again to his places, he stayed in them until repeated attacks of the enemy, until he was reduced to complete insignificance by the dead and wounded and my redoubt was already occupied by Mr. General Major Likhachev. Your Excellency himself knows that Major General Vasilchikov gathered the scattered remnants of the 12th and 27th divisions and with the Lithuanian Guards Regiment held an important height until the evening, located on the left limb of our entire line ... "

GOVERNMENT MESSAGE ON LEAVING MOSCOW

“With the extreme and contrite heart of every son of the Fatherland, this sadness is proclaimed that the enemy of September 3rd entered Moscow. But let the Russian people not lose heart. On the contrary, let each and every one swear to boil with a new spirit of courage, firmness and undoubted hope that any evil and harm inflicted on us by enemies will finally turn on their head. The enemy occupied Moscow not because he overcame our forces or weakened them. The Commander-in-Chief, on the advice of the leading generals, found it useful and necessary to yield to necessity for a time, so that with the most reliable and best methods later, turn the short-term triumph of the enemy into inevitable death for him. No matter how painful it is for every Russian to hear that the capital city of Moscow contains the enemies of his fatherland; but she contains them in herself empty, naked from all treasures and inhabitants. The proud conqueror hoped, having entered it, to become the ruler of the entire Russian kingdom and prescribe for him such a world as he pleases; but he will be deceived in his hope and will not find in this capital not only ways to dominate, lower than ways to exist. Our collected and sometimes more accumulating forces around Moscow will not cease to block all his paths, and the detachments sent from him for food were exterminated daily, until he sees that his hope of defeating the minds of the capture of Moscow was futile and that involuntarily he will have to open a way for himself from by force of arms…”

Today we celebrate the 200th anniversary great battle. And, as always, the question arises: what was it? Victory or defeat? Should we celebrate success or mourn failure?

Among those who claim that Russia lost the Battle of Borodino, for some reason, people who do not like Russia predominate - strange, isn't it? :-) It seems to be a completely academic question.

Their main (and actually only) argument - the battlefield was left to Napoleon, the Russian troops retreated the next day. And whoever has the field - he won. Well, of course, if the goal of Napoleon’s campaign at the head of the greatest European army of all time in Russia was to capture the Borodino field, then, of course, he achieved his task :-) But there are some doubts that this was precisely the goal of the Emperor of France.

And what was Napoleon's real goal - the real goal, which he did not achieve, largely as a result of his failure (and our success) in the battle of Borodino?

Napoleon's goal was not to capture the Borodino field. And do not even take Moscow. Napoleon's goal was... to destroy Russia. What did you think?

200 years ago, Napoleon set out to accomplish what Charles XII had failed 100 years before, and Adolf Hitler 100 years later. And only Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev ... However, let's not talk about sad things.

Napoleon's plan was to "restore Poland". If, with these words, you thought of the Poland that you see on modern map world, then you are somewhat underestimating Napoleonic plans. That "Poland", which he decided to restore on the ruins Russian Empire, - this is the medieval Commonwealth, at least to the Dnieper, and most likely further.

If Napoleon succeeded in forcing Alexander I to sign a peace treaty, then this treaty would be very reminiscent of the 1991 Belovezhskaya Accords. Russia would lose Ukraine and Belarus - Poland would be “restored” there. Sweden would go to Finland and the Baltics. Turkey - Georgia, Moldova and Crimea.

But that wouldn't be the end of the matter. The restored Commonwealth, at the first opportunity, would attack the defeated, left without an army, Russia, and the empire of Napoleon, Sweden, Turkey, and even the enemies of Napoleon, the British, would certainly provide all possible assistance in this holy cause of liberating Europe from Russian barbarians. And everything...

This is what was decided on September 7, 1812 at the Borodino field. And not at all who will get the field.

But in order to force Alexander I to sign the death warrant for his country, it was necessary to destroy the Russian army. And then Napoleon's troops could calmly occupy any city, capture any booty, supply themselves with everything necessary. And Russian state would simply cease to function - with or without a contract.

And how to destroy the Russian army? For this you need:
1) Create more a strong army- such that it is guaranteed to defeat the Russians.
2) Get a fight.
3) Destroy the Russian army.

Napoleon approached the solution of this problem extremely responsibly. It is enough to compare his campaign with the frivolous adventure of Charles XII - just heaven and earth. Of course, Bonaparte knew history. He was sure that he would defeat the Russians, but he wanted to act with 200 percent reliability so as not to leave us the slightest chance.

To begin with, he created Grand Army. It was not the army of France (there were hardly half of the French there) - it was the army of Europe, NATO of that time: Germans, Austrians, Dutch, Italians, Poles ... It was much stronger than all Russian troops combined.

But that's not all. Napoleon was not at all going to fight with the entire Russian army at once. He wanted to break our forces into parts, not allowing them to connect. In addition, the emperor of France, of course, took into account that Russia was at war with Turkey, and expected that the Russian army, occupied in the south, would not be able to help the rest of the forces. The Russo-Turkish war ended shortly before Napoleon's invasion, but after all, he had been gathering his armada for more than one day, and he began to prepare a plan even earlier, so such a quick and untimely (for Bonaparte) triumph of Kutuzov in the south was an unpleasant surprise. But not to cancel the invasion because of this, when everything is ready?

Napoleon failed to defeat our armies separately - the Russian generals surpassed the Corsican genius and united. But still, even after that, the army of Europe was larger than the Russian one, better trained (we had many recruits right from the plow) and controlled the greatest commander of his time. It was impossible to defeat her in battle. Be you at least three times Kutuzov.

This means that it was necessary to avoid a general battle by all means, which Mikhail Illarionovich did, continuing to retreat. From a military point of view, Moscow also had to be surrendered without a fight, in which we risked losing the country. The problem was that the matter was not limited to the military point of view.

History knows many examples when huge armies retreated without a fight, retreated until they scattered. After all, it is not Napoleon and Kutuzov who are fighting - hundreds of thousands of people are fighting, who must understand what they are doing, for which they suffer hardships and go to their death. If the Russian army had surrendered Moscow without a fight, the soldiers would simply have gone home. It was necessary to win the moral right to surrender the capital. Kutuzov understood this. And Napoleon understood this, so he went to where the Russian army would be obliged to meet him.

When at Borodino Bonaparte realized that the main Russian army was taking the fight, he certainly breathed a sigh of relief. He practically achieved his goal: he managed to create an invincible army, saved it until the decisive battle and forced the enemy to accept the battle, the outcome of which was a foregone conclusion: the French were stronger in every respect. Tomorrow the Russians will be defeated: Napoleon knew how to do this and won in much more difficult situations. And then everything will be as always: the enemy fleeing in panic, corps surrendering, captured guns and banners, cities opening the gates to the winners, rich booty, treaties of surrender - and he, the ruler of everything, creating states and destroying them. And Russia - well, once all empires die ...

And the next day there was none of that. There were no captured corps. There were no surrender treaties and no cities opening gates. There was no defeated Russian army. All day long, the best French forces crashed against Russian batteries in order to conquer the cratered field and empty Moscow at the cost of huge sacrifices, where it was possible to loot a lot (after which Napoleon’s army finally turned into a gang of marauders, almost uncontrollable), but it was impossible to spend the winter ... And the Russian army, having withstood the battle with honor, retreated in an organized manner, still blocking the French access to the rich areas of the state to the food, fodder, and warm houses so necessary for this huge horde of conquerors. It was a disaster.

And every day of the next month, walking around the empty Kremlin and unsuccessfully waiting for at least some answer from Alexander I to more and more ingratiating letters, Bonaparte understood more and more in what hopeless position he found himself. All attempts to move on were thwarted by Russian troops, which were getting stronger every day. There was nowhere to take food and fodder. Own soldiers smashed warehouses and convoys. And I had to flee to my lair along the Old Smolensk road devastated by my own troops. And behind, finishing off the remnants of the European conquerors, was the Russian army, which Napoleon did not manage to destroy in the battle of Borodino. So who won then?