Battle of Borodino
| Battle of Borodino | |||||||||
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| Part of the French invasion of Russia | |||||||||
 Battle of Moscow, 7th September 1812, 1822 by Louis-François Lejeune |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Russian Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 130,000–190,000 men 587 guns |
120,000–160,000 men 624 guns |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| c. 30,000–35,000 dead, wounded and captured (inc. 47 generals, 480 officers) | 40,000–45,000 dead, wounded, and captured (inc. 23 generals, 211 officers) | ||||||||
The Battle of Borodino [bərədʲɪˈno] (Russian: Бородинское сражение, Borodinskoe srazhenie; French: Bataille de la Moskova) was a battle fought on 7 September 1812 in the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia.
The fighting involved around 250,000 troops and left at least 70,000 casualties, making Borodino the deadliest day of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon's Grande Armée launched an attack against the Russian army, driving it back from its initial positions but failing to gain a decisive victory. Both armies were exhausted after the battle and the Russians withdrew from the field the following day. Borodino represented the last Russian effort at stopping the French advance on Moscow, which fell a week later. However, the French had no clear way of forcing Czar Alexander to capitulate because the Russian army was not decisively defeated, resulting in the ultimate defeat of the French invasion following the retreat from Moscow in October.
After a series of Russian retreats at the beginning of the campaign, the nobility grew alarmed about the advancing French troops and forced the Czar to dismiss the army's commander, Barclay de Tolly. Mikhail Kutuzov was appointed as his replacement. In a final attempt to save Moscow, the Russians made a stand near the village of Borodino, west of the town of Mozhaysk. They fortified their positions and waited for the French to attack. The Russian right wing occupied ideal defensive terrain, so the French tried to press the Russian left for much of the battle.
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