Battle of Borodino: The Defeat That Buried Napoleon’s Dream of Dominance

On June 24, 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte launched the most violent campaign of his career with the Battle of Borodino. With the largest army ever assembled in Europe, he made the fateful decision to invade Russia. With over 600,000 soldiers, defeat seemed almost unimaginable for the French emperor.

The French army was highly spirited, but as weeks passed, the Russians refused to engage directly. Retreating deeper inland, the Russians avoided major battles, instead focusing on weakening the enemy by any means possible.

However, combat couldn’t be evaded forever, and at Borodino, the Russians confronted the French as hoped. The result was an unparalleled battle.

The Invasion of Russia

The Russian campaign was an extraordinarily risky venture at the time. Napoleon’s Grande Armée was the largest Europe had ever seen, and it seemed reasonable to assume such a mighty force would face little difficulty forcing the Russian Empire to surrender.

Hoping to outmaneuver the Russians, the Grande Armée struggled to force a decisive engagement. The Russians, aware of their disadvantage, steadily withdrew deeper into their territory, employing a “scorched earth” tactic as they retreated. This forced Napoleon to pursue the Russians far into hostile land as supply lines grew increasingly strained. The Grande Armée began feeling the effects of food shortages and desperately sought a victory to avert disaster.

Yet, the Russians couldn’t retreat indefinitely. Public opinion and military morale played a crucial role. The army had to prove its willingness to fight decisively. The forces of Mikhail Barclay de Tolly and Prince Pyotr Bagration united at Smolensk.

From August 16 to 18, the Russians fought at Smolensk. The French won, but the losses were immense, and the outcome wasn’t decisive enough to secure strategic control. For the Russians, continued retreats and lack of victories severely dented morale, especially as the French burned Smolensk, leaving only ashes behind.

The Russians’ retreat was well-strategized, and Napoleon maneuvered to encircle them, but it was a daunting task. After Smolensk, Barclay de Tolly deployed a rearguard at Valutino to slow the French advance. The French prevailed, but this action allowed the main Russian army to escape encirclement, while the French suffered heavy, unsustainable casualties. Napoleon was furious.

Tsar Alexander I recognized that the “scorched earth” tactic had effectively weakened the French, but a victory was still needed to rally the Russian people.

Though Barclay de Tolly’s efforts in laying the groundwork for the campaign and inflicting significant losses on the French were vital, his “scorched earth” policy made him unpopular with the Russian public. He was relieved of command and replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov, who resolved to wage a major battle.

Preparations

Kutuzov chose a defensive position near the village of Borodino, 75 miles west of Moscow. Realizing his left flank was exposed, he adjusted his defensive line but left a forward contingent at the village of Shevardino, where a redoubt had been built.

From this position, the Shevardino troops could delay the French advance and relay information about French movements back to Kutuzov’s rear lines, allowing him to adjust his forces accordingly. Despite preparations, the Russian left flank remained vulnerable.

The French launched a major assault on September 5, sparking a bloody battle. Two Russian divisions struggled to hold their redoubt against 36,000 French troops, who exploited the weak Russian left flank.

After fierce fighting, Shevardino fell. The French suffered 4,000 casualties, while the Russians lost 6,000.

Day of Slaughter: Morning of September 7, 1812

With the Russian left flank exposed, the French seized their chance and attacked. Though the Russians held high ground, Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz argued this terrain offered no advantage and hindered the Russian positions.

Under Napoleon’s command, 130,000 French troops assaulted the defending Russians, who numbered around 120,000.

The Battle of Borodino began at dawn on September 7, 1812. A barrage from 102 French cannons signaled the start, followed by an assault on Borodino village led by Prince Eugène de Beauharnais. The Russians retreated with heavy losses.

De Beauharnais pressed through the village toward the Great Redoubt on the ridges near Gorki but was repelled by fierce Russian resistance.

Meanwhile, the Russian center-left faced pressure from 22,000 French troops under Marshal Davout. Brutal hand-to-hand combat erupted as both sides clashed. Both suffered severe losses, and the Russians retreated, only to reclaim their positions after a successful counterattack. Fortifications here proved crucial to the Russian stand.

The battlefield shifted constantly, with ferocious fighting. The carnage here was among the bloodiest moments of Napoleon’s wars.

Holding the line was a monumental effort. Bagration, commanding the center, rallied reserves from both flanks. This exposed the left wing, which the French sought to exploit. The village of Utitsa became a focal point, where 10,000 Polish troops under Prince Józef Poniatowski advanced against Russians led by General Nikolai Tuchkov. Tuchkov led a successful counterattack but fell in the process. The fight for Utitsa raged all day.

Meanwhile, the center fighting persisted, and around 10 a.m., Bagration was gravely wounded. With their commander out of action, the Russians retreated eastward to Semenovskaya, and the French seized the Russian defensive positions in the center

In the center, a Russian cavalry charge met French cavalry under Joachim Murat and Michel Ney. In the north, De Beauharnais attacked the Great Redoubt, briefly capturing it before a Russian counterattack drove him back. Russian artillery commander Kutaisov was killed, and without leadership, Russian artillery weakened for the rest of the battle.

Meanwhile, the center fighting persisted, and around 10 a.m., Bagration was gravely wounded. With their commander out of action, the Russians retreated eastward to Semenovskaya, and the French seized the Russian defensive positions in the center. The Russian right flank remained quiet, sending forces south to reinforce the center, where new defensive lines formed at Semenovskaya. The French advanced and attacked, but the Russians held firm.

Afternoon

On the Russian right, 8,000 Cossacks under Generals Platov and Uvarov swung around to strike the French left at Borodino. France’s 3rd Cavalry Corps, led by Emmanuel de Grouchy, withdrew from the center to repel them. Though successful, this delayed the French center’s next assault by two hours.

Around 3 p.m., the French assault on the Great Redoubt finally began. They captured it, but a desperate Russian cavalry charge halted their advance.

The French still had 20,000 Imperial Guard and 10,000 fresh troops in reserve, but Napoleon hesitated to deploy them, preserving them for a potential next battle. His caution sent more artillery forward to break the Russian center.

By afternoon, French artillery ravaged Russian defenses, yet repeated assaults failed to dislodge the Russians. They held steady. Russian artillery also fought fiercely, wreaking havoc on French lines, bolstered by cavalry due to infantry shortages. These cavalry units became prime targets.

The battle dragged on for hours, exhausting both sides. Seeing the French unable to break the Russian line and the mounting losses, Kutuzov informed the Tsar of a Russian victory. But after reports of heavy casualties, he ordered a retreat, realizing continued fighting could destroy his army and lose Moscow.

In a discussion among Napoleon’s generals, Marshal Ney and Murat, Ney was stunned to learn of the Russian withdrawal. “Good heavens!” he exclaimed. “How is that possible after such an assault?”

Napoleon’s direct assault, rather than tactical flanking, allowed the Russians to retreat in order. A narrow French victory thus became a draw—or even a Russian win—supported by the broader strategic context.

Losses

Napoleon prevailed, but the slaughter was horrific. Reports estimate French losses at 28,000 to 35,000 dead or wounded, and Russian losses at 40,000 to 53,000.

The Battle of Borodino on September 7, 1812, was the bloodiest day of Napoleon’s wars and held the record as Europe’s deadliest single day until the First Battle of the Marne in 1914.

Outcome of Borodino

Borodino was undeniably a climactic clash. With about 260,000 troops engaged, at least 68,000 were killed or wounded. The toll was staggering for both sides. While the Russians suffered more in the battle, the strategic disaster fell on the French.

Russia could replenish its losses. But the French, far from home and struggling to survive even without fighting, couldn’t sustain further casualties. Moscow’s capture offered a fleeting morale boost to the Grande Armée. Napoleon and his troops fully expected Tsar Alexander I to surrender once Moscow fell. Yet, this assumption proved fatally wrong.

Moscow was abandoned and ablaze. The Russians deserted their great city, torching it rather than letting Napoleon claim a meaningful victory. The Grande Armée occupied the city while Napoleon awaited the Tsar’s surrender offer.

But Napoleon received only silence. For a month, he waited, but no word came from the Tsar. Meanwhile, Russia’s harsh winter set in.

Left with no choice but retreat, the Grande Armée’s remnants began a disastrous withdrawal. Facing freezing cold, food shortages, and relentless attacks from Cossacks and partisans, the French endured catastrophic losses. Ahead, few soldiers remained fit to fight; behind, stragglers struggled to survive.

In mere months, Europe’s mightiest army was reduced to a broken flood. Fewer than one-sixth of Napoleon’s invasion force returned from Russia, most as ragged beggars fighting for scraps.

Napoleon was utterly defeated. His grandest campaign was a complete catastrophe. Borodino was a critical step, sealing his fate in a chain of failures, as Europe’s great powers united to dismantle French dominance, hastening the end of Napoleon’s empire.

Later, in exile, Napoleon wrote of Borodino: “The French proved worthy of victory, and the Russians worthy of being invincible.”

Napoleon spent his career fighting battles where enemies often made predictable choices based on contemporary war conventions. But Russia was a wholly different foe from what he knew. The result was a strategic blow to the French Empire and a fatal wound to Napoleon’s imperial plans.

Though Borodino was nearly a stalemate on the field, its strategy made it a major Russian victory. They continued weakening the French, ending Napoleon’s imperial ambitions.

Conclusion

Through this article, it’s not just a grand battle but a step in Napoleon’s Russian campaign. Though the French won, the heavy losses and strategic errors led to the French Empire’s downfall. The Russians’ retreat and devastating counterblow shifted the war’s course, marking the end of Napoleon’s imperial dreams. Thefactsofwar hopes this piece helps you better understand the decisive factors in this battle and its profound impact on European history.

Translated by: Minh Tuan

Source: thecollector.com – The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon vs. Russia