The Patriotic War of 1812 is perhaps best known to Russians for its famous Battle of Borodino. However, there were other battles during it, which together decided the outcome of the war.
Napoleon was undoubtedly one of the greatest conquerors in world history, who managed to capture a significant amount of European territory during his military campaigns in the early 19th century. However, Russia managed to thwart his plans to seize complete world domination.
Attack on Russia
On the morning of June 1812, Napoleon's troops crossed the Neman River and, without an official announcement of the outbreak of hostilities, invaded the territory of the Russian Empire. The commander was well prepared for the implementation of his plans: at his disposal was an army of more than 600 thousand people, as well as almost 1.5 thousand guns: all this gave him reasonable hope for a quick victory and seizure of Russian territory, just like before that he captured many European countries.
Battle of Borodino
Indeed, in the first few months, the military campaign was very successful, in full accordance with Napoleon's plans: from June to September 1812, he managed to advance from the border he crossed at the beginning of the war to the capital of Russia - Moscow. Here, 110 kilometers from the city, near the village of Borodino, the commander of the Russian army, Kutuzov, set out to conduct a decisive battle for the capital.
The Battle of Borodino began on the morning of September 6. During this battle, both sides suffered huge losses - the number of killed reached many tens of thousands of people, one of the largest Russian military leaders, Prince Bagration, was mortally wounded. The commander of the Russian army, Mikhail Kutuzov, decided to retreat to Moscow, and then, realizing that it would not be possible to defend the city with the remnants of his forces, he left the capital of the French army.
The turning point of the war
Having occupied Moscow, Napoleon realized that in terms of solving the current problems of his army, this did not bring the desired results. Residents left the city, taking food and ammunition with them. As a result, Napoleon's army was forced to move further into the southern provinces in search of food.
Here the path was again blocked by the commander of the Russian army, Kutuzov. Several major battles took place - near Maloyaroslavets, Vyazma, Polotsk. As a result, the Russian army, having won a number of victories and significantly weakening the position of Napoleon, launched a counteroffensive. The Russians were helped by severe frosts, which at the end of November struck in the area near the Berezina River, where Napoleon's army was then located. As a result of the crossing of the river and the battle, the commander lost several thousand more people, and the remaining 30 thousand, who at that time constituted the entire army of Napoleon, were forced to flee. The commander himself fled to Paris a few days before. So Russia won the war of 1812.
