Battle of Borodino
September 7, 1812
Seventy miles west of Moscow, Kutuzov's Russians stood and let Napoleon batter them all day. Seventy thousand men fell in twelve hours; the Russians withdrew in good order. A week later Napoleon entered an empty Moscow. Borodino was his costliest victory and, in the end, his undoing. Tolstoy would recreate the battle in War and Peace, turning its chaos into the centerpiece of the greatest novel ever written.
In context
Also in 1812 (5 other events on record)
- Grande Armée Crosses the Niemen · Europe · War
- Moscow Burns · Europe · Disaster
- United States Declares War · North America · War
- Treaty of Bucharest · Europe · Politics
- Detroit Surrenders · North America · War
Before and after in Europe
- Before: 1811: Luddites Smash Frames
- After: May 2, 1813: Lützen and Bautzen
Before and after in War
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.