Napoleon and the Battle of Borodino and his intense to defeat troops on the left bank of Kolocha River.
The current research is aimed at answering the question if Napoleon started the battle on the left bank of Kolocha River.
In the year 1812, Napoleon assembled the popularly known La Grande Armée in the eastern Poland province for renewing the hostilities with Russia. This was precisely in the middle of the year 1812. Despite massive efforts having been made by the French troops to acquire the required provisions for this endeavor, there was hardly enough resources that were collected in order to endure a small campaign. With a collective effort put in by approximately 700, 000 army men, the French troops crossed the Niemen River and forayed into a number of columns, hoping to obtain more supplies. The French were very hopeful of their victory in this endeavor and were confident of annihilating the forces of Barclay and eventually speeding up the pace of their campaign.
The French troops marched ahead into the Russian territories with an unmatched speed and with the internal political conflicts within the Russian high command, Barclay could not establish a defensive mechanism. Due to this, the Russian forces could not commit themselves to the battle and this prevented Napoleon from fighting the massive war that he was always keen on.
When Napoleon raided Russia in the year 1812, his fundamental objective was to wage a war against Russia and fight a battle, perpetrate an influential defeat, and ultimately create a situation where Russia would be forced to indict on peace grounds. That conflict subsequently took place at Borodino on the 7th of September 1812, slightly westward from Moscow.
The retreat of the Russians resulted in the French benefiting in the form of growing supply lines for themselves. This situation resulted in Tsar Alexander I lost confidence in the Barclay territory and he was replaced by Prince Mikhail Kutuzov on the 29th of August, 1812. Despite having assumed power, Kutuzov could not change the situation and he had to continue the ongoing retreat. They eventually started to trade land in return for more time and this favored the Russians and slowly the command of Napoleon started reducing in numbers as it became 161,000 because of starvation, disease, and straggling. Reaching Borodino, Kutuzov became stronger in his position and eventually established a strong line of defence near the Kolocha and the Moskwa Rivers.
Despite having a weak left flank, Kutuzov placed the strongest of him men, which was also Barclay’s first ever Army. Kutuzov was confident of obtaining reinforcements in this particular territory which would ease his effort in crossing the river and successfully strike the French troops. On the 5th of September, the mounted troops of both the armies entered a conflict, the outcome of the same being Russia’s loss. Immediately a day after this, the French troops commenced a gigantic attack on the “Shevardino Redoubt, taking it but sustaining 4,000 casualties in the process.”
After analyzing the entire situation at that point, the Marshalls advised Napoleon to swing southward at Utiza, where the Russian left flank was there. Disregarding this advice of his marshals, Napoleon decided to carry out a series of frontal attacks on the 7th September. In order to carry out the planned attacks, he formed a “Grand Battery of about 102 guns placed opposite flèches,” and as planned he initiated the Bombardment against Bagration’s men and within about an hour’s time after commencing this attack, Napoleon and his men succeeded in driving away the enemies. However, this triumph did not last for too long as they had to face the counterattack of the Russians. But Napoleon and his men did not give up and their second attempt to cross the river ended in victory. Though his plan succeeded and Napoleon and his men met with victory, Napoleon was unfortunately badly wounded and was bleeding heavily.
The analysis of the entire background of the Battle of Borodino clearly points out to the fact that Napoleon was right when he realized about the weaknesses of the Russian Army’s left flank. He crossed the Kolocha unexpectedly for Russian military leaders. It made the Russians leave the left flank and find a new position for it. The 7th of September was the start of the Battle of Borodino.
In addition, this massive battle that took place at Borodino costed Napoleon the lives of more than 30, 00 of his men, while the loss on part of the Russians was roughly about 45, 000 army men. Post the conclusion of the war at Borodino, the Russians retreated in two columns heading Semolino, while Napoleon could easily invade and occupy Moscow. This victory over Moscow happened on the 14th of September. After having successfully conquered Moscow, Napoleon actually was anticipating that tsar would surrender to him. This was however not what was envision as Kutuzov and his men continued to stay on the battle field.
Realizing that he had conquered a city that was completely empty, with no supplies to survive, Napoleon did not have a choice but to commence his long and expensive retreat in the west during the months that ensued his Moscow invasion. Finally, the return of Napoleon and his command of 23, 000 men to a friendly soil, happened at the cost of a huge loss in terms of a powerful troop having been completely destructed as part of conflict. But many resources that can be trust say that it was the plan of Kutuzov, he wanted Napoleon to attack exactly this left flank in order to deprive him lots of his power (Battle of Borodino). And presupposed frontal attack of Napoleon changed to a long bloody frontal battle. That was a mistake by French commander and this first step was a prerequisite to the outcome of the whole battle of Borodino. This was the most terrible battle in the XIX century, casualty of both armies was enormous, and both commanders were sure that it was his army who had won in the battle.
Even though Napoleon might take the credit of victory at the Battle Borodino, it however cannot be termed as being a decisive conquest. Moreover, the invasion and eventual taking over of Moscow did not lead the Russians towards negotiations. Essentially, it was the below average planning and performance of Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino which played a pivotal role in the Grand Armée getting completely destroyed and the same even resulted in the ultimately downfall of his whole empire.
References
Hickman, K. (2015, March 11). Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Borodino. Retrieved from About Education: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/napoleonicwars/p/Napoleonic-Wars-Battle-Of-Borodino.htm
Napolun.com. (2015). Battle of Borodino, 1812. Retrieved from Napolun.com: http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Borodino_battle.htm
