Blood and Gunpowder: Reenacting the Battle of Borodino

On September 1, Borodino Field in the Moscow Region’s Mozhaisk District hosted the annual Borodino Day International Military History Festival. Over 8,000 people came to watch the reenactment, which involved 1,000 people.

Each year history enthusiasts come to take part in, or watch, the reenactment of the famous battle of Russia’s Patriotic War of 1812, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Battle of Borodino saw the Russian Army commanded by General Mikhail Kutuzov take on the Grande Armee of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte near the village of Borodino in 1812 on August 26 (old calendar – September 7 in today’s calendar).

For real history buffs, the festival culminated in the reenactment of particular episodes from the battle.

The real battle comprised about 300,000 men in total, and became known as one of bloodiest battles in history, overall more than 70,000 were killed wounded and captured. About 1,000 enthusiasts took part in the reenactment.

All wore close replicas of the uniforms worn by the Russian and French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars.

The battle was depicted in Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace, and historians have called it a decisive moment in both Russian and European history.

Napoleon’s Grande Armee comprised Germans, Poles, Lithuanians, Austrians, Italians, Croats, Swiss, Spaniards, and Portuguese men, in addition to French men called up under the law on compulsory military service. Historians have suggested that this diverse makeup was a weakness, not a strength.

Russia’s army was conscription-based. The officer corps was manned exclusively by the nobility, and the landed aristocracy was not obliged to do military service.

Although the Russian Army was eventually forced into retreat, Napoleon failed to accomplish his chief objective – to destroy it. Historians have suggested that the battle paved the way for Napoleon’s final defeat.

One of France’s best surgeons, Dominique Jean Larrey, performed 200 amputations in a 24-hour period during the Battle of Borodino, according to historians.

Participants at the Battle of Borodino reenactment on Borodino Field.