Napoleon, chastened by his experience at Smolensk and desperate for a decisive battle, refused the advice of his subordinates to envelop the Russian position at Borodino and on September 7 launched a bloody frontal assault instead. As he neared Moscow, he recognized that he would have to give battle before abandoning Russia's ancient capital, and so he selected the field near Borodino, which he prepared with field fortifications. Despite Alexander's continued prodding, Kutuzov continued the retreat.

Kutuzov as overall commander of what was now effectively an army group comprising two armies marching together. As Barclay de Tolly became aware of this movement, he decided once again that discretion was the better part of valor and withdrew from Smolensk rather than risk losing his army.įrustrated by this continued retreating and also by the bickering between Barclay de Tolly and Bagration, neither of whom was prepared to take orders from the other, Alexander appointed Mikhail I. Napoleon, however, attempted to envelop the Russian position rather than attack head-on. Facing ever-increasing pressure from Tsar Alexander to fight, Barclay de Tolly prepared to accept battle supported by Smolensk's impressive walls. Barclay de Tolly and Bagration naturally wished to link up before they accepted battle, but were unable to do so before reaching Smolensk in mid-August. The Russian armies had been drawn up with a considerable gap between them, and Napoleon drove right through it, intending to keep them separated. The plan was abandoned and the retreat began when the Russians realized that Napoleon's force was more than twice as large as they had believed. Bagration's Second Army was to fall on the French rear, destroying the invading army. While Napoleon attacked the camp, Peter I. When Napoleon crossed the frontier, Barclay de Tolly intended to have his First Army withdraw to a fortified camp at Drissa, luring Napoleon's main body behind it. Barclay de Tolly, quickly changed the plan. Originally Russia had contemplated an invasion of French-held Poland, but the Russian commander, Mikhail B. Napoleon contributed to his own disaster by failing to provide adequately for an extended campaign in terms both of supplies and of reinforcements.

Although winter played a role in the deaths of tens of thousands of French soldiers during the retreat, Russia won the campaign through a skillful withdrawal and the careful selection of battlefields. Napoleon crossed the Russian frontier on June 24, 1812, with more than 650,000 troops, and just a few months later recrossed the frontier, defeated, with less than one-tenth of that number. The French war of 1812 was one of the most decisive conflicts of modern times.

War of 1812 mod napoleon total war