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­Battle of the century redux: Grand Napoleonic battle reenacted (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Published time: September 02, 2012 18:22
Edited time: September 03, 2012 03:33
Members of historical clubs, dressed as French soldiers and Russian soldiers take part in the reenactment of the 1812 battle between Napoleon's army and Russian troops in Borodino, some 120 km outside Moscow on September 2, 2012 during the celebration of the battle's 200th anniversary (AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)
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Two hours of clanking swords, firing canons, hundreds of horses, tons of armor and pure fun for spectators. The famed 1812 Battle of Borodino has been reconstructed in the Moscow region, marking its bicentenary jubilee.

The cavalry, infantry and artillery were all identical reproductions of what’s written in the chronicles about the most famous battle of Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia.

Napoleon attacked the Imperial Russian Army, lead by General Mikhail Kutuzov, near the village of Borodino on September 7, 200 years ago. The real battle lasted 12 hours, and left over 45,000 Russian soldiers dead and around 30,000 dead on the French side. Napoleon called it a battle of giants. “The French have proved worthy of victory and the Russians earned the right not to be defeated,” the French Emperor said.

Despite the fact that the real battle began early in the morning – at roughly 5 am – the reenactment was scheduled to begin during the day, so that more people could see the show. The weather 200 years ago was very similar to this Sunday’s, so viewers got a rather clear picture of how it all happened in 1812.

This weekend's event featured the key episodes of the battle.

­

AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev

Among hundreds of cavalrymen and thousands of infantrymen dressed in 19th-century military uniform, more of them wore the French uniform – just as it was back in 1812.

“We will win this battle today. And probably it will be the biggest victory in the history of France… I expect victory,” a US actor playing the role of Napoleon I said before the first shots were fired.

“Though it is only a reenactment, we will fight in the memory of those who threw back Napoleon on the approaches to Moscow,” the man who played Kutuzov told Channel 1.

With 3,000 men, 300 horses and almost 50 pieces of ordnance, this year's Borodino reenactment has already been labeled the most ambitious one ever put on.

Descendants of the heroes who fought at the Battle of Borodino attended the event. Among them were the great-grandsons of both Napoleon and General Kutuzov, as well as former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, whose forefathers participated in the Napoleonic Wars.

Some 100,000 spectators are reported to have come to watch the event.

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AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev

Comments (17)

RogueFailedWest (unregistered) 03.09.2012 23:27

Guys, you have misread my words. Whatever Napeleon did, he first defended the French Revolution, but then he "exported" it not as much as in the ideals of equality etc, but as it was common at that time, as a war of conquest and supremacy above other countries. So, from a positive side (defending the French Revolution from all the Empires who were scared of its positive example) to a negative one, wars of conquest and supremacy over other Empires. Bear in mind you MUST put these actions and events in the context of that time. It is very arrogant and very ignorantly lazy to judge the events of that time with the mentality and the context of today. The example I made with 1917's Revolutionary Russia is that, again, in the midst of World War I, all the Empires of that time, simply were $hitting themselves in their pants when Lenin and the Revolutionaries were saying enough of this war were people of different nationalities are killing to death each other for what? For the Emperors to reduce the people of the world to misery and slavery forever? And a few (The so-called "winners" to enjoy the spoils of war out of the misery of millions who died and lost arms, legs and eyes?). Russia was invaded from North to South and West to East by armies of murderers from Britain, USA, Japan, Italy, France etc who wanted to suppress the Russian Revolution and in the meantime they massacred ordinary civilians, peasants, women, children, seamen, workers, etc What the Rogue Failed Anti-Russian powers of 1917 did was the equivalent of nowadays "Humanitarian Interventions" and they massacred Russian civiliand, raped women and stole their meagre possessions from West to East and North to South. And THEY FAILED. Russia gave them a sound defeat that forced all these Rogue Failed powers to abandon Russia with their tail between their legs.

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TO:English Exile (unregistered) (unregistered) 03.09.2012 12:06

Note, you did not name a single major battle the French won since 1812. Also in the November 1941 a fierce battle took place in the fields of Borodino between German and Soviet troops and that large number of French fascist volunteers were with German troops but the next day the French soldiers were killed and maimed in large numbers so much so the Germans withdrew what remained of the French fascist troops out of the Soviet Union and send them to terrorize people in occupied Europe. This is a historical fact.

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English Exile (unregistered) 03.09.2012 11:51

"It is you who knows nothing about the War of 1812. The Napoleonic Grande Army contained troops from the entire Western Europe. This is similar to the 1941 German’s Barborossa against Soviet Russia. The French, the Turks and the Britain were in the same side in the Crimean War and the Crimean war was nothing but the continuation of the Napoleonic war against Russia. Today the same forces: The French, the British and Turks and the U.S along with Al Qaida and their Gulf Arab allies and Israel are fighting proxy war against Russia in Syria."
Stop showing your ignorance!
"The Napoleonic Grande Army contained troops from the entire Western Europe."
So you are insisting that there were British army units serving in Napoleon's Grande Armee in 1812? 
So what was British general Wellington's army and that of his Portuguese allies and Spanish guerillas doing in Spain from 1807 until 1814 and against whom were they fighting?
And which ports was the the British Royal navy blockading in 1812? Those of Russia? Was there a British navy fleet in the Baltic and Black Seas in 1812?
And in 1805, which combined fleets did British admiral Nelson's fleet engage with off Cape Trafalgar? Was one of those combined fleets Russian?
And with which European power did the Russian Empire become allied after the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, which alliance cotinued until 1812? (Clue: the European power in question had an emperor who was born in Corsica.)
"The Napoleonic Grande Army contained troops from the entire Western Europe. This is similar to the 1941 German’s Barborossa against Soviet Russia."
So together with the Germans and Hungarians and Romanians and Italians and various international units of he Waffen-SS British units invaded the USSR in June 1941? 
Are you serious?

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