1-155-558 - Art Media/Heritage Images

Battle of Borodino, Russia, 7 September 1812, (c1835). With 44,000 Russian casualties and 30,000 French losses, the battle was indecisive, as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) withheld his Imperial Guard in a move that probably saved Kutuzov's army from destruction. Kutuzov retreated again and the French occupied a burning Moscow - set on fire by the Russians themselves. Hoping for a Russian surrender that never came, Bonaparte waited in Moscow for five weeks leaving on 5 December to return to Paris where a coup had been foiled and to raise another army. His troops dragged themselves on and on 7 December finally crossed the Niemen out of Russian territory. They had survived, but only 20,000 of them.