1-632-812 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

The Battle of Borodino, Russia, 7th September 1812. With 44,000 Russian casualties and 30,000 French losses, the battle was indecisive. The Russians retreated, leaving the French to take occupation of 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 before beginning what would turn into an epic retreat, with the remnants of his Grande Armee harrassed by the Russians and tormented by starvation and the Russian winter. Of the more than 600,000 men who set out on the invasion of Russia, only 20,000 returned.