They were fighting because their king was allied to Napoleon. At last, with summer ending, the Russians turned and faced their enemy at the crossroads village of Borodino. Moscow, the holy city of ...

At his command, Napoleon had 130,000 soldiers with whom to attack the Russian defenders, who numbered around 120,000. The Battle of Borodino began at dawn on September 7, 1812. A barrage from 102 ...