The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov (review)

Alexander Mikaberidze is a fine Napoleonic scholar who brings considerable research and language skills to bear on one of the bloodiest and most controversial days in modern military history—September 7, 1812. Only Lepanto exceeds this bloodletting in terms of a single day’s butcher’s bill of death prior to the slaughters of 1916—some accounts list a combined casualty count of over 100,000 with as many as 40,000 killed although 70–80,000 casualties for the two armies is probably closest. Mikaberidze’s work to date has addressed the fascinating and little studied (in English) topic of the senior leadership of the Imperial Russian Army during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. It is this institutional focus on Tsar Alexander’s army that makes Mikaberidze’s book most valuable. His broad command of Russian sources serves well his stated purpose to give the reader in English “…a balanced account of the battle” with an “..emphasis on the Russian experiences” (p. xii). On balance, this is exactly what Mikaberidze accomplishes. He begins by covering the historiography of the various accounts—in all the major languages—in order to justify why another study is warranted. His thesis is that another study is indeed warranted, even if only to give the English reader the Russian perspective.

Although other analysts have touched on the Imperial Army in their studies (Gunther Rothenberg comes to mind), no one achieves the level of detail and institutional value that Mikaberidze provides in looking at all the politics and backstabbing that were systemic to the Tsar’s senior officer corps. He continues to do just this in this study. For example, Mikaberidze revisits the controversial relationship between the three major Russian commanders of the campaign and the battle—Prince I.G. Kutusov, Prince Peter Bagration (Mikaberidze does not give Bagration’s patronymic) and the much-maligned “German” General Barclay de Tolly. The controversy and bitterness over the many foreign officers in the Tsar’s army and their supposed unsuitability to command native Russian troops is revisited in the light of all the many dysfunctional Imperial command and personal relationships. Mikaberidze’s discussion is enhanced by the extensive research he has done in preparing an upcoming biography of the fiery Bagration. Accordingly, this reviewer anticipated an apologetic account that favored both the Russians and Bagration. I was pleasantly surprised to find Mikaberidze providing exceptional value in narrating the complicated and ultimately serendipitous dynamics of Bagration’s and Barclay de Tolly’s dual command. Certainly, as Mikaberidze freely concedes, this account provides no final word on the issue of who was best suited to command against Napoleon. However, I came away with the impression that the Tsar was extremely fortunate to have these two in charge during the critical months leading up to Borodino and on the field there. Kutusov’s best performances came after the battle.

There are a number of minor weaknesses in this otherwise excellent account. Although Mikaberidze tries to avoid a too-detailed account by referring the reader interested in minutiae to a Napoleonic website, his discussions of the battle and some of the controversies degenerate occasionally into dizzying detail. Another weakness of the book is that it reflects a larger trend this reviewer has seen in recent histories—editorial neglect. It appears that some of Mikaberidze’s translations (English is not his first language) were not caught by the editors and corrected (e.g. lack of articles, tense issues). There are simply too many obvious mistakes in the final text that a competent editor should have caught and eliminated. This neglect detracts from a very useful layout that includes interesting sidebars, wonderful illustrations, useful maps and tables, and a fine general order of battle at the back. One hopes a second edition will be released that corrects these errors. Despite these drawbacks, I recommend this book for the broad...