Near the end of August, 1812, Napoleon arrived on an elevated plain,
called Borodino, which the Russians had previously fortified with
redoubts and batteries.
The Emperor passed the night before the battle in giving orders. At
day-break he was on foot, and summoned Caulaincourt to his presence.
Throwing aside the curtains of his tent, he advanced towards his
officers who had already assembled in great numbers. “It is somewhat
cold,” said he, “but behold a splendid sun! It is the sun of
Austerlitz!” Each one answered in the same spirit, by some allusions to
this happy presage.
Previous to this engagement, September 6th, Napoleon issued the
following address:--
“Soldiers!--This is the conflict which you have so much desired. The
victory depends upon you. Victory is necessary to us--it will yield us
plenty--good quarters--and ensure a speedy return to France. Act as you
did at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Vitepsk, and at Smolensk; and the
most remote posterity shall refer with pride to your conduct on this
occasion. It shall be said of each of you, ‘He was in the great battle
fought on the plains of Moscow!’”
“This battle,” says the French historian, “opened to Napoleon the gates
of Moscow! Alas! that this new victory should have been so fatal to
us!”
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MOSCOW.]