New french documenys on the battle of Borodino

Abstract

The author reviews documents published by French historians in volume 12 of Napoléon Bonaparte, Correspondance générale and relates these to the Battle of Borodino. In the process the author seeks to determine the degree of importance of these documents and analyze their influence upon existing ideas of the decisive battle of the Patriotic War of 1812. The author concludes that the letters of Napoleon published in the aforementioned book do not substantively change historians’ general understanding, formed over the past decade, of the French Grande Armée’s preparations for the battle of the Moscow River or its consequences. The documents mainly demonstrate or specify some general or particular information in relation to the French Army and its leader’s actions in the beginning of September 1812.