War & Peace - Part 3

привет, my friend!

Last Sunday I went to the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Borodino. The battle happened in June 1812 and was the bloodiest at its time: 45,000 Russians and 35,000 French died.

It was the 1st time I’d ever been to a re-enactment and I think I have mixed feelings about it. Although the show was quite interesting (2,000 people dressed up as French and Russian soldiers), it is hard to forget that so many people died during the battle. The only funny thing was that Napoleon’s Grand Armee was represented by military clubs from St Petersburg, while the Russian army was represented by Muscovite clubs.

Here are some pics of the re-enactment. Note on the pictures: the re-enactement was done is a very small valley -- the entire battlefield actually occupied an area of 20 square kilometers.

Inspecting the troops:

Marching:

The French taking over the Russian outpost:

Two pictures of a whole bunch of people fighting:

Me and a guy dressed like something-I-don't-know-what-it-is:

I shot some video clips as well using the video function of my camera. They're in the post below.

We also visited a couple of the monuments in Borodino (there are dozens). This is a memorial for a division that was annihilated by the French. The damage around the obelisk was made by German projectiles shot during WWII, as Borodino also saw some action during Hitler’s offence against Moscow.

And this is a monument to the French:

On the way back, we faced terrible traffic and it took us 5 hours to drive 80 kilometers (50 miles) back to Moscow. Without a doubt, the best part of the trip was the history lesson that our guide gave us, which is described two posts below.

пока!