The 200th anniversary of victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 is yet to come, but its grenadier’s step can already be heard. Twelve months sharp are left for Russian newly elected MPs of the VI Convocation to legislate a Day of Russian Military Glory to be celebrated on this special date.
This is my request as a citizen, if you please, and many of my compatriots will surely back this initiative.
In 1995, the total of 16 days of Military Glory were named, six of them dating back to the days of WWII and two going back to the Northern War of Peter the Great against the Swedes. The seizure of Ismail and the victory of Admiral Ushakov at Cape Tendra were not forgotten either, as well as a mythical victory of then non-existent Red Army over Kaiser’s forces in February 1918…
WWI was totally ignored as well as the Patriotic War of 1812!
On December 26, 1812, the remnants of Napoleon’s Great Army could barely cross the river Neman and leave the confines of the Russian Empire. While on December 8-9, the French Emperor crossed Berezina, having retained only 9,000 soldiers out of 40,000 who reached that frontier, slightly more than 1,500 men arrived at the western bank of Neman which served as the borderline. I can’t bring myself to calling them “soldiers.” The military campaign aimed at clearing the national territory of the foe, which we traditionally describe as the Patriotic War, was over.
Is this not a good occasion to make this date special?
Since the very moment when our military history began turning from a fairy tale into reality in the minds of many, people have been wondering why the Battle of Borodino has always been considered number one event in the war against Napoleon, and why only the Battle of Borodino?
I don’t want to be misunderstood, because this is a very important topic. When a person stands for something, this does not mean he or she is against anything else. The Battle of Borodino exemplifies Russian military valor and the art of our generals. According to Leo Tolstoy, this was an amazing manifestation of the human spirit. Each Russian person should certainly remember and commemorate everything related to the Battle of Borodino.
As for the military aspect of the Battle of Borodino, it was neither won nor lost by Kutuzov. The Russian Army continued its retreat and Moscow was surrendered. Yet eventually that war was won by Russians who paraded in Paris in 1814 as well as in Vertus near Paris in 1815. This means that quite a few outstanding, heroic and monumental events, worthy of being aligned with the glory of Borodino, were happening between the Battle of Borodino and the Victory of 1814. First of all, that was the day, when “the multilingual army” was banished from our national territory.
If the thought of celebrating the Day of Military Glory on the day of Napoleon’s army banishment from Russia seems shallow to some, let’s make March 31 our frame of reference, since on that day in 1814 the Russian forces together with allied Prussian and Austrian corps marched into Paris. Imperial France got a mortal wound, from which it perished the next year near the Belgian town of Waterloo. Or are you rent with doubt again?
I can suggest the third option. Back in 2009 representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church proposed to reinstate the holiday that had been celebrated at the nationwide level until 1915. During the WWI, when France was our main ally, it was thought politically incorrect to continue celebrating January 7 as the military victory day, although on that very day in 1813 Emperor Alexander I signed a manifesto that notified that Napoleon had been defeated in Russia.
At any rate, the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814 are such a remarkable chapter in the national history that we should not be stingy with our days of glory.
In 2012, we could start with December 26. Even though both banks of Neman are no longer the Russian domain, Napoleon fled from the eastern bank, knowing firmly that he was abandoning the Russian land.
Mikhail Bykov
