Pushing on into Russia, he captured the great fortress of
Smolensk but still failed to crush the main Russian army. Then it was
that he made the momentous decision to press on at once to Moscow. On 7
September, General Kutusov turned against him at Borodino and inflicted
serious injury upon his army, but a week later he was in possession of
Moscow. The battle of Borodino, together with the perpetual harassing
of his outposts by the retreating Russians, had already inflicted very
severe losses upon Napoleon, but he still had an army of about 100,000
to quarter in Moscow.
The very night of his triumphal entry, the city was set on fire through
the carelessness of its own inhabitants,--the bazaar, with its stock of
wine, spirits, and chemicals, becoming the prey of the flames. Barracks
and foodstuffs were alike destroyed; the inhabitants fled; what was
left of the city was pillaged by the French troops as well as by the
Russians themselves; and the burning of Moscow became the signal for a
general rising of the peasants against the foreigners who had brought
such evils in their train.
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