Ceasar

Numbers are off. The losses were 30-40 thousand on both sides, not 28 to 45.

Yes, Russia did often take high casualties because of untrained serfs being used as soldiers. It had the resources of manpower, but not economy. Russia was always surrounded by both European and Asian empires and was at war throughout almost every single year of its existence. It did not have any oversees colonies to bolster the economy. Without a good economy like, for example, Britain's, Russia did not have the funding to train and maintain a highly professional army, with the exceptions of occasional cases such as Suvorov's. He proved that if properly trained, a Russian army could be more than a match for an army from Europe.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but in WW2 many Russian conscripts were sent to the front lines with either totally obsolete WW1 era rifles or no weapons at all. Many Russian soldiers were told to 'pick up a rifle from a dead comrade'. When you have unarmed civilians fighting some of the best trained and armed soldiers in Europe, the losses tend to pile up. It's not a battle, it's an execution by firing squad.

As for why Russian moral didn't break: Russia's entire history wasn't some imperialist expansion towards some defenseless islands in the interests of acquiring sugarcane to fund a couple of cannons- it was always a fight for survival. Russia was always fighting against the whole world to survive. France, Britain, Germany to the west; Ottomans to the South; China and Japan to the East. When a country is surrounded by enemies and isn't conveniently situated on an island where it can run off to when it doesn't want to fight a major war, it will fight to the death or die. Russia has a strongly developed sense of national pride and honor, something the armies of Europe could never match. Some officers considered suicide before surrender.

irishcrusader95

no they were not the same, russian losses were higher. every historian gives a different estimate on how many troops were even at the battle and then on final losses. french losses run from 28,000 to 35,000 while russian losses run from 39,000 to 45,000. those first numbers i gave come from Adam Zamoyski's book '1812'.

howard38

The French were also ravaged by typhus before they even engaged the Russians.

zwolf1215

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
-Winston Churchill

Pavel

The Russian edition of Wikipedia predicates the following appraisal of casualties:
"French: 60000 dead and wounded, Russian: up to 45000 dead of wounded"

bartieboy

That is a very dangerous statement! You should really read up on the Russian wars against the ottomans and in the causcaus

harbinger

Russian 'generals' didn't whip napoleon.Infact kutuzov was so afraid of him he didn't properly attack him in berezina allowing the french to escape.The czar was furious.If u think the allies were so cocky against napoleon just read about the tranchenberg plan which was that if napoleon himself led the french forces they wouldn't offer battle,but attack his marshals until the french were so less in numbers that even napoleon's genius couldn't overcome a pitched battle.No similar plan has ever been made against one man save hannibal.

harbinger

The statement russians are bad at fighting is foolish,on the contrary they were and remain very good at fighting.

Sankari

Poor training, poor equipment, poor leadership, poor tactics. Russia relied on her ability to win a war of attrition.

It did break. The Russians only continued to fight because there was nothing else they could do. Hitler over-stretched his forces, which gave Russia a breathing space, and then they were able to rally.

Apparently not. Life has always been cheap in Russia and still is today. Russian society never truly developed beyond feudalism. Even now her oligarchs and politicians are just a new species of aristocracy.

Simple: you threaten them with death if they refuse to advance. And you always have more soldiers, so who cares how many you lose?

Read You will soon learn just how primitive and barbaric the Russian military is.

Lors

"Peasants women will give birth to more soldiers, but the horses cost money!"
Field Marshal Apraksin.