Editing Battle of Borodino (section)

===Napoleon's invasion of Russia===
{{Main|French invasion of Russia}}
Napoleon with the French ''Grande Armée'' began his invasion of Russia on 24 June 1812 by crossing the [[Neman|Niemen]].{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=166}}
As his Russian army was outnumbered by far, [[Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly]] successfully used a "delaying operation", defined as an operation in which a force under pressure trades space for time by slowing down the enemy's momentum and inflicting maximum damage on the enemy without, in principle, becoming decisively engaged,{{sfn|US DoD|2021}} using a [[Fabian strategy]] as a [[defence in depth]] by retreating further eastwards into Russia without giving battle.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=220}} 

After the Battle of Smolensk, the Tsar replaced the unpopular Barclay de Tolly with Kutuzov, who on 18 August took over the army at [[Tsaryovo-Zaymishche]] and ordered his men to prepare for battle.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=235}} Kutuzov understood that Barclay's decision to retreat had been correct, but the Tsar, the Russian troops and Russia could not accept further retreat. A battle had to occur in order to preserve the morale of the soldiers and the nation. He then ordered not another retreat eastwards but a search for a battleground eastwards to [[Gzhatsk]] on 30 August, thus using Barclay's delaying operation again, by which time the ratio of French to Russian forces had shrunk from 3:1 to 5:4.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=237}} The main part of Napoleon's army had entered Russia with 286,000&nbsp;men,{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=259}} but by the time of the battle was reduced mostly through starvation and disease.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=253}}
[[File:Vereshagin.Napoleon near Borodino.jpg|thumb|306px|''Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights'', by [[Vasily Vereshchagin]] (1897)]]

Kutuzov's army established a defensive line near the village of [[Borodino (village), Mozhaysky District, Moscow Oblast|Borodino]].{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=238}} Although the Borodino field was too open and had too few natural obstacles to protect the Russian center and the left flank, it was chosen because it blocked both Smolensk–Moscow roads and because there were simply no better locations.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=243}} Starting on 3 September, Kutuzov strengthened the line with earthworks, including the Raevski redoubt (named after [[Nikolay Raevsky]]) in the center-right of the line and three open, arrow-shaped "[[Bagration flèches]]" (named after [[Pyotr Bagration]]) on the left.{{sfn|Riehn|1990|p=244}}