HISTORICAL MYTH OF THE GLORY OF RUSSIAN ARMS


Hey tell, old man, had we a cause
When Moscow, razed by fire, once was
Given up to Frenchman's blow?..
- Mikhail Lermontov

"We can go there, but how we will come back - with bloodied face," "We can go there, but how we will come back - with bloodied face," this was the answer of Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov to the order of King Alexander I to start an offensive during the military campaign of anti-Napoleon coalition in 1813. "The hero of France-Russian war of 1812," as some of Russian historians have called him, Kutuzov in fact had terribly afraid of Napoleon Bonaparte. Obviously, this can be explained by unpleasant memories the Russian General had had after the "Ice Battle" of 1805 near Austerlitz, during which the coalition lost 27 thousands men, 21 000 of them were soldiers of Russian army.


This phobia had accompanied Kutuzov all the way of his shameful "tactical retreat" by the expenses of his wide Motherland in 1812. In fact, it is not the greatness of Russian military, what had become the reason of Napoleon's defeat in the Russian campaign, but the circumstance that Russian soldiers had been retreating so fast that French army's supply wagons could not keep up with its vanguard units, who had furiously pursued the enemy.  As the result, the soldiers left without provision and horses without food. As the result, the soldiers left without provision and horses without food. Extremely cold winter had played a crucial role then. Moreover, presentation of the notorious burning of Moscow as a part of Kutuzov plan is nothing but another attempt to distort the history in favor of Moscow's myth that "Russia hasn't lost a single war." 

Another key point to remember is that the historical event of "triumphal entry of Cossacks to Paris," which Russians are proud of, also has little to do with real military prowess and talent. In fact, it is the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher, who had become an architect the fall of Paris and the defeat of Napoleon's army as whole.  Being a noble man the Prussian General kindly granted the right of "Ius primae noctis" to the Russian Emperor Alexander I, as to a senior in rank. That victorious entry to Paris was honorable, but not deserved.

Later, there was another episode in history, when Russia received winner's laurels, it hadn't deserved. It is about the Capture of Berlin in 1945. Realizing clearly that the fall of Germany was actually accomplished and unwilling useless loss of its soldiers, the Allies Command decided to provide Moscow the symbolical right to capture the capital of the fallen empire. Speaking of the Allies, clearly both the US and the Great Britain won the war by small forces, while Ukraine, Belarus and Russia lost millions, who had been considered by the Kremlin as a consumable material. 

And again, Kutuzov's "victorious" tactics to run fast away from an enemy, he implemented in 1812, was widely used by Soviet generals in 1941. And it succeed once again. Specific weather conditions and the lack of serviceable roads themselves mostly did their job. Relying on a chance in every difficult situation, Russians have learned well how to create historical myths, appropriating others' achievements they have been sowing battlefields with corpses of their soldiers.

This is the other side of the "glory of Russian arms." 

It is essential to see and use properly the enemy's weakness. It is possible to stop the Russian invader and we have a number of historical proves of this, particularly in the person of Marshal Mannerheim. 

Іmperium delenda est!

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