WI Napoleon Wins Overwhelming Victory at Borodino?

Anaxagoras

Banned
IOTL, the Battle of Borodino was a bloody mess but ended essentially as a stalemate, with the French claiming victory only because the Russians withdrew from the field at the end of the day. Napoleon suffered horrendous losses, and the Russian army was still a force to be reckoned with.

What if, instead, Napoleon had won the Battle of Borodino in a crushing and decisive manner, similar to his victories at Austerlitz or Friedland? In other words, what if he had defeated the Russian army so completely that it ceased to exist as a fighting force?

Would the end result have been more or less the same as IOTL, with Napoleon eventually retreating and having his army melt away in the snow? Or would such a decisive victory convince Alexander I to sue for peace, or allow Napoleon to winter safely in Moscow, thus changing the entire equation?
 
Weren't there other Russian armies in the field at the time, like in the Baltic area and also in the south?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Weren't there other Russian armies in the field at the time, like in the Baltic area and also in the south?

Yes, but they were opposed by other Napoleonic or allied forces. Kutuzov's army at Borodino was the main Russian field force, just as the army under Napoleon's direct command was the main French force.
 
Anaxagoras

I think it basically depends on the nerve of Alexander and his advisors. If they decide to continue fighting then Napoleon doesn't really have much alternative to what happened OTL. He might lose somewhat less troops if not pressurised so much in the retreat. Alternatively if because of the victory he's more convinced that Alexander will give in he waits even longer at Moscow, or worse still loses patience and drives even further east things could get a lot worse for the French.

Steve
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I think it basically depends on the nerve of Alexander and his advisors. If they decide to continue fighting then Napoleon doesn't really have much alternative to what happened OTL. He might lose somewhat less troops if not pressurised so much in the retreat. Alternatively if because of the victory he's more convinced that Alexander will give in he waits even longer at Moscow, or worse still loses patience and drives even further east things could get a lot worse for the French.

If Napoleon were to march anywhere else, it would be north to St. Petersburg, not further east. But I think Napoleon realized it was too late in the season to contemplate such an act. Rather, he could winter in Moscow (assuming a decisive victory at Borodino butterflies away the fire) and march north in the spring. If the main Russian army has been destroyed, I do not know if Alexander would have had the time to gather a new field army to oppose Napoleon.
 
Why would an overwhelming victory at Borodino butterfly away the fire? Trashing Moscow seems like the least the Russians could do when their main field army was dissolved. Doesn't take much effort, and can be done with the local undesirables released from jail onto the streets. A wrecked Moscow pretty much means Bonaparte can't winter there, and that march back to the Beresina is a lethally long one.
 
A wrecked Moscow pretty much means Bonaparte can't winter there, and that march back to the Beresina is a lethally long one.

Were there other towns in each of which a French division could winter? Perhaps after an overwhelming victory the French Army can disperse.
 
Were there other towns in each of which a French division could winter? Perhaps after an overwhelming victory the French Army can disperse.

Perhaps, but Moscow was far from the only city in Russia reduced to ashes that year. The Grand Army had a hell of a time foraging, too.
 
Napoleon could still have wintered in Moscow in OTL(the fire destroyed 2/3 of the city)this is one reason he stayed in Moscow for so long. I believe had Napoleon destroyed Kutusov's army he would have stayed the winter in Moscow in the Spring he would have marched north towards St. Petersburg
 
The issue wasn't the fire, it was provisioning an army. I don't think it's been resolved that the fire was anything but an accident - but the laying the lands around waste was deliberate policy that made the condition of Moscow irrelevant.

If the Russians had managed to keep their nerve, they could have done as per OTL - the only difference is that the French are likely to be able to preserve more of their army without a vigorous Russian force dogging them.
 
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