In June 1812, over 600 thousand people crossed the state border of the Russian Empire from west to east, and 58 thousand in December of the same year in the opposite direction. In just six months, more than half a million people were killed, wounded, captured, missing, deserted, sick, and died. How did this process develop over time? What is the number and losses of the Napoleonic army in the Battle of Borodino? Who is guilty of the fire in Moscow? What are the peculiarities of Kutuzov's strategy, which made it possible to defeat the large army led by the greatest commander of Western Europe?