The Council at Fili was a
military council
A military council is an approach to organization by a council with representatives from various bodies.
The term "military council" applied to organisational groupings of senior ranking officers in the European armies of the 19th century during o ...
, which was convened on 13 September 1812 after the
Battle of Borodino during the
French invasion of Russia by
Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Kutuzov
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ( rus, Князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов, Knyaz' Mikhaíl Illariónovich Goleníshchev-Kutúzov; german: Mikhail Illarion Golenishchev-Kut ...
in the village of
Fili, west of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. The question was asked whether, after the orderly retreat from the
Battle of Borodino that Napoleon had won despite great losses of the Grand Armee, to give another battle near Moscow or to abandon the city without a fight.
On the eve of the council
On the eve of the council,
formations of the
Russian Army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Force ...
were located west of Moscow to give battle to
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's troops. The position had been chosen by
General
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...
Leonty Bennigsen.
Barclay de Tolly
Barclay de Tolly () is the name of a Baltic German noble family of Scottish origin (Clan Barclay). During the time of the Revolution of 1688 in Britain, the family migrated to Swedish Livonia from Towy (Towie) in Aberdeenshire. Its subsequent ...
had inspected the battlefield on horseback and came to the conclusion that the position was fatal to the formations of the Russian army. The same conclusions after him came, having traveled to the location of the Russian troops, to
Alexei Ermolov and
Karl Tol.
Course of the council in Fili
The council was attended by generals Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, Leonty Bennigsen, who was delayed on the way,
Dmitry Dokhturov
Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov (russian: Дмитрий Серге́евич Дохтуро́в) (1756 - November 14(26), 1816, Moscow) was a Russian infantry general and a prominent military leader during the Patriotic War of 1812.
General
Durin ...
, Alexei Ermolov, Peter Konovnitsyn,
Alexander Osterman-Tolstoy,
Nikolay Raevsky
Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky (; — ) was a Russian general and statesman who achieved fame for his feats of arms during the Napoleonic Wars. His family left a lasting legacy in Russian society and culture.
Early life
Nikolay Raevsky was born i ...
, who was very late, Karl Tol, Fedor Uvarov, and General
Paisiy Kaysarov who was on duty that day. There was no protocol. The main sources of information about the council are the memoirs of Raevsky and Ermolov, as well as a letter from Nikolai Longinov to
Semyon Vorontsov
Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (or Woronzow, russian: Семён Романович Воронцо́в; 26 June 17449 July 1832) was a Russian diplomat from the aristocratic Russian Vorontsov family, whose siblings included Alexander Vorontsov ...
in London.
Bennigsen, who opened the meeting, formulated a
dilemma
A dilemma ( grc-gre, δίλημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the ''horns'' of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but dist ...
– to give battle in an unfavorable position or to surrender the ancient capital to the enemy. Kutuzov corrected him that it was not about saving Moscow, but about saving the army, since you can count on victory only if the combat-ready army is preserved. Barclay de Tolly proposed retreating to the
Vladimirsky Tract and further to
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
, so that in the event of Napoleon's turn to
Petersburg, he would have time to block his path.
In his speech, Bennigsen announced that the retreat makes senseless the bloodshed of
Borodino
The Battle of Borodino (). took place near the village of Borodino on during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The ' won the battle against the Imperial Russian Army but failed to gain a decisive victory and suffered tremendous losses. Napole ...
. The surrender of the sacred to the Russian city will undermine the
fighting spirit of the
soldiers. Great will be purely material losses from the ruin of noble estates. Despite the onset of darkness, he proposed to regroup and attack the
Grande Armée without delay. Bennigsen's proposal was supported by Yermolov, Konovnitsyn, Uvarov and Dohturov.
The first to speak in the debate was Barclay de Tolly, who criticized the position near Moscow and suggested retreating: "Having saved Moscow, Russia is not saved from a cruel, ruinous war. But if we save the army, the hopes of the Fatherland are not yet destroyed, and the war... can continue with convenience: the prepared troops will have time to join in different places outside Moscow".
Osterman-Tolstoy, Raevsky and Tol spoke for the fact that Russia is not in Moscow. The latter pointed out that the army exhausted by the battle of Borodino was not ready for a new equally large-scale battle, especially since many commanders were disabled by wounds. At the same time, the army's retreat along the streets of Moscow will make a painful impression on the townspeople. To this Kutuzov objected that "the French army will dissolve in Moscow like a sponge in the water", and offered to retreat to the Ryazan road.
Based on the opinion of the minority of those present, Kutuzov decided not to let the battle take place in an unsuccessful position, to leave Moscow (because, in his words, repeating Barclay de Tolly, "with the loss of Moscow, Russia is still not lost") in order to save the army to continue the war, and at the same time get closer to suitable reserves. This decision required a certain courage, since the measure of responsibility for the surrender of the historical capital to the enemy was very large and could result in the resignation of the commander-in-chief. No one could predict how this decision would be taken at court.
After the council in Fili
At the end of the council, Kutuzov summoned the
quartermaster-general Dmitry Lansky and ordered him to ensure the supply of food on the Ryazan road. At night, the
adjutant of Kutuzov heard him cry. The army, which was preparing for battle, was ordered to retreat, causing widespread bewilderment and grumbling. Retreat in the city was carried out at night. The decision to retreat was taken aback by the Moscow authorities, headed by Count
Fedor Rostopchin.
After two day crossings, the Russian army turned from the Ryazan road to
Podolsk
Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River).
History
The first mentions of the village of Podol, ...
onto the old Kaluga road, and from there onto the new Kaluga one. As part of the Cossacks continued to retreat to Ryazan, the French scouts were disoriented, and Napoleon for 9 days had no idea about the whereabouts of the Russian troops.
Memory of the council
The Council at Fili was described by
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
in the novel
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
. Based on the Tolstoy literary basis, the artist
Alexei Kivshenko painted two paintings of the same content depicting the main characters on the 70th anniversary of the council, the first in 1880 (stored in the Russian Museum), the second in 1882 (Tretyakov Gallery).
In the tradition of Tolstoy and Kivshenko, the council is depicted in the epic of
Sergei Bondarchuk "
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
" (1967). For reasons of economy of timing, among all the council members in the film, the word was given only to Kutuzov and Bennigsen (the latter speaks Russian on the movie screen, which he did not actually speak).
The hut of the peasant Mikhail Frolov (often mistakenly called Andrei Sevastyanovich Frolov or, following Leo Tolstoy, Andrei Sevastyanov),
Mikhail Prokhorov. New Documents on the Owners of the Kutuzov
// Patriotic War of 1812. Sources. Monuments. Problems – Borodino, 1997 in which the council took place, burned down in 1868, but was restored in 1887, since 1962 – a branch of the Borodino Panorama Museum. Reliably the initial appearance of the hut is known thanks to a number of studies carried out in the 1860s by Alexei Savrasov.
See also
* Russian Army of 1812
Explanatory Notes
Notes
References
*
*
* {{cite book , last=Valkovich , first=Alexander , date=2012 , title=Council at Fili , edition= element-text Radio Echo of Moscow: Not So. September 22, 2012, 14:05 , url=http://echo.msk.ru/programs/netak/932389-echo/#
French invasion of Russia
Events in Moscow
September 1812 events