on september the seventh they seemed twelve a quarter of a million men stood on this field waiting to decide the fate of the russian empire it was the bloodiest single day battle of the entire napoleonic wars and now two centuries on the soldiers are back to do it all again.

in just under two hours the fighting here will be over but several days now more than three thousand men women and children have left the twenty first century behind to plunge headlong into the nineteenth they come to this small rural area just one hundred twenty kilometers from moscow to when a splendid uniforms find them muskets among staring cavalry charges they travel from across the world to be part of the largest napoleonic reenactment ever seen on russian soil the bicentenary of the battle of the world you know. and to be an effective napoleonic soldier you have to live like

a napoleonic soldier the whole experience is supposed to be as authentic as possible and that means all reactors really try to live the lives of their eighteen twelve counterparts eating the same food living in the same tents and wading through the same mud. accommodation is as basic as it comes no sleeping bags all muddy comforts here most people are making do with a bed of straw on a horse blanket. but conditions are no excuse for untidiness and the soldiers have to be ready for inspection at any time especially when the commander of the russian army is in the vicinity. pummel his plane general could to solve plenty and his fellow officers have plenty to think about much and i'm rupa soon we will begin shaping the talons on squadrons we will determine the number of the participants and collect the commanders then there's going to be

a meeting of the commanders where they will break down the cost make people familiar with the scenario to determine the tasks of every commander record so that everyone knows their roles on the battlefield. at least nobody's actually going to kill each other this time and that means a friendly atmosphere throughout the camps where the russians and the french live side by side and there's plenty have traditional food on offer. there's still a great deal of preparation going on in the camp and that means hungry soldiers so i have made an executive decision to join the french troops for a little polio nic breakfast. two mornings. it's no frills fare but there's plenty of it and quantity was always much more important than quality of three or four with the green one could say that there was no cuisine at all of the time soldiers ate what they could get hold of or sometimes even steal soup it was quite common in bread were very popular for

breakfast if they could get hold of onions and sour cream to soldiers were extremely low maintenance and they managed to conquer the whole of europe eating to sue bread and drinking coffee. and if it's good enough for the ground. try some of the best french food they see in twelve. tuna salad. topped off with a ruler and. i could see how the breasts of the old soldiers might have been an effective weapon by itself. but there were also plenty of traditional arms it was time to bring out the big guns but. tillery played a vital role and brought in with the french guns in particular taking a heavy toll on the russian infantry but of course imitating inexperience callen

crew with just a couple of days of training is another thing entirely. ok well. but that's where experts like patrick come in. a veteran of several re-enactments he's traveled all the way from from to lick the rule recruits into shape. i just want to assure we could be a moment we're going to use it. only under torture only and excellent well i'm hoping that you will give us a few moments of your time to show us the mobile's of the french military if it's for that yes accept to talk in english. with the biggest challenges that you can face well it's what you need to know is it's very important to respect the drill as we used to do with commander sas because although here of course we don't shoot a real cannon ball it's just politics but it's as dangerous so it's very important for safety to respect all the different steps because otherwise you might as. well

though be considerably less than the six hundred cannon that were on display at the road you know patrick's determined that his crews will be a credit to their previous system as this is the interest of reenactment of some think we are just young kids playing some ah it's true we have never grown up but the other interesting side of it is we try to make it as accurate as possible so we understand much better all the used to do it in the past because you could really look at it and say yeah maybe but when you do it for real you understand the reasons why and how you feeling about. napoleon's arrival if you have i'm very excited. with patrick visiting from france and the most the general himself gesturing in from the u.s. this is an event with a truly international flavor and back among the russians i met a cavalry man with a very familiar accent. so the room is all true the lithuanians have attached to

britain to their residence. so for phil we need to hear a bit about your story and. if you come to take part in border come from cambridge cambridge in the u.k. . why did you decide to take both in this. we're very fortunate in the u.k. i mean in a group the fifteenth and one of the guys is russian and he also reenacts with the whiny and they go to the invites of already you know and how could you refuse absolutely but it's not been an easy journey the regiment may have supplied bill with a new mount but everything else has made the trip from england with him so what have you had to bring with you everything every day. this belt. twenty three kilos we bring all the horse equipment some of which is useful for sleeping as well

so there's a damper on. the clothes we have a lot of a lot of it's so much that we had to wear it to get it under the baggage allowance . yes a great advantage because the customs security airport it's no problem people are really happy to see us so did you get any of the questions like what is your purpose coming into russia well i'm going to i'm going to be fighting for you against the front exactly that's all we said and that's perfect. that's no problem no guns ok just a big sword you know it's in the hole right. alongside the foreign visitors too broad you know there are plenty of home grown participants getting into the swing of things and this is very much an equal opportunities reenactment. the russians tried to keep women away from their troops but the french weren't so restrictive i'm napoleon always had

a bevy of wives followers. rather more official count work is like nasty here. come on i'll show you the castle as a french. continue yeah nasty would have sold refreshments to the troops and looked after the wounded and the women in this camp also take on a number of different roles. there are many different kinds of roles there are cooking doing laundry any kind of help that might be needed like sewing a button or cleaning something but i really don't think anyone would give his weapon to a woman however some ammunition items could be entrusted to us but cooking was the main thing hungry soldier is a lousy at making war. color and pageantry are part of what makes this event so appealing and it's important to have the right look impressive facial hair can be found the around the camp but you've also got to be

a snappy dresser. as you can imagine napoleonic uniforms aren't exactly ten a penny which means that today's reconstruct is have to be as handy with a needle as they are with a musket plus which is. why you have a uniform could you fix it for me please. so gay has been tailoring period costumes for over a decade. we're going to need think you know the reason why i do this is that it's an interesting job and more importantly i might say i prefer to study history by making things with my own. instead of reading the books on his knees in this way i get a better insight into events that took place a long time ago and i also run a club aiming to reconstruct. the for you to never lay life as well as universal. so gay has made uniforms for almost his entire regiment and they're all intricately

detailed from camp clothes to full battle regalia but he loved the company to which any soldier belonged could be identified by the red the sword not this singled out the bad as agreement the soldiers were uniforms made of dog green cloth they also wore pants with leg i have a sack a ten flaws. and two cross belts. so thanks. good luck some splendid uniforms coming to a battlefield near us i just hope they manage to keep themselves clean. much as it would have been back in may seem twelve as the sun goes down the day's work draws to an end dozens of campfires a lit and the smell of evening meals quickly fills the air. it won't be long before reactors have a chance to put the training into action and it promises to be

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since arriving at board you know i talked with a englishman frenchman and plenty of russians but i knew one man was making a transatlantic trip to come and play the most famous role of all but. ok. would you please spare as couple of moments of your time to take us around your stuff camp it would be my pleasure he. mark works for

a historical museum and has played the role of napoleon in reenactments across europe and his acquaintance with the master general began as an early age i have a french cousin that gave me a small toy soldier of napoleon fifty four millimeter and i still have it and many say that that's when it began at two years old a fascination with napoleon his times with. the uniforms the strategy and tactics of the different locations the the great things that napoleon do and he takes his portrayals extremely seriously there's also was response of believe that comes with the responsibility of paying honor to these soldiers who have fought who have died whether they be from france from russia from all over europe for the grand army was composed of many european nations so as a result of that i have to really take my time to prepare myself to get it right

to pay honor not only to napoleon but again as i've mentioned to these soldiers who have fought and died but with an audience of up to two hundred thousand people expected i wondered if he was feeling nervous before the big day i think rather than nerves it will be that of excitement adrenaline looking forward to participating in such a grand spectacle such as. that's going to be something to see that's for sure i look forward to the front row seat even if it's on a horse. and thank you. everyone was already hard at work across the camp and my friend bill was shaping up for an important inspection. we have to prove we can ride prove that we've been historically accurate. and if we don't pass the right. but at least he won't be facing the offices alone. we have here sergeant williams.

and what do you think what role are you hoping to have historically we should be on the staff. but that wouldn't be any fun at all because the staff sit at the back and watch. colleagues. and we're going to tag along with them and they should be right in middle of the fighting so we should get cross swords with some frenchmen. were putting the finishing touches to their uniforms i headed out to the main field to watch the procession. pass and spare change it for another one. point of pivotal moment because the cavalry in all this being presented not only to

the general staff but also to the real safety inspectors who make sure that everything is in its place is being treated properly and the safety aspects are all ok. and it looks like. might be in a spot of bother. them. such blades are very dangerous we try to take care of our uniforms we don't hit hard during re-enactments. our violence is a very old soldier. going to. some of our foreign friends to blunt their blades because of fears that they might injure someone one of the blades look very much like a song it could have cut somebody is you know for. fortunately for bill and williams it's nothing that a good falling one sucked out. and as they trusted

a way to literally take the edge off i caught up with some passing french infantry . how are you preparing for the big day. because there's a lot of people in california different think on this if you would call would get the first time for this long for this month so we have to do is scrutinize the soldiers to be working together and move making movements together. and then moving to the battlefield. up at the. so gen thomas is a member of the belgian napoleonic society and it's not long before he's giving the benefit of his experience to some of the younger soldiers. looks like you got a promotion there to sergeant or a trainer i'm lucky the sergeant gave me the comfort of confidence to train the new guys and so it's always difficult because they're quite nervous with weapons and

things like that but for security reasons and of course for the battle we have to to make the venue feel like it's really important so how have you found the drilling has helped so it's helping because we've made a lot of miles of calls walking it's a bit rusty for your guys it's coming quite back quite fast for the new guys it's learning the skills. the artillery cavalry and infantry and finally on past inspection and with less than twenty four hours to the reenactment it was time to respect some old traditions. every new regiment eventually faces the moment when it has to go into battle and they mark that with a formal ceremony honoring the flag. for old bear no said about me. this is. the road you know is going to be the first fight for the moscow great

ideas and everyone how ms a single nail into the new standards. in the regiment is christened. his own little tributes to the owner of the granite is here and drinking a toast to success in battle. three true. all the grammar here is good. and as the new company continued to celebrate i slipped off to see if i could find a bite to eat or have the chance to try a french breakfast and after a whole day's drilling the russian troops are busy cooking this service i'm going to see if they'll let me join them. i give you a hand. with you thank you i managed to talk my way into

a fish soup dinner. ok guys food's up. and once the ports are similar everyone grabs a spoon some bread and helps themselves to give this really is every man for himself here. this is really really hard to soup. haunch actually lovely the camp may only last a few days but it's clear that being here is having a real effect on these men. that leaves an impact on all of us here we are oblivious to the course of time rather the sun is our guide we know that we need to get up at dawn and go to bed at sunset we've got no internet connection we don't

know what's going on outside this place besides life in the open and the need to share food from the same part helps bring people together. the battle is coming tomorrow but today we enjoy a meal without worrying about whether we'll live or die by the same token the soldiers that live two hundred years ago had little thought about whether they would live or die if some of them were killed we're all in god's hands others would say. well being. all reenacted should have little need for divine intervention but it wasn't long before everyone was ready to hit the hay tomorrow would be a big day for god. while the soldiers of the actual battle of broader may have had to enjoy some hot sun but we've got some pretty different weather conditions today but

a few drops of rain and black clouds certainly aren't putting the taurus off. thousands of visitors were already making their way towards brought in those fields and a memorial service. this morning is dedicated to the french soldiers that died and brought into one of the last year to fall napoleon here is to pay tribute to them for the. once the formalities had finished it was time for the two means to take their places two hundred years ago napoleon and his all conquering grand army stood here against the troops of general could to self with russia at stake it was impossible

not to be nervous. everyone might manage in the camp in desperate to put on a good show and i was just hoping that all the training combined with some impressive pyrotechnics could see them through so off to five days in camp hundreds of hours of planning and the cost of thousands it comes down to this two hours to do justice to one of the most pivotal battles in the polio make history and i'm pretty excited it's. a few words from just two years old the first shots were fired at them with the fields one received in smoke as the cameron's. speech his. first major actions of the battle for the round prince by brazil's foolish works and they would be captured and recaptured by both sides as the.

once the french captain brought in the russians pulled back the royals redoubt and that was where the most vicious and close will possibly take place. the figures have long been disputed but it's estimated there were around seventy thousand casualties of the original. blood many dead bodies almost feel soon to rejoin the fray.

by the terrible pounding from the french the russians were able to hold the ridge way behind them several hours about it will eventually gave the chance to retreat with their army still intact. even under the right the crowd was laughing everything up with the vast majority staying to see napoleon complete the proved to be a very hairy victory. for the french may have won the field but that doesn't seem to anyone spirits here it's

been a fantastic show and it's a real tribute to the skill and africa of the river not the two hundred years on from. brought it out tens of thousands of people have come out to watch them bring history to life. the. question is that so much about the taxpayers' money minting is a sneak peek behind the five areas of growing competition for sovereign control over a number of pacific islands highlights the growing instability among important trading partners what is true. wealthy british science. has no time to cut ties.

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