in lines of three arms length apart word march. in the provincial french town of montrose life is taking its usual. but today they are in for a surprise russian troops from the napoleonic wars have. it's a great day. the likes of these men have not been seen here for the past two hundred yes it's almost as though a full parade has traveled through time. of the. but typical of the day. comes from a family of six and he's learned to sing the old version of them. when his horse

became. the silly had to trail behind the procession he still believes the question . is relevant to what you would say. but it was an honorable. there's no doubt the french emerged victorious they did over ride the battlefields to seize the battlefield was the victory but even if it was a victory it was a costly one. to ensure that good morning. well over. at ease. the excitement on the grand tour of paris is still a long way in the future for now the course i could just beginning to get ready for the journey. and it all started here exactly one year ago. for our hats on. is making ready to ride his horse.

for right now. just like a member of the family they often joke at the horses are even more dead and their wives and children. need to talk to him. he sees just like a toddler he sees the world the same way. i have come to take part in the journey none of them has their own horse they haven't even seen. still. only a short while ago. even to allow anyone to enter his stable. his head greatest concern is to keep his head. away if he lets me do that means he likes and trusts me. with separation.

of the continental journey consisted of nothing but intense training. camps riding tricks and how to shoot. straight. the chief. has spent a lifetime teaching me how to handle horses. he's one of the few to teach how to keep steady riding at full speed and. as well as how to do spectacular horseback. my wife says to me why on earth do you need all that talk and i explain it to a woman they don't understand it. all men are warriors at heart some more than others some don't have much of it others have quite a lot but i think i have

a good deal of. the regions of the homeland for the cossacks the true cause a few and far between even here. today cause like villages are becoming deserted with young villages moving to big cities whether or no horses or old ways of life because of. the russian don't horse breed or in need of protection. there are only about two hundred sixty mares of this breed left in the world they are on the verge of extinction. every kusiak is supposed to be good at handling a whip and a sort. in the old days every cause that carried them. thank the french audience at the final performance and enjoyed the cossacks outstanding ability to juggle with us today this looks like a circus act but two centuries ago who couldn't pull off such feats were regarded

as a failure even cossack women demonstrated outstanding skills. these horsemen from the kremlin riding school it's the only school to teach these traditional equestrian skills. after a detailed analysis of his defeat napoleon noted that the cossacks had ensured russia's success he said contacts with the best like troops of the day and if he'd had them in his army he could have marched across the whole world is. that old as you are good morning cossacks gratings. it was powerful marshall acuff who came up with the idea of the march from moscow to paris. the businessman and stud farm owner spends all of his earnings on horses his main ambition is to revive the dawn breed. they are beautiful. pavel owns a large stable and past as well he's also building

a cossack settlements for tourists to go horse riding. this lovely little mare is only two years old she need to wait another three years before she can fold her more of a beauty. oh look they've been you all over poor thing. believes these holes is a russia's best asset and something to be proud of. it hurts when people say bad things about cossacks they may call drug lords fools layabouts all sorts there really is sad and what's worse some people even write off our most recent victories in world war two my grandfather commanded a division during that war so i know the hardships people went through. the starting point for the much was must goes up the hill you notice twenty twelve

it was here in eighteen twelve on the second of september the napoleon waited in vain to be given the keys to the capital they never came. soon afterwards was plundered and razed to the ground. two years later russian troops led by the chieftain cloth of approached. napoleon dreaded the backlash the field the russians would do to paris the friendship done to moscow. feet. this ground one hundred twenty kilometers from moscow is almost as familiar to the french as it is to the russians the battlefield of. the cossacks raced across the field where some one hundred thousand people died in a single day over forty thousand russians and nearly sixty thousand frenchmen.

this is was an attack by the men of celebrated russian chieftain plus might have looked like. the russians launched an assault to gain the breathing space they needed to bring up there was. men one to alice to regroup overwhelming the french on the left flank. the cossacks ahead and. he described. his fifty battles he failed to achieve superiority even the french are confident that. russia was victorious. there were all sorts of situations but at the end of the day. in the

twentieth century. divide the cars into two sections. repeat the maneuvers of the russian offensive from two hundred years ago. the legend of a hasty french retreat has been passed down here from generation to generation. of children to forward the french turn tail. carriage to look for it as you can see we two are trying to find it's ours we call it the belorussian treasure belongs to the. locals have left no stone unturned in search of the prize even in swamps and peat bogs alas they have never found the golden carriage. in the local villages only a few elderly residents remain. i don't think more than

a dozen young people live here. pensions only income twice a week they come to the bus stop to wait for a shop trailer this time the mobile shop is late and instead of the residents are greeted by cossacks approaching on the horizon. of welcome with bunches of flowers . such handsome horses. hello there. comes close on the heels of the cossacks the old people form a queue to buy the basic necessities of life but it's. just a few. stopping here on their journey to paris will be the topic of many conversations for a long time to come nothing so exciting has ever happened here. such

a long way to paris it might be difficult to travel on horseback there. on the fifteenth day of the journey the cossacks have made it to poland in two weeks they've covered the same distance as russian troops did during this two month long pursuit of me. in december eight hundred twelve napoleon into russia with a fifty thousand strong elite but he left with only fifteen hundred. frostbitten troops. was no foregone conclusion. is more than a cossack he's also a historian and writer his latest book will tell the story of this journey is keeping a diary but. in

a lifetime chance i couldn't turn it down. you know the love. of your dog. will be enough the french one nearly every battle but as the russian army increased in number it was quite apparent that the french would win doing by the time napoleon was retreating to poland has only had almost run out of artillery provisions and even forces. it's mine you've got yours finish it you i'm like vassileva rennick i like saying of a sense of does not hail from the dawn area even though he's from bloody mia he still has cause like blood in his veins. aside from being a music teacher he also leads a cossack troop in his village and teaches caustic writing skills to local children . we his name is when he was an unruly stallion he wouldn't let

anybody into his stable but now he is quite gentle such horses except only tender treatment the horse of the dawn breed is his master's horse once you've established a bond with him he'll be devoted to you for as long as he lives he'll fight for you . likes a german he's just as legendary in europe as but i do know is in russia. the story is describe a battle of nations austrian prussian and swedish troops joining the russians in their fight against napoleon. around a hundred thousand died in the battle which forced napoleon to flee back to france with what remained of his army. recover some forty kilometers a day early in retreat it is about the same pace again even momentum with time.

was simply lagging behind only plots of his men had skirmishes in the podiums regard. although the forests here look much as they do back home the cossacks already feel homesick they've covered more than two thousand kilometers in over a month. this journey is making me homesick. i miss my kids my wife my parents. live their life. their. mission. critical take three. three. three. three. three.

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market. can't. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines two kinds a report on our. fronts is the final leg of the journey the last stop for a final push towards napoleon's residence at fontainebleau. they've already covered almost three thousand kilometers away from. these riders who followed the route that the russians took as they drove napoleon out of russia and then pursued him across the whole of europe. the emperor's pointing at us rio the hero's. attention. two hundred years later russian cossacks

lay flowers at the monument to the great napoleon bonaparte. before his invasion of russia napoleon had made the call sites out to be monsters to scare parisians propaganda of the day painted them as bearded giants raping them even eating people he went so far as to claim that a peruvian woman with her little daughter had fall on her knees before plot of the chieftain begging him not to eat a child. two hundred years ago russian could hardly imagine the warm welcome that greets them. behave decently despite their reputation. the first victory.

even released prisoners of. today. march side by side. a french businessman. is diplomatic in his assessment of the. you're going to see anyone who. has to be. both sides. when they did the russians wanted to hold the french. the russians. his fate.

very decently in france. since. it was. neither he nor his descendants. his intention to fight victory. quite historically. grounds. and it was here that napoleon bade farewell to his guards his toppled empire and his ambitions to create a greater france he travelled into exile under russian escort.

you have. this image on the memories of russia's cossacks returns to france just a hundred years later when many emigrated seeking refuge from the bolshevik revolution. this woman says her grandfather came to france with the white army there is a cost and this child in the picture is her father it was taken in one thousand nine hundred his name was nicholai were to bring up it was like it's great to meet such people so far away from your homeland could be. the day after the modern occupation of the cossacks head to the famous russian cemetery at century genevieve. loic and they're off their horses they're from a horseback precession yes i heard about them they were fine bunch they're here to celebrate the battle of boarded you know. many famous russian immigrants are buried here they include literary nobel prize winner. and the celebrated ballet dancer

rudolf nureyev. who clearly you're too cool to do this all in monuments commemorates the cossacks and army officers who left russia after the nine hundred seventeen revolution. the. close to one million russians fled to france though many lived to ripe old ages their thoughts remained with their lost homeland. they were still the depressing. is that true russians are buried here. that came after them was not. is gone forever. when russia came to france the country was still in ruins reeling from the

devastation wrought by world war one in which over a million frenchmen died. i read a story in a magazine about a migrant talking about. he said they would make the rounds of local farms he was employed as a farm hand that was just to cover. his real job was reviving the local population. with. a sightseeing tour of paris as a traditional habits of population revival still very much alive. the so-called sex. and sex. famous. let's get off here. two hundred years

ago when the russians took paris not a single painting went missing from the roof. the floors from french. quarter. and the pawns. in dress uniform. the eight hundred twelve had little time to meet and often use the russian. to the famous cafe to be quick. a corrupt version of the word subsequently took in french culture as the. bistro cafe. there's a business feeling inside me of deja vu i've got a sense that i've been here before. maybe it's genetic memory or something. but the . waiting for lunch of oysters and the cost anxious about the unfamiliar dishes

making vassilieva even more homesick. i'd like to go home as soon as i can when i get back i'll eat russian food just potatoes without all these fancy vegetables there were did like me always to it's but this cuisine isn't for me. the eiffel tower is the high point of the prison until it hadn't been built when the census first came to the city because i've only seen it on t.v. before and now here i am in paris it's fantastic a dream come true. and right next to the eiffel tower the cossacks met a few russian speaking french month one called five or ten. because socks adopted many french practices off their return to russia in eighteen fourteen women spoke to tight fitting blouses to triumph were built in the coastal

town of no bitch i can ask it still shaped streets were laid out in the paris model one of the how minutes was even though promised. oh yes of. course x. will be cossacks on the eiffel tower all anyone else wants to sing as just no stopping the. bird shuffle over your head i don't doubt that us thinks that you know. i think that you. the journey has come to an end alexei never said seth brings his horse for the last time before setting off home. let me have your leg but you need to brush easy now bubble for good boy. the noble beasts will return in horse

boxes. will travel with the others by coach he's in high spirits because he won't be homesick for much longer but his joy is modded by the prospect of passing with his beloved holes in his arm i'm so attached to him i can't bear the thought that will have to eventually part with him he's very tender and beady and. i call him my little lamb sometimes. he'll be missing me too and don't know whether he'll be able to get used to a new master. and finally because next perform with their horses for the very last time before

going to. displace the bloody conflict the napoleonic walls brought france and russia closer together the soviet union had a special relationship of france despite being a member of nato. today hundreds of thousands of concept descendants still live in france and many frenchmen stayed on russia. the cossacks bid farewell to fontainebleau but they will return for another friendly invasion.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. download the official ati application to yourself choose your language stream

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