31. A Series of Catastrophic Decisions
Napoleon had originally planned to halt at Smolensk, go into winter quarters, and resume the campaign the following year. Once in Smolensk, though, he decided to continue on to Moscow. Near Moscow, the Russians finally offered battle at Borodino, where Napoleon won a hard-fought engagement. However, at the decisive moment, he wavered and held off from his usual tactic of sending in his elite Imperial Guard, kept in reserve, to finish off the reeling enemy. That prevented the victory from becoming decisive, and allowed the battered Russians to live to fight another day.
When he reached Moscow, Napoleon assumed that the Russians would sue for peace, so he waited for their peace feelers even as winter drew near. The Russians strung him along, but no more than he strung himself along with wishful thinking of peace negotiations long after it became obvious that the Russians were not interested. By the time he gave up and marched back to Smolensk, it was too late, and his unprepared army was caught by winter during the retreat.
