Special Guest Stars

January 2, 2013 11:07 AM

In the bicentennial celebration of the historic Battle of Borodino on September 7th, 1812, that saw the Russian Army, despite heavy losses, withstand the attack of Napoleon’s forces, Orion Art multimedia group held a massive festival at Spasskaya Tower in Red Square, Moscow… complete with guest appearance by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
posted by infini (7 comments total)

Those guys in the uniforms do not look to scared. I am guess those where not the real four horsemen, or Russians are way harder to impress than I imagined.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:39 AM on January 2

I heard that, in an effort to remain true to history, the group planned a follow-up celebration a week later in which they would burn down the city. Couldn't get the permits though.
posted by Panjandrum at 12:14 PM on January 2 [3 favorites]

And yet when I brought this battle up to some Russian coworkers (they live in Russia -- not in Moscow though) all I got were blank stares.
posted by MustardTent at 12:37 PM on January 2

Holy crap -- those photos in the last link are stunning. Or maybe I'm just in the mood for some nice eye candy, but that's some good stuff there.
posted by mosk at 1:51 PM on January 2

The rest of the FPP was just padding, mosk.
posted by infini at 2:06 PM on January 2

There's a great description of the battle in WAR AND PEACE. Tolstoy basically says all the histories are wrong and it was just a huge mess. You can probably say that about any battle!
posted by alasdair at 2:24 PM on January 2

I love the bit about Napoleon's staffer maybe causing the battle to be lost, alasdair, because he got the Emp the wrong boots. Hence Nap. got a mean cold, which messed up his battle planning.

Amazing photos, infini.
posted by doctornemo at 1:37 PM on January 3