Which Russian general dies from wounds at the Battle of Borodino in War and Peace?

The story behind the answer

The Russian general who dies from wounds received at the Battle of Borodino in War and Peace is Prince Bagration. Tolstoy uses his fate to emphasize the battle's extraordinary human cost and the collapse of Russia's left wing.

Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration commanded the Russian Second Army during Napoleon's 1812 invasion. At Borodino on September 7, 1812, his troops defended the fortified positions known as the Bagration flèches. During the fighting, he was struck in the leg by shell fragments and removed from the field.

Bagration did not die on the battlefield itself. He was evacuated and later died of complications, traditionally described as gangrene, on September 24, 1812. That distinction explains the question's wording: he died from wounds sustained at Borodino. Barclay de Tolly and Kutuzov were also major Russian commanders at the battle, but neither is the general identified by this death.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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