r/HighQualityGifs • u/KimWexlersEclipse • 9d ago

MRW Im just a lowly Cossack forced to march against Napoleon

243 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

55

u/Purple_Haze 9d ago

Those are not Cossacks. Those are heavy infantry. Cossacks are light infantry or light cavalry. They fought the French using what today we would call guerilla warfare. And their uniforms were different: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%8A_1821_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0.jpeg

17

u/MrPhi 9d ago

Thank you! Not only did you identify the misinformation but you made me look for the article on Cossacks participation to Napoleonic wars.

11

u/Delfishie 9d ago

I have no idea what any of this is, but the gif looks fantastic! Great job, OP!

7

u/KimWexlersEclipse 9d ago

It's from a restoration of one of Soviet era cinema's biggest films:

The film was produced by the Mosfilm studios between 1961 and 1967, with considerable support from the Soviet authorities and the Soviet Army which provided hundreds of horses and over ten thousand soldiers as extras. At a cost of 8.29 million Rbls (equal to US$ 9.21 million at 1967 rates, or $60–70 million in 2019, accounting for rouble inflation) it was the most expensive film made in the Soviet Union

You can watch the entire Four hundred and thirty one minutes on youtube: https://youtu.be/bIij-KQ0jYU

(and I obviously know too little about Russian military history)

2

u/ExdigguserPies 9d ago

Is it worth a watch? Historically accurate at all?

1

u/sillytrooper 5d ago

seens it as a kid more times than not, i liked it then

3

u/CertsVA 9d ago

"Ura Murat!"

4

u/KimWexlersEclipse 9d ago

Still dont know how to flair in this sub.. War and Peace (1965)