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Berezina

Battles
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The 1812 crossing of the Berezina River during Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Moscow.

Detailed Definition
Berezina became synonymous with catastrophic loss and desperate survival. In poetry, it symbolizes the collapse of ambition and the human cost of hubris—frequently evoked in elegiac and Romantic works to explore themes of exile, memory, and the fragility of power in the face of nature and fate.
Example
Example in poetry:
Berezina, where Napoleon’s army fled Russia in 1812, appears in French poetry as icy catastrophe; A modern elegy might contrast Berezina’s frozen river with Parisian salons; In a dramatic lyric, a Polish lancer recalls burning bridges at Berezina; A sonnet could frame Berezina as nature’s revenge on ambition; Contemporary poets use Berezina to explore retreat as survival; A free-verse poem might voice a drummer boy lost in the snow.
Additional Notes
The Berezina River crossing (1812) during Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow became synonymous with disaster and survival; poets use it as a metaphor for collapse, with icy waters symbolizing fate’s indifference and the human cost of ambition.
Also Known As
Battle of the Berezina Berezina River Crossing
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