[Atatator]

> standing at the doorstep of their ancient capital

Moscow was neither "ancient capital" nor current capital of Russia in 1812.

[TonyStr]

My apologies, I think I was misremembering a quote from War and Peace.

I actually went and found the passage that confused me: https://literaturepage.com/read/warandpeace-1228.html

Thank you for correcting me! Tolstoy meant it philosophically/culturally, not literally.