Show Notes
This project is approaching the final chapter of Book I, a critical juncture with Napoleon victorious and holding the greatest reputation man can bestow. Even after Napoleon suffered a string of defeats years later, his reputation was colossal when Tolstoy wrote War &Peace.
Many readers coming to this book do not realize Napoleon is something of a dark force utilized to portray how to view those who send others to die for a ruler's vain ambitions. In this regard, it is important to recall how Tolstoy was influenced the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, which comments on vainglorious ambitions as well as the meaningless of everything without an appreciation of the Transcendent. Tolstoy is reaching to you from another age, highlighting how you can recognize War’s profane nature compared to what is above. Tolstoy recognizes how calls to war are a siren’s song as well as how easy it is to get young men to answer, usually via a small bounty or appeal to patriotism.
Acknowledging the idiosyncratic pacifist Tolstoy became, his work still recognizes how a defensive war is more justified than the type of conflict at Austerlitz. Further, Tolstoy was exceptionally critical of his own government, which makes War & Peace so relevant in our times. In this spirit, I bring up the following story:
Upon Russia’s mass invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Aleksei Nikitin, a regular citizen from Moscow, tried to make a difference and stood up to power.
Aleksei recognized crossing his neighbors’ border and unleashing the largest land invasion since the Second World War is the type of aggression Tolstoy condemned. Aleksei brought Tolstoy into his public protest by writing an excerpt on a poster-board from the 1894 essay “On Patriotism.” It read:
“Patriotism is the abdication of human dignity, reason and conscience and a slavish submission to those in power. Patriotism is slavery.”
It was a controversial sentiment then and remains so. This essay described Tolstoy’s conception of patriotism -- in that militaristic age -- as a vulgar sentiment used by governments to justify their war machines. He argued it is opposite to what he took out of the Bible, namely Christian brotherhood.
Aleksei’s use of the essay speaks to what Tolstoy has Andrei grasp as Andrei views the senselessness of a red-haired Russian artilleryman squaring off against a French attacker – both Christians struggling over a mop as if it was the Holy Grail. Tolstoy was speaking to the baseness of what he witnessed, as a soldier on campaigns in Chechnya and being on the losing side of the Crimean War.
Tolstoy points out that men mercilessly hacking one another have a great deal more in common with one another – than the men of supposedly higher status, who sent them to die. Tolstoy described, in another part of the essay:
"It is even impossible to imagine, how and for what, Russian and German workmen, peacefully and conjointly working on the frontiers or in the capitals, should clash. And much less easily can one imagine animosity between some Kazan peasant who supplies Germans with wheat, and a German who supplies the peasant with scythes and machines. It is the same between French, German, and Italian workmen."
Aleksei Nikitin was arrested and the Moscow police statement on the proceeding was carefully worded and likely came from their Intelligence Service:
“This writer’s (Tolstoy’s) works and articles were harshly critical of the ruling (Czarist) regime, including justifying violence against the government. Therefore, the actions of Citizen Nikitin should be interpreted as a call to overthrow the existing authorities and also to follow the ideology of Tolstoy.”
This was a revealing acknowledgement that the philosophy of Tolstoy is threat to a system throwing countless men into their War Machine. Nevertheless, the Russian government succeeded in stunting that portion of citizenry who were in line with the ideals of Tolstoy. Once the internal dissension was suppressed, the Russian
More from War & Peace Podnotes, A Study Guide
As War & Peace delves into to fiction to a much greater degree than the previous section, exploring the Rostov family dynamic throughout 1806, there is a great deal that historically transpired which Tolstoy does not bring you through. In this stretch, Bonaparte was a continental Behemoth, who sets his sights on Prussia, then an industrial power with a highly organized military. The centers that made up the Prussian Kingdom were: Berlin, Potsdam, Königsberg and Danzig. You should recall that based on the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon replaced the Habsburg Family as the principal authority in Central Europe. Austria never again reached such heights of power. Over the next 70 years Austria would lose influence over the dozens of German states while Prussia gained in this regard. It was Prussia, under Otto Von Bismarck, who in 1871 established the nation we know as Germany. In the start of 1806, France remained in a state of war against Russia, England and even Sweden. It was a busy and productive year for "the man of destiny." In February, Napoleon sent General André Messéna to Naples to overthrow the Bourbon King, Ferdinand IV, and install his brother, Joseph. Messéna was successful though fighting continued for months. In the Summer, Napoleon consolidated control of Holland and placed a crown on another brother, Louis. By mid-July, Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine of mostly southern German states, where he compelled alliances. The expanded territory gave the French 60,000 more troops. Napoleon was reshaping Central Europe to assure French influence and limit that of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain. Napoleon’s desire was to marginalize Britain economically after the Brtis won control of the seas at the Battle of Trafalgar, which preceded Austerlitz by a month. Just off the Southwest coast of France, the French Navy was decimated. The English controlled the water, but Napoleon was dominant on land and wanted to implement the Continental Commerce System. He had success in spreading French administrative, legal and social reforms—including the Napoleonic Code. When possible and practical, he moved to end the remnants of feudalism. The Code abolished a plethora feudal privileges, dismantled manorial courts and freed some peasants, granting basic civil rights and a semblance of equality before the law. To continue to foster his ambitions, Napoleon set his sights on Prussia, which included former Polish territory. Poland was a former Kingdom cut up (partitioned) by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, where many Polish nobles committed allegiance to the Czar or King of Prussia. While the Czar worked with much of the nobility of Poland, the peasants filled the ranks and endured. Czar Alexander was 27 in 1806. Despite the historic loss at Austerlitz, Alexander, would rule for nearly two more decades. He was fortunate that his population was forgiving. Alexander did not enter into serious peace negotiations nor publicly concede the loss. Many among the Russian nobility blamed the result on the Austrians. There are memoirs from Phillip Vigel, then a 20 year-old Russian diplomat, who detailed his observations of the mood in Moscow and Petersburg. The Muscovites were more vocal in castigating the Czar. Some would even laud Napoleon. There, Bonaparte earned nickname befitting a Russian Conqueror, Napoleoskha. In Petersburg, the population shared the humiliation. They would explain the result as a turn of luck. Vigel expressed that Petersburg society felt the desire to get themselves off the floor and prove themselves. He sensed a general optimism of youth. He also notes how the English desired Russia as allies against the French and Czar was their lifeline from French domination. Consequently, Russia spent the summer of 1806 preparing for a new war -- reorganizing and refilling their ranks. General Kutuzov fades into obscurity for a time. Just prior to Austerlitz, in the Fall of 1805, Alexander made a notable a
We now get taken from March of 1806, through the warmer months and then to the end of the year. Quite the fast-forward!
We have reached the pivotal chapter involving the death of the Little Princess and birth of the Andrei’s son.
We move further into March of 1806 and return to Bald Hills, the estate of Andrei’s father. Despite letters and official inquiries, Andrei’s body had not been found nor was he on the list of prisoners.
This episode examines some likely influences in Tolstoy’s writing of the Duel between Pierre & Dolokhov.