1. Continuity of motion. Achilles and the tortoise. Image of the locomotive.
2. The campaign before Borodino. Kutuzov's subsequent movements.
3. Kutuzov and his generals. To defend or not to defend Moscow?
4. The war council at Fili. With a heavy heart Kutuzov opts for retreat.
5. The abandonment of Moscow. Rostopchin's inconsistent behaviour.
6. In Petersburg Helene converts to Catholicism and plans remarriage.
7. Helene writes to Pierre asking for his co-operation over the divorce.
8. Pierre walks back to Mozhaysk, where he meets his own groom.
9. Pierre's vivid dreams. He travels on to Moscow.
10. Pierre goes to see Rostopchin. The 'traitor' Vereshchagin.
11. Rostopchin warns Pierre that he must leave. He goes away in secrecy.
12. The Rostovs prepare to leave. Petya is in the army, but still with them.
13. Natasha invites wounded men to occupy their house.
14. Natasha rearranges the packing. Unknown to her, Andrey is brought in.
15. Natasha defeats her mother; they take wounded men instead of luggage.
16. Berg wants to borrow a cart. More and more wounded men fill their carts.
17. They trundle off in heavy traffic, with Andrey. An encounter with Pierre.
18. Pierre lives at Bazdeyev's. Gerasim gets him peasant clothing and a gun.
19. Napoleon surveys Moscow, awaiting a deputation of boyars.
20. Moscow is empty, like a dead beehive. Napoleon's grand coup de theatre has failed.
21. Incoming soldiers block the bridge. There is looting.
22. A young relative arrives at the Rostovs'. Mavra gives him money.
23. Abandoned workmen drink and brawl.
24. Rostopchin, feeling sidelined, needs a victim. Vereshchagin is available.
25. The killing of Vereshchagin. Lunatics on the loose. Kutuzov at the bridge.
26. The French enter Moscow. Much looting. The fire begins.
27. Pierre stays on to do his deed. The drunken Makar Bazdeyev has a pistol.
28. Pierre saves the occupying Captain Ramballe's life. They dine together.
29. They talk confidingly of women and love. A small fire is visible.
30. The Rostovs' staff see the fire at Mytishchi.
31. The count is informed. Natasha gets through to see Andrey.
32. Andrey is in and out of consciousness. Natasha now stays at his side.
33. Pierre sets out. He saves a child from the fire.
34. He defends an Armenian woman, and is then arrested as an arsonist.
VOLUME IV
Part I (August 1812)
1. Anna Scherer's soiree. News that Helene is seriously ill.
2. A victory at Borodino is reported. Death of Helene.
3. Michaud reports the loss of Moscow to the Tsar.
4. Nikolay is sent to Voronezh. He stands out in provincial society.
5. He flirts. The governor's wife advises him against marrying Sonya.
6. He visits Princess Marya, loves her but cannot imagine her as his wife.
7. A letter from Sonya sets Nikolay free. He still thinks fondly of Marya.
8. She had written under pressure from the countess.
9. Pierre under interrogation. Fourteen men await their verdict.
10. Pierre is sentenced to death as a spy.
11. Five prisoners are brutally executed. Pierre and the others are spared.
12. Pierre meets Platon Karatayev in prison.
13. Pierre sees Karatayev as the embodiment of simplicity and truth.
14. Princess Marya joins the Rostovs in Yaroslavl. Andrey is in a bad way.
15. Little Prince Nikolay is taken to see his dying father.
16. Andrey experiences joy and a lightness of being just before he dies.
Part II (October 1812)
1. The flanking manoeuvre leading to Tarutino was natural and inevitable.
2. Correspondence between Napoleon and Kutuzov. Changes in strength.
3. Alexander, and others, urge attack. Kutuzov sees no need to risk lives.
4. Battle dispositions are made, but Yermolov is slow to follow them up.
5. Kutuzov prepares reluctantly for battle but finds it has been postponed.
6. The Cossacks then attack, find Murat but fail to follow up their success.
7. A small victory, with some (useless) losses. Naopleon is on his way out.
8. Napoleon, the 'genius', made all the wrong decisions in Moscow.
9. He took charge, issuing proclamations and orders. Nothing worked.
10. He failed in militarism, diplomacy, justice, religion and everything else.
11. Pierre spends four weeks in prison. Karatayev and the French soldier.
12. Pierre wants freedom, but he is full of joie de vivre and energy.
13. Departure of the French. Pierre's group is marched away.
14. Pierre laughs at the idea of them locking up his real self and immortal soul.
15. The Russians at Fominsk and Maloyaroslavets. Dokhturov the real hero.
16. Konovnitsyn, who brought news of the retreat, is another unsung hero.
17. Kutuzov, awakened at night, thanks God for the salvation of Russia.
18. The French run away in panic, and Napoleon comes near to being caught.
19. The French army melts away. Kutuzov wants to let them go, unharassed.
Part III (October--November 1812)
1. Russia behaved like a duellist who dropped his rapier and seized a cudgel.
2. Russia did not play by the book. The success of guerrilla warfare.
3. Denisov and Dolokhov plan to join forces and attack the fleeing French.
4. Young Petya Rostov turns up with a message.
5. From afar Denisov and Petya observe Tikhon Shcherbaty at work.
6. Sent to catch a Frenchman, Shcherbaty returns empty-handed.
7. Petya feels sympathy for a captured French drummer-boy.
8. Dolokhov and Denisov plan their attack. Petya insists on going with them.
9. Dolokhov and Petya infiltrate the French camp to get information.
10. Night. Petya is in a magic kingdom, dreaming. He is ready for anything.
11. In his impetuosity Petya is soon killed. Pierre is among the men rescued.
12. Pierre struggles on with the other prisoners. Karatayev is ill.
13. Pierre still derives great joy from Karatayev's solemn happiness.
14. Karatayev lags behind and is shot. His dog is left howling.
15. They are rescued by Dolokhov. Pierre sees Petya's dead body.
16. The French army, at half strength, is a ragged shambles.
17. Russian and French manoeuvres are like a game of blind man's buff.
18. Even in retreat the absurd Napoleon is described as a 'great man.'
19. Four good reasons why the Russians did not cut off the French.
Part IV (November--December 1812)
1. The Rostovs. Natasha's grief is interrupted by bad news.
2. At first the countess cannot accept the news of Petya's death.
3. Marya stays on with Natasha, then they leave for Moscow.
4. The Russian generals want more glory, hence the battle of Krasnoye.
5. Kutuzov's natural good sense and total consistency.
6. Kutuzov's speech of simplicity and sincerity moves the men.
7. A wattle wall is brought in to shield the fire.
8. Soldiers talk round the camp-fire under the night sky.
9. Two Frenchmenemerge from the woods, Ramballe and his orderly.
10. Crossing of the Berezina. Kutuzov receives the Order of St George.
11. Kutuzov, his job done, declines and dies.
12. Pierre gets used to freedom and reviews his life.
13. Pierre is happy now, full of good will and liked by everyone.
14. The people return to Moscow and the city begins to recover.
15. Pierre meets Natasha again, much changed. She is pleased to see him.
16. Natasha unburdens herself, telling the whole story of Andrey's death.
17. Pierre spends long hours in the company of Marya and Natasha.
18. Pierre wants to marry Natasha. He leaves things to Marya.
19. Pierre is in a frenzy of joy. He loves everybody he meets.
20. Pierre has to go briefly to Petersburg, but the marriage is on.
EPILOGUE
Part I (1813--20)
1. The forces at work in history act beyond human reason.
2. The popular concepts of chance and genius are entirely superfluous.
3. An infinity of chance contingencies caused these events, not Napoleon.
4. Alexander renounces power. Why do bees exist? For no single reason.
5. Death of Count Ilya Rostov. Nikolay resigns. His position worsens.
6. Marya comes to Moscow. The match with Nikolay becomes possible.
7. They live at Bald Hills, raising a family. The debts are paid off.
8. Nikolay eschews violence. Sonya, the 'sterile flower', lives with them.
9. The happiness and imperfections of family life.
10. Natasha monopolizes Pierre, but gives him total freedom round the house.
11. Pierre returns, in trouble for staying away too long in Petersburg.
12. The separate microcosms at Bald Hills. Little Nikolay idolizes Pierre.
13. Pierre is worried about growing repression in the capital.
14. Pierre attacks the government, Nikolay defends, and little Nikolay listens.
15. The mutual, though different, love that exists between Marya and Nikolay.
16. Natasha's jealous love. Little Nikolay's desire to be worthy of his father.
Part II
1. The different faults of ancient and modern historians.
2. Historians, inconsistent and contradictory, stop short of real analysis.
3. The force of history is power, but how is it used to direct events?
4. The transfer of popular will to heroic leaders is a fallacy.
5. Will is only part of an event. Events often defy the will behind them.
6. No result stems from a given order. Orders come from the uninvolved.
7. Causation is complex. Retrospective explanations are too convenient.
8. We are not free, but consciousness creates in us an illusion of free will.
9. Actions are partly free, partly the products of necessity.
10. Freedom and necessity are interdependent. Neither is absolute.
11. Free will is an illusion. There are laws, and history must find them.
12. Free will must go. Personality depends on space, time and causality.
Appendix 2:
The Three Battles
Schongrabern
The Russian action at Schongrabern, or Hollabrunn on 16 November 1805 (4 November Old Style) was essentially defensive. Its purpose was to delay the French as long as possible so that the enfeebled Russian army could escape to recover its strength. The Austrian General Mack's army had been routed at Ulm, which meant that Austria was lost, the French were pouring eastwards, and the Russian army, which had just marched a thousand miles, was pressed into service earlier than expected. General Kutuzov had pulled back to Vienna and he continued his retreat, burning down the bridges behind him. A temporary victory at Durrenstein, against the French Commander Mortier, only served to weaken the army further. At Hollabrunn under General Bagration a Russian army of 6,000 held out against 30,000 Frenchmen.
Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 (20 November Old Style) was one of Napoleon's greatest victories. (It is sometimes called the Battle of the Three Emperors because Napoleon, Alexander I and Francis of Austria were all on the field.) The allies decided to make a stand against Napoleon at Austerlitz, not far from the present-day city of Brno. They were tactically outmanoeuvered from the outset, duped into thinking the French were weaker than they were and into attacking the army's flanks, leaving the vital centre ground (the Pratzen heights) easily available. The French defended the flanks, took the heights and won a decisive battle. They lost 9,000 men; the allies 25,000. After the battle the third coalition against Napoleon disintegrated, the Austrians had to sign a humiliating treaty and the Russians went home.
Borodino
Napoleon's original intention in entering Russia in June 1812 was to destroy the army in a pitched battle, but the Russians refused to stand and fight. Napoleon had little trouble in advancing through Vitebsk and taking the city of Smolensk, though his numbers declined, his supply lines were seriously extended and the Russians' scorched earth tactics deprived him of local provisions. Nevertheless he pressed on. Barclay de Tolly's policy of strategic withdrawal was unpopular in the capital, and he was replaced as commander-in-chief by the aged Kutuzov, who knew he must now stand his ground. Kutuzov's 115,000 men took on Napoleon's 130,000 at the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 (26 August Old Style). All morning fierce fighting seesawed back and forth along a three-mile front. Kutuzov committed all his men; Napoleon too prudently held back a reserve of 20,000. During the afternoon soldiers fought hand-to-hand; the number of casualties was enormous on both sides. By evening the French had the upper hand technically, having taken the much-prized Rayevsky redoubt. They had lost 33,000 men, though the Russian losses came to 44,000. But the French were in no state to press home their advantage. Their apparent victory soon turned into a moral triumph for the Russians, who had not been vanquished and whose subsequent activities would see the French off Russian soil before the end of the year. Napoleon's most bloody encounter amounted after all to something like a pyrrhic victory.
Notes
VOLUME I
PART I
1 Genoa and Lucca . . . Buonaparte family: Genoa and Lucca were territories recently annexed by France. Napoleon's Corsican name was Napoleone Buonaparte; the original version (with a 'u') is used here as a deliberate insult.
2 Novosiltsev's dispatch: N. N. Novosiltsev was a special ambassador sent to Paris by Emperor Alexander to assist with (ultimately abortive) peace negotiations.
3 'Oh, don't talk to me about Austria!': Only a few weeks earlier (in April 1805) the Third Coalition had been formed between Great Britain, Austria and Russia. Their plan was to defeat Napoleon by means of a three-pronged attack. The Russians had been let down before by the Austrians, and there were many who believed they could not be relied on now.
4 the hydra of revolution . . . murdering villain: The French Revolution is still fresh in the memory. In its wake revolutionary stirrings were being sensed in other European countries, including Russia. Napoleon, with his common background, seems to embody the new republican spirit which threatens the stability of countries ruled by monarchs.
5 She has refused to evacuate Malta: Malta had been taken by Napoleon in 1798, and then captured by the British in 1800. Under the Peace of Amiens Great Britain was due to leave the island, but refused to do so. Russia's offer to mediate between the British and the French was rejected, and the two countries went to war in 1803, with Russia supporting the British against Napoleon.
6 Wintzengerode: Many of the characters are real people; the most important ones are identified as 'Historical Figures in War and Peace' in 'The Characters' (p. 1372).
7 Lavater . . . paternity bump: J. K. Lavater (1741--1801) was a Swiss physiognomist, one of the forerunners of phrenology, a pseudoscience based on the idea that bumps on the skull indicate various mental capacities.
8 the Duke of Enghien: The Duke of Enghien was shot by the French in 1804, after being wrongfully accused of plotting to assassinate Napoleon.
9 Louis XV: King of France from 1715 until his death in 1774.
10 the Social Contract: Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Contrat Social (1762), a treatise on government and citizenship, was regarded by some people as a cause of the violent excesses of the French Revolution of 1789.
11 the 18th Brumaire: The date on the French Revolutionary Calendar (9 November 1799) of a successful coup, following which Napoleon became First Consul. 'Brumaire' was the second month in the French Revolutionary Calendar, 22 October-20 November. Brume is French for 'fog'.
12 all those prisoners . . . killed in Africa: A reference to Napoleon's authorization of the brutal killing of 3,000 Turkish prisoners at Jaffa in September 1799.
13 Jacobin: Popular name for one of the French revolutionary societies, which met in the hall of a Jacobin convent.
14 Napoleon on the bridge at Arcola . . . plague-victims: At Arcola in 1796, leading the French against the Austrians, Napoleon had risked his life by rushing on to a bridge carrying a flag. In Jaffa in 1799 he had taken another risk by visiting a plague hospital.
15 Caesar's Commentaries: Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, one of the foundation stones of military history written by a highly successful general.
16 a freemason: Freemasons were a byword for liberal thinking, but were also regarded by the authorities as proto-revolutionaries. It isn't clear here which way Pierre is thinking.
17 typical of Petersburg in June: It is actually July; Tolstoy must mean it is like the best nights in June.
18 name-day: A saint's day celebrated by Russians who were named after that particular saint, here St Natalya's Day.
19 Catherine's time: Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796.
20 Salomoni: An Italian opera-singer resident in Russia and appearing with a touring German company in the winter of 1805 - 6.
21 Madame de Genlis: Felicite Ducrest de Saint-Aubin (1746--1830), a French writer of popular romances with strong moral content, a byword with the children for boring grown-up repectability.
22 Count Orlov: Count Alexey Orlov was a popular and generous Moscow grandee, famous for his lavish hospitality and entertainment.
23 errare humanum est: It is human to err (Latin).
24 his last duty: This duty is to receive extreme unction, be anointed with consecrated oil by a priest.
25 Mr Pitt: William Pitt (1759 - 1806), one of Britain's finest prime ministers, was a bitter opponent of the French Revolution and now of Napoleon.
26 Boulogne expedition .