War and Peace read the full version. And she smiled her enthusiastic smile

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Main characters:

• Pierre Bezukhov- a young man, the illegitimate son of Count Kirill Bezukhov. Darling positive hero the author, who throughout the novel lives a life full of changes and trials. After the death of Count Bezukhov, according to his father's will, he receives a huge fortune and suddenly, unexpectedly even for himself, becomes very rich.
• Anna Pavlovna Sherer- maid of honor and close associate of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the owner of a fashionable high-society “political” salon in St. Petersburg, in whose house guests often gather. A woman with established opinions and traditions.

• Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya- a princess who was very worried about her son Boris. She asked Prince Vasily to put in a word with the sovereign so that he would be transferred to the guard, and he went to meet her. She played a decisive role in the decision to divide the inheritance of Count Kirill Bezukhov, who was dying.
• Boris Drubetsky- son of Anna Mikhailovna. In the first chapter he is shown as a decent young man, who, by the grace of the sovereign, was transferred to the guard. Long time lived and was educated by the Rostovs.
• Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov- the father of a large family, a lively, cheerful, self-confident old man. He likes to live on a grand scale and throw feasts.
• Natalia Rostova- the wife of Ilya Andreevich, a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had twelve...” The countess was used to living in luxury and did not know how to save.
• Nikolay Rostov- the son of Count Ilya Rostov, a man with a cheerful and sociable character, to whom despondency is alien. Wanting to be useful to the Motherland, he decides to go to war.
• Natasha Rostova – main character novel. In the first part of the first volume - a thirteen-year-old, childishly spontaneous, cheerful girl with a perky character, cousin and good friend Sophia.
• Sonya Rostova– cousin and friend of Natasha, kind girl, who is in love with her friend’s older brother, Nikolai Rostov, and is worried about him going into the army.
• Vera Rostova- unloved daughter of Countess Rostova. The girl is beautiful and smart, but despite this, she produces an irritating, unpleasant effect on everyone around her. In her family, Vera behaves proudly and arrogantly, points out her sisters' shortcomings and deliberately creates trouble for them. Vera gives the impression of a cold, soulless and heartless girl.
• Nikolai Bolkonsky- retired general, father of the Bolkonsky family. In the first part he appears as an intelligent person who prefers accuracy in all his actions. He loves his daughter Maria, but raises her in excessive severity.
• Maria Bolkonskaya- daughter of Nikolai Bolkonsky, a very rich and noble noblewoman, kind and gentle, a believing girl, loving people and trying to act in such a way as not to upset anyone. In addition, she is smart and educated, because her father himself taught her algebra and geometry lessons.
• Andrey Bolkonsky- son of Nikolai Bolkonsky. This hero, unlike his father, does not have such a tough character. His behavior changes throughout the novel. In the first part of the first volume, he appears before the reader as an ambitious and proud young man who goes to war, despite the requests of his pregnant wife. Andrey is a sincere friend of Pierre Bezukhov, who wants to help him in everything.
• Little Princess, Elizabeth- Andrey's wife, a woman who loves secular society. She's sweet, smiling, beautiful woman, however, is very worried about the fact that her husband is leaving for the army and leaving her in a difficult situation. After all, Lisa is expecting a child.
• Prince Vasily Kuragin- an important official, an aristocrat, an influential person who serves at the imperial court and is personally acquainted with the empress. A relative of Count Kirill Bezukhov, claiming his inheritance, which, according to the plot of the story, was received not by him, but by Pierre Bezukhov.
• Helen Kuragina- daughter of Prince Vasily. A brilliant beauty of St. Petersburg with an unchanging smile. She makes great progress in the world, acquires a reputation as an intelligent woman, however, among her relatives she reveals such character traits as vulgarity, rudeness and cynicism.
• Anatol Kuragin, the son of Vasily Kuragin, is a negative character in the novel “War and Peace”. He behaves cheekily, often commits obscene acts, although he belongs to aristocrats.
• Marya Dmitrievna- a woman famous for her straightforward mind. She says what she thinks. She is known in Moscow, and in St. Petersburg, and in royal circles. The reader first meets this heroine at the Rostovs’ name day, who perceive her as a long-awaited guest.

Chapter first

The first chapter of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy's story “War and Peace” shows a secular society. Events begin in 1805. Guests often gather in the house of the maid of honor and close associate of the Empress Anna Pavlovna Scherer. And now Prince Vasily, a very influential man, was the first to come to her. A conversation ensues between them, in which they touch upon different topics: they discuss military events, politics, and also do not forget to mention how to arrange the future of children. Anna Pavlovna does not hide the fact that she is dissatisfied with the prince’s eldest son, Anatoly.

Chapter two

Anna Pavlovna's living room is gradually filling up. The author shows people of different temperaments, among whom Vasily’s daughter, Helen Kuragina, “in code and ball gown"; little princess Liza Bolkonskaya, who got married last year; as well as Pierre Bezukhov, presented by the writer as “a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, glasses, light trousers in the fashion of that time...”, who neither in appearance nor behavior fit into the spoiled secular society. This unexpected visit even caused concern for Anna Pavlovna, who, after talking briefly with Pierre, concluded that he was a young man who does not know how to live. However, Bezukhov himself felt uncomfortable among such high society.

Chapter Three

The hostess herself demonstrates to the guests the viscount, a young man who considered himself a celebrity, and the abbot who visited her as “something supernaturally refined.” Discussed again different topics, of which preference is given to the coming war with Bonaparte. Suddenly a new guest enters the living room - Andrei Bolkonsky, the husband of the little princess, whom Leo Tolstoy characterizes as the complete opposite of his wife. Andrey is surprised to see Pierre Bezukhov in big world.

Chapter Four

Prince Vasily is about to leave. He is stopped by one of the elderly ladies who were present at Anna Pavlovna’s evening and begins, expressing alarm and concern, to beg for her son Boris: “What do you have to say to the sovereign, and he will be directly transferred to the guard?” The prince tries to object, saying that it is difficult to ask the sovereign himself, but Princess Drubetskaya (that was the name of the elderly lady) is persistent. And Vasily finally gives in to the pleas, promising to do the impossible.

We invite you to read Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace.”

Meanwhile, Pierre Bezukhov, who intervened in the Viscount's conversation about the execution of the Duke of Enghien, commits an extremely indecent act in the eyes of Anna Pavlovna. Expressing his opinion that Bonoparte did the right thing in this case, and excitedly proving that he was right, Pierre does not notice how he is increasingly dissatisfied with the hostess and bewildered by those around him.


Prince Ippolit involuntarily tries to defuse the situation by deciding to tell the public a very funny joke. And he succeeds.

Chapter Five

In this chapter, after the first sentence, which mentions that the guests began to disperse, the author begins to describe one of the main characters - Pierre Bezukhov. So, what adjectives does he use to show the character of this extraordinary personality? First of all, it's clumsy. Secondly, absent-minded. But these, it would seem, negative qualities became insignificant in the light of the good nature, simplicity and modesty that this young man possessed.
Anna Pavlovna approached Pierre and softly spoke about her hope that he would eventually change his mind. Andrei Bolkonsky, passing by, reminded his friend that he was waiting for him at his place.

A short time later, Bezukhov and Bolkonsky met again - already within the walls of Prince Andrei’s home. From the author’s description, it is clear that Pierre felt at home here. A casual conversation ensued, but Andrei Bolkonsky made it clear that his friend’s childish discussions about Napoleon were not interesting to him.

However, the question followed, why was he going to war, to which the prince replied: “I am going because this life that I lead here, this life is not for me!”

Chapter Six

Andrei Bolkonsky’s wife, little princess Lisa, entered the room. A dialogue immediately took place between her and Pierre. Pierre, with his childish spontaneity, did not fail to express his opinion that he was perplexed as to why Andrey should go to war. He touched upon the sore subject of Bolkonsky’s wife, and therefore found support in her person. Lisa was afraid of separation from her husband - especially now, during pregnancy. Despair and fears took over, and she, not embarrassed by Pierre, began to tell her husband everything she thought about his desire to join the army and throw her into such difficult time. Bezukhov, who unwittingly became a witness to the beginning scandal, tried his best to calm Lisa down, but he had little success. Finally, Bolkonsky’s wife calmed down and resigned herself. Friends went to dinner.

And here, at the table, Andrei taught Pierre a valuable lesson about how to choose a life partner. “Don’t marry until you tell yourself that you did everything you could, and until you stop loving the woman you chose, until you see her clearly, otherwise you will be cruelly mistaken.” and irreparable,” he told his friend with conviction. And these words are worth thinking about for those who have decided to get married.

Andrei looked at Pierre with kind eyes, but still realized his superiority over him. He strongly advised his friend to leave “all these revelries,” saying that secular society was not suitable for such a nature as his. And he took his friend’s word of honor that he would not go to the Kuragins.

However, Pierre Bezukhov broke it immediately by leaving Andrei. The young man again went to Anatole to once again experience the taste of a dissolute life. They played cards there and drank a lot. Pierre could not resist and got so drunk that he also began to do unworthy things, bordering on madness.

Chapter Seven

The promise given to Princess Drubetskaya was fulfilled. Prince Vasily put in a word about her son before the sovereign, and he was transferred to the Semenovsky regiment as an ensign.

The princess herself turned out to be distant relative Rostov, from whom she temporarily rented housing and where her son Boris was raised.

The Rostovs had a big holiday - the birthday of mother and daughter. Both of their names were Natalya. This became the reason for the impending noisy fun.

In conversations with guests, some details were clarified. For example, the fact that Pierre Bezukhov, the son of the rich Count Kirill Bezukhov, turns out to have been illegitimate, however, the most beloved of the children, and since the Count was already very ill, those around him guessed who would get his huge fortune - Prince Vasily or Pierre.

They didn’t fail to talk about misbehavior Pierre, who, by getting involved with bad company, Dolokhov and Kuragin, compromised himself even more than at Anna Pavlovna’s evening, when he argued with the abbot about Napoleon’s actions. The story of the bear, to whom the rowdies tied a policeman and threw him to swim in the Moika River, caused conflicting reactions from those around him - some were indignant, while others could not stop laughing.

Chapter Eight

In this chapter, the reader for the first time has the opportunity to meet Natasha Rostova, one of the main characters of the novel “War and Peace.” At the beginning of the novel, she appears as a thirteen-year-old girl, cheerful and carefree. The author describes her as “black-eyed, with big mouth, ugly, but alive.”

Finally, in view of the name day, all the young people - Natalya, and Anna Mikhailovna’s son Boris, and the eldest son of Countess Natalya, Nikolai, and the Rostovs’ niece Sofia, and younger son Petya - settled in the living room.
At the end of the chapter, the author mentions that Boris Drubetsky and Nikolai Rostov were childhood friends.

Chapter Nine

At the beginning of this chapter, the Rostovs’ niece Sonya is described, who lives with them and with whom Natalya is very friendly.

The count father complains that his son Nikolai Rostov, imitating his friend Boris, is going to war, to which the young man objects: “It’s not friendship at all, but I just feel a calling to military service…»

However, Sonya, in love with Nikolai, can barely hold back her tears. The conversation turns to children again, and Countess Natalya mentions eldest daughter Vera, intelligent, well-mannered, with a pleasant voice, to whom she treated more strictly than to the younger one, but who, unlike Natalya Rostova, does not make such a pleasant impression on others. This girl is playing minor role in the plot of the novel.

Chapter Ten

Natasha Rostova, hiding between tubs of flowers, becomes an involuntary witness to the scene that occurred between Sofia and Nikolai, who, having confessed his love to the girl, kisses her. Natasha herself, at that time thinking that she loved Boris, called the young man to her, “embraced him with both arms, so that his thin bare arms bent above his neck, and, throwing back his hair with a movement of his head, kissed him... on the very lips.”

Chapter Eleven

Countess Natalya, who has not seen her friend Anna Mikhailovna for a long time, wants to talk to her alone. However, her daughter Vera is in the room. I have to tell her straight out that she is superfluous and suggest that she go to the sisters.

In the next sofa room there are two couples sitting - Boris and Natasha, as well as Nikolai and Sophia. Vera does not understand the feelings of young people, and a verbal altercation ensues between the sisters. However, self-confident Vera does not feel that she has said anything bad; on the contrary, she considers herself right in all her actions.

Meanwhile, in the living room, the dialogue between Anna Mikhailovna and Countess Natalya continues. The conversation first revolves around Nikolai Rostov’s service in the army, then the princess decides to go to Count Kirill Bezukhov in order, before it’s too late, to arrange for support for his godson Boris - and informs the countess about this. Count Rostov proposes to invite Pierre Bezukhov to dinner, which will take place on the occasion of the name day at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Chapter Twelve

Anna Mikhailovna and her son drove into the wide courtyard of Count Kirill, and then went into the house. The doorman reported to Prince Vasily about their arrival. An atmosphere of sadness reigned in the room, because the elder Bezukhov was terminally ill, already dying. Having given short instructions to Boris about serving in the army, Prince Vasily began to listen to Anna Mikhailovna. “He needs to be cooked if he is so bad,” she urged, and the prince again realized that this woman, who so insists on her own, is not so easy to get rid of. And Princess Anna Mikhailovna, having asked Boris to communicate with Pierre Bezukhov and give him an invitation to the Rostovs’ name day, sat down in a chair. She made a firm decision - “to help follow her uncle.”

Chapter Thirteen

Pierre Bezukhov stayed at his father's house. The story told about his indecent behavior was fair, and therefore the attitude towards the illegitimate son of Count Kirill Bezukhov was not friendly. To the question: “Can I see the count?” An unfriendly, negative answer followed, and Pierre, who did not receive what he expected, had to go to his room.

When Boris unexpectedly paid Bezukhov a visit, he was at first surprised, although he greeted him friendly and simply. “Count Rostov asked you to come to dinner with him today,” the guest said after an awkward silence that seemed long.

The young people began to talk, and Drubetsky managed to refute the assumption that he and his mother wanted to “get something from the rich man.”

Pierre really liked Boris Drubetsky; he warmed to this intelligent and strong-willed young man.

Anna Mikhailovna informed the prince about the decision to prepare the dying Kirill Bezukhov.

Chapter fourteen

Countess Rostova, after Anna Mikhailovna’s departure, sat for a long time by herself, and then called the maid and ordered her husband to be called. Taking pity on her poor friend, she decided to help her financially, and for this purpose she asked her husband for five hundred rubles. He became generous and gave seven hundred. When Anna Mikhailovna returned, the new banknotes were already lying under a scarf on the table.

Here’s to Boris from me, to sew a uniform,” said the countess, taking out money and giving it to her friend.

Chapter fifteen

Finally, guests began to arrive for the name day. There were already many people sitting in the living room who had come to congratulate the heroes of the occasion, but most of all they were expecting Marya Dmitrievna, a woman famous for her directness of mind and simplicity of manner, who was known both in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in royal circles.

The assembled guests preferred to speak in military theme. At first, they listened to the conversation that took place between an old bachelor named Shinshin, who was the countess’s cousin and Lieutenant Berg, an officer of the Semenovsky regiment. Then Pierre Bezukhov arrived, and the hostess, telling him a few words, said nothing meaningful phrases, asked Anna Mikhailovna to keep the young man busy.

Finally, Maria Dmitrievna arrived, who “took pear-shaped yakhon earrings from her huge reticule and, giving them to the birthday-shining and blushing Natasha,” suddenly turned to Pierre and began to scold him for the indecent behavior that the young man had allowed himself recently. In the end, the guests were seated at the tables. “The sounds of the count’s home music were replaced by the sounds of knives and forks, the chatter of guests, quiet steps waiters..."

Chapter sixteen

On the men's side of the table the conversation became more and more animated. One of the guests, a colonel, argued that the manifesto declaring war had already been issued in St. Petersburg and insisted: “We must fight to the last drop of blood,” while Shinshin was perplexed as to why fight with Bonoparte at all.

Count Nikolai noticed that his son was also joining the army. “And I have four sons in the army, but I don’t bother. It’s all God’s will: you will die lying on the stove, and in battle God will have mercy,” Maria Dmitrievna said loudly. Suddenly the childish voice of Natasha Rostova was heard: “Mom! what kind of cake will it be?

Surprisingly, even Maria Dmitrievna did not get angry when she saw such tactlessness, but laughed at the girl’s spontaneity, followed by all the guests.

Chapter Seventeen

The holiday was in full swing. Suddenly Natasha discovered the absence of her cousin and beloved friend Sonya and, leaving the guests, went to look for her. She saw the girl lying “prone on her nanny’s dirty striped feather bed, on a chest” and crying bitterly. The reason for the tears was that her Nikolenka was going into the army, but not only that. It turned out that Sonya was deeply hurt by the words of Vera, Natasha Rostova’s older sister, who threatened to show her mother Nikolai’s poems and called her ungrateful.

Kind Natasha calmed her friend down, and she became cheerful again. The girls returned to the hall. The guests danced a lot, joked, and rejoiced at such a wonderful event held in honor of the name day of dear Natalya Sr. and Natalya Jr. It was clear from everything that the holiday was a success.

Chapter Eighteen

While joy reigned in the Rostov house, the Bezukhov family was experiencing severe grief, the approach of imminent loss: Count Kirill suffered a sixth blow. People gathered in the reception room, including the confessor, ready to administer unction to the dying man.

“Meanwhile, Prince Vasily opened the door to the princess’s room,” where, according to the author’s description, “it was dark, and there was a good smell of smoke and flowers.”

Vasily called the girl, whom he called Katish (this was his cousin Katerina Sergeevna), for a serious conversation. They discussed Count Kirill's will and were very afraid that the entire inheritance could go to his illegitimate son Pierre.

Prince Vasily rightly feared this, but Catherine initially objected: “You never know how many wills he wrote, but he couldn’t make a will to Pierre! Pierre is illegal,” but then, having learned that, by virtue of the count’s written appeal, the sovereign could grant his request for adoption, she was also seriously alarmed.

Vasily and Katish began to think over a plan to destroy the will in the name of Pierre; moreover, they wanted to create a situation where Kirill Bezukhov himself would annull it. The paper lay under the dying man’s pillow, in a mosaic briefcase, and Princess Catherine and Prince Vasily so wanted to get to it.

Chapter nineteen

Anna Mikhailovna turned out to be a far-sighted woman. She assumed that a struggle would flare up over the inheritance and went to the Bezukhovs, urgently calling Pierre. Young Bezukhov was afraid of the upcoming meeting with his dying father, but he understood that it was necessary.

The princess and the son of Count Kirill entered the reception room. Pierre, obeying his leader, sat down on the sofa. The eyes of everyone in the room turned to this young man. But there was participation in them, even respect, and young Bezukhov felt “that this night he was a person who was obliged to perform some terrible ritual expected by everyone, and that therefore he had to accept services from everyone.”

“God's mercy is inexhaustible. The unction will begin now. Let’s go,” Anna Mikhailovna decisively called Pierre, and he entered the room where his dying father lay.

Chapter Twenty

Before the gaze of Pierre, who knew well the furnishings of his father’s room, a sad picture appeared: his father lying under the icons “with the same gray mane of hair, reminiscent of a lion, over his wide forehead and with the same characteristically noble large wrinkles on his beautiful red-yellow face”; confessors who are ready to administer unction to those departing to another world; two younger princesses, rolling with an angry expression on their faces; Anna Mikhailovna, some unknown lady; Prince Vasily, who was constantly baptized right hand, and others.

Pierre approached his father's bed. “He looked at the count. The Count looked at the place where Pierre's face was while he stood. Anna Mikhailovna showed in her expression an awareness of the touching importance of this last minute of the meeting between father and son.”

Chapter twenty one

There was no one in the reception room anymore, except for Prince Vasily and the eldest princess, who, at the sight of Anna Mikhailovna entering with Pierre, whispered that she could not see this woman.

Katerina was already holding the mosaic briefcase in her hands, which Anna Mikhailovna wanted to take away, persistently and feignedly affectionately convincing the princess not to resist. Two women tried to snatch the controversial item from each other. The fight continued until the middle princess ran out of the room where the count was dying. Katerina dropped her briefcase, which Anna Mikhailovna immediately grabbed and went with it to the bedroom.
Very soon she told Pierre that his father had died.

Chapter twenty two

The estate of the old Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the young Prince Andrei and his wife, the princess. Nikolai himself was distinguished by a difficult character, recognizing only activity and intelligence as virtues. Education youngest daughter He took care of Mary himself, distributing her life in such a way that the girl did not spend time in idleness. Her father himself taught her algebra and geometry lessons. The main feature this elderly man had precision taken to the extreme.

On the day of the young couple’s arrival, Prince Nikolai gave his daughter a letter from Julie Karagina, a friend of the princess, which reported that Pierre Bezukhov had become a count, having received both the title and almost the entire inheritance from his father, becoming the owner of one of the largest fortunes in Russia. In addition, she spoke about Anna Mikhailovna’s plan to arrange Marya’s marriage with Anatoly Kuragin. In turn, the princess wrote a response letter in which she expressed pity for both Pierre Bezukhov, who suddenly became rich, and for Prince Vasily, who was left with nothing.

The girl also lamented the wars that people wage among themselves and was sad that this was happening. “... Humanity has forgotten the laws of its Divine Savior, who taught us love and forgiveness of insults, and believes its main dignity in the art of killing each other,” she sincerely expressed her opinion in a letter to a friend.

Chapter twenty three

Finally, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and his wife crossed the threshold of their parents’ house. However, at this time the father, Prince Nikolai, was sleeping and even the arrival of such dear guests could not become a reason to disrupt such a familiar daily routine.

The father had twenty minutes left to rest, and so he suggested that his wife go first to Princess Marya.

Apparently, the little princess was in her husband’s parents’ house for the first time, so when she saw the luxurious furnishings, she could not help exclaiming: “This is a palace!”

Seeing that Maria was practicing playing the piano, the guests wanted to quietly leave, but then Mademoiselle Burien, Princess Bolkonskaya’s companion, noticed them and began to express delight that the long-awaited relatives had finally arrived.

Maria also saw her brother and wife and joined in the joy of their visit. Prince Nikolai did not stand aside, and although he expressed his emotions more sparingly, he was still in a good mood due to the arrival of his son. And again conversations began on military topics, which worried people so much at that time.

Chapter twenty-four

Finally, it was time for lunch, and Prince Nikolai went to the dining room, where Princess Maria, Mademoiselle Burien and the prince’s architect were already waiting for him, for some reason he was allowed to the table, although he was not at all from the nobility. Everyone sat down, and the conversation began again “about the war, about Bonaparte and the current generals and statesmen…»

Chapter twenty-five

The next day, Prince Andrei was getting ready to leave. He was worried. This is how the author describes the mood of the young man at that difficult time: “He, with his hands behind him, quickly walked around the room from corner to corner, looking ahead of himself, and thoughtfully shook his head. Was he afraid to go to war, was he sad to leave his wife - maybe both..."

Suddenly the steps of Princess Maria were heard. She was upset, because she really wanted to talk to her brother alone. I looked at him and did not recognize my previously playful brother in this strong and courageous young man.

The sister admitted that she immediately fell in love with his wife Lisa, who, in her opinion, was still a child, but suddenly saw a contemptuous and ironic expression that flashed on Andrei’s face. However, he was very happy to communicate with his dear sister. The conversation proceeded peacefully and when Maria mentioned Mademoiselle Bourrienne, her brother did not fail to notice that he really did not like her. However, the good princess tried to justify her companion in his eyes, because she is an orphan and so needs to be treated well.

Suddenly a question followed, discouraging Maria. It was about how her father treated her, because it was clear that Andrei’s sister suffered from the difficult and tough character of her beloved dad. Most of all, the girl was depressing that her father did not believe in God. “...How can a person with such a huge mind not see what is clear as day, and can be so mistaken?” – she lamented about his religious worldview.

From the end of 1811, increased armament and concentration of forces in Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (including those who transported and fed the army) moved from West to East, to the borders of Russia, to which, in the same way, In 1811, the forces of Russia gathered. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and war began, that is, an event contrary to human reason and all human nature took place. Millions of people committed against each other such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, forgeries and issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which the chronicle of all the courts of the world will not collect for centuries and for which, during this period of time, people, those who committed them did not look at them as crimes.

What caused this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians say with naive confidence that the reasons for this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's firmness, diplomatic mistakes, etc.

Consequently, only Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, had to try hard and write a more skillful piece of paper or Napoleon write to Alexander: Monsieur, mon frère, je consens à rendre le duché au duc d'Oldenbourg - and there would not have been a war .

It is clear that this was how the matter seemed to contemporaries. It is clear that Napoleon thought that the cause of the war was the intrigues of England (as he said on the island of St. Helena); It is clear that it seemed to the members of the English House that the cause of the war was Napoleon’s lust for power; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that it seemed to the merchants that the cause of the war was the continental system that was ruining Europe, that it seemed to the old soldiers and generals that the main reason was the need to use them in business; the legitimists of that time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes, and the diplomats of that time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not skillfully hidden from Napoleon and that memorandum No. 178 was awkwardly written. It is clear that these and a countless, infinite number of reasons, the number of which depends on the countless differences in points of view, seemed to contemporaries; but for us, our descendants, who contemplate the enormity of the event in its entirety and delve into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christian people killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, England’s politics were cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of the Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.

For us, descendants - not historians, not carried away by the process of research and therefore with an unobscured common sense contemplating an event, its causes appear in innumerable quantities. The more we delve into the search for reasons, the more of them are revealed to us, and every single reason or whole line reasons seem to us equally fair in themselves, and equally false in their insignificance in comparison with the enormity of the event, and equally false in their invalidity (without the participation of all other coinciding causes) to produce the event that took place. The same reason as Napoleon’s refusal to withdraw his troops beyond the Vistula and give back the Duchy of Oldenburg seems to us to be the desire or reluctance of the first French corporal to enter secondary service: for if he did not want to go to service and another, third, did not want to, and the thousandth corporal and soldier, there would have been so many fewer people in Napoleon’s army, and there could have been no war.

If Napoleon had not been offended by the demand to retreat beyond the Vistula and had not ordered the troops to advance, there would have been no war; but if all the sergeants had not wished to enter secondary service, there could not have been a war. There also could not have been a war if there had not been the intrigues of England and there had not been the Prince of Oldenburg and the feeling of insult in Alexander, and there would have been no autocratic power in Russia, and there would have been no French revolution and the subsequent dictatorship and empire, and all that what produced the French Revolution, and so on. Without one of these reasons nothing could happen. Therefore, all these reasons - billions of reasons - coincided in order to produce what was. And, therefore, nothing was the exclusive cause of the event, and the event had to happen only because it had to happen. Millions of people, having renounced their human feelings and their reason, had to go to the East from the West and kill their own kind, just as several centuries ago crowds of people went from East to West, killing their own kind.

The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose word it seemed that an event would happen or not happen, were as little arbitrary as the action of each soldier who went on a campaign by lot or by recruitment. This could not be otherwise because in order for the will of Napoleon and Alexander (those people on whom the event seemed to depend) to be fulfilled, the coincidence of countless circumstances was necessary, without one of which the event could not have happened. It was necessary that millions of people, in whose hands there was real power, soldiers who shot, carried provisions and guns, it was necessary that they agreed to fulfill this will of the individual and weak people and were brought to this by countless complex, varied reasons.

Fatalism in history is inevitable to explain irrational phenomena (that is, those whose rationality we do not understand). The more we try to rationally explain these phenomena in history, the more unreasonable and incomprehensible they become for us.

Each person lives for himself, enjoys freedom to achieve his personal goals and feels with his whole being that he can now do or not do such and such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, performed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible and becomes the property of history, in which it has not a free, but a predetermined meaning.

There are two sides of life in every person: personal life, which is the more free the more abstract its interests are, and spontaneous, swarm life, where a person inevitably fulfills the laws prescribed to him.

Man consciously lives for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for achieving historical, universal goals. A committed act is irrevocable, and its action, coinciding in time with millions of actions of other people, receives historical meaning. The higher a person stands on the social ladder, the more important people he is connected with, the more power he has over other people, the more obvious the predetermination and inevitability of his every action.

“The heart of a king is in the hand of God.”

The king is a slave of history.

History, that is, the unconscious, general, swarm life of humanity, uses every minute of the life of the kings as an instrument for its own purposes.

Napoleon, despite the fact that more than ever, now, in 1812, it seemed to him that the verser or not verser le sang de ses peuples depended on him (as Alexander wrote to him in his last letter), never more than now did he was subject to those inevitable laws that forced him (acting in relation to himself, as it seemed to him, at his own discretion) to do for the common cause, for history, what had to happen.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

War and Peace. First draft of the novel

From the publisher

"1. Twice shorter and five times more interesting.

2. Almost no philosophical digressions.

4. Much more peace and less war.

5. Happy ending...”

I placed these words seven years ago on the cover of the previous edition, indicating in the annotation: “The first complete edition of the great novel, created towards the end of 1866, before Tolstoy remade it in 1867-1869,” and that I used such and such publications.

Thinking that everyone knew everything, I did not explain where this “first edition” came from.

I turned out to be wrong, and as a result, rabid and ignorant critics, posing as experts in Russian literature, publicly began to accuse me of falsification (“it was Zakharov himself who concocted everything”) and of insulting Tolstoy (“after all, Lev Nikolayevich did not publish this is the first option, and you...").

I still do not consider it necessary to set out in detail in the prefaces everything that can be found in specialized literature, but I will explain in a few lines.

So, L.N. Tolstoy wrote this novel since 1863 and by the end of 1866, putting the word “end” on page 726, he took it to Moscow to print. By this time, he had already published the first two parts of the novel (“1805” and “War”) in the magazine “Russian Messenger” and as a separate book, and ordered illustrations from the artist M.S. Bashilov for a complete book edition.

But Tolstoy was unable to publish the book. Katkov persuaded him to continue publishing in chunks in his “Russian Bulletin”; other publishers, embarrassed by the volume and “irrelevance of the work”, best case scenario offered the author to publish the novel at his own expense. The artist Bashilov worked very slowly, and remade it - in accordance with Tolstoy's written instructions - even more slowly.

His wife, Sofya Andreevna, who remained in Yasnaya Polyana, insistently demanded that her husband return quickly: the children were crying, winter was upon us, and it was difficult for her to cope with household chores alone.

And finally, in the Chertkovsky Library, which had just opened for public use, Bartenev (the future editor of War and Peace) showed Tolstoy a lot of materials that the writer wanted to use in his book.

As a result, Tolstoy, declaring that “everything is for the better” (he played on the original title of his novel - “All’s well that ends well”), went home with the manuscript to Yasnaya Polyana and worked on the text for another two years; War and Peace was first published in its entirety in six volumes in 1868–1869. Moreover, without Bashilov’s illustrations, who never completed his work, became terminally ill and died in 1870 in Tyrol.

That, in fact, is the whole story. Now two words about the origin of the text itself. Returning to Yasnaya Polyana at the end of 1866, Tolstoy, naturally, did not put his 726-page manuscript on the shelf in order to start all over again, from the first page. He worked with the same manuscript - he added, crossed out, rearranged pages, wrote on the back, added new sheets...

Fifty years later, at the Tolstoy Museum on Ostozhenka in Moscow, where all the writer’s manuscripts were kept, Evelina Efimovna Zaidenshnur began working - and worked there for several decades: she deciphered and printed these manuscripts for full meeting works of Tolstoy. It is to her that we owe the opportunity to read the first version of “War and Peace” - she reconstructed the original manuscript of the novel, comparing Tolstoy’s handwriting, ink color, paper, etc., and in 1983 it was published in the 94th volume “ Literary Heritage" of the publishing house "Nauka" of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Published for specialists in strict accordance with the manuscript, which remained unedited. So I, a certified philologist and editor with 30 years of experience, got only the easiest and most enjoyable job - to “comb” this text, that is, to make it acceptable for the general reader: proofread, correct grammatical errors, clarify chapter numbering, etc. At the same time, I only edited what was impossible not to edit (for example, Pierre drinks at the Chateau Margot club, and not Alito Margot, as in Literary Heritage), but everything that could not be edited. to edit - I didn’t edit. After all, this is Tolstoy, not Zakharov.

And the very last thing. For the second edition (1873), Tolstoy himself translated the entire French text of the novel into Russian. That's what I used in this book.

I still write only about princes, counts, ministers, senators and their children, and I am afraid that in the future there will be no other persons in my history.

Maybe it's not good and the public doesn't like it; Perhaps the history of peasants, merchants, and seminarians is more interesting and instructive for her, but, with all my desire to have as many readers as possible, I cannot please this taste, for many reasons.

Firstly, because the historical monuments of the time about which I am writing remain only in the correspondence and notes of people in the highest circle of literate people; even the interesting and clever stories that I managed to hear, I heard only from people of the same circle.

Secondly, because the life of merchants, coachmen, seminarians, convicts and peasants seems to me monotonous and boring, and all the actions of these people seem to me to flow, for the most part, from the same springs: envy of happier classes, greed and material passions. Even if not all the actions of these people flow from these springs, then their actions are so obscured by these impulses that it is difficult to understand them and therefore describe them.

Thirdly, because the lives of these people (lower classes) bear less of the imprint of time.

Fourthly, because the life of these people is not beautiful.

Fifthly, because I could never understand what the watchman thinks when standing at the booth, what the shopkeeper thinks and feels when inviting him to buy bails and ties, what a seminarian thinks when he is being taken to be whipped for the hundredth time, etc. I just cannot understand this, just as I cannot understand what a cow thinks when she is milked, and what a horse thinks when he is carrying a barrel.

Sixthly, because, finally (and this, I know, is the best reason) that I myself belong to the upper class, society and love it.

I am not a tradesman, as Pushkin proudly said, and I boldly say that I am an aristocrat, both by birth, and by habits, and by position. I am an aristocrat because remembering my ancestors - my fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, I am not only not ashamed, but especially joyful. I am an aristocrat because I was brought up from childhood in love and respect for the elegant, expressed not only in Homer, Bach and Raphael, but also in all the little things in life: in love for clean hands, To beautiful dress, elegant table and crew. I am an aristocrat because I was so happy that neither I, nor my father, nor my grandfather knew the need and the struggle between conscience and need, never had the need to envy or bow to anyone, did not know the need to educate for money and position in light and similar trials to which people in need are subjected. I see that this is great happiness and I thank God for it, but if this happiness does not belong to everyone, then from this I see no reason to renounce it and not use it.

I am an aristocrat because I cannot believe in the high intelligence, subtle taste and great honesty of a person who picks his nose with his finger and whose soul talks with God.

All this is very stupid, perhaps criminal, impudent, but it is so. And I tell the reader in advance what kind of person I am and what he can expect from me. It’s still time to close the book and expose me as an idiot, a retrograde and Askochensky, to whom I, taking this opportunity, hasten to declare the sincere and deep, serious respect I have long felt*.

197. All of Moscow talks only about the war. One of my two brothers is already abroad, the other is with the guard, which is marching to the border. Our dear sovereign leaves St. Petersburg and, it is assumed, intends to expose his precious existence to the accidents of war. May God grant that the Corsican monster, which disturbs the tranquility of Europe, be overthrown by the angel whom the Almighty, in his goodness, has made ruler over us. Not to mention my brothers, this war has deprived me of one of the relationships closest to my heart. I'm talking about young Nikolai Rostov, who, despite his enthusiasm, could not tolerate inactivity and left the university to join the army. I confess to you, dear Marie, that, despite his extreme youth, his departure to the army was for me great grief. In the young man I told you about last summer, there is so much nobility, true youth, which you see so rarely in our age among our twenty-year-olds! He especially has so much candor and heart. He is so pure and full of poetry that my relationship with him, despite all its fleetingness, was one of the sweetest joys of my poor heart, which had already suffered so much. Someday I will tell you our farewell and everything that was said at parting. All this is still too fresh... Ah! dear friend, you are happy that you do not know these burning pleasures, these burning sorrows. You are happy because the latter are usually stronger than the former. I know very well that Count Nikolai is too young to become anything other than a friend to me. But this sweet friendship, this so poetic and so pure relationship was the need of my heart. But enough about that. The main news occupying all of Moscow is the death of old Count Bezukhov and his inheritance. Imagine, three princesses received some small amount, Prince Vasily received nothing, and Pierre is the heir to everything and, moreover, is recognized as the legitimate son and therefore Count Bezukhov and the owner of the largest fortune in Russia. They say that Prince Vasily played a very nasty role in this whole story and that he left for St. Petersburg very embarrassed. I confess to you that I understand very poorly all these matters regarding spiritual wills; I only know that since the young man, whom we all knew under the name simply Pierre, became Count Bezukhov and the owner of one of the best fortunes in Russia, I am amused by observing the change in tone of the mothers who have daughter-brides, and the young ladies themselves in relation to this gentleman, who (be it said in parentheses) always seemed very insignificant to me. Since for two years now everyone has been amusing themselves with finding suitors for me, whom I for the most part I don’t know, but the Moscow marriage chronicle makes me Countess Bezukhova. But you understand that I don’t want this at all. Speaking of marriages. Do you know that recently everyone’s aunt Anna Mikhailovna entrusted me, under the greatest secret, with the plan to arrange your marriage. This is nothing more or less than the son of Prince Vasily, Anatole, whom they want to settle down by marrying him to a rich and noble girl, and your parents’ choice fell on you. I don’t know how you look at this matter, but I considered it my duty to warn you. He is said to be very good and a big rake. That's all I could find out about him.

Volume one

Part one

- Eh bien, mon prince. Gênes et Lucques ne sont plus que des apanages, des estates, de la famille Buonaparte. Non, je vous préviens que si vous ne me dites pas que nous avons la guerre, si vous vous permettez encore de pallier toutes les infamies, toutes les atrocités de cet Antichrist (ma parole, j'y crois) – je ne vous connais plus , vous n'êtes plus mon ami, vous n'êtes plus my faithful slave, comme vous dites. Well, hello, hello. Je vois que je vous fais peur, sit down and tell me.

This is what the famous Anna Pavlovna Sherer, maid of honor and close associate of Empress Maria Feodorovna, said in July 1805, meeting the important and official Prince Vasily, who was the first to arrive at her evening. Anna Pavlovna had been coughing for several days; she had flu, as she spoke (flu was then a new word, used only by rare people). In the notes sent out in the morning by the red footman, it was written without distinction in all:

“Si vous n'avez rien de mieux à faire, Monsieur le comte (or mon prince), et si la perspective de passer la soirée chez une pauvre malade ne vous effraye pas trop, je serai charmée de vous voir chez moi entre 7 et 10 heures. Annette Scherer"

- Dieu, quelle virulente sortie! - answered, not at all embarrassed by such a meeting, the prince who entered, wearing an embroidered court uniform, stockings, shoes and stars, with a bright expression on his flat face.

He spoke in that refined French language, in which our grandfathers not only spoke, but also thought, and with those quiet, patronizing intonations that are characteristic of a significant person who has grown old in the world and at court. He walked up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, offering her his perfumed and shining bald head, and sat down calmly on the sofa.

– Avant tout dites-moi, comment vous allez, chèe amie? “Calm me down,” he said, without changing his voice and in a tone in which, due to decency and sympathy, indifference and even mockery shone through.

– How can you be healthy... when you suffer morally? Is it possible, having a feeling, to remain calm in our time? - said Anna Pavlovna. – You’re with me all evening, I hope?

– What about the holiday of the English envoy? It's Wednesday. “I need to show myself there,” said the prince. “My daughter will pick me up and take me.”

– I thought that the current holiday was cancelled. Je vous avoue que toutes ces fêtes et tons ces feux d'artifice commencent a devenir insipides.

“If they knew that you wanted this, the holiday would be cancelled,” said the prince, out of habit, like a wound-up clock, saying things that he did not want to be believed.

- Ne me tourmentez pas. Eh bien, qu’a-t-on décidé par rapport à la dépêche de Novosilzoff? Vous savez tout.

- How can I tell you? - said the prince in a cold, bored tone. - Qu'a-t-on décidé? On a décidé que Buonaparte a brûlé ses vaisseaux, et je crois que nous sommes en train de brûler les nôtres.

Prince Vasily always spoke lazily, like an actor speaking the role of an old play. Anna Pavlovna Sherer, on the contrary, despite her forty years, was full of animation and impulses.

Being an enthusiast became her social position, and sometimes, when she didn’t even want to, she, in order not to deceive the expectations of people who knew her, became an enthusiast. The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, a constant awareness of her dear shortcoming, from which she does not want, cannot and does not find it necessary to correct herself.

In the middle of a conversation about political actions, Anna Pavlovna became heated.

– Oh, don’t tell me about Austria! I don’t understand anything, maybe, but Austria has never wanted and does not want war. She's betraying us. Russia alone must be the savior of Europe. Our benefactor knows his high calling and will be faithful to it. That's one thing I believe in. Our good and wonderful sovereign will have to greatest role in the world, and he is so virtuous and good that God will not leave him, and he will fulfill his calling to crush the hydra of the revolution, which is now even more terrible in the person of this murderer and villain. We alone must atone for the blood of the righteous. Who should we rely on, I ask you?.. England, with its commercial spirit, will not and cannot understand the full height of the soul of Emperor Alexander. She refused to clean up Malta. She wants to see, looking for the underlying thought of our actions. What did they say to Novosiltsev? Nothing. They did not understand, they cannot understand the selflessness of our emperor, who wants nothing for himself and wants everything for the good of the world. And what did they promise? Nothing. And what they promised will not happen! Prussia has already declared that Bonaparte is invincible and that all of Europe can do nothing against him... And I don’t believe a single word of either Hardenberg or Gaugwitz. Cette fameuse neutralité prussienne, ce n'est qu'un pièe. I believe in one God and in the high destiny of our dear Emperor. He will save Europe!.. - She suddenly stopped with a smile of mockery at her ardor.

“I think,” said the prince, smiling, “that if you had been sent instead of our dear Winzengerode, you would have taken the consent of the Prussian king by storm.” You are so eloquent. Will you give me some tea?

- Now. “A propos,” she added, calming down again, “today I have two very interesting person, le vicomte de Mortemart, il est allié aux Montmorency par les Rohans, one of best names France. This is one of the good emigrants, the real ones. And then l'abbé Morio; do you know this deep mind? He was received by the sovereign. You know?

- A? “I will be very glad,” said the prince. “Tell me,” he added, as if he had just remembered something and especially casually, whereas what he was asking about was main goal his visit, is it true that I’impératrice-merè wants Baron Funke to be appointed First Secretary to Vienna? C'est un pauvre sire, ce baron, et qu'il paraît. “Prince Vasily wanted to appoint his son to this place, which they tried to deliver to the baron through Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes as a sign that neither she nor anyone else could judge what the Empress wanted or liked.

“Monsieur le baron de Funke a été recommandé a l’impératrice-mèe par sa soeur,” she just said in a sad, dry tone. While Anna Pavlovna named the empress, her face suddenly presented a deep and sincere expression of devotion and respect, combined with sadness, which happened to her every time she mentioned her high patron in a conversation. She said that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke beaucoup d’estime, and again her gaze was filled with sadness.

The prince fell silent indifferently. Anna Pavlovna, with her characteristic courtly and feminine dexterity and quick tact, wanted to snap at the prince for daring to speak in such a way about the person recommended to the empress, and at the same time to console him.

“Mais a propos de votre famille,” she said, “do you know that your daughter, since she leaves, has been fait les délices de tout le monde.” On la trouve belle comme le jour.