War and Peace is a historical event. Essay “The central event of the novel “War and Peace”

L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is, in the opinion famous writers and critics, " greatest novel in the world". “War and Peace” is an epic novel of events from the history of the country, namely the war of 1805-1807. and the Patriotic War of 1812 Central heroes There were generals during the wars - Kutuzov and Napoleon. Their images in the novel “War and Peace” are built on the principle of antithesis. Tolstoy, glorifying Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov in the novel as the inspirer and organizer of the victories of the Russian people, emphasizes that Kutuzov is truly folk hero who is guided in his actions folk spirit. This is a simple Russian man, free from pretense, and at the same time a wise historical figure and commander. The main thing in Kutuzov for Tolstoy is his blood connection with the people, “that national feeling that he carries within himself in all its purity and strength.” That is why, Tolstoy emphasizes, the people chose him “against the will of the tsar as the producers of the people’s war.”

Tolstoy portrays Kutuzov as a wise commander who deeply and correctly understands the course of events. It is no coincidence that Kutuzov’s correct assessment of the course of events is always confirmed later. Thus, he correctly assessed the significance of the Battle of Borodino, declaring that it was a victory. As a commander, he is clearly superior to Napoleon. It was precisely such a commander that was needed to wage the people's war of 1812 on Russian territory, and Tolstoy emphasizes that after the war moved to Europe, the Russian army needed another commander in chief. And “the representative of the people’s war had no choice but death. And he died."

At the same time, it should be noted that the image of Kutuzov in the novel is somewhat distorted and is not without shortcomings, the reason for which is the incorrect positions of Tolstoy the historian. Based on spontaneity historical process Tolstoy denied the role of personality in history. The writer ridiculed the cult of “great personalities” created by bourgeois historians. He believed that the course of history is decided by the masses. He came to accept fatalism, arguing that all historical events are predetermined from above. It was Kutuzov who expressed these views of Tolstoy in the novel. He, according to Tolstoy, “knew that the fate of the battle was decided not by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place where the troops stood, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by that elusive force called the spirit of war, and he followed this force and led it "as far as it was in his power." Kutuzov has a Tolstoyan fatalistic view of history, according to which the outcome of historical events is predetermined. Tolstoy's mistake was that, denying the role of the individual in history, he sought to make Kutuzov only a wise observer of historical events. He appears in the novel as a commander, with all his passivity, accurately assessing the course of military events and unerringly directing them.

Kutuzov's antipode is Napoleon. Tolstoy resolutely opposed the cult of Napoleon. For the writer, Napoleon is an aggressor who attacked Russia, an ambitious man striving for world domination. Tolstoy shows that there was no meaning in Napoleon’s actions, his claims to world domination, other than a whim, but “he believed in himself, and the whole world believed in him.”

It must be said that in relation to Napoleon, Tolstoy was not objective enough, asserting: “He was like a child who, holding on to the strings tied to the inside of the carriage, imagines that he is ruling.” But Napoleon was not powerless in the fight against Russia, he simply turned out to be weaker than his opponent, “the strongest in spirit,” as Tolstoy put it.

Napoleon appears in the novel as a narcissistic, arrogant ruler of France, blinded by glory. Tolstoy's Napoleon is a man for whom "only what was happening in his soul" was of interest. And “everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will.” It is no coincidence that the word “I” - favorite word Napoleon. As much as Kutuzov expresses the interests of the people, Napoleon is so petty in his egocentrism.

Comparing the two great commanders, Tolstoy concludes: “There is and cannot be greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” Therefore, it is Kutuzov who is truly great - a people’s commander who thinks about the freedom of the Fatherland.

Here is a picture of the campaign before the battle: “Prince Andrei looked with contempt at these endless, interfering teams, carts, parks, artillery... from all sides, behind and in front, as long as he could hear, the sounds of wheels, the rumble of bodies, carts and gun carriages, and the tramp of horses were heard , blows with a whip, shouts of urging, cursing of soldiers, orderlies and officers... The soldiers, drowning knee-deep in mud, picked up guns and wagons in their hands...” Reading the description, we feel the enormous strain of human strength, the severity of labor, fatigue reaching the limit.

And here is a complex and multicolored picture of the Battle of Shengraben: “Infantry regiments, taken by surprise in the forest, ran out of the forest, and companies, mixing with other companies, left in disorderly crowds...” One can feel the chaotic nature of the escape of the Russian army, “... but at that moment the French, advancing on ours, suddenly, without apparent reason, ran back... and Russian riflemen appeared in the forest. It was Timokhin’s company... The runners returned, the battalions gathered, and the French were... pushed back.”

Elsewhere, “four unprotected cannons fired boldly” under the command of Staff Captain Tushin. Here a significant number of soldiers were killed, an officer was killed, two cannons were broken, a horse with a broken leg was struggling, and the artillerymen, having forgotten all fear, beat the French and set fire to the village they occupied. In this battle, as well as in the attack of Timokhin’s company, there was nothing particularly effective and nothing ostentatious; the people here were simply doing their duty, without thinking that they were heroes.

After the battle, “it was as if an invisible gloomy river was flowing in the darkness... In the general roar, due to all the other sounds, the moans and voices of the wounded were heard most clearly... Their groans seemed to fill all this darkness surrounding the troops. Their groans and the darkness of this night were one and the same.” War brings suffering and death to people. Started with aggressive goals, it is hateful and disgusting to Tolstoy. A just war can only be caused by absolute necessity. The Battle of Shengraben was necessary to save the Russian army, which was in a difficult situation. On the part of the Russians, the Patriotic War of 1812 was fair. The enemy entered Russia and advanced towards Moscow. Unknown soldier expressing general opinion Russians, told Pierre that they “want to attack the enemy with all the people; one word - Moscow. They want to make one end.”

The greatest manifestation of Russian patriotism was the Battle of Borodino, in which Russian army won a victory over the French: “the Russians hold their ground and produce hellish fire, from which the French army melts.”

“Our fire is tearing them out in rows, but they are standing,” the adjutants reported to Napoleon. And Napoleon felt “how the terrible sweep of his arm fell magically powerless.” In the episodes of the novel, dedicated to the fight people for their national independence, there is no place for theatrical effects and beautiful phrases.

“From the time of the fire of Smolensk,” writes Tolstoy, “a war began that did not fit any previous legends of wars. Burning of cities and villages, retreat after battles, Borodin’s attack and retreat again, the fire of Moscow, catching marauders, recapturing transports, guerrilla warfare“All these were deviations from the rules.”

Many of these chapters can also be attributed to the Patriotic War, which deviated no less, and even more cruelly, from the rules. But, as in the war of 1812, so in the Great Patriotic War, the Russian people survived, the “club of the people’s war” destroyed the invasion.

Historical events in Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"

Now we only need to know that we have before us a huge composition depicting the state of minds and morals in the advanced class " new Russia”, conveying in main features the great events that shook the then European world, drawing the faces of Russians and foreigners statesmen that era and connected with the private, household affairs of two or three of our aristocratic families, who send several members from their midst to this disgrace!

Nothing gives such a resemblance to reality and nothing replaces the understanding of it so much as these comparisons, especially if they are managed and used by extraordinary talent, as happened here. Thanks to them, it seems to the reader that the Zeitgeist of the times, the discovery and definition of which costs researchers so much effort historical eras, is embodied on the pages of the novel, like Indian Vishnu, easily and freely, countless times.

...Nothing could be simpler than the many events described in War and Peace. All cases of ordinary family life, conversations between brother and sister, between mother and daughter, separation and meeting of relatives, hunting, Christmastide, mazurka, playing cards, etc. - all this is elevated to the pearl of creation with the same love as the Battle of Borodino. Simple objects occupy as much space in “War and Peace” as, for example, in “Eugene Onegin” the immortal description of the Larins’ life, winter, spring, trip to Moscow, etc.

True, next to this gr. L. N. Tolstoy brings to the stage great events and faces of a huge historical significance. But it’s impossible to say that this was exactly what excited him. general interest readers. No matter how huge and important events whatever happened on the stage - will it be the Kremlin, choked with people as a result of the arrival of the sovereign, or a meeting of two emperors, or terrible battle with the thunder of guns and thousands of dying - nothing distracts the poet, and with him the reader, from looking intently into inner world individuals. It’s as if the artist is not interested in the event at all, but is only interested in how he acts during this event. human soul, - what she feels and brings to the event.

You can... say that highest point The point of view that the author rises to is a religious view of the world. When Prince Andrei, an unbeliever like his father, experienced all the vicissitudes of life hard and painfully and, mortally wounded, saw his enemy Anatoly Kuragin, he suddenly felt that something was opening up to him. A New Look for life.

“Compassion, love for brothers, for those who love, love for those who hate us, love for enemies, yes, that love that God preached on earth, which Princess Mary taught me and Which I did not understand; That’s why I felt sorry for life, that’s what was still left for me if I were alive...”

And not only Prince Andrei, but also many persons in “War and Peace”, this high understanding of life is revealed to varying degrees, for example, the long-suffering and much-loving Princess Marya, Pierre after his wife’s betrayal, Natasha after her betrayal of her fiancé, etc. With amazing clarity and strength the poet shows how a religious view is the constant refuge of a soul tormented by life, the only point support for thought, struck by the variability of all human goods. A soul that renounces the world becomes higher than the world and discovers new beauty - forgiveness and love.

...The work we examined (written, according to some critics, by the author “a superstitious and childish fatalist”) has in our eyes more higher value in application to the solution of many practical issues, which can be repeated from time to time and even undoubtedly are repeated with their inherent fatal irresistibility. They are born somewhere, rise up and flow, dragging their Kutuzovs and Bolkonskys, Vereshchagins and Rastopchins, Vasek Denisovs and lower-ranking ladies who do not want to “bow to the Frenchman” behind the wheels of the chariot that moves them. If we look around more closely and take a closer look at the whole heap of our boxes, we will see that all these fighters and waiters, all these believers and infidels, those who inspire and frog, upstarts and morons - they are all alive again and with us again...

Tolstoy is touched by the simple Russian man, because the simple Russian man denies all knowledge. And why does he need knowledge, says Count. Tolstoy, if he feels the truth of life directly and does the right thing without thinking. And where is this truth, who knows? Denying knowledge, the count, however, understands that he is creating Torricelli’s emptiness, and therefore fills it with what God put on his soul, what he read in the rural nature around him, what Slavophile Moscow inspired him.

This retreat into the depths of the steppes of Asia in order to save the shreds of torn youthful beliefs in a better, but failed future, may have significance as a fact of personal everyday failure, as a fact personal experience. But why do you think that the experienced wisdom of the lagging behind Karataev should serve as a lesson for the army moving forward? Call your novel an autobiography - we will understand both it and the author; but if the author wants to proclaim a solemnly new word, wants to reveal to the world a new wisdom that a deceived life has taught him, we, with the right of an army marching forward, will not believe the prophet who invites us to go to Palestine through the steppes of Asia, when our road is not going there at all.

Tolstoy is deeply convinced that not only in Russia, but everywhere - in Europe, Asia, America, people, like unreasonable animals, do not know why they live and what human happiness consists of, to which everyone instinctively strives. Well, what do you live for, reader? Read “War and Peace”, delve into the depths of the philosophy of gr. Tolstoy - and you will feel like a man who has been locked in a closet from a dimly lit room. If you knew little before, then after reading the novel, Mr. Tolstoy, you will feel such a vagueness of concepts in your head that your hands will give up and the last ground will disappear from under your feet.

1.July 1805. Anna Scherer, maid of honor, close to Empress Maria Feodorovna, has a larger reception 2. The Rostovs celebrate their mother’s name day and youngest daughter Natasha. 3.Farewell ceremony to Count Bezukhov. The count died. 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. 4. Prince Andrei comes to Bald Mountains, on the estate of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, with his wife and leaves her on his father’s estate. PART II 1. October 1805. Russian troops occupy villages and towns of the Archduchy of Austria. Mack suddenly appears at Kutuzov's headquarters. The Austrians are defeated and surrender their entire army at Ulm. Nikolai Rostov serves in the Pavlodar Hussar Regiment under the command of Captain Denisov. On October 28, Kutuzov moved with the army to the left bank of the Danube. The victory inspired the naked, exhausted soldiers. 2. Prince Andrei goes to Kutuzov. the battle. Retreat. PART III 1. The wedding of Pierre and Helen. 2. The unsuccessful matchmaking of Anatole and Marya Balkonskaya 3. The appearance of the French envoy Savary with a proposal for peace and a meeting between Emperor Alexander and Napoleon. 4. Defeat of the fourth column, which included Kutuzov himself, at the Pratsen Heights. 5. Injury of Andrei Balkonsky. Also the death of Andrei Bolkonsky’s wife.
Volume 2
Part 1
1. Nikolai Rostov’s arrival home to Moscow on vacation
2. Count Rostov organizes a dinner in honor of Bagration, Pierre Bezukhov hears gossip about the connection between his wife Helen and Dolokhov
3. Duel between Dolokhov and Bezukhov
3. Reflections of Pierre Bezukhov on his family life and his wife Helen and departure to St. Petersburg
4. Andrei Bolkonsky appears in the Bald Mountains, his wife Lisa gives birth to a child and dies
5. Rapprochement between Rostov and Dolokhov
6. Natasha Rostova's first ball
7. Rostova refuses Denisov’s proposal
Part 2
1. On the way to St. Petersburg, Bezukhov meets a Mason and a week later goes to Kyiv to join the Masonic brotherhood
2. Helen returns to St. Petersburg and makes a new acquaintance with Boris Drubetsky
3. In the spring of 1807, from Kyiv to St. Petersburg, Bezukhov toured his estates and stopped by Bolkonsky
4. Conversations over dinner between Pierre and Andrey and 2 days later Pierre leaves
5. Return of Rostov from his regiment, rapprochement with Denisov
6. Denisov beats Velyatin, is slightly wounded and ends up in the hospital
7. Boris Drubetskoy makes a career
Part 3
1. Prince Andrei has been living in the village for two years without a break.
2. In August 1809, Prince Andrei arrives in St. Petersburg
3. Pierre is engaged in self-improvement
4. The Rostovs lived in the village for two years and are moving to St. Petersburg
5. Drubetskoy increasingly went to the Rostovs, but after a conversation with the countess he stopped visiting their house.
6. A ball is held on the eve of the New Year. The entire elite has arrived. Natasha goes to her first big ball. Dancing with Bolkonsky.
7. Dinner at the Bergers'
8. Andrei asks his father for permission to get married and leaves for Europe
Part 4
1. Rostov still lives in the regiment
2. Things are getting worse for the Rostovs and the countess is trying to marry Nikolai favorably
3. Natasha misses Andrey
Part 5
1. Pierre starts going to the club again, drinking a lot, etc.
2. Old Prince Bolkonsky, along with Princess Marya and his grandson, also come to Moscow
3. Drubetsky’s matchmaking with Julie Karagina
4. Rostov Sr., together with Natasha, goes on a visit to the elder Bolkonsky.
5. Anatol Kuragin lives in Moscow, does not get close to anyone
6. Natasha Rostova is still waiting for Andrei Bolkonsky
7. Helen invites Natasha to a masquerade.
Anatole appears here, talks about his love again, kisses Natasha
8. Natasha is tormented by the question of who she loves: Anatoly or Prince Andrei
9. Natasha wants to run away with Kuragin, but the plan failed
10. Anatole moves out of Moscow.
11 Natasha's suicide attempt
12. Arrival of Prince Andrei
13. Natasha realizes that everything is over between her and Prince Andrei

Many writers use real historical events for the plots of their works. One of the most frequently described events is war - civil, domestic, world. Deserves special attention Patriotic War 1812: Battle of Borodino, burning of Moscow, expulsion of the French Emperor Napoleon. Russian literature presents a detailed depiction of war in the novel “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy. The writer describes specific military battles, allowing the reader to see real historical figures, gives own assessment events that occurred.

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