It’s said, the times make the man. In this chapter, Tolstoy describes how conditions existing at that time made a successful military invasion of Russia led by Napoleon possible, and how when conditions changed it all fell apart. Through it all, Napoleon was merely a pawn of history.
First Epilogue Chapter 3
It’s said, the times make the man. In this chapter, Tolstoy describes how conditions existing at that time made a successful military invasion of Russia led by Napoleon possible, and how when conditions changed it all fell apart. Through it all, Napoleon was merely a pawn of history.
Summary:
In order for a military movement to rise up and successfully reach Moscow, a number of chance conditions had to be in place beforehand. It so happened that at the time conditions were perfect for a Napoleon to rise up and lead this invasion. It wasn’t necessary that the person in charge be Napoleon Bonaparte himself, only that it be someone like him. Napoleon was only one cog in the larger machine, and someone else of similar character would have done just as well. And having such a person to play the part of leader was only one of many chance conditions that needed to be in place in order for this unlikely military venture to come off. Tolstoy lists dozens of other chance circumstances which were also required for this enterprise to work as well as it did. For example, another necessary condition for a successful invasion of Russia was that a larger than traditional army needed to be assembled, and that it be one not subject to time-honored military customs and mores. This particular condition, was newly made possible by the French Revolution. Then, at the end of the chapter, Tolstoy goes on to describe how changing conditions resulted in the downfall of the invading French army.
quote from the chapter:
The invasion pushes eastward and reaches its final goal—Moscow. That city is taken; the Russian army suffers heavier losses than the opposing armies had suffered in the former war from Austerlitz to Wagram. But suddenly instead of those chances and that genius which hitherto had so consistently led him by an uninterrupted series of successes to the predestined goal, an innumerable sequence of inverse chances occur—from the cold in his head at Borodinó to the sparks which set Moscow on fire, and the frosts—and instead of genius, stupidity and immeasurable baseness become evident.
The invaders flee, turn back, flee again, and all the chances are now not for Napoleon but always against him.
A countermovement is then accomplished from east to west with a remarkable resemblance to the preceding movement from west to east. Attempted drives from east to west—similar to the contrary movements of 1805, 1807, and 1809—precede the great westward movement; there is the same coalescence into a group of enormous dimensions; the same adhesion of the people of Central Europe to the movement; the same hesitation midway, and the same increasing rapidity as the goal is approached.
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