The Petersburg salons continue as previously with little change.
Summary:
Kutúzov is put in charge of the army. Since 1805 Russia had both made peace and quarreled with Bonaparte and made and unmade constitutions. But the Petersburg salons of Anna Pávlovna and Hélène never seemed to change. Anna’s was still very anti-French, while Hélène’s sympathized with the French. To resolve the problem of divided military leadership, the Emperor gave Kutúzov full powers over all the armies. Vasíli previously thought Kutúzov, because of his age and infirmity, was unfit to lead the army. But once he is promoted to field marshal, Vasíli becomes a big Kutúzov supporter, only because Vasíli thinks being a Kutúzov supporter is now the smart political thing to do.
quote from the chapter:
on the twenty-ninth of July Kutúzov received the title of Prince. This might indicate a wish to get rid of him, and therefore Prince Vasíli’s opinion continued to be correct though he was not now in any hurry to express it. But on the eighth of August a committee, consisting of Field Marshal Saltykóv, Arakchéev, Vyazmítinov, Lopukhín, and Kochubéy met to consider the progress of the war. This committee came to the conclusion that our failures were due to a want of unity in the command and though the members of the committee were aware of the Emperor’s dislike of Kutúzov, after a short deliberation they agreed to advise his appointment as commander in chief. That same day Kutúzov was appointed commander in chief with full powers over the armies and over the whole region occupied by them.
Book 10, Chapter 6
The Petersburg salons continue as previously with little change.
Summary:
Kutúzov is put in charge of the army. Since 1805 Russia had both made peace and quarreled with Bonaparte and made and unmade constitutions. But the Petersburg salons of Anna Pávlovna and Hélène never seemed to change. Anna’s was still very anti-French, while Hélène’s sympathized with the French. To resolve the problem of divided military leadership, the Emperor gave Kutúzov full powers over all the armies. Vasíli previously thought Kutúzov, because of his age and infirmity, was unfit to lead the army. But once he is promoted to field marshal, Vasíli becomes a big Kutúzov supporter, only because Vasíli thinks being a Kutúzov supporter is now the smart political thing to do.
quote from the chapter:
on the twenty-ninth of July Kutúzov received the title of Prince. This might indicate a wish to get rid of him, and therefore Prince Vasíli’s opinion continued to be correct though he was not now in any hurry to express it. But on the eighth of August a committee, consisting of Field Marshal Saltykóv, Arakchéev, Vyazmítinov, Lopukhín, and Kochubéy met to consider the progress of the war. This committee came to the conclusion that our failures were due to a want of unity in the command and though the members of the committee were aware of the Emperor’s dislike of Kutúzov, after a short deliberation they agreed to advise his appointment as commander in chief. That same day Kutúzov was appointed commander in chief with full powers over the armies and over the whole region occupied by them.
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