Summary The Rostovs finally get set to leave Moscow one day before the French enter the city. As civilians stream out of town, the wounded soldiers are carted in and Natasha, in midst of packing, offers some disabled officers hospitality. Count Rostov comes home with the announcement that the police […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book XI: Chapters 13–29Summary and Analysis Book XI: Chapters 1–12
Summary Tolstoy introduces this section by showing the error of applying scientific analysis to history. As a mathematician takes arbitrary small units and by integral calculus develops a system of dynamics to understand the continuity of motion, so does a historian take small units of history to understand the continuity […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book XI: Chapters 1–12Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 26–39
Summary Napoleon’s answer to an adjutant is”No prisoners,” for he believes the Russians are working their own destruction. When his toilette is finished, he composes his face to simulate tenderness and unwraps a new portrait of his son, called the King of Rome. Then he dramatically asks to have the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 26–39Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 15–25
Summary Summoned by Kutuzov, Prince Andrey observes the general as he waits to talk with him. Denisov, whom Bolkonsky recalls from his conversations with Natasha, comes to set forth a battle scheme for Kutuzov while the old man looks bored. Another general comes with another plan and Kutuzov barely listens. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 15–25Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 1–14
Summary Neither foresight nor planning has anything to do with the way Napoleon conducts the war with Russia, declares Tolstoy. The unseasonal march of the French into the Russian heartland is by no means an example of Napoleon’s”military genius.” It would seem obvious to the French to realize they march […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book X: Chapters 1–14Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 16–23
Summary Having tried to swallow poison, Natasha lies gravely ill. She languishes all through the hot Moscow summer and improves gradually. Unable to sing or laugh without catching a sob, Natasha seems most revived when Pierre is with her. About this time, Natasha finds in religion her greatest solace and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 16–23Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 8–15
Summary Thinking of vengeance, Prince Andrey pursues Anatole to Petersburg but finds his rival has eluded him by joining the army in Moldavia. Meeting Kutuzov in Petersburg, Andrey agrees to accompany his suite to Moldavia, where the general is to take over the command. By this time, however, Anatole has […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 8–15Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 1–7
Summary In June, 1812, war between France and Russia begins. Historians who describe the many events leading up to the war still cannot explain its cause, Tolstoy writes. None of the reasons they cite account for the sheer vastness of the event. At best, the author says, we can only […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book IX: Chapters 1–7Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapters 6–22
Summary Count Ilya Rostov moves to Moscow with his family, except for the countess, who is still ill. Until his house is readied for the winter, the Rostovs stay with Marya Dmitryevna Ahrostimov (mentioned in Book I), who is Natasha’s godmother. She oversees the selection of Natasha’s trousseau and plans […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapters 6–22Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapters 1–5
Summary About the same time that Natasha and Andrey become engaged, Pierre’s mentor dies. With Bazdyev’s passing, Pierre loses all interest in a religious life and retires to his Moscow home. Assuming his old habits of dissipation — drinking and gambling with his bachelor friends at the English Club — […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book VIII: Chapters 1–5