Book Ten, Chapters 1–12
The narrator tells us that the historical accounts of
Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia are oversimplified
and false. Napoleon did not rationally calculate the risk of invading
Russia, but went in unaware of the dangers of a Russian winter.
By the same token, Tsar Alexander did not lure the French into the
Russian heartland, but on the contrary wished to keep them out.
History has been written after the fact to lend a rational and intentional
character to what originally were almost random events.
At Bald Hills, Mary endures her father’s blame for his
quarrel with Andrew. She has only a vague understanding of the wars,
and fears for her brother’s life. Her father still insists that
Russia is safe, ignoring news that the French have already crossed
Russian borders, and dismissing Andrew’s letter warning that their
position at Bald Hills is dangerous. Increasingly grouchy and senile,
the old prince occupies himself with his garden, construction on
his estate, and his will and testament. Meanwhile, the prince’s
servant Alpatych goes to the city of Smolensk to ask the governor
about the risks of staying at Bald Hills. Gunfire is heard near
Smolensk, indicating that the French are very close. The governor’s
official report claims that Smolensk is safe, but, off the record,
the governor recommends that the Bolkonskis go to Moscow. On the
streets, people flee in terror, and the townspeople set Smolensk
on fire to thwart the invaders.
By chance, Alpatych encounters Andrew, who writes a letter
to Bald Hills telling his father and sister that it is urgent they
flee to Moscow immediately. Andrew leads his regiment in retreat
in the midst of a drought, his worldview altered by the abandonment
and burning of Smolensk. He visits Bald Hills, now abandoned. The ruined
fields and empty house deeply move him, and the sight of his soldiers
bathing naked in a dirty pond—as cannon fodder—depresses and disgusts
him.
In St. Petersburg, Helene’s and Anna Pavlovna’s salons
continue almost unaffected by Napoleon’s invasion, with each salon
holding a different opinion of the war. When Kutuzov is made commander in
chief to heighten Russian military unity, he earns great praise, whereas
earlier he had been criticized.
Napoleon, meanwhile, prepares to march upon Moscow. The narrator
writes that historians overestimate the rationality behind Napoleon’s
decision to march and his cunning use of a Cossack informer, Lavrushka,
who, in reality, was a drunken looter.
The old prince and Mary are not in Moscow, but rather
at Andrew’s estate at Bogucharovo, where the prince has been taken after
a paralytic attack. He is too ill to travel, but Mary fears for
his safety as the French approach. Tearfully, the prince finally
expresses gratitude to his daughter for her lifetime of devotion
to him. A local official arrives to tell Mary that she must leave,
and she returns to the bedroom to find her father has died. Meanwhile,
Bagration writes to the Minister of War to present the debacle in
Smolensk in the best possible light. Alpatych tries unsuccessfully
to force the local Bogucharovo peasants to relocate to Moscow.
