War and Peace

Russia again goes to war against France in June 1812. The narrator notes that historians still dispute the events leading up to the war—and none of the given explanations can account for the sheer scale of the conflict. The narrator prefers instead to simply describe the many coincidences and random incidents that led up to the conflict. Trying to fully account for the war is like trying to describe the innumerable interlinked human lives that had something to do with it. Some of these lives are more important than others; certain towering figures are linked to many people. However, the narrator cautions that these great men do not have complete free will. Instead, history “uses every moment of the life of rulers as a tool for its own purposes” (649).

Napoleon marches his army to the Niemen River. Beyond the river is the vast expanse of the Russian steppe. In the middle of the steppe is Moscow. Accustomed to the constant praise of his men, Napoleon has come to believe in his seemingly godlike abilities. A Polish colonel, desperate for Napoleon’s approval, wants to cross the river and lead the army to glory, not aware of the Niemen’s swift current. In the attempt to cross, 40 men and horses drown.