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War and Peace, Volume 3
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
531 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1992
About the author
Leo Tolstoy
8,635 books29.6k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
See also:
French → Léon Tolstoï
Spanish → León Tolstói
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
See also:
French → Léon Tolstoï
Spanish → León Tolstói
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November 28, 2021
The primary theme and focus of the third volume of War & Peace is Napoleon's advance and occupation of Moscow, the strategic retreat on part of the Russian Army, the plunder and pillage in Moscow as well as the conflagration that brunt down most of it, the inexplicable reticence on part of Napoleon to take certain important decisions in terms of further advance and management of/provision for his troops, and the eventual unsystematic and eventually chaotic retreat that resulted in the decimation of a large part of what had been a triumphant French invading force. From the perspectives of individual characters Tolstoy brings to life the machinations of war and occupation, imprisonment and persecution, as well as glimpses of humanity, despair, regret and panic. From a more elevated and relatively dispassionate vantage point he discusses at length war strategy, troop movements, fatal flaws in extant historians' interpretations of who did what and to what end and proposes his own assessment to what led to the eventual turning of tables and the French departure in disaster and disgrace. It is this ability to immaculately discern and capture the very individualistic and the micro as well as the very vast and macro that makes War & Peace such a remarkable piece of literature.
Tolstoy's favored theory proposes that it is the mass will of the many and a multiplicity of background causes that mold historical events; figures such as Napoleon don't determine history but that their own actions and omissions are determined by the aforementioned factors. Time and again he takes issue with extant explanations of various campaigns, sieges, advances, retreats, offensives and other aspects of the events of 1812 and emphasizes the same view. A series of factors such as lack of reigning in of an increasingly indisciplined French force as it awaited the elusive enemy in pillaged Moscow; lack of efforts to prepare for winter; a lowering morale and sense of purpose; and, a patiently waiting, lurking and still intact Russian Army that increasingly found its confidence, prevailed in the engagements that followed, had the full support of Russian peasantry and public who would rather burn their properties and crops than hand them to the French; and the combination of elements with the cold setting in; an army following a route with little by way of provisions; the debilitating carriages carrying loot and the prisoners that slowed them down; and attacks by Russian army, and private militias and bands using guerrilla tactics ravaged the demoralized treating French force. The Battle of Tarutino and consequent events occupy centerstage in Tolstoy's narrative in terms of their impact in the changing the course of the war and in his demystification of Napoleon as a genius (much as after the earlier burning of Smolensk and the Battle of Borodino matters had appeared quite different) - his estimation of him is far less flattering.
At the same time the lives of the various key characters who have by now become deeply familiar and connected with the readers, is impacted in various tragic ways by the conflict. Death, injury, loss of liberty, financial ruin, homelessness and all that it entails makes a huge impact and personalizes Tolstoy's larger study of war and its consequences. The last volume abounds in memorable episodes - the touching bond Natasha builds again with a mortally wounded and tragically dying Prince Andrew; Pierre undergoing harsh imprisonment, his observations on the psychology of war and warriors (with a celebration of the soldier Platon Karataev as epitomizing everything noble about being Russian), his first hand encountering of its horrors (some of the descriptions of executions leave an indelible impression), and his changing view of himself and his place in the cosmos; the management of the war by the aging, unwell and often mistrusted General Kutozov (at times mistrusted by the Emperor as well as Kutozov's more belligerent colleagues); Nicholas's dilemma of choosing between the patient and devoted Sonya and the rich, peaceful and calm Princess Mary even as he battled his own demons and those of the war; the harsh toll of armed conflict from amongst the ranks of both the noble and the ignoble - such as Nicholas, Petya, and Anatole; the debilitation and worsening fortunes of those such as the Rostovs who led and affluent and amiable lives before war; the demonstration of their true characters by the likes of Denisov and Dolokhov in the heat of brilliantly described campaigns and desperate fights; and, Pierre's eventual union with Natasha as well as how once ambitious and soul-searching men like him and Nicholas settle into their more sedentary and ideologically ambiguous lives post war (this being the main theme of the First Epilogue against the backdrop of larger European events).
In the second Epilogue that culminates this final volume Tolstoy holds forth again on his perspective on the war, on war in general, on the forces that mold history as well as historiography, and on the role of individuals and groups in the tide of grand events that impact humanity. No wonder he always regarded War & Peace as not a novel but a larger reflection on and contemplation of themes that continue to impact and befuddle us as a species.
Tolstoy's favored theory proposes that it is the mass will of the many and a multiplicity of background causes that mold historical events; figures such as Napoleon don't determine history but that their own actions and omissions are determined by the aforementioned factors. Time and again he takes issue with extant explanations of various campaigns, sieges, advances, retreats, offensives and other aspects of the events of 1812 and emphasizes the same view. A series of factors such as lack of reigning in of an increasingly indisciplined French force as it awaited the elusive enemy in pillaged Moscow; lack of efforts to prepare for winter; a lowering morale and sense of purpose; and, a patiently waiting, lurking and still intact Russian Army that increasingly found its confidence, prevailed in the engagements that followed, had the full support of Russian peasantry and public who would rather burn their properties and crops than hand them to the French; and the combination of elements with the cold setting in; an army following a route with little by way of provisions; the debilitating carriages carrying loot and the prisoners that slowed them down; and attacks by Russian army, and private militias and bands using guerrilla tactics ravaged the demoralized treating French force. The Battle of Tarutino and consequent events occupy centerstage in Tolstoy's narrative in terms of their impact in the changing the course of the war and in his demystification of Napoleon as a genius (much as after the earlier burning of Smolensk and the Battle of Borodino matters had appeared quite different) - his estimation of him is far less flattering.
At the same time the lives of the various key characters who have by now become deeply familiar and connected with the readers, is impacted in various tragic ways by the conflict. Death, injury, loss of liberty, financial ruin, homelessness and all that it entails makes a huge impact and personalizes Tolstoy's larger study of war and its consequences. The last volume abounds in memorable episodes - the touching bond Natasha builds again with a mortally wounded and tragically dying Prince Andrew; Pierre undergoing harsh imprisonment, his observations on the psychology of war and warriors (with a celebration of the soldier Platon Karataev as epitomizing everything noble about being Russian), his first hand encountering of its horrors (some of the descriptions of executions leave an indelible impression), and his changing view of himself and his place in the cosmos; the management of the war by the aging, unwell and often mistrusted General Kutozov (at times mistrusted by the Emperor as well as Kutozov's more belligerent colleagues); Nicholas's dilemma of choosing between the patient and devoted Sonya and the rich, peaceful and calm Princess Mary even as he battled his own demons and those of the war; the harsh toll of armed conflict from amongst the ranks of both the noble and the ignoble - such as Nicholas, Petya, and Anatole; the debilitation and worsening fortunes of those such as the Rostovs who led and affluent and amiable lives before war; the demonstration of their true characters by the likes of Denisov and Dolokhov in the heat of brilliantly described campaigns and desperate fights; and, Pierre's eventual union with Natasha as well as how once ambitious and soul-searching men like him and Nicholas settle into their more sedentary and ideologically ambiguous lives post war (this being the main theme of the First Epilogue against the backdrop of larger European events).
In the second Epilogue that culminates this final volume Tolstoy holds forth again on his perspective on the war, on war in general, on the forces that mold history as well as historiography, and on the role of individuals and groups in the tide of grand events that impact humanity. No wonder he always regarded War & Peace as not a novel but a larger reflection on and contemplation of themes that continue to impact and befuddle us as a species.
Displaying 1 of 1 review