CHAPTER 1
year 1812
In this chapter, the events of future wars are described. The free will of leaders like Napoleon and Alexander are also mentioned. How much of history is a person's free will and how much of it is predetermined?
Important Quotes
"Each man lives for himself, using his freedom to attain his personal aims,
and feels with his whole being that he can now do or abstain from doing
this or that action; but as soon as he has done it, that action performed
at a certain moment in time becomes irrevocable and belongs to history, in
which it has not a free but a predestined significance."
"There are two sides to the life of every man, his individual life, which
is the more free the more abstract its interests, and his elemental hive
life in which he inevitably obeys laws laid down for him."
"Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will, is in
an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole course of
history and predestined from eternity."
CHAPTER 2
Napoleon is tired of having so much attention from all his admirers. He thinks it is distracting and wants to be left alone to plan out his next moves in the war. All the men around him try and impress him, but he pays no mind.
Important Quotes
"Those whom (God) wishes to destroy he drives mad."
CHAPTER 3
Boris, Helene, and Alexander all attend a ball where the emperor finds out that the French have crossed on to Russian territory. He is very upset and writes to Napoleon telling him to leave his turf or else another war will break out.
Alexander: "It still depends on Your Majesty [Napoleon] to preserve humanity
from the calamity of another war."
CHAPTER 4
Balashev, Emperor Alexander's general, rides to where the French reside with the letter from Alexander telling them to retreat. On the way to see Napoleon, he encounters hostility from the French. He meets with Murat (who is now called "King of Naples") who insists that Napoleon isn't trying to start a war and that Alexander is the violent one for threatening to begin one is they don't move. Balashev and Murat clearly disagree on who is about to begin the next war and part their separate ways. Balashev is escorted to the French Marshal Davout.
CHAPTER 5
Balashev meets with Davout who is very stern and mean to him. He tells Balashev that he will give Alexander's letter to Napoleon himself, sending Balashev to wait at Vilna to see Napoleon.
CHAPTER 6
Balashev meets with Napoleon who is in a bad mood and threatens to wipe out Russia and its allies if war is declared. He keeps on saying that Alexander had much potential to be a great ruler, but he allied himself with his enemies and, therefore, was not great. Balashev doesn't even have a moment to speak because Napoleon keeps talking over him.
Important Quotes
[Napoleon]: "Evidently only what took place within his own mind interested him. Nothing
outside himself had any significance for him, because everything in the
world, it seemed to him, depended entirely on his will."
CHAPTER 7
Napoleon invites Balashev to dine with him. He treats Balashev like one of his admirers, not thinking that Balashev would disagree with his point of views. Napoleon keeps on talking badly of Alexander and, when Balashev returns home with news of his meetings, Alexander declares war.
Important Quotes
"It was evident that [Napoleon]
had long been convinced that it was impossible for him to make a mistake,
and that in his perception whatever he did was right, not because it
harmonized with any idea of right and wrong, but because he did it."
"Napoleon did not notice this expression; he treated
Balashev not as an envoy from his enemy, but as a man now fully devoted to
him and who must rejoice at his former master's humiliation."
CHAPTER 8
After some time of trying to find Anatole and challenge his to a duel, Andrew returns to Bald Hills where he notices a divide in the old house. His father is still having an affair with Madame Bourienne and they have both turned against Mary. Mary begs Andrew to stay longer, but he feels that he must go because he can't bear his father and the Frenchwoman and not even his son brings him joy. Mary tells Andrew not to blame men for his misfortunes and that everything is in God's hands, but Andrew still looks forward to finding and killing Anatole.
Important Quotes
"It was as if that lofty,
infinite canopy of heaven that had once towered above him had suddenly
turned into a low, solid vault that weighed him down, in which all was
clear, but nothing eternal or mysterious."
Andrew: "If I were a woman I would do so, Mary. That is a woman's virtue. But a
man should not and cannot forgive and forget," he replied"
Mary: "Good-bye, Andrew! Remember that misfortunes come from God, and men are
never to blame," were the last words he heard from his sister when he took
leave of her."
CHAPTER 9
Andrew decides to rejoin the army under Barclay where he notices some divisions forming. There are nine divisions, people for or against the war or people for or against certain generals. However, the biggest group is that which is self-centered and only out to better themselves, not caring about the war itself.
Important Quotes
"his eighth and largest party of those
preoccupied with personal interests imparted great confusion and obscurity
to the common task. Whatever question arose, a swarm of these drones,
without having finished their buzzing on a previous theme, flew over to
the new one and by their hum drowned and obscured the voices of those who
were disputing honestly."
CHAPTER 10
Barclay tells Andrew that Alexander wishes to meet with him. On arriving at Alexander's house, he is greeted by Chernyshev, the aide-de-camp, as they wait for Alexander to return. He sees the German, Pfuel, who he concludes is self-confident in his ability to theorize using science. Andrew proceeds to categorize men from different countries, saying how each one derives their confidence from different things.
Important Quotes
"A Russian is self-assured
just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he
does not believe that anything can be known. The German's self-assurance
is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive than any other, because he
imagines that he knows the truth—science—which he himself has
invented but which is for him the absolute truth."
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