Battle of Austerlitz in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky. Brief analysis of the battle of Austerlitz in the novel "War and Peace"
battle of austerlitz between the allied army of Russia and Austria and the army of France during the Russian-Austrian-French war took place in 1805, November 20. The Allied army, in which the Russian and Austrian emperors were, was commanded by M.I. Kutuzov, the French army is Emperor Napoleon, so the battle has another historical name: "The Battle of the Three Emperors."
Contrary to the objections of Kutuzov, the monarch insisted that the Russian army stop retreating and, without waiting for the Buxgevden army that had not yet approached, entered the battle of Austerlitz with the French. The allied troops suffered a heavy defeat in it and were forced to retreat in disarray.
The battle of Austerlitz was used by the writer Leo Tolstoy as a key episode in the first volume of the novel War and Peace. It carries a great and very important load for revealing the characters of the characters.
One of the main characters of the novel (Andrey Bolkonsky) has high hopes for the upcoming Battle of Austerlitz, he thinks of it as “his Toulon”, by analogy with the beginning of the dizzying military career of the current enemy, the Emperor of France. The desire for fame and human recognition becomes the only goal of his life, in addition, he wants to meet his idol, Napoleon, on the battlefield. The prince admired him, the life of a former corporal who became emperor served as proof that a person can have a significant impact on the course of history.
The battle of Austerlitz in War and Peace is seen by the reader through the eyes of Prince Andrei, who serves at the headquarters of Commander Kutuzov. The entire entourage of the commander-in-chief is preoccupied with receiving money and ranks. The enemy troops turned out to be much closer than expected, which led to panic and a shameful flight of the Russian troops. Prince Andrei, wishing to maintain military morale, raises the fallen banner and drags the soldiers of the regiment behind him.
The writer psychologically correctly conveys internal state a man in a deadly manner. During a heroic attack, the prince sees an absolutely not sublime, but an everyday scene of a fight between an officer and a soldier for a bannik. Following this, Andrei finally felt that he was wounded and was falling. As he fell, the scene of the fight was suddenly replaced by a picture of a high, boundless piercing blue sky with quietly creeping clouds. It so fascinated and completely captured his attention that the French emperor drove up and mistook him for a heroically deceased.
Emperor Napoleon always traveled around the battlefield to enjoy victory and his own greatness. He could not fail to notice the lying prince, Andrei heard the words of the emperor about a glorious death, but perceived them as an empty and annoying sound. In one second, everything changed in the mind, the pettiness and insignificance of glory, recognition, greatness became clear, the outcome of the battle ceased to interest. Everything that happened turned out to be so far from everything that Prince Bolkonsky dreamed of that the sight of a calm, deep, clear and eternal sky allowed him to realize all the futility and vanity of earthly battles, flight and everything that he had dreamed of the day before.
With the hero began new life, it became a symbol of renewal and began to personify for him the coldness and unattainability of the ideal.
The description of the battle of Austerlitz is one of the plot and compositional nodes of the novel, its first volume. The battle is playing important role in the fates of all the main characters, their lives change. The most fundamental changes take place in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky: the death of his wife, the birth of a son, an attempt to make a career in the civilian field, love for Natalya Rostova. All these ups and downs will lead him to the main event in his life - participation in the Battle of Borodino, in which he is destined to accomplish a real, and not a romantic feat, and no longer for the sake of ephemeral greatness, but for the glory of the Motherland and life on Earth.
The role of emperors in the battle of Austerlitz
The history of mankind consists of victories and defeats in wars. In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy describes the participation of Russia and Austria in the war against Napoleon. Thanks to the Russian troops, the battle of Shengraben was won, and this gave strength and inspiration to the sovereigns of Russia and Austria. Blinded by victories, preoccupied mainly with narcissism, holding military reviews and balls, these two men led their armies to defeat at Austerlitz. The Battle of Austerlitz in Tolstoy's War and Peace was the decisive battle in the War of the Three Emperors. Tolstoy shows the two emperors at first as pompous and self-satisfied, and after the defeat as confused and unhappy people.
Napoleon managed to outwit and defeat the Russian-Austrian army. Emperors fled the battlefield, and after the end of the battle, Emperor Franz decided to submit to Napoleon on his terms.
Kutuzov and Weyrother - who is to blame for the defeat?
The main role in the conduct of this war was assumed by the Austrian military leaders, especially since the battles were fought on the territory of Austria. And the battle near the town of Austerlitz in the novel "War and Peace" was also thought out and planned by the Austrian general Weyrother. Weyrother did not consider it necessary to take into account the opinion of Kutuzov or anyone else.
The military council before the battle of Austerlitz does not resemble advice, but an exhibition of vanities, all disputes were not conducted with the aim of achieving the best and right decision, but, as Tolstoy writes: “... it was obvious that the goal ... of the objections consisted mainly in the desire to make General Weyrother feel, as self-confidently as to schoolchildren, who read his disposition, that he was dealing not only with fools, but with people who who could teach him in military affairs.
Having made several futile attempts to change the situation, Kutuzov overslept the entire time the council lasted. Tolstoy makes it clear how much all this pomposity and complacency disgusts Kutuzov, the old general is well aware that the battle will be lost.
Prince Bolkonsky, seeing all this, suddenly clearly realizes that all this ostentatious advice is only to satisfy the own ambitions of the generals of both armies. “Is it really because of court and personal considerations that one should risk tens of thousands and mine, my life?" Andrey Bolkonsky thinks. But, like a true son of his father, Bolkonsky cannot stoop to the point of refusing to take part in the battle, even if he knows for sure that it will be lost.
Battle Analysis
Why was the battle lost, and why did Kutuzov try to prevent this attack on the French? An experienced military man, he was not blinded by small victories over the French army, and therefore could realistically assess the enemy. Kutuzov was well aware that Napoleon was a smart strategist. He was well aware of the number of Russian-Austrian troops, and knew that it exceeded the number of French soldiers. Therefore, it was clear that Bonaparte would try to take any action in order to deceive the enemy into a trap. That is why Kutuzov tried to delay time in order to orient himself and understand what the French emperor was up to.
Even during the battle, having met with the tsar, Kutuzov hesitates, and sends soldiers to attack only after the order of the Russian emperor.
In the description of the Battle of Austerlitz in War and Peace, Tolstoy, showing the battlefield from two opposite sides, as if contrasts the emperors Napoleon, Alexander and Franz.
Above both armies, the same "... clear blue sky, and a huge ball of the sun, like a huge hollow crimson float, swayed on the surface of the milky sea of fog." But at the same time, the French troops go into battle confidently and with enthusiasm, and internal friction and disputes are in full swing among the Russian-Austrian army. From this, the soldiers also feel uncertainty and confusion. Including a description of nature in the story of the Austerlitz war in the novel, Tolstoy seems to be describing the scenery in the theater of war. The blue sky of Austerlitz, under which people fought and died, the sun illuminating the battlefield and the soldiers going into the fog to become ordinary cannon fodder in the game of imperial ambitions.
Andrey Bolkonsky
For Andrei Bolkonsky, the battle of Austerlitz is an opportunity to show oneself, to show all one’s best qualities. Just as Nikolai Rostov, before the battle of Shengraben, dreamed of accomplishing a feat, but, at a moment of danger, he suddenly realized that he could be killed, so Bolkonsky thinks about death before the battle. And Rostov's surprise: “Kill me? Me whom everyone loves so much!” very similar to Bolkonsky’s bewilderment: “Is it really because of court and personal considerations that one should risk tens of thousands and mine, my life?"
But at the same time, the result of these thoughts is different for Rostov and Bolkonsky. If Rostov runs into the bushes, then Bolkonsky is ready to face danger in order to "...finally show everything that I can do." Bolkonsky is vain, just like his father, and his son in the future, but this vanity comes not from empty bragging, but from the nobility of the soul. He dreams not of awards, but of glory, of people's love.
And in the moments of his thoughts about his future exploits, Tolstoy seems to lower him to the ground. The prince suddenly hears the stupid joke of the soldiers:
"Titus, and Titus?"
"Well," replied the old man.
“Titus, go thresh,” said the joker.
“Pah, well, to hell with them,” a voice was heard, covered with the laughter of batmen and servants.
Those people, for the sake of whose love Bolkonsky is ready to go to great feats, do not even suspect about his dreams and thoughts, they live an ordinary camp life and joke their stupid jokes.
Tolstoy describes the heroic behavior of Andrei Bolkonsky during the Battle of Austerlitz in ordinary words, without embellishment and pathos. The weight of the banner, which is so difficult to hold that Bolkonsky fled "dragging him by the pole", a description of the injury, when, as if "... from the full swing of a strong stick, one of the nearest soldiers, as it seemed to him, hit him in the head." There is nothing grandiloquent and heroic in the description of his feat, but this is precisely what creates the feeling that heroism is a manifestation of a spiritual impulse in the everydayness of military operations.
Prince Bolkonsky could not have done otherwise, although he was well aware that the outcome of the battle of Austerlitz was a foregone conclusion.
As if emphasizing the vanity of everything that is happening, Tolstoy again returns to the sky over Austerlitz, which Andrei Bolkonsky now sees above him. “Above him there was nothing but the sky, a high sky, not clear, but still immeasurably high, with gray clouds quietly creeping across it. “How quiet, calm and solemn, not at all the way I ran,” thought Prince Andrei, “not the way we ran, shouted and fought ... clouds crawling across this high, endless sky are not at all like that. How could I not have seen this lofty sky before? And how happy I am that I finally got to know him. Yes! everything is empty, everything is a lie, except for this endless sky. Nothing, nothing but him. But even that is not even there, there is nothing but silence, calmness. And thank God!.."
Conclusion
Summing up and after a brief analysis of the description of the battle of Austerlitz, I would like to end the essay on the topic of the Battle of Austerlitz in the novel “War and Peace” with a quote from the novel, which very clearly reflects the essence of all military operations: “Like a clock, the result of the complex movement of countless different wheels and blocks is only the slow and even movement of the arrow indicating the time, so the result of all the complex human movements of these one hundred and sixty thousand Russians and French - all passions, desires, remorse, humiliation, suffering, impulses of pride, fear, delight of these people - was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz, the so-called battle of the three emperors, that is, the slow movement of the world-historical hand on the dial of the history of mankind.
Whatever happens in this world, all this is just the movement of the hands on the clock ...
Artwork test
In the autumn of 1805, Russian troops won the battle near Shengraben. The victory was unexpected and easy due to the circumstances, so the Third Coalition, waging war with Napoleon, was inspired by success. The emperors of Russia and Austria decided to give the French army another lesson near the city of Austerlitz, underestimating the enemy. Leo Tolstoy describes the battle of Austerlitz in the novel "War and Peace" on the basis of studied documents, dispositions of troops and facts found in numerous historical sources.
Dawn before the battle
They went into battle with the first rays of the sun in order to have time to kill each other before dark. At night, it was not clear who was ours, and who were the enemy soldiers. The left flank of the Russian army was the first to move, it was sent according to its disposition to break the right flank of the French and push them back into the Bohemian mountains. Fires were burned to destroy everything that could not be carried with them, so as not to leave strategic values \u200b\u200bto the enemy in case of defeat.The soldiers felt the imminent performance, guessed the approach of the signal from the silent Austrian columnists, flickering among the Russian troops. The columns moved, each soldier did not know where he was heading, but he walked with his usual step in the crowd with a thousand feet of his regiment. The fog was very thick, and the smoke was eating away at the eyes. It was not visible either to the area from which everyone was coming out, nor to those surroundings where they were approaching.
Those who walked in the middle asked what they could see along the edges, but no one saw anything in front of them ten paces ahead. Everyone told each other that Russian columns were coming from all sides, even from behind. The news was reassuring, because everyone was pleased that the whole army was going where he was going. Leo Tolstoy, with his characteristic humanism, reveals the simple human feelings of people who go through a foggy dawn to kill and be killed, as military duty requires.
morning battle
The soldiers marched for a long time in a milky fog. Then they felt disorder in their ranks. It’s good that the cause of the fuss could be attributed to the Germans: the Austrian command decided that between the center and the right flank long distance. The free space must be filled with the Austrian cavalry from the left flank. The entire cavalry, on the orders of the higher authorities, turned sharply to the left.The generals quarreled, the spirit of the troops fell, and Napoleon watched the enemy from above. The emperor could clearly see the enemy, who was scurrying around below, like a blind kitten. By nine o'clock in the morning the first shots were heard here and there. The Russian soldiers could not see where to shoot and where the enemy was moving, so orderly shooting began over the Goldbach River.
Orders did not arrive in time, because the adjutants wandered with them for a long time in the thick morning mist. The first three columns began the battle in disorder and disorder. The fourth column, led by Kutuzov, remained on top. After a couple of hours, when the Russian soldiers were already tired and weak, and the sun completely illuminated the valley, Napoleon gave the order to attack in the direction of the Pracen Heights.
Andrei Bolkonsky's wound
Prince Andrei began the battle of Austerlitz next to General Kutuzov, he looked enviously into the valley. There, in the cold milky darkness, shots were heard, and on the opposite slopes the enemy army was guessed. Mikhail Illarionovich with his retinue stood on the edge of the village and was nervous, he suspected that the column would not have time to line up in right order, having passed the village, but the general who drove up insisted that the French were still far away from the disposition.Kutuzov sent the prince to the commander of the third division with the order to prepare for battle. Adjutant Bolkonsky fulfilled the order of the commander. The field commander of the third division was very surprised, he could not believe that the enemy was so close. It seemed to the military authorities that there were other columns of soldiers ahead who would be the first to meet the enemy. Having adjusted the omission, the adjutant returned back.
Meeting Kutuzov with Alexander I
The commander waited, yawning like an old man. Suddenly, a greeting from the regiments was heard from the rear along the entire line of the advancing Russian army. Soon a squadron of riders in colorful uniforms could be distinguished. The emperors of Russia and Austria followed in the direction from Prazen, surrounded by their retinue.The figure of Kutuzov changed, he froze, bowing before the monarch. Now it was a loyal subject of His Majesty, not reasoning and relying on the will of the sovereign. Mikhail Illarionovich overacted, saluting the young emperor. Bolkonsky thought that the tsar was handsome, he had beautiful gray eyes with an expression of age innocence. Alexander ordered the battle to begin, although the commander did his best to wait until the fog completely dissipated.
Regimental colors
When the Russian command, due to weather conditions, was able to examine and assess the location of the army, it turned out that the enemy was two versts away, and not ten, as Alexander assumed due to his inexperience. Andrei managed to notice that the enemies were advancing five hundred meters from Kutuzov himself, he wanted to warn the Absheron column, but panic ran through the ranks with lightning speed.Five minutes ago, slender columns passed through that place in front of the emperors of the coalition, now crowds of frightened soldiers were running. The mass of the retreating did not let out the one who got into it and chaotically captured Kutuzov. Everything happened very quickly. Artillery was still firing on the slope of the mountain, but the French were too close.
The infantry stood nearby in indecision, suddenly they opened fire on it, and the soldiers began to shoot back without orders. The wounded ensign dropped the banner. With a cry of "Uraaaaa!" Prince Bolkonsky picked up the fallen banner, never doubting for a moment that the battalion would follow its banner. It was impossible to hand over the cannons to the French, because they would immediately turn them against the fugitives and turn them into a bloody mess.
Hand-to-hand fighting was already in full swing for the guns when Andrey felt a blow to the head. He did not have time to see how the fight ended. Sky. Only blue skies, not causing any feelings and thoughts, as a symbol of infinity, opened up above him. There was peace and quiet.
The defeat of the Russian army
By evening, the French generals were talking about the end of the battle in all directions. The enemy took possession of more than a hundred guns. The corps of General Przhebyshevsky laid down their arms, other columns fled in chaotic crowds.At the village of Augesta, a handful of soldiers from Dokhturov and Lanzheron remained. In the evening, one could hear the bursts of shells fired from the cannons, as the French shot down the retreating military units.
Goals and objectives of the lesson: to identify the ideological and artistic features of the image of the Battle of Austerlitz as the compositional center of the entire war of 1805-1807; to realize the role of Andrei Bolkonsky in this episode; be able to answer questions; build monologue speech; contribute to the development of patriotism.
Lesson form: group.
Features of the lesson: a differentiated approach.
Equipment: text of 1 volume of the novel "War and Peace", cards with questions, illustrations, computer, DVD.
During the classes.
- Repetition of the material covered. Questions session.
What are the causes of the war of 1805-1807? How does Tolstoy feel about this war? How did Timokhin's company and Tushin's battery prove themselves in the battle of Shengraben? What is cowardice and heroism? With what thoughts did Andrei B. leave for the war? What feelings did he experience while participating in this war?
Teacher. Summing up all that has been said, we conclude: the Russian government entered the war out of fear of the spread of revolutionary ideas and the desire to prevent Napoleon's aggressive policy. Tolstoy has a negative attitude towards war. She is cruel and senseless. After all, all people are brothers. But even here the soldiers showed miracles of heroism. Timokhin's company, in conditions of confusion, "one in the forest resisted and attacked the French." In the hottest area, in the center of the battle, Tushin's battery fought. Andrei Bolkonsky goes to war in order to accomplish a military feat, to win glory. At the initial stage of the war, he understands that heroes are not necessarily people. officer rank but ordinary soldiers. He saw that a feat in the war is a common thing.
Yes, Prince Andrei went to war for feat and glory. Let's see if he managed to do it?
We are divided into three groups. Each group is given tasks and questions on cards.
Question: During the development of the disposition (plan of action) Kutuzov openly sleeps. Why?
The students are trying to find the answer. Because in any, even the most carefully developed plan, different circumstances can interfere. And any outcome of the case is decided by people. You can't predict how they will behave.
(Students from group 1 read an excerpt about the beginning of the battle)
Question: What happened? What accident has invaded the disposition?
Fog was not included.
Question: How did the soldiers behave when they saw the French in front of them? And the panic began.
Question: How else can one explain the flight of the soldiers?
The absence of a moral incentive for waging war, the foreignness of its goals for the people.
Question: How does Kutuzov behave in the decisive moments of the battle?
He is in the thick of the crowd of his soldiers. He does not try to escape from it, painfully trying to understand what is happening.
Question: How did Tolstoy reveal Kutuzov's state of mind?
Kutuzov is completely powerless before the flight of his soldiers, he is tormented by what he sees. He calls for help to Andrei Bolkonsky. He is ashamed and sad.
What is Prince Andrew doing?
(Students 2-1 gr. Read out an excerpt from the behavior of Prince Andrei in battle.)
Questions: What did Andrey B. feel when he saw the soldiers flee from the battlefield?
What prompted Prince Andrei to grab the banner and run forward?
What does Andrei B. see and hear when he runs against the enemy with a banner in his hands?
Prince Andrei was obsessed with one thought: we must stop this shame, stop the flight. Before Austerlitz, he thinks only about his feat. And then everything happened as he imagined: he happened to “go ahead of the troops” with a banner in his hands, and the whole battalion ran after him. He hears only the whistle of bullets and sees the banner dragging along the ground. Prince Andrei did not feel the beauty of the feat.
Question: Why is this feat not poetized in the novel?
This is a glorious feat worthy of the honor of a Russian officer. But for Tolstoy, the inner essence of a feat is important. After all, Napoleon can also go ahead of his troops. This inner essence of the feat of Andrei Bolkonsky is the reason why the feat is not poetized.
(Students in group 3 read out the final passage of the chapter).
Questions: How did Andrei B. feel about Napoleon before the war?
Why does Napoleon now seem small and insignificant to the wounded Prince Andrei?
Previously, Prince Andrei considered Napoleon a hero. And now he saw his true nature, learned how he got his glory by walking over the corpses of his soldiers. Andrei Bolkonsky was disappointed in Napoleon. Napoleon introduced himself to him as "a small, insignificant little man", "with an indifferent, limited and happy look from the misfortune of others."
What did Prince Andrei discover for himself, looking at the high sky?
What is the meaning of the "high sky" image in this episode?
In this image of the sky there is greatness, infinity of aspiration, coldness. The sky is absolute, fair, Prince Andrei is looking for justice and perfection in life. Life shouldn't be confusing. Prince Andrei sees the sky, looking over human life.
Question: What was Austerlitz for Prince Andrei and for Russia?
Austerlitz brought Prince Andrei the discovery of a new world, a new meaning of life. He wished that people would "help him and bring him back to life, which seemed to him so beautiful, because he understood it differently now." The world opened up to Andrei Bolkonsky in another dimension, where ambitious dreams, fame, honors - everything was insignificant compared to the endless sky.
Austerlitz became an era of shame and shame for Russia. Terrible, like any war, with the destruction of human life, this war, according to Tolstoy, did not have at least an explanation for its inevitability, started for the ambitious interests of the court circles, it was incomprehensible and not needed by the people. Therefore, it ended with Austerlitz. But the Russian army could be courageous and heroic when the goals of the battle were clear to it.
Homework. Choice:
- Write a mini essay “What, according to Tolstoy, is the inner essence of any human act, including heroic?”;
- Make a chapter plan;
- Draw up OSK "Austerlitz";
- Illustrate the chapter.
The page contains a snippet.
Composition
on the topic: Andrei Bolkonsky in the Shengraben and Austerlitz battles
bolkonsky austerlitsky battle war
Andrei Bolkonsky - one of the main characters of the novel by L. N. Tolstoy war world . "...Small, very handsome young man with definite and dry features." We meet him in the first pages of the novel. A man who is bored with stupid high society and a pretty wife, he craves such a feat, which is necessary for a military man . Bolkonsky decided that war was the place where he could prove himself. Napoleon was his idol. Bolkonsky, like most young people of that time, also wanted to become famous.
The Battle of Shengraben is one of the key moments in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace . Hungry, shoeless, exhausted soldiers had to stop the army of the enemy, much stronger than they were. Knowing from Kutuzov that Bagration's detachment has not much chance of surviving, Andrei Bolkonsky begs the great commander to allow him to participate in this battle. Prince Andrei, who was constantly with the commander-in-chief, even when he got to the front line, continued to think major categories, presenting the course of events in the most in general terms. But the French opened fire, the battle began. Began! Here it is! But where? How will my Toulon be expressed? thought Prince Andrei. But everything did not happen at all as it seemed to Prince Andrei, as it was taught and said in theory. The soldiers either huddle together and run, then they counterattack, and the enemy is already forced to retreat. And the general gave almost no orders, although he pretended that everything was happening according to his intentions . However, the very fact of his presence, the calm manner of speaking worked wonders, raising the spirits of commanders and soldiers. Andrei watched as, returning from the battlefield, many go on about their exploits. The true hero of the Shengraben battle is Captain Tushin. It was his battery that stopped the French, made it possible for theirs to retreat, and not be completely defeated. They forgot about him, the guns were left without cover. In fact, Andrei was the only one of the staff officers who was not afraid to deliver the order to retreat to the battery and who, under intense fire, helped to withdraw the surviving guns and artillerymen. The true hero remained invaluable. And this incident began to destroy the dreams and ideas of Bolkonsky. Tolstoy shows that simple and inconspicuous warriors, such as company commander Timokhin and captain Tushin, played the main role in this battle. Not numerical superiority, not the strategic plans of wise commanders, but the enthusiasm and fearlessness of the company commander, who dragged the soldiers along, influenced the course of the battle. Bolkonsky could not fail to notice this.
The battle of Austerlitz, as Prince Andrei believed, was a chance to find his dream. It is in this battle that he will be able to accomplish, albeit a small, but feat. His heroic deed noticed and appreciated even by Napoleon. During the retreat, the prince grabs the banner and, by his example, induces the battalion to rush to the attack. Here it is! thought the prince. He ran shouting "Hurrah!" and never doubted for a moment that the whole regiment would run after him. Andrei barely held the banner and simply dragged it by the pole, shouting piercingly as a child: Guys, go ahead! On the field of Austerlitz, Andrei Bolkonsky is undergoing a reassessment of values. Seriously wounded, he lay and looked at the endless sky. What seemed to him beautiful and sublime turned out to be empty and vain. And Napoleon himself, his hero, now seemed "a small and insignificant person," and his words were nothing more than the buzzing of a fly.
The Battle of Shengraben undoubtedly played a positive role in the life of Prince Andrei. Thanks to Tushin, Bolkonsky changes his view of the war. It turns out that war is not a means of achieving a career, but dirty, hard work, where an anti-human deed is performed. The final realization of this comes to Prince Andrei on the field of Austerlitz. After these fights, and most importantly after being wounded, Andrei changes his outlook on life. He understands that the outcome of the battle does not depend on the feat of one person, but on the feat of the people.
