Battle of Austerlitz war and peace quotes. Andrey Bolkonsky at the Battle of Austerlitz

Composition

on the topic: Andrei Bolkonsky in the Shengraben and Austerlitz battles

bolkonian austerlitz battle war

Andrei Bolkonsky is one of the main characters in the novel by Leo Tolstoy War peace ... "... Small in stature, a very handsome young man with definite and dry features." We meet with him already on the first pages of the novel. A man who is bored with stupid society and a pretty wife, he longs such a feat that is necessary for a military man ... Bolkonsky decided that war is the place where he can 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 the novel by Leo Tolstoy War and Peace ... Hungry, barefoot, exhausted soldiers had to stop the army of an enemy much stronger than them. Knowing from Kutuzov that Bagration's detachment has not a lot of chances to survive, Andrei Bolkonsky begs the great commander to allow him to participate in this battle. Prince Andrew, who was constantly with the commander-in-chief, even when he got to the front line, continued to think large categories presenting the course of events in the most general outline... But then the French opened fire, the battle began. Started! Here it is! But where is it? How will my Toulon put it? thought Prince Andrew. But everything did not happen at all the way it seemed to Prince Andrey, as it was taught and said in theory. The soldiers are now huddled in heaps 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, his calm manner of speaking worked wonders, raising the spirits of commanders and soldiers. Andrei watched as, returning from the battlefield, many repeat 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 his own to retreat, and not be completely defeated. They forgot about him, the guns were left without cover. In fact, Andrei was the only staff officer who was not afraid to deliver the order to retreat to the battery and who, under intense shelling, helped to withdraw the surviving guns and artillerymen. The true hero remained unappreciated. And this incident began to destroy the dreams and ideas of Bolkonsky. Tolstoy shows that the main role in this battle was played by simple and inconspicuous warriors, such as company commander Timokhin and captain Tushin. Not the numerical superiority, not the strategic plans of wise commanders, but the inspiration and fearlessness of the company commander, who carried away the soldiers, influenced the course of the battle. Bolkonsky could not help but notice this.

Battle of Austerlitz As Prince Andrey believed, this is a chance to find your dream. It is in this battle that he will be able to accomplish, albeit small, but a feat. His heroic deed even Napoleon noticed and appreciated. During the retreat, the prince grabs the banner and by his example encourages the battalion to rush into the attack. Here it is! thought the prince. He ran shouting "Hurray!" and never for a moment doubted that the whole regiment would run after him. Andrei barely held the banner and simply dragged it by the pole, shouting in a childishly piercing manner: Guys, go ahead! On the Austerlitz field, Andrei Bolkonsky is re-evaluating his values. He lay badly wounded and looked into 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 Andrey. Thanks to Tushin, Bolkonsky is changing his view of 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 Andrew at the Austerlitz field. After these battles, 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.

In the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" depicts two battles that are fundamental for revealing the images of heroes through "war" - these are the Shengraben and Austerlitz battles. Both battles begin with episodes similar to each other. The battle of Shengraben took place after a series of unsuccessful events for the Russian army and was planned in order to delay the French troops, postponing the attack on the main forces of the army.

The battle of Austerlitz took place after a demonstration of some part of the Russian army to the Austrian duke and Kutuzov. The long passage too tired the soldiers, and they do not have the strength to respond to the onslaught of the French with dignity. Moreover, the Russian troops do not have a clear goal, they do not know what they should fight for.

All this suggests that huge human losses are foreseen.

Andrei Bolkonsky, who participates in both battles, in many respects rethinks everything that happens, changes his attitude to the war.

The role of the two battles in the novel is to make Prince Andrey see his sight, to destroy his dreams of glory.

Prince Andrew is distinguished by his ambition. He dreams of a feat that would bring him glory, make people honor him as a hero. To some extent, the battle of Shengraben has already allowed Prince Andrew to show courage. He is not afraid of enemy bullets, boldly bypassing the positions, he alone goes to the Tushin battery and remains there as long as the guns are working.

It was in the Shengraben battle that Bolkonsky witnessed the courage and heroism shown by the artillerymen of Captain Tushin. He himself showed composure and fearlessness here, and alone spoke at the council of war in defense of the captain.

However, under Shengraben Bolkonsky did not become a hero, his Toulon, which he dreamed of so much, was still far away.

The death surrounding the hero did not stop him at first. The goal for him was fame. However, in the course of the battle, Andrei Bolkonsky's dreams are dispelled, and in the end they are completely shattered.

In the opinion of Prince Andrew, the Battle of Austerlitz will end with a glorious victory. It is here that he will be able to prove himself. Indeed, Bolkonsky is performing a feat. He picked up the banner of the ensign who fell on the battlefield and called: "Guys, go ahead!" - led the battalion to attack. Prince Andrey falls, being wounded in the head, Kutuzov sends his father a letter with the news that his son "fell a hero."

But even now Toulon was far from Bolkonsky, but he no longer needed him. The Russian army was defeated, along with which Prince Andrei's dream of the glory of a great hero disappeared.

The image of a landscape, a huge bottomless sky, which Bolkonsky sees lying on the battlefield, is symbolic. A mental breakdown occurs in the hero's soul. We learn about what is happening in the soul of Prince Andrew from his inner monologue: "How quiet, calm and solemn, not at all the way I ran ... not the way we ran, shouted and fought ... Not at all. so the clouds crawl across this high, endless sky. " The war, into which people entered, cruel and sparing no one, is opposed to nature, peaceful, calm and eternal.

Along with this understanding comes disappointment in Napoleon, whom he had previously revered. Bolkonsky feels especially keenly dislike when a passing French emperor with his retinue theatrically exclaims: "Here is a wonderful death!"

Prince Andrew comes to understand that his ambitious aspirations are unjustified. And this understanding - important stage in the spiritual quest of Andrei Bolkonsky.

Updated: 2012-04-15

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The battle of Austerlitz in War and Peace is the culmination of the first volume. All the battle scenes in War and Peace are the culminating points of tension in the narrative, because these are the moments when the historical intersects with the personal and the transpersonal, life meets death.

Each battle is the result of many components. Austerlitz is preceded in the "space" of the novel by the intrigues of Prince Vasily, Pierre's mistakes (disorderly life in Petersburg, marriage to Helene) - in the work there is a kind of accumulation of "negative energy", the growth of chaos, confusion, illusion. The scenes of preparation for battle are dominated by motives of splendor (a show of two emperors), self-confidence of young people (the party of young generals under the young and confident of victory Alexander I, who himself wants to lead the battle).

Prince Andrew admires Napoleon and dreams of repeating his feat - to save the army, like Napoleon on the Arkolsky bridge or in the battle of Toulon. For Bolkonsky, this is not just a decisive, bold act, but a wonderful, sublime, theatrically elevated one. An obligatory attribute of such a romantic feat is a banner in the hands of a brave man (see the painting by French artist Jean Antoine Gros "Napoleon on the Bridge of Arcola" (1801), which is in the Hermitage). In Chapter XV, Prince Andrew imagines his feat like this: "... with a banner in my hand, I will go forward and break everything that will be in front of me."

Nikolai Rostov is delighted with his emperor, he is almost in love with him, like the entire Russian army. All (except for the wise old Kutuzov) are animated by imaginary future successes, the generals are developing bold military plans, expecting a brilliant victory ... But “ tower clock"World history has already begun its own - so far hidden for all movement. The description of the battle of Austerlitz is developed by Tolstoy, as it were, on three tiers of the vertical space and from different points of view:

1. Russian troops wander in the morning fog in the lowland (the fog, which turned out to be unpredictable, was not taken into account in any military plans, hiding Napoleon's deceitful maneuver);
2. at the height where Napoleon stands, surrounded by his marshals, it is already completely light and a view from above on the "theater of military operations" opens up, a "huge ball of the sun" solemnly, theatrically effectively rises above Napoleon's head - today, on his birthday, the emperor is self-confidently happy, as a "loving and happy boy";
3. on the Pratsen Heights, where Kutuzov is located with his retinue.

Here dramatic events unfold, which are given from the point of view of Prince Andrey - panic and flight of Russian troops, his attempt to stop chaos, the realization of a dream of heroism with a banner in his hand, a wound, a fall ... Tolstoy gives this moment through a sharp, unexpected change of perspective images: from chaos and bustle of movement - to peace, from the noise of battle - to silence, from the vertical position of the body in space and the gaze facing the ground - to the horizontal, to the position of the person who has fallen face up, to the sky. "Above him there was nothing but the sky - a high sky, not clear, but still immeasurably high, with gray clouds quietly creeping over it." Not only the perspective is changing, the scale in the perception of the world is changing: his idol Napoleon, who has stopped over the wounded Prince Andrei, who utters words of praise to the Russian officer, seems small, insignificant next to the opened expanse of infinity, “in comparison with what was happening now between him (Prince Andrei . - EP) with the soul and this high, endless sky ... ”(vol. 1, part 3, ch. XIX). The unbeliever, the skeptic, Prince Andrey peers into the incomprehensible: is there, beyond the threshold of life, someone to whom one can say: "Lord, have mercy on me!" Prince Andrew is undergoing a moral upheaval, a sharp change in the whole the old system life values: "Looking Napoleon in the eyes, Prince Andrew thought about the insignificance of greatness, about the insignificance of life, which no one could understand the meaning, and about the even greater insignificance of death, the meaning of which no one could understand and explain from the living." He discovers the presence in the world of "something incomprehensible, but most important", unequal to the usual God, to whom everyone prays, "to the God who<...>sewn into<...>amulet by Princess Marya ".

Life, God, death, eternal heaven - these are the concluding themes of the first volume. Prince Andrew is experiencing the moment of the discovery of truth ("And suddenly a new light opened up to him ..."). The sky seen at the moment of crisis, emotional shock - this is Tolstoy's most important "situation". Tolstoy's life and death are always connected, but his characters most often do not think about death, being in the stream of life. But suddenly the veil covering the truth is removed - and infinity becomes visible ... Prince Andrew is wounded, he dies - and his consciousness is thrown open into another being, life is seen in a different light - as if “from death”, from eternity. A spiritual upheaval replaced what Prince Andrew perceived as a feat, the invasion of death changed his consciousness. The lofty heroism acquired a genuine fulfillment, becoming the highest state of mind.

However, everything that happened to Prince Andrew, significant in the "spiritual space" of the novel, has no influence on the course of the depicted battle of Austerlitz in War and Peace, and not only because his impulse was interrupted by injury. A separate, even the most significant person in history, according to Tolstoy, does not define anything. History is created by all people together, it is a living tissue, where each point, each constituent atom touches neighboring ones and sets a living movement for the whole.

In the fall of 1805, Russian troops won the battle at Schöngraben. The victory was unexpected and easy due to the prevailing circumstances, so the Third Coalition, waging a war with Napoleon, was elated with 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 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 visible who were their own and who were the enemy soldiers. The first to move was the left flank of the Russian army, according to its disposition, it was directed to smash the right flank of the French and throw them into the Bohemian mountains. Bonfires were burned to destroy everything that could not be carried with them, so as not to leave strategic values ​​to the enemy in case of defeat.

The soldiers felt the imminent march, guessed the approach of the signal from the silent Austrian column leaders, flashing among the Russian army. The columns moved, each soldier did not know where he was going, but walked at his usual pace in the crowd of a thousand feet of his regiment. The fog was very thick and the smoke was eating away at the eyes. There was no sight of the area from which everyone was emerging, nor of the surroundings to which they were approaching.

Those who walked in the middle asked what was visible along the edges, but no one saw anything in front of them ten steps 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 to kill and be killed in a foggy dawn, as required by military duty.

Morning battle

The soldiers marched for a long time in a milky fog. Then they felt a mess 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 Austrian cavalry from the left flank. All the cavalry, by order of the high command, 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 swarmed below like a blind kitten. By nine o'clock in the morning, the first shots were heard here and there. The Russian soldiers did not see where to shoot and where the enemy was moving, so orderly shooting began over the Goldbach River.

Orders were not received in a timely manner, because the adjutants wandered with them for a long time in the thick morning gloom. The first three columns began to fight in disorder and frustration. The fourth column, led by Kutuzov, remained at a height. A couple of hours later, when the Russian soldiers were already tired and weak, and the sun completely illuminated the valley, Napoleon ordered an offensive in the direction of the Prazen Heights.

The wound of Andrei Bolkonsky

Prince Andrew began the battle of Austerlitz next to General Kutuzov, he looked with envy 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 at the edge of the village and was nervous, he suspected that the column would not have time to line up in the right order, passing the village, but the general who drove up insisted that the French were still far from the disposition.

Kutuzov sent the prince to the commander in the third division with orders to prepare for battle. Adjutant Bolkonsky carried out the commander's instructions. 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 commanders that there were other columns of soldiers ahead who would be the first to meet the enemy. Having fixed the omission, the adjutant returned back.

Meeting of Kutuzov with Alexander I

The commander waited, old-fashioned, yawning. Suddenly, from the rear, a greeting was heard from the regiments along the entire line of the advancing Russian army. Soon a squadron of riders in multicolored uniforms could be discerned. In the direction from Prazen followed the emperors of Russia and Austria, surrounded by their retinue.

The figure of Kutuzov was transformed, he froze, bowing before the monarch. Now he was a loyal subject of his majesty, not reasoning and trusting in the will of the sovereign. Mikhail Illarionovich overplayed, saluting the young emperor. Bolkonsky thought that the tsar was handsome, he had beautiful gray eyes with an expression of age-related innocence. Alexander ordered the battle to begin, although the commander tried in every possible way to wait until the fog completely cleared.

Regimental banner

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 miles away, and not ten, as Alexander had assumed due to his inexperience. Andrey 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 at lightning speed.

Five minutes ago, slender columns were passing through that place in front of the coalition emperors, now crowds of frightened soldiers were running. The mass of retreating people did not release anyone who had fallen into it and chaotically captured Kutuzov. Everything happened very quickly. On the descent of the mountain, artillery was still firing, 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 an order. The wounded warrant officer dropped the banner. Shouting "Uraaaaa!" Prince Bolkonsky picked up the fallen banner, not for a moment doubting that the battalion would follow its banner. It was impossible to surrender the guns to the French, because they would immediately turn them against the fleeing ones and turn them into a bloody mess.

For the guns, hand-to-hand fighting was already in full swing, when Andrei felt a blow to the head. He did not have time to see how the battle ended. Sky. Only the blue skies, which did not evoke any feelings and thoughts, as a symbol of infinity, opened up over him. There was silence and peace.

The defeat of the Russian army

By evening, the French generals talked about the end of the battle in all directions. The enemy took possession of more than a hundred guns. General Przhebyshevsky's corps laid down its arms, other columns fled in chaotic crowds.

A handful of soldiers from Dokhturov and Langeron remained near the village of Augesta. In the evening, you could hear the explosions of shells fired from the cannons, as the French shot the retreating military units.

The battle of Austerlitz between the allied armies of Russia and Austria and the army of France during the Russian-Austro-French war took place in 1805, on November 20. The Allied Army, which included the Russian and Austrian emperors, was commanded by M.I. Kutuzov, the army of the French - Emperor Napoleon, so the battle has another historical name: "Battle of the Three Emperors."

Contrary to Kutuzov's objections, the monarch insisted that the Russian army stop retreating and, without waiting for the Buxgewden army that had not yet approached, entered the battle of Austerlitz with the French. The allied forces 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 of the first volume of the novel War and Peace. It carries a great and very important load for revealing the characters' characters.

One of the main characters of the novel (Andrei Bolkonsky) has high hopes for the upcoming Battle of Austerlitz, he thinks of him 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, besides this, 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.

Austerlitz battle in "War and Peace" the reader sees 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 were much closer than expected, which led to panic and the shameful flight of the Russian troops. Prince Andrew, wishing to maintain the military fighting spirit, raises the fallen banner and carries the regiment soldiers with him.

The writer psychologically correctly conveys internal state a man in a mortal way During a heroic attack, the prince sees absolutely not a 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. When it 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 bewitched and completely captured his attention that the French emperor who drove up took him for a heroic death.

Emperor Napoleon always traveled around the battlefield to enjoy victory and his own greatness. He could not help but notice the prince lying, Andrew heard the words of the emperor about a glorious death, but took 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 result of the battle ceased to be of 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, escape and everything that he dreamed of the day before.

Since the hero has begun new life, it became a symbol of renewal and began to personify for him the cold and unattainable ideal.

Description of the Battle of Austerlitz is one of the plot and compositional units 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 radical 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 vicissitudes 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, not a romantic feat, and no longer for the sake of ephemeral greatness, but for the glory of the Motherland and life on Earth.