Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 7

Characters Present:

Princess Mary Bolkónskaya
Princess Lisa Bolkónskaya
Old Prince Nicholas Bolkónski

Location:

Bald Hills Estate

 
Prince Nicholas Bolkónski receives a letter from General Kutúzov outlining his son's demise.  Nicholas Bolkónski tells his daughter Mary, who asks to weep with him.   He won't allow it and gets bad tempered about good Russian men dying for Russian glory. 

Mary wants to tell her sister-in-law, Lisa, about her husbands death, but cannot bring herself to, and asks her father to keep it quiet until Lisa comes out of her "confinement" in a few days time.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 6

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Héléne Kuragina (now Countess)


Location:

The Bezukhov house, Moscow

Pierre returns home and goes straight to his deceased fathers bedroom, where he considers how much he dislikes his wife; how beautiful she is; and how bad it will look to her that he shot her lover.

He falls asleep eventually, and is woken the next morning by his footman and Héléne.  Hélène mocks Pierre over the duel and says that she wasn't having an affair with Dolókhov, but just spends so much time with him because he is wittier and smarter than Pierre.  Pierre says that they should separate and she scoffs and says that she will take most of his fortune.

The following week Pierre packs his things, gives control of a great deal of his estate to Hélène then goes to his other home in Petersburg.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 5

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov
Nicholas Rostóv
Vaska Denísov


Location:

24.384 metres or 80 feet off a roadside

Fedor Ivanich Dólokhov shouts through the mist to Pierre to begin.  They pace towards each other, though Dólokhov has not yet raised his pistol.  Pierre fires, and Dólokhov falls over.  He has the right to fire back through, so Pierre stands still while Dólokhov shoots and misses.

In the carriage on the way back to town, the wounded Dólokhov takes Rostóv by the hand and beseeches him to go ahead and prepare his mother for the news that he may be dying. 

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 4

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov
Nicholas Rostóv
Prince Nesvítski

Location:

The English Club Moscow/24.384 metres or 80 feet off a roadside

Still at the dinner at the English Club, Pierre is sitting across the table from Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov and Nicholas Rostóv.  

Pierre is unhappy because he received a letter from his cousin earlier stating that Pierre's new wife, Hélène is having an affair with Dólokhov, which serves to confirm the rumours already flying about town.  Berzúkhov is especially insulted as he previously helped Dólokhov out by giving him money and accommodation in his home.

Eventually Pierre snaps, calls Dólokhov a scoundrel and challenges him to a duel the following morning.

The next morning arrives and pistols are handed to Dólokhov and Pierre, who has to ask how the trigger works, as he has never fired a gun before.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 3

Characters Present:

Count Ilya Rostóv

General Bagratión

Nicholas Rostóv

Vaska Denísov

Prince Dolgorúkov

Pierre Bezukhov
300 other men

Location:

The English Club, Moscow

The pre-dinner drinks go on, and we learn that Pierre  doesn't fit in properly with young men or old men, because of his wealth and youth, respectively.

Count Ilya Rostóv introduces his son, Nicholas Rostóv to General Bagratión, who has had his moustache trimmed.  Nicholas behaves awkwardly.

Dinner is served.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 2

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Vaska Denisóv

Count Ilya Rostóv

General Bagratión

Location:

Moscow

Rostóv, pleased to be home, has a new outfit and is showing it off in Moscow society.  He is no longer interested in a relationship with Sonja and has instead been doing manly things, such as going to brothels; going on sprees with Denisóv; and to a place called the English Club.

His father, Count Ilya Rostóv organsises a dinner for General Bagratión at the English Club and all of the main figures from the war are there.  Various events of the war are discussed, and it comes to pass that nobody realises that Prince Andrew Bolkónski has been captured by the French, and is still alive.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 1

Characters Present:

Count Ilya Rostóv

Countess Natalya Rostova

Natalya Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Sonya Rostova

Nicholas Rostóv

Vaska Denísov,

Location:

 The Rostóv house near Moscow

It is now 1806 and Nicholas Rostov and Vaska Denísov are on leave.  Nicholas convinces Denísov to travel with him, and both end up at the Rostóv's house late in the evening.

Nicholas's family is woken by their servants and are overjoyed to see him. 

In the morning, Nicholas has a conversation with his sister Natasha, who says that Sonya has decided to set him free, for she as much as she loves him, she wouldn't want to trap him.

At breakfast, Countess Natalya Rostova notices a new distance between her son Nicholas and his cousin, Sonya, and is concerned.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 19

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski
Prince Repnín
Lieutenant Sukhételen
Napoleon Bonaparte

Location: 

Pratzen

Prince Andrew Bolkónski keeps slipping in and out of consciousness, while still holding the standard, and finally wakes to find Napoleon Bonaparte standing above him, commenting on what a brave kind of death he had experienced.

Napoleon notices that Bolkónski is not dead, after he wiggles a bit, and gets his men to take him to camp to be treated by medics.  

Bolkónski wakes and finds Prince Repnín, the commander of a horse regiment, and Lieutenant Sukhételen with him.  Napoleon comes to review the captured men, and speaks with each of them, though Bolkónski is now having an existential crisis and does not reply. 

Napoleon requests that the three soldiers be taken to his tent to be seen to by his personal doctor, and the French troops who are present return a gold necklace that Bolkónski's sister had given to him, which they had had stolen earlier, due to his being in apparent favour with the emperor.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 18

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv
Tsar Alexander

Location:

Pratzen 

The battle goes on and Nicholas Rostóv is still looking for the emperor or General Kutúzov.  He hears all sorts of rumours -  that they'd been wounded and taken off the field; that Kutúzov was killed by a canon-ball in the stomach; and that the Emperor had ridden off quickly as soon as things started to go badly.

Rostóv, feeling despondent, rides into an area that everyone tells him not to, lest he be killed.  He comes across Tsar Alexander, standing alone and looking dazed, but rather than going to speak to him and ask for instructions, feels awkward and star-struck and rides away in search of Kutúzov.  Rostóv looks back over his shoulder and finds that another soldier is now comforting the emperor, and Rostóv is struck down by severe regret.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 17

Characters Present:

General Bagratión

Nicholas Rostóv

Prince Dolgurúkov

General Kutúzov

Location:

Pratzen 

Nicholas Rostóv is under the command of General Bagratión in the right flank of the army, who are yet to start fighting.

Bagratión disagrees with Prince Dolgurúkov's demand that they join the battle and sends Rostóv on a six mile trek, on which he will probably die, to ask General Kutúzov whether they should join or not.

Rostóv asks if he can ask the emperor if he runs into him first, which Bagratión agrees to.  Rostóv rides off happily, but upon reaching the other side of the army, realises that the Austrians and Germans are firing at each other, and that they are completely flanked by the French.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 16

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Location:

Pratzen

The allies have been surprised by the French army, who were much closer than expected.  

Chaos ensues with bullets whizzing all around.  Prince Andrew grabs a standard, and starts waving it to alert battalions further back that the fighting has started.  

Prince Andrew, having roused a good deal of the army, feels a pain in his head and wonders why his legs will no longer support him.  He falls to the ground and muses that he feels peaceful.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 15

Characters Present:

General Kutúzov

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Tsar Alexander

Tsar Alexander's entourage

Location:

Pratzen

The army is still marching into Pratzen.   Prince Andrew Bolkónski is unusually excited - he feels that today is the day that he leads the army to victory. General Kutúzov is going about looking grumpy, until he runs into Prince Andrew, who he asks to go an organise some sharp-shooters.

Tsar Alexander rides onto the field with his nicely dressed entourage and impatiently asks Kutúzov why nothing has begun.  Kutúzov says that not everyone has arrived yet and Tsar Alexander expresses his unhappiness.  Kutúzov says that he will do as Tsar Alexander pleases.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 14

Characters Present:

None specifically

Location: 

The army camp at Olmütz then Pratzen 

This chapter just outlines the movement of the Russian and German armies as they march into battle.

It is super foggy and the Russians are blaming the Germans for being slowed while marching.  The whole army is actually held up by the cavalry who moved forward too quickly and now has to circle back, which is holding up the infantry.  

Napoleon watches the army marching from a hill, and is pleased with the apparent disorganisation of the allies.  He will strike soon.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 13

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

General Bagratión

Prince Dolgorúkov,

Location:

The army camp in Olmütz

It is the evening of the day that the council of war took place, and Nicholas Rostóv is on watch, riding around the area that his platoon are camped in. 

Rostóv is so tired that he keeps dropping off to sleep, and wakes up to the sound of a gunshot coming from where the French were supposed to have retreated from.

He finds General Bagratión and Prince Dolgorúkov discussing the gunshots and he volunteers to go back over.  The French fire at Rostóv again, and he gallops back to the General and the Prince, who find out he is actually the young Count Rostóv, and tell him to stay with them.  Rostóv hopes that this will provide an opportunity to hand-deliver a letter to the Emperor in the morning.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 12

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

General Kutúzov

General Weyrother (moved into the position of the now deceased General Schmidt)

Other high ranking officers

Location:

A nobleman's castle near Austerlitz

General Weyrother goes to a war council at a nobleman's castle that General Kutúzov has appropriated to give a presentation on battle strategies for the following day.

Kutúzov sleeps noisily through the whole presentation, and the other officers cannot agree as to whether the strategies will be effective or not.  Weyrother notes that the battle should be a doddle, because Napoleon only has 40,000 men left.

Prince Andrew Bolkónski tries give his opinion but everyone ignores him.  After the meeting, he spends some time contemplating his mortality, and we learn that he did love his wife, at first.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 11

Characters Present:

Sketch Map II of Austerlitz [1]

Tsar Alexander

Napoleon Bonaparte

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Prince Dolgorúkov 

Bilíbin

General Kutúzov

Location: 

Wischau/Austerlitz 

Tsar Alexander sends Prince Dolgorúkov, as a slight, to meet with Napoleon, who has requested a truce. 

The army march for two days and 180,000 men (French and allies combined) fight the Battle of Austerlitz. 

Prince Andrew and Prince Dolorúkov gossip about Napoleon's character, and argue about what the next strategic move should be, and Bilíbin tells them that they are both wrong because of several people and their locations, which he lists.  

General Kutúzov comes out of a meeting first with Count Tolstóy, and when asked by Prince Bolkónski what tomorrows battle will look like, replies that Count Tolstóy had responded to the same question with "My dear General, I am engaged with rice and cutlets, look after military matters yourself."

[1] Tolstoy L, 1993, War and Peace, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Hertfordshire, p.205

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 10

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Tsar Alexander

Vaska Denísov

Location:

Wischau (Germany)

Nicholas Rostóv is sulking because his squadron was kept in reserve while others defeated a French cavalry squadron and took the small town of Wischau.

Rostóv goes to buy one of the captured French horses and is pleasantly shocked to see the Emperor ride around in his general area. He later sees the Emperor shed a tear over a wounded soldier in town and becomes further enamored.  

Rostóv and Vaska Denísov share drinks later with some other soldiers, and Rostóv goes on a bit too much about the Emperor, and Denísov teases him for being in love.

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 9

Characters Present:

Boris Drubetskóy

Prince Dolgorúkov - an adjutant-general [1]

Prince Adam Czartoryski (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Location:

Olmütz

Boris travels from the military camp to Olmütz with the intention of speaking to Prince Andrew Bolkónski about being promoted to an adjutant.

Boris gets to see Prince Andrew on his second attempt, who throws his weight around and pauses a meeting with a general to speak with Boris, who is only a lieutenant.  Prince Andrew takes him to see Prince Dolgorúkov, who holds greater sway in such matters.

Prince Dolgorúkov gossips happily for a while but is called away just as Prince Andrew starts to ask for the promotion on behalf of Boris.  Prince Dolgorúkov agrees to do anything to help Prince Andrew and Boris, before greeting Prince Adam Czatoryski, who we learn Prince Andrew simultaneously admires and dislikes.

[1] An adjutant is a staff officer who helps a commanding officer with administrative affairs

Volume 1: Book 3 - Chapter 8

Characters Present:

Tsar Alexander

Nicholas Rostóv

Location:

10 miles from Olmütz

Eighty-thousand allied troops are lined up, ready for inspection by the Austrian and Russian Emperors.

Tsar Alexander seems to be super charismatic, and the feeling of unity and fighting spirit falls over the men.

Rostóv gets star-struck when the Tsar rides close to him, and decides that he would jump through fiery hoops for him.