Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 19

Characters Present:

Boris Drubetskóy

Nicholas Rostóv

Location:

Tilsit

Nicholas Rostóv goes to see Boris Drubetskóy, who has risen very quickly through the ranks.  

Drubetskóy greets him indifferently and listens to Rostóv's appeal to get Denísov's letter to the Emperor with the same attitude with which one might listen to their subordinate.  

Drubetskóy tells Rostóv that the Emperor tends to dole out severe punishments for such actions, and that Rostóv would be better appealing to the commander of the corps.

Rostóv loses his temper and says that Drubetskóy doesn't actually want to help them at all.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 18

Characters Present:

Vaska Denísov

Nicholas Rostóv

Captain Tushín

Location:

The officer's ward in the field hospital

Rostóv enters the officer's ward and notices that it does not smell as bad as the soldier's ward. He finds Denísov asleep in bed, despite it being close to noon.  Denísov's immediate neighbour is Captail Tushín, who has had an arm amputated.

Tushín tries to convince Denísov to write to the Emperor to ask for a pardon for stealing the goods wagons, but Tushín refuses to beg forgiveness for doing what he felt was the right thing. 

Denísov ends up handing such a document to Rostóv before he leaves, to give to the Emperor. 

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 17

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Some doctors

Location: 

A field hospital in a small Prussian town

The battle of Friedland was fought, but without Nicholas Rostóv's regiment.   Nicholas goes to visit Denísov, who was shot in the foot, and opted to go to hospital rather than be court marshalled.

When Nicholas arrives at the hospital, he is warned that five doctors and countless patients have died of typhus. He asks to see his friend and though the doctors suspect that he has died, they offer a tour of the ward just in case.

Nicholas is hit by a wall of stink upon entering the ward and sees pale, skeletal and amputated men sitting in their various fluids and states of decay.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 16

Characters Present:

Vaska Denísov

Nicholas Rostóv

Location: 

A dug-out at a distant outpost.

The regiment are still starving, and Denísov storms in to tell the quartermaster off, who was supposed to stop the men from eating Máska's root. 

Denísov then goes away and returns, with infantry-men on his heels - he has stolen two of their transport carts for their food to feed his men.  He tells them to bugger off, because his men have not eaten in two weeks.

Denísov is called away again, and when he returns he is speaking jibberish, and eventually Rostóv manages to glean that Denísov will be court-marshalled and tried for robbery.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 15

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Vaska Denísov

Location:

Near a ruined and deserted German village

Nicholas returns to his regiment, and is greeted warmly by Denísov, and he feels the same warmth as he does returning home.  They become rather close.

The winter is mostly over, and the thaw comes, making everything too soggy for supplies to get through for the men or horses.  Many of the men take to eating a root called "Máska's sweet root" which turns out to be toxic and makes the limbs and face swell up.  The doctors insist that they stop eating it, but they don't as their rations are tiny. 

 .
 

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 14

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Princess Mary Bolkónskaya

Old Prince Nicholas Bolkónski

Location:

Bald Hill Estate

Prince Andrew, Princess Mary and Count Pierre all leave the religious people to finish their tea.  Princess Mary asks Count Pierre to encourage Prince Andrew to go abroad for his general health, and tells him that she sees him as a brother.

Old Prince Nicholas arrives back, and likes Count Pierre straight away, even though they have an argument over whether there will be wars in the future.

Count Pierre leaves the estate feeling very close to everyone, and the Bolkónski family all discuss him warmly.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 13

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Princess Mary Bolkónskaya

2 peasants

Location:

Bald Hill Estate

Andrew and Pierre arrive back at Bald Hill Estate and seek Mary out.  They find her in a prayer session with two peasants from the village.

One of the peasants tells Pierre about a local statue of the Virgin Mary weeping, and a tale of how it restored a general's sight.  Pierre says that is must be trick, as the church takes advantage of people, and the peasant gets upset and tries to leave.  Pierre makes out that he was joking, and the peasant remains.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 12

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

On the way back to Bald Hill Estate

Pierre attempts to convince Andrew of the merits of joining the Freemasons. Andrew is doubtful at first, and then starts to agree with the ideologies of the the brotherhood.  Pierre notes that Andrew seems to be happier.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 11

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

Prince Andrew's new house in Boguchárovo

Pierre goes to visit Andrew in his new home and finds him looking older, thinner and rather manly.

At first their conversation is awkward  but they then get into a debate about morality, and looking after oneself versus looking after others.

Andrew argues that there is no point in building hospitals for serfs, as if they had to go, they would be crippled and unable to toil.  They are happy like animals, and live to toil, and would only grow fat if they stopped. Andrew says it is better to look after ones self and family, and to try not to hurt anyone else.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 10

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Bezukhov's chief steward

Location:

Pierre's various estates

Of the 500,000 rubles per year that Pierre's estates earn, all but 100,000 gets spent on upkeep and so on.  Pierre is unable to manage his own accounts, so takes a false interest while his chief steward does the job.

Pierre, in his new piousness, also wants to release the serfs from serfdom and each estate goes about building schools and alms houses to satisfy him before he arrives.  What he doesn't know is that he is only shown the happiest, richest of the villagers when he visits, and the rest of the families are forced into further poverty by having to build the schools and so on. Worse, the serfs have lost the help of the children, who have now been forced into schools.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 9

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski 

Prince Nicholas Andréevich (Bolkónski's baby son)

A letter from Bilíbin

Location:

Bald Hills Estate

Sketch Map III. 1807 Campaign [1]

Prince Andrew receives a letter from Bilíbin, in which Bilíbin rants on and on about all the things that the Russian army is doing wrong.  Prince Andrew reads it and then feels happy when he realises that he doesn't care.

He goes into the nursery to check on his son, and sees the nurse looking unhappy.  Prince Andrew races over to the cot, thinking that his son must be dead, and finds him asleep but a bit sweaty.  Prince Andrew is relieved as this is the most important thing that he has left now.

[1] Tolstoy L, 1993, War and Peace, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Hertfordshire, p.295

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 8

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Princess Mary Bolkónskaya

Old Prince Nicholas Bolkónski

Baby Prince Nicholas Andréevich

Location:

Bald Hill Estate

Old Prince Nicholas has been made one of eight commanders in chief, and has gone to war, which has been escalating.

Prince Andrew has withdrawn from active service, now working under his father, and is caring for Baby Prince Nicholas who has a terrible fever.  He argues with Princess Mary as to whether to wake the baby to administer medication.

During the argument, a letter from Old Prince Nicholas arrives, saying that Bonaparte was defeated by the German, Bennigsen, at Eylau.  Old Prince Nicholas asks Prince Andrew to go to Kórchevo to carry out instructions, but Prince Andrew refuses to leave until Baby Prince Nicholas is well again.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 7

Characters Present:

Anna Pávlovna

Boris Drubetskóy

Prince Hippolyte Kurágin

Countess Hélène Kuragina

Location: 

Anna Pávlovna's house in Petersburg/Countess Hélène's house

The soiree goes on and Prince Hippolyte holds everyone's attention with a series of jokes about Prussia.

The evening ends and Hélène insists that Boris Drubetskóy go around to see her on the coming Tuesday.  He goes, and doesn't understand why he was invited, as she barely speaks to him.  

Hélène then requests that he go to see her again for dinner the following evening, and the book then describes Boris as becoming an "intimate" in the countess's house.