Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 35

Characters Present:

His Serene Highness Kutúzov

Wolzogen

Raévski

Location:

Górki


Kutúzov is sitting quietly, giving permission to give orders, and hearing reports, in which he learns that General Bagratión has been wounded, which saddens him.

He is under the impression that their side is winning, but he is approached by the Wolzogen, who has been sent by Barclay de Tolley, to smugly declare that they are losing, and that they should retreat. Kutúzov reacts angrily, and is then approached by Raévski, who has spent all day at the Knoll Battery, and says that the French are no longer attacking.

Kutúzov asks Raévski if he thinks that they should retreat, like some others do, and then he sends out an order to ready the army to attack on the morrow.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 34

Characters Present:

Napoleon
the French army

Location:

Borodíno

Napoleon, who is sitting off to the side of the battle drinking punch, is approached by a young, handsome and curly-haired adjutant who asks for reinforcements.

Napoleon refuses them at first, but then changes his mind. 

The generals are still struggling to keep the men together, and they are still being slaughtered.

Napoleon goes to inspect the battlefield, and sees piles of bloodied French troops and horses in lying about everywhere, and becomes dejected at the loss, now, after winning all the other battles.

He is asked what he will do, and he declares that he will not have his Guard killed so far from home, and walks away.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 33

Characters Present:

Napoleon
the French army

Location:

Borodíno


The French army is in chaos - orders are carried out before they are supposed to be, or not at all.

When the officers finally manage to reorganise the men, they are herded back into the firing zone, and fear of getting killed sends them into chaos again. 

Napoleon and many of the higher ranking officers do not actually go near any of the danger zones.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 32

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

The Raévski Redoubt AKA the Knoll Battery

Pierre, who is terrified, manages to return to the battery.  He notices that there are no shots being fired from the battery, but he does not notice that the colonel has been killed.

He hears someone yell out "brother" (in French it later turns out) and somehow, he ends up catching a French officer, but there is some confusion about who is whose prisoner.  A canon-ball flies overhead, and they both duck, and Pierre releases his prisoner.  The French begin to flee, and the Russians start to celebrate and take prisoners.

Looking at the horror around him, Pierre thinks that the armies must surely quit after this, but the battle rages on.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 31

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
an adjutant

Location:

Borodíno and the Raévski Redoubt AKA the Knoll Battery


Pierre stumbles down the hill on his horse, and is met by an adjutant who takes him to the Knoll Battery, saying that it will be safer, and that he will have a better view.

Pierre's horse gets shot, and Pierre only notices as it is walking poorly.

Pierre arrives at the Knoll Battery, and being all dressed in white causes the troops to regard him with hostility at first, but then, they adopt him and call him "their gentleman". 

They run out of ammunition at the same time that canon balls start being launched at them. Pierre runs off to get some more, but the ammunition carts are hit just as he reaches them, and he is thrown backwards.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 30

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Boris Drubetskóy
Kutuzov

Location:

Gorki and Borodíno 


Pierre oversleeps and misses the beginning of the battle.  He is eventually awakened by Boris who says that all the men and Kutúzov rode out ages ago.

Pierre gets ready quickly, and goes to have a look at the battle. The rolling green splendor of yesterday is now a beautiful scene of thousands of men; smoke from gun fire; and a mishmash of colours. 

He hears Kutúzov give an order to meet down near a crossing, and Pierre decides to go down there too.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 29

Characters Present:

Napoleon Bonaparte 

Location:

Borodíno - the night before the Battle of Borodíno


Napoleon comes back from checking the lines, and says that the chess pieces are in place, and the game is about to begin.

He then calls fortune a courtesan, and complains that he cannot taste nor smell anything.

Napoleon rides up to the the Shevárdino Redoubt at 5.30am and waits for the battle to begin.

NB: please see revision of Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 28

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 28

Characters Present:

Napoleon Bonaparte 

Location:

Borodíno


Many historians say that the Battle of Borodíno was lost because Napoleon had a cold, possibly because his valet had forgotten to bring him his waterproof boots a few days earlier.

Tolstoy argues that 80,000 men, by their own volition, in combination with the events leading to this moment, had gone into battle and gotten killed. 

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 27

Characters Present:

Napoleon Bonaparte 

Location:

Valúevo, Borodíno, the Shevárdino Redoubt

Tolstoy discusses popular French histories which say that Napoleon rode around the battle all day, giving out orders that seemed genius and mad.

Tolstoy counters at the end of the chapter that this would have been impossible, as Napoleon was far, far away from the actual battle.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 26

Characters Present:

Napoleon Bonaparte 
M. de Beausset

Location:
Valúevo

Napoleon being made ready by his valet.  The description makes it sound a lot like a horse is being groomed. 

De Beausset arrives from Paris and gives Napoleon a gift from Mrs Bonaparte - a portrait of their son.  Napoleon orders the portrait to be taken away, as his son is too young to see battle.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 25

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Prince Andrew Bolkonski
Timokhin

Location:

Knyazkóvo

Pierre, Andrew and Timokhin discuss the army under Kutúzov's command.  

Andrew realises that he is very upset at the thought of Moscow being taken by the French.

He sends Pierre away to have some rest before the battle, and then starts to think about how much he had loved Natasha, and how Anatole Kurágin saw nothing of her beautiful soul, only a fresh, young pretty thing to be taken.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 24

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Location:

Knyazkóvo

Prince Andrew is having gloomy thoughts on what is the eve of the battle. He suspects it will be worse than the battle of Austerlitz, and wonders if he will die. 

Pierre is led to Andrew's tent, and Andrew is reminded of the happenings in Moscow with Natasha and greats Pierre with hostility. 

Pierre detects the hostility and everything gets a bit awkward.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 23

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Bennigsen

Location:

Górki; the Raévski Redoubt, also called the Knoll Battery; Semënovsk; and looking over the Shevárdino Redoubt

Pierre goes on a tour of the lines with Bennigsen, who gives commands to generals as they go along.

They ride along to the left of the line, and come upon a hill that is unmanned. The generals argue that it is foolish to leave it unmanned, since having the higher ground is beneficial in battle. Bennigsen agrees with this, and moves troops about without telling the Commander-in-Chief. 

This is a mistake, as the troops were supposed to be concealed to create a sudden ambush.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 22

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Kutúzov
Boris Drubetskóy

Location:

Borodinó

Pierre meets Boris, and Boris promises to show him the line, and though the right flank is very strong, Boris says that the left flank is stronger, but then makes a doubtful sounding remark about Kutúzov knowing what he was doing.

Pierre then goes to speak to Kutúzov about joining the battle, and Boris places himself conveniently near (to be overheard by Kutúzov), and says to Pierre that the militia have put on clean white shirts to be killed in on the morrow.

Kutúzov loses concentration, like old people do, on the conversation, and asks his aide-de-camp to recite a verse, to which Kutúzov nods his head in rhythm to. 

Kutúzov then rides off with Pierre to show him the lines.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 21

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov
Kutúzov

Location:

Borodinó

Pierre arrives at Borodinó, but the battlefield is not what he expected, with the troops on both sides just lurking about in their camps. 

The camps are also not set on either side of a line, but are intermingled, and Pierre asks a nearby officer to explain what their position is. 

A procession comes with some holy men bringing a religious icon, Mary, from Smolénsk.  

Pierre sees Kutúzov bow and kiss the icon, and then have tremendous difficulty rising to his feet because of his great weight.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 20

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

Leaving Mozháysk

Pierre leaves Mozaháysk to join the army, and passes lots of wounded soldiers from the battle the day before.

He meets a doctor, who says that 20,000 men are doomed to die or be wounded. The doctor directs Pierre to Tatárinova to find His Serene Highness Kutúzov. 

Pierre travels in his carriage to Tatárinova, but Kutúzov is not there, and he goes on to Górki.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 19

Characters Present:

Location:

Russia 

This chapter describes the wrong moves that Russia took leading up to the battle of Borodíno, which lead to an indecisive result.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 18

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

Moscow 


Moscow is slowly being deserted. Pierre receives the mornings newspapers, which contradict the gossip that Count Rostopchín had been forbidding people to leave Moscow. 

Pierre cannot decide whether to stay and wait in Moscow, or to join the army. 

He goes into town, and sees some French cooks being flogged, and decides to join the army in Mozháysk.