Volume 3: Book 14 - Chapter 1

Characters Present:

Napoleon

Location: 

Russia


Tolstoy discusses the Battle of Borodíno, and surmises that though it was the last large battle, and that it was won by the French, it did not win them the war.

All of the burning of towns, including Moscow was outside of the normal rules of war, and then the French army ceased to exist.

Volume 3: Book 11 - Chapter 8

Characters Present:

Pierre Bezukhov

Location:

Borodíno

It is the end of the Battle of Borodíno, and Pierre feels that he has seen all he needed to, and is exhausted by the battle.  He walks away, and meets three soldiers on the road, who ask his name, as a condition of sharing their food with him.

Pierre wishes to conceal his nobility, and tells them that his name is Peter Kirílych, and that he is a militia officer, and that he has lost his men.

They begin to accompany him to Mozháysk, and passing by the inn that he was staying in, Pierre is recognised by some of his men, which is slightly awkward, as they call him "Your Excellency". He considers giving a coin to the soldiers, but decides against it, then goes for a lay-down in his carriage.  

Volume 3: Book 11 - Chapter 7

Characters Present:

Countess Hélène Berzúkhova
Marya Dmítrievna Akhrosimova
Prince Vasilí
Bilíbin
Princess Kurágina (Hélène's mother) 

Location:

Petersburg

Hélène wants to distract society gossip from the fact that she already has a husband, so puts emphasis on the problem of having to choose between two suitors.

Marya tells her at a social function that the same (having two affairs, plus a husband) is already done in brothels, but Marya does not carry much social influence in Petersburg, so nobody pays much attention.

Prince Vasilí says that she should make up her own mind, and Bilíbin, Hélèn's friend, suggests that she marry the old count first, so that when he dies, she will get his money, and then she can marry the young Spanish prince.

Hélèn's mother worries that she won't be able to get a divorce, because of the bible.

Hèléne writes a letter to Pierre at his home, even though he is still at Borodíno, asking for a divorce. 

Volume 3: Book 11 - Chapter 2

Characters Present:

Russian Army
French Army


Location:

Russia

The French forced the Russian army back 80 miles, past Moscow.  

Then, the French sat in Moscow, not doing anything in particular for five weeks.  After five weeks, without warning,  they went away, to beyond Vilna.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 39

Characters Present:

French Army
Russian Army

Location:

Borodíno

Troops are laying dead or wounded as the battle goes on.  It begins to rain, washing away blood and dirt, and each of the men start to question for whom they are killing.

They battle on though - the Russian army continue to block the road to Moscow, and the French half-heartedly continue to attack.  If their morale hadn't been so low, they probably could have won the battle, as the Russians had lost half of their army, and the French, only quarter. 

END OF BOOK 10

&

END OF VOLUME 2

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 37

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Location:

In a medical tent in Borodíno


Andrew finds himself in a make-shift theatre with three operating tables. There are two other men being operated on, and Andrew thinks he recognises the one having his leg amputated.

A doctor comes and orders Andrew to be undressed. Andrew passes out from the pain in his abdomin but awakes with his leg bandaged.  He looks closely at the man that he recognised, who is sobbing and frightened, and begging to be allowed to look at his leg. 

Andrew realises it is Anatole Kurágin, who he had despised for so long, but feels sudden empathy, love and forgiveness in the aftermath of his near-death experience.

Volume 2: Book 10 - Chapter 36

Characters Present:

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Location:

Between the Knoll Battery and Semënovsk


For a time, Andrew's regiment is kept in reserve, behind Semënovsk, and then moved up to be in between the Knoll Battery and Semënovsk.

After several hours of pacing with nervous energy, he asks his adjutant to get the men to fall back into a close formation, and before anything can be done, they come under fire. The adjutant tells Andrew to lie down, but he doesn't, and gets wounded in the stomach.

As Andrew is lying on the grass, he suddenly feels a rush of passion for the meadow, the grass, the times he had fallen in love, and life in general.  He wonders about this when he is waiting to be seen by a doctor at the hospital tent, and he decides that there is something about life that he doesn't understand.

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 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 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.