Book Nine: 1812 - Chapter IX

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Prince Andrew reached the general headquarters of the army at theend of June. The first army, with which was the Emperor, occupiedthe fortified camp at Drissa; the second army was retreating, tryingto effect a junction with the first one from which it was said to becut off by large French forces. Everyone was dissatisfied with thegeneral course of affairs in the Russian army, but no oneanticipated any danger of invasion of the Russian provinces, and noone thought the war would extend farther than the western, the Polish,provinces.

　　Prince Andrew found Barclay de Tolly, to whom he had beenassigned, on the bank of the Drissa. As there was not a single town orlarge village in the vicinity of the camp, the immense number ofgenerals and courtiers accompanying the army were living in the besthouses of the villages on both sides of the river, over a radius ofsix miles. Barclay de Tolly was quartered nearly three miles fromthe Emperor. He received Bolkonski stiffly and coldly and told himin his foreign accent that he would mention him to the Emperor for adecision as to his employment, but asked him meanwhile to remain onhis staff. Anatole Kuragin, whom Prince Andrew had hoped to findwith the army, was not there. He had gone to Petersburg, but PrinceAndrew was glad to hear this. His mind was occupied by the interestsof the center that was conducting a gigantic war, and he was glad tobe free for a while from the distraction caused by the thought ofKuragin. During the first four days, while no duties were requiredof him, Prince Andrew rode round the whole fortified camp and, bythe aid of his own knowledge and by talks with experts, tried toform a definite opinion about it. But the question whether the campwas advantageous or disadvantageous remained for him undecided.Already from his military experience and what he had seen in theAustrian campaign, he had come to the conclusion that in war themost deeply considered plans have no significance and that all dependson the way unexpected movements of the enemy- that cannot be foreseen-are met, and on how and by whom the whole matter is handled. Toclear up this last point for himself, Prince Andrew, utilizing hisposition and acquaintances, tried to fathom the character of thecontrol of the army and of the men and parties engaged in it, and hededuced for himself the following of the state of affairs.

　　While the Emperor had still been at Vilna, the forces had beendivided into three armies. First, the army under Barclay de Tolly,secondly, the army under Bagration, and thirdly, the one commandedby Tormasov. The Emperor was with the first army, but not as commanderin chief. In the orders issued it was stated, not that the Emperorwould take command, but only that he would be with the army. TheEmperor, moreover, had with him not a commander in chief's staff butthe imperial headquarters staff. In attendance on him was the headof the imperial staff, Quartermaster General Prince Volkonski, as wellas generals, imperial aides-de-camp, diplomatic officials, and a largenumber of foreigners, but not the army staff. Besides these, therewere in attendance on the Emperor without any definite appointments:Arakcheev, the ex-Minister of War; Count Bennigsen, the senior generalin rank; the Grand Duke Tsarevich Constantine Pavlovich; CountRumyantsev, the Chancellor; Stein, a former Prussian minister;Armfeldt, a Swedish general; Pfuel, the chief author of the plan ofcampaign; Paulucci, an adjutant general and Sardinian emigre;Wolzogen- and many others. Though these men had no militaryappointment in the army, their position gave them influence, and oftena corps commander, or even the commander in chief, did not know inwhat capacity he was questioned by Bennigsen, the Grand Duke,Arakcheev, or Prince Volkonski, or was given this or that advice anddid not know whether a certain order received in the form of adviceemanated from the man who gave it or from the Emperor and whether ithad to be executed or not. But this was only the external condition;the essential significance of the presence of the Emperor and of allthese people, from a courtier's point of view (and in an Emperor'svicinity all became courtiers), was clear to everyone. It was this:the Emperor did not assume the title of commander in chief, butdisposed of all the armies; the men around him were his assistants.Arakcheev was a faithful custodian to enforce order and acted as thesovereign's bodyguard. Bennigsen was a landlord in the Vilnaprovince who appeared to be doing the honors of the district, butwas in reality a good general, useful as an adviser and ready athand to replace Barclay. The Grand Duke was there because it suitedhim to be. The ex-Minister Stein was there because his advice wasuseful and the Emperor Alexander held him in high esteem personally.Armfeldt virulently hated Napoleon and was a general full ofself-confidence, a quality that always influenced Alexander.Paulucci was there because he was bold and decided in speech. Theadjutants general were there because they always accompanied theEmperor, and lastly and chiefly Pfuel was there because he had drawnup the plan of campaign against Napoleon and, having induced Alexanderto believe in the efficacy of that plan, was directing the wholebusiness of the war. With Pfuel was Wolzogen, who expressed Pfuel'sthoughts in a more comprehensible way than Pfuel himself (who was aharsh, bookish theorist, self-confident to the point of despisingeveryone else) was able to do.

　　Besides these Russians and foreigners who propounded new andunexpected ideas every day- especially the foreigners, who did so witha boldness characteristic of people employed in a country not theirown- there were many secondary personages accompanying the armybecause their principals were there.

　　Among the opinions and voices in this immense, restless,brilliant, and proud sphere, Prince Andrew noticed the followingsharply defined subdivisions of and parties:

　　The first party consisted of Pfuel and his adherents- militarytheorists who believed in a science of war with immutable laws- lawsof oblique movements, outflankings, and so forth. Pfuel and hisadherents demanded a retirement into the depths of the country inaccordance with precise laws defined by a pseudo-theory of war, andthey saw only barbarism, ignorance, or evil intention in everydeviation from that theory. To this party belonged the foreign nobles,Wolzogen, Wintzingerode, and others, chiefly Germans.

　　The second party was directly opposed to the first; one extreme,as always happens, was met by representatives of the other. Themembers of this party were those who had demanded an advance fromVilna into Poland and freedom from all prearranged plans. Besidesbeing advocates of bold action, this section also representednationalism, which made them still more one-sided in the dispute. Theywere Russians: Bagration, Ermolov (who was beginning to come to thefront), and others. At that time a famous joke of Ermolov's wasbeing circulated, that as a great favor he had petitioned theEmperor to make him a German. The men of that party, rememberingSuvorov, said that what one had to do was not to reason, or stick pinsinto maps, but to fight, beat the enemy, keep him out of Russia, andnot let the army get discouraged.

　　To the third party- in which the Emperor had most confidence-belonged the courtiers who tried to arrange compromises between theother two. The members of this party, chiefly civilians and to whomArakcheev belonged, thought and said what men who have noconvictions but wish to seem to have some generally say. They saidthat undoubtedly war, particularly against such a genius asBonaparte (they called him Bonaparte now), needs most deeply devisedplans and profound scientific knowledge and in that respect Pfuelwas a genius, but at the same time it had to be acknowledged thatthe theorists are often one sided, and therefore one should nottrust them absolutely, but should also listen to what Pfuel'sopponents and practical men of experience in warfare had to say, andthen choose a middle course. They insisted on the retention of thecamp at Drissa, according to Pfuel's plan, but on changing themovements of the other armies. Though, by this course, neither one aimnor the other could be attained, yet it seemed best to the adherentsof this third party.

　　Of a fourth opinion the most conspicuous representative was theTsarevich, who could not forget his disillusionment at Austerlitz,where he had ridden out at the head of the Guards, in his casque andcavalry uniform as to a review, expecting to crush the Frenchgallantly; but unexpectedly finding himself in the front line hadnarrowly escaped amid the general confusion. The men of this party hadboth the quality and the defect of frankness in their opinions. Theyfeared Napoleon, recognized his strength and their own weakness, andfrankly said so. They said: "Nothing but sorrow, shame, and ruinwill come of all this! We have abandoned Vilna and Vitebsk and shallabandon Drissa. The only reasonable thing left to do is to concludepeace as soon as possible, before we are turned out of Petersburg."

　　This view was very general in the upper army circles and foundsupport also in Petersburg and from the chancellor, Rumyantsev, who,for other reasons of state, was in favor of peace.

　　The fifth party consisted of those who were adherents of Barclayde Tolly, not so much as a man but as minister of war and commander inchief. "Be he what he may" (they always began like that), "he is anhonest, practical man and we have nobody better. Give him realpower, for war cannot be conducted successfully without unity ofcommand, and he will show what he can do, as he did in Finland. If ourarmy is well organized and strong and has withdrawn to Drissawithout suffering any defeats, we owe this entirely to Barclay. IfBarclay is now to be superseded by Bennigsen all will be lost, forBennigsen showed his incapacity already in 1807."

　　The sixth party, the Bennigsenites, said, on the contrary, that atany rate there was no one more active and experienced thanBennigsen: "and twist about as you may, you will have to come toBennigsen eventually. Let the others make mistakes now!" said they,arguing that our retirement to Drissa was a most shameful reverseand an unbroken series of blunders. "The more mistakes that are madethe better. It will at any rate be understood all the sooner thatthings cannot go on like this. What is wanted is not some Barclay orother, but a man like Bennigsen, who made his mark in 1807, and towhom Napoleon himself did justice- a man whose authority would bewillingly recognized, and Bennigsen is the only such man."

　　The seventh party consisted of the sort of people who are alwaysto be found, especially around young sovereigns, and of whom therewere particularly many round Alexander- generals and imperialaides-de-camp passionately devoted to the Emperor, not merely as amonarch but as a man, adoring him sincerely and disinterestedly, asRostov had done in 1805, and who saw in him not only all the virtuesbut all human capabilities as well. These men, though enchanted withthe sovereign for refusing the command of the army, yet blamed him forsuch excessive modesty, and only desired and insisted that theiradored sovereign should abandon his diffidence and openly announcethat he would place himself at the head of the army, gather roundhim a commander in chief's staff, and, consulting experiencedtheoreticians and practical men where necessary, would himself leadthe troops, whose spirits would thereby be raised to the highestpitch.

　　The eighth and largest group, which in its enormous numbers was tothe others as ninety-nine to one, consisted of men who desired neitherpeace nor war, neither an advance nor a defensive camp at the Drissaor anywhere else, neither Barclay nor the Emperor, neither Pfuel norBennigsen, but only the one most essential thing- as much advantageand pleasure for themselves as possible. In the troubled waters ofconflicting and intersecting intrigues that eddied about the Emperor'sheadquarters, it was possible to succeed in many ways unthinkable atother times. A man who simply wished to retain his lucrative postwould today agree with Pfuel, tomorrow with his opponent, and theday after, merely to avoid responsibility or to please the Emperor,would declare that he had no opinion at all on the matter. Another whowished to gain some advantage would attract the Emperor's attention byloudly advocating the very thing the Emperor had hinted at the daybefore, and would dispute and shout at the council, beating his breastand challenging those who did not agree with him to duels, therebyproving that he was prepared to sacrifice himself for the common good.A third, in the absence of opponents, between two councils wouldsimply solicit a special gratuity for his faithful services, wellknowing that at that moment people would be too busy to refuse him.A fourth while seemingly overwhelmed with work would often comeaccidentally under the Emperor's eye. A fifth, to achieve hislong-cherished aim of dining with the Emperor, would stubbornly insiston the correctness or falsity of some newly emerging opinion and forthis object would produce arguments more or less forcible and correct.

　　All the men of this party were fishing for rubles, decorations,and promotions, and in this pursuit watched only the weathercock ofimperial favor, and directly they noticed it turning in any direction,this whole drone population of the army began blowing hard that way,so that it was all the harder for the Emperor to turn it elsewhere.Amid the uncertainties of the position, with the menace of seriousdanger giving a peculiarly threatening character to everything, amidthis vortex of intrigue, egotism, conflict of views and feelings,and the diversity of race among these people- this eighth andlargest party of those preoccupied with personal interests impartedgreat confusion and obscurity to the common task. Whatever questionarose, a swarm of these drones, without having finished theirbuzzing on a previous theme, flew over to the new one and by their humdrowned and obscured the voices of those who were disputing honestly.

　　From among all these parties, just at the time Prince Andrew reachedthe army, another, a ninth party, was being formed and was beginningto raise its voice. This was the party of the elders, reasonable menexperienced and capable in state affairs, who, without sharing anyof those conflicting opinions, were able to take a detached view ofwhat was going on at the staff at headquarters and to consider meansof escape from this muddle, indecision, intricacy, and weakness.

　　The men of this party said and thought that what was wrongresulted chiefly from the Emperor's presence in the army with hismilitary court and from the consequent presence there of anindefinite, conditional, and unsteady fluctuation of relations,which is in place at court but harmful in an army; that a sovereignshould reign but not command the army, and that the only way out ofthe position would be for the Emperor and his court to leave the army;that the mere presence of the Emperor paralyzed the action of fiftythousand men required to secure his personal safety, and that theworst commander in chief if independent would be better than thevery best one trammeled by the presence and authority of the monarch.

　　Just at the time Prince Andrew was living unoccupied at Drissa,Shishkov, the Secretary of State and one of the chiefrepresentatives of this party, wrote a letter to the Emperor whichArakcheev and Balashev agreed to sign. In this letter, availinghimself of permission given him by the Emperor to discuss thegeneral course of affairs, he respectfully suggested- on the plea thatit was necessary for the sovereign to arouse a warlike spirit in thepeople of the capital- that the Emperor should leave the army.

　　That arousing of the people by their sovereign and his call tothem to defend their country- the very incitement which was thechief cause of Russia's triumph in so far as it was produced by theTsar's personal presence in Moscow- was suggested to the Emperor,and accepted by him, as a pretext for quitting the army.