Book Thirteen: 1812 - Chapter X

by Leo Tolstoy

　　But strange to say, all these measures, efforts, and plans- whichwere not at all worse than others issued in similar circumstances- didnot affect the essence of the matter but, like the hands of a clockdetached from the mechanism, swung about in an arbitrary and aimlessway without engaging the cogwheels.

　　With reference to the military side- the plan of campaign- that workof genius of which Thiers remarks that, "His genius never devisedanything more profound, more skillful, or more admirable," andenters into a polemic with M. Fain to prove that this work of geniusmust be referred not to the fourth but to the fifteenth of October-that plan never was or could be executed, for it was quite out oftouch with the facts of the case. The fortifying of the Kremlin, forwhich la Mosquee (as Napoleon termed the church of Basil theBeatified) was to have been razed to the ground, proved quite useless.The mining of the Kremlin only helped toward fulfilling Napoleon'swish that it should be blown up when he left Moscow- as a childwants the floor on which he has hurt himself to be beaten. The pursuitof the Russian army, about which Napoleon was so concerned, producedan unheard-of result. The French generals lost touch with theRussian army of sixty thousand men, and according to Thiers it wasonly eventually found, like a lost pin, by the skill- and apparentlythe genius- of Murat.

　　With reference to diplomacy, all Napoleon's arguments as to hismagnanimity and justice, both to Tutolmin and to Yakovlev (whose chiefconcern was to obtain a greatcoat and a conveyance), proved useless;Alexander did not receive these envoys and did not reply to theirembassage.

　　With regard to legal matters, after the execution of the supposedincendiaries the rest of Moscow burned down.

　　With regard to administrative matters, the establishment of amunicipality did not stop the robberies and was only of use to certainpeople who formed part of that municipality and under pretext ofpreserving order looted Moscow or saved their own property frombeing looted.

　　With regard to religion, as to which in Egypt matters had soeasily been settled by Napoleon's visit to a mosque, no results wereachieved. Two or three priests who were found in Moscow did try tocarry out Napoleon's wish, but one of them was slapped in the faceby a French soldier while conducting service, and a French officialreported of another that: "The priest whom I found and invited tosay Mass cleaned and locked up the church. That night the doors wereagain broken open, the padlocks smashed, the books mutilated, andother disorders perpetrated."

　　With reference to commerce, the proclamation to industriousworkmen and to peasants evoked no response. There were noindustrious workmen, and the peasants caught the commissaries whoventured too far out of town with the proclamation and killed them.

　　As to the theaters for the entertainment of the people and thetroops, these did not meet with success either. The theaters set up inthe Kremlin and in Posnyakov's house were closed again at once becausethe actors and actresses were robbed.

　　Even philanthropy did not have the desired effect. The genuine aswell as the false paper money which flooded Moscow lost its value. TheFrench, collecting booty, cared only for gold. Not only was thepaper money valueless which Napoleon so graciously distributed tothe unfortunate, but even silver lost its value in relation to gold.

　　But the most amazing example of the ineffectiveness of the ordersgiven by the authorities at that time was Napoleon's attempt to stopthe looting and re-establish discipline.

　　This is what the army authorities were reporting:

　　"Looting continues in the city despite the decrees against it. Orderis not yet restored and not a single merchant is carrying on tradein a lawful manner. The sutlers alone venture to trade, and theysell stolen goods."

　　"The neighborhood of my ward continues to be pillaged by soldiers ofthe 3rd Corps who, not satisfied with taking from the unfortunateinhabitants hiding in the cellars the little they have left, even havethe ferocity to wound them with their sabers, as I have repeatedlywitnessed."

　　"Nothing new, except that the soldiers are robbing and pillaging-October 9."

　　"Robbery and pillaging continue. There is a band of thieves in ourdistrict who ought to be arrested by a strong force- October 11."

　　"The Emperor is extremely displeased that despite the strictorders to stop pillage, parties of marauding Guards are continuallyseen returning to the Kremlin. Among the Old Guard disorder andpillage were renewed more violently than ever yesterday evening,last night, and today. The Emperor sees with regret that the pickedsoldiers appointed to guard his person, who should set an example ofdiscipline, carry disobedience to such a point that they break intothe cellars and stores containing army supplies. Others have disgracedthemselves to the extent of disobeying sentinels and officers, andhave abused and beaten them."

　　"The Grand Marshal of the palace," wrote the governor, "complainsbitterly that in spite of repeated orders, the soldiers continue tocommit nuisances in all the courtyards and even under the very windowsof the Emperor."

　　That army, like a herd of cattle run wild and trampling underfootthe provender which might have saved it from starvation, disintegratedand perished with each additional day it remained in Moscow. But itdid not go away.

　　It began to run away only when suddenly seized by a panic causedby the capture of transport trains on the Smolensk road, and by thebattle of Tarutino. The news of that battle of Tarutino,unexpectedly received by Napoleon at a review, evoked in him adesire to punish the Russians (Thiers says), and he issued the orderfor departure which the whole army was demanding.

　　Fleeing from Moscow the soldiers took with them everything theyhad stolen. Napoleon, too, carried away his own personal tresor, buton seeing the baggage trains that impeded the army, he was (Thierssays) horror-struck. And yet with his experience of war he did notorder all the superfluous vehicles to be burned, as he had done withthose of a certain marshal when approaching Moscow. He gazed at thecaleches and carriages in which soldiers were riding and remarked thatit was a very good thing, as those vehicles could be used to carryprovisions, the sick, and the wounded.

　　The plight of the whole army resembled that of a wounded animalwhich feels it is perishing and does not know what it is doing. Tostudy the skillful tactics and aims of Napoleon and his army fromthe time it entered Moscow till it was destroyed is like studyingthe dying leaps and shudders of a mortally wounded animal. Veryoften a wounded animal, hearing a rustle, rushes straight at thehunter's gun, runs forward and back again, and hastens its own end.Napoleon, under pressure from his whole army, did the same thing.The rustle of the battle of Tarutino frightened the beast, and itrushed forward onto the hunter's gun, reached him, turned back, andfinally- like any wild beast- ran back along the mostdisadvantageous and dangerous path, where the old scent was familiar.

　　During the whole of that period Napoleon, who seems to us to havebeen the leader of all these movements- as the figurehead of a shipmay seem to a savage to guide the vessel- acted like a child who,holding a couple of strings inside a carriage, thinks he is drivingit.