Book Three: 1805 - Chapter XI

by Leo Tolstoy

　　The next day the Emperor stopped at Wischau, and Villier, hisphysician, was repeatedly summoned to see him. At headquarters andamong the troops near by the news spread that the Emperor wasunwell. He ate nothing and had slept badly that night, those aroundhim reported. The cause of this indisposition was the strongimpression made on his sensitive mind by the sight of the killed andwounded.

　　At daybreak on the seventeenth, a French officer who had come with aflag of truce, demanding an audience with the Russian Emperor, wasbrought into Wischau from our outposts. This officer was Savary. TheEmperor had only just fallen asleep and so Savary had to wait. Atmidday he was admitted to the Emperor, and an hour later he rode offwith Prince Dolgorukov to the advanced post of the French army.

　　It was rumored that Savary had been sent to propose to Alexander ameeting with Napoleon. To the joy and pride of the whole army, apersonal interview was refused, and instead of the Sovereign, PrinceDolgorukov, the victor at Wischau, was sent with Savary to negotiatewith Napoleon if, contrary to expectations, these negotiations wereactuated by a real desire for peace.

　　Toward evening Dolgorukov came back, went straight to the Tsar,and remained alone with him for a long time.

　　On the eighteenth and nineteenth of November, the army advancedtwo days' march and the enemy's outposts after a brief interchangeof shots retreated. In the highest army circles from midday on thenineteenth, a great, excitedly bustling activity began which lastedtill the morning of the twentieth, when the memorable battle ofAusterlitz was fought.

　　Till midday on the nineteenth, the activity- the eager talk, runningto and fro, and dispatching of adjutants- was confined to theEmperor's headquarters. But on the afternoon of that day, thisactivity reached Kutiizov's headquarters and the staffs of thecommanders of columns. By evening, the adjutants had spread it toall ends and parts of the army, and in the night from the nineteenthto the twentieth, the whole eighty thousand allied troops rose fromtheir bivouacs to the hum of voices, and the army swayed and startedin one enormous mass six miles long.

　　The concentrated activity which had begun at the Emperor'sheadquarters in the morning and had started the whole movement thatfollowed was like the first movement of the main wheel of a largetower clock. One wheel slowly moved, another was set in motion, anda third, and wheels began to revolve faster and faster, levers andcogwheels to work, chimes to play, figures to pop out, and the handsto advance with regular motion as a result of all that activity.

　　Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of themilitary machine, an impulse once given leads to the final result; andjust as indifferently quiescent till the moment when motion istransmitted to them are the parts of the mechanism which the impulsehas not yet reached. Wheels creak on their axles as the cogs engageone another and the revolving pulleys whirr with the rapidity of theirmovement, but a neighboring wheel is as quiet and motionless as thoughit were prepared to remain so for a hundred years; but the momentcomes when the lever catches it and obeying the impulse that wheelbegins to creak and joins in the common motion the result and aim ofwhich are beyond its ken.

　　Just as in a clock, the result of the complicated motion ofinnumerable wheels and pulleys is merely a slow and regular movementof the hands which show the time, so the result of all the complicatedhuman activities of 160,000 Russians and French- all their passions,desires, remorse, humiliations, sufferings, outbursts of pride,fear, and enthusiasm- was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz,the so-called battle of the three Emperors- that is to say, a slowmovement of the hand on the dial of human history.

　　Prince Andrew was on duty that day and in constant attendance on thecommander in chief.

　　At six in the evening, Kutuzov went to the Emperor's headquartersand after staying but a short time with the Tsar went to see the grandmarshal of the court, Count Tolstoy.

　　Bolkonski took the opportunity to go in to get some details of thecoming action from Dolgorukov. He felt that Kutuzov was upset anddissatisfied about something and that at headquarters they weredissatisfied with him, and also that at the Emperor's headquarterseveryone adopted toward him the tone of men who know somethingothers do not know: he therefore wished to speak to Dolgorukov.

　　"Well, how d'you do, my dear fellow?" said Dolgorukov, who wassitting at tea with Bilibin. "The fete is for tomorrow. How is yourold fellow? Out of sorts?"

　　"I won't say he is out of sorts, but I fancy he would like to beheard."

　　"But they heard him at the council of war and will hear him whenhe talks sense, but to temporize and wait for something now whenBonaparte fears nothing so much as a general battle is impossible."

　　"Yes, you have seen him?" said Prince Andrew. "Well, what isBonaparte like? How did he impress you?"

　　"Yes, I saw him, and am convinced that he fears nothing so much as ageneral engagement," repeated Dolgorukov, evidently prizing thisgeneral conclusion which he had arrived at from his interview withNapoleon. "If he weren't afraid of a battle why did he ask for thatinterview? Why negotiate, and above all why retreat, when to retreatis so contrary to his method of conducting war? Believe me, he isafraid, afraid of a general battle. His hour has come! Mark my words!"

　　"But tell me, what is he like, eh?" said Prince Andrew again.

　　"He is a man in a gray overcoat, very anxious that I should call him'Your Majesty,' but who, to his chagrin, got no title from me!That's the sort of man he is, and nothing more," replied Dolgorukov,looking round at Bilibin with a smile.

　　"Despite my great respect for old Kutuzov," he continued, "we shouldbe a nice set of fellows if we were to wait about and so give him achance to escape, or to trick us, now that we certainly have him inour hands! No, we mustn't forget Suvorov and his rule- not to putyourself in a position to be attacked, but yourself to attack. Believeme in war the energy of young men often shows the way better thanall the experience of old Cunctators."

　　"But in what position are we going to attack him? I have been at theoutposts today and it is impossible to say where his chief forcesare situated," said Prince Andrew.

　　He wished to explain to Dolgorukov a plan of attack he had himselfformed.

　　"Oh, that is all the same," Dolgorukov said quickly, and gettingup he spread a map on the table. "All eventualities have beenforeseen. If he is standing before Brunn..."

　　And Prince Dolgorukov rapidly but indistinctly explained Weyrother'splan of a flanking movement.

　　Prince Andrew began to reply and to state his own plan, whichmight have been as good as Weyrother's, but for the disadvantagethat Weyrother's had already been approved. As soon as Prince Andrewbegan to demonstrate the defects of the latter and the merits of hisown plan, Prince Dolgorukov ceased to listen to him and gazedabsent-mindedly not at the map, but at Prince Andrew's face.

　　"There will be a council of war at Kutuzov's tonight, though; youcan say all this there," remarked Dolgorukov.

　　"I will do so," said Prince Andrew, moving away from the map.

　　"Whatever are you bothering about, gentlemen?" said Bilibin, who,till then, had listened with an amused smile to their conversation andnow was evidently ready with a joke. "Whether tomorrow bringsvictory or defeat, the glory of our Russian arms is secure. Exceptyour Kutuzov, there is not a single Russian in command of a column!The commanders are: Herr General Wimpfen, le Comte de Langeron, lePrince de Lichtenstein, le Prince, de Hohenlohe, and finallyPrishprish, and so on like all those Polish names."

　　"Be quiet, backbiter!" said Dolgorukov. "It is not true; there arenow two Russians, Miloradovich, and Dokhturov, and there would be athird, Count Arakcheev, if his nerves were not too weak."

　　"However, I think General Kutuzov has come out," said Prince Andrew."I wish you good luck and success, gentlemen!" he added and went outafter shaking hands with Dolgorukov and Bilibin.

　　On the way home, Prince Andrew could not refrain from askingKutuzov, who was sitting silently beside him, what he thought oftomorrow's battle.

　　Kutuzov looked sternly at his adjutant and, after a pause,replied: "I think the battle will be lost, and so I told Count Tolstoyand asked him to tell the Emperor. What do you think he replied? 'But,my dear general, I am engaged with rice and cutlets, look aftermilitary matters yourself!' Yes... That was the answer I got!"