First Epilogue: 1813-20 - Chapter III

by Leo Tolstoy

　　The fundamental and essential significance of the European events ofthe beginning of the nineteenth century lies in the movement of themass of the European peoples from west to east and afterwards fromeast to west. The commencement of that movement was the movementfrom west to east. For the peoples of the west to be able to maketheir warlike movement to Moscow it was necessary: (1) that theyshould form themselves into a military group of a size able toendure a collision with the warlike military group of the east, (2)that they should abandon all established traditions and customs, and(3) that during their military movement they should have at their heada man who could justify to himself and to them the deceptions,robberies, and murders which would have to be committed during thatmovement.

　　And beginning with the French Revolution the old inadequatelylarge group was destroyed, as well as the old habits and traditions,and step by step a group was formed of larger dimensions with newcustoms and traditions, and a man was produced who would stand atthe head of the coming movement and bear the responsibility for allthat had to be done.

　　A man without convictions, without habits, without traditions,without a name, and not even a Frenchman, emerges- by what seem thestrangest chances- from among all the seething French parties, andwithout joining any one of them is borne forward to a prominentposition.

　　The ignorance of his colleagues, the weakness and insignificanceof his opponents, the frankness of his falsehoods, and the dazzlingand self-confident limitations of this man raise him to the head ofthe army. The brilliant qualities of the soldiers of the army sentto Italy, his opponents' reluctance to fight, and his own childishaudacity and self-confidence secure him military fame. Innumerableso called chances accompany him everywhere. The disfavor into which hefalls with the rulers of France turns to his advantage. His attemptsto avoid his predestined path are unsuccessful: he is not receivedinto the Russian service, and the appointment he seeks in Turkey comesto nothing. During the war in Italy he is several times on the vergeof destruction and each time is saved in an unexpected manner. Owingto various diplomatic considerations the Russian armies- just thosewhich might have destroyed his prestige- do not appear upon thescene till he is no longer there.

　　On his return from Italy he finds the government in Paris in aprocess of dissolution in which all those who are in it are inevitablywiped out and destroyed. And by chance an escape from this dangerousposition presents itself in the form of an aimless and senselessexpedition to Africa. Again so-called chance accompanies him.Impregnable Malta surrenders without a shot; his most reckless schemesare crowned with success. The enemy's fleet, which subsequently didnot let a single boat pass, allows his entire army to elude it. InAfrica a whole series of outrages are committed against the almostunarmed inhabitants. And the men who commit these crimes, especiallytheir leader, assure themselves that this is admirable, this is glory-it resembles Caesar and Alexander the Great and is therefore good.

　　This ideal of glory and grandeur- which consists not merely inconsidering nothing wrong that one does but in priding oneself onevery crime one commits, ascribing to it an incomprehensiblesupernatural significance- that ideal, destined to guide this manand his associates, had scope for its development in Africa.Whatever he does succeeds. The plague does not touch him. Thecruelty of murdering prisoners is not imputed to him as a fault. Hischildishly rash, uncalled-for, and ignoble departure from Africa,leaving his comrades in distress, is set down to his credit, and againthe enemy's fleet twice lets him slip past. When, intoxicated by thecrimes he has committed so successfully, he reaches Paris, thedissolution of the republican government, which a year earlier mighthave ruined him, has reached its extreme limit, and his presence therenow as a newcomer free from party entanglements can only serve toexalt him- and though he himself has no plan, he is quite ready forhis new role.

　　He had no plan, he was afraid of everything, but the partiessnatched at him and demanded his participation.

　　He alone- with his ideal of glory and grandeur developed in Italyand Egypt, his insane self-adulation, his boldness in crime andfrankness in lying- he alone could justify what had to be done.

　　He is needed for the place that awaits him, and so almost apart fromhis will and despite his indecision, his lack of a plan, and all hismistakes, he is drawn into a conspiracy that aims at seizing power andthe conspiracy is crowned with success.

　　He is pushed into a meeting of the legislature. In alarm he wishesto flee, considering himself lost. He pretends to fall into a swoonand says senseless things that should have ruined him. But the onceproud and shrewd rulers of France, feeling that their part is playedout, are even more bewildered than he, and do not say the words theyshould have said to destroy him and retain their power.

　　Chance, millions of chances, give him power, and all men as if byagreement co-operate to confirm that power. Chance forms thecharacters of the rulers of France, who submit to him; chance formsthe character of Paul I of Russia who recognizes his government;chance contrives a plot against him which not only fails to harm himbut confirms his power. Chance puts the Duc d'Enghien in his hands andunexpectedly causes him to kill him- thereby convincing the mob moreforcibly than in any other way that he had the right, since he had themight. Chance contrives that though he directs all his efforts toprepare an expedition against England (which would inevitably haveruined him) he never carries out that intention, but unexpectedlyfalls upon Mack and the Austrians, who surrender without a battle.Chance and genius give him the victory at Austerlitz; and by chanceall men, not only the French but all Europe- except England which doesnot take part in the events about to happen- despite their formerhorror and detestation of his crimes, now recognize his authority, thetitle he has given himself, and his ideal of grandeur and glory, whichseems excellent and reasonable to them all.

　　As if measuring themselves and preparing for the coming movement,the western forces push toward the east several times in 1805, 1806,1807, and 1809, gaining strength and growing. In 1811 the group ofpeople that had formed in France unites into one group with thepeoples of Central Europe. The strength of the justification of theman who stands at the head of the movement grows with the increasedsize of the group. During the ten-year preparatory period this man hadformed relations with all the crowned heads of Europe. The discreditedrulers of the world can oppose no reasonable ideal to the insensateNapoleonic ideal of glory and grandeur. One after another theyhasten to display their insignificance before him. The King of Prussiasends his wife to seek the great man's mercy; the Emperor of Austriaconsiders it a favor that this man receives a daughter the Caesarsinto his bed; the Pope, the guardian of all that the nations holdsacred, utilizes religion for the aggrandizement of the great man.It is not Napoleon who prepares himself for the accomplishment ofhis role, so much as all those round him who prepare him to take onhimself the whole responsibility for what is happening and has tohappen. There is no step, no crime or petty fraud he commits, which inthe mouths of those around him is not at once represented as a greatdeed. The most suitable fete the Germans can devise for him is acelebration of Jena and Auerstadt. Not only is he great, but so arehis ancestors, his brothers, his stepsons, and his brothers-in-law.Everything is done to deprive him of the remains of his reason andto prepare him for his terrible part. And when he is ready so tooare the forces.

　　The invasion pushes eastward and reaches its final goal- Moscow.That city is taken; the Russian army suffers heavier losses than theopposing armies had suffered in the former war from Austerlitz toWagram. But suddenly instead of those chances and that genius whichhitherto had so consistently led him by an uninterrupted series ofsuccesses to the predestined goal, an innumerable sequence ofinverse chances occur- from the cold in his head at Borodino to thesparks which set Moscow on fire, and the frosts- and instead ofgenius, stupidity and immeasurable baseness become evident.

　　The invaders flee, turn back, flee again, and all the chances arenow not for Napoleon but always against him.

　　A countermovement is then accomplished from east to west with aremarkable resemblance to the preceding movement from west to east.Attempted drives from east to west- similar to the contrarymovements of 1805, 1807, and 1809- precede the great westwardmovement; there is the same coalescence into a group of enormousdimensions; the same adhesion of the people of Central Europe to themovement; the same hesitation midway, and the same increasing rapidityas the goal is approached.

　　Paris, the ultimate goal, is reached. The Napoleonic governmentand army are destroyed. Napoleon himself is no longer of anyaccount; all his actions are evidently pitiful and mean, but againan inexplicable chance occurs. The allies detest Napoleon whom theyregard as the cause of their sufferings. Deprived of power andauthority, his crimes and his craft exposed, he should have appearedto them what he appeared ten years previously and one year later- anoutlawed brigand. But by some strange chance no one perceives this.His part is not yet ended. The man who ten years before and a yearlater was considered an outlawed brigand is sent to an island twodays' sail from France, which for some reason is presented to him ashis dominion, and guards are given to him and millions of money arepaid him.