War and Peace

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1867

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Book 4, Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10 Summary

History creates heroes, the narrator suggests, because events influence the actions of those living through them. Random happenstance and chance encounters dictate the course of history far more than the will or the ambition of a single person. For example, a Russian soldier prompts the battle at Tarutino when he happens across the French encampment while hunting rabbits. Neither Kutuzov nor Napoleon instigates this important battle.

Before Tarutino, the French have twice as many men as the Russians, as well as all the wealth and supplies that they looted from the evacuated Moscow. However, the French do not attack the Russians, despite their many advantages, nor do they try to find winter supplies. The narrator believes that these decisions show the French do the most damage to themselves. For all Napoleon’s genius, he cannot overcome the random, inevitable course of history.

After being defeated at Tarutino, Napoleon leaves a small force in Moscow and moves the rest of the army out—all of Napoleon’s efforts to restore order in Moscow have failed. The maneuver becomes complicated as the entire French army flees the city, laden with ransacked treasure. Even Napoleon has a large collection of loot. The army passes out of Moscow and into the Russian countryside. They follow the same route by which they arrived, meaning that there is no food or supplies: Everything was burned or destroyed during the French army’s initial assault. The men and the horses starve. The narrator compares the French army to a stampeding herd of cattle, heading inevitably toward ruin. Napoleon is no longer in charge of his army. The troops’ blind panic dictates their commander’s decisions, and no order could convince them to act otherwise. This moment is why the battle of Tarutino was so important. After the battle, the French are no longer on the attack. The Russians chase after their enemy, harrying the French and exposing the weaknesses of the fleeing army.

Chapters 11-14 Summary

Pierre feels reenergized. He has been stripped of all the superfluous parts of civilization: his title, his expensive clothes, his wealth, his servants, and his search for a worthy cause. Instead, he has found inner harmony. His four weeks in jail reveal to him that the only important things in life are food, hygiene, and freedom. Everything else is unnecessary. He has earned the respect of the other prisoners; the traits that made him a strange fit in high society now endear him to the other captives: his strength, good nature, and thoughtful words.

On the night of the French retreat out of Moscow, Pierre is afraid. He feels the inevitable force of history moving around him, driving men forward—it is the same sense of foreboding and worry he felt in front of the firing squad. The French guards take the prisoners from their cells and force them to march alongside the soldiers. After a long day’s march, Pierre stares up at the starry sky and laughs. He feels free—prison has taught him how to value freedom. Pleased with his revelation, he lies down and falls asleep.

Chapters 15-19 Summary

Kutuzov receives news that Napoleon has evacuated Moscow. The old general weeps with joy, feeling vindicated. By this time, he has already refused several offers from Napoleon to make peace. Kutuzov plots a new strategy, focused on keeping his men alive as he guides the French out of Russia. However, he knows that he cannot prevent the Russian soldiers from attacking the mortally wounded French army. The men are eager for revenge and desperate to prove their bravery. The French retreat even more rapidly, vindicating Kutuzov once again. French soldiers die or surrender, desperate to escape the relentless misery of their predicament.

Book 4, Part 2 Analysis

Kutuzov’s order to abandon Moscow is painful but ultimately successful. The occupation of Moscow exposes the worst traits of the covetous and vicious French soldiers, who loot, pillage, rape, and burn indiscriminately. Napoleon focuses exclusively on taking the city, forgetting to maintain supply lines—his inability to plan beyond the big battles shows that he only wanted Moscow for personal pride. However, it is not the victory he imagined. Meanwhile, the retreating Russian army and the evacuating citizens destroy everything that could be a resource to the enemy—a cunning strategy that soon forces the French to begin a slow and painful retreat. Despite this chaotic retreat, Kutuzov does not earn the respect of his peers even though he let go of his own pride, sacrificing one of the country’s most important cities for an important strategic victory.

At the outset of the invasion, the generals, aristocrats, and advisors who surround the tsar demanded the opportunity to fight large battles against the French, craving personal glory. They view the French invasion as an opportunity to build their reputations. The fixation on individual triumph predicts how the war will be remembered: Napoleon’s invasion fails but he is still remembered as a genius, while Kutuzov defeats the brilliant French emperor yet is lampooned as a senile old fool. War and Peace attempts to reframe the narrative around Kutuzov and, in doing so, force people to rethink the way they understand history in general.

The terrible conditions of the prison and the forced march teach Pierre an important lesson. After prison life takes away the clothes, food, and comforts that define the aristocracy, Pierre realizes that the trappings of nobility have never made him happy. He loses everything and, in doing so, learns what he truly values: friends and time to think. Like Andrei, who had several moments of sublime experience looking at nature, Pierre has an epiphany when he stares up at the stars. He has spent his whole life searching for meaning in books when all he really needed was to learn how to suffer. Pain provides Pierre with a new perspective on existence and a renewed appreciation of what it means to be alive.