The Inspection That Backfired — War and Peace

Book Two opens near Braunau in October 1805. A Russian infantry regiment, just in after a twenty-mile march, waits half a mile from Kutuzov's headquarters to be inspected. The order said the commander in chief would inspect the regiment on the march; the words were unclear, so the battalion commanders chose parade order on the principle that it is better to bow too low than not low enough. The men mend and clean all night. More than half their boots are in holes, and the Austrian commissariat never supplied replacements.

An aide clarifies the real order: show the commander the unit in marching greatcoats, not dress parade. The colonel curses the mistake, the ranks rip coats on and off, and in the chaos he attacks a soldier in a non-regulation blue coat who turns out to be the demoted Dolokhov.

Dolokhov slowly straightens his bent knee, looks the general in the face with insolent clear eyes, and answers in a ringing voice that he must obey orders but is not bound to endure insults. The general falls silent, angrily pulls down his scarf, and turns the order into a request to change the coat. The inspection has not begun, but guessing the boss's motive wrong has already humiliated everyone, and one man has stopped the humiliation cold.