War and Peace Ch. 323: Victory's Human Face

Summary

The fifth of November is the first day of what is called the battle of Krasnoe. Toward evening, after generals dispute, miss their places, and send adjutants about with counterorders, it is plain the enemy is in flight and there will be no battle. Kutuzov leaves for Dobroe on a plump little white horse, followed by an enormous suite of discontented generals whispering behind his back. All along the road seven thousand French prisoners crowd to campfires. Near Dobroe tattered men stand beside unharnessed guns. Most have frost-bitten faces and red, festering eyes. Two tear a piece of raw flesh; the one with sores glances malevolently and turns back to the meat. Nearby a Russian pats a Frenchman on the shoulder in a friendly way. Kutuzov screws up his eyes and sways his head, barely hearing the report of captured standards.

He stops before the Preobrazhensk regiment. Thousands of eyes wait. Reluctantly he raises his head and thanks them for hard service: the victory is complete, Russia will not forget, honour forever. He tells a soldier to lower a French eagle before the Russian standards, then shouts Hurrah. While they roar he leans forward, and his eye lights with a mild, apparently ironic gleam. Then voice and face change. It is no longer the commander but an ordinary old man. He knows it is hard; it cannot be helped; they will see the visitors off and rest; the Tsar will not forget. They are at home, while those prisoners are worse than the poorest beggars. While they were strong we did not spare ourselves; now we may even pity them. They are human beings too. Is it not so, lads?

He reads sympathy in the wondering gaze. His face brightens with an old man's smile that clusters wrinkles at lips and eyes. Then he lifts his head: but who asked them here? Serves them right. He flourishes his whip and gallops for the first time in the campaign, leaving broken ranks laughing and shouting. No one could repeat the address that began solemnly and turned into simplehearted talk, yet the sincerity, the triumph mixed with pity, lay in every soldier. Afterwards, asked whether his carriage should be sent for, Kutuzov answers with a sob.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Carrying Victory's Weight

Victory can harden you unless you remember who broke on the other side. Kutuzov pities French prisoners, curses who asked them here, and sobs after addressing his troops at Krasnoe.

When you win, ask who is broken on the other side and whether your speech honours their humanity.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Kutuzov

He tells the men the prisoners are human beings too, then cries who asked them here, and gallops off to their laughter. Pity will not stay pure. He needs someone to blame for the pity, or the old man would have to hold a feeling with no campaign left to command it.

Continue this thoughtDefences Break in Open Air

Coming Up in Chapter 324

On 8 November, last day of the Krasnoe battles, dusk and a keener frost find a regiment that left Tarutino three thousand strong and now numbers nine hundred. Quartermasters say every hut in the roadside village is full of sick and dead French.

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Chapter 323

Victory's Human Face

The fifth of November was the first day of what is called the battle of Krásnoe. Toward evening—after much disputing and many mistakes made by generals who did not go to their proper places, and after adjutants had been sent about with counterorders—when it had become plain that the enemy was everywhere in flight and that there could and would be no battle, Kutúzov left Krásnoe and went to Dóbroe whither his headquarters had that day been transferred. The day was clear and frosty. Kutúzov rode to Dóbroe on his plump little white horse, followed by an enormous suite of…

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Victory's Human Face

Summary

Why This Matters