War and Peace Ch. 41: When Systems Collapse

Leo Tolstoy

When Systems Collapse Around You

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Summary

That night Andrew leaves Brunn for the army, not knowing where he will find it and fearing capture on the road to Krems. Near Hetzelsdorf he strikes the clogged retreat: wagons, stragglers, looting, mud, and Bonaparte's quip about the Russian army brought by English gold confirmed in chaos. He takes a horse and a Cossack and rides hungry past the baggage.

He forces a convoy to let a doctor's wife pass, then raises his whip on a drunken transport officer who was beating a soldier; ashamed afterward, he rides on. At a village he finds Nesvitski and hears capitulation rumors are false: orders are out for battle.

Kutuzov, scarred near the temple where an Ismail bullet pierced his skull, barely sees him, blesses Bagration, and tells Andrew to get in the carriage. There is still much before us, he says; if a tenth of that detachment returns he will thank God. Andrew asks to join it. Kutuzov does not reply, then five minutes later, swaying on the springs with no trace of agitation, questions him with delicate irony about the Emperor, the court talk of Krems, and some ladies they both know. War shrinks to survival, placement, and the empty eye socket a foot from Andrew's face.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Decency When Systems Collapse

Large failure does not excuse small cruelty. Andrew clears a woman's cart and confronts a drunken officer on a retreating road; Kutuzov later counts survivors in tenths.

Do the just act you can, then ask where you are truly needed.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Kutuzov

Kutuzov barely sees Andrei, blesses Bagration, and says he will thank God if a tenth returns. The washed scar by the empty eye socket is what licenses that quiet. Andrei hears a right earned by an old bullet, and still asks to be sent, as if joining the tenth would finally write his name.

Continue this thoughtAndrei Wants the Wound More Than the Marriage

Coming Up in Chapter 42

On 1 November a spy tells Kutuzov the French have crossed at Vienna and are cutting his line. Forty thousand exhausted men face a hundred and fifty thousand. Stay at Krems like Mack at Ulm, or abandon the road into unknown country.

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Original text

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Chapter 41

When Systems Collapse Around You

That same night, having taken leave of the Minister of War, Bolkónski set off to rejoin the army, not knowing where he would find it and fearing to be captured by the French on the way to Krems. In Brünn everybody attached to the court was packing up, and the heavy baggage was already being dispatched to Olmütz. Near Hetzelsdorf Prince Andrew struck the high road along which the Russian army was moving with great haste and in the greatest disorder. The road was so obstructed with carts that it was impossible to get by in a carriage. Prince Andrew…

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When Systems Collapse Around You

Summary

Why This Matters