Peak creative activity Leo Tolstoy falls on mid-nineteenth century. Russia shuddered from the indignation of the peasant masses, so the idea of popular consciousness in the process of development of society became key theme V literary works many writers of that time. "The Thought of the People" in the novel "War and Peace" reveals the heroic image of the Russian people against the backdrop of the events of the Patriotic War of 1812.
What did Tolstoy mean by the word people
Writers of the nineteenth century showed the people either in the form of the peasantry oppressed by the tsar or the entire Russian nation, or the patriotic nobility or the social stratum of the merchants. Tolstoy lovingly says "people" every time we are talking O moral people. Everyone who behaves immorally, is distinguished by laziness, greed and cruelty, the author deprives the right to be involved in this community of citizens.People living within one state represent its basis, are the material of history, regardless of class and education. We have a genius great person? His role in the development of mankind is negligible, Tolstoy argues, a genius is a product of his society, wrapped in bright wrapper talent.
No one alone can manage millions of people, create the history of an entire state, provoke a vector of events according to his plan, especially their consequences. In the novel "War and Peace" the author assigned the role of the creator of history to the people, which are led by rational life desires and instincts.
Folk thought in the image of Kutuzov
Decisions made on the sidelines of power, at the legislative level, the Russian classic calls the upward trend in the development of society. This, in his opinion, is the centrifugal force of history. The events that take place among the common population are a process of downward development of history, a centripetal force in the development of social ties.Therefore, the image of Kutuzov is endowed with high moral qualities. Events show that the general is connected with the people by one chain of state problems. He is close to the problems experienced by ordinary people who are much lower than Kutuzov on the social ladder. Anxiety, bitterness of defeat and joy of victory legendary commander feels as natural as his soldiers. They have one task, they move along the same path of events, defending their homeland.
In the novel, Kutuzov is a prominent representative of the people, because his personal goals absolutely coincide with the goals of the Russian population. The author in every possible way focuses the reader's attention on the merits of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. His authority in the eyes of soldiers and officers is invincible. The spirit of the troops he commands depends on his mood, healthy state of health, on his physical presence on the battlefield.
Folk thought in the images of nobles
Can a count or prince be considered a people? Was it typical for the representatives of the Russian nobility to meet the requirements of historical necessity? Story line novel clearly reflects moral development positive characters, their merger with the masses during the Patriotic War of 1812.Leo Tolstoy emphasizes that the will to win, to get rid of the presence of an enemy army on the territory of one's own land, is tested by the thought of the people. Pierre Bezukhov, in the same stream with the refugees, ends his search for the meaning of life, seeing it in the very idea of \u200b\u200bdignified survival in the face of danger.
Natasha Rostova cannot remain indifferent and leave the wounded soldiers behind. The young countess rushes in search of additional carts to take the wounded out of burning Moscow. Along the Smolensk road, she tries to help the soldiers who are suffering and dying from wounds.
Marya Bolkonskaya, the sister of Prince Andrei, almost paid with her life for her desire to break out of the territory occupied by the enemy. The girl does not stick to the persuasion of Madame Bourrienne to wait for the French in her estate, enters into an open conflict with the peasants for the opportunity to be with her compatriots on Russian soil.
From the beginning of the plot, Prince Bolkonsky reveres Napoleon as an advanced contemporary, carrying new ideas of equality and fraternity. On the battlefield of Austerlitz, his delusion is dispelled when he sees the unhealthy admiration of Bonaparte, looking at the bodies of many dead soldiers of both armies.
Andrei Bolkonsky dies, remaining a small man, faithful to the oath, to his people and the emperor.
Patriotism is a Russian beginning
Leo Tolstoy refers to patriotism as clear sign nation that unites all social classes in moments of danger. Captain Tushin, heroically defending artillery positions, endowed as a simple man with "small and great." Tikhon Shcherbaty enters the same ambiguous character, ruthless to enemies, but a cruel man in his soul as a whole.Young Peter Rostov dies while taking part in the partisan movement, which has become an important factor victory. Platon Karataev, having been captured, shows courageous calmness, confessing love for life in situations of trial, as the main idea of Christianity. Leo Tolstoy values good nature and humble patience above all else in a Russian person.
History knows hundreds of examples heroic deeds sometimes the names of the characters are not known. All that remains is memory and glory to the unbending patriotic spirit of the Russian people, which in times of peace remains a jealous guardian and bearer of spiritual values.
A short essay-reasoning on literature for grade 10 on the topic: “War and peace: folk thought”
The tragic war of 1812 brought a lot of troubles, suffering and torment, L.N. Tolstoy did not remain indifferent to turning point of his people and reflected it in the epic novel "War and Peace", and its "grain", according to L. Tolstoy, is Lermontov's poem "Borodino". The epic is also based on the idea of reflecting the national spirit. The writer admitted that in "War and Peace" he loved "the thought of the people." So, Tolstoy reproduced the "swarm life", proving that history is made not by one person, but by the whole people together.
According to Tolstoy, it is useless to resist the natural course of events, it is useless to try to play the role of arbiter of the fate of mankind. Otherwise, the participant in the war will fail, as it was with Andrei Bolkonsky, who tried to take control of the course of events and conquer Toulon. Or fate will doom him to loneliness, as happened with Napoleon, who fell in love with power too much.
During the Battle of Borodino, on the outcome of which much depended for the Russians, Kutuzov "did not make any orders, but only agreed or disagreed with what was offered to him." In this, it would seem, passivity, the deep mind and wisdom of the commander are manifested. Kutuzov's connection with the people was a victorious feature of his character, this connection made him the bearer of "people's thought".
Tikhon Shcherbaty is also folk image in the novel and the hero of the Patriotic War, although he is a simple peasant who is not at all connected with military affairs. He himself voluntarily asked to join the detachment of Vasily Denisov, which confirms his dedication and readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of the Fatherland. Tikhon fights off four Frenchmen with only one ax - according to Tolstoy, this is the image of the "club of the people's war."
But the writer does not dwell on the idea of heroism, regardless of rank, he goes further and wider, revealing the unity of all mankind in the war of 1812. In the face of death, all class, social, national boundaries are erased between people. All as one are afraid to kill; all as one do not want to die. Petya Rostov is worried about the fate of the French boy who was taken prisoner: “We are fine, but what about him? Where do you share it? Have you fed him? Were you offended?" And it seems like this is an enemy to a Russian soldier, but at the same time, even in a war, you need to treat your enemies like a human being. French or Russian - we are all people in need of mercy and kindness. In the War of 1812, this thought mattered as never before. Many heroes of War and Peace adhered to it, and, first of all, L.N. Tolstoy.
Thus, the Patriotic War of 1812 entered the history of Russia, its culture and literature as a significant and tragic event of the whole people. It manifested true patriotism, love for the Motherland and national spirit, who did not break under anything, but only got stronger, giving impetus to a great victory, the pride for which we still feel in our hearts.
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Introduction
“The subject of history is the life of peoples and mankind,” this is how Leo Tolstoy begins the second part of the epilogue of the epic novel War and Peace. He then asks the question: "What is the power that moves the nations?" Arguing over these “theories”, Tolstoy comes to the conclusion that: “The life of peoples does not fit into the lives of several people, because the connection between these several people and peoples has not been found ...” In other words, Tolstoy says that the role of the people in history is undeniable, and the eternal truth that history is made by the people is proved by him in his novel. "The thought of the people" in Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is indeed one of the main themes of the epic novel.
The people in the novel "War and Peace"
Many readers understand the word "people" not quite the way Tolstoy understands it. Lev Nikolaevich means by "people" not only soldiers, peasants, peasants, not only that "huge mass" driven by some force. For Tolstoy, “the people” are officers, generals, and the nobility. This is Kutuzov, and Bolkonsky, and the Rostovs, and Bezukhov - this is all of humanity, embraced by one thought, one deed, one destiny. All the main characters of Tolstoy's novel are directly connected with their people and are inseparable from them.
Heroes of the novel and "folk thought"
The fates of the favorite characters of Tolstoy's novel are connected with the life of the people. The "thought of the people" in "War and Peace" runs like a red thread through the life of Pierre Bezukhov. Being in captivity, Pierre learned his truth of life. Platon Karataev, a peasant peasant, opened it to Bezukhov: “In captivity, in a booth, Pierre learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in satisfying natural human needs, that all misfortune occurs not from lack, but from excess. The French offered Pierre to transfer from a soldier's booth to an officer's, but he refused, remaining faithful to those with whom he suffered his fate. And after a long time he recalled with rapture this month of captivity, as “about the complete peace of mind, about perfect inner freedom, which he experienced only at that time.
Andrei Bolkonsky in the battle of Austerlitz also felt his people. Grabbing the staff of the banner and rushing forward, he did not think that the soldiers would follow him. And they, seeing Bolkonsky with a banner and hearing: “Guys, go ahead!” rushed to the enemy after their leader. Unity of officers and ordinary soldiers confirms that the people are not divided into ranks and titles, the people are one, and Andrei Bolkonsky understood this.
Natasha Rostova, leaving Moscow, dumps family property on the ground and gives her carts to the wounded. This decision comes to her immediately, without deliberation, which indicates that the heroine does not separate herself from the people. Another episode that speaks of the true Russian spirit of Rostova, in which L. Tolstoy himself admires his beloved heroine: spirit, where did she get these techniques… But these spirit and techniques were the same, inimitable, unlearned, Russian.”
And Captain Tushin, who donated own life for the sake of victory, for the sake of Russia. Captain Timokhin, who rushed at the Frenchman with "one skewer." Denisov, Nikolai Rostov, Petya Rostov and many other Russian people who stood with the people and knew true patriotism.
Tolstoy created collective image people - a single people, invincible, when not only soldiers, troops, but also militias are fighting. Civilians help not with weapons, but with their own methods: the peasants burn hay so as not to take it to Moscow, people leave the city only because they do not want to obey Napoleon. This is the “folk idea” and the ways of its disclosure in the novel. Tolstoy makes it clear that in a single thought - not to surrender to the enemy - the Russian people are strong. For all Russian people, a sense of patriotism is important.
Platon Karataev and Tikhon Shcherbaty
The novel also shows the partisan movement. bright representative here appeared Tikhon Shcherbaty, who, with all his disobedience, dexterity, and cunning, is fighting the French. His vigorous activity brings success to the Russians. Denisov is proud of his partisan detachment thanks to Tikhon.
Opposite to the image of Tikhon Shcherbaty is the image of Platon Karataev. Kind, wise, with his worldly philosophy, he calms Pierre and helps him survive captivity. Plato's speech is filled with Russian proverbs, which emphasizes his nationality.
Kutuzov and people
The only commander in chief of the army who never separated himself from the people was Kutuzov. “He knew not with his mind or science, but with his whole Russian being he knew and felt what every Russian soldier felt ...” The disunity of the Russian army in an alliance with Austria, the deception of the Austrian army, when the allies abandoned the Russians in battles, for Kutuzov were unbearable pain. Kutuzov replied to Napoleon’s letter about peace: “I would be damned if they looked at me as the first instigator of any deal: such is the will of our people” (italics by L.N. Tolstoy). Kutuzov did not write from himself, he expressed the opinion of the whole people, all Russian people.
The image of Kutuzov is opposed to the image of Napoleon, who was very far from his people. He was only interested in personal interest in the struggle for power. The empire of world subordination to Bonaparte - and the abyss in the interests of the people. As a result, the war of 1812 was lost, the French fled, and Napoleon was the first to leave Moscow. He abandoned his army, abandoned his people.
conclusions
In his novel War and Peace, Tolstoy shows that the power of the people is invincible. And in every Russian person there is "simplicity, goodness and truth." true patriotism does not measure everyone by rank, does not build a career, does not seek fame. At the beginning of the third volume, Tolstoy writes: “There are two aspects of life in every person: personal life, which is all the more free, the more abstract its interests, and spontaneous, swarming life, where a person inevitably fulfills the laws prescribed for him.” Laws of honor, conscience, common culture, general history.
This essay on the topic “The Thought of the People” in the novel “War and Peace” reveals only a small fraction of what the author wanted to tell us. The people live in the novel in every chapter, in every line.
Artwork test
The novel by L. N. Tolstoy was created in the 1860s. This time became in Russia the period of the highest activity of the peasant masses, the rise of the social movement.
The central theme of the literature of the 60s of the XIX century was the theme of the people. To consider it, as well as to highlight many major problems of our time, the writer turned to the historical past: the events of 1805-1807 and the war of 1812.
Researchers of Tolstoy's work disagree on what he meant by the word "people": peasants, the nation as a whole, merchants, bourgeoisie, patriotic patriarchal nobility. Of course, all these layers are included in Tolstoy's understanding of the word "people", but only when they are the bearers of morality. Everything that is immoral is excluded by Tolstoy from the concept of “people”.
With his work, the writer asserted the decisive role of the masses in history. According to him, the role outstanding personality in the development of society is negligible. No matter how brilliant a person is, he cannot direct the movement of history at will, dictate his will to it, control the actions of a huge mass of people living a spontaneous, swarming life. History is created by people, the masses, the people, and not by a person who rises above the people and takes upon himself the right to own will predict the direction of events.
Tolstoy divides life into an ascending current and a descending one, centrifugal and centripetal. Kutuzov, to whom the natural course of world events is open within his national-historical limits, is the embodiment of the centripetal, ascending forces of history. The writer emphasizes the moral height of Kutuzov, since this hero is associated with the mass ordinary people joint goals and actions, love for the motherland. He receives his strength from the people, experiences the same feelings as the people.
The writer also focuses on the merits of Kutuzov as a commander, whose activities were invariably directed towards one goal that had national significance: “It is difficult to imagine a goal more worthy and more in line with the will of the whole people.” Tolstoy emphasizes the purposefulness of all the actions of Kutuzov, the concentration of all forces on the task that has confronted the entire Russian people in the course of history. The spokesman for the people's patriotic feelings, Kutuzov also becomes the guiding force of popular resistance, raising the spirit of the troops he commands.
Tolstoy portrays Kutuzov as folk hero who achieved independence and freedom only in alliance with the people and the nation as a whole. In the novel, the personality of the great commander is opposed to the personality of the great conqueror Napoleon. The writer exposes the ideal of unlimited freedom, which leads to the cult of a strong and proud personality.
So, the author sees the significance of a great personality in the feeling of the ongoing history as the will of providence. Great people like Kutuzov, who have a moral sense, their experience, mind and consciousness, guess the requirements of historical necessity.
The “thought of the people” is also expressed in the images of many representatives of the noble class. The path of ideological and moral growth leads goodies to get closer to the people. Heroes are tested by the Patriotic War. Independence privacy from political game Verkhov emphasizes the inseparable connection of the heroes with the life of the people. The viability of each of the characters is tested by the "people's thought".
She helps Pierre Bezukhov discover and show his best qualities; Andrey Bolkonsky is called “our prince” by the soldiers; Natasha Rostova takes out carts for the wounded; Marya Bolkonskaya rejects Mademoiselle Bourienne's offer to remain in Napoleon's power.
The closeness to the people is most clearly manifested in the image of Natasha, in whom Russian was originally laid down. national character. In the scene after the hunt, Natasha listens with pleasure to the game and singing of her uncle, who “sang like the people sing”, and then she dances “Lady”. And everyone around her is amazed at her ability to understand everything that was in every Russian person: “Where, how, when did she suck in herself from this Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant, this spirit?”
If Natasha is completely characteristic of the features of the Russian character, then in Prince Andrei Russian beginning interrupted by the Napoleonic idea; however, it is precisely the features of the Russian character that help him understand all the deceit and hypocrisy of Napoleon, his idol.
Pierre enters the peasant world, and the life of the villagers leads him to serious thoughts.
The hero is aware of his equality with the people, even recognizes the superiority of these people. The more he knows the essence and strength of the people, the more he admires them. The strength of a people lies in its simplicity and naturalness.
According to Tolstoy, patriotism is a property of the soul of any Russian person, and in this respect the difference between Andrei Bolkonsky and any soldier of his regiment is insignificant. War forces everyone to act and act in a way that is impossible not to act. People act not on orders, but in obedience to an inner feeling, a sense of the significance of the moment. Tolstoy writes that they united in their aspirations and actions when they sensed the danger hanging over the whole of society.
The novel shows the grandeur and simplicity of swarm life, when everyone does their part of the common cause, and a person is driven not by instinct, but by laws. public life as Tolstoy understands them. And such a swarm, or world, does not consist of an impersonal mass, but of individuals that do not lose their individuality in merging with the swarm. This is the merchant Ferapontov, who burns his house so that the enemy does not get it, and the Moscow residents who leave the capital simply from the consideration that it is impossible to live in it under Bonaparte, even if no danger threatens. The peasants Karp and Vlas, who do not give hay to the French, and that Moscow lady who left Moscow with her black-tailed dogs and pugs back in June because of the consideration that “she is not Bonaparte’s servant” become participants in the swarm life. All these people are active participants in the folk, swarm life.
Thus, the people for Tolstoy is a complex phenomenon. The writer did not consider the common people an easily controlled mass, since he understood them much deeper. In the work, where “folk thought” is in the foreground, a variety of manifestations of folk character.
Close to the people is Captain Tushin, whose image combines “small and great”, “modest and heroic”.
The theme of the people's war sounds in the image of Tikhon Shcherbaty. This hero is certainly useful in guerrilla warfare; cruel and ruthless to enemies, this character is natural, but Tolstoy has little sympathy. Image this character is ambiguous, just as the image of Platon Karataev is ambiguous.
When meeting and getting to know Platon Karataev, Pierre is struck by the warmth, good nature, comfort, calmness emanating from this person. It is perceived almost symbolically, as something round, warm and smelling of bread. Karataev is characterized by amazing adaptability to circumstances, the ability to “settle down” in any circumstances.
The behavior of Platon Karataev unconsciously expresses the true wisdom of the folk, peasant philosophy of life, over the comprehension of which the main characters of the epic are tormented. This hero sets out his reasoning in a parable-like form. This, for example, is a legend about an innocently convicted merchant suffering “for his own and for human sins”, the meaning of which is that one must humble oneself and love life, even when one suffers.
And yet, unlike Tikhon Shcherbaty, Karataev is hardly capable of decisive action; its goodness leads to passivity. He is opposed in the novel by Bogucharov's peasants, who rose to rebellion and spoke out for their interests.
Along with the truth of nationality, Tolstoy also shows pseudo-nationality, a fake for it. This is reflected in the images of Rostopchin and Speransky - specific historical figures who, although they try to assume the right to speak on behalf of the people, have nothing to do with it.
In the work itself fictional storytelling at times interrupted by historical and philosophical digressions, in style close to journalism. Pathos philosophical digressions Tolstoy is directed against liberal-bourgeois military historians and writers. According to the writer, "the world denies war." So, on the reception of the antithesis, a description of the dam is built, which the Russian soldiers see during the retreat after Austerlitz - ruined and ugly. In peacetime, however, she was buried in greenery, was neat and rebuilt.
Thus, in Tolstoy's work, the question of man's moral responsibility before history is particularly acute.
So, in Tolstoy's novel “War and Peace”, people from the people come closest to spiritual unity, since it is the people, according to the writer, who are the bearers of spiritual values. The heroes, embodying the “people's thought”, are in constant search for the truth, and therefore, in development. In spiritual unity, the writer sees a way to overcome the contradictions of contemporary life. The war of 1812 was a real historical event, where the idea of spiritual unity came true.
The novel "War and Peace" was conceived as a novel about a Decembrist returning from an amnesty in 1856. But the more Tolstoy worked with archival materials, the more he understood that without telling about the uprising itself, and, more deeply, about the war of 1812, this novel cannot be written. Thus, the idea of the novel was gradually transformed, and Tolstoy created a grandiose epic. In the center of the novel L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is an image of the Patriotic War of 1812, which stirred up the entire Russian people, showed the whole world its power and strength, put forward simple Russian heroes and the great commander - Kutuzov. At the same time, great historical upheavals revealed the true essence of each individual person, showed his attitude to the Fatherland. Tolstoy portrays the war as a realist writer: in hard work, blood, suffering, death. Also, L. N. Tolstoy sought to reveal in his work folk meaning war, which united the whole society, all Russian people in a common impulse, to show that the fate of the campaign was decided not in headquarters and headquarters, but in the hearts ordinary people: Platon Karataev and Tikhon Shcherbaty, Petya Rostov and Denisov ... Can you list everyone? In other words, the author-battle painter draws a large-scale image of the Russian people, who raised the "club" of the liberation war against the invaders. Later, speaking of the novel, Tolstoy wrote that the main idea novel -\"folk thought\". It lies not only in the depiction of the people themselves, their way of life, but in the fact that every positive hero of the novel ultimately connects his fate with the fate of the people. It makes sense to remember historical concept writer. On the pages of the novel, and especially in the second part of the epilogue, Tolstoy says that until now the whole history has been written as the history of individuals, as a rule, tyrants, monarchs, and no one has yet thought about what is driving force stories. According to Tolstoy, this is the so-called "swarm principle", the spirit and will of not one person, but the people as a whole. And how strong the spirit and will of the people is, how likely these or those historical events are. So win in Patriotic War Tolstoy explains that two wills clashed: the will French soldiers and the will of the entire Russian people. This war was fair for the Russians, they fought for their homeland, so their spirit and will to win turned out to be stronger than the French spirit and will. Therefore, the victory of Russia over France was predetermined. The war of 1812 became a milestone, a test of all the positive characters in the novel: for Prince Andrei, who feels an unusual upsurge before the Battle of Borodino, faith in victory for Pierre Bezukhov, whose all thoughts are aimed at helping exile invaders, he even develops a plan to kill Napoleon, for Natasha, who gave the carts to the wounded, because it was impossible not to give them away, it was shameful and disgusting not to give them up, for Petya Rostov, who takes part in the hostilities of a partisan detachment and dies in a fight with the enemy, for Denisov and Dolokhov. All these people, having discarded everything personal, become a single whole, participate in the formation of the will to win. This will to win is especially evident in crowd scenes: in the scene of the surrender of Smolensk, we recall the merchant Ferapontov, who, succumbing to some unknown, inner strength, orders all his goodness to be distributed to the soldiers, and what cannot be endured - set on fire, in the scene of preparation for the battle of Borodino, the soldiers put on white shirts, as if preparing for the last battle, in the scene of the battle of partisans with the French. In general, the theme of guerrilla warfare occupies a special place in the novel. Tolstoy
emphasizes that the war of 1812 was a people's war, because the people themselves rose to fight against the invaders.
The detachments of the elder Vasilisa Kozhina and Denis Davydov were already active, and the heroes of the novel, Vasily Denisov and Dolokhov, are creating their own detachments. The theme of the people's war finds its vivid expression in the image of Tikhon Shcherbaty. The image of this hero is ambiguous; in the Denisov detachment, he performs the most "dirty" and dangerous work. He is merciless to his enemies, but it was largely thanks to such people that Russia won the war against Napoleon. The image of Platon Karataev is also ambiguous, in conditions of captivity he again turned to his origins. Watching him, Pierre Bezukhov realizes that living life the world is beyond all speculation and that happiness is in itself. However, unlike Tikhon Shcherbaty Karataev hardly capable of decisive action, his good looks lead to passivity.
Showing the heroism of the Russian people, Tolstoy in many chapters of the novel speaks of the plight of the peasants, oppressed by serfdom. advanced people of their time, Prince Bolkonsky and Count Bezukhov are trying to alleviate the peasant lot. In conclusion, we can say that L.N. Tolstoy in his work, tries
to prove to the reader the idea that the people played and will play a decisive role in the life of the state. And that it was the Russian people who were able to defeat Napoleon's army, which was considered invincible
“I tried to write the history of the people,” the words of L.N. Tolstoy about his novel War and Peace. It's not just a phrase: great writer really depicted in the work not so much individual heroes how much the whole nation as a whole. "People's thought" defines in the novel and philosophical views Tolstoy, and the image historical events, specific historical figures, and a moral assessment of the actions of heroes.
"War and Peace", as Yu.V. Lebedev, "this is a book about different phases in historical life Russia". At the beginning of the novel "War and Peace" there is a disunity between people at the family, state and national levels. Tolstoy shows tragic consequences such confusion in the Rostov-Bolkonsky family spheres and in the events of the war of 1805, lost by the Russians. Then another historical stage Russia opens, according to Tolstoy, in 1812, when the unity of people triumphs, "the thought of the people." "War and Peace" is a multi-component and integral narrative about how the beginnings of egoism and disunity lead to disaster, but they meet with opposition from the elements of "peace" and "unity" rising from the depths people's Russia". Tolstoy urged "to leave alone the kings, ministers and generals", and to study the history of peoples, "infinitely small elements", since they play a decisive role in the development of mankind. What is the power that drives the nations? Who is the creator of history - the individual or the people? The writer asks such questions at the beginning of the novel and tries to answer them with the whole course of the story.
The great Russian writer argues in the novel with the cult of the outstanding historical personality. This cult relied heavily on the teachings German philosopher Hegel. According to Hegel, the closest conductors of the World Reason, which determines the fate of peoples and states, are great people who are the first to guess what is given to understand only to them and is not given to understand the human mass, the passive material of history. These views of Hegel were directly reflected in the inhumane theory of Rodion Raskolnikov ("Crime and Punishment"), who divided all people into "rulers" and "trembling creatures." Leo Tolstoy, like Dostoevsky, “saw in this teaching something godlessly inhuman, fundamentally contrary to Russian moral ideal. Tolstoy is not an exceptional personality, but folk life as a whole, turns out to be the most sensitive organism that responds to hidden meaning historical movement. The vocation of a great man lies in the ability to listen to the will of the majority, to the "collective subject" of history, to the people's life.
Therefore, the attention of the writer is attracted primarily by the life of the people: peasants, soldiers, officers - those who make up the very basis of it. Tolstoy "poeticizes in "War and Peace" the people as a whole spiritual unity of people, based on strong, age-old cultural traditions... The greatness of a person is determined by the depth of his connection with the organic life of the people.
Leo Tolstoy on the pages of the novel shows that the historical process does not depend on whim or bad mood one man. It is impossible to predict or change the direction of historical events, since they depend on everyone and no one in particular.
We can say that the will of the commander does not affect the outcome of the battle, because not a single commander can lead tens and hundreds of thousands of people, but it is the soldiers themselves (i.e. the people) who decide the fate of the battle. “The fate of the battle is decided not by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place on which the troops stand, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by that elusive force called the spirit of the army,” writes Tolstoy. Therefore, Napoleon did not lose battle of Borodino or Kutuzov won it, and the Russian people won this battle, because the "spirit" of the Russian army was immeasurably higher than the French.
Tolstoy writes that Kutuzov was able to "guess so correctly the meaning folk sense events”, i.e. "guess" the whole pattern of historical events. And the source of this brilliant insight was the "popular feeling" that he carried in his soul great commander. It is the understanding of the national character historical processes allowed Kutuzov, according to Tolstoy, to win not only the Battle of Borodino, but the entire military campaign and fulfill his mission - to save Russia from the Napoleonic invasion.
Tolstoy notes that not only the Russian army opposed Napoleon. “The feeling of revenge that lay in the soul of every person” and of the entire Russian people gave rise to a guerrilla war. “The guerrillas destroyed the great army in parts. There were small, prefabricated, foot and horse parties, there were peasant and landowner parties, unknown to anyone. He was the head of the party, a deacon who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was an elder, Vasilisa, who beat a hundred Frenchmen. The "club of the people's war" was raised and lowered on the heads of the French until the entire invasion died.
This people's war originated shortly after the Russian troops left Smolensk and continued until the very end of hostilities in Russia. Napoleon was not expected by a solemn reception with the keys to the surrendered cities, but by fires and peasant pitchforks. "Hidden warmth of patriotism" was in the soul of not only such people's representatives like the merchant Ferapontov or Tikhon Shcherbaty, but also in the souls of Natasha Rostova, Petya, Andrei Bolkonsky, PRINCESS Marya, Pierre Bezukhov, Denisov, Dolokhov. All of them, in the moment of a terrible test, turned out to be spiritually close to the people and, together with them, ensured victory in the war of 1812.
And in conclusion, I would like to emphasize once again that Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is not an ordinary novel, but an epic novel that reflects human destinies and the fate of the people, which have become the main object of study for the writer in this great work.
