Why Tolstoy's War and Peace is Worth Reading

Why Are War and Peace So Famous?

The magnificent conception and excellent artistic description of "War and Peace" shocked the world literary world, and became a world-recognized world literary masterpiece and a precious spiritual wealth of mankind.

Thick and grand, never evading the real humanity and suffering, is the greatest charm of Russian literature. Even in the star-studded Russian literature, "War and Peace" definitely deserves the word "greatest".

"War and Peace" has such a comment: "If the world can write novels, it will write in the way of Tolstoy."

Babel commented on "War and Peace" in this way: In fact, a person does not need to read too many books in his life, and seven or eight books are enough; however, in order to find the seven or eight books that are most worth reading, one must first read Finished two or three thousand copies. Among the thousands of Russian literary masterpieces, "War and Peace", the greatest work of the greatest writer, is undoubtedly one of the few books that should be read the most.

As an immortal masterpiece in the history of world literature, "War and Peace" has been called one of the "greatest novels in the world" because of its vast scenes and various characters. Its most outstanding artistic achievement is the majestic, grand, and complex structure and orderly layout. 

With the pen of genius, Leo Tolstoy integrates philosophy, aesthetics, religion, etc., and is skilled in war and peace, psychology and society, history and philosophy, and marriage and religion, with clear priorities and originality. 

The environmental descriptions in the article include grand war scenes, class-filled ball scenes, and the chaos and depression in Moscow after the war. 

The environmental descriptions in the article include grand war scenes, class-filled ball scenes, and the chaos and depression in Moscow after the war. 

Characters Written in the Book "War and Peace" are as follows

The main characters in the book have different thoughts, genders, and status classes. After experiencing the baptism of war, they all return to reality and live hard, grasp the focus of life, and complete the growth and transformation of life.

Andre

Andre's experience is a good explanation. He used to see mountains as mountains and water as water; later, after the baptism of war, he was frustrated and realized that he saw mountains as mountains and water as water; finally, he came to his senses and saw reality clearly. 

The truth of the truth, once again into the battle, come back to see the mountain or the mountain, see the water or the water.

Tolstoy pinned his meaning and purpose in life, as well as his passionate search, on the two men who loved Natasha deeply. Prince Andrew made this point even more clearly.

He is very rich, owns a huge estate, and owns a large group of serfs. He can not only force these people to work, but if anyone displeases him, he can strip him naked flog him, and take his wife and children from his side. Take it away and throw it into the army to serve as a soldier. 

If he fell in love with a girl or daughter-in-law, he could call her directly for his own pleasure. Prince Andrew was handsome, with a sharp face, lazy eyes, and an air of boredom. In fact, he is the typical "gloomy handsome man" in romantic novels.

He is brave and proud of his origin and position; he is noble but also arrogant, authoritarian, narrow-minded, and unreasonable. 

To people with the same status as himself, his attitude is indifferent and arrogant, and to those who are lower than him, he is kind and condescending.

He is full of intelligence and quite ambitious to get ahead. 

"Prince Andrei was always particularly enthusiastic about supporting young people and helping them succeed in society. Under the pretext of helping others - although he would never accept such help himself out of pride - he could place himself in the At the top, that's what offered the opportunity to succeed, and that attracted him."

He has a very clear moral code and attitude toward life. He only treats people according to his own heart, and will never change because of the status and identity of the other party. 

He can lend a helping hand to Captain Tushin who is in trouble, and he will also give advice to Paulis. For those powerful and powerful that he despised, he would unabashedly show his inner contempt, and this frankness is very admirable.

Andre has his own heroism, he is a very smart person, and he has his own utilitarian heart. He admired Napoleon, he wanted to make contributions, he was eager to go to the battlefield, and he yearned for power and honor. 

For this reason, he was willing to leave his pregnant wife and go to the battlefield and was even willing to sacrifice his life.

War inspires fanaticism and fantasy, and Andre at this stage is concerned with the personal honor brought about by war.

It was the first time Andre was on the battlefield. Among the countless soldiers who just wanted to escape, only Andre bravely raised the flag and led other people who had not lost their fighting spirit to attack the enemy together. 

He did not leave his banner until his "death". Although he was finally captured, Napoleon said he "died beautifully".

When life was really threatened, he saw the vast and lofty sky above his head, the heroes he once worshiped, and everything he cared about became so insignificant, and he suddenly felt the beauty of life, He misses his father, his wife, and his sister, and the peaceful life he once had.

After personally experiencing the war, his admiration for Napoleon turned into hatred; his enthusiasm for war turned into nostalgia and longing for peace and tranquility.

He realized that human beings autonomously add value and meaning to many things that they did not have before. At this time, Andre believed that the vanity of power and military exploits was despicable and insignificant in the face of life and kindness.

From childhood to adulthood, happiness has always been by his side, but he has never cherished it, and he only pursues empty fame and fortune. After going from life to death, and then from death to life, he suddenly came to his senses.

He is an idealist with a heavy burden. He has firm ideals, noble status, and strong self-awareness, but he walks on the fringes of the upper social circle and is not liked by most people. 

He and his wife were forced to be tied together like people from two worlds, so he started to complain about this marriage. 

But at the moment when he was infinitely close to death on the battlefield, he was relieved, because he began to have tenderness and warmth for his family because of his participation in the war.

However, fate seems to have played a big joke on him. He joined the army and wanted to fight for the country to gain honor, but he witnessed the incompetence of the officer's command, defeat, and capture, and his spirit was greatly frustrated. 

After narrowly escaping death, he returned home, but his beloved wife died of dystocia, leaving behind a son who was waiting to be fed. The high-spirited young Earl was depressed, he was no longer persistent about some things, and resolutely decided not to serve.

He was once proud and idealistic, stepping onto the battlefield with a dream in mind. At that time, he didn't know what a good wife he had, he just felt that she had put the shackles of marriage on him. It wasn't until he was infinitely close to death that he understood the meaning of life. 

I should have worked hard to repair the relationship with my wife after returning home and cherish the present. 

But I didn't expect that by luck, what I saw was the last side of my wife's dystocia. No amount of regret can be expressed. Leo Tolstoy used successive blows to force an independent-minded kid from a wealthy family to grow up.

Andre was indeed unfortunate, but he was not completely lost. The blows made him realize the cruelty of reality and made him more rational. 

If the people who are really in power don't make changes, no matter how hard they try, it's useless, just like fighting a war, if the commander-in-chief is stupid, no matter how smart his men are, they will die in battle.

Successive tragedies pulled him down from the altar of idealism and became realistic and pessimistic. His becoming "cold" seemed destined.

Andre's war-weary emotions should come from his experience in the vortex of high-level power struggles and wars. He found that he was obsessed with the so-called war honor, victory, and national feelings before. 

He got the award, and the villain who sneaked around was praised by everyone. He has always been brave and fearless but in exchange for this end. It's hard not to be chilling. Only the affection between family members is real and precious, and it is worth taking care of in your life.

He disdains the pompous life of nobles, which is why he despises his wife at first. Originally wanted to go to the battlefield to make meritorious service, but saw the chaos and stupidity of the upper class, and saw through the fame after experiencing a death. 

He wanted to return to the family, but when his wife died of dystocia, his father was stubborn and difficult to communicate with. So Andre was completely lost, unable to find the meaning of life.

When his wife passed away, he felt guilty and remorseful, and the pursuit of an ordinary life was his main purpose. But he is a person with lofty ideals, and ordinary life cannot imprison his ideals, so he continued to participate in politics later. 

He expected to make a difference in the country's political law but found that the ministers avoided talking about key issues, and was disappointed with reality again. At this time, he met Natasha, and Natasha's appearance once again awakened his love for ordinary happiness. desire.

In the two times of his life when he lost his soul, both started when he lost the woman who was willing to love her... He is not a person who is very good at expressing his love, which also makes the relationship between him and Natasha become difficult. Pity. 

The war took his life, but he should have no regrets because he spent the last time of his life in Natasha's company.

The book "The Art of Love" clearly mentions that love is a verb, which requires practice and training, and can be imitated at the earliest stage. To imitate the love of parents or the love given by parents to obtain oneself is worthy of love, and to have the ability to love others ability. 

In this aspect, Andre is definitely missing. In the education given by his father, he only gave knowledge education and technical education but lacked physical and mental education and temperature education. 

Therefore, when love disappeared, his limbs seemed to be healthy, and his reason was still there, but only the soul was missing. In a state of nothingness.

As for why his sister Maria is not like this, she is still understanding and able to handle intimate relationships, I think it is mainly due to her finding spiritual comfort in religion, even though her brother and father laughed at her for this "poor belief".

Pierre

Pierre's experience shows the transformation from no self, being-me, being to no self. It is also from not being able to love yourself, to love others. 

In the beginning, Pierre was like a puppet without self-awareness, at the mercy of others; later, after joining the Freemasonry, he began to have a little self-awareness, until he met Platon and began to learn to think independently; the last selflessness refers to his selflessness, learn to love.

Pierre was an elusive figure. He was tall, ugly, and obese, and had to wear glasses because of his severe nearsightedness. He eats and drinks a lot, and is very popular with women. 

He was clumsy and not very well-mannered, but he was kind, sincere, gentle, and disinterested in his nature, and it was hard not to like him if he knew him. 

He spent a lot of money, allowing a group of flattering diners to pay out of his own pocket, and he didn't care whether such people were worth dating. 

He liked to gamble, but other members of the Moscow Noble Club to which he belonged mercilessly cheated on him.

Since inheriting the title, he has been a puppet pushed away. Before being dusty, no one paid attention to him, so he showed his stupidity and thoughtlessness. Later, he became glamorous and everyone wanted to play with the string. , all want to be courteous. 

He was forced to tie up with Helen, but this silly boy couldn't make any resistance. Pushed away by trivial interests, Pierre had no choice. His decision is only to cater to others, and he has no self at all. He is always a golden pawn in the chess game carefully arranged by the upper class.

The fruit of his and Helen's marriage is like a group of meddlesome gardeners who have injected oxytocin, prompting it to ripen in a very short period of time.

He got married early in a daze. His wife was a beautiful woman, but she married him only for money, and she had an affair with others shamelessly. 

After a ridiculous duel with his wife's lover, Pierre left her for Petersburg. Soon after settling in Petersburg, he joined Freemasonry.

In the novel, Pierre's transformation from the moment of joining Freemasonry is too abrupt. Eager to abandon his former dissolute life, he decided to return to the manor, free the serfs, and serve their welfare wholeheartedly. 

However, just as the gamblers deceived him, he was deceived by the housekeeper, and all good intentions ended in failure. Due to a lack of perseverance, most of his philanthropic projects fell through, and he returned to his old idle life. 

His enthusiasm for Freemasonry also waned, as he found that the understanding of his colleagues was only limited to formalities, and many people attached to Freemasonry "just to associate with the rich and profit from it." 

Disappointed and exhausted, he picked up his old habit of drinking, gambling, and messing around.

Pierre is well aware of his shortcomings and hates them very much, but he also lacks the determination and perseverance to correct them. He was indeed a humble, kind, good man, yet he was also surprisingly lacking in common sense. 

In the Battle of Borodino, his performance can be said to be ridiculous. Although he was just a commoner, he rushed to the battlefield in a carriage, blocked everyone's way, caused a lot of annoying trouble for everyone, and finally escaped to save his life. 

When Moscow was evacuated, he stayed behind and was arrested as an arsonist for saving lives, and was even sentenced to death. Although he was later pardoned for the capital crime, he was still in prison.

I really don't understand this character. He is kind and humble, with a gentle and amiable personality, but he is also terribly weak at the same time. Think of him as the hero of "War and Peace", because he was the one who married the charming and heart-warming Natasha at the end. 

I guess Tolstoy should like him very much, because he always describes this character with tenderness and sympathy, but with all due respect, he is really written as a bit stupid, the kind who is stupid and has a lot of money.

There is a character in the book who plays an important role in the development of Pierre's spiritual world. This person is Pierre's cellmate Platon, a serf sentenced to military service for theft. Platon belonged to the ravaged and abused peasants living under the harsh autocracy.

Tolstoy's portrayal of this ordinary soldier is one of the most successful characterizations in War and Peace, and it is only natural that Pierre would be attracted to him. Platon loved everyone, he was selfless, he endured all difficulties and dangers with a high spirit, and at the same time, he was lovable and noble.

And Pierre, as always a very impressionable person, saw the goodness in Platon and began to believe in goodness again: 

"So he felt, in his heart, that the world that had been destroyed before was now A new and better outlook is being built on new unshakable foundations."

From Platon, Pierre realized: 

"The happiness of ordinary people can only be found in the heart. Its source is the satisfaction of the most basic needs of human beings. It is not poverty but abundance that causes dissatisfaction. There is no happiness in life." There's no real dilemma."

After a series of life and death sufferings, Pierre is no longer the nobleman who has nothing to do, is unexamined, and is keen on social occasions. Know how to love and be loved, understand the preciousness of life, and understand responsibility. 

The previous illegitimate son who inherited an incomparably wealthy country's inheritance and became rich overnight turned into the biggest winner in the end.

Nicolas

Nicholas' parents loved him very much. He lacked social experience, was full of blood, and had an upright personality.

In the beginning, Nicholas was eager to go to the front line because of his admiration for the Tsar, but the war would strip off a person's mask and let him show his true appearance. During the war, all of Nicholas' dreams and fantasies were shattered.

What he saw with the wounded in the hospital and what he heard with the Emperor and Napoleon in the square made Nicholas more divided than ever.

He was beginning to doubt what he believed, and this wavering of his beliefs frightened him. When he defended the emperor in front of everyone, he tried his best to defend his previous beliefs in his heart. But pain, confusion, doubt, wavering... all the way to war weariness and anti-war, all these follow...

Nicholas began to force himself to practice a set of involuntary survival rules. To some extent, he hated the ambivalence that he was deep in the war but had to understand politics (emperor). After several psychological struggles, the final conclusion was that mindlessness reduces the pain of the heart.

Sanguan suffered a severe blow and could not find a way out. He chose to refuse to think and reduce his pain.

He once chose to stay on the battlefield in order to avoid family debts and did not want to face Sonia's feelings. He was also a deserter, but in the end, he chose to face his inner feelings, take responsibility, and grow into a brave man.

Natasha

She is sweet, sensitive and compassionate, childlike and already feminine, idealistic, impetuous, warm-hearted, stubborn, capricious, and charming in every way.

Natasha is full of emotion and good at fantasy, and some of her ideas survive in fantasy, which is especially evident in her feelings for Prince Andrei, it is this beautiful ideal beyond reality that makes Natasha look different. 

She is beautiful, kind, lively, and lovely, but she can never stop a kind of turmoil in her heart, not from youth, not from the desire for love. It was this turmoil out of real life that struck and hurt Natasha.

The young Natasha lacks real-life experience and mature life insights. Her ideas, behaviors, and judgments on right and wrong are inevitably drawn by Helen, who is the social darling of the upper class. 

Natasha was easily deceived and captured by Anatole, the son of the Duke of Warsaw, and chose to give up Duke Andrei. 

Of course, there are also reasons why Duke Andrei’s empty love and his family brought Natasha infinite disappointment.

Natasha was too young to unconsciously fall into the worship of worldly social fame. Most of us had this experience when we were young. She also paid the price for her indiscretion, her impulsiveness, and her ignorance.

A courageous and capable little girl, Natasha has grown up rapidly after experiencing a lovelorn, facing the enemy's soldiers approaching the city, and her family and country suffering. She took up the responsibilities of the family and began to have a sense of social responsibility.

Natasha is still the same Natasha, she will always love the one she loves without hesitation, and has never changed. But as a reader, I always ask her from the perspective of God?

Sonia

Tolstoy didn't put too much pen and ink on her at the beginning, just like her status in the Rostov family, she was not noticed by others, but silently loved and guarded Nicholas, even if she was brought by the countess. 

The slander, sarcasm, and disregard are given to her, even if everyone ignores her, just quietly abides by her own way of life and does what she should do.

Sonia didn't appear many times. She was dependent on others since she was a child, and she learned to observe words and feelings and got used to being around Nicholas and Natasha, following their preferences. 

Looking at her along the way, she will always be ignored, but this meek and even submissive little girl will also be resolute at times. This resoluteness is reflected in her feelings for Nicholas, and she is very happy to let go in the end. I was shocked!

Maria

If beliefs make people suppress their true emotions, instead of facing them directly and overcoming them, there must be problems with these beliefs.

Although Natasha and Maria are both ladies from rich families, they have completely different lives. Natasha is lucky to have such enlightened and loving parents. 

But Maria can only find salvation through self-sacrifice, and this willing sacrifice comes from her belief.

Taulokhov

Dolokhov is a very smart person. He is famous for every move he makes. Although his character is flawed, he is the best in his ability.

There are many words about this character, but the image is very full. In reality, he is sinister, cunning, rebellious, and full of wildness. Once on the battlefield, he becomes a desperado who frightens the enemy. 

He will have an affair with Helen, but he is also a dutiful son. And Dolokhov's phrase "Only fools gamble with luck" makes people feel quite like a gambling king. 

The complexity of human beings is particularly evident in him. You cannot evaluate a person from a single latitude, deny or affirm a person.

Kakuzov

For the entire country or nation, winning the war is important, but for each individual soldier, death is indeed something that is in front of us every moment. Especially unnecessary sacrifices are a huge disaster for each individual soldier and his family. 

An excellent general should have a heart-to-heart connection with his soldiers. He must know that every order he gives may cause the death of thousands of young lives and thousands of families are behind it.

No one is born to be a slaughterer. Leo Tolstoy described the sadness and fear on the faces of the soldiers in the bloody battle on the battlefield several times, and they are also human beings who can't kill the enemy.

Kutuzov is one of the few high-level Russians who consider the dignity of human life in war. He likes power, enjoys life, loves beautiful women, and reads novels. He is also kind and compassionate. 

He is the commander-in-chief with the highest power. He knows that his subordinates want to fight for power and do meritorious deeds. He is compassionate. 

He said: They are also human. He also knows that the most important thing in war is morality. Kuzov is a "man with the people in his heart".

The reason why Kutuzov was highly praised by Tolstoy is mainly that Tolstoy's thinking on war strategy and tactics is reflected in Kutuzov. 

He is the only one who sees the situation of the war clearly and waits patiently for his time. Whisk away when things are over, don't compete for fame and fortune.

Boris

Most of Paulis's tactful and sophisticated ways of dealing with things come from his family background and his mother, Mrs. Drubetsky. Paulis lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor, so he had to learn tact and sophistication. 

With utilitarian characteristics, he can easily adapt to different social environments. According to the needs of the situation, in order to achieve your own goals, adjust your own way of being a person, attitude, speech, and even the arc of the smile on the corner of your mouth. 

Paulis has his intelligence as his last resort. Although I don't like such people, I also admire such people to a certain extent.

In addition, characters including Anatole, Duke Vasily, Mademoiselle Bourienne, and the old Duke Bolkonski are all portrayed vividly. Even Napoleon, who is the negative image in the novel, has subtle details. 

Detailed Description: War and Peace 

The characters in the book have distinct personalities and have different fate trajectories.

Pierre is kind and generous but cowardly and lazy, Andre is smart and pragmatic but lacks empathy, Natasha is cute and lively but full of love, Maria is devout and loving but conservative, Nicholas is enthusiastic and brave but paranoid and cold, Paulis and Tauro Hof is calm but selfish, but Sonia is portrayed as a pure altruistic character. Against the historical background of the country's ruin and death, the inner character of each character is more prominently displayed.

When Leo Tolstoy writes characters, he writes people from people, and restores them to what a real person should be, instead of making everyone worship him! Andre, Natasha, and Pierre are real people of flesh and blood. Their growth is from superficial to profound, and they have become tough in the baptism of life.

Leo Tolstoy narrates youth, honor, faith, love, and realism through different characters through the historical background of the Napoleonic Wars, showing different values, views on honor, views on life, and views on love and beliefs.

Tolstoy's War

Only those who have experienced death can stand above death and look at the death of others calmly, but this is not indifference.

The war described by Tolstoy is the most down-to-earth. There are not only fierce bullets and deafening screams but also soldiers sitting around the bonfire baking clothes. 

They light a fire to cook, laugh, and curse. They may be noisy one moment, and they will be at odds the next moment.

There are no heroes in Tolstoy's wars, but ordinary people of all kinds are involved in the wars. 

After reading too many grand accounts of hundreds of thousands of troops fighting, it is easy for us to ignore the performance of small people on the battlefield. In fact, every soldier has his own vivid personality and attitude.

Tolstoy is a person who has really experienced the war. The details of the marching formation, the battle between the enemy and the enemy, and the description of the morale of the army before the war are very detailed. 

There are also portrayals of the characters, which are very vivid, including Duke Bagration who bravely rushed to the French army, and...um...Nicolas escaped again...

Commanding wars in TV dramas is simple and direct, where to fight. I have always wondered how the orderlies could run so fast on a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of people, and how did the commander know what was going on at the scene of the battle?

Only after watching "War and Peace" did I realize that they all play their own games. Once the war starts, the commander can only be as anxious as us. I don't know the situation on the front line until the last moment. This understands why the more disciplined the army, the stronger its combat effectiveness.

Under the war, everything is magical, reason and emotion are gone, only the instinct to survive, everyone becomes a mass of breathing flesh, waiting to bleed and die at any time.

For living space, resources, land, and wealth, different ethnic groups and different countries fight against each other. The "non-aggression" thought of the Mohists in the Spring and Autumn Period of China may be an ideal and a beautiful wish, but it is far from becoming a reality. 

Everyone knows the cruelty of war, the loss of life, the consumption of resources, and the generation of hatred, but they keep launching wars or are forced to accept wars. Human beings are at war almost all the time.

In this book, the sacrifices of real warriors and heroes are exchanged for the vanity and carnival of deserter nobles. What are you fighting for?

People began to be full of enthusiasm and excitement for war for the sake of honor and satisfaction. Later, after witnessing too many deaths, they slowly reflected on the meaning of war when they were about to become numb... 

The author questioned the war mentality of each little person or protagonist The significance of war, and the preciousness of peace is self-evident when looking for answers.

At the end of the article, the comparison of the French army's attack to a wounded beast is really wonderful, even better than our "at the end of the crossbow" metaphor. 

The metaphor of the "wounded beast" not only emphasizes the active actions of the hunter as a response but also has something to do with the hunter's strategy of watching quietly. 

Because a wounded beast will struggle to the death, if it fights hard at that time, it will only end at the end for both sides. And Kutuzov's genius lies in understanding "the meaning of waiting." 

Now that the beast has been dealt a fatal blow, the best strategy is to wait, even if the beast will turn the world upside down (take Moscow) in the end. Wait until the beast is dying before delivering the final blow.

Tolstoy believes that the reason for the Russian army's comeback, in the end, is not the so-called "left-wing attack" in tactics, but in the strategic grasp of timing.

Tolstoy's Philosophy of History

Tolstoy wrote nearly a million words to demonstrate what he believed to be the point that "mostly the will of historical figures has no effect".

History is inadvertently rewritten by some so-called "little people", and the names of these people who rewrite history have to be written in the annals of human history forever. 

Just as Leo Tolstoy said, the process of history is not moved by the will of a certain person, but by a collection of millions of reasons. Behind these accidental events, there are countless reasons for this event. 

In this sense, each of us is a promoter of history, but some "lucky ones" accidentally "bumped" on the node of rewriting history.

Tolstoy believes that human beings cannot truly understand the essence of history, let alone predict and judge. Human beings can only observe and summarize historical events that have occurred.

Leo Tolstoy: 

"Considering factors such as chance, unknown forces, misjudgments, and unforeseen accidents in history, it is impossible for there to be any precise art of war in the world, so it is even more impossible for there to be any so-called military Genius. What affects the course of history is by no means a great man as people generally think, but a hidden force that runs through the nations and leads them to victory or defeats unconsciously. The position of the leader of the army is exactly Like a fast horse harnessed to a carriage and galloping downhill - after certain moments, the horse can no longer tell whether it is pulling the carriage forward or the horse behind it. The carriage forced it to keep running forward. Napoleon was able to win battles, not relying on his strategic thinking or his huge army. Because of the changes in the situation and the untimely transmission, his orders were not fulfilled. He can do what he wants; he can win because the enemy at this time, convinced that the defeat is over, has voluntarily abandoned the battlefield. The outcome of the war depends on a thousand unforeseen possibilities, any of which may happen at some moment. to a decisive role."

"The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, so far as their free will alone are concerned, have no more effect on how something can be accomplished than a private soldier newly conscripted to fight for them." 

"Those so-called great men They are actually just historical labels, they put their names on historical events, but their connection to the truth may not be as close as the relationship between the label and the content.”

In Tolstoy's view, these great men are nothing but clay sculptures and wood sculptures engulfed by the times, and they are neither able to control nor resist this eternal momentum.

His point of view is somewhat confusing, at least I do not see how he reconciles "predestination and irresistible inevitability" with "capricious chance".

I think Tolstoy's "philosophy of history" stems at least in part from his desire to belittle Napoleon. The image of Napoleon himself in the story of "War and Peace" is base, credulous, stupid, and absurd. 

Tolstoy called him "a small instrument of history who never displayed any manly dignity, not even in exile." He couldn't even ride a horse well, and Tolstoy was indignant that the Russians should consider him a big shot.

The French Revolution created opportunities for many bright and ambitious young people to get ahead, but why did this young man with no money, no power, and a foreign accent make it all the way to the end, winning one game after another? One victory, becoming the dictator of France, and eventually even bringing half of Europe under his command? 

If he only won one war, it can be attributed to good luck, but if he won a series of wars, I think it is better to directly admit that he has unique abilities and outstanding talents in this area, it is not necessary Besides, his victory was entirely due to the huge force majeure of the previous series of accidental events.

A great general should combine literacy, knowledge, talent, courage, intuition for assessing the situation, and intuition for judging the psychology of the opponent. Napoleon certainly had the advantage of the situation, but if you want to deny that he had the ability to take advantage of the situation, I think it is pure prejudice.

There are tangible wars in this world, and we have to face steel cannons; there are also invisible wars, which are human nature wars. Human desire and greed will not disappear, and the war will not end, but I still hope for world peace! 

Is War and Peace Hard To Read?

"War and Peace" is quite difficult to read. At the beginning of the novel, there is a gathering of nobles, and there are more than a dozen people present. 

During the chatting process of these people, more than 20 people are mentioned. 

There is some kind of connection between all these dozens of people, but it is undoubtedly a rather huge amount of information.