(L. N. Tolstoy. "War and Peace")

L. Tolstoy was one of the first in Russian and world literature to recreate the pictures of the people's guerrilla war and managed to reveal its true meaning and significance. With historical authenticity and truthfulness, the great Russian writer showed how the "club of the people's war", which acted with "simplicity and expediency", led to victory over the conquerors. In the actions of partisan detachments in 1812, he saw the highest form of unity between the people and the army, which radically changed the very idea of ​​war. L. Tolstoy notes that “since the fire of Smolensk, a war has begun that does not fit any previous ideas of wars. The burning of cities and villages, the retreat after battles, the blow of Borodin and another retreat, the fire of Moscow, the catching of marauders, the capture of transports, the guerrilla war - all these were deviations from the rules.

L. Tolstoy says that Napoleon, who faced such a phenomenon for the first time in his military practice, “did not stop complaining to Kutuzov and Emperor Alexander that the war was being waged contrary to all rules.” Along the way, the author remarks: “as if there were some rules for killing people.”

Before the start of the Battle of Borodino, during a meeting with Pierre, Prince Andrei says that when near Smolensk “we fought for the first time ... for the Russian land”, then “there was such a spirit in the troops that I had never seen that we fought off the French for two days in a row and that this success multiplied our strength tenfold.

Not only the regular army, but also the militias were preparing for the Battle of Borodino. One of the wounded soldiers in the wagon train, met by Pierre on the way to Borodino, says: “Today, not only a soldier, but also seen peasants! The peasants and those are driven. Today they don’t sort it out ... They want to pile on all the people, one word - Moscow. They want to make one end." But Pierre understood the meaning of what he heard only when he “saw for the first time militia men with crosses on their hats and in white shirts, who, with a loud voice and laughter, animated and sweaty, were working something to the right of the road.”

The hidden "warmth of patriotism" takes possession of Kutuzov, who is informed that the militia men put on "clean white shirts to prepare for death." He replies with emotion and delight to this: “Wonderful, incomparable people!” With the same seriousness and thoroughness, soldiers and officers of the Russian army are preparing for an important decisive event - the Battle of Borodino. Captain Timokhin says to Pierre and Prince Andrei: “Why feel sorry for yourself now! The soldiers in my battalion, believe me, did not drink vodka: not such a day, they say.

After the Battle of Borodino, the entire population, as one person, abandoning their property, “flowed out of Moscow, showing by this negative action the full strength of their national feeling.” But even those ordinary people - artisans and factory workers who remained in the city, were ready to stand under the banner of the defenders of the motherland. L. Tolstoy says that "the understanding of the people was tuned in a high way." People "not sparing their lives, wanted to serve" the fatherland. However, neither the governor, nor the chief of police, nor other senior officials of Moscow had the same mood and were more concerned about their own safety.

Despite the lack of a common team, after the arrival of the French, Moscow looked like an abandoned hive. The streets were empty, there was hardly anyone. The gates and shops were all locked. No one traveled the streets, and footsteps of pedestrians were rarely heard. The people themselves made sure that the invaders feel like on a powder keg. The ground was literally on fire underneath them. The peasants Karp and Vlas and "all the countless number of such peasants" not only did not bring hay to Moscow for big money, but also burned it. They burned everything that was left of the population and could be useful to the French.

Effective assistance to their army was provided by the people who went into partisan detachments. There were hundreds of them then - large and small, on foot and horseback, with artillery and simply with spears. “He was the head of the party, a deacon who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was an elder, Vasilisa, who beat hundreds of Frenchmen.

The partisan movement occupies a special place in the history of the Patriotic War of 1812. The strength of the partisan detachments consisted in the suddenness of the attack, the elusiveness for regular troops. “The guerrillas destroyed the great army in parts. They picked up those fallen leaves that fell of their own accord from a withered tree - the French army, and sometimes shook this tree. And no matter how much Napoleon and his marshals complained that the Russians were waging war “not according to the rules,” no matter how embarrassed they were at the court of Emperor Alexander to talk about partisans, “the cudgel of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone’s tastes and ruled ... rose and nailed the French until the whole invasion died.

It cannot be argued that the most famous and great work of Leo Tolstoy is the novel War and Peace. A variety of themes are connected in it with red threads, but the theme of war occupies a special place. The author calls the war a terrible thing, and he is really right. In his novel, some heroes enter the war as if it were a crime, while other characters are forced to defend themselves and loved ones from ruthless attacks. The novel is riddled with deep metaphors. Particularly striking was: "the cudgel of the people's war."
I understand this phrase as a symbol of the weapons of the common people. It is not elegant and noble, like a sword. In order to master a club, one does not need to practice the art of swordsmanship, just mindlessly wielding brute physical strength is enough. The catchphrase "the cudgel of the people's war" in my opinion means that the exhausted people are fighting the furious invaders as best they can, without observing the rules and foundations of martial art. The people fight back without observing military canons and traditions, they are ready to use any means to win, even the most terrible and cruel ones. Moreover, the people will fight to the end, to the last breath, until the enemy is completely defeated.
The war that Tolstoy paints in his work leaves no one indifferent. The author does not ambiguously show that this war was for the most part a people's war. Not only the army defended their native lands from the invader, the entire population actively participated in the defense. Peasants and some nobles fearlessly defended their native land, merchants gave away most of their income to support the mighty Russian army. Many peasants joined the partisans to contribute to the battle. Detachments of partisans included in their composition, both ordinary people and representatives of the nobility, but all of them were united by one common and desirable goal - to save the Motherland.
Leo Tolstoy is a master of the pen, he deftly draws the reader a powerful image of a people who are ready to do anything to save their native lands. The people, as a rule, are not educated and do not possess military wisdom, but this does not diminish the desire to do everything to save the Motherland. The people adopt a simple club and confidently march towards the enemies.

Open lesson on Russian literature. Grade 10.

Subject: "The cudgel of the people's war has risen with all its formidable ... strength." (L.N. Tolstoy)

(Partisan war. Platon Karataev and Tikhon Shcherbaty).

Fedorova Anastasia Semyonovna, teacher

Russian language and literature.

Lesson topic: "The cudgel of the people's war has risen with all its formidable ... strength." (L.N. Tolstoy). (Partisan war. Platon Karataev and Tikhon Shcherbaty).

Goals: expand students' understanding of the people's war of 1812, find out what significance the partisan movement played in the war, tell about the fate of the main characters

(according to volume 4).

Equipment: a portrait of the writer, illustrations from the novel, texts for retelling.

During the classes.

1. Organizational part / topic, purpose of the lesson /.

2. Introductory speech of the teacher.

In 1812, the French won a victory near Moscow, Moscow was taken, and after that, without new battles, not Russia ceased to exist, but the army of 600,000 ceased to exist, then the Napoleonic army.

The War of 1812 was the greatest of all known wars. In the 4th volume of the novel, Tolstoy depicts the development of the people's war. The chapters of this volume are devoted to a strong and powerful partisan movement.

“Since the fire of Smolensk, a war has begun that does not fit under any previous legends of wars. The burning of cities and villages, the retreat after battles, the blow of Borodin and the retreat again, the abandonment and fire of Moscow, catching marauders, etc. - all these were deviations from the rules. The guerrillas destroyed the great army piece by piece, picking up those fallen leaves that had fallen of their own accord from a withered tree—the French army—and then shaking that tree,” writes Tolstoy.

3. Work on the text (volume 4 of the novel "War and Peace").

Questions and tasks: 1. What partisan units is the writer talking about?

The partisan war began with the entry of the enemy into Smolensk (Vol. 4, Part 3, Ch. 3) On August 24, the first partisan detachment of Davydov was established. Following his detachment, others began to be established. In October, while the French fled to Smolensk, there were hundreds of these parties of various sizes and characters. There were parties that adopted all the methods of the army, with infantry, with artillery, headquarters, with the conveniences of life, there were Cossack, cavalry, there were small, prefabricated, foot and horseback, there were peasants and landlords, unknown to anyone.

There was a deacon head of the party, who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was an elder, Vasilisa, who beat hundreds of Frenchmen. In a larger plan, the author draws the partisan detachments of Denisov and Dolokhov.

Message from 1 student.

Denisov is one of the partisans. He has 200 people. He is a combat hussar officer, a gambler, a gambling noisy "little man with a red face, shining black eyes, with a black disheveled mustache and hair.

Denisov is the commander and friend of N. Rostov, a person for whom the honor of the regiment in which he serves is higher in life. He is brave, capable of daring and rash acts, as in the case of the capture of food transport, participates in all companies, commanding a partisan detachment in 1812 that freed the prisoners, including Pierre. The prototype of Denisov was largely the hero of the war of 1812 D.V. Davydov mentioned in the novel and as a historical person.

Message from 2 students.

Dolokhov Fedor - "Semyonov officer"...

4. Expressive reading ie An excerpt from War and Peace.

(chapter 3, part 3, page 149)

Dialogue "Denisov and Petya Rostov "(At that time, Denisov spoke with the esaul ...).

Student message "The peasant - partisan Tikhon Shcherbaty -" the most useful and brave man "in Denisov's detachment (vol. 4, part 3, ch. 5-6).

Tikhon Shcherbaty is a type from the people. He lives in love for the Russian land, the spirit of rebellion, all the most attractive and bold that Tolstoy observed in serfs.

Findings: Tikhon Shcherbat embodies the best character traits of a peasant-avenger, strong, courageous, energetic and savvy. Tikhon's favorite weapon is an ax, which he "owns as a wolf owns his teeth." The French for him are enemies who must be destroyed. And he hunts down the French day and night.

An indestructible sense of humor, the ability to joke under any circumstances, resourcefulness and prowess distinguish Tikhon Shcherbaty among the partisans.

5. Teacher's word: "I love the thought of the people as a result of the war of 1812," Tolstoy wrote. The attitude "to the thought of the people" is an important criterion for a writer. The path of moral quests for beloved heroes (Pierre, Natasha, Bolkonsky) in one way or another brought these heroes closer to the people. Pierre becomes close to Platon Karataev - the source of folk wisdom and philosophy of life, the bearer of the ideas of the patriarchal peasantry.

Reading of the episode "Pierre's meeting with P. Karataev" (vol. 4, part 1, ch. 12, p. 151) by roles.

Questions: 1 What details of appearance, manner of speaking does Tolstoy highlight in P. Karataev?

2. Let's pay attention to the language of P. Karataev. What figurative and expressive means does the peasant use? (epithets, comparisons, proverbs, vernacular)

6. Student's report about Platon Karataev.

P. Karataev - a soldier of the Apsheron regiment, who met P. Bezukhov in captivity. Nicknamed in the service Falcon. At the first meeting with this small, affectionate and good-natured man, Pierre is struck by the feeling of something round and calm that comes from Karataev. He attracts everyone with his calmness, confidence, kindness and smile of his round face. Weakened from a fever, Karataev begins to lag behind at the crossings, he is shot by the escorts - the French. After the death of Karataev, thanks to his wisdom and the folk philosophy of life unconsciously expressed in all his behavior, Pierre comes to understand the meaning of life.

Conclusion: Karataev is meek, kind, preaches the idea of ​​forgiveness, which Tikhon Shcherbaty does not know. Tikhon and Plato are two sides of the Russian soul. Karataev loves all people, even enemies. He is patient and submissive to fate. For Tolstoy, the Russian national character was associated with the image of Karataev, who embodied the patriarchy, kindness and humility of the Russian peasant. Thus, the people are the bearers of the best human qualities. He played a leading role in the war of 1812.

7. Question: What L. Tolstoy writes about the significance of the partisan war in the overall victory of the Russians in 1812.

Answer: The guerrilla war with the French took on a popular character. She brought with her new methods of struggle "overturning the aggressive strategy of Napoleon." "The cudgel of the people's war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone's tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity ... without understanding anything, it rose, fell and nailed the French until the whole invasion died," - so Tolstoy writes about the role of guerrilla warfare in the overall victory of the Russians in 1812. In these words, Tolstoy's pride and admiration for the power of the people, which he loved precisely as a force of nature.

8. General conclusions.

Questions: What did you learn today? How did you work? What did you like? What part of the lesson do you remember?

9. Homework: 1. Read v4, part 3, ch.7, pp. 163-165, ch.9, pp. 166-168, ch.11. "The scene of the death of Petya Rostov". Answer question 4. The truth about the war in the novel by Leo Tolstoy.

"... The cudgel of the people's war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone's tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity, but with expediency, without understanding anything, nailed the French until the entire invasion died."

L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"

Today, on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the Borodino victory, a lot of interesting publications and responses to the events of two centuries ago have appeared in the domestic media. Interest in the war of 1812, oddly enough, never weakened among our compatriots. The memory of the Battle of Borodino, the fire of Moscow and the subsequent expulsion of the French is sacredly kept by the Russian people as an unshakable national shrine. This is evidence of the heroic deed of an entire people, which can be considered one of the main, even turning points in the history of Russia.

Throughout the 19th century, Russian historiography, based on the memoirs of direct participants in the events of 1812 - D. Davydov, P. Vyazemsky, the notorious soldier Bogdanchikov and hundreds of other military memoirists - diligently ensured the growth of national historical self-awareness in the circles of an educated society and achieved considerable success in this. Count L.N. Tolstoy, one of the greatest thinkers, later called the “mirror of the Russian revolution,” made an attempt to convey to his contemporaries the obvious idea that the Patriotic War of 1812 forever changed the Russian people, reshaping their self-consciousness. And the "club of the people's war", according to the later interpreters of the works of the recognized classic, showed the real driving force of world history.

Even during the period of the domination of the Marxist-Leninist ideology, when everything that had ever happened under the tsarist regime was subjected to criticism, the Patriotic War of 1812, called "people's" by L.N. Tolstoy himself, was the only bright and "inviolable" spot on everything space of the historical past of the USSR. Monuments were erected to the heroes of the war of 1812, the central streets of cities and towns were named after them. Teachers in Soviet schools never hesitated to talk about the exploits of Kutuzov, Bagration, Denis Davydov, because the memory of a just, liberation war is necessary for citizens of a great power. The Stalinist leadership quickly adopted this memory into service during the Great Patriotic War. Drawing historical parallels, Soviet ideologists were able to awaken the national self-consciousness of the Russian people, which was largely undermined by communist slogans. The fidelity to the memory of the victory over Napoleon helped the Russian people survive the war against fascism, once again proving to the whole world that Russia, even dressed in red rags, was and remains a great country.

It must be admitted that even in our forgetful, indifferent time, when even the most zealous "scribes" of national history begin to get tired, surrendering their positions to jingoistic patriots and nationalists, public interest in the events of 1812 is not weakening. Serious historians are silent: it is almost impossible to add something new to the factual side of the long-studied achievements of two centuries ago. However, in obedience to modern political fashion, well-known journalists, politicians, users of various Internet resources sometimes express directly opposite assessments of the "thunderstorm of 1812". Some, out of false patriotism, unnecessarily exaggerate the people's feat in this war, while others, on the contrary, completely deny its significance, reducing the “nationality” of the war praised by L.N. Tolstoy to a historical and ideological myth.

Undoubtedly, the ideological myth about the "people" of the Patriotic War of 1812 existed long before the appearance of Leo Tolstoy's novel. It began to be created back in those days when Russian hussars and Cossacks turned Parisian restaurants into famous "bistros", and all of Europe applauded Alexander the Blessed - the savior of peoples from the ambitions of a presumptuous Corsican.

The journalistic campaign around the "feats of the people" in the war with Napoleon began long before the end of hostilities. The educated public in St. Petersburg listened with delight to the legends about how one peasant, out of patriotic motives, cut off his own hand, because the enemy had branded “Napoleon” on it, and also about how the Smolensk elder Vasilisa Kozhina dealt with a hundred with a scythe and a pitchfork French marauders. Emperor Alexander I attached great importance to "patriotic" myth-making: almost all the famous names of folk heroes - Vasilisa Kozhina, Gerasim Kurin, Major Yemelyanov and others - are mentioned in the periodicals of that time. Two women who participated in the war of 1812 - the noblewoman Nadezhda Durova and the peasant woman Vasilisa Kozhina - were awarded awards during their lifetime. Meanwhile, in folk art, Vasilisa Kozhina became the heroine of various amusing sheets and popular prints "comics". People's rumor depicted her either on a horse and in a sundress armed with a scythe, or in a French overcoat with a saber. Documentary confirmation of her great feats by historians has not been found so far. Only a not entirely reliable story is known about how Kozhina stabbed a captured Frenchman with a scythe, allegedly wanting to avenge him for the death of her husband.

Modern "scribes" of Russian history, trying to radically reshape the historical self-consciousness of the Russian people, often try to present the invader-Napoleon in a progressive apologetic light: they say, that's who was the main guardian of the people's interests! He carried the serf peasant freedom from slavery, and he, out of ignorance, met him with a "club of the people's war." Nevertheless, these Davydovs, Dorokhovs, Figners, Volkonskys and other "army" partisans, in turn, sought to defend their selfish interest - to prevent the liberation of the peasantry, the revolution and the plunder of their own estates. The government, fearing popular riots, ordered not to arm the serfs in any case and not to allow them to participate in hostilities. Because it is not known in which direction the man wants to turn his weapon.

Meanwhile, already on July 6, 1812, Alexander I issued a manifesto and an appeal to the inhabitants of the "Eternal Throne Capital of our Moscow" with a call to act as the initiators of the "people's armament" - i.e. people's militia. It was followed by a manifesto of July 18 (30) "On the formation of a temporary internal militia" by 16 central provinces adjacent to the established theater of military operations. According to this document, each landowner was obliged to submit to the militia a certain number of equipped and armed warriors from his serfs within the prescribed time. The unauthorized entry of serfs into the militia was a crime, i.e. escape. The selection of warriors was carried out by the landowner or peasant communities by lot. Noble estates that put up warriors in the militia were exempted from recruitment sets until it was dissolved. Other categories of peasants - state, economic, appanage, as well as philistines, artisans and children of clergy, who did not yet have a clergy, were subject to recruitment in the usual manner.

But the realities of wartime and the rapid advance of the enemy deep into the country imposed their own adjustments on government plans. Not all landlords were able to organize resistance. Many, leaving their estates and peasants, fled to the capitals even before the release of the manifesto. The peasants of the western provinces, often left to themselves, simply went into the forests or organized their own self-defense units.

It is known that partisan peasants often attacked detachments of "army" partisans - the hussar and uhlan uniforms are similar to the French ("gentlemen" dressed in the same fashion), and many Russian officers, brought up by French tutors, could hardly speak their native language.

Fair. The abyss between the European-educated nobility and the Russian muzhik, cut off from their roots, was huge. But let us remember that the same Denis Davydov and other, slightly less well-known noblemen-leaders of the partisan movement in the Moscow region and in the Smolensk region, under their responsibility, attracted not only their own, but also other people's serfs into defense detachments. So, in the Smolensk province, the family of retired Major General D.E. Leslie formed from his yard and serfs the “equestrian hundred of Leslie brothers of the Smolensk militia”, which, with the permission of the military command, became part of the army. The noble militias and "army" partisans sought to work together with the people's partisan associations, to find a common language with their leaders: they grew beards, dressed in Russian clothes, learned to use understandable, simple expressions in everyday speech.

L.N. Tolstoy turned out to be right: the war of 1812 was truly a turning point not so much in the political history of Russia, but in the history of relations between the supreme political power and the intellectual elite, the monarchy and the enlightened nobility, and most importantly, in the history of relations between the master and the peasant, which, since the time of Peter I, have been like would live on different planets.

Coming out of the completely Frenchized St. Petersburg salons, all domestic chers amis - Sergis, Georges, Pierres and Michels - finally saw their people in this war. These were soldiers selflessly saving the lives of their commanders on the battlefield; serfs and peasant women, who, armed with clubs and pitchforks, attacked French carts, resisted robberies and violence, drove the invaders from their native land.

Thanks to, perhaps, the only tragic moment in the history of post-Petrine Russia, when the interests of all strata of society coincided in the fight against an external enemy, in 1812 it becomes obvious that the war that engulfed a significant part of the country's territory can only be a people's war. The “war by the rules”, which Napoleon wanted, who conquered half of Europe, simply did not take place: the Russian peasants, not knowing these rules, played everything according to their scenario ...

And the great "contact" with their own people was not in vain for European-educated people. The birth of the myth of a great people that, with a club in their hands, defeated the best army in the world, led to an unprecedented growth of historical self-awareness. It is no coincidence that already in 1816-1818 the first eight volumes of N.M. Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State” were published. Huge for that time, the three-thousand circulation diverges faster than a month. A second edition was immediately required, which sold out just as quickly. In the same years, as we know, the "golden age" of Russian poetry also falls: Pushkin appears as the creator of the Russian literary language. P. Vyazemsky, one of the most prominent poets of the “Pushkin galaxy”, a veteran of the war of 1812, is actively engaged in experiments with folk art and the introduction of folk words, expressions, folklore elements into the literary language.

Only thirteen years pass, and in December 1825, the color of the Russian nobility - yesterday's partisans and participants in the foreign campaign against Napoleonic France - with weapons in their hands demand from the monarch the liberation of the Russian people from serfdom.

Was it necessary then for the peasant himself? Did he consider himself unfairly deprived, offended or humiliated by the supreme power? Unlikely. The serf traditionally dreamed of a "good master", and not of civil liberties. But the Russian nobility had already managed to cherish in their minds a complex of "historical guilt" in front of the heroic, wise people, which they could not get rid of over the next century.

Gradually, step by step, the image of the suffering people, created through the efforts of the noble intelligentsia, ascends to the pedestal of the only "sower and keeper" of the Russian land. Not so much by historians as by "rulers of thoughts" - writers and journalistic brethren - new legends are actively breeding.

With the light hand of the landowner N. Nekrasov, the satirist M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the revolutionary democrats Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, at the forefront in the work of the "populist" intellectuals of the 1860s is almost the deification of the Russian peasantry. Wise, kind, hardworking and at the same time forgiving, humble peasants, suffering from the oppression of unjust rulers, are typical heroes of Russian literature, which was created by the noble landlords of the 19th century. On the pages of the works of I.S. Turgenev, N.N. Nekrasov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, S.T. Aksakov, we will not find a single negative character from the peasants: as if all drunkards, convinced villains, thieves and immoral types that only exist in the world automatically migrated to other classes.

Further more! Tolstoy and Dostoevsky introduce the fashion of worshiping the peasant, in fact putting an equal sign between the concepts of "peasantry" and "Christianity": the suffering people, the God-bearing people become the idol of the entire educated society of Russia. Only the popular ideal is theoretically recognized as having the right to a real future. We must learn from him, we must worship him, because the people are the bearers of a certain “higher truth”, which is inaccessible to thinking intellectuals.

Yes, in 1812 the country had not yet experienced the execution of the Decembrists, had not yet heard the bloody dissident tocsin of Herzen, had not lost the Crimean War, had not tasted the fruits of the tragic divergence between power and society, had not plunged into the orgy of revolutionary terrorism, had not experienced a great national catastrophe.

The year 1812 became, as we see, a kind of “moment of truth”, that very small pebble, which, perhaps, entailed an avalanche of more grandiose changes. Saving the country from the invasion of Napoleon, the Russian people accomplished a truly historic, grandiose feat. And it is impossible to deny its significance even after two centuries.

But the second of the ten commandments of the Lord says: “Do not make for yourself an idol and any likeness, a fir tree in heaven, a mountain, and a fir tree on the earth below, and a fir tree in the waters under the earth: do not bow down to them, nor serve them”.

Only the Russian intelligentsia, as well as the ruling circles, having once created a legend for themselves about their own people, began to worship him like an idol. After more than a hundred years, the zealous idolaters who are in power in a state that occupies one-sixth of the land simply laid down all responsibility for the fate of the country: after all, there is real truth among the people, they themselves know what to do ...

It is symbolic that as a result of this tragic delusion, the former horse thief Grigory Rasputin arose in the royal chambers, and the fashion for “muzhikovschihs” - village poets, various “prophets” as carriers of Christian culture from the people - in the 1910s overwhelmed the entire metropolitan beau monde.

"Rasputinism" finally discredited the monarchy in the eyes of society. But the best representatives of the progressive public, once in power, eventually stepped on the same rake. Prophesing about the coming of the "Coming Ham" in 1905-1907, D.S. Merezhkovsky could not even imagine that the very wise, infallible, deified Russian peasant, in whom for a century the democratic intelligentsia saw their moral ideal and salvation, would turn out to be a "boor" in fact. Many beautiful-hearted liberals, out of habit, for some time continued to justify the "people's wrath" with their historical guilt before the Russian peasantry, recognizing only their right to the revenge suffered for centuries:

However, a handful of political adventurers, throwing loud populist slogans in front of them, overnight managed to turn the entire Russian people into a controlled herd of bloodthirsty scoundrels:

None of the newly-minted leaders confessed their love for Russia, no one believed in the purity and high morality of its “sower and keeper”. Despising the stillborn myth of a great and wise people, the Bolsheviks relied only on their ability to control the masses, to play on the darkest instincts, age-old hatred, and the desire to "share everything." And they didn't fail.

The idol was overthrown. But the "epiphany", alas, came too late:

Faced for the first time with the bloody reality of the Civil War, the Russian intelligentsia was ready, like Bulgakov’s captain Myshlaevsky, to furiously ruffle the shirt-front of that very “god-bearing peasant” who fled “to Petliura”, joined the ranks of the Red Army, stood up for the service of the Soviets and the Cheka.

On the other hand, she had much more reason to curse herself for creating a myth about the Russian people, which since the war of 1812 she did not know, did not understand and did not even try to see and accept it as it really is.

“Imagine,” Tolstoy wrote, “two people who went out with swords for a duel according to all the rules of fencing art ... suddenly one of the opponents, feeling wounded, realizing that this was no joke ... threw his sword and taking the first club he came across, began grumble at her. The swordsman who demanded a fight according to the rules of art was a Frenchman, his opponent, who abandoned his punks and raised his club, was Russian ... Despite the French's complaints about the failure to comply with the rules ... the cudgel of the people's war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone's tastes and rules , rose, fell and nailed the French until the whole invasion died. It is with the help of the "club of the people's war" that Lev Nikolayevich reveals the main idea of ​​the epic novel "War and Peace".

The Patriotic War of 1812 in the image of Leo Tolstoy appears as a people's war. The writer is convinced that the Russian people won the war. The further development of the people's war is drawn by the author in Volume IV, the chapters of which are devoted to the strong and powerful partisan movement.

In those years, patriotic feelings and hatred for enemies swept all segments of the population. But even V.G. Belinsky wrote: "Patriotism does not consist in magnificent exclamations." L.N. Tolstoy opposes true patriotism to such an ostentatious one, which was heard in speeches and exclamations at a meeting of Moscow nobles. They were worried about whether the peasants would gain a free spirit (“It’s better to recruit ... otherwise neither a soldier nor a peasant will return to us, but only one debauchery,” voices were heard at a meeting of the nobility).

During the stay of the army in Tarutino, the partisan movement began to expand, which began before Kutuzov took the post of commander in chief. L.N. very accurately and figuratively spoke about the partisan movement and the popular character of the war of 1812. Tolstoy, for the first time using the expression "club of the people's war" in the first chapter of the third part of the fourth volume of the novel "War and Peace".

The partisan movement in the Patriotic War of 1812 is one of the main expressions of the will and desire for the victory of the Russian people against the French troops. The partisan movement reflects the popular character of the Patriotic War.

The movement of partisans began after the entry of Napoleonic troops into Smolensk. Before the guerrilla war was officially accepted by our government, already thousands of people of the enemy army were exterminated by the Cossacks and "Partisans".

The image of Petya Rostov is an expression in the novel of the theme of guerrilla war, which shows that the people are the true force of history. It reveals the true value of human life, human relationships.

The guerrilla war with the French took on a popular character. She brought with her new methods of struggle, "overturning Napoleon's strategy of conquest."

Tolstoy has an ambiguous attitude not only to the people's war, but also to the partisan one. The People's War delights the writer as the highest manifestation of patriotism, as the unity of people of all strata in their love for their homeland and in their common desire to prevent the enemy from seizing Russia. Only a guerrilla war, that is, a liberation war, which is not a "game", not "the entertainment of idle people", but retribution for ruin and misfortune, aimed at protecting one's own freedom and the freedom of the whole country, is fair, according to Tolstoy. But still, any, even a just war, brings destruction, pain and suffering, is the personification of an evil, inhuman principle. Therefore, the partisan war, sung by Tolstoy in the novel, is, according to the author, a manifestation of popular anger, but not the embodiment of humanism and the highest good. tolstoy rostov novel war

The popular character of the war is shown by Tolstoy in various ways. The author's historical and philosophical arguments about the role of the individual and the people in history in general and the war of 1812 in particular are used, vivid pictures of outstanding historical events are drawn; the people can be depicted (albeit extremely rarely) as a whole, in common, and as an innumerable multitude of living ordinary characters. The motives and feelings of the entire nation are concentrated in the image of the "representative of the people's war" commander Kutuzov, they are felt by the best representatives of the nobility who have become close to the people.

Tolstoy shows a combination of formidable strength, courage and kindness, heroic patience and generosity in the Russian character; this unique combination represents, according to Tolstoy, the essence of the Russian soul. The writer himself says: "There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth." Russian soldiers, having met Captain Rambal and his batman Morel, freezing in the forest, bring them porridge, vodka, lay out an overcoat for the sick Rambal. Smiling joyfully, they look at Morel.

Such is the main assessment of the people's war in Tolstoy's novel. “And it is good for the people who, in a moment of trial, with simplicity and ease, pick up the first club that comes across and nail it until the feeling of insult and revenge in their soul is replaced by contempt and pity.”

L. Tolstoy glorified and immortalized for all time the image of the "club of the people's war." At the same time, he glorified the Russian people, who boldly, decisively and recklessly raised it against the enemy.