Neither foresight nor planning has anything to do with the way Napoleon conducts the war with Russia, declares Tolstoy. The unseasonal march of the French into the Russian heartland is by no means an example of Napoleon's"military genius." It would seem obvious to the French to realize they march to their doom the more they advance into the Russian winter. As for the Russians, they should have realized they could do no worse than hinder the French advance; yet this is what they did. When the two forces met, they fought the ill-planned battle of Smolensk. When the outraged citizens burned the town and the fields rather than leave them to the French to despoil, they set the pattern for the subsequent burning of Moscow.
The force of history is blind and unpredictable, concludes Tolstoy. The general busy scheming for his own advancement or Rostov's gallop against the dragoons because he cannot resist the run on a level slope are moments in history whose significance and coincidence with other random events have consequences beyond the event itself. Mishaps and fortuitous happenings neutralize each other often enough so that nothing is apparent except the"irresistible tide of destiny."
Prince Nikolay Andreitch Bolkonsky is ill and he avoids Mlle. Bourienne as well as Princess Marya as a result of his quarrel with Andrey. Never mentioning the war, he lives increasingly in the past. But when Prince Andrey writes an apology to his father, the old man answers affectionately. Andre, warns that the war will come close to Bleak Hills, but his father refuses to believe this. He even sends his servant Alpatitch to Smolensk on an errand. The battle is in progress when the peasant arrives, and he meets Prince Andrey in town. Alpatitch returns with a message from Andrey: they must leave for Moscow right away, for the enemy will arrive at Bleak Hills within a week. When Bolkonsky arrives for a last look at his ancestral estate with the rest of the retreating forces, he hears from Alpatitch that the family left two days ago.
