Beginning to describe the French invasion of Russia, Tolstoy looses in earnest the forces of destiny that carry his characters through the flux of this moment in history. The last bastion of the old order collapses when Prince Nikolay Andreitch Bolkonsky passes on, and the new generation, no longer hampered by the past, comes into power. Besides historical destiny, Tolstoy also maintains a sense of novelistic destiny. As Princess Marya meets her romantic deliverer for the first time, we foresee the marriage of Marya and Nikolay, a sign of the new Russia to emerge from the holocaust.
Tolstoy illustrates the changeover from the old to the new when Princess Marya faces the rebellious peasants. The theme here is that of the enlightened, gentle ruler confronting the blind anarchy loosed by the threat of war. This situation of the peasants against their mistress is analogous to the situation at court, where the tsar's orders are countermanded by the court council that chooses Kutuzov to lead the army. Tolstoy considers this an example of the ascendant will of the mass of people, who instinctively know whom they need in the moment of crisis. Kutuzov is thus the great Russian general chosen by his people, despite their sovereign, and attuned to the necessities of the critical moment. Because he reflects the expressed will of the people rather than his own ambitions, Kutuzov will bow to the manifest forces of necessity and prevail over the ambition-directed Napoleon.
Tolstoy also shows how Prince Andrey bows to historical necessity. Committing himself entirely to his men, who adore him, he avoids his aristocratic acquaintances and acts coldly to his fellow officers. Bolkonsky wishes to break entirely with the past and work through this transition period for the future.
The parallel themes of the domestic novel and the war chronicle, that have interwoven throughout the story thus far, now draw closer together as the historic events reach their climax on a personal as well as on a national level.
