These chapters illustrate the inevitable tide of history that engulfs individuals. Tolstoy shows how all the"single wills" of the French troops combine into the huge movement of the retreat from Moscow, with Napoleon, mistaking this inevitable movement as an expression of his own will, carried along by the tide and helpless to avoid the disaster that occurs. That Napoleon is unable to use his military"genius" to avert the self-destruction of the French proves Tolstoy's thesis: that leaders merely follow movements and do not originate them.
Kutuzov resolves the forces of necessity with his free will by submitting to the inevitable tide of history. He will not encourage military victories for his own glory, but will merely supervise the historical forces already unloosed; his aim, therefore, is merely to keep the French moving out of Russia. Kutuzov, like Pierre, is able to use the forces of destiny to gain freedom for his nation.
Contrasting Napoleon's"imprisonment" by the"irresistible tide of history" with Pierre's newly found freedom as a prisoner, Tolstoy underscores his thesis of free will and necessity with a personal example and translates a historical theme into an individual one. Carried along by the movement of the multitude, stripped of its insignia as well — title, conveniences, all the false values that define an individual in society — Pierre discovers his inner self freed from the prison of outer significations. Having no one to command and no one to be commanded by, he is freer than Napoleon; he is left with his own soul and a will free to overcome all physical and emotional obstacles.
