How the Grinch Stole Christmas, was the first Christmas book I ever read as a child. Through the years, it has never failed to give me Chrismas joy ye How the Grinch Stole Christmas, was the first Christmas book I ever read as a child. Through the years, it has never failed to give me Chrismas joy year after year. I also adore Chuck Jones’ 1966 animated TV special based on this book. Merry Christmas everyone!
‘’It was 1915. The beginning of a new year. The beginning of new hopes. The old hopes, the glorious ones of 1914, were buried in the mud and clay o
‘’It was 1915. The beginning of a new year. The beginning of new hopes. The old hopes, the glorious ones of 1914, were buried in the mud and clay of warfare. The Schlieffen plan, plan XVII and the Russian steamroller, in the hangover of this cold dawn of 1915, were only but memories of the time when all of Europe had been drunk on the wine of quick victory’’
The Great War TV series, Episode 07, ‘’We Await the Heavenly Manna‘’
Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915 is the second book in Prit Buttar’s, The Eastern Front Series. The first book, Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914, deals with the military doctrines of the armies in the years prior to the first world war, The July Crisis, The major battles that took place in 1914 on the Eastern Front, the ramifications of a year’s worth of engagements and the prospects of the belligerents for 1915. This second book starts where the first left off, January 1915.
The Russian Army, was organized into two commands, the Northwest Front and Southwest Front. The former lined-up to face the German Army, while the latter squared against The Austria-Hungary Army. The Germans ended 1914 in a somewhat ambivalent state. They won a stunning victory at Tannenberg, broke Russian lines on their way to Łódź, failed to defeat Russian defences in Warsaw by October and after a brief hiatus again suffered a major set back by The Vistula. Conrad’s insistence on frontal attacks and logistical problems had considerably weakened the Habsburg army as the new year beckoned. Coupled with the stalemate in the western front, the state of the three armies in the eastern front meant that the new year was unlikely to deliver on the promise of a quick and decisive victory.
This book covers the Galician campaign of 1915, which was a massive military campaign in terms of scope, Army sizes and the number of casualties. The primary objectives of the campaign were recapturing the Przemyśl fortress and the Galician capital, Lemberg. The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive was initially slated to be a minor German offensive to alleviate the pressure applied by the Russian army on the Austro-Hungarians and to temporarily eliminate the threat of Russia so that Germany can concentrate on France and Britain in the west. Instead, it became the definitive offensive operation of the year on this particular front. The offensive came at a time when in The Western Front the second battle of Ypres and in Turkey the Gallipoli campaign were still raging on. I must say, the level of detail you can find on the battles from Gorlice–Tarnów to Lemberg in this book is of a top-tier quality. The narration is accompanied by August von Mackensen and Hermann Von François’ perceptive memoirs and letters.
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Mackensen was assigned to be the commander of the newly assembled joint German-Habsburg Army (the Eleventh Army), after his exploits with the XVII Corps of the Eighth Army the previous year at Gumbinnen and Tannenberg. Unlike Ludendorff and Hindenburg, he was well liked by the Kaiser and Falkenhayn. A veteran of the Franco-Prussian war and an accomplished Calvary commander, at age 65 Makensen was a very respected figure in the German army. Later on in the year, he would also lead the coalition of German, Habsburg and Bulgarian armies in the Serbian Campaign.
François, who was also on the naughty books of Ludendorff and Hindenburg, was in charge of XLI Reserve Corps in the Eleventh Army. After continually distinguishing himself, he would receive the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military decoration, on 14 May 1915 while still commanding his Corps in the San Valley. The success achieved by the Eleventh army showed Falkenhayn and Makensen’s mastery of planning and execution at the operational level, as well as the effectiveness of the German staffing and command system. As Buttar relates;
‘’At a time when Falkenhayn devised, planned and executed the redeployment of the troops that would form Makensen’s army in less than two weeks, the Russians proved unable to move III Caucasian Corps from one end of Galicia to the other.’’
Prior to 1914, The Austro-Hungarian army (K.U.K), in anticipation of future mountain warfare, had excellently trained and equipped mountain divisions. However, by 1915 most of these divisions suffered huge losses and were considerably weaker after the brutal Serbia campaign. The Carpathian Mountains can remain covered in deep snow up to mid-spring, which then give way to freezing rain and sleet through abrupt rises in temperature, resulting in widespread flooding in the valleys below. A diary entry by the Austria-Hungary artillery officer Georg Weith quoted in the book perhaps illustrates the brutality of the Carpathian campaign;
‘’At the end of January, there was a sudden thaw in the rain. Everyone was soaked to the bone, with no opportunity to dry themselves. In addition, men’s cloths froze to their bodies overnight, like an icy suit of armour. Then the Russian counterattack struck. The soldiers retreated in listless resignation to their starting positions. By now, even the enemy had had enough of fighting. There we were, where we had started in the middle of January; but in the intervening time, another army had perished’’
This book doesn’t shy away from going over atrocities committed by the three powers against civilians. Civilians, such as the Jewish population of Eastern Galicia, Ruthenians in Southern Poland and Germans in East Prussia, were under constant threat of summary justice with minimal legal procedures and at times even that was refused to them. Frequently, officers turned a blind eye towards ill-discipline within soldiers. Some of the personal accounts mentioned in this book can be quite gruesome.
With the Russians in constant retreat towards the east, subsequent battles lasted until June 1915 around the River San. After recapturing Przemyśl, Makensen would be awarded the Oak Leaves to his Pour le Mérite by the Kaiser. After the fall of Russian occupied Lemberg, in a letter included in this book, the Kaiser wrote to Mackensen;
‘’I wish to show my royal thanks and the high regard I have for you and all troops under your command by promoting you to Field Marshal. May God, who steers all battles, accompany you further on your campaigns’’
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Although 1915 was a shockingly dreadful year for the Tsar’s Army, it didn’t decisively knock them out of the war yet. The Russians retreated to a line that stretched for 1,450 km from Riga to the Romanian border. With the fate of Napoleon’s Grande Armée a century earlier in his mind, Falkenhayn was wary of pursuing the Russians further than he needed to. He wanted to conclude a separate peace with Russia to concentrate on the Western Front, and in the process allow Conrad to shift his troops to Italy. The Tsar was having none of that.
1915 ended with all three empires suffering huge losses. Decisive strategic victories were at a premium. Successful offensives were usually suspect to being overturned by effective counterattacks. Reserves were utilized much more often than the Armies would’ve liked to. Przemyśl, Kovno and Novogeorgievsk showed that fortress defence was obsolete in 1915 due to advances in artillery technology. Tsar Nicholas entered the fray as the supreme commander of his army in the autumn of 1915. Serbia finally was effectively eliminated from the war, and Italy was clearly going to influence the military landscape in the year to come. It was increasingly clear that 1916 will not see a thaw in the fighting.
Buttar carries the strength of the first book over to this book as well. First-hand accounts from military attachés, politicians, commanders, soldiers on the front lines, military doctors and civilians are quite abundant throughout the book. The analysis of the strategic and operational realities on the ground is one of the best I’ve ever read on the Eastern Front. At times, events are dissected along divisional or regimental levels and for bigger operations it zooms out to the Corps and Army level.
One thing that this book didn’t improve up on the first book is the scarcity of maps. Given the vast and unstable nature of the frontlines in the Eastern Front, the inclusion of polished maps would’ve been very helpful. Consistent with the theme of the rest of the book, the maps when available are technical military maps.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted when it comes to reading military history books. It’s a fairly thick, jargon heavy, information stacked and highly technical book. It has plenty intricate delineation of on-field war manoeuvres compared to the first book in this series (and that’s no mean feat). This is of course understandable as with each progressive year, the first world war was getting even more tangled in diplomatic, strategic and technological knots. If you are someone looking to deepen your knowledge base on the Eastern Front, then happy days! But if not, this will not be a smooth read by any stretch of the imagination. This is a very solid, serious and scholarly book....more
‘’Nothing ever seen before compared with such massive concentrations of firepower and of human suffering in such confined spaces over such long per
‘’Nothing ever seen before compared with such massive concentrations of firepower and of human suffering in such confined spaces over such long periods, and with such meagre results too’’
Today, trenches are perhaps the lasting image of the great war. However, contrary to popular belief, the war does go beyond outflanking manoeuvres by the belligerents on the western front. In fact, trenches were in use on almost all fronts. On the Italian front, trenches were blasted out of the Carso gray limestones with explosives. The Austro-Hungarian’s built complex and overly elaborate trenches in The Carpathian Mountains on the Eastern front. It was not the first war to employ trenches either. So, is there much beyond trench warfare to the first world war? The answer is an emphatic yes, and this book can explain why that is the case.
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Historian Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius describes total war as;
‘’Not merely a contest between professional armies on the battlefield, but rather represents something far more vast. A clash of societies mobilized for total victory, including their economies, their political establishments, the intellectual life of a society and all of the passions of an entire population.’’
The analysis method chosen by Stevenson in this book, focusing on themes within the war and treating it as a total war, as opposed to a chronological description of events, makes for a sublime read. The book is divided into four parts (Namely, Outbreak, Escalation, Outcome and Legacy). It starts with a chapter giving an ample introduction, including the events in the years that led up to the war and the major wars that preceded it (i.e. The Franco-Prussian war, The Russo-Japanese war, The first and second Balkan wars). It then goes on towards brief explanations of the major battles on both the Eastern and western fronts (i.e. Ypres, Somme, Tannenberg, Łódź...) and description of the armaments of the major powers. The final two parts of 1914-1918: The History of the First World War focuses on the conclusion and aftermath of the war. In the competitive world of WWI history books, David Stevenson differentiates his work by offering a first class analysis of logistical, technological, tactical, economic and diplomatic considerations in the chapters that follow the introduction.
Discussing the outbreak of the war, historian Margaret MacMillan, in her public lecture entitled ‘’Was World War One Inevitable?’’, commented;
‘’Did the German leadership, Kaiser Wilhelm II and The German high command, want a war to destroy France and Russia? Or was it the fault of France, who resented that they had to pay a large indemnity to Germany and who lost two provinces during the Franco-Prussian war? Was it the fault of the Russians who were arming fast and forging an alliance with France thus making Germany feel encircled? Was it the fault of Britain for not making itself clearer about what it would do if war broke out? Was it economic rivalry between different countries? Was it competition for colonies? Was it the fault of the glorification of militarism in society? Was it the fault of the arms race prior to the war? Or was it no one's fault and it’s just one of those things that just happened? My own explanation is, there is no one cause, one person or one country. What happened in the summer of 1914 was a perfect storm. A number of things happened, in a particular order, at a particular time, with particular people involved thinking war was going to clear the air’’
There is much more consensus about the reasons for the outbreak of the second world war than the first world war. The origins of the great war are controversial to this very day. By European history standards, the years prior to the first world war were peaceful. But it was a tenuous peace, to be sure. When war finally came, It would prove to be the ultimate buckling of the Concert of Europe instituted after Napoleon’s downfall. Even the increasing global economic interdependence couldn’t prevent the war. It was an era of not only economic development but of armament as well. Warships had long changed from sail to steam, gun powders changed to chemical explosives and muskets were replaced by breech-loading rifles. Heavy machine guns were a staple of every army (a full strength infantry division in most armies of the belligerents having 24 machine guns). It was no surprise though that the spark that lit the fire came from The Balkans. It had been one of the most volatile regions of Europe, surrounded by the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungary empire and under dominance by the Ottomans for some years. When war eventually came, Austro-Hungary's ally Germany, faced two of the strongest armies (France and Russia) and the biggest navy in the world (Britain). Thus, the activation of The Schlieffen Plan (Modified by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger) ensued.
“Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades - words, words, but they hold the horror of the world.”
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
Krupp, Vickers, Schneider, and Škoda (acquired by Schneider after the war) being the major arms producers prior to the war, they were also responsible for the expansion of the military-industrial complex during the war. Innovations such as magazine rifles with smokeless powder, thick and lighter alloy armours for battleships and quick firing guns that utilize spring recoil energy were altering the nature of combat on land and the seas. Despite the technological advances, infantry training was focused on attacks with rifle and bayonet in close quarters combat (including hand-to-hand combat).
I am the enemy you killed, my friend I knew you in the dark; for so you frowned Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed I parried; but my hands were loath and cold
Strange Meeting, Wilfred Owen, 1918
Concerning the legacy of the war, Stevenson more or less echoes the sentiment of most modern historians in that it dismantled major empires, caused misery of unseen scales, led to the Versailles treaty (whose aftershocks reverberate around the world to this day) and led to discussions over conflict resolution mechanisms. But as to its shadow over the second world war, it indeed was a necessary precondition but not a complete and sufficient cause. Most studies into Winemar Germany would confirm that assertion.
It’s important to put into perspective how events during the war (Such as the Russian Revolution and subsequent Bolshevism, The Allie’s naval blockade, unrestricted U-boat warfare by the Germans, The Zimmerman Telegrams and America’s entry into the war) has shaped the landscape of the world. This also goes for events that immediately followed the end of the war (The Nye Committee investigations, the German Revolution of 1918 and The disunity amongst the allies about the implementation of the Versailles treaty). To end the war, it eventually took four years of attrition warfare, a large scale naval blockade, Bulgaria’s capitulation, Ludendorff’s mental breakdown, discontent on the home front towards the war and the allies' increasing cooperation with America. Germany would make its last reparation payment in October 2010.
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This book might not be the best book to start reading about the first world war. Stevenson assumes preliminary knowledge of the major battlefields, commanders and leaders, battle tactics and armaments in use by the powers involved at the turn of the century. There are of course, other excellent books written detailing every major engagement from Liège to Meuse–Argonne. However, this is a book more suited to the seasoned history reader or historian intending to dig deeper into the great war. Because of the information rich and detail laden nature of the book, the 750 pages read more like a research paper of about 1000 pages. But, books like these help one go beyond generalizations like ‘’The war began because of the Sarajevo killings’’ or ‘’America’s entry into the war ended it’’. While those things hold true, again history shows a number of factors had had to happen in a particular manner and at a particular time, for events to unfold in the way they did....more
''After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wishe
''After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?''
On occasions, you find yourself in the presence of a book that is written in such a manner as to be a ‘perfect’ book. I do not fathom to know what constitutes a ‘perfect’ book, and it most certainly is subjective. Be that as it may, I feel it is something like an experience in which analysis is transcended, and you just go through a set of emotions while suspending deliberation. Such an experience doesn’t happen often. But when it does, it is sheer bliss. You might recall reading it for the very first time with nostalgia and envy the souls that are yet to read it. The Remains of the Day is one of those ‘perfect’ books for me.
Stevens is a reflective, rigorous and ardent head butler living in the waning days of the British class system. He imagines himself to be akin to the English landscape, whose greatness lies in the fact that it ‘lacks obvious drama or spectacle’. In his narration, temporal barriers are obscured as the story sways between reminiscences, contemplations and anticipations. His flaws, which he is so oblivious to, are unsparingly open for us to see as he strives to maintain the abstract qualities of ‘’dignity’’ and ‘’greatness’’.
The enchanting countrysides of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall are as important a character as any. The Remains of the day exudes with restraint, class, subtilty, understated humour, equanimity and tragedy. Just like many great works of world literature, it’s not ostentatious. It doesn’t insist up on embellishments to impress the reader. The message within is intimated in a rather refined voice that makes you meditate on it long after you’ve read the book. Perhaps, Salman Rushdie put it best in his 2012 article for The Guardian when he wrote, "The real story here is that of a man destroyed by the ideas upon which he has built his life".
The Remains of the Day keeps haunting me in an ingeniously profound manner ever since the first moment I started reading it....more
This is a wonderful little book full of layers of thoughts on life from a perspective of Sicilian aristocrat and composer Tancredo Pavone. Pavone is lThis is a wonderful little book full of layers of thoughts on life from a perspective of Sicilian aristocrat and composer Tancredo Pavone. Pavone is loosely based on real life composer and poet Giacinto Scelsi, who unlike Pavone is from Liguria in the north west of Italy. The story of Pavone is told through Massimo, Pavone’s factotum, to an unnamed interviewer in an extensive secession. Massimo was by the composer’s side as he divulged some of his inner most thoughts and philosophies. Pavone is an aristocrat’s aristocrat, a perfectionist in his music and a snob when it comes to originality. He is highly opiniated and seems to be always critical towards other composers for their lack of imagination. But from this elitist and braggadocio image of Pavone at the end sprouts a passionate person given wholly to his craft. For all his professed aristocratic arrogance, his vulnerable side is clear to see when we understand him more. Through his trip to Nepal, India and west Africa we see his search for novelty. Through his friendship with Massimo we see his humanity. Through his description of the Cathedral of Orvieto and Ife head we see his ideal of what art should be. His flood of thoughts often has the effect of nudging us towards deeper inspection of nature, beauty, love, music and the common bond that tie them all together. I will say this is one of those books that made me think about art and life more. Condensed in it are many thought-provoking philosophies. Furthermore, I would say it is a treatise on pushing for an authentic life. I really loved it....more
In his documentary ‘’Wagner and me’’, The actor, comedian and author Stephen Fry travels to Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Wagner’s opera house, to see for h In his documentary ‘’Wagner and me’’, The actor, comedian and author Stephen Fry travels to Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Wagner’s opera house, to see for himself his musical hero’s opera in person. Of course, he is conflicted between his love for Wagner’s music and the problematic nature of the composer himself. He describes his dilemma as
‘’Imagine a great beautiful silk tapestry of infinite color and complexity that has been stained indelibly. It’s still a beautiful tapestry of miraculous workmanship and gorgeous color and silken texture. But that stain is real and I am afraid, Hitler and Nazism have stained Wagner. For some people that stain runes the whole work, for others it is something you have to face up to.’’.
This question of separating an artist’s work from his personal character or questionable past (alleged or otherwise) is a quite ubiquitous question that many audiences of the arts encounter.
Norwegian Nobel laureate Kunt Hamsun, the author of this book, certainly falls under this category. Hamsun’s explicitly racist views and his sympathy for Nazi Germany are very much on the record. To ascertain this, reading his book ‘’ The Cultural Life of Modern America’’ should suffice. Reading books written by morally dubious authors is a complex topic, which needs an extensive space for discussion. So, let’s put a pin in that and instead dive into my thoughts on the book.
Hunger is a riveting, dreamy and magnanimous work. Hamsun draws a lot from the years he spent in poverty during different periods of his life. At times the book becomes so difficult to read because of the anguish and the darkness that encircles the character. Hunger is ever present in his life; his problems are exasperated by his imagination of what is real and what’s not.
Strictly speaking, you won’t find any plot here. What you will find is a perspective of ‘’normal’’ people from the point of view of the protagonist. As Hamsun himself said about the book,
‘’It is an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body’’.
The only possible antagonists that come to mind are individuals with whom he engages in quixotic skirmishes and the city of Kristiania itself. His sympathies for the downtrodden is touching, and a bit ironic that he doesn’t see himself amongst them. However, that is the point of the hero of Hunger. Why all this suffering in a world that only provides him with temporary respites from it? The absurd nature of life! The constant search for meaning in a meaningless universe. And the battleground is all inside the mind.
This book is powerful and imposing. It never is a comfortable read though. It can be wickedly gloomy. Having already mentioned the troubling views of Hamsun, in my opinion, this is a book worth reading....more
[Updated on September 19, 2023 following the release of the 4K restoration of Orson Welles’ 1962 adaptation of The Trial by The Criterion Collectio [Updated on September 19, 2023 following the release of the 4K restoration of Orson Welles’ 1962 adaptation of The Trial by The Criterion Collection]
‘......You’re under arrest all right, but not the way a thief would be. If you’re arrested like a thief, that’s bad, but this arrest - it seems like something scholarly, I’m sorry if that sounds stupid, but it seems like something scholarly that I don’t understand….’
What makes The Trial a quintessentially Kafkaesque book? Why does it still appeal to us? Stripped bare of its adornments, it is a story of Josef K.’s struggle against an unknown tyrannical force and the inescapable clutches of a faceless bureaucracy. However, it’s much more than that. It deals with themes of religion, estrangement, judgment, guilt, absolutism and helplessness. Kafka is notoriously difficult to pin down. The arbitrariness with which the system of justice operates in The Trial, has a deceiving - albeit fleeting - resemblance to ordinary-everyday life. But this resemblance is transitory. It’s elusive. Just when you thought you understood what’s going on, Kafka lapses into obscurity again.
It’s frivolous to focus on the usual elements of character building or a plot with a Kafka book. In fact, like his great story, The Metamorphosis, in The Trial too, the entire plot is summarized neatly in the first sentence of the first chapter. Kafka’s chief instruments in rendering his world are preposterous characters that approach the bizarre world they inhabit with absolute seriousness. However, in a paradox of sorts, their discontent is farcical in nature, and they don’t object to the inconceivable with fervour. The arrest and trial of K., supposedly a matter of primary importance, is a rather murky and enigmatic silhouette throughout the book.
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Hidden beneath piles upon piles of absurd and nightmarish scenarios, is the surreal and exasperating modus operandi of those deemed fit enough to judge. The single most consuming purpose of the convoluted and impregnable legal system, is merely self-preservation. The futility and disorienting nature of K.’s trial makes his exoneration or conviction a trifle - a banality. Like Kafka’s other novel, The Castle, there is some authority somewhere that needs to be appeased. But frustratingly, we’re never fully acquainted with this authority. What we get to meet instead are low-level functionaries of the system. As K. put it,
'The higher judges stay in hiding. But yet the examining magistrate is sitting on a throne'.
With every read, you might come out with a different interpretation of The Trial. It’s almost as if Kafka loves the inconclusive essence of his books. In a quest to understand the nonsensical predicament of Joseph K., there are a lot of questions asked, but none of them are answered with great certainty. As Vladimir Nabokov once said;
‘Franz Kafka’s private nightmare was that the central human character belongs to the same private fantastic world as the inhuman characters around him. But pathetically and tragically, he struggles to get out of that world into humans - and dies in despair.’
In 1962 Orson Welles wrote, directed and acted in a film adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial. Even though Welles considered the film to be the best film he has ever made, it polarized critics and audiences alike upon release. Today, the film is seen as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of the 20th century. Since its release, it has gone through restorations, the latest of which is a 4K restoration by The Criterion Collection on September 19, 2023. Writing for The New Yorker, film critic Richard Brody wrote of Welles’ adaptation of The Trial
‘’ It is his most original and visually extravagant work...... Josef K. needs to justify himself in a universe that accuses him of everything and nothing. K. (played by Anthony Perkins), is put under arrest for an unspecified offence and hauled before a tribunal run by a hectoring inquisitor in front of a braying crowd. The film is a cinematic surrealism in which the action follows a dream like logic that’s both natural and ridiculous, and in which the course of events follows the horrific tonalities of a nightmare’’
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Indeed, the film magnificently recreates the claustrophobic and hyperbolic milieu of the novel to a tee. It is a marvellous feat of set design, directing, acting, lighting and screenwriting. Welles remained true to most of Kafka’s original work, while being faithful to his own cinematic artistry and delivering an authentic vision of Kafka’s disordered world. As such, it serves as a perfect visual companion to the book....more
‘’The ambition he had conceived as a schoolboy at Brienne, and from which he had never wavered, had been achieved. He had transformed the art of lead
‘’The ambition he had conceived as a schoolboy at Brienne, and from which he had never wavered, had been achieved. He had transformed the art of leadership, built an empire, handed down laws for the ages, and joined the ancients’’
Napoleon’s life is famously difficult to encapsulate in a single book or in a series of volumes. One of the sixty famous battlefields he led, such as Borodino or Waterloo, can yield volumes worth of content. However, I think Andrew Roberts’s book does an almost perfect job of presenting Napoleon’s life that is useful for any history enthusiast or an academic historian. I will try to elaborate why I say ‘’almost perfect’’ later in the review. This book is by no means a light read. The writing style is very academic at times, and Andrew’s use of the English language is astounding. And at 900+ pages, it certainly is a big book. All in all, this is an absolutely remarkable biography on one of history's most iconic figures. Napoleon’s significance can be seen in such classics as Les Misérables, War and Peace and The Count of Monte Cristo.
The book is rich with references from letters written by Napoleon himself as well as from his family, his generals, his rivals, his friends and his close companions. The added anecdotes, factual corrections and personal notes of the author make it so easy to put everything into a historical context. Of course, like many historical figures, Napoleon was not perfect. As he himself put it,
‘’The hero of a tragedy, in order to interest us, should be neither wholly guilty nor wholly innocent…. All weakness and all contradictions are unhappily in the heart of man, and present a colouring eminently tragic’’
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Napoleon spoke Corsican as a native tongue and was taught Italian at school (Corsica was of course part of the Italian-speaking Genoa republic for over 500 years before the birth of Napoleon). He was nearly ten years old before he learned French and throughout his life, he spoke it with a thick accent. The Corsican independence movement had a massive effect in his early political and military career. For all his education at The Military College Brienne and The Military Academy of Paris, he credits his love of books for his superior knowledge of history, military strategy, the arts, philosophy and many more. He also possessed a phenomenal memory. While in his final exile in St. Helena when a visitor asked him how he could recall the details of units that fought in each engagement, he quipped
‘’Madam, this is a lover’s recollection of his former mistress’’.
Many people, including the author, accredit the love that Napoleon received from his soldiers to
‘’ [His understanding] of the psychology of the ordinary soldier and the power of regimental pride. Napoleon instinctively understood what soldiers wanted, and he gave it to them. And at least until the battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809 he gave them what they wanted most of all: victory.’’
This affection from his soldiers followed him from his Egypt campaign to his final campaign at Waterloo. Famously, when boarding The HMS Bellerophon for his final departure from France in July 1815, French officers and sailors cried in the most heartrending manner ‘’Vive l’Empereur’’ one last time.
However, for all his understanding of soldiers’ morale, his administrative abilities, his genius for understanding his enemy’s weaknesses and his sheer work ethic, he was met with good luck throughout his career (which he was supremely superstitious about). He had an undeniable charisma and aptitude in the presence of intellectuals of his time. Upon meeting Napoleon after Erfurt, Goethe said of him
‘’ He made observations at a very high intellectual level, as a man who has studied the tragical scene with the attention of a criminal judge. Meeting him was the most gratifying experience of my life’’
Where this book thrives is at the spectacular description of Napoleon’s greatest battles. The vivid and magnificent portrayal of the battles of Jena, Austerlitz, Friedland and Borodino was first class. I found it to be much better than documentaries I have seen on them. Especially the chapter on Austerlitz is a masterpiece in historical writing. The details were simply magnificent. It makes owning the expensive hardcopy of this book absolutely worth it. But the one disappointment I have with the book is in the chapter on Waterloo. It didn’t feel as detailed and enticing as the other famous battles that Napoleon commanded. I can’t say it’s because of the outcome of the battle. For me, it takes a tiny bit of quality away from the book.
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Napoleon was one of the most consequential leaders the world has ever seen. He instituted the metric system, made French a standardized official language of the people and the government (Breton, German, Flemish, Basque and Celtic were spoken by different sections of the French society along with French before that), he set the strictly disciplined lycées (Secondary schools where Greek, Latin, Mathematics, physics and others were taught), built an extensive library system, reformed the military hierarchical structure, reformed and codified the French law system, laid the great architectural blueprint of Paris including the bridges on the Seine and the sewer system that serves the city to this day. He built institutions that will be, as he puts them, masses of granite in the soul of France.
Overall, the book is engaging, detailed and highly researched. It’s everything that you would want in a history book. Principally, if you are someone who enjoys military history, this is a must-read. Another motivation to pick up this book might be the fact that understanding the Napoleonic wars comes in handy when reading classic works of literature written or based upon of this era of French and European history. To sum up, this book is a 4.5 for me....more
''Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would
''Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself.''
A lot has been said through the years about the immense page count of this book, making it unnecessary for me to dwell much on it. Suffice is to say, as far as I was concerned, it was such an easy read. As a matter of fact, I would argue its immensity is also its exquisiteness. It is an antithesis to all things shallow. By the sheer complexity of the two hundred or so of its major characters, it challenges the reader to rid themselves of hasty generalizations of individuals and of history. Can Napoleon be watered down to just ‘’The Corsican Ogre’’ or ‘’A genius Conqueror of Europe’s mighty empires’’? Can Pierre Bezukhov’s self-exploration throughout the book be simplified as a rich aristocrat’s futility or vanity to find a unifying theory of happiness? Tolstoy’s simple answer is no.
Tolstoy’s view of history is a game theoretic one in which strategic interactions among rational and irrational participants all create complex and largely random outcomes. He believes we overestimate our ability to pinpoint causality. Tolstoy refuses to believe that one event; one naïve account of a war; a council meeting amongst commanders or indeed morale amongst rank-and-file soldiers are the sole causes of wars or indeed the outcomes of war. As he puts it;
‘’A bee settles on a flower and stings a child. The child says bees are there to sting people. The Poet admires the bee and says that bees are there to imbibe nectar inside flowers. A beekeeper says that the bee is there to collect honey. Another beekeeper, observing closely the life of the swarm says the bee collects pollen to feed the young and feed the queen and as such the bee is there to propagate the species. A botanist observes that the bee flying over with pollen to fertilize the pistil and sees this as the purpose of the bee. But the ultimate purpose of the bee is not exhausted by all these purposes discernable by the human intellect. The higher the human intellect goes in discovering more and more purposes, the more obvious it becomes that the ultimate purpose is beyond comprehension. Human comprehension does not extend beyond observation of the interaction between the living bee and other manifestations of life. The same applies to the purposes of historical characters and nations’’
Epilogue Part I
Wow!! I had to meditate on that for some time after reading it. Brilliant!! Just brilliant!!!!
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One can pick different sections of the book to deliver a lasting, intense image upon the soul. Late spring hunting adventures with the Rostov’s; The earth scorching strategy by the Russian Army; the flight of the French army from Moscow in conditions reminiscent of Dante’s third circle of hell and many more.
War and Peace is an exploration of the people, history and culture of Russia and the world at large. Tolstoy was from an aristocratic family himself and as such, he delves well into that world, giving us a rich set of characters. But it is not just soirées, balls, galas, court intrigues and pretentious snobs in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Take this example for instance;
‘’Natasha, hands on hips, rhythmically jiggling her shoulders, run in front of her uncle. Here was a young countess, educated by a French émigrée governess – where, when and how had she imbibed the spirit of that peasant dance along with the Russian air she breathed, and these movements which the Pas de Châle ought to have squeezed out of her long ago? But her movements and the spirit of them were truly Russian, inimitable and untouchable. She took up her stance with such a confident smile, so proud of herself and full of mischievous fun.’’
Volume II, Part IV, Chapter 7
These lines were the inspiration for Orlando Figes's book Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia. Countess Natasha, being of the upper echelons of Russian society and speaking in French most of the time, was dancing a traditionally Peasant’s folk dance here in one of the most memorable scenes of the book.
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Tolstoy, having been a solider himself during the Crimean War (October 16, 1853 - March 30, 1856) , depicts war scenes with clarity in the story and richness in the details. Historically pivotal battles in the Napoleonic Wars – Austerlitz, Borodino, Smolensk or indeed the great inferno of Moscow – feel original and stirring in Tolstoy’s depiction. Of Smolensk, he writes;
‘’From different sides came the whistle and thud of cannonballs and the crash of grenades exploding as they rained down in the town. This was it, the bombardment ordered by Napoleon and launched on the town by one hundred and thirty cannons at just after four o’clock. It was a bombardment the people were slow to appreciate…...five minutes later the street was deserted. The cook had her thigh broken by shrapnel from a grenade. The roar of the canons, the whistling of shells, and the pathetic whimpering of the cook, loudest of all were unrelenting. The crowd went off to the cathedral, where they were rising on high the holy icon of Smolensk, which had power to work miracles. The evening sky, recently so clear, was blotted out with smoke. A new crescent moon stood high in the heavens, weirdly distorted through the smoke.’’
Volume III, Part II, Chapter 4
War and Peace is not a ‘’Novel’’ in the traditional sense of the word (Tolstoy himself considered Anna Karenina (1878) to be his first novel, not War and Peace (1869)). Yes, there is a novel in there with mesmerizing characters, a remarkable plot and subplots and a sumptuous use of language and aesthetics. But it is also a historical account of the Napoleonic wars, an assemblage of Tolstoy’s essays on history and war, a cultural examination of Russia and a psychological analysis of the human condition. However, the whole book is more than the sum of its parts. It is a wholistic experience of life. To quote Romain Rolland;
‘’ This work, like life itself, has no beginning, no end. It is life itself in its eternal movement’’
This is quite simply my uncontested favourite book of all time. I am utterly and thoroughly under its spell.
Final Notes
A stand out adaptation of this book is Sergei Bondarchuk's four part Soviet epic war drama, Voyna i mir (1966-67). Co-written and directed by Bondarchuk himself, this classic of world cinema is an ambitious project that brought War and Peace to the big screen at a scale never seen before.
The BBC has also produced a six-part mini-series adaptation of War and Peace in 2016, which I believe to be excellent. I highly recommend it (Although not as a substitute for reading the book).
Although I haven’t checked out other translations, the one I read (A Clothbound Penguin Classics edition translated by Anthony Briggs) is exceptional. From the aesthetic feel of the book to the important notes at the back, it is remarkably executed. It is important to note here that a sizable segment of the dialogue in the book was originally written in French, as it was the choice of language for aristocratic families in Russia for the time period the book deals with. Many translations circumvent this issue by carrying over the original French in the book and providing the English translation in footnotes. Briggs however has chosen to translate the whole text to English and give notice whenever a conversation is taking place in French, which I find to be the easiest way of going about it....more
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