<p>I read the book and can find no evidence for my essay. </p>
<p>Here is the question: “How can you account for Tolstoy’s pacifist philosophy and his enthusiastic descriptions of soldiers on the battlefield?” I was told that Tolstoy urged everyone not to join a war and anyone that did should be considered a murderer, yet in War and Peace, he is “enthusiastic” about soldiers. I can’t figure out a reason why…</p>
<p>Just being Russian.:-)))</p>
<p>1812 was a patriotic war, it was about defending contry.
<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon’s_invasion_of_Russia[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon’s_invasion_of_Russia</a>
Tolstoy was enthusiastic about soldiers’ heroism, this “enthusiasm” is some kind of “national pride”.
Tolstoy’s pacifist philosophy was based on his Christian beliefs, not his national ideas.
I am not sure what you mean by “I was told that Tolstoy urged everyone not to join a war and anyone that did should be considered a murderer”. I believe he could do something like this during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 which was not patriotic at all, and Russia did not defend it’s borders. (it was the time of the first Russian revolution by the way) <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War</a></p>
<p>Just try to compare your own feelings about Pearl Harbor and Second World War and the current war in Iraq.
If you feel the difference…</p>
<p>what do you mean russia didn’t defends it’s borders? wasn’t that what russia was precisely doing, defending a japanese attack on their eastern front at port arthur, i believe?</p>
<p>the first russian revolution was in 1917, right? what does that have to do with the russo-japanese war?</p>
<p>i dont know, throwing a history-oriented view into there, i’ve never read war and peace</p>
<p>Doesn’t he humanize the soldiers in a profound way though-- instead of using them as peices on a gameboard?</p>
<p>sunkist16</p>
<p>I mentioned history because Russian literature is usually very “politically oriented” if I can say so. You cannot analyze “War and Peace” without historical context. </p>
<p>According to the official Russian history course there were 3 Russian revolutions:
1905-1907 <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_of_1905[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_of_1905</a>,
February 1917 <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution</a>
and October 1917 <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution</a></p>
<p>Port Arthur was in Northern China. The russo-japanese war was the result of the last attempt of the territory expansion over Manchuria and Korea (all the central Asia and some parts of Siberia were added to Russian territory in the 19th century). This war was extremely unpopular in Russia and resulted in the first revolution.</p>
<p>The Napoleonic war of 1812 and the period of time between 1812 and 1825 was very inspirational for Russia. The country spirit was very enthusiastic, and Tolstoy being a great talent managed to show it in his novel including “enthusiasm” of war scenes. It has nothing to do with his own religious and political beliefs.</p>
<p>Para</p>