War and Peace: Volume 3, Part 2: Chapters 26–29 Summary & Analysis

That same evening, the 25th of August, ministers from Paris and Madrid visit Napoleon at his camp in Valuevo. In his bedroom, the emperor is being vigorously scrubbed and sprayed by his valets. When Napoleon is fully uniformed, he leaves his bedroom and speaks with the colonel from Spain. Then he looks at the gift that Beausset, prefect of the palace, has brought, showing his favor by tugging the prefect’s ear. Beausset pulls a cloth off a brightly-colored portrait of Napoleon’s son. The son, the king of Rome, is playing a game of bilboquet using a ball in the shape of a globe and a stick that looks like a scepter. Napoleon tenderly admires the gift. Then he dictates his battle proclamation and rides off.

Because the Russian left flank has already moved back and is not fortified, it seems obvious that the French ought to attack it. But Napoleon doesn’t think so at the time. After studying the terrain, he returns to headquarters and draws up his battle disposition—four directions which, in hindsight, are vague and impossible to carry out. For example, he orders that the French batteries be set up at locations that cannot reach the Russians, and he doesn’t take sufficient account of the terrain.

Napoleon’s historians later suggest that he lost the battle because he had a cold. But this view overlooks the coincidence of the wills of all those present. It was, in fact, the French soldiers who each chose to fight and kill Russian soldiers. It only seemed to Napoleon that he was really in charge; thus the question of his having a cold or not is really immaterial.

Furthermore, Napoleon’s instructions during this battle were really no worse than those given in any previous battle; they only seem to be because this is the first battle Napoleon lost. Had he won, the instructions would have seemed ingenious and would have been studied for generations.

After returning from another ride along the line, Napoleon drinks punch and chats with Beausset about changes he intends to make in the empress’s house. Despite his nonchalant air, however, Napoleon can’t sleep that night. He gets up before dawn and chats with his adjutant, Rapp, who assures him that the day will go well and that all preparations have been undertaken. Napoleon observes that his army has been much diminished since Smolensk and fusses about his cold. He goes outside and paces in the dark. By 5:30 in the morning, Napoleon is riding toward the Shevardino redoubt, and cannon fire rings through the dawn.