Tolstoy, Lev Nikolaevich. Tolstoy's military career

After leaving the university for 4 years, Tolstoy’s brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and began inviting him there. Lev Nikolaevich did not give in to his brother’s call for a long time, until a major loss in Moscow helped the decision. “In order to pay off, it was necessary to reduce their expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy hastily left Moscow for the Caucasus, at first without any specific purpose. Soon he decided to enlist in military service, but obstacles arose in the form of a lack of necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete solitude in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, who appears in “ Cossacks- under the name Eroshki. In the fall of 1851, Lev Nikolaevich, having passed the exam in Tiflis, entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladov, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With slight modification of details, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in " Cossacks" The same “Cossacks” will also give us a picture of the inner life of Tolstoy, who fled from the capital’s whirlpool, if we substitute the surname “Tolstoy” instead of the surname Olenin. The moods that Tolstoy and Olenin experienced were of a dual nature: there was a deep need to shake off the dust and soot of civilization and live in the refreshing, clear bosom of nature, outside the empty conventions of urban and especially high society life; here is the desire to heal the wounds of pride suffered from the pursuit of success in this “empty” life, here is the grave consciousness of transgressions against the strict requirements of true morality.

In a remote village, Lev Nikolaevich found the best part of himself: he began to write and in 1852 sent the first part of an autobiographical trilogy to the editors of Sovremennik: “ Childhood" Apparently, “Childhood” is literally Tolstoy’s firstborn: at least, among the numerous biographical facts collected by his friends and admirers, there is no data indicating that Lev Nikolaevich had previously tried to write something in literary form .

Purely literary interests always stood in the background for Tolstoy: he wrote when he wanted to write and the need to speak out was ripe, and in ordinary times he is a secular man, an officer, a landowner, a teacher, a world mediator, a preacher, a teacher of life, etc. He never needed the company of writers, never took the interests of literary parties to heart, and was far from willing to talk about literature, always preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.

Having received the manuscript of “Childhood,” the editor of Sovremennik, Nekrasov, immediately recognized its literary value and wrote a kind letter to the author, which had a very encouraging effect on him. He sets about continuing the trilogy, and plans for “The Morning of the Landowner”, “Raid” and “Cossacks” are swarming in his head. Published in Sovremennik, 1852. “ Childhood", signed with the modest initials L.N.T., was extremely successful; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school, along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed great literary fame. Criticism - Apollo Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright prominence of realism, with all the truthfulness of the vividly captured details of real life, alien to any vulgarity.

Tolstoy, soon promoted to officer, remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes and being exposed to all the dangers of combat life in the Caucasus. He had rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it, which apparently upset him. When the Crimean War broke out at the end of 1853, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battle of Oltenica and the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 he was in Sevastopol.

Tolstoy also endured all the horrors, hardships and suffering that befell his heroic defenders. He lived for a long time on the terrible 4th bastion, commanded a battery in the battle of Chernaya, and was during the hellish bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, to which he soon became accustomed, like all the other epically brave residents of Sevastopol, Tolstoy wrote at this time a battle story from Caucasian life, “Cutting Wood” and the first of three “ Sevastopol stories": "Sevastopol in December 1854." He sent this last story to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was eagerly read by all of Russia and made a stunning impression with the picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Nicholas; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer, which, however, was impossible for Tolstoy, who did not want to go into the category of the “staff” he hated. Surrounded by the brilliance of fame and enjoying the reputation of a very brave officer, Lev Nikolaevich had every chance of a career, but he “ruined” it for himself. Almost the only time in his life he wrote a satirical song about the unfortunate event on August 4, 1855, when General Read, misunderstanding the order of the commander-in-chief, unwisely attacked the Fedyukhinsky Heights. The song (Like the fourth, it was not easy for us to take away the mountain, etc.), which affected a number of important generals, was a huge success and, of course, harmed the author.

Immediately after the assault on August 27, Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he wrote “ Sevastopol in May 1855" And " Sevastopol in August 1855». « Sevastopol stories", which finally strengthened Tolstoy's fame as one of the main "hopes" of the new literary generation, are to a certain extent the first sketch of that huge canvas, which 10 - 12 years later Lev Nikolaevich unfolded with such brilliant skill in " War and peace" Tolstoy was the first in Russian, and perhaps in world literature, to engage in a sober analysis of military life; he was the first to approach it without any exaltation. He demoted military valor from the pedestal of pure “heroism,” but at the same time exalted it like no one else. He showed that the brave man of this moment, a minute before and a minute later, was the same person as everyone else, until circumstances demanded heroism from him. Lev Nikolayevich vividly exposed the greatness of simple heroism, not draping in anything, not climbing forward, doing only what is necessary: ​​if necessary, then hide, if necessary, then die.

	|	next lecture ==>

November 20 (November 7, old style) marks exactly one hundred years since the death of the Russian writer Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

The great Russian writer, playwright, publicist, Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on September 9 (August 28, old style) 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate of the Krapivensky district of the Tula province (now Shchekinsky district of the Tula region) into one of the most notable Russian noble families. He was the fourth child in the family. The future writer spent his childhood in Yasnaya Polyana. He was orphaned early, losing first his mother, who died when the boy was two years old, and then his father.

In 1837, the family moved from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow. The guardian of the orphaned children was their aunt, their father’s sister Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken. In 1841, after her death, young Tolstoy with his sister and three brothers moved to Kazan, where another aunt lived, Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkova, who became their guardian.

Tolstoy spent his youth in Kazan. In 1844, he entered Kazan University at the Department of Oriental Languages ​​of the Faculty of Philosophy, then transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for less than two years: his studies did not arouse his interest and he indulged in secular entertainment. In the spring of 1847, disappointed in his university education, he submitted a request for dismissal from the university “due to poor health and domestic circumstances” and left for Yasnaya Polyana, which he received as property under the division of his father’s inheritance.

In Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy engaged in self-education; tried to reorganize the life of the peasants, however, disappointed by the unsuccessful management experience, in the fall of 1847 he first went to Moscow, where he led a social life, and in the spring of 1849 he went to St. Petersburg to take exams at the university for the degree of candidate of law. His lifestyle during this period often changed: either he was preparing and passing exams, then he was passionately devoted to music, then he intended to begin an official career, having decided in the fall of 1849 to serve as a clerical employee in the Tula Noble Deputy Assembly, then he dreamed of joining a horse guards regiment as a cadet. Tolstoy's religious sentiments during this period, reaching the point of asceticism, alternated with revelry, cards, and trips to the gypsies. In the family he was considered “the most trifling fellow,” and he was able to repay the debts he incurred then only many years later. However, it was during these years that he developed a serious desire to write and his first unfinished artistic sketches appeared.

In the spring of 1851, on the advice of his older brother Nikolai, Lev Nikolaevich entered military service in the Caucasus. In the fall of 1851, he became a cadet of the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, and then, having passed the junior officer rank exam, became an officer.

In 1851-1853, Tolstoy took part in military operations in the Caucasus (first as a volunteer, then as an artillery officer), and in 1854 he went to the Danube Army. Soon after the start of the Crimean War, at his personal request, he was transferred to Sevastopol.

From November 1854 to August 1855 he took part in the defense of Sevastopol (in the besieged city he fought on the famous 4th bastion). He was awarded the Order of Anna and medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” More than once he was nominated for the military Cross of St. George, but he never received the “George”.

The writer's impressions of the Caucasian War were reflected in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting Wood" (1855), "Demoted" (1856), in the story "Cossacks" (1852 -1863), artistic essays "Sevastopol in December" (1855 ), "Sevastopol in May" (1855) and "Sevastopol in August 1855" (1856). These essays, called “Sevastopol Stories,” made a huge impression on Russian society. In the Caucasus, the story “Childhood” was completed, which was published under the title “The History of My Childhood” in the magazine “Sovremennik” in 1852 and brought Tolstoy great success and fame as one of the most talented Russian writers. Two years later, a continuation appeared in Sovremennik - the story "Adolescence", and in 1857 the story "Youth" was published.

In November 1855, Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately joined the Sovremennik circle (Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexei Ostrovsky, Ivan Goncharov, etc.).

In the fall of 1856, Leo Tolstoy, having retired with the rank of lieutenant, left for Yasnaya Polyana, and at the beginning of 1857 he went abroad. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany (Swiss impressions are reflected in the story “Lucerne”), in the fall he returned to Moscow, then to Yasnaya Polyana, where he began improving schools.

In 1859, he opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, and then helped open more than 20 schools in the surrounding villages. To direct their activities along the right path, from his point of view, he published the pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana (1862). Tolstoy wrote eleven articles about school and pedagogy (“On Public Education”, “Upbringing and Education”, “On Social Activities in the Field of Public Education”, etc.).

In order to study the organization of school affairs in foreign countries, the writer went abroad for the second time in 1860.

In May 1861 (the year of the abolition of serfdom) he returned to Yasnaya Polyana, where, having accepted the position of peace mediator, he actively defended the interests of the peasants, resolving their disputes with the landowners about land. Soon the Tula nobility, dissatisfied with his actions, demanded his removal from office, and in 1862 the Senate issued a decree dismissing Tolstoy. Secret surveillance of him began from Section III.

In the summer of 1862, after a police search, Tolstoy had to close the Yasnaya Polyana school and stop publishing a pedagogical magazine. The reason was the authorities' suspicions that students teaching at the school were engaged in anti-government activities.

In September 1862, Tolstoy married the daughter of a Moscow doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding, he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he devoted himself entirely to family life and household concerns. During their 17 years of marriage, they had 13 children.

From the autumn of 1863 to 1869, Leo Tolstoy worked on the novel War and Peace.

In the early 1870s, the writer was again fascinated by pedagogy and he created “ABC” and “New ABC” and compiled a “Book for Reading”, where he included many of his stories.

In the spring of 1873, Tolstoy began and four years later finished work on a great novel about modernity, calling it after the name of the main character - Anna Karenina.

The spiritual crisis experienced by Tolstoy in the late 1870s and early 1880s culminated in a turning point in his worldview. In “Confession” (1879-1882), the writer talks about a revolution in his views, the meaning of which he saw in a break with the ideology of the noble class and a transition to the side of the “simple working people.”

In the early 1880s, the Tolstoy family moved to Moscow to educate their growing children. From this time on, Tolstoy spent winters in Moscow.

In the 1880s, Tolstoy's stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and "Kholstomer" ("The Story of a Horse"), "The Kreutzer Sonata", the story "The Devil", the story "Father Sergius" appeared.

In 1882, he took part in the census of the Moscow population and became closely acquainted with the life of the inhabitants of the city slums, which he described in the treatise “So what should we do?” (1882-1886).

In simplification, in likening himself to people from the people, Tolstoy saw the purpose and duty of nobles, intellectuals - everyone who is part of the privileged classes. During this period, the writer comes to a complete denial of his previous literary activity, engages in physical labor, plows, sews boots, and switches to vegetarian food.

In the 1880s, a conflict arose between Tolstoy and Sofya Andreevna over property and income from publishing the writer’s works. On May 21, 1883, he granted his wife full power of attorney to manage all property affairs, and two years later he divided all his property between his wife, sons and daughters. He wanted to distribute all his property to the needy, but he was stopped by his wife’s threat to declare him crazy and establish guardianship over him. Sofya Andreevna defended the interests and well-being of the family and children. Tolstoy granted all publishers the right to freely publish all his works published after 1881 (Tolstoy considered this year to be the year of his own moral turning point). But Sofya Andreevna demanded the privilege for herself to publish her husband’s collected works. In the relationship between Tolstoy and his wife and sons, mutual alienation is growing.

The writer’s new worldview is also reflected in his articles “On the census in Moscow”, “On hunger”, “What is art?”, “Slavery of our time”, “On Shakespeare and drama”, “I cannot remain silent”. In these and subsequent years, Tolstoy also wrote religious and philosophical works: “Criticism of Dogmatic Theology”, “What is My Faith?”, “Connection, Translation and Study of the Four Gospels”, “The Kingdom of God is Within You”. In them, the writer not only showed a change in his religious and moral views, but also subjected to a critical revision of the main dogmas and principles of the teaching of the official church.

Social, religious and philosophical quests led Tolstoy to the creation of his own religious and philosophical system (Tolstoyism). Tolstoy preached in his life and works of art the need for moral improvement, universal love, non-resistance to evil through violence, for which he was attacked both by revolutionary democratic figures and by the church. At the beginning of 1900, he wrote a series of articles exposing the entire system of public administration. The government of Nicholas II issues a resolution according to which the Holy Synod (the highest church institution in Russia) in February 1901 excommunicates Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church as a “heretic.”

In 1901, the writer lived in Crimea, recovering from a serious illness.

In the last decade of his life, he wrote the story "Hadji Murat", the plays "The Living Corpse", "The Power of Darkness", "The Fruits of Enlightenment", the stories "After the Ball", "For What?", and the novel "Sunday".

In the last years of his life, Tolstoy found himself at the center of intrigue and contention between the “Tolstoyites,” on the one hand, and his wife, who defended the well-being of her family and children, on the other.

On July 22, 1910, Tolstoy drew up a will in which he granted all publishers the right to publish his works - both those written after 1881 and earlier. The new will strained relations with his wife.

On November 10 (October 28, old style), 1910, at five o’clock in the morning, Leo Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal physician Dushan Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana secretly from his family. On the way, Tolstoy fell ill, his temperature rose and he was forced to get off the train en route to Rostov-on-Don. At the small Astapovo railway station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway, in the house of the station master, the writer spent the last seven days of his life. Doctors diagnosed pneumonia.

On November 20 (November 7, old style), 1910, at Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station), Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died. His funeral in Yasnaya Polyana became a nationwide event.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

The relatively late start of his career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he never considered himself a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a means of living, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, and was reluctant to talk about literature, preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.

Military service

As a cadet, Lev Nikolaevich remained for two years in the Caucasus, where he took part in many skirmishes with the mountaineers and was exposed to the dangers of Caucasian military life. He had the right to the St. George Cross, but in accordance with his convictions, he “gave it” to a fellow soldier, considering that a significant improvement in the conditions of service of a colleague was higher than personal vanity. With the beginning of the Crimean War, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 he was in Sevastopol.

For a long time he lived on the 4th bastion, which was often attacked, commanded a battery in the battle of Chernaya, and was during the bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Tolstoy, despite all the everyday hardships and horrors of the siege, at this time wrote the story “Cutting Wood,” which reflected Caucasian impressions, and the first of the three “Sevastopol stories” - “Sevastopol in December 1854.” He sent this story to Sovremennik. It was quickly published and read with interest throughout Russia, making a stunning impression with the picture of horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Russian Emperor Alexander II2002; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer.

Even during the life of Emperor Nicholas I, Tolstoy intended to publish together with artillery officers " cheap and popular"The magazine "Military Leaflet", however, Tolstoy failed to implement the magazine project: " For the project, my Sovereign Emperor most graciously deigned to allow our articles to be published in “Invalid”"- Tolstoy bitterly ironized about this in 2002.

For being on the Yazonovsky redoubt of the fourth bastion during the bombardment, for composure and discretion.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 4th degree with the inscription “For courage,” medals “For the defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855” and “In memory of the war of 1853-1856.” Subsequently, he was awarded two medals “In memory of the 50th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol”: a silver one as a participant in the defense of Sevastopol and a bronze medal as the author of “Sevastopol Stories”.

Tolstoy, enjoying the reputation of a brave officer and surrounded by the brilliance of fame, had every chance of a career. However, his career was spoiled by writing several satirical songs, stylized as soldiers' songs. One of these songs was dedicated to the failure of the military operation of 4 years, when General Read, misunderstanding the order of the commander-in-chief, attacked the Fedyukhin heights. The song entitled “Like the fourth, the mountains carried us hard to take away,” which affected a number of important generals, was a huge success. For her, Lev Nikolaevich had to answer to the assistant chief of staff A. A. Yakimakh. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (September 8), Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he completed “Sevastopol in May 1855.” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855,” published in the first issue of Sovremennik for 1856 with the author’s full signature. “Sevastopol Stories” finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of a new literary generation, and in November 1856 the writer left military service forever.

Leo Tolstoy during the Crimean War

Oleg Sapozhnikov

What kind of officer was Tolstoy? This is not an idle question. It is obvious that if he had not served in the Caucasus and Sevastopol, neither “Cossacks” nor “Sevastopol Stories” would have appeared, and we would hardly have had the pleasure of reading “War and Peace.” Meanwhile, the baggage of personal psychological experiences, constant and deep moral and ethical introspection, as well as close observations of the behavior of people around him during the war, attempts to unravel them and his own internal motivation formed the basis of vivid psychological images that still amaze the grateful reader.

It seems to us that regarding Tolstoy’s military service (especially his Sevastopol period), popular literature is dominated by a certain hagiography, which is generally characteristic of the description of biographies of famous people. In these descriptions, the undoubted greatness of Tolstoy the writer is automatically transferred to other, in this case non-writerly, circumstances of his life: the great Tolstoy was on the 4th bastion ergo the 4th bastion is “great” because Tolstoy was on it.

Stele in memory of a participant in the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855. L. N. Tolstoy at the fourth bastion

Such semantic constructions are undoubtedly effective, easy for the average person to perceive, thanks to them a mutual enrichment of fame occurs between the writer and the circumstance of his biography, but these constructions are unlikely to contribute to a better understanding of the writer’s life, and ultimately they in no way cloud the understanding of his work. In addition, the inherent smoothing of corners of hagiography, the glossing over of inconvenient moments, caused by the fear of bringing accusations of shortcomings, and even more so vices, on the celebrity, hides the obvious idea that the celebrity, no matter how great, remains a person with all the passions inherent in him, mistakes and worries.

Not trying to describe the entire long and rich non-writing life of Tolstoy, we decided to limit ourselves to the time of his service in the officer ranks, more specifically, to the period of the Crimean War, guided by the fact that it was during this relatively short period that Tolstoy made the final choice in favor of literature as the main source of his life. field.

We have at our disposal many materials that are sources of information on this topic. First of all, these are materials that belonged to the pen of Tolstoy himself - his correspondence, diaries, records of those years and, of course, his artistic and journalistic works of that time. Secondly, these are official documents - reports, official correspondence regarding Tolstoy’s service. Thirdly, these are the memories of his acquaintances, including direct colleagues, as well as relatives. In addition, memories and letters from officers of the Sevastopol garrison (mainly artillerymen) were drawn upon, although they did not mention Tolstoy, but were in almost similar service circumstances with him. The last group of materials is of particular value when comparing the behavior, impressions and thoughts of these officers with the behavior and thoughts of Tolstoy himself.

It is not our task to describe Tolstoy’s two-year service in the Caucasus. Let us confine ourselves to pointing out that even then he showed those qualities of his nature that accompanied him throughout his entire military career. On the one hand, this is the unconditional courage he showed in battle, for which cadet Tolstoy was repeatedly presented with the soldier’s St. George Cross. On the other hand, what prevented him from receiving the award was his neglect of discipline and the performance of official duties, including vital ones in war conditions. For example, cadet Tolstoy was even arrested for leaving his post while on guard duty. And finally, even in the Caucasus, such a character trait of Tolstoy appeared as a weak ability to get along in established groups. (This last quality is especially important for an officer, whose circle of official communication is determined not by his independent choice, but by the will of his superiors and the requirements of the service.)

Tolstoy and his brother Nikolai before leaving for the Caucasus, 1851

In January 1854, having passed the exam for an officer's rank, Tolstoy left the Caucasus and was transferred to the Danube Army, operating against the Turks. Tolstoy learns about promotion to officer from newspapers on his way to the army.

The Danube campaign began in June 1853, when the Russian army under the command of Prince M.D. Gorchakov entered the territory of the Danube principalities. During the summer-autumn, the Russian army occupied almost the entire territory of Moldavia and Wallachia on the left bank of the Danube. Bucharest, where the headquarters of the Russian army was located, was also busy.

Danube Campaign of the Crimean War

Ensign Tolstoy joined the army on March 12, just as the crossing of the Danube began, and was assigned to Light Battery No. 8 of the 12th Artillery Brigade. But he did not stay there long - less than a month later he became an orderly under the Chief of the Artillery Staff of the Southern Army, General A. O. Serzhputovsky. In his diary on this occasion, Tolstoy retrospectively writes on June 15, 1854:

“Three months of idleness and a life with which I cannot be satisfied. I was with Scheidemann for three weeks and I regret that I didn’t stay. I would get along with the officers, and I would be able to get along with the battery commander. But bad company and hidden anger from my lackluster position would have a good effect on me... My secondment to Headquarters came at the very time when I quarreled with the battery commander, and flattered my vanity.”

The conflict with the battery authorities had its consequences. Firstly, battery commander K.F. Scheidemann immediately reprimanded Tolstoy:

“Currently, the service is difficult, and the officers must be at their places, I severely reprimand you for staying in Bucharest without permission beyond a certain period, and order you to immediately come to the battery upon receipt of this.”

And secondly, Tolstoy and Scheidemann crossed paths in service a year later, when the latter became the chief of artillery in Sevastopol. And their relationship, which deteriorated even when they first met, was tense almost until the end of the war, sometimes it came to public scenes.

Thus, Tolstoy’s first experience as an officer of integrating into the service team should be considered unsuccessful. This episode, in addition to the conflict with his superiors, is also notable for the fact that Tolstoy calls army officers like himself “bad society.” Such snobbery, which unflatteringly characterizes Tolstoy as a comrade, is inexplicable, especially taking into account the fact that artillerymen (along with military engineers and sailors), due to the circumstances of the service, which required a large amount of special and scientific knowledge, belonged to the most educated part of Russian society. And it is unlikely that the officers of the Danube Army could be very different from their colleagues who fought in the Caucasus and were familiar to Tolstoy from several years of joint service.

The very transfer to the headquarters of yesterday's cadet with a complete lack of officer experience is explained by the fact that Tolstoy initially sought to avoid service in the ranks and, visiting relatives and friends on the way to the Danube Army, managed to obtain the necessary recommendations.

Lev Tolstoy. 1854

So, immediately upon arriving in the army, Tolstoy paid a visit to the commander, Prince M.D. Gorchakov. On March 17, 1854, in a letter to his aunt T. A. Ergolskaya, Tolstoy writes:

“He received me better than I expected, just like a family member. He kissed me, invited me to dinner every day, wants to keep me with him, although this has not yet been completely decided.”

“Thank God you’re at the pier; I was sure that the prince would receive you as a kin, based on his friendly disposition towards your father, and one can hope that he will not refuse you his protection. If he does not keep you with him, it means that he has good reasons for this and recommends you to someone who has weight in his eyes; This is what he always does with relatives in whom he is interested.”

The power of protection, however, was only enough to appoint Tolstoy to the “secondary” Artillery Headquarters, but it was not enough to transfer to the main Headquarters. Tolstoy was actually “imposed” on the artillery commander, General Serzhputovsky, as an orderly, which created tense relations between them. The general was clearly burdened by the inexperienced orderly, whom he could not send back to his unit, and Tolstoy felt dissatisfaction with the status in which he resided. Obviously, he expected more. Tension turning into hostility arose almost immediately, and already in early July 1854 Tolstoy reflected on the reasons:

“It’s as if I allowed my general too much... Having thought it over carefully, it turns out on the contrary that I allowed myself too much with him.”

Be that as it may, the relationship between the general and his orderly deteriorated so much that Serzhputovsky even stopped greeting Tolstoy in public. Tolstoy writes about this with irritation in his diary on July 21, 1854:

“The stupid old man has angered me again with his manner of not bowing. I’ll have to give him a kick.”

It is not known whether Tolstoy gave his general a “chic”, but a week later there was a new entry: “The old man still doesn’t bow to me.”

In the end, reconciliation never came, and even when Tolstoy was near Sevastopol, his colleague K.N. Boborykin wrote to him on January 26, 1855 from the Main Apartment in Chisinau: “Serzhputovsky, as you know, does not favor you at all.”

It cannot be said that Tolstoy was heavily burdened with official duties during the Danube campaign. There was a lot of free time, and Tolstoy generously spent it on reading, carousing and entertainment, sometimes not always decent (see, for example, the entry dated July 29, 1854: “Coming from dinner, Tyshk[evich] and I stopped at a brothel, and Kryzhanovsky covered us"), as well as literature classes. It was during his stay in the Danube Army that Tolstoy completed “Adolescence” and “Cutting the Woods. A cadet's story."

Service at headquarters was generally comfortable and unburdensome, although perhaps monotonous. In a letter to T. A. Ergolskaya on May 24, 1854, Tolstoy writes:

“I am ashamed that you think that I was exposed to all the dangers of war, and I have not yet smelled Turkish gunpowder, but live calmly in Bucharest, walk, play music and eat ice cream. Apart from the two weeks that I spent in Oltenica, assigned to the battery, and one week spent traveling through Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia on the orders of General Serzhputovsky, I am with him “on special assignments,” I lived in Bucharest; I frankly admit that this somewhat absent-minded way of life, completely idle and expensive, is terribly not to my liking.”

But, I think, in this case Tolstoy was disingenuous, perhaps not wanting to irritate his dear aunt. He also had to make dangerous business trips, sometimes lasting several days, to units of the Danube Army.

Half a century later, in a conversation with A. B. Goldenweiser, Tolstoy recalled:

“An orderly is constantly exposed to great danger, and he himself rarely participates in shooting... I was an orderly in the Danube Army, and, it seems, I never had to shoot. I remember once on the Danube near Silistria we were standing on our bank of the Danube, and there was a battery on the other side, and I was sent there with some kind of order. The commander of that battery, Shube, saw me and decided that there was a young count, I’ll show him off! And he drove me along the entire line under gunfire, and deliberately deadly slowly. I passed this exam outwardly well, but the feeling was very bad.”

If we briefly characterize Tolstoy’s attitude to the war at that time, he can be called contemplative and slightly detached. He observes, remembers impressions. During that period, Tolstoy did not even have a hint of pacifism, there was no appeal to the humanistic ideals that became an integral part of his later image. On the contrary, he likes the aesthetic side of war. Being present with the headquarters at the siege of Silistria, Tolstoy wrote on July 5, 1854 in a letter to his aunt:

“To tell the truth, it’s a strange pleasure to watch people kill each other, and between that morning and evening I spent hours watching this from my cart. And I'm not alone. The spectacle was truly remarkable, especially at night. Usually at night our soldiers worked in the trenches, the Turks attacked to prevent this work, and you had to see and hear this shooting!

In this letter, Tolstoy describes the culminating episode of the Danube Campaign - the siege of Silistria. Back in May 1854, the Russian army besieged this large port city on the banks of the Danube. An assault was scheduled for June 20, the success of which no one doubted, but a few hours before the attack an order was received to retreat. The reason was the aggravation of the international situation, and in particular the threat of Austria to enter the war on the side of Turkey. The Russian army began the evacuation of the Danube principalities.

Even during the retreat, Tolstoy did not stop trying to get transferred to Gorchakov’s headquarters. In this sense, the already quoted letter to T. A. Ergolskaya dated July 5, 1854 is very indicative. It contains such undisguised flattery to the commander, clearly too detailed in a private letter, that suspicion involuntarily creeps in: the letter was written with the expectation of transferring its contents to the prince himself - either through his aunt, or through the inspection of military censorship (personal letters sent to Russia from the current armies, as a rule, were stationed at the border). So, speaking about Gorchakov, Tolstoy writes:

“I am becoming an admirer of the prince (however, you need to listen to how the officers and soldiers talk about him - not only have I never heard a bad word about him, but everyone adores him) ... It is clear that he is so immersed in the general course of affairs that neither bullets and bombs do not exist for him, he is exposed to danger with such simplicity, as if he does not recognize it, and involuntarily becomes more terrible for him than for himself; gives clear, precise orders and is always friendly with everyone. This is a great man, that is, capable and honest, as I understand this word - a man who devoted his entire life to serving the fatherland, and not out of ambition, but out of duty... Dear auntie, I would like your prediction to come true. My strongest desire is to be the adjutant of a man like him, whom I love and honor from the depths of my soul.”

However, all the efforts were in vain - the transfer to the Main Apartment never happened.

Tolstoy’s situation was aggravated by the fact that at first, in addition to tense relations with his immediate superiors, he failed to build smooth relations with his colleagues - other adjutants. So, for example, on July 25, 1854, he writes in his diary: “I went to the old man and found him with a company of adjutants of the field marshal, in which it was unbearably difficult for me,” and a day later he again mentions “adjutants, who, it seems to me, are all , they shy away from me, like disgracié.” And this despite the fact that Tolstoy really wanted to get into the circle of these “aristocrats”, “bashi-buzouks” (as the staff youth, especially adjutants, were called in the army with mocking contempt). He openly admits this: “The so-called aristocrats arouse envy in me. I am incorrigibly petty and envious.” But it was not easy for Tolstoy to get close to them.

There were several reasons. These young people are Tolstoy’s peers. But they, for the most part, went through St. Petersburg military schools together or served together in the guard (or both); compared to Tolstoy, they had much more military and administrative experience. Finally, they were old comrades, bound by close ties of common Petersburg acquaintances, interests, and memories. And it was naturally not easy for the provincial Tolstoy, with his two years of solitary Caucasian cadetship, to become one of their own.

But there was another reason - the main one. From the very beginning, Tolstoy chose the wrong tone in communicating with his comrades.

“I'm too honest to be in a relationship with these people. It’s strange that only now I noticed one of my important shortcomings: envy that is offensive and arouses in others - the tendency to show off all one’s advantages,”

he writes on July 24, 1854 in his diary. Realizing the abnormality and injustice of his behavior, he, as if hiding envy, treated his comrades deliberately arrogantly and condescendingly. He got irritated when there seemed to be no reason:

“The bashi-bouzouki, as if on purpose, agreed to be especially nice, but I had too much bile. And again he insulted Tyshkevich. In general, I rarely remember that I, in all respects, was in such a terrible situation as I am now. Sick, irritated, completely alone, I managed to resist everyone, in the most indecisive and bad position and without money. We need to get out of this situation. To be treated more closely, to endure the unpleasantness of a new rapprochement with comrades” (entry dated July 26, 1854).

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in military service .

Prepared by Shteba Vladislav .

• 1) Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. 2) The family of Count Tolstoy. 3) Tolstoy in the Caucasus. 4) Tolstoy in Sevastopol.

• Date of birth: September 9, 1828 Place of birth: Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, Russian Empire
• Date of death: November 20, 1910 (age 82)
• Place of death: Astapova station, Ryazan province, Russian Empire
• Citizenship: Russian Empire
• Occupation: novelist, publicist, philosopher
• Years of creativity: 1847-1910
• Direction: realism
• Genre: short story, novella, drama

• The noble family of the Tolstoys comes from an ancient German family. Their ancestor was Indris, who in the middle of the 14th century left Germany and settled in Chernigov with his two sons. Here he was baptized and received the name Leontia. The ancestor of the Tolstoys was the great-grandson of Indris, Andrei Kharitonovich, who moved from Chernigov to Moscow and here, from Vasily the Dark, received the nickname Tolstoy, which later began to be passed on to his descendants. The first representatives of this family were military men. This tradition was preserved by all generations of Tolstoys, but later many Tolstoys glorified their family both as prominent government officials and as figures of art and literature.

• Literary pursuits increasingly attract Tolstoy, he conceives a story “from gypsy life,” but his scattered social life interferes with concentrated work. Dissatisfaction with himself, the desire to radically change his life, to replace the empty chatter of social drawing rooms with real business led him to a sudden decision to leave for the Caucasus.

• In 1853, the Crimean War began. Tolstoy, at his personal request, was transferred from the Caucasus, first to the Danube Army, and then to besieged Sevastopol. As an artillery officer, he took part in the combat operations of the Russian army against the Anglo-French and Turkish invaders. In April - May 1855, Tolstoy with his battery was in the most dangerous place of the Sevastopol defense - on the famous fourth bastion.

Defenders of Sevastopol