War and Peace · Chapter
The Fog of War at Borodinó explained
This chapter provides a detached, analytical overview of the Battle of Borodinó, focusing on the chaotic and indecipherable nature of the fighting in the central sector between Borodinó and the Bagratión flèches.
What happens
This chapter provides a detached, analytical overview of the Battle of Borodinó, focusing on the chaotic and indecipherable nature of the fighting in the central sector between Borodinó and the Bagratión flèches. It describes the ineffectiveness of command, as Napoleon and his generals, blinded by smoke and distance, receive contradictory and outdated reports, leading to orders that are either irrelevant or impossible to execute. The narrative emphasizes how the actual conduct of the battle is determined by the immediate, survival-driven actions of the soldiers and junior officers in the thick of the fighting, not by the plans of the high command.
Themes in this chapter
War and History
A central, graphic depiction of the chaos, confusion, and brutal reality of a major historical battle, stripping away romantic notions of glory.
Search for Meaning
The chapter implicitly questions the meaning and control in warfare, showing how grand plans dissolve into a senseless, bloody struggle for individual survival.
Personal vs. Public Life
Contrasts the public, strategic role of commanders like Napoleon with the intensely personal, life-or-death reality of the common soldier in the fray.
Characters to notice
- Count Pyotr Kirílych Bezúkhov
Mentioned as having been present at the skirmish where the bridge over the Kolochá was retaken and burned by the Russians.
- Prince Andréy Nikoláevich Bolkónski
Not directly present in this chapter's excerpts, but the battle's central action is occurring at the Bagratión flèches, a key defensive point.
Key passages
“But not only was it impossible to make out what was happening from where he was standing... but even from the flèches themselves... it was impossible to make out what was taking place.”
The fog of war was total, obscuring the reality of the battle even for those supposedly in command of it.
Highlights the central theme of confusion and the limits of perception in battle.
“In battle what is at stake is what is dearest to man—his own life—and it sometimes seems that safety lies in running back, sometimes in running forward; and these men... acted according to the mood of the moment.”
Soldiers' actions are governed by the primal instinct for survival, not by orders from distant commanders.
Emphasizes the individual, human element overriding military discipline and strategy.
“All their rushing and galloping at one another did little harm, the harm of disablement and death was caused by the balls and bullets that flew over the fields...”
The real agent of destruction in battle is impersonal artillery and gunfire, not the heroic charges or maneuvers of the troops.
A grimly realistic observation on the mechanics of death in modern warfare.