Examples of patriotism in war and peace. Essay: True and false patriotism in the novel “War and Peace” (L

The epic novel “War and Peace” is, first of all, a work that personifies the heroism and courage of the Russian people in the Patriotic War of 1812.

Even when the author describes the Battle of Shengraben in 1805, the author focuses on the greatest heroism and courage of the ordinary captain Tushin, and the ordinary soldiers of the battery entrusted to him. Despite the heavy enemy fire, a simple captain, without a single drop of fear, competently controls the bombardment, which sets an example of heroism and fearlessness to his soldiers. Tushin is the embodiment of wisdom, heroism, courage and simplicity of the Russian person. He is not afraid to die in the name of the freedom of his people, honestly fulfilling his military and human duty to his homeland.

Tushin’s “colleague”, Captain Timokhin, is no less brave and courageous. At the most difficult and tense moment, his company, mercilessly attacking the enemy, turns the entire course of the battle in its direction. Timokhin also accomplished a heroic feat, which deserves the deepest respect and gratitude from his compatriots.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy very much condemns and hates war and everything connected with it. In his deepest conviction, war is a complete contradiction of the human mind and intellect, of the entire human essence, as a whole. It brings grief, death, pain of loss, crippled destinies. But, at the same time, the Patriotic War of 1812 was a terrible and monstrous necessity. After all, driving out an uninvited enemy from one’s native land, and, if necessary, destroying him is the sacred duty of any Russian person, regardless of class.

As for the aristocracy, its highest circles had an ambiguous attitude towards the war. Most of the aristocrats, only in words, were “true patriots” of their fatherland, but their work did not move beyond pretentious and general phrases.

But indeed, real patriots of their fatherland acted differently. The Rostovs, not afraid of complete ruin, and dooming themselves to deep poverty, give all their carts to the wounded in order to give at least some of them a chance to survive. Nikolai Rostov himself returned to the army without fear of dying. Also, very young Petya goes to war. Prince Andrei, also looking death in the face, takes command of the regiment, and Pierre Bezukhov allocates a million for the needs of the militia.

The Russian people had a huge feeling of hatred and anger towards the conquerors at that time. Ordinary people, dooming themselves to deep poverty, burned absolutely everything that they could not take with them, so that even a “tiny fraction” would not go to the enemy. The peasants refused to sell even hay to the enemy. Despite the fact that serious money was offered for it, the peasants burned everything to the ground.

Also, one cannot fail to mention the partisan movement of that time. Vasilisa's detachment destroyed a huge number of French. And the partisan Tikhon Shcherbaty was never an “upstart”, and quietly and confidently did his job: destroying the enemy.

A people who loves their homeland, who are ready to give themselves completely, for its good and freedom, cannot be defeated! This is exactly what the great Russian people are!

is a work on which the author worked for about seven years in order to reveal in it various problems of Russian reality. The author reveals all the topics against the backdrop of a terrible event that remains on the pages of our history and this is the War of 1812. This time became a great test for every Russian person who did not stand aside. Everyone began to have patriotic feelings and everyone stood up to defend their land.

The patriotic theme in the novel War and Peace is revealed very well, about which we will write our essay, arguing about it. While studying the writer’s work, we saw descriptions of battle scenes, including a description of the Battle of Borodino. They are attended by defenders of the fatherland, ordinary people, in whom the author saw a hidden note of patriotism. Without the common people, it is unlikely that we would have emerged victorious in this war. But the danger that loomed over the country united everyone. A single patriotic impulse erased all boundaries and all differences. There are no peasants or serfs, aristocrats or common people here. There are patriots in the unity of their desires. It was impossible to give the country to the enemy. Therefore, an internal fire flared up in every person, thanks to which the Russian army won.

Here are ordinary men who put on soldiers' greatcoats and went against Napoleon. These are the patriots in Tushin’s battery, officers, ordinary soldiers, Kutuzov himself, who is shown by Tolstoy as a representative of the people’s war. We see the patriotic spirit in Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, in the Rostov family and others like them. The writer attributes a huge role to Vlas and Karp, who burned the hay and did not leave it or sell it to the enemy. The people, united with the Russian army, defeated and defeated the French army, which terrified all of Europe. And the patriotic spirit, unity, determination and desire to win turned out to be the strongest. This is evidenced by the raised theme of patriotism in the novel War and Peace.

Patriotic theme in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”

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L.N. Tolstoy, according to A.P. Chekhov, holds first place among the figures of Russian art. The brilliant author of "War and Peace" is known throughout the world. Anatole France wrote: “Tolstoy is our common teacher.” Wonderful stories, novels, dramas and three brilliant novels - "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina" and "Resurrection" - will never cease to excite human minds and hearts. Throughout the 60s, Tolstoy worked on the epic novel War and Peace, which covers Russian life in the early 19th century. With great sympathy, the author portrays Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, who were looking for truth, justice and genuine human happiness in life.

The focus of the novel is the Patriotic War of 1812. Among the huge number of characters in "War and Peace" there are both outstanding historical figures and ordinary participants in the war. Tolstoy was able to convey with extraordinary force the patriotic uplift that the Russian people experienced in 1812. “In War and Peace, I loved popular thought,” said the writer. With the entire content of War and Peace, Tolstoy showed that it was the Russian people, who rose up to fight for national independence, expelled the French from the borders of their country and ensured victory.

War forces everyone to act and do things that are impossible not to do. People do not act according to orders, but obeying an inner feeling, a sense of the significance of the moment. Tolstoy writes that they united in their aspirations and actions when they sensed the danger looming over the people. In the battle of Shengraben, the Russians sacrificed themselves to save their comrades, showing miracles of courage, and this was done unconsciously, instinctively.

The patriotism of the Russian people was expressed very simply. The small merchant Ferapontov, before the French entered Smolensk, shouted to the soldiers to take all the goods from his shop, since “Race had decided” and he himself would burn everything. Karpi and Vlas did not sell hay to the French “for the good money they were offered, but burned it” so that the enemy would not get it. The Rostov family donated carts for the wounded in Moscow, thus completing their ruin. The Moscow poor wanted to arm themselves to defend the old capital, the peasants joined partisan detachments and destroyed the invaders. Moscow residents left the capital simply out of the consideration that it was impossible to live in it under Bonaparte, even if they were not directly threatened by any danger. The Moscow lady leaves the capital with her blackamoors and pugs: back in June, out of the consideration that “she is not Bonaparte’s servant.”

Natasha Rostova also does not remain aloof from the events of 1812. She understands that she cannot help Russia, and she cannot remain indifferent. Before the capture of Moscow by the French, people were urgently evacuated to the cities, there were many wounded in Moscow, and carts were urgently needed. And when Natasha finds out about this, she does not hesitate for a minute: she cannot understand how it is possible to take out some things when people are dying. In crisis moments of his life, Prince Andrey is helped by the Russian principle that is inherent in him, it helps him understand all the deceit and hypocrisy of his idol - Napoleon: “At that moment all the interests that occupied Napoleon seemed so insignificant to him, his hero himself seemed so petty to him, with this petty vanity, and the joy of victory, in comparison with that high, fair and kind sky that he saw and understood - that he could not answer it.”

The greatest manifestation of patriotism was the Battle of Borodino, in which the Russian army won a victory over a numerically stronger enemy. French generals reported to Napoleon that “the Russians are holding their ground and producing hellish fire, from which the French army is melting.” “Our fire is tearing them out in rows, and they are standing,” the adjutants reported to Napoleon, and he felt how “the terrible span of his arm fell magically and powerlessly.” At the same time, Raevsky reported to Kutuzov that “the troops are firmly in their places and that the French do not dare to attack anymore.”

Kutuzov is an exponent of the patriotic spirit of the Russian army, its ideological inspirer and leader. Outwardly decrepit, inert and weak, the old man turned out to be strong: and beautiful internally: he alone made bold, sober and correct decisions, did not think about himself, about honors and glory, seeing before himself only one great goal, which was his desire for desire - victory over the hated invaders. His “simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure could not fit into that deceitful form of a European hero, ostensibly ruling people, which was invented.”

Kutuzov's strategy was to combine two forces: patience and time, on the one hand, and, on the other, the moral spirit of the army, which he always zealously cared for. He understood more deeply than others the significance of every event during the war; connection with his homeland, with the Russian land, unity with the army were the source of his strength as a commander and as a person. Kutuzov's patriotism, like the patriotism of ordinary Russian people - Tushin, Timokhin, Tikhon Shcherbaty - is completely devoid of external effects, his patriotism is based on confidence in the strength and courage of the Russian people, on his faith in victory.

Tolstoy sharply distinguishes between true and false patriotism. True patriotism is hatred of enemies, but love for people in general. And the false one is only hatred.

In the episode on the bridge, K. B. Schubert reports how many wounded and killed there were after the battle, and some kind of satisfaction can be heard in his voice, and Nikolai Rostov, who is present at the same time, cannot understand such a conversation, because behind these people stand with bare numbers. The true patriotism of the Russian people manifests itself in moments of real danger for the homeland, that is, only when “the swarm is disturbed.” When the war is on foreign territory, the Russian people do not join the fight, and the soldiers only fulfill their military duty.

Tolstoy also distinguishes between hidden and ostentatious patriotism. Ostentatious patriotism is deceit and unnaturalness. This idea most likely comes to Tolstoy from the Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount: “When you pray, go into your room and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” ".

There is no other work in Russian literature where the power and greatness of the Russian people were depicted with such conviction and force as in War and Peace. Tolstoy's patriotic novel has worldwide significance: “This novel is perhaps the greatest that has ever been written,” said the French writer Louis Aragon.

(402 words) Telling readers about the Patriotic War against Napoleon in his epic novel “War and Peace,” Tolstoy touched on the topic of the patriotic struggle of the Russian people. But the author, refraining from blind glorification of that struggle, was primarily interested in the question of what real patriotism is and how to distinguish it from ordinary populism.

Already at the very beginning, the writer demonstrates to us in all its glory the concept of false patriotism. We see a noble society mired in vulgarity and hypocrisy, discussing the war in Europe. Loud pathetic speeches are heard, cursing Napoleon, pathetic wishes for victory for Russia. But behind these big words there are no real deeds; the nobility, divorced from reality, has no real concept of war and simply follows the official position of the government. The overwhelming majority of noble society strives only to achieve their personal goals and strengthen their positions on the social ladder. The picture of lies and hypocrisy becomes even clearer when we are transported to Austria, where we see demoralized soldiers who do not even understand who they are fighting. Tolstoy shows how the elite of the Russian Empire, hiding behind fashionable slogans about saving the fatherland, sends soldiers into a meaningless meat grinder for the sake of the interests of rulers and generals.

It is also characteristic that after the Peace of Tilsit, the anti-Napoleonic rhetoric of the noble class instantly changed to the exact opposite. Toasts are proclaimed to the French emperor, Russian-French friendship is extolled. Tolstoy once again emphasizes the unscrupulousness of the noble class, adapting to the powers that be.

Already in the twelfth year, Napoleon's troops invaded Russian territory. Tolstoy again stigmatizes the noble society, which, even at the most critical hour for the country, turns out to be unable to see beyond its own nose. Prince Kuragin, who is trying to maneuver between two opposing opinions about Kutuzov, Elena Kuragina, who in the midst of the war converts to Catholicism and is passionate only about divorcing her husband, staff officers who are exclusively concerned with promotion. Only those nobles who have moved away from high society show true patriotism and truly care about the country and people. However, even such outstanding personalities as Nikolai and Pyotr Rostov, Andrei Bolkonsky, Fyodor Dolokhov are just grains of sand against the background of the popular upsurge that has swept the country. According to Tolstoy, it was the universal, not always conscious, strength of the ordinary Russian people that was able to break Napoleon’s previously invincible army. At the same time, Tolstoy remains true to himself: war, in his opinion, is a monstrous crime, covered in dirt and blood. People, defending their country, are capable of the most brutal and inhumane acts.

Tolstoy shows us that true patriotic feeling awakens in the hours of the most difficult trials. It is his spontaneity and sincerity, devoid of self-interest and empty boasting, that distinguishes him from the false patriotism that scoundrels and swindlers use for their own purposes.

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L.N. Tolstoy speaks in his novel both about the faithful sons of the fatherland and about false patriots. In the first volume of the work, the author talks about the war with Napoleon. After Austria refused to continue the war in alliance with Russia and Prussia, the threat of defeat loomed over the Russian troops. The Austrian army surrendered. The threat of defeat loomed over the Russian troops. And then Kutuzov decided to send Bagration with four thousand soldiers through the rugged Bohemian mountains to meet the French. Bagration had to quickly make a difficult transition and delay the forty-thousand-strong French army until Kutuzov arrived. His squad needed to accomplish a great feat in order to save the Russian army.

In this battle, patriotism is shown by the example of the fearless Dolokhov. His bravery is demonstrated in battle, where “he killed one Frenchman at point-blank range, the first to take a surrendering officer by the collar.” But after that he goes to the regimental commander and reports on his “trophies”: “Please remember, Your Excellency!” Then he untied the handkerchief, pulled it and showed the dried blood: “Wound with a bayonet, I stayed at the front. Remember, Your Excellency." In this act, I believe, true patriotism is not shown, because a true patriot will not be so proud of his act, nor will he strive to become a hero.

I am also not surprised by Zherekhov’s behavior. When, at the height of the battle, Bagration sent him with an important order to the general of the left flank, he did not go forward, where the shooting was heard, but began to look for the general away from the battle. Because of an untransmitted order, the French cut off the Russian hussars, many died and were wounded. There were quite a lot of such officers. They, of course, cannot be called cowards, but they cannot forget themselves and their personal interests for the sake of the common cause.

The Russian army, of course, consisted not only of such officers. In the chapters describing the Battle of Shengraben, we meet the true heroes. Here he sits, the hero of this battle, the hero of this “deed,” small, thin and dirty, sitting barefoot, having taken off his boots. This is artillery officer Tushin. “With big, smart and kind eyes, he looks at the commanders who entered and tries to joke: “Soldiers say that you are more agile when you take off your shoes,” and he is embarrassed, feeling that the joke was not a success.”

Tolstoy does everything to make Captain Tushin appear before us in the most unheroic, even funny form. But it was this funny man who was the hero of the day. Prince Andrei will rightly say about him: “We owe the success of the day most of all to the action of this battery and the heroic fortitude of Captain Tushin and his company.”

The second hero of the Battle of Shengraben is Timokhin. He appears at the very moment when the soldiers panicked and began to retreat. Everything seemed lost. It was not at that moment that the advancing French suddenly ran back - Russian riflemen appeared in the forest. This was Timokhin's company. And only thanks to Timokhin the Russians were able to return and assemble battalions. Based on his actions, we can say that Timokhin is a true patriot of his homeland.

Courage is diverse. There are many people who are uncontrollably brave in battle, but get lost in everyday life. In the images of Tushin and Timokhin, Tolstoy shows the reader truly brave people with a great sense of patriotism for their homeland.

In the War of 1812, when every soldier fought for his home, for his family and friends. The further Napoleon advanced into the depths of Russia, the more the strength and spirit of the Russian army increased and the more the French army weakened, turning into a bunch of thieves and marauders.

Only the will of the people, only people's patriotism, the “spirit of the army” makes the army invincible. It was this conclusion that Tolstoy came to in his immortal epic novel War and Peace.