An excerpt from the original text.(complete · 1974 words)
t the levee Prince Andrew stood among the Austrian officers as he had
been told to, and the Emperor Francis merely looked fixedly into his
face and just nodded to him with his long head. But after it was
over, the adjutant he had seen the previous day ceremoniously informed
Bolkónski that the Emperor desired to give him an audience. The Emperor
Francis received him standing in the middle of the room. Before the
conversation began Prince Andrew was struck by the fact that the Emperor
seemed confused and blushed as if not knowing what to say.
“Tell me, when did the battle begin?” he asked hurriedly.
Prince Andrew replied. Then followed other questions just as simple:
“Was Kutúzov well? When had he left Krems?” and so on. The Emperor
spoke as if his sole aim were to put a given number of questions—the
answers to these questions, as was only too evident, did not interest
him.
“At what o’clock did the battle begin?” asked the Emperor.
“I cannot inform Your Majesty at what o’clock the battle began at
the front, but at Dürrenstein, where I was, our attack began after
five in the afternoon,” replied Bolkónski growing more animated and
expecting that he would have a chance to give a reliable account, which
he had ready in his mind, of all he knew and had seen. But the Emperor
smiled and interrupted him.
“How many miles?”
“From where to where, Your Majesty?”
“From Dürrenstein to Krems.”
“Three and a half miles, Your Majesty.”
“The French have abandoned the left bank?”
“According to the scouts the last of them crossed on rafts during the
night.”
“Is there sufficient forage in Krems?”
“Forage has not been supplied to the extent...”
The Emperor interrupted him.
“At what o’clock was General Schmidt killed?”
“At seven o’clock, I believe.”
“At seven o’clock? It’s very sad, very sad!”
The Emperor thanked Prince Andrew and bowed. Prince Andrew withdrew and
was immediately surrounded by courtiers on all sides. Everywhere he
saw friendly looks and heard friendly words. Yesterday’s adjutant
reproached him for not having stayed at the palace, and offered him
his own house. The Minister of War came up and congratulated him on the
Maria Theresa Order of the third grade, which the Emperor was conferring
on him. The Empress’ chamberlain invited him to see Her Majesty. The
archduchess also wished to see him. He did not know whom to answer, and
for a few seconds collected his thoughts. Then the Russian ambassador
took him by the shoulder, led him to the window, and began to talk to
him.
Contrary to Bilíbin’s forecast the news he had brought was joyfully
received. A thanksgiving service was arranged, Kutúzov was awarded
the Grand Cross of Maria Theresa, and the whole army received rewards.
Bolkónski was invited everywhere, and had to spend the whole morning
calling on the principal Austrian dignitaries. Between four and five
in the afternoon, having made all his calls, he was returning to
Bilíbin’s house thinking out a letter to his father about the battle
and his visit to Brünn. At the door he found a vehicle half full of
luggage. Franz, Bilíbin’s man, was dragging a portmanteau with some
difficulty out of the front door.
Before returning to Bilíbin’s Prince Andrew had gone to a bookshop
to provide himself with some books for the campaign, and had spent some
time in the shop.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Oh, your excellency!” said Franz, with difficulty rolling the
portmanteau into the vehicle, “we are to move on still farther. The
scoundrel is again at our heels!”
“Eh? What?” asked Prince Andrew.
Bilíbin came out to meet him. His usually calm face showed excitement.
“There now! Confess that this is delightful,” said he. “This
affair of the Thabor Bridge, at Vienna.... They have crossed without
striking a blow!”
Prince Andrew could not understand.
“But where do you come from not to know what every coachman in the
town knows?”
“I come from the archduchess’. I heard nothing there.”
“And you didn’t see that everybody is packing up?”
“I did not... What is it all about?” inquired Prince Andrew
impatiently.
“What’s it all about? Why, the French have crossed the bridge that
Auersperg was defending, and the bridge was not blown up: so Murat
is now rushing along the road to Brünn and will be here in a day or
two.”
“What? Here? But why did they not blow up the bridge, if it was
mined?”
“That is what I ask you. No one, not even Bonaparte, knows why.”
Bolkónski shrugged his shoulders.
“But if the bridge is crossed it means that the army too is lost? It
will be cut off,” said he.
“That’s just it,” answered Bilíbin. “Listen! The French entered
Vienna as I told you. Very well. Next day, which was yesterday, those
gentlemen, messieurs les maréchaux, * Murat, Lannes, and Belliard,
mount and ride to the bridge. (Observe that all three are Gascons.)
‘Gentlemen,’ says one of them, ‘you know the Thabor Bridge is
mined and doubly mined and that there are menacing fortifications at its
head and an army of fifteen thousand men has been ordered to blow up
the bridge and not let us cross? But it will please our sovereign the
Emperor Napoleon if we take this bridge, so let us three go and take
it!’ ‘Yes, let’s!’ say the others. And off they go and take the
bridge, cross it, and now with their whole army are on this side of the
Danube, marching on us, you, and your lines of communication.”
* The marshalls.
“Stop jesting,” said Prince Andrew sadly and seriously. This news
grieved him and yet he was pleased.
As soon as he learned that the Russian army was in such a hopeless
situation it occurred to him that it was he who was destined to lead it
out of this position; that here was the Toulon that would lift him from
the ranks of obscure officers and offer him the first step to fame!
Listening to Bilíbin he was already imagining how on reaching the army
he would give an opinion at the war council which would be the only one
that could save the army, and how he alone would be entrusted with the
executing of the plan.
“Stop this jesting,” he said.
“I am not jesting,” Bilíbin went on. “Nothing is truer or sadder.
These gentlemen ride onto the bridge alone and wave white handkerchiefs;
they assure the officer on duty that they, the marshals, are on
their way to negotiate with Prince Auersperg. He lets them enter the
tête-de-pont. * They spin him a thousand gasconades, saying that
the war is over, that the Emperor Francis is arranging a meeting with
Bonaparte, that they desire to see Prince Auersperg, and so on. The
officer sends for Auersperg; these gentlemen embrace the officers, crack
jokes, sit on the cannon, and meanwhile a French battalion gets to
the bridge unobserved, flings the bags of incendiary material into
the water, and approaches the tête-de-pont. At length appears the
lieutenant general, our dear Prince Auersperg von Mautern himself.
‘Dearest foe! Flower of the Austrian army, hero of the Turkish wars!
Hostilities are ended, we can shake one another’s hand.... The
Emperor Napoleon burns with impatience to make Prince Auersperg’s
acquaintance.’ In a word, those gentlemen, Gascons indeed, so
bewildered him with fine words, and he is so flattered by his rapidly
established intimacy with the French marshals, and so dazzled by the
sight of Murat’s mantle and ostrich plumes, qu’il n’y voit que du
feu, et oublie celui qu’il devait faire faire sur l’ennemi!” *(2)
In spite of the animation of his speech, Bilíbin did not forget to
pause after this mot to give time for its due appreciation. “The
French battalion rushes to the bridgehead, spikes the guns, and the
bridge is taken! But what is best of all,” he went on, his excitement
subsiding under the delightful interest of his own story, “is that the
sergeant in charge of the cannon which was to give the signal to fire
the mines and blow up the bridge, this sergeant, seeing that the French
troops were running onto the bridge, was about to fire, but Lannes
stayed his hand. The sergeant, who was evidently wiser than his general,
goes up to Auersperg and says: ‘Prince, you are being deceived, here
are the French!’ Murat, seeing that all is lost if the sergeant is
allowed to speak, turns to Auersperg with feigned astonishment (he is a
true Gascon) and says: ‘I don’t recognize the world-famous Austrian
discipline, if you allow a subordinate to address you like that!’ It
was a stroke of genius. Prince Auersperg feels his dignity at stake and
orders the sergeant to be arrested. Come, you must own that this affair
of the Thabor Bridge is delightful! It is not exactly stupidity, nor
rascality....”
* Bridgehead.
* (2) That their fire gets into his eyes and he forgets that
he ought to be firing at the enemy.
“It may be treachery,” said Prince Andrew, vividly imagining the
gray overcoats, wounds, the smoke of gunpowder, the sounds of firing,
and the glory that awaited him.
“Not that either. That puts the court in too bad a light,” replied
Bilíbin. “It’s not treachery nor rascality nor stupidity: it is
just as at Ulm... it is...”—he seemed to be trying to find the right
expression. “C’est... c’est du Mack. Nous sommes mackés (It is...
it is a bit of Mack. We are Macked),” he concluded, feeling that he
had produced a good epigram, a fresh one that would be repeated. His
hitherto puckered brow became smooth as a sign of pleasure, and with a
slight smile he began to examine his nails.
“Where are you off to?” he said suddenly to Prince Andrew who had
risen and was going toward his room.
“I am going away.”
“Where to?”
“To the army.”
“But you meant to stay another two days?”
“But now I am off at once.”
And Prince Andrew after giving directions about his departure went to
his room.
“Do you know, mon cher,” said Bilíbin following him, “I have been
thinking about you. Why are you going?”
And in proof of the conclusiveness of his opinion all the wrinkles
vanished from his face.
Prince Andrew looked inquiringly at him and gave no reply.
“Why are you going? I know you think it your duty to gallop back to
the army now that it is in danger. I understand that. Mon cher, it is
heroism!”
“Not at all,” said Prince Andrew.
“But as you are a philosopher, be a consistent one, look at the other
side of the question and you will see that your duty, on the contrary,
is to take care of yourself. Leave it to those who are no longer fit for
anything else.... You have not been ordered to return and have not been
dismissed from here; therefore, you can stay and go with us wherever our
ill luck takes us. They say we are going to Olmütz, and Olmütz is a
very decent town. You and I will travel comfortably in my calèche.”
“Do stop joking, Bilíbin,” cried Bolkónski.
“I am speaking sincerely as a friend! Consider! Where and why are
you going, when you might remain here? You are faced by one of two
things,” and the skin over his left temple puckered, “either you
will not reach your regiment before peace is concluded, or you will
share defeat and disgrace with Kutúzov’s whole army.”
And Bilíbin unwrinkled his temple, feeling that the dilemma was
insoluble.
“I cannot argue about it,” replied Prince Andrew coldly, but he
thought: “I am going to save the army.”
“My dear fellow, you are a hero!” said Bilíbin.
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Let's Analyse the Pattern
Excessive praise of someone's expertise is often a setup to exploit their lowered defenses.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when flattery is being weaponized to bypass someone's critical thinking.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when someone praises your expertise heavily before making a request—pause and ask what they really want.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The Emperor spoke as if his sole aim were to put a given number of questions—the answers to these questions, as was only too evident, did not interest him."
Context: Describing Emperor Francis during Andrew's audience
This reveals how power often creates distance from reality. The Emperor performs his duty of gathering information but doesn't actually process it. It shows the gap between ceremony and substance in leadership.
In Today's Words:
He was just going through the motions, asking questions because he was supposed to, not because he actually wanted to know.
"But the Emperor smiled and interrupted him."
Context: When Andrew tries to give his prepared detailed report
This moment crushes Andrew's expectations and shows how prepared expertise often gets dismissed by those in power. The smile makes the dismissal even more patronizing.
In Today's Words:
The boss cut him off with a fake smile, clearly not interested in hearing the actual details.
"They flattered him, joked around, and distracted him while French troops quietly secured the bridge."
Context: Explaining how the French tricked the Austrian commander
This shows how social manipulation works - using charm and ego-stroking to blind people to obvious threats. The Austrian commander's pride made him vulnerable to deception.
In Today's Words:
They buttered him up and kept him busy chatting while they pulled off the real scheme behind his back.
Thematic Threads
Deception
In This Chapter
French marshals use elaborate social manipulation to capture the bridge through misdirection and flattery
Development
Builds on earlier themes of social masks and hidden motives in aristocratic society
In Your Life:
You might encounter this when someone compliments your skills excessively before asking for a big favor
Pride
In This Chapter
The Austrian commander's pride in his authority makes him dismiss warnings and arrest his own sergeant
Development
Continues exploring how pride creates blind spots that others can exploit
In Your Life:
Your expertise in one area might make you overconfident and miss red flags in related situations
Opportunity
In This Chapter
Prince Andrew sees the military crisis as his chance for career-defining glory rather than a disaster to avoid
Development
Shows how different people respond to the same crisis based on their personal ambitions
In Your Life:
You might recognize moments when others see problems but you see your chance to step up and prove yourself
Authority
In This Chapter
Social manipulation works by exploiting respect for hierarchy and making the commander complicit in his own deception
Development
Examines how authority structures can be turned against themselves
In Your Life:
You might notice how people use your position or expertise to manipulate you into decisions that serve their interests
Recognition
In This Chapter
Prince Andrew receives honors from the Emperor but realizes the recognition is hollow and bureaucratic
Development
Explores the gap between meaningful achievement and empty ceremonial acknowledgment
In Your Life:
You might experience moments when official recognition feels meaningless because it doesn't reflect real understanding of your work
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why did the Austrian commander believe the French marshals instead of his own sergeant who tried to warn him?
analysis • surface - 2
What made the French deception so effective - was it just the lies, or something deeper about how they approached the commander?
analysis • medium - 3
Where have you seen people use excessive flattery or praise to get what they want in your workplace, relationships, or community?
application • medium - 4
When someone compliments your skills or expertise heavily before asking for something, what warning signs should you look for?
application • deep - 5
Why are competent, experienced people sometimes more vulnerable to manipulation than those who are less skilled?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Spot the Setup
Think of a recent situation where someone praised you heavily before asking for something - a favor, money, agreement to something. Write down exactly what they said and how they said it. Then analyze: What did they compliment? How did it make you feel? What did they want? Did you give it to them?
Consider:
- •Notice if the praise was unusually specific or over-the-top compared to normal interactions
- •Pay attention to timing - did the request come immediately after the flattery?
- •Consider whether they praised something you're particularly proud of or insecure about
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when someone's flattery made you ignore red flags or warning signs from others. What would you do differently now?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 41: When Systems Collapse Around You
Andrew rushes toward what he believes will be his moment of destiny, but the reality of war may prove far different from his romantic dreams of glory. The French advance continues, and hard choices await.
