Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy military service. Military service of Tolstoy in the Caucasus. Participation in the heroic defense of Sevastopol
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What kind of officer was Tolstoy? The question is not idle. Obviously, if he had not served in the Caucasus and Sevastopol behind him, neither the Cossacks nor the Sevastopol Tales 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 in the war, attempts to unravel them and their own internal motivation formed the basis of vivid psychological images that still amaze the grateful reader.
It seems to us that with regard to Tolstoy's military service (especially her Sevastopol period), mass literature is dominated by some hagiographic character, which is characteristic of the description of the biographies of famous people in general. In these descriptions, the undoubted greatness of Tolstoy the writer is automatically transferred to other, in this case non-writer's, circumstances of his life: the great Tolstoy was on the 4th bastion ergo The 4th bastion is "great" because Tolstoy was on it.
Such semantic constructions are undoubtedly spectacular, easy for ordinary perception, thanks to them, mutual enrichment with fame occurs between the writer and the circumstance of his biography, but these constructions are unlikely to contribute to a better understanding of the life of the writer, and in the end they in no way cloud the understanding of his work. In addition, the smoothing of corners inherent in hagiography, the incantation of uncomfortable moments, caused by the fear of incurring accusations of shortcomings and even more so vices on a celebrity, hides the obvious idea that a celebrity, no matter how great she may be, remains a person with all his inherent passions, mistakes and experiences.
Without trying to describe Tolstoy's entire long and rich non-writing life, we decided to confine ourselves to the time of his service in officer ranks, more specifically, the period of the Crimean War, guided by what Tolstoy did during this relatively short period. final choice in favor of literature as the main field of his life.
We have at our disposal a lot of materials that are sources of information on this topic. First of all, these are materials written by Tolstoy himself - his correspondence, diaries, notes 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, the memoirs and letters of officers of the Sevastopol garrison (mainly artillerymen) were involved, although they did not mention Tolstoy, but were with him in almost similar circumstances of service. 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. We confine ourselves to pointing out that even then he showed those properties of his nature that accompanied him throughout his military career. On the one hand, this is the unconditional courage shown by him in battle, for which the cadet Tolstoy was repeatedly presented to the soldier's St. George's Cross. On the other hand, this is a disregard for discipline, for the performance of official duties, which prevented him from receiving an award, including those vital in war conditions. So, for example, Junker Tolstoy was even arrested for leaving his post during the guard. And finally, even in the Caucasus, such a trait of Tolstoy's character as a weak ability to get along in established teams manifested itself. (This last quality is especially important for an officer, whose circle of official contacts is determined not by his own choice, but by the will of his superiors and the requirements of the service.)
In January 1854, having passed the exam for an officer's rank, Tolstoy left the Caucasus and was transferred to the Danube army, acting against the Turks. Tolstoy learns about promotion to officers 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 Moldova and Wallachia on the left bank of the Danube. Bucharest was also occupied, where the headquarters of the Russian army was located.
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 for long - less than a month later he became an orderly under the head of the Headquarters of the artillery of the Southern Army, General A. O. Serzhputovsky. In his diary on this occasion, Tolstoy writes retrospectively on June 15, 1854:
“Three months of idleness and a life that I cannot be satisfied with. I spent three weeks at Scheidemann's, and I regret not staying. I would get along with the officers, and I would be able to get along with the battery commander. On the other hand, bad company and hidden malice from my unsplendid position would have had a good effect on me ... I was seconded to the Headquarters 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 announced a penalty to Tolstoy:
“At present, the service is difficult, and the officers must be at their places, I reprimand you severely for your unauthorized stay in Bucarest for more than a certain period, I order you to immediately arrive at the battery after receiving this.”
And secondly, Tolstoy and Scheidemann crossed paths a year later, when the latter became the head of artillery in Sevastopol. And their relationship, spoiled even at the first meeting, was tense almost until the end of the war, sometimes it came to public scenes.
Thus, Tolstoy's first experience as an officer in integrating into the service team should be recognized as unsuccessful. This episode, in addition to the conflict with the authorities, 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 hardly explainable, especially considering the fact that gunners (along with military engineers and sailors), due to the circumstances of the service, which requires 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 junker with a complete lack of officer experience is explained by the fact that Tolstoy initially sought to avoid serving in the ranks and, visiting relatives and friends on the way to the Danube army, managed to obtain the necessary recommendations.
So, immediately upon arrival 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 relative. He kissed me, invited me to dinner every day, he wants to keep me with him, although this has not yet been completely decided.
“Thank God you are at the pier; I was sure that the prince would receive you in a kindred way, based on his friendly disposition towards your father, and it can be hoped that he would not refuse you his patronage. If he does not leave you with him, then he has good reasons for this and recommends you to someone who has weight in his eyes; this is how he always treats relatives in whom he is interested.
The strength of the patronage, however, was only enough to appoint Tolstoy to the "secondary" Artillery Headquarters, but it was not enough to be transferred to the main Headquarters. Tolstoy was actually "imposed" on the commander of artillery, General Serzhputovsky, as orderlies, which created tensions between them. The general was clearly a burden to the inexperienced orderly, whom he could not send back to the unit, and Tolstoy felt dissatisfied with the status in which he resides. Obviously he expected more. Tension, turning into hostility, arose almost immediately, and already at the beginning of July 1854 Tolstoy reflects on the reasons:
“It was 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, relations 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 silly old man irritated me again with his manner of not bowing. I'll have to give him a chic."
It is not known whether Tolstoy gave the "chic" to his general, but a week later a new entry: "The old man still does not bow to me."
As a result, reconciliation did not come, 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 like you very much.”
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, revelry and entertainment, sometimes not always decent (see, for example, an entry dated July 29, 1854: “Walking from dinner, Tyshk[evich] and I stopped at a bardeli, and we were covered by Kryzhanovsky"), as well as literature classes. It was during his stay in the Danube army that Tolstoy completed Boyhood and Woodcutting. Junker's story.
Service at the headquarters was generally comfortable and easy, although, perhaps, monotonous. In a letter to T. A. Ergolskaya on May 24, 1854, Tolstoy writes:
“I am ashamed that you think that I have been exposed to all the dangers of war, and I have not yet smelled Turkish gunpowder, but I live quietly in Bucharest, walk, play music and eat ice cream. In addition to the two weeks that I spent in Oltenitsa, seconded 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 cunning, not wanting, perhaps, to annoy his dear aunt. He also had to make dangerous business trips, sometimes lasting several days, in units and subunits of the Danube army.
Half a century later, in a conversation with A. B. Goldenweiser, Tolstoy recalled:
“The 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 that I never had to shoot. I remember once on the Danube at Silistria we stood 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, when he saw me, decided that here is a young graphite, I'll play with him! And he drove me along the entire line under the shots, and deliberately murderously slowly. I passed this exam outwardly well, but the feeling was very bad.
If you briefly characterize Tolstoy's attitude to the war at that time, then it can be called contemplative and a little detached. He observes, remembers impressions. At that time, Tolstoy does not even have a hint of pacifism, there is no appeal to the humanistic ideals that have become integral part his later image. On the contrary, he likes the aesthetic side of war. Being present together with the headquarters during the siege of Silistria, on July 5, 1854, Tolstoy wrote in a letter to his aunt:
“To tell the truth, it is a strange pleasure to watch people kill each other, and between that morning and evening I watched it for hours from my wagon. And I'm not alone. The spectacle was truly remarkable, and especially at night. Usually at night, our soldiers worked in the trenches, the Turks attacked to prevent this work, and you should have seen and heard 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 laid siege to 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 Danubian principalities.
Tolstoy, even during the retreat, does not stop fussing about being transferred to Gorchakov's headquarters. In this sense, the already cited letter to T. A. Ergolskaya dated July 5, 1854 is very significant. It contains such undisguised flattery to the commander, obviously 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 an aunt, or through censorship of military censorship (personal letters sent to Russia from the current armies, as a rule, were perused at the border). Thus, speaking of Gorchakov, Tolstoy writes:
“I am becoming an admirer of the prince (however, one must listen to what officers and soldiers say about him - not only have I never heard a bad word about him, but everyone adore him) ... It is clear that he is so immersed in the general course of affairs, whatever bullets and bombs do not exist for him, he is exposed to danger with such simplicity, as if he were not aware of it, and involuntarily becomes more terrible for him than for himself; gives orders clear, precise and at the same time always friendly with everyone and everyone. This great person, that is, capable and honest, as I understand this word, a person who devoted his whole life to serving the fatherland, and not out of ambition, but out of duty ... Dear aunt, 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 revere from the depths of my soul.
However, all the efforts were in vain - the transfer to the Main Apartment did not happen.
Tolstoy's position was aggravated by the fact that at first, in addition to tense relations with his immediate superiors, he failed to build equal 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 field marshal’s adjutants, in which it was unbearably hard for me,” and a day later he again mentions “adjutants, who, it seems to me, , savage me like disgracie". And this despite the fact that Tolstoy really wanted to get into the circle of these “aristocrats”, “bashi-bouzouks” (this is how the staff youth, especially adjutants, were called mockingly and contemptuously in the army). 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 guards (or both), they, compared with Tolstoy, had much more army and administrative experience. Finally, they were old comrades bound by close ties of common Petersburg acquaintances, interests, and memories. And the provincial Tolstoy, with his two years of secluded Caucasian junkers, of course, was not easy for them to become their own.
But there was another reason - the main one. From the very beginning, Tolstoy chose the wrong tone in his communication with his comrades.
“I am too honest to deal with these people. It is strange that only now I noticed one of my important shortcomings: insulting and arousing envy in others - a tendency to show off all my 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, condescendingly. He got irritated when there seemed to be no reason:
“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 position as now. Sick, irritated, completely alone, I managed to disgust everyone, in the most indecisive and bad official 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 ”(record dated July 26, 1854).
To all appearances, Tolstoy managed to “endure the unpleasantness of getting close to his comrades,” and already on July 31, 1854, he writes: “My relations with my comrades are becoming so pleasant that I feel sorry for leaving the headquarters.”
Moreover, an informal group of young officers and adjutants of the Headquarters of the Southern Army is gradually taking shape, who, in addition to service and entertainment, find time to discuss serious socio-political, moral and ethical issues (see, for example, the entry dated June 24, 1854: “Chatted until the night with Shubin about our Russian slavery. It is true that slavery is evil, but extremely sweet evil.")
This circle included Tolstoy himself, captains A. D. Stolypin and A. Ya. Fride, staff captains L. F. Balyuzek and I. K. Komstadius, lieutenants Shubin and K. N. Boborykin. It is worth noting that these were outstanding and active people - four will reach the ranks of generals, three will become governors (and A. D. Stolypin, the father of the future Chairman of the Council of Ministers P. A. Stolypin, will even become governor general). In the late summer and early autumn of 1854, the idea arose in the circle to create a society with the aim of "distributing enlightenment and knowledge among the military in general and soldiers in particular." Pretty quickly, the idea evolved into a magazine project.
No opposition direction, which was later hinted at by some admirers of the image of Tolstoy the rebel, was not supposed. On the contrary, the founders planned a well-intentioned educational publication with elements of propaganda. Here is how Tolstoy himself outlined the goals of the Soldier's Bulletin (later renamed the Military List):
"1. distribution between the soldiers of the rules of military virtues: devotion to the Throne and the Fatherland and the holy performance of military duties;
2. distribution between officers and lower ranks of information about modern military events, ignorance of which gives rise to false and even harmful rumors among the troops, about feats of courage and valiant deeds of detachments and individuals in all theaters of a real war;
3. distribution between the military of all ranks and branches of service of knowledge about special items military art;
4. distribution of critical information about the dignity of military writings, new inventions and projects;
5. delivering entertaining, accessible and useful reading to all ranks of the army;
6. improvement of the soldier’s poetry, which is his only literature, by placing in the Journal of songs written in a clear and sonorous language, inspiring the soldier with the correct concepts of things and more than others filled with feelings of love for the Monarch and the Fatherland.
The publication, in which Tolstoy was assigned the role of editor, was supposed to be financed from the funds of the founders and subscriptions. In fact, the investors were to be Tolstoy and Stolypin, who then became very close and were on friendly terms throughout the Crimean War. It is noteworthy that, unlike the really wealthy Stolypin, who had estates in several provinces, Tolstoy was a landowner of an average hand, if not poor. The state was also greatly upset by Tolstoy's huge gambling debts. To finance the proposed publication, Tolstoy even had to sell his family nest - a manor house in Yasnaya Polyana. (And even then, immediately after receiving these funds, Tolstoy lost cards and “magazine” money, and several thousand more in debt, which caused him to become depressed).
The army command reacted favorably to the idea, the plan for publishing the journal was approved by Gorchakov, and moreover, several generals agreed to take part as authors of articles. On October 16, 1854, Gorchakov sent an attitude on this issue to the Minister of War for a report to Nicholas I. A trial issue was even prepared, the authors of the articles in which were Tolstoy and the headquarters captain N. Ya. Rostovtsev who joined the circle (later also the general and governor) . But the answer of the Minister of War, received at the headquarters of the Southern Army on November 21, 1854, when Tolstoy was already in Sevastopol, completely destroyed these plans:
“His Majesty, doing full justice to the well-intentioned purpose with which it was supposed to publish the said journal, deigned to admit it was inconvenient to allow the publication of it, since all articles relating to the military operations of our troops, previously placed in magazines and newspapers, are initially published in the newspaper Russky Disabled” and from it are already being borrowed into other periodicals.
We are not inclined, like some accusers of Nicholas I, to see in this decision of the emperor a desire for censorship and some kind of "fear of the living word." Just in time for the unofficial, creative part of the planned publication, the authorities had no questions. The objection was caused by the official part, namely, the proposed publication of orders, reports, decisions of military courts, etc. The fact is that it was the Russian Invalid, which was a charitable publication, that had a monopoly on the exclusive publication of this information, all the profits from which went to the Committee on August 18, 1814 (later the Alexander Committee on the Wounded), which was engaged in helping the wounded, sick and elderly veterans and their families. In addition, on the eve of the war, the Committee suffered serious losses due to large-scale theft, and Nicholas I, who painfully perceived this whole scandalous story, zealously followed the replenishment of the Committee's fund. The publication of official documents not in the "Russian Invalid", but on the pages of other publications, undermined the competitive advantages of the publication and ultimately deprived it (and, consequently, the "Committee of the Wounded") of income.
The collapse of the idea of the "Military Herald", oddly enough, had colossal consequences for the fate of Tolstoy and all Russian literature. Firstly, after the rejection of the magazine, Tolstoy agreed with N. A. Nekrasov on the publication of stories and essays by failed publishers in Sovremennik. Tolstoy himself became, in fact, a military correspondent for a literary magazine, and the Sevastopol Tales he later wrote were the direct result of his correspondent duties. Secondly, the story "Sevastopol in December" was published not only in Sovremennik, but also reprinted (in abbreviation) in the same official Russian Invalid, which made Tolstoy even more famous in Russia. And, thirdly, by order of the emperor, "Sevastopol in December" was transferred to French and published in a number of foreign publications that were under the control of the Russian government (in particular, in the Belgian magazine LeNord). And, if the initial interest of the European public was caused by the undoubted relevance of the topic in the conditions of the Crimean War, then, having satisfied their curiosity, the readers could not but draw conclusions about the literary merits of the story and the talent of the author. In such a bizarre way, the collapse of the "Military List" and the related actions of the government contributed to Tolstoy's world fame.
With the end of the siege of Silistria and the retreat of the Southern Army to Russia, active operations in the Danube theater actually ceased. Back in July 1854, during the period of aggravation of the conflict with his boss Serzhputovsky, Tolstoy filed his first report on transfer to Sevastopol. Then the petition had no effect. But after the Anglo-French-Turkish landing near Evpatoria in September, the center of the war finally shifted to the Crimea. It no longer made sense to detain Tolstoy in the Southern Army, and the report was given a go. But Tolstoy stayed at the Headquarters himself - it was necessary to complete the draft "Military leaflet" for transmission through Gorchakov to the emperor. And only after the completion of the project in the last days of October Tolstoy goes to Sevastopol, where he arrives on November 7, 1854.
In a letter to his brother S. N. Tolstoy dated November 20, 1854, he summarizes his participation in the Danube campaign:
“In general, my entire stay in the army is divided into two periods, a bad one abroad - I was sick, and poor, and lonely, - pleasant within the borders: I am healthy, I have good friends, but still poor, - the money keeps climbing ... For Silistria, as it should be, I was not represented, but I received a second lieutenant along the line, which I am very pleased with, otherwise I had too old a distinction for an ensign, I was ashamed.
On September 6, 1854, Tolstoy, according to the text of the official list, was "promoted to the vacancy as a second lieutenant." It is possible that his short secondment to the light battery No. 6 of the 12th artillery brigade in late September - early October 1854 is connected with this production. Subsequently, Tolstoy went through almost the entire war with the rank of second lieutenant, unlike his comrades, who mostly ended it as colonels and lieutenant colonels.
Tolstoy himself reported different things about the motives for asking for a transfer to Sevastopol. So, in a letter to S. N. Tolstoy dated July 5, 1855, he writes:
“From Chisinau on November 1, I asked to go to the Crimea, partly in order to see this war, partly in order to break out of the Serzhputovsky Headquarters, which I did not like, but most of all out of patriotism, which at that time, I confess, strongly found on me".
And in his diary, in an entry dated November 2, made on the way to Sevastopol, he says something else about the reasons for the transfer:
“Among the useless victims of this unfortunate affair, Soimonov and Comstadius were killed. They say about the first that he was one of the few honest and thinking generals of the Russian army; the second one I knew quite intimately: he was a member of our society and the future publisher of the Journal. His death most of all prompted me to ask for Sevastopol. I felt ashamed of him."
After leaving the university for 4 years, when Tolstoy's brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, arrived in Yasnaya Polyana and began to call him there. For a long time Lev Nikolayevich did not give up at the call of his brother, until a big 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 hurriedly left Moscow for the Caucasus, at first without any specific goal. Soon he decided to enter the military service, but there were obstacles in the form of a lack of necessary papers that were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete seclusion 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 of Eposhka. In the autumn of 1851, after passing an exam in Tiflis, Lev Nikolayevich entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovo, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in detail, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in " Cossacks". The same "Cossacks" will give us a picture of the inner life of Tolstoy, who fled from the pools of the capital, if we substitute the name "Tolstoy" instead of the name of Olenin. The moods that Tolstoy-Olenin experienced were of a dual nature: here is 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 self-esteem, taken out of the pursuit of success in this "empty" life, here is the heavy consciousness of misconduct against the strict requirements of true morality.
In a remote village, Lev Nikolayevich 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 first-born: at least, among the numerous biographical facts collected by his friends and admirers, there is no data indicating that Lev Nikolayevich 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 quite ripe, but in ordinary times he is a secular person, an officer, a landowner, a teacher, a world mediator, a preacher, a teacher of life, etc. He never needed the company of writers, he never took the interests of literary parties to heart, he is far reluctant to talk about literature, always preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, 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 takes up the continuation of the trilogy, and plans for “Morning of the landowner”, “Raid”, “Cossacks” are swarming in his head. Published in Sovremennik, 1852. Childhood”, signed with the modest initials L.N.T., was an extraordinary success; the author immediately began to rank among the luminaries of the young literary school, along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed loud literary fame. Criticism - Apollon Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright convexity of realism, for all the veracity of the vividly grasped details of real life, alien to any kind of vulgarity.
Tolstoy, who was soon promoted to officer, remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes and being exposed to all the dangers of military life in the Caucasus. He had the rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it, which, apparently, was upset. When the Crimean War broke out at the end of 1853, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and in the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 was in Sevastopol.
All the horrors, hardships and suffering that befell his heroic defenders were also endured by Tolstoy. He lived for a long time on the terrible 4th bastion, commanded a battery in the battle of Chernaya, 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 other epic-brave Sevastopol residents, Tolstoy wrote at that time a combat story from the Caucasian life “Cutting the Forest” 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 “spoiled” it for himself. Almost the only time in his life he wrote a satirical song about the unfortunate case on August 4, 1855, when General Read, having misunderstood the order of the commander in chief, imprudently attacked the Fedyukhin Heights. The song (Like on the fourth day, it was not easy to take the mountain to take us, etc.), which offended a number of important generals, was a huge success and, of course, damaged the author.
Immediately after the assault on August 27, Tolstoy was sent by courier to 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, to a certain extent are the first sketch of that huge canvas, which 10 - 12 years later Lev Nikolayevich unfolded with such brilliant skill in " War and peace". The first in Russian, and almost in world literature, Tolstoy took up a sober analysis of combat life, the first to react to it without any exaltation. He brought down military prowess from the pedestal of solid "heroism", but at the same time exalted it like no one else. He showed that the brave man of the moment a minute before and a minute later, the same person as everyone else, until circumstances demanded heroism from him. Lev Nikolaevich vividly exposed the greatness of the simple heroism, not draping himself in anything, not climbing forward, doing only what is necessary: if necessary, hide like this, if necessary, die like that.
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Tolstoy's favorite composers were Bach, Handel and Chopin. In the late 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which he performed in the early 1900s with the composer Taneyev, who made a musical notation of this piece of music (the only one composed by Tolstoy).
The development of Tolstoy's love for music was also facilitated by the fact that during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1848, he met in a very unsuitable dance class setting with a gifted but misguided German musician, whom he later described in Alberta. Tolstoy had the idea to save him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played a lot with him. A lot of time was also spent on carousing, playing and hunting.
In the winter of 1850-1851 began to write "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote The History of Yesterday.
So 4 years passed after leaving the university, when Tolstoy's brother, Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and began to call him there. Tolstoy did not give in to his brother's call until a big loss in Moscow helped to resolve. In order to pay off, it was necessary to reduce their expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy hurriedly left Moscow for the Caucasus without a specific goal. Soon he decided to enter the military service, but there were obstacles in the form of a lack of necessary papers that were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete seclusion in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, the prototype of one of the heroes of the story "The Cossacks", appearing there under the name Eroshka.
In the autumn of 1851, having passed an exam in Tiflis, Tolstoy entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovo, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in detail, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in The Cossacks. The same "Cossacks" will give us a picture of the inner life of Tolstoy, who fled from the capital's whirlpool.
In a remote village, Tolstoy began to write and in 1852 sent the first part of the future trilogy, Childhood, to the editors of Sovremennik.
The relatively late beginning of the career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he was never a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a livelihood, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, he was reluctant to talk about literature, preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.
Military career
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 takes up the continuation of the trilogy, and plans for “Morning of the landowner”, “Raid”, “Cossacks” are swarming in his head. Published in Sovremennik on September 18, 1852, Childhood, signed with the modest initials L. N. T., was an extraordinary success; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school, along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed loud literary fame at that time. Criticism - Apollon Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright convexity of realism.
Tolstoy remained in the Caucasus for two years, taking part in many skirmishes with the highlanders and being exposed to the dangers of military life in the Caucasus. He had the rights and claims to the George Cross, but did not receive it. When the Crimean War broke out at the end of 1853, 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 was in Sevastopol.
Tolstoy lived for a long time on the terrible 4th bastion, commanded a battery in the battle of Chernaya, was during the hellish bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at that time a combat story from the Caucasian life "Cutting down the forest" and the first of the 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 a picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Alexander II (Tolstoy himself was convinced that Nicholas I read his story, but this could not be, since the story was published after the death of Nicholas); he ordered to take care of the gifted officer.
The relatively late beginning of the 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 livelihood, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, he 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 participated in many skirmishes with the mountaineers and was exposed to the dangers of military life in the Caucasus. He had the right to the St. George Cross, however, in accordance with his convictions, he "conceded" his fellow soldier, considering that a significant simplification of the conditions of service of a colleague is higher than personal vanity. With the outbreak 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 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, was bombarded during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Tolstoy, despite all the hardships of life and the horrors of the siege, at that time wrote the story "Cutting the Forest", 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 of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was seen by Russian Emperor Alexander II in 2002; 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 List ", however, Tolstoy failed to implement the project of the magazine:" For the project, my Sovereign, the Emperor, most mercifully deigned to allow our articles to be printed in Invalid", - Tolstoy bitterly sneered about this in 2002.
For being at the time of the bombardment on the Yazonovsky redoubt of the fourth bastion, composure and diligence.
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": silver as a participant in the defense of Sevastopol and bronze as the author of Sevastopol Tales.
Tolstoy, enjoying the reputation of a brave officer and surrounded by the splendor of fame, had every chance of a career. However, his career was blighted by writing several satirical songs stylized as soldiers. One of these songs was dedicated to the failure of the military operation for 4 years, when General Read, having misunderstood the order of the commander in chief, attacked the Fedyukhin Heights. A song called “Like the fourth number, it was not easy to take the mountains to take us away,” which touched on 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, already with the full signature of the author. "Sevastopol Tales" 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? The question is not idle. Obviously, if he had not served in the Caucasus and Sevastopol behind him, neither the Cossacks nor the Sevastopol Tales 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 in the war, attempts to unravel them and their own internal motivation formed the basis of vivid psychological images that still amaze the grateful reader.
It seems to us that with regard to Tolstoy's military service (especially her Sevastopol period), mass literature is dominated by some hagiographic character, which is characteristic of the description of the biographies of famous people in general. In these descriptions, the undoubted greatness of Tolstoy the writer is automatically transferred to other, in this case non-writer's, 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 spectacular, easy for ordinary perception, thanks to them, mutual enrichment with fame occurs between the writer and the circumstance of his biography, but these constructions are unlikely to contribute to a better understanding of the life of the writer, and in the end they in no way cloud the understanding of his work. In addition, the smoothing of corners inherent in hagiography, the incantation of uncomfortable moments, caused by the fear of incurring accusations of shortcomings and even more so vices on a celebrity, hides the obvious idea that a celebrity, no matter how great she may be, remains a person with all his inherent passions, mistakes and experiences.
Without trying to describe Tolstoy's entire long and rich non-writing life, we decided to confine ourselves to the time of his service in officer ranks, more specifically, 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 his main life. field.
We have at our disposal a lot of materials that are sources of information on this topic. First of all, these are materials written by Tolstoy himself - his correspondence, diaries, notes 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, the memoirs and letters of officers of the Sevastopol garrison (mainly artillerymen) were involved, although they did not mention Tolstoy, but were with him in almost similar circumstances of service. 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. We confine ourselves to pointing out that even then he showed those properties of his nature that accompanied him throughout his military career. On the one hand, this is the unconditional courage shown by him in battle, for which the cadet Tolstoy was repeatedly presented to the soldier's St. George's Cross. On the other hand, this is a disregard for discipline, for the performance of official duties, which prevented him from receiving an award, including those vital in war conditions. So, for example, Junker Tolstoy was even arrested for leaving his post during the guard. And finally, even in the Caucasus, such a trait of Tolstoy's character as a weak ability to get along in established teams manifested itself. (This last quality is especially important for an officer, whose circle of official contacts is determined not by his own 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, acting against the Turks. Tolstoy learns about promotion to officers 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 Moldova and Wallachia on the left bank of the Danube. Bucharest was also occupied, where the headquarters of the Russian army was located.
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 for long - less than a month later he became an orderly under the head of the Headquarters of the artillery of the Southern Army, General A. O. Serzhputovsky. In his diary on this occasion, Tolstoy writes retrospectively on June 15, 1854:
“Three months of idleness and a life that I cannot be satisfied with. I spent three weeks at Scheidemann's, and I regret not staying. I would get along with the officers, and I would be able to get along with the battery commander. On the other hand, bad company and hidden malice from my unsplendid position would have had a good effect on me ... I was seconded to the Headquarters 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 announced a penalty to Tolstoy:
“At present, the service is difficult, and the officers must be at their places, I reprimand you severely for your unauthorized stay in Bucarest for more than a certain period, I order you to immediately arrive at the battery after receiving this.”
And secondly, Tolstoy and Scheidemann crossed paths a year later, when the latter became the head of artillery in Sevastopol. And their relationship, spoiled even at the first meeting, was tense almost until the end of the war, sometimes it came to public scenes.
Thus, Tolstoy's first experience as an officer in integrating into the service team should be recognized as unsuccessful. This episode, in addition to the conflict with the authorities, 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 hardly explainable, especially considering the fact that gunners (along with military engineers and sailors), due to the circumstances of the service, which requires 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 junker with a complete lack of officer experience is explained by the fact that Tolstoy initially sought to avoid serving 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 arrival 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 relative. He kissed me, invited me to dinner every day, he wants to keep me with him, although this has not yet been completely decided.
“Thank God you are at the pier; I was sure that the prince would receive you in a kindred way, based on his friendly disposition towards your father, and it can be hoped that he would not refuse you his patronage. If he does not leave you with him, then he has good reasons for this and recommends you to someone who has weight in his eyes; this is how he always treats relatives in whom he is interested.
The strength of the patronage, however, was only enough to appoint Tolstoy to the "secondary" Artillery Headquarters, but it was not enough to be transferred to the main Headquarters. Tolstoy was actually "imposed" on the commander of artillery, General Serzhputovsky, as orderlies, which created tensions between them. The general was clearly a burden to the inexperienced orderly, whom he could not send back to the unit, and Tolstoy felt dissatisfied with the status in which he resides. Obviously he expected more. Tension, turning into hostility, arose almost immediately, and already at the beginning of July 1854 Tolstoy reflects on the reasons:
“It was 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, relations 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 silly old man irritated me again with his manner of not bowing. I'll have to give him a chic."
It is not known whether Tolstoy gave the "chic" to his general, but a week later a new entry: "The old man still does not bow to me."
As a result, reconciliation did not come, 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 like you very much.”
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, revelry and entertainment, sometimes not always decent (see, for example, an entry dated July 29, 1854: “Walking from dinner, Tyshk[evich] and I stopped at a bardeli, and we were covered by Kryzhanovsky"), as well as literature classes. It was during his stay in the Danube army that Tolstoy completed Boyhood and Woodcutting. Junker's story.
Service at the headquarters was generally comfortable and easy, although, perhaps, monotonous. In a letter to T. A. Ergolskaya on May 24, 1854, Tolstoy writes:
“I am ashamed that you think that I have been exposed to all the dangers of war, and I have not yet smelled Turkish gunpowder, but I live quietly in Bucharest, walk, play music and eat ice cream. In addition to the two weeks that I spent in Oltenitsa, seconded 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 cunning, not wanting, perhaps, to annoy his dear aunt. He also had to make dangerous business trips, sometimes lasting several days, in units and subunits of the Danube army.
Half a century later, in a conversation with A. B. Goldenweiser, Tolstoy recalled:
“The 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 that I never had to shoot. I remember once on the Danube at Silistria we stood 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, when he saw me, decided that here is a young graphite, I'll play with him! And he drove me along the entire line under the shots, and deliberately murderously slowly. I passed this exam outwardly well, but the feeling was very bad.
If you briefly characterize Tolstoy's attitude to the war at that time, then it can be called contemplative and a little detached. He observes, remembers impressions. At that time, 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 together with the headquarters during the siege of Silistria, on July 5, 1854, Tolstoy wrote in a letter to his aunt:
“To tell the truth, it is a strange pleasure to watch people kill each other, and between that morning and evening I watched it for hours from my wagon. And I'm not alone. The spectacle was truly remarkable, and especially at night. Usually at night, our soldiers worked in the trenches, the Turks attacked to prevent this work, and you should have seen and heard 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 laid siege to 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 Danubian principalities.
Tolstoy, even during the retreat, does not stop fussing about being transferred to Gorchakov's headquarters. In this sense, the already cited letter to T. A. Ergolskaya dated July 5, 1854 is very significant. It contains such undisguised flattery to the commander, obviously 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 an aunt, or through censorship of military censorship (personal letters sent to Russia from the current armies, as a rule, were perused at the border). Thus, speaking of Gorchakov, Tolstoy writes:
“I am becoming an admirer of the prince (however, one must listen to what officers and soldiers say about him - not only have I never heard a bad word about him, but everyone adore him) ... It is clear that he is so immersed in the general course of affairs, whatever bullets and bombs do not exist for him, he is exposed to danger with such simplicity, as if he were not aware of it, and involuntarily becomes more terrible for him than for himself; gives orders clear, precise and at the same time always friendly with everyone and everyone. This is a great man, that is, capable and honest, as I understand this word - a man who devoted his whole life to the service of the fatherland, and not out of ambition, but out of duty ... Dear aunt, 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 revere from the depths of my soul.
However, all the efforts were in vain - the transfer to the Main Apartment did not happen.
Tolstoy's position was aggravated by the fact that at first, in addition to tense relations with his immediate superiors, he failed to build equal 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 field marshal’s adjutants, in which it was unbearably hard for me,” and a day later he again mentions “adjutants, who, it seems to me, , shy of me as disgracié". And this despite the fact that Tolstoy really wanted to get into the circle of these “aristocrats”, “bashi-bouzouks” (this is how the staff youth, especially adjutants, were called mockingly and contemptuously in the army). 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 guards (or both), they, compared with Tolstoy, had much more army and administrative experience. Finally, they were old comrades bound by close ties of common Petersburg acquaintances, interests, and memories. And the provincial Tolstoy, with his two years of secluded Caucasian junkers, of course, was not easy for them to become their own.
But there was another reason - the main one. From the very beginning, Tolstoy chose the wrong tone in his communication with his comrades.
“I am too honest to deal with these people. It is strange that only now I noticed one of my important shortcomings: insulting and arousing envy in others - a tendency to show off all my 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, condescendingly. He got irritated when there seemed to be no reason:
“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 position as now. Sick, irritated, completely alone, I managed to disgust everyone, in the most indecisive and bad official 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 ”(record dated July 26, 1854).