This pivotal short section depicts one of the iconic episodes of Austerlitz, namely retreating Russian forces falling through ice amidst an artillery barrage.

French General Adolphe Marbot provided a contemporary report on this phenomenon and Czar Alexander appears to have relayed to his inner circle, years later in 1814, that he watched helplessly as thousands of his men perish in the frozen waters. A large number is realistic given accepted casualty figures. Estimates of allied losses indicate 12,000 Russians and 4,000 Austrians dead or wounded and 12,000 captured. French losses were around 1,400 killed and 7,000 injured.

For nearly a century, which covers the period Tolstoy was writing, it was accepted that thousands perished in this dramatic way. However, academic scrutiny on the episode gained steam in 1902 when Oxford historian Reginald L. Poole published an influential article in The English Historical Review. Poole notes that accounts of the weather in the local Oberamtmann newspaper for early December 1805 indicate the ice was relatively thin, so Poole suggests a vast army retreat would not have been realistic. Nevertheless, a report of relatively thin ice is...relative...and the weather was naturally subject to getting colder from publication. Poole also notes that French engineers drained some of the waters within a few days of the battle, whereupon they discovered 30 cannons and the remains of 150 horses but only three people. Still there are few specifics on the actual draining. While there remains a great deal of mystery surrounding the event, cannon balls assuredly pierced the ice, leading to a grand spectacle.

Tolstoy puts the fictional Fedor Dolokhov in this mix of the columns retreating in the southern portion of the field after the fight was lost at all points. Dolokhov is among a group crowding around an escape route by a dam and the attendant waters near the Village of Augesd (Awg-est or Ow-gest), which was reachable by cannon fire from the Pratzen Heights. It was within the rules of engagement to fire at such retreating soldiers, provided it was done at active combatants and not those surrendering or too injured to pose a threat.

Tolstoy makes a critical contrast, remarking how this area only knew peace for generations. On the quant dam, which also served as a bridge, an old miller would ordinarily sit in his tasseled cap fishing with his grandson nearby while locals steered their two-horse carts back and forth with goods. On December 2, 1805, however, terrified men crowded together, nearly crushing one another amidst an artillery barrage. Many were struck down like bowling pins. At intervals, they took fire and some went down while others were forced to step over the dead. It was something of a macabre carnival game.

Dolokhov is a character men & women love and actors would love to play. Youthful, masculine, handsome, with a dark and wild side. Not wealthy and of privilege like the plentiful assembly of aristocrats Tolstoy crafts, Dolokhov still reflects a side of Tolstoy as in the author’s younger days he was quite the debauched gambler. Dolokhov had been wounded and imbued with survival instincts. He was escaping with some ten men of his company, representing all that was left of it. His contingent got stymied at an approach because a dead horse had to be dragged out of the narrow path.

Soon enough, a cannon ball takes someone out behind Dolokov and another fell in front of him, so Dolokhov was splashed with blood. He is desperate.

Each of these men thought, “If we get a hundred yards further and we are saved, but shall we remain here another two minutes….it is certain death.” Dolokhov frees himself, leaves the edge of the dam and runs onto the ice. Come this way!” he beckons, jumping about the ice which creaked under him. “It bears!” The ice swayed and it was plain that it would give way under his weight alone. The men hesitated in stepping onto the ice, but realized they had no choice.

A nearby general on horseback tried to say something but was quickly taken out and it was an ugly death. Seeing their leader fall, the men realized they had to try and ran onto that ice. So they went, running and sliding away from danger.

Very soon, the ice gave way. First under one man, then another, and on and on. Cries of horror were heard as a group went down in a great mass and struggled in the freezing water. Tolstoy puts a number as forty men, which is well within reason. As the chapter ends, cannon balls continue to pound the ice.

This episode explores the background of the Czar reduced to tears after the Battle of Austerlitz.

Many readers know little of the ruler Nicholas Rostov and countless officers were so devoted to.

Over the last few years, you may have watched Ridley Scott’s film “Napoleon.” I argue that the casting of Alexandr embraces a view of the filmmaker that aligns with the perception the fictional Nicholas held.

Edouard Philipponnat as Alexandr was the standout in the film and embraced a youthful exuberance. Handsome and dashing, Scott captured the energy that Tolstoy depicts.

Should you view a portrait of Alexandr, however, you will not see the equivalent of an Edourd or Brad Pitt. You will discover something that fits of Alexander Pushkin’s description of Alexandr of being a “Balding Dandy.” Pushkin was exiled by Alexandr for anti-Czarist sentiments.

Napoleon even wrote Josephine in 1807: “I am satisfied with Alexander and he ought to be satisfied with me. If he were a woman, I think I would make him my mistress.” Historically, the opposite may have been true. Alexandr may have taken up an affair with Josephine and assuredly did so with numerous beautiful and intelligent woman of the aristocracy.

More Importantly, Alexandr has a fascinating background which contributes to turning him into the lamenting Sovereign at Austerlitz.

Alexander’s grandfather was Peter III, who was born in northern German speaking lands and was also, for a time, the presumptive heir for the throne of Sweden. Peter served as Czar for only six months before his wife, Catherine, plotted to overthrew him in 1762. Catherine was Germanic royalty who converted to Orthodoxy upon her marriage. Catherine moved quickly against her husband, who she regarded as lacking sense and maturity. She also considered him a drunk. Nevertheless, some German historians find Peter to be cultured and open-minded. Peter did have an openness to adapting European technology and placed the sciences on a prestigious level. After the coup, Peter was held in a prison and likely strangled. The official account was that the cause was a stroke or bowel obstruction.

Catherine then ruled as regent for her son Paul, but never gave up any authority when Paul became of-age, around 1772. Catherine alleged, in memoirs and conversation, that Paul was sired by one of her lovers, which would mean Alexandr was not of any so-called Royal blood. Nevertheless, she took notable efforts to educate Paul’s two sons, Alexandr and Konstantin.

When Catherine died in 1796, Paul assumed leadership and met a similar end as Peter after a five year reign. Paul shares a complex reputation and was quite notably influenced by his love of Prussia, especially their military. Paul was most assuredly strangled in 1801. This second murder of a Czar within 40 years is what brought Alexandr (then 23) to the throne.

As referenced, Catherine dedicated time to instruct Alexandr and his brother Konstantin. She would relay the importance of the French Revolution and read to them the Declaration of the Rights of Man. More consequentially, Catherine assigned Alexandr a Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, to teach Enlightenment ideals. For generations, aristocratic households were commonly hiring French and Swiss educators. Peter the Great had a Swiss soldier and advisor, François Lefort, instruct him on how to follow the path of Europe.

Alexandr took to his Swiss tutor and had a keen mind toward European ways. As soon as he became Czar, he put aspects of his education into practice, including creating an intellectual inner circle. Early on, this close group planned various reforms such as easing censorship and planning for a Constitution of the type sprouting around Europe.

There was a recognition that serfs were the agricultural and military backbone – but this system would eventually have to change. Alexandr desired phase out serfdom but it didn’t end until 1861. Alexandr went as far as issuing a voluntary decree - noting landowners could free their serfs and give them land if they desired. He understood what could and could not be done.

Reports are that Alexandr considered himself to be inspired – something of a Chosen One. He felt it was ordained that he would prevail at the pivotal battle at Austerlitz, which he chose to be present at. The all-encompassing loss caused him to become utterly devastated.

Nicholas continues on his mission looking for Kutuzov or the Emperor. He notices broken carriages along the roads and hordes of troops in worsening levels of disorganization. Many are wounded. He reaches an area safe from cannon fire coming from the Pratzen Heights and slows to realize that there is no point to what he is doing. He has nothing of import to convey to the Tsar or to Kutuzov, should they remain alive. He learns the direction surviving commanders headed and hears conflicting reports about Alexandr being wounded or killed. One soldier, however, expressed confidence the Tsar was driven away at full speed in a carriage pulled by his customary driver, Illya Ivanych,

Rostov rides on -- not knowing how to direct himself. He took in the scenery and local architecture, including a church, symbolic of the sacred blotted out by War. He felt that if the Emperor was slain, he should have no desire to save himself. The point is that Alexandr, who does not know the thousands of young men he sent to their ignominious end, remains Rostov’s end-and-be-all. This is a contrast to Andrei, who finally realizes there is something much greater than ambitious rulers.

Rostov soon passes the battlefield where the largest number perished. Here, “men lied like heaps of manure on well-kept plowland.” There were 10 to 15 dead to each couple of acres. Those wounded stumbled together in twos and threes and Rostov absorbed their screams and groans.

Rostov became noticeable on his horse and some French on higher ground trained a few shots at him. He was snapped out of his moroseness through thinking of his mother’s love. Once again Nicholas adopts the instincts of a rabbit who senses danger and escapes.

He made it to a small village many utilized as a Haven. Upon hearing more rumors about the Emperor, he continued on for a couple of miles, coming to a ditch where he saw two men who seemed out of place on their grand horses. Another stood by a tree and Rostov noticed it was his Monarch. Such a scenario may be thought fictional or symbolic – namely, Alexandr becoming virtually alone in the disorder of the retreat. However, there is enough truth in this description to commend Tolstoy for weaving fiction and history in the way that Shakespeare did with his Histories, where the Bard’s writing often stands for a greater truth.

What happened historically was that the struggle for The Pratzen Heights decided the Battle and Kutuzov remained at the center of the conflict for as long as prudent. Both Kutozov and even Weyrother were shouting orders, trying to rally men, dispatching messengers -- all actions of reputable commanders. Amidst the chaos, there are reports that Alexander was separated from his Guard and wound up with some of the survivors of Gen. Miloradovich’s brigade. At one point, Alexandr was found “on damp ground under a tree, with his face covered with a handkerchief, bitterly crying.” This was the account of Gen. Carl Freidrich Graf von Toll.

The sentiment portrayed by Tolstoy is that Alexandr started the day envisioning he would be at the head of His army, like a Greek Warrior-King, at least at the moment of Triumph. Yet the accounts are that he was reduced to the image of something like……Job among the ash heap. So Tolstoy depicts Rostov as having the opportunity to comfort his Beloved. Yet Tolstoy does NOT have Nicholas take that step. Instead, Rostov backs down with the fear of a youth who cannot approach his true love. Though Nicholas had played over a million speeches in his head on what he would say to Alexandr should they meet, he was now immobilized by fear. Instead he convinces himself of the imprudence of an approach at such an unpleasant moment. He felt any such interaction should be reserved for when Rostov was dying on the field and there would be a poetic moment of thanks. Tolstoy then has Von Toll come into the scene and upon seeing the Emperor, comfort him while the two spend a few moments under an apple tree.