War and Peace

History is an inexorable process that which man cannot influence

The existence of free will is questioned by the author. As he narrates the story of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he illustrates how the (his)story takes twists and turns making the emperors silent spectators. If Napoleon Bonaparte was a mighty emperor why did he lose the battle against the Russians? A trivial cause like, he(Napoleon) catching cold just before one of the strategically important battles could be one of the possible reasons for his failure. And that happened without anybody but history's influence. If such a noble warrior could not influence history what to say of the common man.

nyet on #atheists today asked me why I chose the IRC Nickname after a dead man. If you didn't know, my IRC nick name is Bonaparte. And I replied, that I just am and quoted him Tolstoy's conclusion. Till today I haven't been able to find a good reason to deny Tolstoy's philosophy.

History is not just the past. But it is an on going process which never stops. We think that we can influence it, but it happens on its own. I remember reading in one of Swami Vivekananda's books, a reference to an ancient Hindu theory written somewhere in the Vedic books which talks more or less the same what Tolstoy has said. The theory says that history happens in cycles. It fully supports the argument that history repeats itself. Whatever happens in this universe has begins and ends in a circle. One full circle makes history. And the same events happen in the same order over and over again repeatedly. The circle never stops. It takes several zillions of millions of years to complete one full circle. Both the opinion - Tolstoy's as well as the Vedic literature's reflect the same meaning that nothing can influence history.

Helen Bezukhova, Pierre, Natasha Rostova and Count Rostopchin are the characters that come to my mind when I talk or hear about the book. The narration is simply superb.