Thirty Years' War. Thirteen Years' War Participants of the Thirty Years' War

Albert von Wallenstein - commander of the Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) was the first all-European war. One of the most cruel, persistent, bloody and long-lasting in the history of the Old World. It began as a religious one, but gradually turned into a dispute over hegemony in Europe, territories and trade routes. Conducted by the House of Habsburg, the Catholic principalities of Germany on the one hand, Sweden, Denmark, France, and German Protestants on the other

Causes of the Thirty Years' War

— Counter-Reformation: an attempt by the Catholic Church to win back from Protestantism the positions lost during the Reformation
— The desire of the Habsburgs, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation and Spain, for hegemony in Europe
— Concerns of France, which saw in the Habsburg policies an infringement of its national interests
The desire of Denmark and Sweden to monopolize control of the Baltic sea trade routes
— The selfish aspirations of numerous petty European monarchs, hoping to snatch something for themselves in the general chaos

Participants of the Thirty Years' War

— Habsburg bloc - Spain and Portugal, Austria; Catholic League - some Catholic principalities and bishoprics of Germany: Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia, Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Würzburg
— Denmark, Sweden; Evangelical or Protestant Union: Electorate of the Palatinate, Württemberg, Baden, Kulmbach, Ansbach, Palatinate-Neuburg, Landgraviate of Hesse, Electorate of Brandenburg and several imperial cities; France

Stages of the Thirty Years' War

Bohemian-Palatinate period (1618-1624)
Danish period (1625-1629)
Swedish period (1630-1635)
Franco-Swedish period (1635-1648)

The course of the Thirty Years' War. Briefly

“There was a mastiff, two collies and a St. Bernard, several bloodhounds and Newfoundlands, a hound, a French poodle, a bulldog, several lap dogs and two mongrels. They sat patiently and thoughtfully. But then a young lady came in, leading a fox terrier on a chain; she left him between the bulldog and the poodle. The dog sat down and looked around for a minute. Then, without a hint of any reason, he grabbed the poodle by the front paw, jumped over the poodle and attacked the collie, (then) grabbed the bulldog by the ear... (Then) all the other dogs opened hostilities. The big dogs fought among themselves; The small dogs also fought with each other, and in their free moments they bit the big dogs on the paws.”(Jerome K. Jerome "Three in a Boat")

Europe 17th century

Something similar happened in Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Thirty Years' War began with a seemingly autonomous Czech uprising. But at the same time, Spain fought with the Netherlands, in Italy the duchies of Mantua, Monferrato and Savoy were sorted out, in 1632-1634 Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth fought, from 1617 to 1629 there were three major clashes between Poland and Sweden, Poland also fought with Transylvania, and in turn called on Turkey for help. In 1618, an anti-republican conspiracy was discovered in Venice...

1618, March - Czech Protestants appealed to the Holy Roman Emperor Matthew demanding an end to the persecution of people on religious grounds
1618, May 23 - in Prague, participants in the Protestant congress committed violence against representatives of the emperor (the so-called “Second Prague Defenestration”)
1618, summer - palace coup in Vienna. Matthew was replaced on the throne by Ferdinand of Styria, a fanatical Catholic
1618, autumn - the imperial army entered the Czech Republic
Movements of Protestant and Imperial armies in the Czech Republic, Moravia, the German states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, sieges and capture of cities (Ceske Budejovice, Pilsen, Palatinate, Bautzen, Vienna, Prague, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Bergen op -Zoom), battles (at the village of Sablat, on White Mountain, at Wimpfen, at Hoechst, at Stadtlohn, at Fleurus) and diplomatic maneuvers characterized the first stage of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1624). It ended in victory for the Habsburgs. The Czech Protestant uprising failed, Bavaria received the Upper Palatinate, and Spain captured the Electoral Palatinate, providing a springboard for another war with the Netherlands
1624, June 10 - Treaty at Compiegne between France, England and the Netherlands on an alliance against the imperial house of Habsburg
1624, July 9 - Denmark and Sweden joined the Treaty of Compiegne, fearing the growing influence of Catholics in northern Europe
1625, spring - Denmark opposed the imperial army
1625, April 25 - Emperor Ferdinand appointed Albrech von Wallenstein commander of his army, who invited the emperor to feed his mercenary army at the expense of the population of the theater of operations
1826, April 25 - Wallenstein's army defeated the Protestant troops of Mansfeld at the Battle of Dessau
1626, August 27 - Tilly's Catholic army defeated the troops of the Danish king Christian IV at the Battle of the village of Lutter
1627, spring - Wallenstein's army moved to the north of Germany and captured it, including the Danish peninsula of Jutland
1628, September 2 - at the Battle of Wolgast, Wallenstein once again defeated Christian IV, who was forced to withdraw from the war
On May 22, 1629, a peace treaty was signed in Lübeck between Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire. Wallenstein returned the occupied lands to Christian, but obtained a promise not to interfere in German affairs. This ended the second stage of the Thirty Years' War
1629, March 6 - the emperor issued the Edict of Restitution. fundamentally curtailed the rights of Protestants
1630, June 4 - Sweden entered the Thirty Years' War
1630, September 13 - Emperor Ferdinand, fearing Wallenstein’s strengthening, dismissed him
1631, January 23 - an agreement between Sweden and France, according to which the Swedish king Gustavus Adolf pledged to keep a 30,000-strong army in Germany, and France, represented by Cardinal Richelieu, assumed the costs of its maintenance
1631, May 31 - The Netherlands entered into an alliance with Gustavus Adolphus, pledging to invade Spanish Flanders and subsidize the king's army
1532, April - the emperor again called Wallenstein into service
The third, Swedish, stage of the Thirty Years' War was the most fierce. Protestants and Catholics had long been mixed in the armies; no one remembered how it all began. The main driving motive of the soldiers was profit. That's why they killed each other without mercy. Having stormed the Neu-Brandenburg fortress, the emperor's mercenaries completely killed its garrison. In response, the Swedes destroyed all prisoners during the capture of Frankfurt an der Oder. Magdeburg was completely burned, tens of thousands of its inhabitants died. On May 30, 1632, during the battle of the Rhine fortress, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army Tilly was killed, on November 16, in the battle of Lützen, the Swedish king Gustav Adolf was killed, on February 25, 1634, Wallenstein was shot by his own guards. In 1630-1635, the main events of the Thirty Years' War unfolded in the lands of Germany. Swedes' victories alternated with defeats. The princes of Saxony, Brandenburg, and other Protestant principalities supported either the Swedes or the emperor. The conflicting parties did not have the strength to bend fortune to their own benefit. As a result, a peace treaty was signed between the emperor and the Protestant princes of Germany in Prague, according to which the execution of the Edict of Restitution was postponed for 40 years, the imperial army was formed by all the rulers of Germany, who were deprived of the right to conclude separate alliances among themselves
1635, May 30 - Peace of Prague
1635, May 21 - France entered the Thirty Years' War to help Sweden, fearing the strengthening of the House of Habsburg
1636, May 4 - victory of Swedish troops over the allied imperial army in the Battle of Wittstock
1636, December 22 - the son of Ferdinand II Ferdinand III became emperor
1640, December 1 - Coup in Portugal. Portugal regained independence from Spain
1642, December 4 - Cardinal Richelieu, the “soul” of French foreign policy, died
1643, May 19 - Battle of Rocroi, in which French troops defeated the Spaniards, marking the decline of Spain as a great power
The last, Franco-Swedish stage of the Thirty Years' War had the characteristic features of a world war. Military operations took place throughout Europe. The duchies of Savoy, Mantua, the Republic of Venice, and Hungary intervened in the war. The fighting took place in Pomerania, Denmark, Austria, still in the German lands, in the Czech Republic, Burgundy, Moravia, the Netherlands, and in the Baltic Sea. In England, which supports Protestant states financially, an outbreak broke out. A popular uprising raged in Normandy. Under these conditions, peace negotiations began in the cities of Westphalia (a region in northwestern Germany) Osnabrück and Münster in 1644. Representatives of Sweden, German princes and the emperor met in Osanbrück, and ambassadors of the emperor, France, and the Netherlands met in Münster. Negotiations, the course of which was influenced by the results of the ongoing battles, lasted 4 years

Russian Atlantis Burovsky Andrey Mikhailovich

Thirteen Years' War 1454-1466

Polish Pomerania and Prussia remained in the order's possessions, and not all the inhabitants of these lands liked the rule of the dog-knights. Well, let’s say no one really asked the peasants. But there were also such restless elements as townspeople and petty knighthood. This layer is not particularly rich, but far from poor, without great privileges and pedigrees dating back to the era of the Great Migration, but also without peasant humiliation, which is unpleasant for modern people. The embryo of the middle class, this generally recognized basis of modern European nations.

In the 15th century there were still few townspeople, only 4-5% of the population; a tiny island of individualism, personal independence and labor under contract and for money in a sea of people living by forced agricultural labor; in a sea of castles and peasant huts, communal and wild lawlessness, one might say, absolutely everyone.

For the state and for the feudal lords, the townspeople were at the same time very useful people: after all, it was through them that trade and handicraft production took place, and they accumulated some kind of money. Without money, the state could no longer exist, and kings and dukes were forced to listen more and more seriously to the voice of the citizens.

On the other hand, the very occupation of the townspeople required a certain way of life, say, some guarantees of the safety of both a person and his property from the state and the law. The demand seemed simply blatantly outrageous to the feudal lords. Almost as outrageous as the demand to allow all the noble townspeople, who don’t even know how to hold a spear, to decide for themselves what taxes should be taken from them and what these taxes will be spent on.

As a result, the townspeople constantly turned out to be both useful, even necessary, and at the same time restless, prone to riots and overthrowing the foundations. To question what neither the nobles nor the peasants doubted at all: for example, in favor of communal, swarm life. The townspeople were suspicious and unpleasant: they were very different from both the peasants and the nobles, from the classes of the agrarian, agricultural society.

And by occupation, and by way of life, and by their worldview.

The feudal lords resisted as best they could, trying their best to give as few rights and freedoms as possible to the arrogant and cheeky townspeople. And the only thing that stopped them was the fear of slaughtering the golden-testicle hen. Well, the fear that the neighbor will allow the townspeople more and the townspeople will turn to him. This was the case everywhere, and the only question was how much the cities could snatch from the throats of kings and princes and how much the feudal lords could take from the townspeople.

But in Poland and Lithuania, cities had long lived according to Magdeburg Law - they elected officials themselves, collected taxes and duties themselves, and were very independent from feudal lords and even from royal power.

There could be no talk of any such innovations as Magdeburg Law in the possessions of the Teutonic Order.

There were completely different rules of the game here, coming from a different era. And it’s not just about the era, of course. The state of the order remained a state that arose as a result of conquest, and all those “conquered” there were treated accordingly. In the German language there is still a disgusting word “Undeutsch” - literally translated “non-German”. That is, a person who is not German by origin.

The majority of the townspeople in the order's territory were at first German. Then, of course, Polish artisans and merchants appeared, and in Gdansk-Danzig they made up the majority: after all, Gdansk had already been captured by the order as a major seaport and commercial and industrial center. Over two centuries of life in the Baltic states, even the Germans themselves lost the ambition of conquerors. These were already some local Germans, Ostseedeutschen, that is, Baltic Germans.

From Ostsee - the German name for the Baltic Sea; "eastern lake" literally translated. And Deutschen is “Deutschen”, that is, the self-name of the Germans. And these local Germans no longer necessarily wanted to live under the order. They were also attracted by Magdeburg Law, attracted by lower tax rates...

The townspeople and petty knighthood of Pomerania and Prussia are increasingly burdened by the power of the order's oligarchy, and they increasingly want to go to Poland. The main role in subsequent events was played by the union of the cities of Prussia and Pomerania - the Prussian Union. The townspeople entered the arena of history more and more confidently.

In February 1454, during the reign of Casimir IV Jagiellonczyk, the Prussian Union refused to obey the order and declared annexation to Poland. In a few weeks, the city militias captured all the cities and fortresses of Pomerania and Prussia, drove out the soldiers of the order from them and asked Poland to accept these lands into its composition.

The youngest son of Vladislav-Jagiello was an apple that rolled not far from the apple tree. His tender and, it must be said, well-deserved love for the order was combined with cunning and statesmanship. It didn’t take long to persuade him to help the rebels a little, and a new war began.

This war was very difficult to lose, and yet the obvious victory was delayed and delayed. One reason is clear. Casimir IV was his father's son in another respect: he was much more afraid of losing than he wanted to win.

The second reason is piquant: the order was able to rely on the Baltic countries, which feared Poland’s access to the Baltic. The Danes really did not want this exit, not wanting to let a new competitor into the sea.

For Muscovites, everything that happens to them in their minds is new, everything is exceptional, everything happens for the first time and has no analogues. Many in the Russian Federation are probably still sure: only Muscovite Rus' in the mid-to-late 17th century was tried to be kept out of the seas!

Here is another case for you, and also with a Slavic power, two steps away from Muscovy.

The war lasted thirteen years and went down in history as the Thirteen Years' War of 1454-1466.

On October 19, 1466, Poland and the Teutonic Order finally made peace. According to the Peace of Torun, the order gave Poland Eastern Pomerania with Gdansk, the Helmin and Mikhailovsky lands with the city of Torun, that is, it not only returned its historical lands to Poland, but also provided Poland with access to the Baltic.

The order, almost halved, recognized itself as a vassal of Poland. There were also skirmishes and small wars.

The bishop of the city of Torun, a good doctor, mathematician and mechanic, a certain Mikolaus Copernicus, took an active part in one of them. Among other things, he positioned the artillery of Frombork Castle so well that the order troops storming it lost half their strength in two hours of shooting and retreated in panic.

In 1511, Albrecht Hohenzollern became Master of the Teutonic Order, who in 1485 established himself on the throne of the electors of the city of Brandenburg. In 1517, Luther nailed his famous plates to the church doors. A great turmoil began, the reformation. During the Reformation, the population in Germany decreased by a third, and in some places disappeared completely.

In a distraught country, only one law reigned - the rule of the strong. Taking advantage of the terrible turmoil, in 1525 Albrecht declared the territory of the Teutonic Order his hereditary principality - the Duchy of Prussia. Since then, there is no Teutonic Order on the map, there is the Brandenburg-Prussian state, then Prussia. The Teutonic Order was finished, although not as radically as it deserved.

What remains, however, is the eastern appendix of the Teutonic Order - the Livonian Order, which has not yet found its own Jagiello and Vytautas. The military power of the Livonian Order shattered under the first blows of the Muscovite troops.

The Livonian War began in 1558, and immediately the Livonian Order fell. Neighbors began to divide its territory, and this fragment of the darkest pages of the Middle Ages disappeared forever from history and from the geographical map.

From the book Reconstruction of World History [text only] author

2. THE WAR OF THE ROMANOVS WITH PUGACHEV 1773–1775 AS THE LAST WAR WITH THE HORDE. DIVISION OF MOSCOW TARTARY: SIBERIA GOES TO THE ROMANOVS, AND HALF OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT TO THE UNITED STATES. THE RISE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN 1776 2.1. MOSCOW

From the book Book 1. New chronology of Rus' [Russian Chronicles. "Mongol-Tatar" conquest. Battle of Kulikovo. Ivan groznyj. Razin. Pugachev. The defeat of Tobolsk and author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

Chapter 11 The War of the Romanovs with Pugachev 1773–1775 as the last war with the Horde The division of the remnants of Rus'-Horde between the Romanovs and the emerging United States

From the book Grunwald. July 15, 1410 author Taras Anatoly Efimovich

The Thirteen Years' War In Pomerania and Prussia, the opposition of the townspeople and the lower knighthood (nobles) to the elite of the order continued to strengthen. The “Great Guardians” had to make concessions to them. In 1412, a state council was established, which included 27 citizens and 20 nobles.

From the book Pugachev and Suvorov. The Mystery of Siberian-American History author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

8. Brief summary of our reconstruction “Pugachev’s” war of 1773–1775 is not a peasant uprising, but the largest war between Tobolsk and St. Petersburg, which ended in the defeat of the Siberian-American state of the 17th–18th centuries. Let’s stop listing for now

From the book Russian-Turkish Wars of 1676-1918 - X. War of 1877-1878 author

X. War of 1877-1878

author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

Section VI WAR 1768-1774

From the book The Thousand Year Battle for Constantinople author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

Chapter 2 WAR OF 1806-1811 THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AND ITS CAUSES Austerlitz struck Sultan Selim III no less than the emperors Alexander and Franz. Having received news of the battle, Selim wrote to the Grand Vizier: “My Vizier, as I told you verbally, let the Reisulkuttab make it clear

From the book The Thousand Year Battle for Constantinople author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

Section IV WAR OF 1877-1878

From the book Land of the Rising Sun. History and culture of Japan author author unknown

Civil War of 1863–1867 Immediately after the conclusion of the second Japanese-American treaty, which further infringed on the rights of Japan, opposition to the ruling regime formed in the country, which, through its active actions, greatly contributed to the fall of the Tokugawa house.

author Butakov Alexander

Chinese War of 1840–42 Causes of the war. The beginning of the history of China is lost in ancient times, and information about the first constant relations with Europe dates back to 1520 AD, when the Spaniards first founded their trading posts in the Chinese city of Ning-fo. Founded in 1522

From the book The Opium Wars. Review of European wars against China in 1840-1842, 1856-1858, 1859 and 1860 author Butakov Alexander

Chinese War of 1856–58 Consequences of the Peace of Nanking and the causes of a new war The Peace of Nanking, concluded on August 29, 1842, resolved with the help of arms the task that England had been striving to achieve over the previous several decades.

From the book England. No war, no peace author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

From the book Book 2. We change dates - everything changes. [New chronology of Greece and the Bible. Mathematics reveals the deception of medieval chronologists] author Fomenko Anatoly Timofeevich

14. The medieval Greek war of 1374–1387 is the “ancient” Peloponnesian War 14.1. Three eclipses described by Thucydides “In 431 BC. e. the twenty-seven-year Peloponnesian War (431–404) began, which engulfed the entire Hellenic world and shook all of Hellas to its foundations.”

From the book Jews, Christianity, Russia. From prophets to general secretaries author Kats Alexander Semenovich

From the book History of Cavalry. author Denison George Taylor

Chapter 27. Consequences of the introduction of rifled weapons. Crimean War 1853–1856. War in Italy in 1859 The principle of operation of rifled weapons with high accuracy was known back in the 17th century. However, muzzle loading, in which a bullet is forcefully driven into the barrel,

From the book The Battle for Syria. From Babylon to ISIS author Shirokorad Alexander Borisovich

The Thirteen Years' War

The Thirteen Years' War (1654-1667), the conflict between the Kingdom of Moscow, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden, can be divided into three stages. Its origins lie in the Cossack uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which began in 1648. Russia first provided the Cossacks with military assistance and favorable conditions for trade, and later, after the Polish invasion of Ukraine in 1653, it entered into an alliance with the Cossacks and entered the war in 1654.

With the invasion of a hundred thousand troops, including allied Cossacks, under the command of Tsar Alexei of Moscow into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the first stage of the war began. The Muscovites achieved initial success by completely defeating the Polish forces and capturing several important cities such as Mogilev, Smolensk and Vitebsk.

Russian troops and Cossacks managed to liberate most of the Ukrainian lands and invaded Polish lands near Brest. Polish-Lithuanian troops struck back, but were unable to dislodge the Russians from their occupied positions. Polish King John II Casimir, who fled the country, managed to negotiate a truce with the Russians, and in 1656 hostilities between the two countries temporarily ceased for three years.

While Sweden was embroiled in the First Northern War (1655-1660) against Poland and Denmark, Muscovite rulers sought to regain lands previously conquered by Sweden and capture several cities, including Dinaburg [Rus. Dvinsk, currently Daugavpils], Yuryev [Dorpat, Dorpat, today Tartu], Kexgolm [formerly Korela, Kyakisalmi, current Priozersk].

However, the Russians failed under the walls of Riga, which they had been besieging since the summer of 1656, primarily due to a lack of naval forces that prevented them from cutting off the city's supply routes. The Swedes launched a powerful counter-offensive, scattering the Russian army and forcing the Russian Tsar to flee for his life. When in 1657 the scales of the war began to tip in favor of Denmark, the Swedes began to seek peace with Russia (Treaty of Valiesar, 1658).

The third and final stage began after the end of the truce between the Muscovite Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1658. Russian troops fought fierce battles with Polish forces in Lithuania and Belarus, who defeated them at Vilnius, Kaunas and Grodno, but lost twice at Mogilev (1661, 1666) and Vitebsk (1664). On Ukrainian lands, the Russians suffered constant defeats at Konotop (1659), Lyubar (1660) and Kushliki (1661).

A combination of factors in the south, including the defection of the Cossack allies of the Muscovite Kingdom under the leadership of Vyhovsky, which isolated the Russians from the Poles, and the rebellion of Lubomirsky, which weakened the power of King John II Casimir at a decisive moment, pushed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to conclude peace with Moscow. Back in 1664, the Tsar invited the Poles to begin negotiations, which did not begin until 1667, when the truce was signed in Andrusovo. Despite the losses, Muscovy emerged from the war with large territorial gains, among which it is worth highlighting such key cities as Kyiv and Smolensk.

Territorial losses of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are marked in pink
Smolensk land and Left Bank Ukraine went to Russia

Story

On February 21, 1440, the Prussian Union was formed in the city of Marienwerder. It included Pomeranian cities hostile to the Teutonic Order, as well as the lower knighthood of Prussia and Pomerania. The union refused to obey the Teutons. On February 4, 1454, an uprising was launched. The troops of the union liberated the cities and fortresses of Danzig, Torun, Elblag, Königsberg and others from the knights. The Polish king Casimir IV announced the inclusion of the lands of the order into his kingdom. The Polish gentry militia entered these lands, but in September 1454 they were defeated near Chojnice. The order was supported in the war by the German principalities, in particular Brandenburg, as well as Denmark.

The turning point in the war came after the victory of the Polish army under the leadership of Peter Dunin in the battle of Zarnowiec in 1462. The war ended with the Peace of Torun in 1466, according to which Poland returned part of its lands and gained access to the Baltic Sea. The Teutonic Order recognized itself as a Polish vassal.

Literature

Bockmann V. The German Order: Twelve chapters from its history. - M.: Ladomir, 2004.

Urban V. Warband. - M.: AST, 2007.

Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen Years' War

, Baltic Sea

Bottom line Opponents

Prussian League
Kingdom of Poland

Warband
Denmark
Amsterdam

Commanders Strengths of the parties

unknown

Losses

unknown

Polish-Teutonic Wars
· 1326-1332 · 1409-1411 · · 1431-1435 · 1454-1466 · 1478-1479 · 1519-1521

Thirteen Years' War(German) Dreizehnjähriger Krieg, Polish wojna trzynastoletnia, also known in Western literature as " War of the cities"") -1466 - war between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order for dominance in Eastern Pomerania. As a result of the war, the Kingdom of Poland gained access to the Baltic Sea.

Story

Write a review of the article "The Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466)"

Literature

Hartmut Bockman. The German Order: twelve chapters from its history. - M.: Ladomir, 2004. - ISBN 5-86218-450-3.
William Urban. Teutonic Order / Trans. with him. V.I. Matuzova. - M.: Ast, 2010. - 416 p. - (Historical Library). - ISBN 978-5-17-044178-5.
Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order 1190-2012 / Trans. with him. V.I. Matuzova. - M.: Ladomir, 2015. - 392 p. - ISBN 978-5-86218-534-8.

This is a draft article on the history of Germany. You can help the project by adding to it.

Excerpt characterizing the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466)

“Yes, I didn’t say a word about the sovereign,” the officer justified himself, unable to explain his temper otherwise than by the fact that Rostov was drunk.
But Rostov did not listen.
“We are not diplomatic officials, but we are soldiers and nothing more,” he continued. “They tell us to die—that’s how we die.” And if they punish, it means he is guilty; It's not for us to judge. It pleases the sovereign emperor to recognize Bonaparte as emperor and enter into an alliance with him—that means it must be so. Otherwise, if we began to judge and reason about everything, then there would be nothing sacred left. This way we will say that there is no God, there is nothing,” Nikolai shouted, hitting the table, very inappropriately, according to the concepts of his interlocutors, but very consistently in the course of his thoughts.
“Our job is to do our duty, to hack and not think, that’s all,” he concluded.
“And drink,” said one of the officers, who did not want to quarrel.
“Yes, and drink,” Nikolai picked up. - Hey, you! Another bottle! - he shouted.

In 1808, Emperor Alexander traveled to Erfurt for a new meeting with Emperor Napoleon, and in high society in St. Petersburg there was a lot of talk about the greatness of this solemn meeting.
In 1809, the closeness of the two rulers of the world, as Napoleon and Alexander were called, reached the point that when Napoleon declared war on Austria that year, the Russian corps went abroad to assist their former enemy Bonaparte against their former ally, the Austrian emperor; to the point that in high society they talked about the possibility of a marriage between Napoleon and one of the sisters of Emperor Alexander. But, in addition to external political considerations, at this time the attention of Russian society was especially keenly drawn to the internal transformations that were being carried out at that time in all parts of public administration.
Life, meanwhile, the real life of people with their essential interests of health, illness, work, rest, with their interests of thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions, went on as always, independently and without political affinity or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte, and beyond all possible transformations.
Prince Andrei lived in the village for two years without a break. All those enterprises on estates that Pierre started and did not bring to any result, constantly moving from one thing to another, all these enterprises, without showing them to anyone and without noticeable labor, were carried out by Prince Andrei.
He had, to a high degree, that practical tenacity that Pierre lacked, which, without scope or effort on his part, set things in motion.
One of his estates of three hundred peasant souls was transferred to free cultivators (this was one of the first examples in Russia); in others, corvee was replaced by quitrent. In Bogucharovo, a learned grandmother was written out to his account to help mothers in labor, and for a salary the priest taught the children of peasants and courtyard servants to read and write.
Prince Andrei spent half of his time in Bald Mountains with his father and son, who was still with the nannies; the other half of the time in the Bogucharov monastery, as his father called his village. Despite the indifference he showed Pierre to all the external events of the world, he diligently followed them, received many books, and to his surprise he noticed when fresh people came to him or his father from St. Petersburg, from the very whirlpool of life, that these people, in knowledge of everything that is happening in foreign and domestic policy, they are far behind him, who sits in the village all the time.