The Tolstoy Library

In which the weary yet formidable French army enters the deserted city of Moscow, transforming from a united force into a dispersed assembly of marauders amidst its abandoned splendour. The subsequent...

9 Sep 13min

In which a French officer and his orderly arrive at a Russian household, leading to a tense encounter interrupted by a drunken man’s reckless action that endangers their lives. Amidst a delicate excha...

9 Sep 7min

In which Pierre, caught in a tempest of restless thoughts and a newfound sense of destiny, resolves to remain in Moscow to confront the calamity that looms over Europe, embracing a path of sacrifice f...

9 Sep 10min

In which the once assured count Rostopchín confronts the tumultuous and uncontrollable fury of the Moscow mob, a visage of the ceaseless and wild current of history that no man, however dignified, can...

8 Sep 23min

In which Count Rostopchín, mortified and perplexed by the military command’s decisions regarding the abandonment of Moscow, struggles with the collapse of his carefully cultivated role as a patriotic ...

8 Sep 9min

In which a discontented throng of labourers and townsfolk convene around a public disturbance, their voices rising in discord and tumult, stirred by skirmishes and grievances against those who govern ...

8 Sep 10min

In which the desolation of Moscow is poignantly likened to a queenless hive, its once vibrant life now replaced by decay and emptiness, observed with a mournful clarity that reveals the hollow semblan...

7 Sep 6min

In which the once lively city lies deserted and the Rostóv household stands quietly abandoned save for the tender, watchful presence of Mávra Kuzmínichna, whose care and concern reveal the small intim...

7 Sep 6min