IFRS: training, methodology and implementation practice for companies and specialists...
Napoleon on Poklonnaya Hill (based on L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”)? and got the best answer
Answer from GALINA[guru]
It has long been believed that Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow got its name because everyone who arrived in or left the city had to bow to the city at this place, pay homage to it, and also because important people who arrived here were greeted with a bow to Moscow. These could be, for example, princes and ambassadors foreign countries.
Advisors to Emperor Napoleon probably told him about this custom - otherwise why did he decide to wait for a deputation from the city authorities with the keys to the Kremlin on Poklonnaya Hill?
But the hours of waiting on Poklonnaya Hill, which did not end in anything, should have aroused conflicting feelings in the emperor.
While waiting for a deputation from Moscow, he thinks about how he should appear before the Russians at such a majestic moment for him. As an experienced actor, he mentally played out the entire scene of the meeting with the “boyars” and composed his magnanimous speech to them.
“At the sight of a strange city with unprecedented forms of extraordinary architecture, Napoleon experienced that somewhat envious and restless curiosity that people experience when they see the forms of an alien life that does not know about them. Obviously, this city lived with all the forces of its life. According to those indefinable signs by which at a long distance, a living body is unmistakably recognizable from a dead one, Napoleon from Poklonnaya Hill saw the fluttering of life in the city and felt, as it were, the breath of this large and beautiful body.
- Cette ville Asiatique aux innombrables églises, Moscow la sainte. La voilà donc enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il était temps (This Asian city with countless churches, Moscow, their holy Moscow! Here it is, finally, this famous city! It’s time!), - said Napoleon and, dismounting from his horse, ordered the plan of this Moscou to be laid out in front of him and called the translator Lelorgne d"Ideville. "Une ville occupée par l"ennemi ressemble à une fille qui a perdu son honneur" ("A city occupied by the enemy is like a girl who has lost her virginity"), he thought (as he said this to Tuchkov in Smolensk) .
And from this point of view, he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, whom he had never seen before.
It was strange to him that his long-standing desire, which seemed impossible to him, had finally come true. In the clear morning light he looked first at the city, then at the plan, checking the details of this city, and the certainty of possession excited and terrified him. "
Using the technique of the hero's "internal" monologue, Tolstoy reveals in the French emperor the petty vanity of a player, his insignificance. "When Napoleon was announced with due caution that Moscow was empty, he looked angrily at the person who reported this and, turning away, continued to walk in silence... "Moscow is empty. What an incredible event!"
He did not go to the city, but stopped at an inn in the Dorogomilovsky suburb.
Having shown how fate finally debunked Napoleon, Tolstoy notes that the denouement of the theatrical performance was unsuccessful - “the power that decides the fate of peoples does not lie in the conquerors.”
Answer from Elena Fedorova[guru]
Tolstoy, through the portrait and behavior of Napoleon, shows the futility of his intentions and his attitude towards Napoleon’s personality. Thus, contrasting him with the truly great commander Kutuzov.
“The tone of generosity in which Napoleon intended to act in Moscow captivated him. In his imagination, he appointed the days of the réunion dans le palais des Czars 5, where the Russian nobles were to meet with the nobles of the French emperor. He mentally appointed a governor, such who would be able to attract the population to himself. Having learned that there were many charitable institutions in Moscow, he decided in his imagination that all these institutions would be showered with his favors. He thought that just as in Africa one had to sit in a burnous in a mosque, so in Moscow it was necessary to be merciful, like the tsars. And in order to finally touch the hearts of the Russians, he, like every Frenchman, who cannot imagine anything sensitive without mentioning ta chère, ma tendre, ma pauvre mère 6, he decided that in all these establishments he orders them to write in capital letters: Etablissement dédié à ma chère Mère. No, simply: Maison de ma Mère 7, he decided to himself. “But am I really in Moscow? Yes, here it is in front of me. But what?” has the city's deputation been absent for so long? - he thought.
Meanwhile, in the halls of the emperor's retinue, an excited meeting was taking place in whispers between his generals and marshals. Those sent for the deputation returned with the news that Moscow was empty, that everyone had left and left it.
Meanwhile, the emperor, tired of vain waiting and feeling with his acting instinct that the majestic minute, going on too long, was beginning to lose its majesty, made a sign with his hand. A single shot of a signal cannon was heard, and the troops, besieging Moscow from different sides, moved to Moscow, to the Tverskaya, Kaluga and Dorogomilovskaya outposts. Faster and faster, overtaking one another, at a quick step and at a trot, the troops moved, hiding in the clouds of dust they raised and filling the air with the merging roars of cries.
Carried away by the movement of the troops, Napoleon rode with his troops to the Dorogomilovskaya outpost, but stopped there again and, dismounting from his horse, walked for a long time near the Kamerkollezhsky shaft, waiting for the deputation. " (L. Tolstoy "War and Peace")
NAPOLEON ON POLONNAYA MOUNTAIN September 14 (September 2), 1812
Napoleon waited in vain
Intoxicated with the last happiness,
Moscow kneeling
With the keys of the old Kremlin...
A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”)
Poklonnaya Gora is a gentle hill in the west of the center of Moscow. Once upon a time, Poklonnaya Hill was located far outside of Moscow, and from its top a panorama of the city and its surroundings opened up. It has long been believed that Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow got its name because everyone who arrived in or left the city had to bow to the city at this place, pay homage to it, and also because here important persons who arrived were greeted with a bow to Moscow. Historian Ivan Zabelin called Poklonnaya Hill “the most memorable place in our history and remarkable in its topography”, from the height of which “since ancient times the Russian people have been accustomed to pay homage to Mother Moscow.”
The hill was razed in 1987, the remaining hill is located in the eastern part of Victory Park - a memorial complex in honor of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
On September 14 (September 2, old style), 1812, Napoleon and his troops were approaching Moscow. He had to go through the last hill adjacent to Moscow and dominating it, this was Poklonnaya Hill.
The French emperor was in no hurry to enter Moscow; he stopped at Poklonnaya Hill and, armed with a telescope, examined the Mother See. The abundance of golden domes of the city made a strong impression on the French. Not a single conquered capital struck them with its beauty as much as Moscow!
From the memoirs of Sergeant Adrien Jean Baptiste François Bourgogne: “It was a beautiful summer day: the sun was playing on the domes, bell towers, and gilded palaces. Many of the capitals I saw: Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna and Madrid - made an ordinary impression on me; here it’s a different matter: for me, as for everyone else, there was something magical in this spectacle.”
Standing on Poklonnaya Hill, Napoleon waited for the keys to Moscow, as well as “bread and salt,” according to Russian custom. However, time passed, and still there were no keys. The officers he sent to Moscow returned empty-handed: “The city is completely empty, Your Imperial Majesty!”
Napoleon's awareness of the fact that he was left without the keys, that Moscow did not surrender to him the way he would have liked and as it happened in Vienna and Berlin, when the authorities of European capitals presented him with the keys on a “silver platter”, infuriated Bonaparte .
The French emperor lost more than two hours on Poklonnaya Hill, never understanding why the Russians didn’t bring him the keys to their city?
Napoleon descended from Poklonnaya Hill and approached the Moscow River at the Dorogomilovskaya outpost. He stopped, waiting at the entrance, but in vain.
An empty Moscow awaited the French.
“The houses, although mostly wooden, amaze us with their size and extraordinary splendor. But all the doors and windows are closed, the streets are empty, there is silence everywhere - a silence that instills fear. Silently, in order, we walk along the long, deserted streets, the drumbeat echoing dully from the walls of empty houses. We try in vain to appear calm, but our souls are restless: it seems to us that something extraordinary is about to happen.
Moscow appears to us as a huge corpse; this is a kingdom of silence: a fairy-tale city, where all the buildings and houses were erected as if by the spell of us alone! I think of the impression made by the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum on the thoughtful traveler; but here the impression is even more grave,” wrote officer Caesar de Laugier.
It has long been believed that Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow got its name because everyone who arrived in or left the city had to bow to the city at this place, pay homage to it, and also because important people who arrived here were greeted with a bow to Moscow. These could be, for example, princes and ambassadors of foreign states.
Advisors to Emperor Napoleon probably told him about this custom - otherwise why did he decide to wait for a deputation from the city authorities with the keys to the Kremlin on Poklonnaya Hill?
But the hours of waiting on Poklonnaya Hill, which did not end in anything, should have aroused conflicting feelings in the emperor.
While waiting for a deputation from Moscow, he thinks about how he should appear before the Russians at such a majestic moment for him. As an experienced actor, he mentally played out the entire scene of the meeting with the “boyars” and composed his magnanimous speech to them.
“When he saw a strange city with unprecedented forms of extraordinary architecture, Napoleon experienced that somewhat envious and restless curiosity that people experience when they see the forms of an alien life that does not know about them. Obviously, this city lived with all the forces of its life. By those indefinable signs by which a living body is unmistakably distinguished from a dead one at a long distance, Napoleon from Poklonnaya Hill saw the fluttering of life in the city and felt, as it were, the breath of this large and beautiful body.
Cette ville Asiatique aux innombrables églises, Moscow la sainte. La voilà donc enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il était temps (This Asian city with countless churches, Moscow, their holy Moscow! Here it is, finally, this famous city! It’s time!), said Napoleon and, dismounting from his horse, ordered the plan of this Moscou to be laid out in front of him and called the translator Lelorgne d'Ideville. “Une ville occupée par l’ennemi ressemble à une fille qui a perdu son honneur” (“A city occupied by the enemy is like a girl who has lost her virginity”), he thought (as he said this to Tuchkov in Smolensk).
And from this point of view, he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, whom he had never seen before.
It was strange to him that his long-standing desire, which seemed impossible to him, had finally come true. In the clear morning light he looked first at the city, then at the plan, checking the details of this city, and the certainty of possession excited and terrified him. »
Using the technique of the hero’s “internal” monologue, Tolstoy reveals in the French emperor the petty vanity of the player, his insignificance. “When it was announced to Napoleon with due caution that Moscow was empty, he looked angrily at the person who reported this and, turning away, continued to walk in silence... “Moscow is empty. What an incredible event! »
He did not go to the city, but stopped at an inn in the Dorogomilovsky suburb.
Having shown how fate finally debunked Napoleon, Tolstoy notes that the denouement of the theatrical performance was unsuccessful - “the power that decides the fate of peoples does not lie in the conquerors.”
The answer seems to be simple - with Poklonnaya. Everyone knows that shortly after the Battle of Borodino, on the sunny morning of September 2, 1812, Napoleon, standing on Poklonnaya Hill, was waiting for a deputation of Moscow residents with the keys to the city. Many books, paintings and illustrations have been written on this topic. Everything seems simple, but even many of those who know the history of these places will not be able to indicate where Napoleon shown in the paintings stood.
Innocent girl at Napoleon's feet
Here is probably the most famous colorful description of Napoleon’s inspection of Moscow from Poklonnaya Hill, presented by Leo Tolstoy in the third volume of War and Peace:
Moscow from Poklonnaya Hill spread out spaciously with its river, its gardens and churches and seemed to live its own life, trembling like stars with its domes in the rays of the sun.
At the sight of a strange city with unprecedented forms of extraordinary architecture, Napoleon experienced that somewhat envious and restless curiosity that people experience when they see the forms of an alien life that does not know about them. Obviously, this city lived with all the forces of its life. By those indefinable signs by which a living body is unmistakably distinguished from a dead one at a long distance, Napoleon from Poklonnaya Hill saw the fluttering of life in the city and felt, as it were, the breath of this large and beautiful body.
Cette ville Asiatique aux innombrables églises, Moscow la sainte. La voilà donc enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il était temps (This Asian city with countless churches, Moscow, their holy Moscow! Here it is, finally, this famous city! It’s time!), - said Napoleon and, dismounting from his horse, ordered the plan of this Moscou to be laid out in front of him and called the translator Lelorgne d"Ideville. “Une ville occupée par l"ennemi ressemble à une fille qui a perdu son honneur” (“A city occupied by the enemy is like a girl who has lost her virginity”), he thought (as he said this to Tuchkov in Smolensk) . And from this point of view, he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, whom he had never seen before.
It was strange to him that his long-standing desire, which seemed impossible to him, had finally come true. In the clear morning light he looked first at the city, then at the plan, checking the details of this city, and the certainty of possession excited and terrified him.
Poklonnaya Gora is no longer a mountain; only one name remains. Where is this remarkable place located? Why can’t we enjoy this view now? Let's try to determine where Napoleon looked at Moscow from.
Modern Poklonnaya Mountain is a different mountain
The name of the place is known to everyone - Poklonnaya Gora. But, as you know, there is no mountain there now! Flipping through old maps of Moscow, you can see how much this area has changed.
Poklonnaya Gora can be found on many modern maps and maps of Soviet times. For example, where was the peak of a considerable height by Moscow standards - 170.5 meters, designated as Poklonnaya Gora on the 1968 map. Now Poklonnaya Gora is usually called the place where the Victory Monument is erected. The height of the monument is 141.8 meters - 10 centimeters for each day of the Great Patriotic War. After numerous scandals, this monument was erected in 1995. Everyone knows that the monument was erected on a fairly flat place, there is no mountain there, it was cut down almost to the roots around 1987. As can be seen from a comparison of the 1968 map with satellite imagery, the position of the Victory Monument roughly corresponds to the peak indicated as Poklonnaya Gora with a height of 170.5 meters on the 1968 map.
Poklonnaya Gora on the map of 1968 - the Victory Monument is now in this place:
(All presented maps are clickable for detailed viewing)
Did Napoleon stand on Poklonnaya Hill at the site of today's Victory Monument? No!
This was not the same Poklonnaya Hill from which Napoleon looked at Moscow!
Where was the “real” Poklonnaya Hill?
The thing is that the area, traditionally called Poklonnaya Gora, was originally a large hill with two noticeable peaks. Until the 1940s, Poklonnaya Gora on maps indicated the peak, which was located approximately 700 meters northeast of today’s Victory Monument. The position of this peak can be seen on many old maps, such as the topographic maps below (click on the maps for a detailed view). The two peaks were separated from each other by one of the tributaries of the Setun flowing in a ravine. If Napoleon had looked at Moscow from “today’s” Poklonnaya Hill, then in those years the view of the city would have been blocked by the northwestern peak. Napoleon would hardly have chosen such a point to explore the city.
"Old" and "New" Poklonnaya Mountains on the map of 1860:
Position of Poklonnaya Gora on the 1848 map relative to the Victory Monument:
How would Napoleon see the “oriental beauty” today?
Therefore, there is every reason to believe that Napoleon looked at the city from the “old” Poklonnaya Hill, marked on maps of the 1800s. This peak (and, accordingly, Napoleon) was located approximately in the place where the farthest corner of house 16 on Kutuzovsky Prospekt is now located.
As Tolstoy wrote, “And from this point he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, whom he had never seen before.”
This is how the beauty turned out now.
Used maps and images from the site
