War and Peace, Chapter 38 summary

What happens

1. Overwhelmed by casualties and his own helplessness, Napoleon returns to the Shevárdino knoll and briefly desires only peace and rest.
2. An adjutant reports that two hundred guns strike the Russians without forcing them to abandon their ground.
3. Napoleon orders more fire, although the bombardment already continues, and resumes the role he believes others expect.
4. The narrator condemns Napoleon’s calculations of losses and his inability to acknowledge the moral meaning of his actions.
5. Napoleon’s writings describe peaceful political ambitions and use soldiers’ nationalities and casualty comparisons to justify the Russian war.

In this chapter

What to notice

The report joins the scale of suffering to the Russians’ continued resistance. Napoleon responds by demanding more fire rather than acting on his brief compassion.

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