So when I started doing at the source, I got a lot of people telling me you should do Natasha Pierre in the great Commit of 1812. And then when I told everyone I was diving into war and peace, I got people saying, why are you reading the entire book? Great Commit only covers like a hundred pages of it. Which is true, but the fact is it covers those hundred pages pretty darn accurately. You can basically do a one-to-one comparison between Dave Maloy's lyrics and the passages of the book he's quoting. So instead of discussing what changed from page to stage, not a whole lot, I thought it would be more interesting to look at great Commit as it fits into the wider scope and themes of the novel as a whole. So let's do a not too terribly deep dive into war and peace by Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy, count Lev Nicolayevich Tolstoy if you want to get extremely Russian about it, was born over 15 years after the events of his most famous novel, though his father was a veteran of the 1812 conflict with France. Tolstoy himself fought in the Crimean War, was pretty horrified by the whole business, and later traveled to Europe where, and this is true, he met with fellow doorstop writer Victor Hugo and became a fan of Hugo's recently completed Les Miserables. Which when you read war and peace makes so much sense, it's ridiculous. Large cast of characters across a broad socio-economic spectrum, check. Events of historic significance viewed through the eyes of ordinary people, check. Long passages where the author pauses the plot to write a semi-random essay, check and double check. Tolstoy may not have had much use for European culture, but is time there obviously influenced his writing style. Now, it's not going to be easy to summarize this behemoths succinctly, but here's how it originally went down. Its 1805 end-apolian is making a big stink all over Europe, but in the Russian cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, everyone's just going about their business making alliances and seeking advancement in a kind of low stakes game of thrones. Key families include the Roostovs, mostly decent, but hampered by their father's imprudence, the Caragans motivated almost exclusively by self-interest and ambition, and the Bulkanskis notable for their eccentric and domineering patriarch. And what about Pierre? Well, Pierre Bezukov is the illegitimate son of account who, mainly through other people's machinations, ends up as his father's sole heir and husband to Halein Karagina. He spends most of the novel trying to figure out his purpose in life, including dabbling in things like Freemasonry and Numerology. His philosophy is contrasted by that of his friend, Prince André Bulkansky, who is rather more pessimistic and cynical. Over the next seven years, battles are fought, Russia and France make nice for a bit, then break it off, Napoleon and his army invade Russia and burn Moscow, then realize they're in way over their heads and get out of there, about half of the major characters die, most of the remaining ones form a charming domestic unit, and Tolstoy goes on a long discussion about how free will is basically an illusion. The part of the war in peace covered in Natasha Pierre and the Great Commit of 1812, hereafter called the Great Commit section, happens in volume 2, Part 5, or book 8, depending on translation, just a little under halfway through the book. It's one of the last major sequences not directly related to the French invasion, as shortly thereafter everyone is evacuating Moscow ahead of the enemy forces. Yes, Maloy is being 100% ironic with that the war can't touch us here, line. And appropriately, it's where we see a lot of the characters at a crossroads. Natasha obviously grows up a bit in the wake of nearly destroying her reputation, but there's other things going on here that require a bit more backstory, especially with the Bulkanskis. When you see the vigorous, exacting person Prince Bulkansky was, pretty much until this point in the book, Mary's mixture of pity and resentment towards him carries a lot more resonance. Likewise, Andre's engagement in Natasha takes on a different tone when you know that this is Andre's second swing at marriage. His first wife, Lisa, having died in childbirth several years prior to this. Andre grew disillusioned with Lisa's superficiality, but regrets his neglect of her in the wake of her death and sees Natasha as a second chance at happiness, which does explain a lot about how he reacts to her seduction. The evolution of his feelings towards Anna-Tolin Natasha in the wake of the Great Commit section form a significant part of the remainder of Andre's character arc. And why exactly are we focusing on this little romantic melodrama instead of armies marching across the continent? Because for Tolstoy, what's happening in everyday civilian life is just as important as events of historical import, if not more so. One of the recurring themes in War and Peace is that it makes no sense to attribute extraordinary skill or wisdom to the leaders of nations, when in truth their actions are dictated by a thousand circumstances over which they have no control, which is why, according to Tolstoy, absolute free will is an illusion. All of us are constrained in some way by the circumstances around us. At the same time, all of us are creating those circumstances, so there's no such thing as absolute predetermination either. It's complicated. Finally, watching Great Commit does give you kind of a skewed perspective over whose important in the overall context of War and Peace. The Bolkanskis are described as minor characters, but Andre and Mary are two of the books main protagonists, with Mary being at least as significant a female character as Natasha, if not more so. On the other hand, Anna Tolen-Helene spend a lot of time off page, mainly because Pierre survives his marriage by avoiding his wife as much as possible, and Maria Dmitrievna pretty much disappears from the story entirely after this section, which sucks because there's nothing that can't be improved by adding Maria Dmitrievna to it. Thanks for watching!