In his Sevastopol Sketches, Tolstoy develops his ability to depict the reality of death within military conflict.
His proficiency stemmed from experience. Most notably, Tolstoy’s military service included three years in the Caucuses and action during the Crimean War (1853-56), both as a junior artillery officer.
During his time near Chechnya (north of Georgia and west of Dagestan), Tolstoy observed such brutal Russian tactics as punitive raids and the indiscriminate the shelling of small villages. He was also affected by the burning of forests to deny Chechens cover. This area hosts a Muslim population by reason of Ottoman influence. Russia has attempted to purge Chechens from what Russia claimed as a southern frontier multiple times and this area remains filled with tension – an inheritance of the aforementioned rivalry.
With respect to the Crimean War, in 1853, Czar Nicholas declared war on the Ottoman Empire, Russia’s historical rival. Nicholas asserted the obligation to protect Christians in Ottoman territory and reasserted land-claims in the Danubian principalities. Russian leadership has long-wished to retake Istanbul (Constantinople), which was a center of Christianity for centuries.
Napoleon III was at the forefront of the response to the Czar’s ambitions in 1853. A coalition (Turks, French & English) united to neutralize Russian expansion and protect the balance of power in Europe. It was hardly lost on Tolstoy that Russia served as a similar bulwark against Napoleon I. Tolstoy lived through the great humiliation of losing of the Crimean War but immortalized one of Russia’s great triumphs (repelling Napoleon I in 1812), which makes the great influences on him A Tale of Two Napoleons.
A thread through The Sevastopol Sketches and War & Peace is that Tolstoy conveys war's horrific nature. He does not glorify the subject.
The Sketches involve three vignettes of the Siege: November of 1854, May of 1855; and August of 1855. It was late in the Summer of 1855 when Sevastopol finally fell after an 11-month attack.
The Sketches read like a novella. The first takes the reader on tour of Sevastopol – from the relative safety of a particular bay, through an infirmary, marketplace, and finally toward the front line. Notably, we are taken inside the Assembly Hall -- a make-shift hospital that is filled with causalities and disease. Tolstoy then depicts the activity of soldiers and citizens. He discusses merchants going about their trade as well as carriage drivers delivering goods and transporting the dead.
The second vignette delves into the senseless vanity of war and pursuit of truth, which Tolstoy describes as the hero of any effort. The last and longest story provides a view of the end of the Siege, through the eyes of fictional brothers. We are given a glimpse of the spectacle of incoming and outgoing artillery, the charges of the allies, and the valiant defense.
Amidst the Crimean war, Czar Nicholas died in March of 1855 and Alexander II took the throne, who hold the reputation of a reformer. There was societal reflection that so much of the fighting was done by serfs tied to the land. These serfs were exposed to ideas of freedom and nationhood and there was a national reckoning that their system could not stand. The serfs (over 20 million souls) were freed in 1861.
Tolstoy also proceeds on one of his great explorations - regarding the cause of historical events. He finds that people hold the ultimate power and are somehow (all at once), ready to be moved. This is opposed to the theory a few great leaders move men.
Lastly, the experience of the Crimean War transformed Tolstoy from traditional patriot to an everlasting dissident.
