Quote by Leo Tolstoy
But to us of a later generation...it is inconceivable that millions of Christian men should have killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was ambitious, Alexander firm, English policy crafty, and the Duke of Oldenburg hardly treated. We cannot grasp the connections between these circumstances and the bare fact of murder and violence, nor why the duke's wrongs should induce thousands of men from the other side of Europe to pillage and murder the inhabitants of the Smolensk and Moscow provinces and to be slaughtered by them.
Summary
This quote highlights the difficulty that a later generation faces in understanding the seemingly irrational violence and warfare of the past. It reflects on the unimaginable idea that millions of Christians engaged in killing and torturing one another, all because of the ambitions of leaders and perceived mistreatment of certain individuals. The quote expresses the inability to comprehend the logical connections between these circumstances and the actual acts of violence committed, as well as the confusion over why individuals from distant places would plunder and kill, only to face retaliation and death themselves.
Topics
War
By Leo Tolstoy
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