He could be extraordinarily active and efficient, yet he was closer in disposition to Oblomov, the famously indolent titular character of Ivan Goncharov’s nineteenth-century novel.

Though intrepid and brave on the battlefield, he was a cringing courtier who lacked the courage to express his opinion in the presence of superiors, even if it meant accepting the destruction of his army, as happened in 1805 at Austerlitz. Two centuries after his death, Kutuzov remains a hugely controversial figure. As Adam Zamoyski set out to update The Polish Way, his bestselling first history of Poland, he realized the task required not so much re-writing as re-thinking the known facts well as the assumptions of the past. The story of his life provides the layman with many illuminating insights into the origins and nature of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and into the disastrous, almost farcical, underperformance of Russian forces in carrying it out. But he and his life story are of real global significance today in view of what is happening in Russia and Ukraine. To many others, particularly outside of Europe, it will mean nothing. Kutuzov’s name is well known to historians, history buffs, and Tolstoy fans. For Russians themselves, Kutuzov is a mythical giant, a mammoth projection of the national id, as soulful and vulnerable yet solid and ultimately triumphant. LONDON – Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Golenischev-Kutuzov looms large in our understanding of Russia’s military, owing both to the paunchy, grizzled depictions of him in cinematic versions of War and Peace and to Tolstoy’s own literary portrayal of the man. Alexander Mikaberidze, Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 2022.

OL802615W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 93.85 Pages 454 Ppi 500 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0719546745 Urn:lcp:polishwaythousa00zamo:epub:5e01b40b-1673-4835-8ce5-c3f5bd36cbb5 Extramarc University of Alberta Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier polishwaythousa00zamo Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t7hq4z270 Isbn 0531150690 Lccn 87050290 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL23259495M Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:32:50 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA144815 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition.

The polish way adam zamoyski