War & Peace Podnotes, A Study Guide

This episode is part I of III of my interview with LSU History Professor Alexander Mikaberidze, an expert on the Napoleonic Wars. I'm breaking our interview up into roughly 20 minute segments.We focus on General Mikhail Kutuzov, who is introduced, in-depth, to War & Peace readers in Book 1 Part 2. Chapter 13 has Prince Andrei taking in the scars Kutuzov suffered from being shot by musket balls in Crimea.Professor Mikaberidze notes Kutuzov, as a young man, was serving in the Danubian principalities, primarily Romania, and merited the reputation of a brave and capable officer who often led "from the front."Kutuzov was also known (as a young soldier) to be an unending source of jokes and parodies – the type of person helpful to making military life tolerable. However, during a night of drinking he made fun of a Commander in Chief who did not see any fun in Kutuzov's jest. The incident got Kutuzov transferred from the First Army in Romania to the Second Army in the Crimean peninsula, which was