On Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”

As the novel begins, its main hero, Prince Andrei, believes in a science of warfare, which German generals and theoreticians claim to have elaborated. Tolstoy allows this purported social science to stand for all others, existing or to come. When the French invade Russia in 1812, Andrei finds himself at another Council of War where generals again try to apply their science.

Source: www.newcriterion.com