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. Leo Tolstoy
About This Quote

In the book, A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes, the author describes the horrific events that occurred during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The book covers the rise of Lenin and his Communist Party as well as their activities during the war. It also goes into detail about the impact these events had on the people of Russia. The author explains how many people who were living in this region felt betrayed by their government and were forced to flee their homes.

As a result of this betrayal, they were enraged, with some even turning to violence against their government. This anger was directed towards everyone with an allegiance to the ruling government, with many people becoming convinced that all enemies of Lenin should be destroyed.

Source: War And Peace

Some Similar Quotes
  1. War is what happens when language fails. - Margaret Atwood
  2. Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. - Ernest Hemingway
  3. The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them. - J.r.r. Tolkien
  4. If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war. - Leo Tolstoy
  5. Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. - Anonymous
More Quotes By Leo Tolstoy
  1. I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.
  2. Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.
  3. Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand."- Anna Karenina {Anna Karenina}
  4. I've always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.
  5. They've got no idea what happiness is, they don't know that without this love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us--there is no life.
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