1. War is a tragedy for peaceful people.
2. Enthusiasm of the first draft troops.
3. “Today a brother, and tomorrow an enemy.”
Any war is a great tragedy for the people in whose country it comes. Sholokhov in the novel " Quiet Don” masterfully describes this national disaster. First World War preceded the civil one. And many Cossack villages have already fully felt the hardships of wartime. Each of them has already assembled and sent out its first draft army. Many families have already realized that they will have to run their farms without men. And some even managed to receive a funeral.
The Cossacks found themselves drawn into a new conflict. Instead of ending, the war unfolded - in new territories, in their own fields, which the women did not have time to cultivate well, in their villages, where small children were left without protection. Historically, Cossack settlements were military, but long years peaceful life taught people to resolve controversial issues without weapons. And the Cossacks of the times of the civil war described by Sholokhov are no longer the stern warriors who were the first to organize these settlements. After the war, they longed for the plow and the measured home life. But the war did not stop and constantly required new infusions: people, food, uniforms. The Cossack villages became poorer day by day. In every house, a new day was greeted with horror: Either a funeral would come, or hungry marauders would attack, or the wounded from a broken regiment would wander in, or the last cow would be taken from the yard to feed the army, or an order would come to urgently equip and set up ready for battle. another military corps. Many farms were completely destroyed and houses were burned. There were families where the mother received a funeral for each son and, having seen off her grief-stricken husband, died on a bench from despair.
The first troops of the village were equipped as if for a military parade. Happy first-line conscripts vied with each other to bargain for the best military uniform, the most beautiful jewelry for horses. Dressed up, on sleek combat horses, the boys pranced in front of the entire farm and in front of each other. Childish prowess shone in every face. The news of the war was perceived as good news, as an opportunity to take a break from routine village life, to show off one’s bravery.
The very first “military actions” brought bitter disappointment. Instead of the cheerful fights and furious attacks that the boys so dreamed of, the regiments walked and walked, now forward and then back. Then the enemy would suddenly attack and break up the unsuspecting ranks. When faced with death for the first time, not everyone was ready to see its terrible face. Frightened, many did not want to return to duty after the first battles. The violent temper of the militant Cossacks remained only in their memories and in the tales of old people.
Those who were able to overcome their fear and managed to maintain the honor of their people were not ready for professional military action. The annual training camps that were held to train soldiers turned out to be just a formality. Without training and military knowledge, the boys became easy targets for the regular German army. This, in fact, was what the Bolsheviks should have played on, raising a civil war during a terrible national tragedy. And the calculation turned out to be correct. Most of the soldiers, exhausted and tired, believed the promises of a quick end to the war, and in addition to receiving all the power.
At this moment, the tragedy of the war was intensified many times over by the fact that the people, who yesterday had stood in the trenches shoulder to shoulder, dispersed to different sides of the front. Tired soldiers threw down their weapons, as the Bolshevik leaders called, and went home. They brought home the ideas of a free society, the overthrow of the tsar and the authorities, told their fathers and younger brothers about this in order to rouse them to defend the new system. But the old people who lived their lives turned out to be not so gullible. Although life on the home front was not easy, it was firmly supported by tradition. Everyone knew their place in society, their capabilities. How to live under the new government is still unknown. You cannot live without power - the old people know this for sure. And if the new government starts with war, then one cannot expect good from it.
So the fathers did not support their sons. Little brothers found themselves faced with a difficult choice: to become an enemy of their father or brother. My father gave me life and taught me everything he knows. Continue to live with my brother. In difficult times, who will help except your father and brother? But this split did not bring more grief to anyone than to mothers. Yesterday, a still strong family, brothers, who pleased their mother with their Strength and youth, look at each other as enemies. For a mother, everything is good that her child is good, but how can you put two truths in one chest? And there is no joy for the mothers: the children have returned, but strangers.
This misfortune came from homes and into the army. Brothers, yesterday's playmates, neighbors have become enemies. However, the most terrible grief was not this, but the fact that the majority of those who stood on new way I didn’t think about its essence. Only a few got to the core of the idea. Others simply believed in the possibility of a happy, peaceful life. The horses were also happy about the promised land. These simple peasant men, who had never studied politics, without hesitation believed the theorists who spoke passionately and convincingly. The fact is that these boys did not want anything bad for their comrades. But they did not want to notice that their ideas contradicted the science that had developed among the people. The science by which their ancestors lived for centuries, by which they themselves grew up.
But this time the tradition has receded. Tired, exhausted people accepted new law. And the new government began its journey across the country in full force. In the novel “Quiet Don” Sholokhov does not describe the structure of the new society. However, the first steps no longer promise anything good. The country is destroyed, farms are ruined. The poorest peasants before the war lost even the crumbs they had. New citizens new country needed to be clothed and fed. And the destruction began again - surplus appropriation. The military government does not know how to live in peace - those who promised peace and happiness after the defeat of the “class enemy” began to look for a new “class enemy”. Misfortunes never come alone. Like a snowball, it rolls and, gaining weight and speed, sweeps away more and more victims in its path.
The civil battle, in my opinion, is the most brutal and bloody battle, because sometimes close people fight in it, who once lived in one whole, united country, who believed in one God and adhered to the same ideals. How it happens that relatives stand on opposite sides of the barricades and how such wars end, we can trace on the pages of the novel - M. A. Sholokhov’s epic “Quiet Don”.
In his novel, the author tells us how the Cossacks lived freely on the Don: they worked on the land, were a reliable support for the Russian tsars, fought for them and for the state. Their families lived by their labor, in prosperity and respect. The cheerful, joyful life of the Cossacks, full of work and pleasant worries, is interrupted by the revolution. And people were faced with a hitherto unfamiliar problem of choice: whose side to take, who to believe - the Reds, who promise equality in everything, but deny faith in the Lord God; or whites, those whom their grandfathers and great-grandfathers served faithfully. But do the people need this revolution and war? Knowing what sacrifices would need to be made, what difficulties to overcome, the people would probably answer in the negative. It seems to me that no revolutionary necessity justifies all the victims, broken lives, destroyed families. And so, as Sholokhov announces, “in a fight to the death, brother goes against brother, son against father.” Even Grigory Melekhov, the main character of the novel, who previously opposed bloodshed, easily decides the fate of others. Of course, the first murder of a person hits him hard and painfully, causing him to spend many sleepless nights, but the battle makes him cruel. “I’ve become scary to myself... Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well,” admits Grigory. Everyone became cruel, especially women. Just remember the scene when Daria Melekhova kills Kotlyarov without hesitation, considering him the murderer of her husband Peter. However, not everyone thinks about why blood is shed, what is the meaning of war. Is it really “for the needs of the rich that they are driven to death”? Or to defend rights that are common to everyone, the meaning of which is not very clear to the people. A simple Cossack can only see that this battle is becoming meaningless, because one cannot fight for those who rob and kill, rape women and set fire to houses. And such cases occurred both from the whites and from the reds. “They are all the same... they are all a yoke on the neck of the Cossacks,” says the main character.
In my opinion, main reason Sholokhov sees the tragedy of the Russian people, which affected literally everyone in those days, in the drama of the transition from the old way of life, which had been formed over centuries, to a new way of life. Two worlds collide: everything that was previously an integral part of people’s lives, the basis of their existence, suddenly collapses, and the new still needs to be accepted and accustomed to.
A civil battle, in my opinion, is the most brutal and bloody battle, because sometimes close people fight in it, who once lived in one whole, united country, believed in one God and adhered to the same ideals. How it happens that relatives stand on opposite sides of the barricades and how such wars end, we can trace on the pages of the novel - M. A. Sholokhov’s epic “Quiet Don”.
In his novel, the author tells us how the Cossacks lived freely on the Don: they worked on the land, were a reliable support for the Russian tsars, fought for them and for the state. Their families lived by their labor, in prosperity and respect. The cheerful, joyful life of the Cossacks, full of work and pleasant worries, is interrupted by the revolution. And people were faced with a hitherto unfamiliar problem of choice: whose side to take, who to believe - the Reds, who promise equality in everything, but deny faith in the Lord God; or whites, those whom their grandfathers and great-grandfathers served faithfully. But do the people need this revolution and war? Knowing what sacrifices would need to be made, what difficulties to overcome, the people would probably answer in the negative. It seems to me that no revolutionary necessity justifies all the victims, broken lives, destroyed families. And so, as Sholokhov announces, “in a fight to the death, brother goes against brother, son against father.” Even Grigory Melekhov, the main character of the novel, who previously opposed bloodshed, easily decides the fate of others. Of course, the first murder of a person hits him hard and painfully, causing him to spend many sleepless nights, but the battle makes him cruel. “I’ve become scary to myself... Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well,” admits Grigory. Everyone became cruel, especially women. Just remember the scene when Daria Melekhova kills Kotlyarov without hesitation, considering him the murderer of her husband Peter. However, not everyone thinks about why blood is shed, what is the meaning of war. Is it really “for the needs of the rich that they drive them to death”? Or to defend rights that are common to everyone, the meaning of which is not very clear to the people. A simple Cossack can only see that this battle is becoming meaningless, because one cannot fight for those who rob and kill, rape women and set fire to houses. And such cases occurred both from the whites and from the reds. “They are all the same... they are all a yoke on the neck of the Cossacks,” says the main character.
In my opinion, Sholokhov sees the main reason for the tragedy of the Russian people, which affected literally everyone in those days, in the dramatic transition from the old way of life, which had been formed over centuries, to a new way of life. Two worlds collide: everything that was previously an integral part of people’s lives, the basis of their existence, suddenly collapses, and the new still needs to be accepted and accustomed to.
Studying the history of my homeland, I drew Special attention for the period of the civil war in our country: 1918-1922. At that time, some residents of our country fought for changes, while others did not want these changes. Both of them were ready to kill, and if necessary, to give their lives for what they considered right. Many parties were striving for power.
I could not decide whether the civil war was necessary for the development of our country. On the one hand, if people had not taken up arms, the autocratic tsar would have ruled, and the majority of the country's population would have remained illiterate. They would have fought and died anyway - in the First World War, into which Russia was drawn into by the tsarist government.
On the other hand, Russia paid a colossal price for changes in the country. And this price seems disproportionate. How many people were killed! And how many died at that time from hunger and exhaustion, from epidemics of typhus and cholera. For several years chaos reigned in the country.
When I think about the Civil War, I always remember the story “The Red Crown” by Mikhail Bulgakov. This work chills you to the point of creepiness, to the point of cold trembling. Two brothers adore each other. But they fight for different sides and die: one is killed, and the second goes crazy. The other brother indirectly contributes to the death of one brother.
The tragedy of the civil war, in my opinion, is fratricide. Destruction of one’s neighbors, one’s fellow countrymen “for an idea,” “for daddy,” “for the Tsar.” This is a real nightmare that cannot be justified by anything.
And another tragedy of the “time of troubles” is the collapse of the country. After the civil war, the Russian economy lay in ruins, and there was no order in the state. Many wealthy people left the country, took their valuables with them, and transferred money abroad. But this doesn’t even sadden me as much as the so-called “brain drain”.
Many talented educated people: scientists, doctors, engineers left Russia during the civil war. Then they invented, worked, created for the benefit of another state. For example, France and the USA. Sometimes I watch old Hollywood movies on the Internet. In the credits there are many names of various technical workers, artists, clearly originating from Russia. They were pioneers, created Hollywood, which Americans are now so proud of, and we lost them.
Civil war as a tragedy of the people
Civil War, in my opinion, is the most cruel and bloody war, because sometimes close people fight in it, who once lived in one whole, united country, believed in one God and adhered to the same ideals. How it happens that relatives stand on opposite sides of the barricades and how such wars end, we can trace on the pages of the novel - M. A. Sholokhov’s epic “Quiet Don”.
In his novel, the author tells us how the Cossacks lived freely on the Don: they worked on the land, were a reliable support for the Russian tsars, fought for them and for the state. Their families lived by their labor, in prosperity and respect. The cheerful, joyful life of the Cossacks, full of work and pleasant worries, is interrupted by the revolution. And people were faced with a hitherto unfamiliar problem of choice: whose side to take, who to believe - the Reds, who promise equality in everything, but deny faith in the Lord God; or whites, those whom their grandfathers and great-grandfathers served faithfully. But do the people need this revolution and war? Knowing what sacrifices would need to be made, what difficulties to overcome, the people would probably answer in the negative. It seems to me that no revolutionary necessity justifies all the victims, broken lives, destroyed families. And so, as Sholokhov writes, “in a fight to the death, brother goes against brother, son against father.” Even Grigory Melekhov, main character The novel, previously opposed to bloodshed, easily decides the fate of others. Of course, the first murder of a person affects him deeply and painfully, causing him to spend many sleepless nights, but war makes him cruel. “I’ve become scary to myself... Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well,” admits Grigory. Everyone became cruel, even women. Just remember the scene when Daria Melekhova kills Kotlyarov without hesitation, considering him the murderer of her husband Peter. However, not everyone thinks about why blood is shed, what is the meaning of war. Is it really “for the needs of the rich that they drive them to death”? Or to defend rights that are common to everyone, the meaning of which is not very clear to the people. A simple Cossack can only see that this war is becoming meaningless, because you can’t fight for those who rob and kill, rape women and set fire to houses. And such cases occurred both from the whites and from the reds. “They are all the same... they are all a yoke on the neck of the Cossacks,” says the main character.
In my opinion, Sholokhov sees the main reason for the tragedy of the Russian people, which affected literally everyone in those days, in the dramatic transition from the old way of life, which had been formed over centuries, to a new way of life. Two worlds collide: everything that was previously an integral part of people’s lives, the basis of their existence, suddenly collapses, and the new still needs to be accepted and accustomed to.