When Napoleon invaded Russia, there was a huge outcry to stop the coming "infidels" from taking their country. Nobody knew how this war was going to change the country forever. Many later historians have said this war was a watershed in Russian history. When reading, "Cavalry Maiden" by Nadezhda Durova, you can see that there are major changes that are occurring during this time. One of the first signs of this is in the very beginning of her story. She is staying with a family while in the field, which this family was a peasant family. As you read you can see that there is a special bond between to two.

Durova, who is a noble, is actually concerned on how she sees her. The peasant asks her, thinking she is a man, if she will remember her. If you read o

As you read Durova's account of 1812, you get the sense that this war means a lot to her. You get this feeling in many ways. First, you can tell how she feels by hearing how passionately she writes. Even when Durova is injured, she still writes with great passion on how important of an event this really is to her. Another example of how important this war means to her is when she gets hurt. When she finally gets to lie down and try to regain strength, and realizes that this can't go on forever with this pain. She is told to go home with great reluctance. "I was forced to tell him the truth: my leg hurt unbearbly, I ran a fever from it everyday, and I managed to stay on my horse only mechanically, by habit, but I was weaker than a five-year-old child. (P.153)" You can tell by this that she is in a lot of pain. Another example of how important this war is to her is when she says, "How can I go home now when not a single man is leaving the army. (P.153)" She is willing to admit that she has been going through a lot of pain for quite sometime and yet she doesn't want to leave. This shows that she is fully committed to this war and she feels bad leaving her men and the cause. This is a great example of how important of an event this really is. Her she is in very intense pain, so bad that she can only hold herself up on a horse with the little strength she has left, and yet she still wants to keep on fighting. Only someone who thinks the cause so great, that the person is willing to go through hell, and keep on fighting. Another example of how important this war is to her is when she goes home after her injury. She wants to take her brother back with her, but she runs into a little problem. Durova wants to go back ASAP, but when her father says she will have to wait she gets very restless. "As eagerly as I desire to be back under his glorious banners, I cannot hope for the happiness of standing under them beside my brother, because my elderly father does not want to send an immature boy off to the bloody field of battle in this harsh season and urges me, and now I don't know what I should do. (P.162)" This is just another example of how eager she is to get back to such a bloody war and help out.

ther accounts with the noble and peasant interaction, you can see that this type of interaction doesn't occur very often. You usually hear of how the owners treat their serfs in a manner that in some cases can be very i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Durova ASAP, Nadezhda Durova, , war 1812, example war, god help, country war, heroic bearing confidence, bearing confidence own, confidence own strength, defense nation, patriotism spirit, war means, noble peasant, bring changes, march battle,
Approximate Word count = 1645
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)