Yuri Lodygin is a young goalkeeper, considered one of the most ingenious Russian footballers. Since 2013, he has been the goalkeeper of the Russian national football team and the St. Petersburg club Zenit.
Yuri Vladimirovich Lodygin was born in 1990 in the city of Vladimir. The boy's maternal ancestors were Greeks. When Yura was ten years old, his parents decided to move to a village in Greece. There, the boy started playing football after watching the world championship. He was seriously eager to become a goalkeeper and went to the football section at the age of 12.
This is considered a late age for starting a football career. However, for some time Yura successfully played in the Greek team of the fourth league from a neighboring village.
In 2004, the Lodygins moved back to Russia. The family had an apartment in the city of Vladimir, but a crisis began in Greece, and it became difficult to live there. But Yuri received an invitation to play in the Greek youth team, and the Lodygins returned to Greece again. Then the young man moved to the main team of "Xanthi". Even then, Yura himself was surprised how he, a 14-year-old boy, was taken to a team where the players were, on average, 30 years old. But the club's management believed that a talented guy should be given to develop his abilities.
Football
In 2009, Yuri Lodygin received his first professional contract for the place of the main goalkeeper in the Xanthi team. He did not get this place right away, for some time before that, Yuri had played for Eordaikos (a club of the second league). The salary of the young man was not paid all the time, and the promised sums did not always come. In the second division of the Greek championship in 2011-2012, Lodygin participated in twenty-five meetings, playing on loan. Then he was invited to the Greek youth team, but he never entered the field.
In 2011, Lodygin went to the training camp with the Nalchik team "Spartak". However, it so happened that the Greek and Russian clubs could not agree on the transfer. Then coach Cherchesov became interested in the young footballer, who wanted to lure Lodygin to Terek, but this did not happen either.
For the first time for Xanthi, Yuri Lodygin played in the 2011-2012 season. This was the last match against Ergoletis. Lodygin dreamed of becoming the main goalkeeper of Xanthi, and this dream came true next season. Also, Yuri began to call for friendly matches in the youth team.
After playing for the national team of Greece, the Russian club Zenit became interested in Yuri. The Greek national team was supposed to play with Lithuania, but Lodygin suddenly went to St. Petersburg for a medical examination. The goalkeeper had to go to Russia for two weeks, after which it made no sense to return to the Greek training camp.
Of course, Lodygin was sorry to lose the chance to play in the Greek national team, but the young goalkeeper judged that an excellent career at Zenit could lead him to the Russian national team. Being both a citizen of Greece and Russia, Yuri Lodygin had the right to play for the national team of any of these countries.
The goalkeeper preferred Zenit also because Xanthi is constantly in the middle standings, and the Greek championship is located several steps below the Russian one. On June 7, 2013, changes took place in the football player's sports biography - Yuri Lodygin officially moved to Zenit. For transfer football club paid € 800 thousand, and the goalkeeper himself signed a contract for three years. In the combined tournament, Yuri took part in three matches and conceded four goals. It was not easy to play at Zenit, many fans considered the change of club a betrayal.
In 2013, in a match with Krasnodar at the Russian Championship, Lodygin replaced the patient and became the main goalkeeper. In 2014, in a match with Wings of the Soviets, Yuri became the fourth goalkeeper in the Russian championship, who saved two penalties at once in one match. At the end of the 2013-2014 season, the fans recognized Lodygin as the best player of Zenit. Also in 2013, the footballer joined the expanded national team. There he prepared for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. In the national team, Yuri made his debut in the match against South Korea.
In 2014, the goalkeeper extended his contract with Zenit until the end of 2019. In the same year, Yuri Lodygin was recognized as the author of the longest dry streak among the club's goalkeepers in European competition - 534 minutes. In the 2015/2016 season, Yuri Lodygin, together with his Zenit colleagues, became the bronze medalist of the Russian Championship. In the summer, the Petersburgers beat CSKA with a score of 1: 0 and became the owners of the Russian Super Cup. In the Europa League, the athletes showed a professional game, winning five out of six matches.
Personal life
Yuri's parents and his brother still live in Greece. From the age of 18, Lodygin met with Marianne Savvidu. The girl was from a Pontic clan, her ancestors in ancient times lived on the territory of modern Georgia. Marianna turned out to be 10 years older than the football player, but such a difference in age did not bother the lovers. The young people formed a strong alliance.
In 2014, they got married, and a year earlier, young people became parents, their daughter Anastasia was born. In 2013, tattoos appeared on the goalkeeper's wrist: one with the inscription "Marianne", the other with Roman numerals - the date of birth of his daughter. Later, the athlete became interested in tattooing and in 2015, after the Zenit-Ufa match, which brought the Petersburgers victory in the Russian Championship, he got a tattoo in the form of a five-pointed star with the number "2015". The footballer expressed his desire to capture every victory in his sports career in this way. In addition, a tattoo appeared on the footballer's arm in the form of two lines of a cardiogram. The idea to make this image belonged to Lodygin's wife, who decorated her right hand with the same pattern.
Relationships within the family of Yuri developed trusting. Lodygin's wife approved of his transfer to the Russian club. Marianne advised not to move to Olympiacos, even if the offer was formalized. As Lodygin himself says in an interview, his wife Marianna was sure that only at Zenit Yuri would be able to reveal all his talents.
Moving to Russia turned out to be difficult for the goalkeeper, at first Yuri lived in Russia alone, without loved ones. The footballer had to re-learn Russian, because from childhood Lodygin spoke Greek, and he only heard his native Russian language from his parents. But his wife supported Yuri.
Now the Lodygins have adapted to St. Petersburg. Daughter Yuri and Marianna were given to a private Kindergarten Sun School on Krestovsky Prospekt, as the goalkeeper reported from his Instagram page. The footballer commented on the photo of the happy Nastya with a positive post, in which he talked about his daughter's new hobbies that appeared in kindergarten.
Yuri Lodygin now
In 2017, Yuri Lodygin was included in the list of 23 football players, players of the Russian national team, who, according to FIFA, used doping during the matches for reaching the playoffs of the 2014 World Cup. International Federation football reported that in relation to Russian athletes an investigation is underway, but there is already overwhelming evidence. FIFA called the use of doping by the athletes of the entire national team an unprecedented case. So far, the results of the investigation have not been made public.
In the games of the Russian championship, Zenit players, which includes Yuri Lodygin, are not doing well. In the 2017/2018 season, the St. Petersburg team under the leadership showed the worst result over the past ten years and was not even among the prize-winners of the Russian championship. In May 2018, he was replaced.
In March 2018, in the official "
Many footballers are looking for their happiness abroad. The opposite happened to goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin. He learned to play football in exile, but he managed to realize himself as an athlete only in Russia.
Lodygin's career takeoff was swift. Who is he: one of the most mysterious footballers of our national team?
From Russia to Greece
The date of birth of Yuri Lodygin is May 26, 1990. The future Zenit goalkeeper was born in Vladimir. Father worked as a locksmith, mother - as a saleswoman. Mom was Greek, so in 2000 the family was able to move to Greece: it seemed like a cloudless life here ...
The family settled in a Greek village, their mother opened a tiny restaurant there. The boy quickly took root in his new homeland and became interested in football. It all started with games in the yard. Then Yura found out that in the neighboring village there is a fourth league football club ... So it began sports biography Yuri Lodygin: in the rural football section.
It's too late to start playing at twelve. But Lodygin quickly grew as an athlete and at the age of fourteen he got into the youth team of "Xanthi", the club of the Greek Football Super League. Four years later, the footballer was already in the senior squad, but spent the entire first year on the bench. The next season, the footballer was rented out to a second league club. Even Yuri's salary was paid irregularly. But the main thing is that in such conditions it was very difficult for the player to show what he was capable of. In the third season (2011-2012), the club did not rent out the young player, but he was able to get on the goal at the end of the season ...
The chance presented itself during the match on April 22, 2012 - Lodygin managed to use this opportunity. They noticed him and began to put him on the gate. At the same time, the footballer played in the Greek youth team ...
However, even earlier, Yuri Lodygin was noticed in Russia.
From Greece to Russia
Lodygin as a football player was discovered by the famous coach Stanislav Cherchesov. Cherchesov wanted to invite Yuri to the Terek club, but it turned out that there were already too many goalkeepers in the team, and there was no vacancy. But the Russian footballer from Greece nevertheless attracted attention and in 2013 was bought by Zenit for 800,000 euros. The amount is not too big, but the management of "Xanthi" could not refuse such an offer: the team was going through financial difficulties.
And at that moment Yuri was called up to the Greek national team! After all, the goalkeeper remained a citizen of the Balkan state. Nobody could say how the rookie's career at Zenit would turn out and whether he would ever be invited to the Russian national team. The Greek national team was never ranked highly, but it was a tit in hand.
And so the goalkeeper makes a risky decision: he chooses the "football citizenship" of Russia.
The wife of Yuri Lodygin helped make such a choice.
Unconventional family
Yuri Lodygin married at the age of eighteen to a woman ten years older. It was love. And they are still together.
Yuri Lodygin with his wife (you can't say from the photo that your wife is much older)
Yuri's chosen one is called Marianna Savvidu. She comes from a family of Pontic Greeks, was born in Georgia and emigrated to Greece. Both Yuri and Marianna came out of the post-Soviet diaspora, which probably made it easier for them to get to know each other.
It was his wife who convinced Yuri to link his fate with Russia, although she herself remained in Greece for some time (when Lodygin flew to St. Petersburg, Marianna was pregnant).
Now the couple are successfully raising their daughter Anastasia.
The footballer even got a tattoo in honor of his wife and daughter.
Yuri Lodygin, tattoos
Another tattoo - a star - appeared after he became the champion of Russia with Zenit.
Yuri Lodygin in Zenit and in the national team
Yuri possesses many qualities that are useful for a goalkeeper: he is young, jumpy, psychologically stable, and did not receive any serious injuries. The growth of Yuri Lodygin is 188 centimeters, weight - 82 kilograms. But most importantly, the goalkeeper has an amazing ability to grasp everything, to grow as an athlete.
The main goalkeeper of the “blue-white-blue” was a very strong player, however, due to his injury, Yuri Lodygin as the goalkeeper of “Zenith” quickly established himself at the base of the team.
In 2014 he became the Russian champion.
“Lodygin is the best goalkeeper in Russia,” many fans decided for themselves. You can understand them if you watch the best saves of Yuri Lodygin on the video:
It is known, for example, that in the match on March 24, 2014 against Krylia Sovetov, Yuri saved two penalties in one game. In the fall of 2014, when Zenit played in the Champions League, Lodygin did not concede goals for 534 minutes: this was a record for the blue-white-blue in European competition.
Only in 2015, Yuri Lodygin did not play very well, and he had a rival in Zenit - Mikhail Kerzhakov (brother).
And yet, Yuri Lodygin remained one of the most productive and talented goalkeepers in Russia and was included in (he played in the national team since November 2014). Yuri is ready to change here at the gate at any moment. There are also analysts who give the Russian-Greek goalkeeper first place.
However, goalkeepers do not conflict.
Yuri Vladimirovich Lodygin turned from a young football fan from a province to a brilliant goalkeeper. He signed his first serious contract at the age of 19, and now he is a confident member of the Russian national team and has devotedly defending the Zenit goal since 2013.Childhood and family of Yuri Lodygin
Yura was born in the Russian city of Vladimir. His mother is Greek. At the age of ten, together with his parents, the boy moved to Greece in one of the villages. There he began to seriously engage in sports. Football, namely the position of the goalkeeper, interested him after he watched the 2002 World Cup. He was then already twelve - a rather late age for starting classes in the football section. On the advice of friends, he went to a neighboring village, where the team of the fourth league was located. 
In 2004, the novice footballer returned to Russia for almost a year. In Vladimir, the family had an apartment, they thought about going back, since the situation with housing in Greece was very difficult. However, the family soon returned to Hellas again, as Yura was invited to the local youth team.
Later he was invited to the main team of the Greek FC "Xanthi". Lodygin himself was surprised: he was only fourteen, but he played in a team with players who were thirty to thirty-five years old. They believed in the talented football player, he was constantly given a chance, claiming that Yuri was simply obliged to play.
The beginning of the career of footballer Yuri Lodygin
In 2009, the young goalkeeper signed his first professional contract. Yura did not manage to stake out the place of the main goalkeeper in the Xanthi team right away. Before that he had to play for some time on loan for Eordaikos (a club of the second division). Salaries were received intermittently, and the players were not always paid the promised amount.The best saves of Yuri Lodygin (15/16 season)
In the second division of the Greek championship in 2011-2012, Yuri spent twenty-five meetings, continuing to play on loan. Soon he was invited to the youth national team of Greece, but he did not have a chance to enter the field. In 2011, he went to the training camp with the Spartak Nalchik team. It so happened that the clubs could not agree on the transfer. Cherchesov also became interested in the goalkeeper. He planned to invite him to Terek, but this did not happen either.
Yuri's debut for Xanthi took place at the end of the 2011-2012 season. It was the final match against Ergoletis. The dream of becoming the main goalkeeper of Xanthi came true next season. In addition, Lodygin began to be called up to the youth team for friendly matches. Soon, the goalkeeper received his first call to the national team, but he never entered the field. He was called there as a young goalkeeper, so the chances of getting out were minimal. It's about the match with Bosnia.
Lodygin's transition to Zenit
When Lodygin was called up to the Greek national team for the second time, he already knew that Zenit St. Petersburg was seriously interested in him. The Greek national team was to play with Lithuania. It took only two days, and Yuri was informed about the need to undergo a medical examination in St. Petersburg. Having honestly explained the reason for the necessary departure, the goalkeeper went to Russia. He stayed there for about a week, so there was no point in returning to the training camp in Greece. 
Of course, it was a pity to lose the opportunity to play in the Greek national team, but Lodygin reasoned that with a good game at Zenit, he could well end up in the Russian national team. As a citizen of both Greece and Russia, he had the same right to play for the national team of any of these countries.
Yuri Lodygin teaches the Hulk the Russian language
The choice in favor of Zenit was also due to the fact that, firstly, Xanthi is always in the middle of the standings, secondly, the Greek championship is a couple of steps lower than the Russian one, and thirdly, it was necessary to think about my career ... It was Yuri's dream to get into the Zenit team, which is fighting for the leadership in the Russian championship, playing in the Champions League. There, completely different prospects opened up for him.
Around the same time period, Olympiacos became interested in the player, but this was not officially formalized. Zenit managed to come to an agreement with Xanthi and paid the required amount.
Preparing for the World Cup in Brazil
Lodygin's choice between Greece and Russia was not easy. After his move, some fans stopped considering Yuri a Greek, considering his act as a betrayal. In "Zenith" the goalkeeper immediately had the opportunity to play, he tried to use it. 
The goalkeeper was invited to the expanded national team in 2013. There, together with Igor Akinfeev, Igor Denisov and others, he prepared for the qualifying matches of the 2014 World Cup. His debut in the national team took place in November in a match against South Korea.
Personal life of Yuri Lodygin
For several years, the goalkeeper had a serious relationship with Marianne Savvidu. Now they are married and have a daughter, Anastasia (born in 2013). Lodygin has a tattoo on his arm: the inscription "Marianna" and Roman numerals - the date of birth of his daughter. 
Yuri's wife approved the transition to Zenit. She advised her husband not to agree to Olympiacos' proposal in any way, if it did. It was "Zenith" in her understanding that was the place where Lodygin will be able to fully express himself. Yuri Lodygin now Yuri Lodygin went to the European Champion 2016 as a replacement for Igor Akinfeev, like Marinato Guilherme. “If I get a chance to play, of course, I will try to do it with dignity,” he told Match-TV shortly before the start of the World Cup.
Russian footballer Yuri Lodygin- the goalkeeper of the Zenit club and the Russian national team, champion of Russia, winner of the Super Cup and the Russian Football Cup, silver and bronze medalist of the Russian Championship.
Yuri was born in the city of Vladimir in 1990 in a simple working-class family. His father is Russian and his mother is Greek from Georgia. Until the age of ten, Yuri lived with his parents in Russia, and then the family moved to his mother's historical homeland, to Greece. For six months, Yuri managed to learn a new language and generally get used to in Greece.
Football career of Yuri Lodygin
Yuri was twelve when, unexpectedly for himself and his family, he became seriously interested in football. It is believed that this is already a rather "late" age to start training, but the Greek coaches saw great potential in the Russian boy and allowed his talent to unfold to the fullest. At the age of fifteen, Yuri began playing for the youth club Xanthi, and at nineteen he signed his first professional contract with this club, but four more years passed before he was able to take the place of goalkeeper at Xanthi. By this time, Lodygin was already thinking about other clubs. He understood that in the Greek "Xanthi" he could hardly achieve more, and the club itself never really shone.
When the Greek footballer received an invitation from Zenit St. Petersburg, he went to Russia without hesitation. The transfer was successful and soon Yuri had already signed a three-year contract. His ransom from Xanthi cost the Russians 800 thousand euros.
Yuri Lodygin: “I remember, my wife, when we did not yet know about any interest of Zenit, came across a website on the Internet, where its base was shown in all details. By chance! I come home, she beckons to the monitor. “Look,” he says, “what a beautiful base, what a big team. Imagine if you ever play there! " I nodded and forgot. And after two months it turns out that Zenit is interested in me. "
Lodygin's first performance for Zenit was not brilliant, he conceded 4 goals. But in the Russian championship he became the main goalkeeper of the team and showed himself so well that he was recognized by the club's fans as the best player in the team. After that, Yuri's "Russian" football career took off. He has acquired his admirers and fans, has established himself as a strong player.
Yuri Lodygin: “Almost all goalkeepers try to talk a lot. But I don't like yelling at someone like, "What are you doing ?!" I shout only at the game: "Behind!", "On the ball!". If you haven't heard - the same thing, but even louder. "Come out!", "Left behind!" And no swearing. "
In 2014, Yuri extended his contract with Zenit until 2019.
In 2016, Lodygin joined the Russian national team of the European Championship as a replacement for Igor Akinfeev.
In the 2016-2017 season, Lodygin was chosen as a coach Mircea Lucescu as the main goalkeeper, but the season did not play very well. In December 2016, Yuri was replaced by a Ufa player Andrey Lunev, who became the main goalkeeper, but in May 2017 Lodygin replaced Lunev after an injury at the game with Krasnodar. On May 21, at the match with Lokomotiv, Yuri was able to defend his goal.
In St. Petersburg, the footballer was recognized as one of the brightest people of 2016 - he entered the "TOP 50. The most famous people of St. Petersburg".
Personal life of Yuri Lodygin
Yuri's wife is a Georgian Greek woman named Maryana. She is fluent in four languages (Russian, Georgian, Greek and Turkish), but with her husband she mostly communicates in Greek, which is convenient for both of them. The footballer met his life partner when he was 18 and she was 28.
In 2013, Yuri and Maryana had a daughter, Anastasia. After that, the footballer made a large tattoo on his arm with the date of birth of the heiress. Above the Greek numbers, you can also see the name of his wife in Latin letters.
The couple almost never parted for a long time, except for the period when Lodygin received an invitation from Zenit. It was at this moment that his wife was expecting a child, and she had to postpone the move until Anastasia appeared.
After returning to Russia, Lodygin again had to master the Russian language, in which in Greece he spoke only with his parents.
Yuri V. Lodygin(May 26, 1990, Vladimir, USSR) - Russian footballer, master of sports of Russia, goalkeeper of the Zenit club (St. Petersburg) and the Russian national team.
Club career
Born in Vladimir, father - Russian, mother - Greek. In 2000 he moved with his family to Greece, where he began to play in the village team. At the age of 15 he became a player in the Xanthi youth team. Due to the great competition he was sent to the club from the fourth division "Eordaikos", in 2004 he returned to Vladimir, but a year later he went back to Greece - to Drama, where he got into the youth team of the city.
For the youth team "Xanthi" Yuri spent three seasons, and on June 17, 2009 he signed a professional contract with this club. In the 2010/11 season, he played twenty-five games in the second division of the Greek championship (and two cup matches) for Eordaikos on loan. Spent 27 matches during the season, received a call-up to the youth national team of Greece, but never entered the field. In 2011, he went to the training camp with Spartak-Nalchik, but the clubs could not agree on a transfer, Cherchesov also wanted to invite the goalkeeper to Terek, but this did not happen either. For "Xanthi" Yuri made his debut in last match of the 2011/12 season against Ergotelis. In the 2012/13 season, he became the main goalkeeper of the team, was called up for friendly matches of the country's youth team and even received a call to the main Greek national team, but did not play for it.
On June 7, 2013, Lodygin's transfer to Zenit St. Petersburg was officially announced. The transfer amount was 800 thousand euros, the player signed a three-year contract. In the United Tournament, Lodygin played 3 matches and conceded 4 goals. Having then a Greek passport, he chose a Russian football citizenship. He made his debut in the Russian championship on July 17, 2013 in a match with Krasnodar and in the absence of the injured Vyacheslav Malafeev became the team's main goalkeeper and was recognized by the club's fans as the best player in the team in August. On March 24, 2014, in a home match with Krylia Sovetov, he became the fourth goalkeeper in the Russian championship, reflecting two penalties in one match. At the end of the 2013/14 season, Lodygin was recognized as the best player of Zenit according to the fans.
On September 27, 2014, in the match against Spartak, leaving his goal intact, he entered the symbolic Club of Leonid Ivanov. On September 29, 2014, the goalkeeper extended his contract with Zenit until the end of the 2018/19 season.
At the beginning of the 2015/2016 season, he played unstable, made mistakes. On September 29, 2015, in the Champions League match with Gent, he lost his place at the goal to Mikhail Kerzhakov. After some time he returned to the club's base.
National team career
| ) 21 Shchennikov 22 Dziuba 23 Kombarov coach: Leonid Slutsky |
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An excerpt characterizing Lodygin, Yuri Vladimirovich
Consequently, it was only worth Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, to try hard and write a more searching piece of paper or to Napoleon write to Alexander: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [My dear brother, I agree return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.It is clear that this was how things seemed to be to contemporaries. It is clear that it seemed to Napoleon that the cause of the war was the intrigues of England (as he said it on the island of St. Helena); it is clear that it seemed to the members of the English House that the cause of the war was Napoleon's lust for power; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that the merchants thought that the cause of the war was the continental system that ravaged Europe, that the old soldiers and generals thought that the main reason was the need to use them in business; the legitimists of that time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes [good principles], and the diplomats of that time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not skillfully hidden from Napoleon and that the memorandum was awkwardly written for No. 178. It is clear that these and still countless, infinite number of reasons, the number of which depends on the countless differences of points of view, seemed to contemporaries; but for us - descendants, contemplating in all its scope the enormity of the event that took place and delving into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christians killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, the policy of England was cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other end of Europe killed and ruined the people of the Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.
For us, descendants, - not historians who are not carried away by the process of research and therefore with an undimmed common sense contemplating an event, its causes are presented in innumerable numbers. The more we delve into the search for reasons, the more they are revealed to us, and every single reason taken or a whole series of reasons seems to us equally fair in themselves, and equally false in their insignificance in comparison with the enormity of the event, and equally false in their invalidity ( without the participation of all other coinciding reasons) to produce the event that has occurred. The same reason as Napoleon's refusal to withdraw his troops across the Vistula and to give back the Duchy of Oldenburg, seems to us the desire or unwillingness of the first French corporal to enter secondary service: for if he did not want to go into service and would not want another, the third , and the thousandth corporal and soldiers, so fewer people would be in Napoleon's army, and there could not have been a war.
If Napoleon had not been offended by the demand to retreat beyond the Vistula and had not ordered the troops to advance, there would have been no war; but if all the sergeants did not want to enter secondary service, there could be no war either. There could be no war either, if there were no intrigues of England, and there would be no Prince of Oldenburg and a feeling of insult in Alexander, and there would be no autocratic power in Russia, and there would be no French revolution and the ensuing dictatorship and empire, and all that that produced the French Revolution, and so on. Without one of these reasons, nothing could have happened. Therefore, all these reasons - billions of reasons - coincided in order to produce what was. And, therefore, nothing was the exclusive cause of the event, and the event had to happen only because it had to happen. Millions of people had to, renouncing their human feelings and their reason, go to the East from the West and kill their own kind, just as a few centuries ago crowds of people went from East to West, killing their own kind.
The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words depended, it seemed, whether the event would happen or not, were just as little arbitrary as the actions of every soldier who went on a campaign by lot or by recruitment. It could not be otherwise, because in order for the will of Napoleon and Alexander (those people on whom the event seemed to depend) to be fulfilled, the coincidence of countless circumstances was necessary, without one of which the event could not have happened. It was necessary that millions of people, in whose hands there was real power, the soldiers who fired, carried provisions and guns, it was necessary that they agree to fulfill this will of single and weak people and be led to this by countless complex, varied reasons.
Fatalism in history is inevitable for explaining unreasonable phenomena (that is, those whose rationality we do not understand). The more we try to reasonably explain these phenomena in history, the more unreasonable and incomprehensible they become for us.
Each person lives for himself, uses freedom to achieve his personal goals and feels with all his being that he can now do or not do such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, performed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible and becomes the property of history, in which it has not a free, but a predetermined meaning.
There are two sides of life in every person: personal life, which is the more free, the more abstract its interests, and spontaneous, swarm life, where a person inevitably fulfills the laws prescribed to him.
A person consciously lives for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for achieving historical, universal human goals. A perfect deed is irreversible, and its action, coinciding in time with millions of actions of other people, acquires historical significance. The higher a person stands on the social ladder, the more people he is associated with, the more power he has over other people, the more obvious the predetermination and inevitability of his every action.
"The heart of the tsarevo is in the hand of God."
The king is a slave to history.
History, that is, the unconscious, common, swarming life of mankind, uses every minute of the life of the tsars for itself as an instrument for its own purposes.
Napoleon, despite the fact that more than ever, now, in 1812, it seemed that verser or not verser le sang de ses peuples [to shed or not shed the blood of his peoples] depended on him (as in the last letter I wrote to him Alexander), never more than now was not subject to those inevitable laws that forced him (acting in relation to himself, as it seemed to him, at his own discretion) to do for the common cause, for history, what should have happened.
Westerners moved to the East in order to kill each other. And according to the law of coincidence of reasons, thousands of small reasons for this movement and for the war coincided with this event: reproaches for non-compliance with the continental system, and the Duke of Oldenburg, and the movement of troops into Prussia, undertaken (as it seemed to Napoleon) in order only to to achieve an armed peace, and the love and habit of the French emperor for war, coinciding with the disposition of his people, the fascination with the grandeur of the preparations, and the costs of preparation, and the need to acquire such benefits that would cover these costs, and intoxicated honors in Dresden, and diplomatic negotiations, which, according to their contemporaries, were led with a sincere desire to achieve peace and which only hurt the pride of both sides, and millions of millions of other reasons, counterfeiting an event that was about to take place, coinciding with it.
When the apple is ripe and falls, why does it fall? Is it because it gravitates towards the earth, because the rod dries up, because it dries up by the sun, because it grows heavy, because the wind shakes it, because the boy standing below wants to eat it?
Nothing is the reason. All this is just a coincidence of the conditions under which any vital, organic, spontaneous event takes place. And the botanist who finds that the apple falls because the fiber is decomposing and the like will be just as right and just as wrong as the child standing below who says that the apple fell because he wanted to eat him and that he prayed about it. Just as right and wrong will be the one who says that Napoleon went to Moscow because he wanted it, and because he died, because Alexander wanted his destruction: how right and wrong will be the one who says that a million poods the mountain that was dug fell because the last worker struck under it one last time with a pick. In historical events, the so-called great people are labels that give names to the event, which, like labels, have the least connection with the event itself.
Each of their actions, which seems to them to be arbitrary for themselves, is in the historical sense involuntary, but is in connection with the entire course of history and is determined eternally.
On May 29, Napoleon left Dresden, where he stayed for three weeks, surrounded by a court made up of princes, dukes, kings, and even one emperor. Before leaving, Napoleon kindly looked after the princes, kings and the emperor who deserved it, scolded the kings and princes with whom he was not completely satisfied, presented his own, that is, taken from other kings, pearls and diamonds to the Empress of Austria and, tenderly embracing Empress Maria Louise, as his historian says, he left her with grieved separation, which she - this Marie Louise, who was considered his wife, despite the fact that another wife remained in Paris - seemed unable to bear it. Despite the fact that the diplomats still firmly believed in the possibility of peace and worked diligently towards this goal, despite the fact that Emperor Napoleon himself wrote a letter to Emperor Alexander, calling him Monsieur mon frere [Sovereign brother] and sincerely assuring that he did not want war and that he will always love and respect him - he rode to the army and gave new orders at each station, with the aim of rushing the army from west to east. He rode in a road carriage drawn by a six, surrounded by pages, adjutants and an escort, along the highway to Posen, Thorn, Danzig and Konigsberg. In each of these cities, thousands of people greeted him with trepidation and delight.
The army moved from west to east, and variable gears carried him there as well. On June 10, he overtook the army and spent the night in the Vilkovis forest, in an apartment prepared for him, on the estate of a Polish count.
The next day Napoleon, having overtaken the army, rode up to the Niemen in a carriage and, in order to inspect the area of the crossing, changed into a Polish uniform and went ashore.
Seeing on the other side the Cossacks (les Cosaques) and the spreading steppes (les Steppes), in the middle of which there was Moscou la ville sainte, [Moscow, the holy city,] the capital of that similar Scythian state, where Alexander the Great went, - Napoleon, unexpectedly for everyone, and contrary to both strategic and diplomatic considerations, he ordered an offensive, and the next day his troops began to cross the Neman.
On the 12th, early in the morning, he left the tent that had been pitched that day on the steep left bank of the Nemunas, and looked through the telescope at the streams of his troops emerging from the Vilkovis forest, spilling over three bridges built on the Nemunas. The troops knew about the presence of the emperor, looked for him with their eyes, and when they found on the mountain in front of the tent a figure in a frock coat and a hat who had separated from his retinue, they threw up their hats, shouted: "Vive l" Empereur! [Long live the emperor!] - and one for others, without being exhausted, flowed out, everything flowed out of the huge forest that hitherto hid them and, frustrated, crossed over three bridges to the other side.
- On fera du chemin cette fois ci. Oh! quand il s "en mele lui meme ca chauffe ... Nom de Dieu ... Le voila! .. Vive l" Empereur! Les voila donc les Steppes de l "Asie! Vilain pays tout de meme. Au revoir, Beauche; je te reserve le plus beau palais de Moscou. Au revoir! Bonne chance ... L" as tu vu, l "Empereur? Vive l" Empereur! .. preur! Si on me fait gouverneur aux Indes, Gerard, je te fais ministre du Cachemire, c "est arrete. Vive l" Empereur! Vive! vive! vive! Les gredins de Cosaques, comme ils filent. Vive l "Empereur! Le voila! Le vois tu? Je l" ai vu deux fois comme jete vois. Le petit caporal ... Je l "ai vu donner la croix al" un des vieux ... Vive l "Empereur! .. [Now let's go! Oh! How he will take it himself, the matter will boil. By God ... Here he is ... Hurray, emperor! So here they are, the Asian steppes ... But a nasty country. Goodbye, Boche. I'll leave you the best palace in Moscow. Goodbye, I wish you success. Have you seen the emperor? Hurray! If they make me governor in India, I will make you the minister of Kashmir ... Hurray! Emperor Here he is! Do you see him? I saw him twice as you. Little corporal ... I saw how he hung a cross to one of the old men ... Hurray, emperor!] - spoke the voices of old and young people, of the most varied characters and positions in society. all the faces of these people had one common expression of joy at the beginning of the long-awaited campaign and delight and devotion to the man in a gray frock coat, who was standing on the mountain.
