F. M. Dostoevsky on War and Peace

Abstract

The article examines F.M. Dostoevsky’s views on the phenomenon of war and peace, expressed by him in the first chapter of the April issue of the expressed by him in the «Diary of the writer» in 1877, dedicated to the entry of Russia into the war with Turkey. In a sharp, polemical form, the writer responds to the liberal press, which spoke about the perniciousness of this step for the Russian society. He emphasizes that the reason for the entry of Russia into the war was the Turkish long-term brutal oppression of the East Slavic peoples, who repeatedly turned to Russia for help, but did not receive it because Russian diplomacy tried to solve this problem peacefully. And only when all peaceful means were exhausted, Russia took up arms, aiming not at territorial or economic acquisitions, but exclusively at the liberation of the oppressed Slavic brothers. Dostoevsky says that the Russian people have always considered war to be an undoubted evil and did not want it, but accepted its necessity as their sacred duty, dictated by the Christian commandments of love for one’s neighbors and self-sacrifice for their salvation.