Conference of Dresden (1812) reach that Napoleon demonstrated at Dresden may have helped persuade the American government of the advantages of entering into a war with Britain. The War of 1812 was declared in June of that year. Prior to the conference Napoleon had maintained a mask of friendship towards Russia and it was the first time that his intentions towards that country became apparent. Conference of Dresden (1812) The Conference of Dresden was a May 1812 gathering of European leaders arranged by Napoleon I of France as part of his preparations for the invasion of Russia. It was intended as a demonstration of
Leo Tolstoy whose literary talents Tolstoy praised after reading Hugo's newly finished "Les Misérables". The similar evocation of battle scenes in Hugo's novel and Tolstoy's "War and Peace" indicates this influence. Tolstoy's political philosophy was also influenced by a March 1861 visit to French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, then living in exile under an assumed name in Brussels. Apart from reviewing Proudhon's forthcoming publication, "La Guerre et la Paix" ("War and Peace" in French), whose title Tolstoy would borrow for his masterpiece, the two men discussed education, as Tolstoy wrote in his educational notebooks: "If I recount this conversation with Proudhon, it is