Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812) Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812) During the Napoleonic Wars, the Anglo-Russian War (2 September 1807– 18 July 1812) was the phase of hostilities between the United Kingdom and Russia after the latter signed the Treaty of Tilsit that ended its war with France. Anglo-Russian hostilities were limited primarily to minor naval actions in the Baltic and Barents Seas. After Napoleon I defeated the Russians at the Battle of Friedland (14 June 1807), Tsar Alexander I of Russia signed a peace treaty, known as the Treaty of Tilsit. Although the treaty was quite unpopular within the Russian court, Russia had no alternative as
War and Peace the way the author, as he saw it, 'idealized' the old nobility, expressing "unconscious and quite natural tenderness towards" the Russian dvoryanstvo. On the opposite front, the conservative press and "patriotic" authors (A. S. Norov and P. A. Vyazemsky among them) were accusing Tolstoy of consciously distorting 1812 history, desecrating the "patriotic feelings of our fathers" and ridiculing dvoryanstvo. One of the first comprehensive articles on the novel was that of Pavel Annenkov, published in #2, 1868 issue of "Vestnik Evropy". The critic praised Tolstoy's masterful portrayal of man at war, marveled at the complexity of the whole composition, organically