Editing Battle of the Chernaya (section)

==Tolstoy==
Russian Count [[Leo Tolstoy]] was a participant in the Battle of the Chernaya River. He witnessed as the Russians crossed the river and started up the hillside in the morning sunlight. Tolstoy saw Russian soldiers being killed in clusters as shells exploded around them. Before the morning was over, the Russians were forced to retreat. They left thousands of their dead comrades behind. Tolstoy was depressed and angered by the slaughter. He believed much of it was due to incompetent generals and staff. Tolstoy vented his anger by composing a [[:s:ru:Песня про сражение на реке Черной 4 августа 1855 г. (Толстой)|satiric stanza]], an approximate translation of which reads:

''The toppest brass''<br />
''Sat down to meet''<br />
''And pondered long;''<br />
''Topographers''<br />
''Lined paper black''<br />
''But all forgot''<br />
''The deep ravine''<br />
''They had to cross!''{{sfnp|Troyat|2001|p=125}}

<br>This humorous song soon gained widespread popularity among the Russian soldiers, and is the only piece of verse Tolstoy is known to have written. The stanza from Tolstoy's song "Гладко вписано в бумаге, Да забыли про овраги" ("It was smoothly written into the papers / But it was forgotten about the ravines") entered as a [[Catchphrase|catch phrase]], in a slightly modified form "Гладко было на бумаге..." ("It was 
smooth on the paper, ...").{{sfnp|Troyat|2001|p=158}}