Last Words from War and Peace

"There is no one in Russian literature now, from schoolboy essayist to learned historian, who does not throw his little stone at Alexander for things he did wrong at this period of his reign...

"It would take a dozen pages to enumerate all the reproaches the historians address to him, based on their knowledge of what is good for humanity...

"In what does the substance of those reproaches lie?

"It lies in the fact that an historic character like Alexander I, standing on the highest possible pinnacle of human power with the blinding light of history focused upon him--a character exposed to those strongest of all influences, the intrigues, flattery, and self-deception inseparable from power--a character who at every moment of his life felt a responsibility for all that was happening in Europe; and not a fictitious but a live character, who like every man had his personal habits, passions, and impulses towards goodness, beauty, and truth--that this character, though not lacking in virtue (the historians do not accuse him of that), had not the same conception of the welfare of humanity fifty years ago, as a present-day professor who from his youth upwards has been occupied with learning--that is, with books and lectures and with taking notes from them.

"But even if we assume that fifty years ago Alexander I was mistaken in his view of what was good for the people, we must inevitably assume that the historian who judges Alexander will also after the lapse of some time, turn out to be mistaken in his view of what is good for humanity. This assumption is all the more natural and inevitable because, watching the movement of history, we see that every year, and with each new writer, opinion as to what is good for mankind changes; so that what once seemed good, ten years later seems bad, and vice versa. And what is more, we find at one and the same time quite contradictory views as to what is bad and what is good in history: some people regard giving a constitution to Poland and forming the Holy Alliance as praiseworthy in Alexander, while others regard it as blameworthy.

"The activity of Alexander or of Napoleon cannot be called useful or harmful, for it is impossible to say for what it was useful or harmful. If that activity displeases somebody, this is only because it does not agree with his limited understanding of what is good. Whether the preservation of my father's house in Moscow or the glory of the Russian arms, or the prosperity of the Petersburg and other universities, or the freedom of Poland, or the greatness of Russia, or the balance of power in Europe, or a certain kind of European culture called 'progress', appear to me to be good or bad, I must admit that besides these things the action of every historic character has other more general purposes inaccessible to me.

"But let us assume that what is called science can harmonize all contradictions and possesses an unchanging standard of good and bad by which to try historic characters and events: let us say that Alexander could have done everything differently, let us say that--by guidance from those who blame him and who profess to know the ultimate aim of the movement of humanity--he might have arranged matters according to the programme his present accusers would have given him--of nationality, freedom, equality, and progress (these I think cover the ground). Let us assume that this program was possible and had then been formulated, and that Alexander had acted on it. What would then have become of the activity of all those who opposed the tendency that then prevailed in the government--an activity that in the opinion of the historians was good and beneficent? Their activity would not have existed: there would have been no life, there would have been nothing.

"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility of life is destroyed."

[emphasis mine]

--Count Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, First Epilogue, Chapter I

Time changes, mindsets change. That's why "every generation writes its own history".

Human life is irrational. It is the very irrationality that brings out the life in existence.