Alphonse Karlovich Berg
Vera's German-born suitor
Lieutenant Alphonse Karlovich Berg, an officer in the Semyonov regiment.
BOOK ONE
Book 1, Part 1
11 Jan: Chapter 11
Berg is mentioned twice by Natasha as a man who is interested in Vera: “Go and flirt with Berg as much as you please.”
15 Jan: Chapter 15
Here he is, “irreproachably washed” and full of “youthful egotism”. He loves talking about himself and, indeed, talks about little else. He has his eye on career advancement and is Vera’s “intended.”
Book 1, Part 3
22 Feb: Chapter 7
Berg is now in charge of a company in the Guards and is travelling with Boris. He had impressed his superiors with "his promptitude and accuracy" and good management of his money. Berg tells Nikolai a story about his own accomplishments, and Rostov wants to make fun of him. Boris steers the conversation away from Berg.
3 Mar: Chapter 17
Berg is Berg on the battlefield. He is wounded and wants everyone to know: “All our family have been knights!”
BOOK TWO
Book 2, Part 3
23 Apr: Chapter 10
As the Rostov finances go from bad to worse, the old count heads to Petersburg with his daughters. Berg is boring everyone with his war stories. He uses his “good-natured egotism” to convince the Rostovs that he is an excellent match for Vera, whom they are ashamed of not loving quite so much. Berg presses the count for a dowry, and an embarrassed Ilya Rostov haggles the wrong way, landing the groom with an extra 20k the Rostovs don’t have and can’t afford.
28 Apri: Chapter 16
At the ball, Natasha is humiliated to be stuck with her older sister and her husband Berg, who does not dance, talking about Vera’s green dress.
2 May: Chapter 20
Newlyweds Berg and Vera plan a dinner party in their new apartment. Hélène considers it beneath her to accept the invite, but Pierre bumbles along, upsetting the careful symmetry of the Bergs’ tidy study. The happy couple are upwardly mobile and want nothing more than to host a party identical to all others, with their social betters as guests.
3 May: Chapter 21
Berg decides the party is lacking “a dispute about something important and clever”, so he draws together Pierre and the general.
BOOK THREE
Book 3, Part 2
Chapter 4
Berg has been promoted to the assistant to the chief of staff of the commander of the left flank of the infantry of the First Army: a ‘very agreeable and high-profile’ position.
At Smolensk he shouts at Andrei for not stopping the looting and then apologises when he recognises Bolkonksy. ‘I only spoke because I have to obey orders, because I always do obey exactly.’