War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, romanized: Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: Война и миръ; [vɐjˈna i ˈmʲir]) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An early version was published serially beginning in 1865, after which the entire book was rewritten and published in 1869. It is regarded, with Anna Karenina, as Tolstoy’s finest literary achievement, and it remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.
The book chronicles the French invasion of Russia and its aftermath during the Napoleonic era. It uses five interlocking narratives following different Russian aristocratic families to illustrate Napoleon’s impact on Tsarist society. Portions of an earlier version, titled The Year 1805, were serialized in The Russian Messenger from 1865 to 1867 before the novel was published in its entirety in 1869.
Tolstoy said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards and hence hesitated to classify War and Peace, saying it is “not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle”. Large sections, especially the later chapters, are philosophical discussions rather than narrative. He regarded Anna Karenina as his first true novel.
Composition history
Tolstoy began writing War and Peace in 1863, the year that he married and settled down at his country estate. In September of that year, he wrote to Elizabeth Bers, his sister-in-law, asking if she could find any chronicles, diaries, or records from the Napoleonic period in Russia. He was dismayed to find that there were few written records of Russian domestic life from that time and tried to rectify these omissions in early drafts of the novel. The first half of the book was named “1805”. During the writing of the second half, he read widely and acknowledged Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations. Tolstoy wrote in a letter to Afanasy Fet that what he had written in War and Peace is also said by Schopenhauer in The World as Will and Representation. However, Tolstoy approaches “it from the other side.”
The first draft of the novel was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical Russkiy Vestnik (The Russian Messenger) published the first part of this draft under the title 1805 and published more the following year. Tolstoy was dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published with a different ending in 1867.
He heavily rewrote the entire novel between 1866 and 1869. Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate complete manuscripts before Tolstoy considered it ready for publication. The version that was published in Russkiy Vestnik had a very different ending from the version eventually published under the title War and Peace in 1869. Russians who had read the serialized version were eager to buy the complete novel, and it sold out almost immediately. The novel was quickly translated after publication into many other languages.
It is unknown why Tolstoy changed the name of the work to War and Peace (‘Война и мир’ in reformed orthography, and ‘Война и миръ’ in pre-reform orthography, pronounced Voyna i mir). He may have borrowed the title from the 1861 work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: La Guerre et la Paix (“War and Peace” in French). The title may also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Titus, who reigned from 79 to 81 AD and was described as being a master of “war and peace” in The Twelve Caesars, written by Suetonius in 119.
The 1805 manuscript was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1983 and has been since translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, Korean, and Czech.
Tolstoy was instrumental in bringing a new kind of consciousness to the novel. His narrative structure is noted not only for its god’s-eye point of view over and within events, but also in the way it swiftly and seamlessly portrayed an individual character’s viewpoint. His use of visual detail is often comparable to cinema, using literary techniques that resemble panning, wide shots, and close-ups. These devices, while not exclusive to Tolstoy, are part of the new style of the novel that arose in the mid-19th century and of which Tolstoy proved himself a master.
The standard Russian text of War and Peace is divided into four volumes, comprising fifteen books, and an epilogue split into two parts. Roughly the first half is concerned strictly with the fictional characters, whereas the latter parts, as well as the second part of the epilogue, increasingly consist of essays about the nature of war, power, history, and historiography. Tolstoy interspersed these essays into the story in a way that defies previous fictional convention. Certain abridged versions remove these essays entirely, while others, published even during Tolstoy’s life, simply moved these essays into an appendix.
Realism
The plot of the novel is set 60 years before Tolstoy wrote it, but he had spoken with people who lived through the 1812 French invasion of Russia. He read all the standard histories available in Russian and French about the Napoleonic Wars as well as letters, journals, autobiographies, and biographies of Napoleon and other key players of that era. There are approximately 160 real persons named or referred to in War and Peace.
He worked from primary source materials, such as interviews and other documents, as well as from history books, philosophy texts, and other historical novels. Tolstoy used a great deal of his own experience in the Crimean War to bring vivid detail and first-hand accounts of how the Imperial Russian Army was structured.
Tolstoy was critical of standard history, especially military history, in War and Peace. He explains at the start of the novel’s third volume his own views on how history ought to be written.
Language
Although the book is mainly in Russian, significant portions of dialogue are in French. It has been suggested that the use of French is a deliberate literary device, to portray artifice while Russian emerges as a language of sincerity, honesty, and seriousness. It could, however, also simply represent another element of the realistic style in which the book is written, since French was the common language of the Russian aristocracy, and more generally the aristocracies of continental Europe at the time. In fact, the Russian nobility often knew only enough Russian to command their servants: Julie Karagina, a character in the novel, is so unfamiliar with her country’s native language that she has to take Russian lessons.
The use of French diminishes as the book progresses. It is suggested that this is to demonstrate Russia freeing itself from foreign cultural domination, and to show that a once-friendly nation has turned into an enemy. By midway through the book, several of the Russian aristocracy are eager to find Russian tutors for themselves.
Background and historical context
The novel spans the period from 1805 to 1820. The era of Catherine the Great was still fresh in the minds of older people. Catherine had made French the language of her royal court. For the next 100 years, it became a social requirement for the Russian nobility to speak French and understand French culture.
The historical context of the novel begins with the execution of Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien in 1805, while Russia is ruled by Alexander I during the Napoleonic Wars. Key historical events woven into the novel include the Ulm Campaign, the Battle of Austerlitz, the Treaties of Tilsit, and the Congress of Erfurt. Tolstoy also references the Great Comet of 1811 just before the French invasion of Russia.
Tolstoy then uses the Battle of Ostrovno and the Battle of Shevardino Redoubt in his novel, before the occupation of Moscow and the subsequent fire. The novel continues with the Battle of Tarutino, the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the Battle of Vyazma, and the Battle of Krasnoi. The final battle cited is the Battle of Berezina, after which the characters move on with rebuilding Moscow and their lives.
Principal characters
The novel tells the story of five families—the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins, and the Drubetskoys.
The main characters are:
The Bezukhovs
Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov: the father of Pierre
Count Pyotr Kirillovich (“Pierre”) Bezukhov: The central character and often a voice for Tolstoy’s own beliefs or struggles. Pierre is the socially awkward illegitimate son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, who has fathered dozens of illegitimate sons. Educated abroad, Pierre returns to Russia as a misfit. His unexpected inheritance of a large fortune makes him socially desirable.
The Bolkonskys
Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky: The father of Andrei and Maria, the eccentric prince possesses a gruff exterior and displays great insensitivity to the emotional needs of his children. Nevertheless, his harshness often belies hidden depth of feeling.
Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky: A strong but skeptical, thoughtful and philosophical aide-de-camp in the Napoleonic Wars.
Princess Elisabeta “Lisa” Karlovna Bolkonskaya (also Lise) – née Meinena. Wife of Andrei. Also called “little princess”.
Princess Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya: Sister of Prince Andrei, Princess Maria is a pious woman whose father attempted to give her a good education. The caring, nurturing nature of her large eyes in her otherwise plain face is frequently mentioned. Tolstoy often notes that Princess Maria cannot claim a radiant beauty (like many other female characters of the novel) but she is a person of very high moral values and of high intelligence.
The Rostovs
Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov: The pater-familias of the Rostov family; hopeless with finances, generous to a fault. As a result, the Rostovs never have enough cash, despite having many estates.
Countess Natalya Rostova: The wife of Count Ilya Rostov, she is frustrated by her husband’s mishandling of their finances, but is determined that her children succeed anyway
Countess Natalya Ilyinichna “Natasha”
