done (as I intend to expound in more detail in another place) confirm the assumption that man’s consciousness of freedom in the commission of a certain kind of action is erroneous. But the same psychological observations prove that there is another series of actions in which the consciousness of freedom is not retrospective but instantaneous and indubitable. In spite of all that the materialists may say, I can undoubtedly commit an act or refrain from it if the act relates to me alone. I have undoubtedly by my own will just lifted and lowered my arm. I can at once stop writing. You can at once stop reading. I can certainly, by my own will and free from all obstacles, transfer my thoughts to America or to any mathematical problem I choose. Testing my freedom I can lift and forcibly lower my hand in the air. I have done so. But near me stands a child and I raise my hand above him and want to lower it with the same force onto the child. I cannot do this. A dog rushes at that child, and I cannot refrain from lifting my hand at the dog. I am on parade, and cannot help following the movement of the regiment. In action I cannot refrain from attacking with my regiment or from running when all around me run—I cannot. When I appear in court as the defender of an accused person, I cannot help speaking or knowing what I am going to say. I cannot help blinking when a blow is directed at my eye.

So there are two kinds of actions: some that do and others that do not depend on my will. And the mistake causing the contradiction is due only to the fact that I wrongly transfer the consciousness of freedom (which properly accompanies every act relating to my ego, to the highest abstractions of my existence) to actions performed in conjunction with others and dependent on the coincidence of other wills with my own. To define the limits of freedom and dependence is very difficult, and the definition of those limits forms the sole and essential problem of psychology, but observing the conditions of the manifestation of our greatest freedom and greatest dependence, we cannot but see that the more abstract and therefore the less connected with the activity of others our activity is, the more free it is; and on the contrary, the more our activity is connected with other people the less free it is.
The strongest, most indissoluble, most burdensome, and constant bond with other men is what is called power over others, which in its real meaning is only the greatest dependence on them.
Having wrongly or rightly become fully convinced of this in the course of my work, I naturally was unable—when describing the historical events of 1805, 1807, and especially of 1812 in which this law of predetermination 5 is most prominently displayed—to attribute importance to the actions of those who thought they controlled the events but who introduced less free human activity into them than did all the other participants. The activity of these people interested me only as an illustration of the law of predetermination which in my opinion guides history, and of that psychological law which compels a man who commits actions under the greatest compulsion, to supply in his imagination a whole series of retrospective reflections to prove his freedom to himself.

1. Dárya. Nikolóevna Saltykóva, popularly called “Saltychikha” (1730- 1801), was a landed proprietress who owned six hundred serfs, and in seven years tortured a hundred and thirty-nine of them to death. By bribery and family influence she escaped punishment for a while, but in ijj6 a complaint reached Catherine II, and after a trial that lasted six years Saltykóva was sentenced to death; this sentence, however, was commuted to exposure in the pillory and confinement for life in a nunnery.—A.M.
2. Tolstóy was anxious that the book should not occasion unpleasantness to anyone, and the above statement is no doubt correct except as regards members of his own family, several of whom, as was well known and fully admitted, make a very lifelike appearance in the novel, in some cases as composite portraits.—A.M.
3. After the description of the battle of Schön Grabern had appeared in the first part of my novel, I was told of Nikoláy Nikoláevich Muravëv Kárski’s remark about that description—a remark which confirmed my conviction. He, a commander in chief, remarked that he had never read a truer account of a battle, and that his own experience had convinced him of the impossibility of a commander in chiefs orders being carried out during a battle.—L.T.
4. The chief Russian writers on the campaign of 1812. —A.M.
5. It is noteworthy that almost all those who have written of the campaign of 1812 have seen something special and fateful in that event.—L.T.

CHARACTERS IN WAR AND PEACE
Arranged in Order of Their Appearance
A NOTE ON RUSSIAN NAMES
The suffixes “ovich,” “evich,” “ich,” and “ych” at the end of a Russian name mean “son of”; the suffixes “ovna,” and “evna” mean “daughter of.” Thus, Tolstóy’s full name in Russian is Count Lev Nikolaievich Tolstóy. Nikolaievich is Tolstóy’s patronymic. This indicates that Lev (or Leo) is the son of Nikolai (or Nicholas) Tolstóy.
Frequently a character is referred to by his own first name, followed by hi patronymic; sometimes by the patronymic alone.
The Russians also add suffixes to first names to express endearment—at when they refer to Natasha as Natáshenka.
BOOK ONE
Introduced at Anna Schérer’s soiree (St. Petersburg), Chapter l Anna Pávlovna Schérer, Maid of Honor to the Dowagei Empress Márya Fëdorovna

• Prince Vasíli Kurágin, an elderly nobleman
• Princess Hélène Kurágina, his daughter, “the beautiful Hélène”
  Princess Elisabeth (Lise) Bolkónskaya, Prince Andrew’s wife, “the most fascinating woman in Petersburg”
  Prince Hippolyte Kurágin, Prince Vasili’s weak-minded elder son
• Pierre, Count Cyril Bezúkhov’s son, who, when legitimized after his father’s death, becomes the fantastically wealthy Count Bezukhov
• Prince Andrew Bolkónski, Prince Nicholas Bolkonski’s son, one of the major characters in the novel. He is scion of a wealthy landowning family noted for its military achievements
  [NOTE: Pierre and Andrew are the two central male figures of War and Peace and are believed to embody some of the characteristics of Leo Tolstóy himself and his own kinsmen. The author of War and Peace made great use of historical and military records and family archives.’]
  Princess Anna Mikháylovna Drubetskáya, an elderly lady of a good but impoverished family
  Introduced at the party at Anatole’s house (St. Petersburg), Chapter 3 * Prince Anatole Kurágin, Prince Vasílïs profligate younger son
  Dólokhov, an officer of the Semënov Regiment who lives with Anatole (supposedly a combination of Count Theodore Tolstóy, a famous traveler, and R. I. Dórokhov, a reckless daredevil of the period of War and Peace)
  Introduced at the Rostóvs’ name-day party (Moscow), Chapters 4-5 Countess Nataly Rostóva, Count Ilyá Rostov’s wife
• Count Ilyá Rostóv, a wealthy nobleman of the upper aristocracy† with large estates in city and country (supposedly patterned after Tolstóy’s grandfather, Count Ilyá A. Tolstóy)
  Julie Karágina, an heiress
• Countess Nataly (Natasha) Rostóva, the Rostóvs’ younger daughter, the major female character (supposedly patterned after Tolstóy’s youngest sister-in-law, Tatiána Behrs)
• Prince Boris (Bóry) Drubetskóy, Anna Mikhaylovna’s son†
• Count Nicholas Rostov, the Rostóvs’ elder son, one of the central characters (supposedly patterned after Tolstóy’s father, Count Nicholas Tolstóy)
• Sónya, a poor niece of the Rostóvs (supposedly patterned after Tolstóy’s aunt who supervised his education)
• Count Peter (Pétya) Rostov, the Rostóvs’ younger son
  Countess Véra Rostóva, the Rostóvs’ elder daughter (supposedly patterned after Liza Behrs, the older of Tolstóy’s two sisters-in-law)
  Introduced in the house where Count Bezúkhov lies dying (Moscow), Chapter 6 Princess Catiche (Catherine Semeënovna), Pierre’s cousin
  Introduced at the Rostóvs’ dinner party (Moscow), Chapters 8-10 Dmítri Vasilevich, Count Ilyá Rostóv’s estate manager
  Peter Nikoláevich Shinshín, Countess Rostova’s cousin
  Alphonse Kárlovich Berg, an officer of the Guards, engaged to Véra Rostóva
  Márya Dmítrievna Akhrosímova, “le terrible dragon”
  Chapter 11 Count Cyril Bezúkhov, Pierre’s father
  Introduced at Bolkónski’s Bald Hills estate, about forty miles north east of Smolénsk Chapters 14-16 * Prince Nicholas Andréevich Bolkónski, a retired general of the higher aristocracy, Prince Andrew’s father (supposedly patterned after Prince N. Volkónski, Tolstóy’s grandfather)
• Princess Mary Bolkónskaya, his daughter (supposedly patterned after Tolstóy’s mother)
• Mlle Bourienne, her French companion
  Tíkhon, Prince Nicholas’ attendant
  BOOK TWO
  Introduced at the review near Braunau, 139 miles east north-east of Prague, Chapter 1 * Michael Ilariónovich Kutúzov, elderly commander in chief of the Russian army, called back to active duty to meet the threat of Napoleon’s invasion
  Prince Nesvítski, a staff officer
  Captain Timókhin, an army officer
  Zherkóv, an hussar cornet
  Introduced at Kutúzov’s headquarters, near Braunau, Chapter 2 Kozlóvski, Kutúzov’s aide-de-camp
  Baron Mack von Leiberich, an Austrian general
  Introduced in Nicholas Rostóv’s regiment, in Sal-zeneck, two miles from Braunau, Chapters 3-4 * Vasíli (Váska) Dmítrich Denísov, an officer friend of
  Nicholas Rostov Lavrúshka, Denisov’s orderly, later Nicholas Rostóv’s
  Lieutenant Telyánin, a thieving army officer
  Chapter 7 Bilíbin, in the diplomatic service
  Chapter 9 Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, later Emperor of Austria
  Chapter 10 Peter Ivánovich Bagratión, commander of the Russian army
  Chapter 11 Captain Túshin, an army officer
  BOOK THREE
  Introduced at Bald Hills, Chapter 2 Yákov Alpátych, Prince Nicholas Bolkónski’s estate overseer
  Introduced at the army review at OlmütZ sixty-seven miles north east of Brünn, Chapter 7 * Alexander I, Tsar of Russia
  Introduced at Olmütz, Chapter 8 Prince Yúri Dolgorúkov, an adjutant general
  Introduced at battle of Auster-litz fifteen miles east of Brünn, Chapter 13 * Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French
  BOOK FOUR
  Introduced at the English Club dinner (Moscow) Chapter 3 Count F. V. Rostopchín, governor general of Moscow Alexander Dmítrievich Balashëv, an adjutant general
  Chapter 9 * Prince Nicholas (Koko) Andréevich Bolkónski, Prince Andrew’s son
  BOOK FIVE
  Chapter 1 Joseph Alexéevich Bazdéev, a leading Freemason
  BOOK SIX
  Introduced at Count Kochubéy’s (St. Peters-burg), Chapter 2 Alexey Andréevich Arakchéev, Minister