Pierre, Natasha and Andrei Through 1812: A Reader's Map of Tolstoy's War and Peace

The main characters of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace are Pierre Bezukhov, an awkward young man who unexpectedly inherits a fortune; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, a proud and sceptical officer; and Natasha Rostova, the lively daughter of a warm but money-troubled family. Their lives are woven together across the Napoleonic Wars and the French invasion of Russia in 1812. By the end, Andrei has died of his wounds after forgiving Natasha, and Pierre marries her in 1813, while Natasha's brother Nikolai marries Andrei's sister Maria. Around these stories Tolstoy adds long essays on history, power and free will, which is part of what makes the book so famous, and so long.

Tolstoy and the making of the book

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born into an aristocratic family and is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Before War and Peace he made his name with the semi-autobiographical trilogy Childhood, Boyhood and Youth and with Sevastopol Sketches, based on his own service in the Crimean War.

He began writing War and Peace in 1863, the year he married Sophia Behrs and settled on his country estate. An early version appeared in The Russian Messenger from 1865 under the title 1805. Tolstoy was unhappy with it and rewrote the whole novel between 1866 and 1869; his wife copied out as many as seven complete manuscripts before he was satisfied. When the full book came out in 1869 it sold out almost at once.

Tolstoy read the standard Russian and French histories of the Napoleonic Wars along with letters, diaries and memoirs, spoke with people who had lived through 1812, and drew on his own war experience. Around 160 real people are named or mentioned in the book. He even refused to call it a novel, saying it was "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle".

The families at the centre

The story follows five families: the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins and the Drubetskoys.

• Pierre Bezukhov – the illegitimate son of a rich count, kind but clumsy in society, and often a voice for Tolstoy's own questions.
• Prince Andrei Bolkonsky – a thoughtful, disillusioned aide-de-camp who goes to war to escape a life he finds empty.
• Princess Maria Bolkonskaya – Andrei's pious, intelligent sister, who lives with their harsh old father.
• Natasha Rostova – full of life and feeling, the emotional heart of the book.
• Nikolai Rostov – Natasha's impulsive brother, a cavalry officer.
• Hélène and Anatole Kuragin – a beautiful, selfish brother and sister who bring trouble to Pierre and Natasha.

The story in four movements

1805: salons and Austerlitz. The novel opens in July 1805 at a society evening in Saint Petersburg. Andrei leaves his pregnant wife to serve under General Kutuzov. At the Battle of Austerlitz he is badly wounded, and lying on the field he sees his hero Napoleon as petty next to the "lofty, righteous and kindly sky" above him.

Peace and private storms. Pierre inherits his father's fortune and is talked into marrying the beautiful Hélène Kuragina. Jealous of her suspected lover Dolokhov, he fights a duel, then leaves her and joins the Freemasons in search of meaning. Andrei's wife dies in childbirth. Later Andrei meets Natasha at her first grand ball and they become engaged, but his father insists they wait a year. While he is away, Anatole Kuragin, who is secretly already married, tries to persuade her to elope; the plan is foiled, and Natasha breaks off the engagement.

1812: Borodino and burning Moscow. Napoleon's Grande Armée invades Russia. Pierre watches the Battle of Borodino from beside a Russian artillery battery and ends up carrying ammunition. As Moscow is abandoned and burns, Natasha persuades her family to fill their carts with wounded soldiers instead of possessions; among them, without her knowing, is the dying Andrei.

Captivity and return. Pierre stays in Moscow with a naive plan to kill Napoleon and is taken prisoner. Among the prisoners he meets the peasant Platon Karataev, whose simple goodness gives him the meaning he has been searching for. Andrei, reunited with Natasha and Maria, forgives Natasha and dies. Pierre is freed, Hélène dies, and Pierre and Natasha find each other again amid shared grief.

The two epilogues

The first epilogue shows the couples years later: Pierre and Natasha, and Nikolai and Maria, who raise Andrei's son Nikolenka. There is a hint that Pierre and the boy may later join the Decembrist movement. The second epilogue is an essay. Tolstoy rejects the "great man" view of history and argues that events grow out of countless small actions by thousands of ordinary people, and he weighs how necessity and free will shape what happens.

Why so much French?

Large parts of the dialogue are written in French, the everyday language of the Russian aristocracy at the time; one character even needs lessons to improve her Russian. The amount of French falls as the book goes on, which has been read as a sign of Russia turning away from a former friend that has become an enemy.

Legacy and adaptations

Some critics call it the greatest novel ever written, and Tolstoy himself saw Anna Karenina as his first true novel. Notable screen versions include King Vidor's 1956 film with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda, Sergei Bondarchuk's Soviet epic of 1966–67, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and a 2016 BBC series with Paul Dano as Pierre. Sergei Prokofiev also turned the novel into an opera.

Learn with War and Peace: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
a turning point	a moment when things change direction	Austerlitz was a turning point for Andrei.
to come of age	to grow up and become mature	Natasha comes of age during the war.
to search for meaning	to look for a purpose in life	Pierre searched for meaning everywhere.
to start over	to begin again after a loss	After 1812, the families had to start over.
the big picture	the whole situation, not small details	Tolstoy wanted readers to see the big picture.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a turning point in your own life, using "a turning point" and "to start over".