War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel written by Leo Tolstoy and published in installments between 1865 and 1869. It is one of Tolstoy's best books and a masterpiece of Russian literature and a classic of world literature.
In this novel, Tolstoy wanted to narrate the events of a series of varied characters over fifty years, in the period between the Napoleonic wars and beyond the mid-nineteenth century.
In War and Peace we will follow the intertwined history of five different families during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, with the main characters being the following:
- The Bezukhovs: Count Pyotr Kirillovich ("Pierre") Bezukhov and Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, the father of Pierre
- The Bolkonskys: Old Prince Nikolai Andreevich, Prince Andrei, and Princess Maria.
- The Rostovs: Count Ilya Andreevich, Natasha, and Nikolenka.
- The Kuragins: Hélène and her brother Anatole.
- The Drubetskoys: Prince Boris Drubetskoy and Princess Anna Mikhaylovna.
Along with the fictional characters, there are quite a few historical figures such as Emperor Napoleon I, Russian Emperor Alexander I and General Kutuzov.
For this digital edition of War and Peace we have used Louise and Aylmer Maude's translation.
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Public domain (US)·No sign-up·DRM-free·Real text, not scans
Copyright note. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is believed to be in the public domain in the United States only. It may still be copyrighted in other countries. If you are not in the United States, please check your local laws to ensure this eBook is in the public domain in your country before downloading War and Peace in PDF or EPUB.
- Pages
- 1736
- Reading time
- 47 hours 12 minutes
- Pace
- Intermediate
- First published
- 1869
- Language
- Russian
- Downloads
- 9,821
157 years later, still timely
Why Read War and Peace in 2026?
An epic that reads like a hundred human-sized stories—war, love, dinners, councils, and weather all tugging at choice. It is long, yes, and astonishingly readable.
Today's connection
Tolstoy blends battlefield and ballroom so we see history as decisions made under doubt. Chapters are short; scenes feel immediate; reflection arrives earned. Read it as a course in patience, perspective, and leadership under uncertainty. Map your progress, take notes, and enjoy the company—you will meet people you miss when it ends.
Campaigns and kitchens
Strategy meets supper; both reveal character.
Households as worlds
Families hold hope, grief, and change across years.
History rethought
Chance, character, and time—not just “great men.”
These collections include War and Peace
Best Books of the 19th Century
The century’s defining works—from Gothic shadows and social epics to radical experiments in style.
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Must Read Russian Classics
Moral dilemmas and vast inner lives — and eight of these are under eighty pages.
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About the author
Leo Tolstoy
Epic realism with intimate ethics; the cadence of daily life turned into vision and care.
If this one stays with you…
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From War and Peace
They say: sufferings are misfortunes," said Pierre. 'But if at once this minute, I was asked, would I remain what I was before I was taken prisoner, or go through it all again, I should say, for God's sake let me rather be a prisoner and eat horseflesh again. We imagine that as soon as we are torn out of our habitual path all is over, but it is only the beginning of something new and good. As long as there is life, there is happiness. There is a great deal, a great deal before us.
Man's mind cannot grasp the causes of events in their completeness, but the desire to find those causes is implanted in man's soul. And without considering the multiplicity and complexity of the conditions any one of which taken separately may seem to be the cause, he snatches at the first approximation to a cause that seems to him intelligible and says: "This is the cause!
Does it ever happen to you," Natasha said to her brother, when they had settled in the sitting room, "does it ever happen to you that you feel there's nothing more - nothing; that everything good has already happened? And it's not really boring, but sad?" "As if it doesn't!" he said. "It's happened to me that everything's fine, everybody's merry, and it suddenly comes into my head that it's all tiresome and we all ought to die....
Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the retreating, twinkling stars. "And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!" thought Pierre. "And all this they've caught and put in a shed and boarded it up!.
If there is a God and future life, there is truth and good, and man's highest happiness consists in striving to attain them. We must live, we must love, and we must believe that we live not only today on this scrap of earth, but have lived and shall live.