Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, commonly known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian novelist and moral philosopher whose works are among the most acclaimed in world literature. He was born in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, in the Tula Governorate, into an aristocratic family. After military education, he served in the army during the Caucasus campaigns and the Crimean War, experiences that shaped his early fiction.

His best-known novels include War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877), which are celebrated for their expansive depiction of Russian life and their exploration of history, society, and morality. His later works, such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) and Resurrection (1899), continued these investigations. He also wrote autobiographical works—Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth—and short fiction and essays. His writing helped define literary realism in the 19th century.

Toward the end of the 1870s, Tolstoy experienced a profound spiritual awakening that led him to adopt a form of Christian anarchism and pacifism. He rejected formal church authority, preached personal ethical conduct, and produced influential works including The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894). His dissent from church orthodoxy brought conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church, which excommunicated him in 1901. His ideas influenced later pacifist movements, notably Mahatma Gandhi.

Tolstoy married Sophia Behrs in 1862, and they had 13 children. He spent much of his life at Yasnaya Polyana and died in 1910 at the Astapovo railway station while traveling from his estate. His legacy endures in literature, philosophy, and nonviolent social change.