War and Peace

Napoleon’s march to Moscow and Tolstoy's War and Peace had always held a great interest for Shri Nathji.

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910), first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature. It is considered Tolstoy's finest literary achievement (A photograph of the first  Russian Edition of the book is given)

War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events surrounding the French invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families

War and Peace is well known as being one of the longest novels ever written. Tolstoy (Whose Photograph is given) incorporated extensive historical research. Tolstoy read all the standard histories available in Russian and French about the Napoleonic Wars and combined more traditional historical writing with the novel form. The novel is set 60 years earlier than the time at which Tolstoy wrote it, "in the days of our grandfathers", as he puts it. He had spoken with people who had lived through war during the French invasion of Russia in 1812, so the book is also, in part, accurate ethnography fictionalized. He read letters, journals, autobiographical and biographical materials pertaining to Napoleon and the dozens of other historical characters in the novel. There are approximately 160 real persons named or referred to in War and Peace. The novel begins in the year 1805 during the reign of Tsar Alexander I and leads up to the 1812 French invasion of Russia by Napoleon. Tolstoy spent years researching and rewriting the book. He worked from primary source materials (interviews and other documents), as well as from history books, philosophy texts and other historical novels. Tolstoy also used a great deal of his own experience in the Crimean War to bring vivid detail and first-hand accounts of how the Russian army was structured.

War and Peace is a very popular novel and has been translated into many languages. It has been translated into English on several occasions. It has been incorporated into movies, in Russia and America. The British, the French and the Russians have made T.V. serials of this book. It has been played in numerous theatres and broadcasted over radio.