Lew Tolstoi

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian writer from an old noble family. After abandoning studies in Oriental languages and law, he served in the military in the Caucasus and Crimea, experiences that influenced his literary work. He achieved worldwide fame with the novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”; his oeuvre also includes short stories, plays, essays, and philosophical writings. Tolstoy worked to improve the living conditions of peasants, founded a village school, and later advocated a Christian-influenced doctrine of nonviolence. He died in 1910 at Astapovo.