War and Peace

About War and Peace

The narrative shifts scale without making private life a simple illustration of military history. A conversation, a battlefield impression and an argument about historical causes offer different kinds of knowledge. Characters repeatedly discover limits to deliberate plans, while the descriptions of collective action question explanations that give a few prominent individuals complete control.

Reading focus

Compare the experience of making a decision with the later stories characters and historians tell about its causes.

This reading edition contains 563,544 words in 365 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Leo Tolstoy. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

“Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don’t tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist—I really believe he is Antichrist—I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my ‘faithful slave,’ as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you—sit down and tell me all the news.”

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