本片描述了在拿破仑指挥军队进攻俄国时大动荡年代中的一段经典爱情故事，是一部史诗般的前苏联战争巨片。
　　
　　安德烈不顾怀孕的妻子和年迈的父亲，坚持到军队服役。战役失败，他颓丧回家，恰逢妻子难产而死，彼埃尔则在父亲临终前被立为财产继承人，并承袭了其父的伯爵称号，和贵族库拉金的女儿艾伦结婚。婚后不久，因两人性格不合而分居。彼埃尔与罗斯托夫伯爵一家在去打猎的路上，把沉浸在丧妻之痛的安德烈也拉去打猎，伯爵的女儿娜塔莎·罗斯托娃对安德烈产生了好感。不久，娜塔莎接受了安德烈的求婚，订立了婚约。
　　
　　过了一段时间，安德烈重返军队。艾伦的弟弟阿纳托里骗得娜塔莎的爱，唆使其与他私奔。俄法战争开始，担任总司令的库图佐夫将军决定暂时放弃莫斯科。在撤退途中，娜塔莎遇到受重伤的安德烈，安德烈谅解了娜塔莎，但他却因伤势过重而离开了人世。
　　
　　战争胜利结束后，彼埃尔回到了莫斯科，娜塔莎把自己的命运永远的与彼埃尔结合在了一起……
　　《战争与和平》-影片评价
　　
　　这是一部制作精致、构思严谨的巨片。场面壮阔，气势磅礴，继承了前苏联在拍摄历史题材影片方面的传统，完美地融托尔斯泰原著精神于其中，再现了俄法战争时期俄罗斯大地广阔的历史画卷。影片以1812年俄国卫国战争为中心，反映了1805年至1820年重大事件，包括奥斯特利茨大战、波罗底诺会战、莫斯科大火、拿破仑溃退等。通过对四大家庭以及安德烈、彼埃尔、娜塔莎在战争与和平环境中的思想和行动的描写，展示了当时俄国社会的风貌。耗时五年，据称耗资一亿美元(当时的价钱)的宏伟巨制，试图极其忠实地复制托尔斯泰的长篇巨著。战争戏和舞会戏非常出色，但整体水准参差不齐。影片长达六个半小时，在苏联电影史上有着举足轻重的地位，同时获奥斯卡最佳外语片奖。1956年的美国版虽然比这部短，但也有 208分钟，有奥黛丽·赫本、亨利·方达等主演，也是以战争场面取胜。1973年英国BBC推出750分钟的电视版。
　　《战争与和平》-花絮
　　
　　影片拍摄耗资高达5亿6000万美元，堪称影史上最昂贵的影片。
　　
　　影片拍摄得到了苏联军方的大力协助，甚至军方试图让片中兵力尽量与实际战役的参战人数基本相同。在世界影史上，本片成为动用临时演员最多的影片之一，超过本片的只有1982年的《甘地传》，参加该片拍摄的临时演员多达30万人。
　　
　　1981年3月，本片在墨西哥电视一台和二台首次播出，创下了电视台播放最长影片的吉尼斯世界纪录。
　　
　　1958年，好莱坞著名制片人迈克尔·托德(Michael Todd)访问莫斯科，他曾提议联合拍摄本片，但遭到苏联政府的拒绝。
　　《战争与和平》-精彩对白
　　
　　Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: Natasha... I love you too much. More than anything in the world.
　　安德烈王子：娜塔莎……我太爱你了。超过这世上的一切。
　　Natasha Rostova: And I! But why too much?
　　娜塔莎：我也是！但为什么这么强烈？
　　Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: Why too much? Well, what do you think? What do you feel in your soul, deep in your soul? Shall I live? What do you think?
　　安德烈王子：为什么？你是怎么想的？在你心灵深处感知到什么？我会活下去吗？你是怎么想的？
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　Natasha Rostova: I'm sure of it.
　　娜塔莎：当然。
　　Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: How good that would be.
　　安德烈王子：那会多好。
　　
　　Narrator: Enough, enough, men. Stop, consider, what are you doing? Into the minds of tired and hungry men on both sides, a flicker of doubt began to creep. Were they to go on slaughtering one another? Kill whom you like, do what you like, but I've had enough. Yet some inexplicable, mysterious power continued to control them, and the terrible business went on, carried out not by the will of individual men.
　　旁白：够了，够了，停下吧，你们想想，你们在做什么？交战双方饥寒交迫筋疲力尽的人们开始思考，一丝疑虑开始蔓延。他们还将互相杀戮吗？随便你们为所欲为吧，我已经厌倦了。然而一些无法解释的、神秘的力量在继续控制着他们，灾难扔在继续，个人的意愿无法改变这一切。
　　《战争与和平》-剧情
　　
　　日本侵华战争期间，小柴健一所在运输船被炸沉后，他被中国渔民救活，从此留在中国军队服务。健一的死亡通知单被送到东京的妻子町子手中，町子和健一幼年时的朋友伍东康吉结合了，带着健一的儿子茂男幸福地生活在一起。但在空袭中，康吉精神上受到了刺激变得失常。日本投降后，健一回到家乡，他没有想到，妻子町子已经与康吉结了婚，他在绝望中要求把茂男交给自己抚养，但是茂男已经和康吉有了感情，健一不得不放弃带走茂男的念头。...
　　《战争与和平》- 幕后花絮
　　
　　此片是按照当时占日美军的意图拍摄的，是为日本新宪法放弃战争作宣传的影片。但对于两位导演来说，这正是他们想要拍摄的主题，因为在战争期间，他们目睹了战争带给人民的残酷和不幸生活。此片的重要意义还在于，导演龟井文夫把大量表现中国难民的镜头组接在影片中，使日本人民看到了真实的战争残酷的一面，对日本人民的触动很大，因此广大日本人民对此片的评价很高，影片在日本电影史上有不可忽视的地位。
　　《战争与和平》-小说引言
　　
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　托尔斯泰卷秩浩繁的长篇小说。场面浩大，人物繁多，被称为“世界上最伟大的小说”，成就非凡。《战争与和平》问世至今，一直被人称为“世界上最伟大的小说”。 这部卷帙浩繁的巨著以史诗般广阔与雄浑的气势，生动 地描写了1805至1820年俄国社会的重大历史事件和各个生活领域：“近千个人物，无数的场景，国家和私人生活的一切可能的领域，历史，战争，人间一切惨剧，各种情欲，人生各个阶段，从婴儿降临人间的啼声到气息奄奄的老人的感情最后迸发，人所能感受到的一切欢乐和痛苦，各种可能的内心思绪，从窃取自己同伴的钱币的小偷的感觉，到英雄主义的最崇高的冲动和领悟透彻的沉思— —在这幅画里都应有尽有。”作者对生活的大面积涵盖和整体把握，对个别现象与事物整体、个人命运与周围世界的内在联系的充分揭示，使这部小说具有极大的思想和艺术容量。 这是托尔斯泰创作的第一部卷秩浩繁的长篇小说。 作者把战争与和平，前线与后方、国内与国外、军队与社会、上层与下层连结起来，既全面反映了时代风貌，又为各式各样的典型人物创造了极广阔的典型环境。作者对人物的描写形象既复杂又丰满，常用对比的艺术方法来表述，体裁在俄国文学史上是一种创新，也超越了欧洲长篇小说的传统规范。
　　《战争与和平》-作者简介
　　
　　列夫·托尔斯泰（Л.Н.Толстой,Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy,1828—1910)，19世纪俄罗斯文学写实主义的代表作家，公认的最伟大的俄罗斯文学家， 《西方正典》作者、美国著名文学教授兼批评家哈洛·卜伦甚至称之为“从文艺复兴以来，惟一能挑战荷马、但丁与莎士比亚的伟大作家”。对文学拥有“狂恋式爱情”的托尔
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　斯泰，是俄罗斯文学史上创作时间最长、作品数量最多、影响最深远、地位最崇高的作家，重情节、重典型、重写实、重批判的文学时代，在他笔下达到巅峰。长篇巨著《战争与和平》、 《安娜·卡列尼娜》 和《复活》是托尔斯泰文学艺术上的三个里程碑。百年来，他的作品被译为各国文字，销售量累积超过5亿册，是大师中的大师。
　　
　　《战争与和平》恢弘的构思和卓越的艺术描写震惊世界文坛，成为举世公认的世界文学名著和人类宝贵的精神财富。英国作家毛姆及诺贝尔文学奖得主罗曼·罗兰称赞它是“有史以来最伟大的小说”，“是我们时代最伟大的史诗，是近代的伊利亚特”。
　　
　　《战争与和平》是一部宏伟巨著，它以战争问题为中心，以库拉金、包尔康斯基、劳斯托夫、别竺豪夫四家贵族的生活为线索，展示了19世纪最初15年的俄国历史，描绘了各个阶级的生活，是一部再现当时社会风貌的恢弘史诗。作品中的各色人物刻画精准细腻，景物如临眼前，虽是19世纪的小说作品，但流传至今，却没有任何隔阂感，其中流露出来对人性的悲悯情怀，穿越时空背景，仍旧撼动人心。
　　《战争与和平》-内容简要
　　
　　1805年7月，拿破仑率兵征服了欧洲，法俄之间正酝酿着激烈的战争。然而在彼得堡上层的人们依旧过着恬静悠闲的生活，达官贵人们都汇聚在皇后的女官兼宠臣安娜·巴甫洛夫娜举办家宴招待会上。
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　赴宴的有宫廷官高位重的伐西里王爵和他漂亮却行为不端的女儿美伦，还有个头高大健壮的年轻人彼尔，他戴着眼镜，剪短发，穿浅色的流行短裤和褐色燕尾服。彼尔是莫斯科著名贵族别竺豪夫的私生子，从小出国留学，今年20岁，学成回国到首都谋职。他一进宴会厅，对人们议论拿破仑征战欧洲颇感兴趣。在这里，他高兴地结识了英俊而刚毅的青年安德烈－－先朝保罗皇帝的退职老总司令包尔康斯基的长子，两人很快成了好朋友。
　　
　　 此时，安德烈正应库图佐夫将军的召唤，去任他的传令官，将出国跟征战欧洲的拿破仑军队作战，任即将分娩的妻子和妹妹玛丽再三劝留，也改变不了他的决心，他期望通过这次战争为自己带来辉煌与荣耀。在出征之前，安德烈把妻子从首都送到了在莫斯科郊外居住的父亲那里，委托父亲加以关照。于是他急奔前线，在波兰追上了俄军总司令库图佐夫，总司令派他到联合纵队去任职，并受到了嘉奖。
　　
　　彼尔回到莫斯科，他继承了别竺豪夫伯爵身后所有的遗产，摇身一变成为莫斯科数一数二的资本家，成为社交界的宠儿。他的亲戚伐西里早就窥视别竺豪夫家的财产，本想通过篡改遗嘱来谋得，失败后，又处心积虑地要拉拢彼尔，一方面为他在彼得堡谋得一个不小的官职，又挖空心思巧安排，让已是宫廷女官的女儿美伦嫁给彼尔，以图钱财。结果他的计谋顺利达成，可这桩婚事实在不幸之至。彼尔发现了妻子与好友多勃赫夫之间的暧昧关系，他与多勃赫夫进行搏斗，并幸运的击倒对方，随之与妻子分居，自己也陷入了善恶和生死的困扰之中，在加入共济会后，受到宽宏大量的哲学的熏陶，接回了妻子。
　　
　　 当安德烈再次回到总司令身边，俄奥联军对法的奥斯特里齐战斗就要打响了。由于在战前的军事会议上，否决了几位老将军的意见，采取了马上出击的战略，结果惨败。安德烈受伤被俘，途中昏迷，被敌人误以为活不成而丢下，库图佐夫也以为安德烈阵亡，给他的父亲去信报丧。可是安德烈在老百姓的救治下又康复了。愈后的他直奔老家，是日夜晚，妻子莉沙正好产下一名男婴，但她却在分娩中死去了。安德烈在孤独与绝望之中给妻子最后一个吻，他觉得人生已再无意义，决定终老于领地。
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　一八零七年六月，俄与法言和，和平生活开始了。
　　一八零九年春天，安德烈·保尔康斯基因贵族会之事而去拜托罗斯托夫伯爵。在伯爵家他被充满生命力的年轻小姐娜达莎深深地吸引了。但由于秃山老公爵强烈反对，只好互相约以一年的缓冲期，而 后，安德烈·保尔康斯基即出国去了。但是，年轻的娜达莎无法忍受寂寞，且经不起彼尔之妻爱伦的哥哥阿纳托尔的诱惑，而擅自约定私奔，因此，与安德烈·保尔康斯基的婚约即告无效。
　　
　　 一八一二年，俄、法两国再度交战，安德烈·保尔康斯基于多勃琪诺战役中身受重伤，而俄军节节败退，眼见莫斯科即将陷于敌人之手了。罗斯托夫家将原本用来搬运家产的马车，改派去运送伤兵，娜达莎方能能于伤兵中发现将死的安德烈·保尔康斯基。她向他谢罪并热诚看护他，但一切都是徒劳了，安德烈·保尔康斯基仍然逃不过死亡之神而去世了。
　　彼尔化装成农夫，想伺机刺杀拿破 仑，但却被法军逮捕而成为俘虏。其妻爱伦于战火中，仍继续其放荡行为，最后，因误服堕胎药而且死亡。
　　
　　 几番奋战后，俄国终于赢得胜利，彼尔于莫斯科巧遇娜达莎，两人便结为夫 妇，而安德烈·保尔康斯基的妹妹玛莉亚也与娜达莎之兄尼克拉结婚，而组成一个幸福的家庭。
　　
　　《战争与和平》-相关评价
　　
　　《战争与和平》问世至今，一直被人称为“世界上最伟大的小说”。这部卷帙浩繁的巨著以史诗般广阔与雄浑的气势，生动地描写了1805至1820年俄国社会的重大历史事件和各个生活领域：“近千个人物，无数的场景，国家和私人生活的一切可能的领域，历史，战争，人间一切惨剧，各种情欲，人生各个阶段，从婴儿降临人间的啼声到气息奄奄的老人的感情最后迸发，人所能感受到的一切欢乐和痛苦，各种可能的内心思绪，从窃取自己同伴的钱币的小偷的感觉，到英雄主义的最崇高的冲动和领悟透彻的沉思——在这幅画里都应有尽有。”（斯特拉霍夫语）作家对生活的大面积涵盖和整体把握，对个别现象与事物整体、个人命运与周围世界的内在联系的充分揭示，使这部小说具有极大的思想和艺术容量。
　　
　　这是一部人民战争的英雄史诗。托尔斯泰曾经表示：“在《战争与和平》里我喜欢人民的思想。”也就是说，作者力图在这部作品里表现俄国人民在反侵略战争中的爱国主义精神及其历史作用。在国家危急的严重关头，许多来自下层的俄军普通官兵同仇敌忾，浴血奋战，虽然战事一度失利，但精神上却始终占有压倒的优势。老百姓也主动起来保家卫国。在人民群众中涌现出一大批像网升、杰尼索夫、谢尔巴狄那样的英雄人物。俄军统帅库图佐夫也因为体现了人民的意志，才具有过人的胆略和决胜的信心。整部小说以无可辩驳的事实证明了托尔斯泰的“人民战争的巨棒以全部威严雄伟的力量”赶走了侵略者的思想。
　　
　　作者在小说中也认真探索了贵族阶级的历史命运问题。小说的主要情节就是围绕着包尔康斯基、别素霍夫、罗斯托夫、库拉金四大贵族家庭的生活展开的。60年代，托尔斯泰仍站在贵族阶级的立场上，但是他对接近宫廷的上
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　层贵族却给予深刻的揭露和批判。在民族危亡的关头，库拉金之流漠视国家命运，畏敌如虎，他们关心的是寻欢作乐，积聚私产。小说中，库拉金是官痞，儿子阿纳托尔是恶少，女儿爱仑则是荡妇。这些贵族的卑劣行径与人民为国献身的崇高精神形成了强烈的反差。托尔斯泰认为，俄国的前途在于“优秀”贵族与人民的合作。他用诗意的笔触描写了京城以外的庄园贵族罗斯托夫一家和包尔康斯基一家，指出在这些贵族身上仍保留着淳厚的古风，他们有爱国心，与人民的精神相通。这里，作者在一定程度上美化了宗法制贵族。
　　
　　这部小说的主人公是安德烈·包尔康斯基、彼埃尔·别素霍夫和娜塔莎·罗斯托娃。这三个人物都是作者喜爱的正面形象。安德烈和彼埃尔是探索型的青年贵族知识分子。小说中，这两个人物在性格和生活道路上形成了鲜明的对比。安德烈性格内向，意志坚强，有较强的社会活动能力，他后来投身军队和参与社会活动库塞、阿多诺、弗洛姆、哈贝马斯（JürgenHabermas，1929—），在严酷的事实面前逐步认识到上层统治阶级的腐败和人民的力量，彼埃尔心直口快，易动感情，缺少实际活动能力，更侧重于对道德理想的追求，后来主要在与人民的直接接触中精神上得到成长。女主人公娜塔莎与两位主人公的关系使她成为小说中重要的连缀人物，而这一形象本身又是个性鲜明，生气勃勃的。小说充分展开了娜塔莎热烈而丰富的情感，她与人民和大自然的接近，她的民族气质，以及她在精神上的成长。这几个主要人物形象都具有较高的认识价值和审美价值。
　　
　　《战争与和平》艺术成就卓著。在这部作品中，托尔斯泰有力地拓宽了长篇小说表现生活的幅度，并在传统的史诗体小说和戏剧式小说的基础上创造了一种比较成熟的形态。小说场面壮阔，结构清晰，人物形象鲜明，有一种大海般恢宏开阔的美。同时，小说时代感强烈，它虽是一部历史题材小说，但却反映了农奴制改革后俄国前途和人民作用的问题。因此，《战争与和平》当之无愧地是一部“了不起的巨著”。（列宁语）
　　《战争与和平》-阅读价值
　　
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　战争是一场历史争论不休的话题。有人说它是为了和平，也有人说是为了进步，因为战争确实有的时候加快了文明的步伐。不管战争为何，但似乎都起源于矛盾与行为。不可否认，人的心理是存在好斗的一面，在平凡的生活中家庭、事业、感情等一系列琐事，都让我们活得无比担忧，在单调乏味的生活里，人是很难适应这种不变动的生活。
　　在托尔斯泰的小说里《战争与和平》，如果拿战争单独的来讲的话，那么战争是自由的。这种自由为人性与释放的自由。在一场战争中瞬间的生死是可以选择的，活着的目的就是为了杀人，杀人的目的就是为了活着。在这个简单而残酷的圈子里只存有两种人，即朋友和敌人，除此之外一切都变得不重要了，这让许多复杂事情也显现得无比鲜明化了。小说中罗斯托夫是喜欢这种简单的人。在疯狂的争夺与罪恶的战争中，罗斯托夫找到了自己的价值，这种价值并非是在上层交际圈里固有的。更多的是罗斯托夫作为一个传统人物，在虚荣和荣耀的引导下更多的懂得牺牲自己。然而战争是需要这类人的，生活也不排斥，但在托尔斯泰的小说里却并未得到赞扬，这让人不难想象其中包含里面的趣味与真诚，值得让人感动！
　　索尼亚是那么的爱着他，与其说她是爱着他的灵魂与全部，还不如说她是为自己编织的信念而爱着。在托尔斯泰的小说中很容易看到，一目目的爱情都存在着一定的目的性和世俗的挺向性。索尼亚为姨妈家的名利放弃了罗斯托夫，安德安为世俗的贞操放弃了娜塔沙，一切都那么的变换莫测，但又存在单调的一致性——即为名、利、虚荣而放弃自己原本的生活。
　　在安德列经历了几次的生死离别之后，战争就像是一盏明灯似的忽暗忽明的出现在他眼前，有时像是指清道路有时却显得那么的扑朔迷离。只有在生与死即将分开的时候，现实和理想在他眼中才看得那么清楚。作者一个年龄段一个年龄段的叙述了安德列所经历的感受，这让我门毫不费解的走进了他的内心世界，心有灵犀的思考着摆在自己面前的问题。现实—理想，当思考的时候必然会产生矛盾，也必然会有所结果。书中一步步在矛盾中不完善的结果来阐述了安德列的思想升华，通过对他的人物塑造让我们比较完整的了解了人性的一面。
　　在战场上，安德列开始也和罗斯托夫一样，想通过战争来建立一份殊荣，做为一个男人来讲这是应具备的。但他不明白应该具备这种殊荣的目的是为什么，也许是一种无形的力量在引诱他这样做。在亚历山大的皇权下，大多数人都可以为勇气和殊荣献身，与其说是为进步和文明而战，还不如说是为别人和其他的东西而战。
　　不难看到，在这场关键性的战域中，拿破仑的真正对手并不是亚历山大，而是亚历山大的属下库图佐夫，一个深
　　《战争与和平》《战争与和平》
　　受皇帝排斥但又离不开他的人。确定他为一名将军倒还不如说他是一位仁智的老头，一位懂得平平凡凡生活真谛的人。在拿破仑的天才战略中，被人类认为是疯狂加艺术的行为在这里得到了休息，就像是一只十分威猛的蜂子撞进了棉花堆里，一切锋芒都包容在不痛不痒的棉丝里。而只能像是苍蝇一样等待着蜘蛛的进食。在这里我们只能用托尔斯泰的话语：库图佐夫是一位懂得自然规律的人！——生活又何尝不一样需要这样的人呢。
　　在安德列临死的那一刻（有几次这样的时刻），文中总会出现蓝天、白云、童年时的想象和一切当时认为不愉快而现在想起来令他愉快的事，这些东西在安德列的眼中就像过雨云烟，一切都显得那么的真实与美好，这让我们不难想象生活其实是美好的，只是我们过与苛求。
　　在安德列死后仅接着是皮埃尔和娜塔沙（安德列的未婚妻）、安德列的姐姐马丽亚（虔诚的教徒）和罗斯托夫的幸福婚姻生活，这也正预示了无论是在战争的背后，还是在经过一切腥风血雨的挣扎之后，生活的要求其实很简单，一切都是人类在作怪罢了！
　　《战争与和平》-现代注释[精文]
　　
　　
　　[英国] 埃里克·霍布斯鲍姆 尹宏毅 翻译
　　
　　20世纪是人类有记载的历史上最杀人不眨眼的世纪。战争所造成的或者与战争有关的死亡总人数估计为1.87亿，相当于1913年世界人口的10%以上。如果算作是从1914年开始，这是一个战争几乎不间断的世纪，其中某地没有发生有组织的武装冲突的时期很少也很短暂。占据世纪主导地位的是世界大战：即国家或国家联盟之间的战争。
　　
　　从1914年到1945年的时期可以被看作一场单一的“30年战争”，仅仅被20年代的一段间歇所打断——在日本人于1922年最终从苏联北亚撤退和1931年对东北亚的进攻之间的时期。几乎紧随其后的是大约40年的冷战，这一时期符合霍布斯的战争定义，即其“不是仅仅包括战斗或者战争行为，而且包括一段时间，其中通过战斗来进行斗争的意志得到了充分的表达。”一个可以辩论的问题是，从冷战结束以来，美军在世界各地所参与的行动在多大程度上构成了这个世界大战时代的延续。然而毫无疑义的是，20世纪90年代充满了欧洲、非洲和西亚及东亚的正式与非正式的军事冲突。世界整体来说从1914年以来一直没有和平，现在也是一样。
　　
　　尽管如此，这个世纪不能被笼统地来对待，不论是从年代上还是从地理上来说。按照年代顺序，它分为三个阶段：以德国为中心的世界大战时代（1914年到 1945年）、两个超级大国对峙的时代（1945年到1989年）和传统的国际实力体系终结以来的时代。我将把这些时期称为第一、第二和第三时期。从地理上讲，军事行动的影响一直是十分不匀称的。除了一个例外（1932年到1935年的查科战争），西半球（美洲）在20世纪里没有重大的国家间战争（与内战相区分）。敌人的军事行动很少触及这些领土：因此，9月11日世界贸易中心和五角大楼被炸才令人震惊。
　　
　　从1945年以来，国家间的战争也从欧洲消失了，而在此之前，欧洲曾经是主要的战场地区。虽然在第三时期里，战争回到了东南欧，但是在该大陆的其余地方，它却看来不大可能重演。另一方面，在第二时期，与全球对峙并不一定毫无联系的国家间战争仍然在中东和南亚肆虐，直接产生于这场全球对峙的主要战争在东亚和东南亚（韩国和印度支那）发生。与此同时，撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲等地区在第一时期里受战争影响比较少（埃塞俄比亚除外，它迟迟地于1935到1936年遭受意大利的殖民征服），在第二时期成为武装冲突的战场，并在第三时期目睹了尸横遍野和水深火热。
　　
　　20世纪的另外两个战争特点很突出，第一个不如第二个明显。21世纪开始之际，我们不知不觉地进入这样一个世界：武装的行动基本上不再为政府或者其所授权的代理人所掌握，争端的各方除了动用武力的愿望外，毫无共同特征、身份或目标。
　　
　　国家间的战争在第一和第二时期主导了战争的形象，以致现有国家或帝国领土范围内的内战或其它武装冲突在一定程度上被掩盖了。就连十月革命后俄罗斯帝国领土上的内战以及中华帝国崩溃后发生的内战，也能够与国际冲突的框架相吻合，因为它们彼此不可分离。另一方面，拉丁美洲在20世纪里可能并没有军队跨越国界，但它却是重大国内冲突的场所：例如1911年以后在墨西哥、1948年以来在哥伦比亚，以及第二时期在许多中美洲国家，都是如此。人们一般没有认识到，从60年代过半以来，国际战争的数量相当持续地减少了。60年代中期，内部冲突变得比国家之间的冲突更加常见。国内冲突的数量继续激增，一直到90年代才趋于平缓。
　　
　　人们更加熟悉的是战斗员与非战斗员之间区别的被侵蚀。上半个世纪的两次世界大战涉及交战各国的全部人口；战斗员和非战斗员都遭受了损失。然而，在这个世纪进程中，战争的负担越来越多地从武装力量转移到平民身上。平民不仅是其受害者，而且越来越多地成为军事或军事-政治行动的目标。第一次世界大战和第二次之间的对比是显著的：在一战中阵亡者当中，只有5%是平民；二战中这一数字增加到66%。普遍的估计是，今天受战争影响的人们当中有80%到90%是平民。这一比例从冷战结束以来增加了，因为从那时以来的大多数军事行动都不是由义务兵军队，而是由小股正规或非正规部队进行的，在许多情况下所使用的是高技术武器，他们还受到保护，以免承担伤亡的风险。没有理由怀疑，战争的主要受害者仍将是平民。
　　
　　假如战争与和平像这个世纪初那样保持泾渭分明，则20世纪对这两者的著述会容易一些。世纪初，1899年和 1907年的海牙公约把战争的规则编入法典。冲突被认为主要发生在主权国家之间，或者如果发生在一个特定国家领土范围内，是在组织充分、因而被其它主权国家公认具有交战地位的各方之间展开。战争当时被认为与和平有显著区别，通过开战时的一项战争宣言和战争结束时的一项和约。军事行动被认为在战斗员之间有明显区别——其特征譬如他们所穿的军装或者显示其属于一支有组织的军队的其它迹象——以及非作战平民。战争被认为是战斗员之间的事情。非战斗员只要可能，就应当在战时受到保护。
　　
　　过去一贯的谅解是，这些公约并不涵盖所有的国内和国际武装冲突，特别是不包括西方国家在国际公认的主权国家管辖范围以外地区进行的帝国扩张所造成的冲突，尽管这些冲突当中的一些（但绝非全部）被称为“战争”。它们也不包括反对地位稳固的国家的大规模叛乱，譬如所谓的“印度兵变”，或者在国家或名义上统治着这些国家的帝国当局有效控制范围之外地区反复发生的武装活动，譬如阿富汗或摩洛哥山区的劫掠和血仇。尽管如此，海牙公约仍然是第一次世界大战中的指导方针。20世纪，这一相对的明确性被混乱所取代。
　　
　　首先，国际冲突与国内冲突之间的界线变得模糊不清，因为20世纪的特点不仅是战争，而且还有革命和帝国的解体。一国内部的革命或解放斗争对国际局势产生影响，在冷战期间尤其如此。相反地，俄罗斯革命后，国家对自己所不支持的别国内部事务的干预变得司空见惯，起码在这样做风险比较小的地方是如此。现在情况仍然是这样。
　　
　　第二，战争与和平之间的明确差别变得含糊不清。除了个别地方外，第二次世界大战既不是以宣战开始，也不是以和约结束。随后的一个时期不论是从旧的意义上讲归类为战争还是和平都很困难，因此“冷战”这个新字眼不得不被发明来描述它。冷战以来状况的模糊性的一个明证就是中东的当前局势。不论“战争”还是“和平” 都没有确切描述海湾战争正式结束以来伊拉克的形势——该国仍然几乎每天都遭到外国的轰炸——巴勒斯坦人和以色列人之间的关系也是如此，还有以色列与其邻国、黎巴嫩和叙利亚之间的关系。所有这些都是一种不幸的后遗症，其原因是20世纪的世界大战，还有战争的越来越强大的大众宣传机器，以及彼此不相称的和充满激情的意识形态之间对峙的一个时期。这种对峙给战争带来了相当于在以往的宗教冲突中所见到的正义讨伐的成分。
　　
　　这些冲突与国际实力体系的传统战争不同，越来越多地是为了不可谈判的目的，譬如“无条件投降”而进行。由于战争和胜利都被看作一边倒的，所以对18和19世纪的战争公约所可能强加给交战国能力的任何限制——甚至正式的宣战——都被抛弃。对胜利者坚持自己意志的威力的任何限制也是如此。经验表明，在和平情况下达成的协议可能很容易被撕毁。
　　
　　近年来，使情况进一步复杂化的是，在人们的公开言论中，“战争”一词往往被用来指部署有组织的力量打击被看作反社会的各种国家或国际活动——例如“反黑手党的战争”或“反贩毒组织的战争”。在这些冲突中，武装力量的两个类型的行动被混淆。一个类型——我们称之为“士兵”——用来对付其他武装力量，目的是击败他们。另外一个——我们把它叫做“警察”——努力保持或恢复一个现有的政治实体，一般是一个国家内部必要程度的法律和公共秩序。并不带有任何必要的道德隐含意义的胜利是一种力量的目的；将违法者绳之以法则带有道德的涵义，乃是另外一种力量的目标。然而，这种区分在理论上比在实践中容易做出，战斗中的一名士兵杀人本身并不犯法。但如果爱尔兰共和军的一名成员把自己看作交战一方，尽管正式的英国法律把他视为杀人犯，则情况如何？
　　
　　北爱尔兰的活动是像爱尔兰共和军所认为的那样是一场战争呢，还是在违法者面前为了维持英国的一个省有秩序的治理而做出的努力？由于不仅一支可观的当地警察部队，而且还有一支全国性的军队被动员起来对付爱尔兰共和军达30年左右，所以我们可以断定，这是一场战争，但却是一场像警察行动一样有条不紊地实施的战争，其方式把伤亡和该省中的生活中断减少到最低限度。新世纪开始时和平与战争之间关系的复杂性和混乱情况就是如此。它们得到了美国及其盟国目前正在进行的军事与其它行动的充分诠释。
　　
　　现在像整个20世纪一样，全然没有任何能够控制或解决武装争端的有效的全球权威机构。全球化已经在几乎每个方面取得进展——经济上、技术上、文化上甚至语言上——唯一例外的是，在政治与军事上，各国仍然是唯一的有效权威。虽然正式的国家有200个左右，但是在实践上只有少数举足轻重，其中美国享有占压倒优势的威力。然而从来没有任何国家或帝国足够地庞大、富裕或强大，以维持在世界政治领域中的霸权，就更不用说建立全球范围的政治与军事上的至高无上地位了。一个单一的超级大国无法弥补全球权威的空白，尤其鉴于其效力足以使之获得主要国家的自愿接受、被当作具有约束力的公约的缺乏——例如涉及国际裁军或者武器控制的等等。一些这种权威机构是存在的，特别是联合国、各种法律与金融机构，譬如国际货币基金组织、世界银行和世界贸易组织，以及一些国际法庭。但没有任何一个拥有除了国家之间的协议所赋予它们的之外的、由于强大国家的支持而获得的或者各国自愿接受的有效权力。虽然这一点令人遗憾，但是在可以预见的将来却不大可能改变。
　　
　　由于只有国家才行使实际的权力，所以风险在于，国际机构在试图应付“战争罪行”等违法行为的时候会无效或者缺乏普遍的合法地位。甚至当通过普遍共识而建立世界法庭（例如根据联合国1998年7月17日的罗马协议建立的国际刑事法庭），它们的判断也不一定会被当作合法和有约束力的而接受，只要强国有条件对其加以无视。一个由强国组成的集团可能足够强大，以确保来自比较弱小国家的一些违犯者被送上这些法庭，从而或许在某些地区限制武装冲突的残酷程度。然而这是表明在一个国际体系内权力与影响力的传统行使、而不是国际法行使的实例。
　　
　　然而在21世纪与20世纪之间有重大差别：认为战争是发生在一个划分为处于有效的政府权威之下的领土地区的世界上，这些政府享有对公共权力和强迫手段的垄断，这种想法已经不再适用。它从来都不适用于经历着革命的国家或者四分五裂的帝国的各个分裂部分，但直到最近为止，大多数新的革命或后殖民地政权——中国在1911年和1949年之间是主要的例外——相当迅速地再生，成为基本上有组织的和正常运转的继承政权和国家。然而最近30年左右，由于各种原因，国家丧失了其对武装力量的一贯的垄断、很大一部分从前的稳定性与权力，而且越来越多地还丧失了合法地位或者公认的永久性的根本感觉，这种地位过去使政府得以把税赋与征兵等负担强加给心甘情愿的公民。战争的物质装备现在对民间组织来说普遍地唾手可得，资助非国家战争的手段也是如此，这样一来，国家与非国家组织之间的力量对比已经改变。
　　
　　国家内部的武装冲突已经变得更加严重，并且可能继续几十年，而没有任何胜利或得到解决的真实前景：克什米尔、安哥拉、斯里兰卡、车臣、哥伦比亚。在极端的情况下，譬如在非洲的部分地区，国家可能已经基本不复存在，或者譬如在哥伦比亚，可能不再在本国部分领土上行使政权。甚至在强大和稳定的国家里，也一直难以消除非官方的小型武装集团，譬如英国的爱尔兰共和军及西班牙的巴斯克民族和自由组织。这一局面的新奇性通过一件事实显示出来：地球上最强大的国家在遭受了一场恐怖主义袭击后感到有义务发动一场正式的行动，打击一个很小的国际与非政府组织或网络，而后者既没有领土，也没有一支能够辨认的军队。
　　
　　这些变化如何影响今后一个世纪战争与和平之间的平衡呢？我宁愿不就很有可能爆发的战争或者它们可能的结局做出预测。然而不论武装冲突的结构还是解决的方法都由于主权国家世界体系的转变而发生了深刻变化。
　　
　　苏联的解体意味着，曾经指导了国际关系将近两个世纪、除了明显的例外还对国家之间的冲突行使了一定的控制权的大国体系不复存在。它的消失消除了现在国家间战争和国家对别国事务进行武装干预的一大因素——冷战期间外国领土的边界基本上未曾被军队所跨越。然而即使那时，由于弱小国家的大量存在（尽管这些国家从官方意义上讲是联合国的“主权”成员国），国际体系就已经存在潜在的不稳定性。
　　
　　苏联和欧洲共产党政权的垮台明显地使这种不稳定性增加。在迄今为止稳定的民族国家，譬如英国、西班牙、比利时和意大利，具有不同程度实力的分离主义趋势完全可能进一步加重这种不稳定。与此同时，国际舞台上民间表演者的数量也成倍增加。有什么机制可以用来控制和解决这种冲突吗？从记录看并不令人乐观。90年代的武装冲突没有一次以稳定的解决而告终。由于冷战的机构、假设与言论的持续存在，所以旧的怀疑未曾消亡，从而恶化了东南欧共产主义以后的分崩离析，使得解决一度被称为南斯拉夫的地区问题更加困难。
　　
　　我们要想制订一些控制武装冲突的手段，就必须从意识形态和权力-政治两方面消除这些冷战遗留下来的假设。此外明显的是，美国通过单方的武力来强加一种（任何一种）新的世界秩序的努力都已经失败并且必然继续失败，不管力量关系目前如何朝着有利于美国的方向偏斜，尽管美国得到了一个（必然短命的）联盟的支持。国际体系仍将是多边的，其管制将取决于几个大国达成一致的能力，尽管其中一个国家享有军事上的压倒优势。
　　
　　美国所采取的国际军事行动在多大程度上取决于别国通过谈判的协议已经很清楚。此外也清楚的是，战争的政治解决，甚至美国所参与的战争的解决，都将是通过谈判而不是通过单方的强加于人。以无条件投降而结束的战争的时代在可以预见的将来不会重演。
　　
　　对于现有的国际机构，特别是联合国的角色，也必须重新考虑。虽然它无时不在而且通常是求助的对象，但是在解决争端方面，却没有明确的角色。它的战略与行动始终任凭不断变幻的权力政治所宰割。缺乏一个被真正看作中立的和能够在未经安全理事会事先授权情况下采取行动的国际中介，这一直是争端处理体系中最明显的空白。
　　
　　冷战结束以来，对和平与战争的处理一直是即兴的。在最好情况下，譬如在巴尔干地区，武装冲突被外部武装干预制止，敌对行动结束时的现状由第三方的军队来维持。武装冲突未来控制的一个通用模型能否从这种干预中产生还不清楚。
　　
　　21世纪中战争与和平之间的平衡将不会取决于制订比较有效的谈判和解决机制，而是要看内部稳定和军事冲突的避免情况如何。除了少数例外，现有的国家之间的、过去导致了武装冲突的对抗与摩擦今天造成这种局面的可能性减小了。例如现在的国际边界问题上的政府间燃眉之急的冲突相对来说很少。另一方面，内部冲突很容易演变成暴力性的：战争的主要危险存在于外国或者外部军事势力对冲突的卷入。
　　
　　与贫困、严重不平等和经济不稳定的国家相比，经济蒸蒸日上、稳定而且商品在居民当中比较公平地分配的国家，其社会和政治局势动荡的可能性较小。然而，避免或控制国内武装暴力活动的情况更加直接地取决于国家政府的实力和政绩，及其在多数居民眼中的合法地位。今天没有任何政府能够对非武装民众的存在或者欧洲很多地方人们所长期熟悉的公共秩序的程度，认为理所当然。今天没有任何政府有条件无视或者清除掉国内的武装少数民族。
　　
　　尽管如此，世界越来越分裂为能够对自己领土和公民加以有效管理的国家以及为数越来越多的领土，其边界是得到官方承认的国际界线，国家的政府则从虚弱和腐败的到荡然无存的都有。这些地区所酝酿的是流血的内部斗争和国际冲突，譬如我们在非洲中部所见到。然而这种地区没有持续改善的即刻前景，如果动荡不定的国家的中央政府进一步被削弱或者世界版图进一步巴尔干化，则无疑会加重武装冲突的危险。
　　
　　一项尝试性的预测：21世纪的战争不大可能像20世纪的那样血腥。但造成不成比例的苦难与损失的武装暴力仍将在世界很多地方无处不在和泛滥成灾。一个和平的世纪的前景是遥远的。

　　War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, Pre-reform Russian: «Война и миръ»), a Russian novel by Leo Tolstoy, is considered one of the greatest works of fiction and a literary giant of the 19th century. It is regarded, along with Anna Karenina (1873–1877), as his finest literary achievement.
　　
　　Epic in scale, War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events leading up to Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families.
　　
　　Portions of an earlier version having been serialized in the magazine The Russian Messenger between 1865 and 1867, the novel was first published in its entirety in 1869. Newsweek in 2009 ranked it top of its list of Top 100 Books.
　　
　　Tolstoy himself, somewhat enigmatically, said of War and Peace that it was "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less an historical chronicle."
　　
　　War and Peace is famously long for a novel (though not the longest by any means). It is subdivided into four books or volumes, each with subparts containing many chapters.
　　
　　Tolstoy got the title, and some of his themes, from an 1861 work of Proudhon: La Guerre et la Paix. Tolstoy had served in the Crimean War and written a series of short stories and novellas featuring scenes of war. He began writing War and Peace in the year that he finally married and settled down at his country estate. During the writing of the second half of the book, after the first half had already been written under the name "1805", he read widely, acknowledging Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations, although he developed his own views of history and the role of the individual within it.
　　
　　The novel can be generally classified as historical fiction. It contains elements present in many types of popular 18th and 19th century literature, especially the romance novel. War and Peace attains its literary status by transcending genres. Tolstoy was instrumental in bringing a new kind of consciousness to the novel. His narrative structure is noted for its "god-like" ability to hover over and within events, but also swiftly and seamlessly to take a particular character's point of view. His use of visual detail is often cinematic in its scope, using the literary equivalents of panning, wide shots and close-ups, to give dramatic interest to battles and ballrooms alike. These devices, while not exclusive to Tolstoy, are part of the new novel that is arising in the mid-19th century and of which Tolstoy proves himself a master.
　　Realism
　　
　　Tolstoy incorporated extensive historical research, and he was influenced by many other novels as well. Himself a veteran of the Crimean War, Tolstoy was quite critical of standard history, especially the standards of military history, in War and Peace. 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 - he explains at the start of the novel's third volume his views on how history ought to be written. His aim was to blur the line between fiction and history, in order to get closer to the truth, as he states in Volume II.
　　
　　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 the war of 1812 (In Russia), 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.
　　Reception
　　
　　The first draft of War and Peace was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical Russkiy Vestnik published the first part of this early version under the title 1805 and the following year published more of the same early version. Tolstoy was increasingly dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published (with a different ending) in 1867 still under the title "1805" He heavily rewrote the entire novel between 1866 and 1869. Tolstoy's wife Sophia Tolstoy handwrote as many as 8 or 9 separate complete manuscripts before Tolstoy considered it again ready for publication. The version that was published in Russkiy Vestnik had a very different ending than the version eventually published under the title War and Peace in 1869.
　　
　　The completed novel was then called Voyna i mir (new style orthography; in English War and Peace).
　　
　　Tolstoy did not destroy the 1805 manuscript (sometimes referred to as "the original War and Peace"), which was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1983 and since has been translated separately from the "known" version, to English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and Korean. The fact that so many extant versions of War and Peace survive make it one of the best revelations into the mental processes of a great novelist.
　　
　　Russians who had read the serialized version, were anxious to acquire the complete first edition, which included epilogues, and it sold out almost immediately. The novel was translated almost immediately after publication into many other languages.
　　
　　Isaac Babel said, after reading War and Peace, "If the world could write by itself, it would write like Tolstoy." Tolstoy "gives us a unique combination of the 'naive objectivity' of the oral narrator with the interest in detail characteristic of realism. This is the reason for our trust in his presentation."
　　Language
　　
　　Although Tolstoy wrote most of the book, including all the narration, in Russian, significant portions of dialogue (including its opening paragraph) are written in French and characters often switch between the languages. This reflected 19th century reality since Russian aristocracy in the early nineteenth century were conversant in French, which was often considered more refined than Russian—many were much less competent in Russian. An example in the novel is Julie Karagina, Princess Marya's friend, who has to take Russian lessons in order to master her native language.
　　
　　It has been suggested that it is a deliberate strategy of Tolstoy to use French to portray artifice and insincerity, as the language of the theater and deceit while Russian emerges as a language of sincerity, honesty and seriousness. When Pierre proposes to Helene he speaks to her in French—Je vous aime—and as the marriage emerges as a sham he blames those words.
　　
　　As the book progresses, and the wars with the French intensify, culminating in the capture and eventual burning of Moscow, the use of French diminishes. The progressive elimination of French from the text is a means of demonstrating that Russia has freed itself from foreign cultural domination. It is also, at the level of plot development, a way of showing that a once-admired and friendly nation, France, has turned into an enemy. By midway through the book, several of the Russian aristocracy, whose command of French is far better than their command of Russian, are anxious to find Russian tutors for themselves.
　　English translations
　　
　　War and Peace has been translated into English on several occasions, starting by Clara Bell working from a French translation. The translators Constance Garnett and Louise and Aylmer Maude knew Tolstoy personally. Translations have to deal with Tolstoy’s often peculiar syntax and his fondness of repetitions. About 2% of War and Peace is in French; Tolstoy removed the French in a revised 1873 edition, only to restore it later again. Most translators follow Garnett retaining some French, Briggs uses no French, while Pevear-Volokhonsky retain the French fully. (For a list of translations see below)
　　Background and historical context
　　In 1812 by the Russian artist Illarion Pryanishnikov
　　
　　The novel begins in the year 1805 and leads up to the war of 1812[citation needed]. The era of Catherine the Great is still fresh in the minds of older people. It was Catherine who ordered the Russian court to change to speaking French, a custom that was stronger in Petersburg than in Moscow.[citation needed] Catherine's son and successor, Paul I, is the father of the current Czar, Alexander I. Alexander I came to the throne in 1801 at the age of 24. His mother, Marya Feodorovna, is the most powerful woman in the court.
　　
　　The novel tells the story of five aristocratic families — the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins and the Drubetskoys—and the entanglements of their personal lives with the history of 1805–1813, principally Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. The Bezukhovs, while very rich, are a fragmented family as the old Count, Kirill Vladimirovich, has fathered dozens of illegitimate sons. The Bolkonskys are an old established and wealthy family based at Bald Hills. Old Prince Bolkonsky, Nikolai Andreevich, served as a general under Catherine the Great, in earlier wars. The Moscow Rostovs have many estates, but never enough cash. They are a closely knit, loving family who live for the moment regardless of their financial situation. The Kuragin family has three children, who are all of questionable character. The Drubetskoy family is of impoverished nobility, and consists of an elderly mother and her only son, Boris, whom she wishes to push up the career ladder.
　　
　　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.
　　
　　The standard Russian text of 'War and Peace' is divided into four books (fifteen parts) and two epilogues – one mainly narrative, the other thematic. While roughly the first half of the novel is concerned strictly with the fictional characters, the later parts, as well as one of the work's two epilogues, increasingly consist of essays about the nature of war, power, history, and historiography. Tolstoy interspersed these essays into the story in a way that defies previous fictional convention. Certain abridged versions remove these essays entirely, while others, published even during Tolstoy's life, simply moved these essays into an appendix.
　　Plot summary
　　
　　War and Peace has a large cast of characters, some historically real (like Napoleon and Alexander I), the majority of whom are introduced in the first book. The scope of the novel is vast, but the focus is primarily on five aristocratic families and their experiences in life. The interactions of these characters are set in the era leading up to, around and following the French invasion of Russia during the Napoleonic wars.
　　Book/Volume One
　　
　　The novel begins in Saint Petersburg, at a soirée given in July 1805 by Anna Pavlovna Scherer — the maid of honour and confidante to the queen mother Maria Feodorovna. Many of the main players and aristocratic families of the novel are introduced as they enter Anna Pavlovna's salon. Pierre (Pyotr Kirilovich) Bezukhov is the illegitimate son of a wealthy count, an elderly man who is dying after a series of strokes. He is about to become embroiled in a struggle for his inheritance. Educated abroad after his mother's death and at his father's expense, Pierre is essentially kindhearted, but socially awkward owing in part to his open, benevolent nature, and finds it difficult to integrate into Petersburg society. He is his father's favorite of all the old count’s illegitimate children, and this is known to everyone at Anna Pavlovna's.
　　
　　Pierre's friend, the intelligent and sardonic Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky, husband of the charming society favourite Lise, also attends the soireé. Finding Petersburg society unctuous and disillusioned with married life after discovering his wife is empty and superficial, Prince Andrei makes the fateful choice to be an aide-de-camp to Prince Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov in the coming war against Napoleon.
　　
　　The plot moves to Moscow, Russia's ancient city and former capital, contrasting its provincial, more Russian ways to the highly mannered society of Petersburg. The Rostov family are introduced. Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov has four adolescent children. Thirteen-year-old Natasha (Natalia Ilyinichna) believes herself in love with Boris Drubetskoy, a disciplined young man who is about to join the army as an officer. Twenty-year-old Nikolai Ilyich pledges his teenage love to Sonya (Sofia Alexandrovna), his fifteen-year-old cousin, an orphan who has been brought up by the Rostovs. The eldest child of the Rostov family, Vera Ilyinichna, is cold and somewhat haughty but has a good prospective marriage in a Russian-German officer, Adolf Karlovich Berg. Petya (Pyotr Ilyich) is nine and the youngest of the Rostov family; like his brother, he is impetuous and eager to join the army when of age. The heads of the family, Count Ilya Rostov and Countess Natalya Rostova, are an affectionate couple but forever worried about their disordered finances.
　　
　　At Bald Hills, the Bolkonskys' country estate, Prince Andrei leaves his terrified, pregnant wife Lise with his eccentric father Prince Nikolai Andreyevich Bolkonsky and his devoutly religious sister Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya, and departs for the war.
　　
　　The second part opens with descriptions of the impending Russian-French war preparations. At the Schöngrabern engagement, Nikolai Rostov, who is now conscripted as ensign in a squadron of hussars, has his first taste of battle. He meets Prince Andrei, whom he insults in a fit of impetuousness. Even more than most young soldiers, he is deeply attracted by Tsar Alexander's charisma. Nikolai gambles and socializes with his officer, Vasily Dmitrich Denisov, and befriends the ruthless and perhaps psychopathic Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov.
　　Book/Volume Two
　　
　　Book Two begins with Nikolai Rostov briefly returning home to Moscow on home leave in early 1806. Nikolai finds the Rostov family facing financial ruin due to poor estate management. He spends an eventful winter at home, accompanied by his friend Denisov, his officer from the Pavlograd Regiment in which he serves. Natasha has blossomed into a beautiful young girl. Denisov falls in love with her, proposes marriage but is rejected. Although his mother pleads with Nikolai to find himself a good financial prospect in marriage, Nikolai refuses to accede to his mother's request. He promises to marry his childhood sweetheart, the dowry-less Sonya.
　　
　　Pierre Bezukhov, upon finally receiving his massive inheritance, is suddenly transformed from a bumbling young man into the richest and most eligible bachelor in the Russian Empire. Despite rationally knowing that it is wrong, he proposes marriage with Prince Kuragin's beautiful and immoral daughter Hélène (Elena Vasilyevna Kuragina), to whom he is sexually attracted. Hélène, who is rumoured to be involved in an incestuous affair with her brother, the equally charming and immoral Anatol, tells Pierre that she will never have children with him. Hélène has an affair with Dolokhov, who mocks Pierre in public. Pierre loses his temper and challenges Dolokhov, a seasoned dueller and a ruthless killer, to a duel. Unexpectedly, Pierre wounds Dolokhov. Hélène denies her affair, but Pierre is convinced of her guilt and, after almost being violent to her, leaves her. In his moral and spiritual confusion, he joins the Freemasons, and becomes embroiled in Masonic internal politics. Much of Book Two concerns his struggles with his passions and his spiritual conflicts to be a better man. Now a rich aristocrat, he abandons his former carefree behavior and enters upon a philosophical quest particular to Tolstoy: how should one live a moral life in an ethically imperfect world? The question continually baffles and confuses Pierre. He attempts to liberate his serfs, but ultimately achieves nothing of note.
　　
　　Pierre is vividly contrasted with the intelligent and ambitious Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. At the Battle of Austerlitz, Andrei is inspired by a vision of glory to lead a charge of a straggling army. He suffers a near fatal artillery wound. In the face of death, Andrei realizes all his former ambitions are pointless and his former hero Napoleon (who rescues him in a horseback excursion to the battlefield) is apparently as vain as himself.
　　
　　Prince Andrei recovers from his injuries in a military hospital and returns home, only to find his wife Lise dying in childbirth. He is stricken by his guilty conscience for not treating Lise better when she was alive and is haunted by the pitiful expression on his dead wife's face. His child, Nikolenka, survives.
　　
　　Burdened with nihilistic disillusionment, Prince Andrei does not return to the army but chooses to remain on his estate, working on a project that would codify military behavior and help solve some of the problems of Russian disorganization that he believes were responsible for the loss of life in battle on the Russian side. Pierre comes to visit him and brings new questions: where is God in this amoral world? Pierre is interested in panentheism and the possibility of an afterlife.
　　
　　Pierre's estranged wife, Hélène, begs him to take her back, and against his better judgment he does. Despite her vapid shallowness, Hélène establishes herself as an influential hostess in Petersburg society.
　　
　　Prince Andrei feels impelled to take his newly written military notions to Petersburg, naively expecting to influence either the Emperor himself or those close to him. Young Natasha, also in Petersburg, is caught up in the excitement of dressing for her first grand ball, where she meets Prince Andrei and briefly reinvigorates him with her vivacious charm. Andrei believes he has found purpose in life again and, after paying the Rostovs several visits, proposes marriage to Natasha. However, old Prince Bolkonsky, Andrei's father, dislikes the Rostovs, opposes the marriage, and insists on a year's delay. Prince Andrei leaves to recuperate from his wounds abroad, leaving Natasha initially distraught. She soon recovers her spirits, however, and Count Rostov takes her and Sonya to spend some time with a friend in Moscow.
　　
　　Natasha visits the Moscow opera, where she meets Hélène and her brother Anatol. Anatol has since married a Polish woman whom he has abandoned in Poland. He is very attracted to Natasha and is determined to seduce her. Hélène and Anatol conspire together to accomplish this plan. Anatol kisses Natasha and writes her passionate letters, eventually establishing plans to elope. Natasha is convinced that she loves Anatol and writes to Princess Maria, Andrei's sister, breaking off her engagement. At the last moment, Sonya discovers her plans to elope and foils them. Pierre is initially shocked and horrified at Natasha's behavior, but comes to realize he has fallen in love with her himself. During the time when the Great Comet of 1811–2 streaks the sky, life appears to begin anew for Pierre.
　　
　　Prince Andrei accepts coldly Natasha's breaking of the engagement. He tells Pierre that his pride will not allow him to renew his proposal of marriage. Shamed by her near-seduction and at the realisation that Andrei will not forgive her, Natasha makes a suicide attempt and is left seriously ill.
　　Book/Volume Three
　　
　　With the help of her family, especially Sonya, and the stirrings of religious faith, Natasha manages to persevere in Moscow through this dark period. Meanwhile, the whole of Russia is affected by the coming showdown between Napoleon's troops and the Russian army. Pierre convinces himself through gematria that Napoleon is the Antichrist of the Book of Revelation. Old prince Bolkonsky dies of a stroke while trying to protect his estate from French marauders. No organized help from any Russian army seems available to the Bolkonskys, but Nikolai Rostov turns up at their estate in time to help put down an incipient peasant revolt. He finds himself attracted to Princess Maria, but remembers his promise to Sonya.
　　
　　Back in Moscow, the war-obsessed Petya manages to snatch a loose piece of the Tsar's biscuit outside the Cathedral of the Assumption; he finally convinces his parents to allow him to enlist.
　　
　　Napoleon himself is a main character in this section of the novel and is presented in vivid detail, as both thinker and would-be strategist. His toilette and his customary attitudes and traits of mind are depicted in detail. Also described are the well-organized force of over 400,000 French Army (only 140,000 of them actually French-speaking) which marches quickly through the Russian countryside in the late summer and reaches the outskirts of the city of Smolensk. Pierre decides to leave Moscow and go to watch the Battle of Borodino from a vantage point next to a Russian artillery crew. After watching for a time, he begins to join in carrying ammunition. In the midst of the turmoil he experiences firsthand the death and destruction of war. The battle becomes a hideous slaughter for both armies and ends in a standoff. The Russians, however, have won a moral victory by standing up to Napoleon's reputedly invincible army. For strategic reasons and having suffered grievous losses, the Russian army withdraws the next day, allowing Napoleon to march on to Moscow. Among the casualties are Anatol Kuragin and Prince Andrei. Anatol loses a leg, and Andrei suffers a cannon wound in the abdomen. Both are reported dead, but their families are in such disarray that no one can be notified.
　　Book/Volume Four
　　
　　The Rostovs have waited until the last minute to abandon Moscow, even after it is clear that Kutuzov has retreated past Moscow and Muscovites are being given contradictory, often propagandistic, instructions on how to either flee or fight. Count Rostopchin is publishing posters, rousing the citizens to put their faith in religious icons, while at the same time urging them to fight with pitchforks if necessary. Before fleeing himself, he gives orders to burn the city. The Rostovs have a difficult time deciding what to take with them, and in the end load their carts with the wounded and dying from the Battle of Borodino. Unknown to Natasha, Prince Andrei is amongst the wounded.
　　
　　When Napoleon's Grand Army finally occupies an abandoned and burning Moscow, Pierre takes off on a quixotic mission to assassinate Napoleon. He becomes an anonymous man in all the chaos, shedding his responsibilities by wearing peasant clothes and shunning his duties and lifestyle. The only people he sees while in this garb are Natasha and some of her family, as they depart Moscow. Natasha recognizes and smiles at him, and he in turn realizes the full scope of his love for her.
　　
　　Pierre saves the life of a French officer who fought at Borodino, yet is taken prisoner by the retreating French during his attempted assassination of Napoleon, after saving a woman from being raped by soldiers in the French Army. He becomes friends with a fellow prisoner, Platon Karataev, a peasant with a saintly demeanor, who is incapable of malice. In Karataev, Pierre finally finds what he has been seeking: an honest person of integrity (unlike the aristocrats of Petersburg society) who is utterly without pretense. Pierre discovers meaning in life simply by living and interacting with him. After witnessing French soldiers sacking Moscow and shooting Russian civilians arbitrarily, Pierre is forced to march with the Grand Army during its disastrous retreat from Moscow in the harsh Russian winter. After months of trial and tribulation—during which the fever-plagued Karataev is shot by the French—Pierre is finally freed by a Russian raiding party, after a small skirmish with the French that sees the young Petya Rostov killed in action.
　　
　　Meanwhile, Andrei, wounded during Napoleon's invasion, has been taken in as a casualty and cared for by the fleeing Rostovs. He is reunited with Natasha and his sister Maria before the end of the war. Having lost all will to live, he forgives Natasha in a last act before dying.
　　
　　As the novel draws to a close, Pierre's wife Hélène dies in a botched operation (implied to be an abortion). Pierre is reunited with Natasha, while the victorious Russians rebuild Moscow. Natasha speaks of Prince Andrei's death and Pierre of Karataev's. Both are aware of a growing bond between them in their bereavement. With the help of Princess Maria, Pierre finds love at last and, revealing his love after being released by his former wife's death, marries Natasha.
　　Epilogues
　　
　　The first epilogue begins with the wedding of Pierre and Natasha in 1813. It is the last happy event for the Rostov family, which is undergoing a transition. Count Rostov dies soon after, leaving his eldest son Nikolai to take charge of the debt-ridden estate.
　　
　　Nikolai finds himself with the task of maintaining the family on the verge of bankruptcy. His abhorrence at the idea of marrying for wealth almost gets in his way, but finally in spite of rather than according to his mother's wishes, he marries the now-rich Maria Bolkonskaya and in so doing also saves his family from financial ruin.
　　
　　Nikolai and Maria then move to Bald Hills with his mother and Sonya, whom he supports for the rest of their life. Buoyed by his wife's fortune, Nikolai pays off all his family's debts. They also raise Prince Andrei's orphaned son, Nikolai Andreyevich (Nikolenka) Bolkonsky.
　　
　　As in all good marriages, there are misunderstandings, but the couples–Pierre and Natasha, Nikolai and Maria–remain devoted to their spouses. Pierre and Natasha visit Bald Hills in 1820, much to the jubilation of everyone concerned. There is a hint in the closing chapters that the idealistic, boyish Nikolenka and Pierre would both become part of the Decembrist Uprising. The first epilogue concludes with Nikolenka promising he would do something with which even his late father "would be satisfied..." (presumably as a revolutionary in the Decembrist revolt).
　　
　　The second epilogue contains Tolstoy's critique of all existing forms of mainstream history. He attempts to show that there is a great force behind history, which he first terms divine. He offers the entire book as evidence of this force, and critiques his own work. God, therefore, becomes the word Tolstoy uses to refer to all the forces that produce history, taken together and operating behind the scenes.
　　Principal characters in War and Peace
　　Main article: List of characters in War and Peace
　　War and Peace character tree
　　
　　 * Count Pyotr Kirillovich (Pierre) Bezukhov — The central character and often a voice for Tolstoy's own beliefs or struggles. He is one of several illegitimate children of Count Bezukhov; he is his father's favorite offspring.
　　 * Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky — A strong but cynical, thoughtful and philosophical aide-de-camp in the Napoleonic Wars.
　　 * Princess Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya — A pious woman whose eccentric father attempted to give her a good education. The caring, nurturing nature of her large eyes in her otherwise thin and plain face are frequently mentioned.
　　 * Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov — The pater-familias of the Rostov family; terrible with finances, generous to a fault.
　　 * Countess Natalya Rostova — Wife of Count Ilya Rostov, mother of the four Rostov children.
　　 * Countess Natalia Ilyinichna (Natasha) Rostova — Introduced as a beautiful and romantic young girl, she evolves through trials and suffering and eventually finds happiness. She is an accomplished singer and dancer.[citation needed]
　　 * Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov — A hussar, the beloved eldest son of the Rostov family.
　　 * Sofia Alexandrovna (Sonya) Rostova — Orphaned cousin of Vera, Nikolai, Natasha and Petya Rostov.
　　 * Countess Vera Ilyinichna Rostova — Eldest of the Rostov children, she marries the German career soldier, Berg.
　　 * Pyotr Ilyich (Petya) Rostov — Youngest of the Rostov children.
　　 * Prince Vasily Sergeyevich Kuragin — A ruthless man who is determined to marry his children well, despite having doubts about the character of some of them.
　　 * Princess Elena Vasilyevna (Hélène) Kuragina — A beautiful and sexually alluring woman who has many affairs, including (it is rumoured) with her brother Anatole
　　 * Prince Anatol Vasilyevich Kuragin — Hélène's brother and a very handsome, ruthless and amoral pleasure seeker who is secretly married yet tries to elope with Natasha Rostova.
　　 * Prince Ipolit Vasilyevich — The eldest and perhaps most dim-witted of the Kuragin children.
　　 * Prince Boris Drubetskoy — A poor but aristocratic young man who is determined to make his career, even at the expense of his friends and benefactors, marries a rich and ugly woman to help him climb the social ladder.
　　 * Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoya — The mother of Boris.
　　 * Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov — A cold, almost psychopathic officer, he ruins Nikolai Rostov after his proposal to Sonya is refused, he only shows love to his doting mother.
　　 * Adolf Karlovich Berg — A young Russian officer, who desires to be just like everyone else.
　　 * Anna Pavlovna Sherer — Also known as Annette, she is the hostess of the salon that is the site of much of the novel's action in Petersburg.
　　 * Maria Dmitryevna Akhrosimova — An older Moscow society lady, she is an elegant dancer and trend-setter, despite her age and size.
　　 * Amalia Evgenyevna Bourienne — A French woman who lives with the Bolkonskys, primarily as Princess Marya's companion.
　　 * Vasily Dmitrich Denisov — Nikolai Rostov's friend and brother officer, who proposes to Natasha.
　　 * Platon Krataev - The archetypal good Russian peasant, whom Pierre meets in the prisoner of war camp.
　　
　　 * Napoleon I of France — the Great Man, whose fate is detailed in the book.
　　 * General Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov — Russian commander-in-chief throughout the book. His diligence and modesty eventually save Russia from Napoleon.[citation needed]
　　 * Osip Bazdeyev — the Freemason who interests Pierre in his mysterious group, starting a lengthy subplot.[citation needed]
　　 * Tsar Alexander I of Russia — He signed a peace treaty with Napoleon in 1807 and then went to war with him.
　　
　　Many of Tolstoy's characters in War and Peace were based on real-life people known to Tolstoy himself. His grandparents and their friends were the models for many of the main characters, his great-grandparents would have been of the generation of Prince Vasilly or Count Ilya Rostov. Some of the characters, obviously, are actual historic figures.
　　Adaptations
　　Film
　　
　　The first Russian film adaptation of War and Peace was the 1915 film Война и мир (Voyna i mir), directed by Vladimir Gardin and starring Gardin and the Russian ballerina Vera Karalli. It was followed in 1968 by the critically acclaimed four-part film version War and Peace, by the Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk, released individually in 1965-1967, and as a re-edited whole in 1968. This starred Lyudmila Savelyeva (as Natasha Rostova) and Vyacheslav Tikhonov (as Andrei Bolkonsky). Bondarchuk himself played the character of Pierre Bezukhov. The film was almost seven hours long; it involved thousands of actors, 120 000 extras, and it took seven years to finish the shooting, as a result of which the actors age changed dramatically from scene to scene. It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for its authenticity and massive scale.
　　
　　The novel has been adapted twice for cinema outside of Russia. The first of these was produced by F. Kamei in Japan (1947). The second was the 208-minute long 1956 War and Peace, directed by the American King Vidor. This starred Audrey Hepburn (Natasha), Henry Fonda (Pierre) and Mel Ferrer (Andrei). Audrey Hepburn was nominated for a BAFTA Award for best British actress and for a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a drama production.
　　Opera
　　
　　 * Initiated by a proposal of the German director Erwin Piscator in 1938, the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev composed his opera War and Peace (Op. 91, libretto by Mira Mendelson) based on this epic novel during the 1940s. The complete musical work premiered in Leningrad in 1955. It was the first opera to be given a public performance at the Sydney Opera House (1973).
　　
　　Music
　　
　　 * Composition by Nino Rota
　　 * Referring to album notes, the first track "The Gates of Delirium", from the album Relayer, by the progressive rock group Yes, is said to be based loosely on the novel.
　　
　　Theatre
　　
　　The first successful stage adaptations of War and Peace were produced by Alfred Neumann and Erwin Piscator (1942, revised 1955, published by Macgibbon & Kee in London 1963, and staged in 16 countries since) and R. Lucas (1943).
　　
　　A stage adaptation by Helen Edmundson, first produced in 1996 at the Royal National Theatre, was published that year by Nick Hern Books, London. Edmundson added to and amended the play for a 2008 production as two 3-hour parts by Shared Experience, directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale. This was first put on at the Nottingham Playhouse, then toured in the UK to Liverpool, Darlington, Bath, Warwick, Oxford, Truro, London (the Hampstead Theatre) and Cheltenham.
　　
　　On the 15th-18th July, The Birmingham Theatre School performed this seven-hour epic play at The Crescent Theatre in Brindleyplace with great success. Birmingham Theatre School is the only drama school in the world to perform the new adaptation of War and Peace. Directed by Chris Rozanski and Assistant to Director was Royal National Theatre performer Anthony Mark Barrow with Vocals arranged by Dr Ria Keen and choreography by Colin Lang.
　　Radio and television
　　
　　 * In December 1970, Pacifica Radio station WBAI broadcast a reading of the entire novel (the 1968 Dunnigan translation) read by over 140 celebrities and ordinary people.
　　
　　 * War and Peace (1972): The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) made a television serial based on the novel, broadcast in 1972-73. Anthony Hopkins played the lead role of Pierre. Other lead characters were played by Rupert Davies, Faith Brook, Morag Hood, Alan Dobie, Angela Down and Sylvester Morand. This version faithfully included many of Tolstoy's minor characters, including Platon Karataev (Harry Locke). ,
　　
　　 * A dramatized full-cast adaptation in ten parts was written by Marcy Kahan and Mike Walker in 1997. The production won the 1998 Talkie award for Best Drama and was around 9.5 hours in length. It was directed by Janet Whitaker and featured Simon Russell Beale, Gerard Murphy, Richard Johnson, and others.
　　
　　 * La Guerre et la paix (TV) (2000) by François Roussillon. Robert Brubaker played the lead role of Pierre.
　　
　　 * War and Peace (2007): produced by the Italian Lux Vide, a TV mini-series in Russian & English co-produced in Russia, France, Germany, Poland and Italy. Directed by Robert Dornhelm, with screenplay written by Lorenzo Favella, Enrico Medioli and Gavin Scott. It features an international cast with Alexander Beyer playing the lead role of Pierre assisted by Malcolm McDowell, Clémence Poésy, Alessio Boni, Pilar Abella, J. Kimo Arbas, Ken Duken, Juozapas Bagdonas and Toni Bertorelli.
　　
　　Full translations into English
　　
　　 * Clara Bell (from a French version) 1885-86
　　 * Nathan Haskell Dole 1898
　　 * Leo Wiener 1904
　　 * Constance Garnett (1904)
　　 * Louise and Aylmer Maude (1922-3)
　　 * Rosemary Edmonds (1957, revised 1978)
　　 * Ann Dunnigan (1968)
　　 * Anthony Briggs (2005)
　　 * Andrew Bromfield (2007), translation of the first completed draft, approx. 400 pages shorter than other English translations.
　　 * Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)