How long did Leo Tolstoy spend writing War and Peace?

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Portrait of Leo Tolstoy with a long white beard, wearing a dark shirt and looking slightly to the side. — Leo Tolstoy Russian writer Leo Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest novelists. His masterpieces are *War and Peace* (1865–69) and *Anna Karenina* (1875–77).

Leo Tolstoy wrote his masterpiece, War and Peace, over the course of six years.1

The novel was originally serialized in the Russian periodical Russkiy Vestnik beginning in 1865, but Tolstoy eventually shifted his focus to publishing the work in volumes. By 1868, three volumes had been released, and he completed the final three volumes between 1868 and 1869. Throughout this intensive process, his wife, Sofya, played a significant role by hand-copying several drafts of the manuscript.1