The Characters of War and Peace

Minor characters are grouped with the main family with which they are most closely associated. Other fictional characters are grouped into ‘officers and soldiers’ and ‘Moscow & Petersburg’.

Historical characters are grouped according to nationality or the army they serve in.

Fictional Characters

The Bezukhovs

Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov (Count Bezukhov, Pierre’s father)
Pyotr Kirillovich Bezukhov (Pierre, Petrushka)
Katerina Semyonovna (Katiche, Catiche, Pierre’s cousin)
Lorrain (Count Bezukhov’s doctor)
Osip Alexeevich Bazdeev (Freemason)
Gerasim (Bazdeev's servant)
Makar Alexeevich (Bazdeev's brother)

The Rostovs

Ilya Rostov (Count Rostov)
Natalya Rostova (The count’s wife, Countess Rostova, Natasha, Natalia, Nathalie)
Vera Rostova (The awkward elder sister in the Rostov household)
Natasha Rostova (The younger sister, Natalia, not to be confused with her mother)
Nikolai Rostov (The elder brother, Koyla, Koko, Rostov, Nikki, Nikolenka, Nikolushka)
Petya Rostov (The younger brother)
Sonya (An orphaned cousin in the care of the Rostovs)
Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova (Le terrible dragon)
Pyotr Nikolaevich Shinshin (Countess Rostova’s cousin)
Berg (A German-born officer and Vera’s suitor)
Mitenka Vasilievich (Steward)
Taras (Cook)
Danilo (Huntsman)
Semyon Chekmar (The count's personal attendant)
Uncle (A country relative of the Rostovs)
Natasha Ivanovna (The ‘buffoon’ who lives with the Rostovs)

The Bolkonskys

Nikolai Bolkonsky (The old prince, Andrei and Marya’s father)
Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky (Andrei)
Marya Bolkonskaya (Marya)
Elisabeta Karlovna Bolkonskaya (Andrei’s wife, Lise, Liza, ‘the little princess’)
Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky (Andrei’s son, Nikolushka, Nikolenka)
Mademoiselle Bourienne (Marya’s companion)
Mikhail Ivanovich (The old prince’s architect)
Tikhon (The old valet)
Alpatych (The overseer)
Monsieur Dessalles (Nikolenka’s tutor)
Dron (A village elder)
Dunyasha (Marya’s maid)

The Kuragins

Vasili Sergeevich Kuragin (Prince Vasili)
Ippolit Kuragin (His older son)
Anatole Kuragin (His younger son)
Yelena Vasilyevna Kuragina (His daughter, Hélène)

Officers and soldiers

Fedor Ivanovich Dolokhov (A notorious gambler and duellist)
Boris Drubetskoy (A calm and ambitious young officer)
Prokhor Ignatych Timokhin (A company captain in the Semyonovsky regiment)
Zherkov (A hussar cornet)
Prince Nesvitsky (A staff officer)
Vasily "Vas'ka" Denisov (A captain in the Pavlograd hussars)
Prince Kozlovsky (Aide-de-camp to General Kutuzov)
Captain Tushin (An artillery officer)
Prince Dolgorukov (Military friend of Andrei Bolkonsky)
Ilyin (Nikolai Rostov's protégé)
Captain Ramballe (A French captain)
Platon Karataev (A peasant soldier)

Moscow & Petersburg

Marya Dolokhova (The worthy mother of the infamous Dolokhov)
Anna Drubetskaya (A sharp-elbowed, impoverished princess, mother to Boris)
Julie Karagina (A rich heiress)
Marya Karagina (Julie’s mother)
Anna Pavlovna (A society hostess)
Abbé Morio (An Italian priest)
Mortemart (French émigré)
Bilibin (A well-spoken wrinkly diplomat)

Historical Characters

The Russians

Paul I (Former Tsar and father to Alexander I)
Tsar Alexander I (Current Tsar)
Marya Fyodorovna (Dowager Empress, the Tsar’s mother)
Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich (Alexander’s brother)
Mikhail Kutuzov (Commander-in-chief)
Nikolay Novosiltsev (A Russian statesman)
Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy (A Russian general)
Ferdinand von Wintzingerode (Austrian nobleman in the Russian army)
Alexander Balashov (Russian general)
Prince Pyotr Bagration (Russian general)
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (Russian general)
Dmitry Dokhturov (Russian general)
Mikhail Miloradovich (Russian general)
Aleksey Arakcheev (Russian general)
Fyodor Rostopchin (Russian statesman and general, later Governor-General of Moscow)
Mikhail Speransky (Russian statesman)
Aleksey Ermolov (Russian general)
Karl Wilhelm von Toll (German general in the Russian army)
Pyotr Konovnitsyn (Russian general)
Vasily Orlov-Denisov (Russian general)
Karl Fiodorovitch Baggovout (Russian general)
Nikolay Raevsky (Russian general)
Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron (French royalist in Russian service)

The French

Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor of the French)
Joachim Murat (French Marshal of the Empire)
Louis-Nicolas Davout (Marshal of the French Empire)
Duc d'Enghien (An aristocrat executed on the order of Napoleon)
Mademoiselle Georges (French stage actress)
Édouard Mortier, Duke of Treviso (French Marshal of the Empire)
Jean Rapp (French general)
Louis-François de Bausset (Prefect of the Imperial Palace)

The Austrians and Prussians

Francis I of Austria (Emperor of Austria)
Friedrich Wilhelm III (Emperor of Prussia)
Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este (Austrian general)
Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich (Austrian general)
Johann Heinrich von Schmitt (Austrian general)
Franz von Weyrother (Austrian general)
Maximilian von Wimpffen (Austrian general)
Johann I Joseph (Prince of Liechtenstein)
Friedrich Karl Wilhelm, Fürst zu Hohenlohe (Austrian general)
Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden (Austrian general)
Karl Ludwig von Pfuel (German general)
Levin August von Bennigsen (German general)