War and Peace Characters

Vera is the eldest Rostov child. She tends to be a scolding, sour older sister and doesn’t mind when she alienates the younger siblings. She marries Berg. Her biggest passion in life is to throw parties that are just like everybody else’s.

Prince Vassily’s foolish son.

Mademoiselle Amélie Bourienne is Princess Marya’s companion at Bald Hills. She is a cheerful, outgoing young woman, but she has no qualms about flirting with Marya’s suitors and isn’t a particularly faithful friend.

Count Bezukhov, Pierre’s father, is a Russian courtier dating back to Catherine the Great’s time. He has many illegitimate children, but Pierre is his favorite, and it is Pierre who gets the Count’s inheritance. He is known to have a temper, which Pierre also has inherited.

A young Polish count who sponsors Pierre’s membership in the Masons.

A Mason who guides Pierre through his Masonic initiation.

An ambitious Russian general who is obsessed with promotion.

One of Princess Marya’s “people of God,” a wandering pilgrim who tells Prince Andrei and Pierre about a miracle-working icon.

Speransky was a powerful adviser to Emperor Alexander who undertook various liberal reforms. In 1809, he appoints Prince Andrei to revise the civil law code. The intellectual Speransky has a magnetic personality and Andrei idealizes him at first, but just as quickly finds him distastefully artificial.

Arakcheev is a grumpy minister of war who, in 1809, appoints Prince Andrei to the commission on military regulations.

A friend of Countess Rostov and a lady-in-waiting of the previous emperor’s court. She secures a grand ball invitation for the Rostovs in Petersburg despite the family’s modest social position.

Count Rostov’s unscrupulous steward who takes advantage of him.

Nikolai’s kennelman at Otradnoe.

A neighbor of the Rostovs’ Otradnoe estate. He and the Rostovs have a somewhat contentious relationship.

Housekeeper of the Rostovs’ country uncle.

Widowed neighbor of the Rostovs’ Otradnoe estate. At Christmas, 1810, the Rostov children dress in mummers’ costumes to entertain the Melyukov children. Sonya and Nikolai kiss at her house that night.

Adjutant general whom Emperor Alexander sends to Napoleon after the French invasion in 1812 with a letter objecting to Napoleon’s aggression.

A cruel, gloomy commander under Napoleon who refuses Balashov access to the emperor. He also surprisingly spares the prisoner Pierre from execution.

A military theoretician at Russian army headquarters who’s dedicated to the science of war.

Russian general who favors fighting on the offensive.

Russian secretary of state who, in 1812, convinces Emperor Alexander to leave army headquarters and return to Moscow to inspire the people for war.

Russian general of German origins. In 1812, Kutuzov replaces him as commander in chief of the army.

Teenage officer who looks up to his captain Nikolai Rostov.

Rostov family friend who encourages Natasha to attend church and prepare to receive Communion while Natasha is depressed in Moscow. In old age, she lives with the Rostovs at Bald Hills.

Rastopchin is Moscow’s military governor, best remembered for his anti-French propaganda posters. Distraught over the abandonment of Moscow, Rastopchin chooses Vereshchagin as a scapegoat and turns him over to an angry mob.

Smolensk innkeeper and friend of Alpatych who flees the city when it falls to the French.

Arakcheev’s adviser who favors German military strategy and whom Prince Bagration blames for the abandonment of Smolensk. Wolzogen doesn’t respect General Kutuzov’s leadership and believes that Russia loses the battle at Borodino.

A sturdy old peasant and village headman at Bogucharovo. He feels torn between the Bolkonskys and the villagers and eventually sides with the latter in resisting evacuation from Bogucharovo.

Russian general and military theoretician of Prussian origins.

French general who suggests that Napoleon send his old guard into battle at Borodino.

A six-year-old peasant girl; she watches as the Russian generals hold a war council in her family’s cottage, and Kutuzov gives her a lump of sugar.

The Rostovs’ Moscow housekeeper.

Iosif Alexeevich’s old servant.

Iosif Alexeevich’s half-mad, alcoholic brother who nearly shoots Captain Ramballe.

A political prisoner whom Count Rastopchin uses as a scapegoat; he is murdered by a wrathful mob before the burning of Moscow.

The wealthy, widowed aunt of Princess Marya Bolkonsky.

Catiche is one of Count Bezukhov’s nieces. Prince Vassily plots with her to try to thwart Pierre’s inheritance from his father.

A French émigré in Petersburg who’s the centerpiece of one of Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s soirées. He supposedly knew the duc d’Enghien, whose controversial execution contributed to the War of 1805.

A guest of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the abbé Morio fascinates Pierre with his proposal for political peace in Europe.

A special emissary whom Emperor Alexander I sends to Berlin in 1805 in an effort to negotiate a peace between France and the Third Coalition. He was unsuccessful.

Prince Nikolai’s architect at Bald Hills.

Company captain over Dolokhov; he leads his men in a brave pursuit of the French at Schöngraben.

A hussar in Kutuzov’s suite.

Telyanin serves in Nikolai Rostov’s and Denisov’s hussar regiment. Nikolai dislikes him. Telyanin steals Denisov’s money with the excuse that his elderly parents need it. Despite Nikolai’s indignation, the regimental commander, Bogdanych, refuses to discipline Telyanin for the theft lest the entire regiment be dishonored.

Captain Denisov’s orderly. In 1812, he’s taken prisoner and personally interrogated by Napoleon.

Nikolai’s regimental commander in the Pavlogradsky hussars.

Prince Andrei’s roommate and fellow adjutant in 1805. He serves as Pierre’s second in the duel with Dolokhov.

A skilled Russian diplomat and friend of Prince Andrei’s, beloved in society for his cultured wit.

Austrian general whose army was encircled by the French at Ulm; Mack surrendered without a fight.

Emperor of Austria. When Prince Andrei brings him news of a minor Russian victory, he responds indifferently.

Chief of staff of the Austrian army.

French general who incurs Napoleon’s wrath when, before the battle of Schöngraben in 1805, he mistakenly believes that Bagration’s small detachment is the entire Russian army. He is captured by the Russians at Borodino. Years later, Napoleon names him king of Naples.

Tushin is a battery officer who leads a heroic attack on Schöngraben. Though Prince Andrei admires Tushin’s courageous leadership, superior officers merely criticize Tushin for leaving some of his guns behind, disillusioning Andrei.

Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky’s steward at Bald Hills.

Berg is a commander in the Izmailovsky regiment and a friend of Boris Drubetskoy’s. He marries Vera Rostov.

Dolgorukov is an adjutant to General Kutuzov who advocates for offensive warfare.

Minister of foreign affairs under Emperor Alexander.

Midwife who attends Princess Lise during childbirth.

Princess Marya’s childhood nanny.

Moscow dancing-master.

Nikolushka Rostov’s tutor.

Commander of a Cossack regiment who was praised for his actions at 1812’s Battle of Tarutino.

A quiet, unassuming general who’s present at most of the war’s battles, though history doesn’t say much about him.

A Russian general who normalized the practice of partisan warfare, or organizing small attachments to attack the French army as it retreated.

Tikhon is a peasant scout who serves in Denisov’s partisan detachment.

A captain in the Russian army who consoles Emperor Alexander after the Russian loss at Austerlitz. He rises to become a colonel by 1812.

A servant of the Rostov family.

The prefect of Napoleon's palace.