Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 1828 – 20 November 1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer and philosopher who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world’s greatest novelists. He is best known for two long novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877).