War and Peace is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The book chronicles the French invasion of Russia and its aftermath during the Napoleonic era. It uses five interlocking narratives following different Russian aristocratic families to illustrate Napoleon's impact on Tsarist society. The work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. It is regarded, with Anna Karenina, as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement, and it remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.