Count Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He is best known for the novels 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina,' which are often cited as the pinnacle of realist fiction. 'War and Peace' is an epic that chronicles the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five aristocratic families. In later life, Tolstoy underwent a profound moral and spiritual crisis, leading him to adopt non-violent resistance and Christian anarchism. His philosophical writings, such as 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You,' deeply influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.