In the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire had reached it's golden age; the arts and sciences flourished, and metropolitan aristocracy came to resemble that of the French court under King Louis XV or perhaps that of the Antebellum South in the United States. In this social system, the prodigal sons of nobility would join one or another branch of the military to prove their honor and dedication to the motherland.
In this time period, Leo Tolstoy's novel, War and Peace, is set. The political themes in War and Peace are highlighted through just those mediums: war and peace. In times of peace, the rulers of the Russian Empire are mostly portrayed as self-centered hypocrites that work only for their own benefit. …
