War and Peace is a literary work mixed with chapters on history and philosophy by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It was first published serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. It is regarded as one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature. Book 9: 1812: From the close of the year 1811 an intensified arming and concentrating of the forces of Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces millions of men, reckoning those transporting and feeding the army moved from the west eastwards to the Russian frontier, toward which since 1811 Russian forces had been similarly drawn.