Sevastopol

By the time Sevastopol fell in August 1855, Tolstoy was well on the way to literary fame. His fellow writer Ivan Turgenev spoke for many when he told the author: “You have shown sufficient proof of your bravery, but the military life is not for you. Your weapon is the pen, not the sword.” For the remainder of his long, incomparable career, Tolstoy used that weapon—forged in the fires of Sevastopol—to speak out for peace. Almost overnight, the aimless and dissolute young soldier had become a towering and humane artist. - Roy Morris