Readability

War and Peace Word Count

Whether you’re a literary scholar, an English Major or you’re an avid reader with a genuine love for classics – you no doubt have heard (or you’ve read) Leo Tolstoy’s epic Russian literature masterpiece! War and Peace, a cultural history, novel chronicles the French invasion of Russia and is an extremely famous book worth reading – but it’s very long!

Jonathan Gillham

Whether you’re a literary scholar, an English Major or you’re an avid reader with a genuine love for classics – you no doubt have heard (or you’ve read) Leo Tolstoy’s epic Russian literature masterpiece! War and Peace, a cultural history, novel chronicles the French invasion of Russia and is an extremely famous book worth reading – but it’s very long!

The Key Characters in War and Peace

The famous novel isn’t only a book, in fact, due to its relatively accurate historical account, it's one of the forms of mainstream history.  The book is available in movie format and television series, such is its wide appeal.

It focusses on central characters Pierre Bezukhov (Count Bezukhov) and his country estate Yasnaya Polyana (a debt-ridden estate).  Other characters include Nikolai Rostov and Andrei Bolkonsky (Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky).  These characters are the main protagonists.  Furthermore, the book contains quite a lot of French, so if you need to do some French translation - why not use an online tool to help you?

Saving Yasnaya Polyana

While War and Peace is about invasion and war, it's also about saving the debt-ridden estate.  One way to save Yasnaya Polyana is marriage for money, but marrying women for money is something Nikolai (one of the key characters) cannot bring himself to do.  In fact, he clearly finds marrying for money repugnant, even to save his sprawling country estate, Yasnaya Polyana.

Reading the book takes time and dedication because it’s exquisitely written and uses eloquent language. You also delve into the complexities of the many fictional characters. This is why it’s often used as a piece for college essays and dissertations, although the target audience isn't just scholarly!

The Exact Word Count Info in Leo Tolstoy's Masterpiece

So how many words are in Leo Tolstoy’s famous book? It’s a useful fact to know – one of those dinner party conversations and a piece of classic novels' trivia that impresses family and friends!

War and Peace count list consists of exactly 587, 287 words  - and many classic novels contain pages of text (although  perhaps not as long as this novel!). The book is split into different books within a book, with roughly 10 - chapters per mini book and a total of  361 chapters (of which, 24 are philosophical chapters with author notes).

When Was War and Peace Written?

Tolstoy first drafted one of his most famous classic novels back in the middle of the nineteenth century (1863 to be precise) and then spent a further three years perfecting his masterpiece. Perhaps the success of War and Peace inspired him to write more outstanding novels, because just 11 years after finishing his final draft, Tolstoy published Ana Karenina.

Other Literary Novels With Extraordinary Word Count

If you thought that Tolstoy’s War and Peace was the longest book ever you’re wrong!  In modern day, the Harry Potter series of books equates to over a million words but of course, that’s not just one book, in fact, the Harry Potter Books are part of several books.

What Is the Longest Book Ever Written With the Greatest Word Count?

The longest book ever written was by Robert Jordan who wrote the Wheel of Time series – count info at nearly 4 and a half million words. Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien, produced less than War and Peace, at under 5 million words (4,410,036 words).

How Much Does a Hardback War and Peace Weigh?

So, while War and Peace has an extraordinary number of words – it’s not quite the largest ever book. It’s also not quite the heaviest, but it’s pretty weighty so if you’re thinking of a holiday read, perhaps don’t take War and Peace as you might go over your luggage allowance. The book in hardback form weighs in at just under 4lb.

Calculating the Word Count in War and Peace 

Perhaps you’ve wondered how the word count in War and Peace was calculated? Well, its quantity of words is documented but of course, there are ways to determine the count list. Using an online word counter is one way, Originality AI is a great word count tool where you paste text into the box and get the word count in real time.

Yes, you could paste in War and Peace but it would take a while. It’s better to use a word counter online for count info of excerpts rather than an entire book!

If you have War and Peace in a Word document, just glance at the bottom left-hand corner where you’ll see the word count info displayed (but you won’t get other information such as character count, paragraph count, sentence counter). Neither will you see AI-generated content or plagiarism – not that it’s a plagiarized piece or AI generated!

Other Famous Novels Worth Reading

Tolstoy is as well regarded as other notable authors, such as Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and even Charles Dickens, famed for writing Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations (amongst others). Another book that Tolstoy fans enjoy is Russian-American author Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

Other keen War and Peace readers enjoy Clara Bell, author of Rachel's Milk (if you haven't read it yet you may want to try it).

If you want to try other famous classic novels, we'd recommend the following authors (all available in the English language as well as other languages).  We've included some Chinese literature too.

  • Marcel Proust (French novelist), famous for In Search of Lost Time and Swann's Way (amongst others).
  • Ivan Turgenev (Russian novelist), famous for Fathers and Sons and Mumu (amongst others).
  • Stephen King (American author), famous for writing in the horror genre, such as It and The Shining.  Stephen King is a modern author who's many books are in movie format too.
  • Kurt Vonnegut (American author) famous for Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five.
  • Ivan Goncharov (Russian author) famous for The Precipice.
  • Luo Guanzhong (Chinese literature author) famed for writing Dynasty Warriors.

War and Peace's Word Count - Final Words

Now you know how many words are in the French invasion story War and Peace, which is set in a stunning but crumbling estate in time, this useful piece of trivia might encourage you to actually read the book if you haven’t done so already.  You can buy the book by clicking here.

Another interesting fact is that there are between 5 and 11 English translations of the book. Of course, if you don’t fancy wading through one of the best classic novels – just watch the 8 hour movie instead because then there's no need to worry whether or not the word count matters! You can view part one in this YouTube video.

Jonathan Gillham

Founder / CEO of Originality.AI I have been involved in the SEO and Content Marketing world for over a decade. My career started with a portfolio of content sites, recently I sold 2 content marketing agencies and I am the Co-Founder of MotionInvest.com, the leading place to buy and sell content websites. Through these experiences I understand what web publishers need when it comes to verifying content is original. I am not For or Against AI content, I think it has a place in everyones content strategy. However, I believe you as the publisher should be the one making the decision on when to use AI content. Our Originality checking tool has been built with serious web publishers in mind!

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