(*ONLINE*) The Cossacks - Leo Tolstoy

In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army. The four years he spent as a soldier were among the most significant in his life and inspired the novella “The Cossacks - A Caucasus Tale of 1852,” published in 1863. In his novella, Tolstoy tells the story of Olenin, a Russian officer whose experiences among the Cossack warriors of Central Asia leave him searching for a different life.