Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828, in Tula Province, Russia, into an aristocratic family. He achieved worldwide fame for his masterpieces War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877), which are considered two of the greatest novels ever written. Later in life, Tolstoy experienced a spiritual awakening, rejecting materialism and organized religion. He developed a philosophy based on pacifism, Christian anarchism, and moral simplicity, influencing figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910, leaving behind a powerful literary and moral legacy.