War and Peace Book Quiz
Eight multiple-choice questions on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1869) — plot, characters and the moments everyone quotes. Two minutes, instant score, every answer explained below. For the full mixed-classics version, take the original book quiz — 15 questions across the whole canon.
All 8 questions and answers
Prefer to read the quiz instead of taking it? Expand for every question, answer and a one-line explanation.
- Which three families carry the novel? — Bezukhov, Bolkonsky and Rostov. Pierre, Andrei and Natasha — the three protagonists — belong one to each.
- How does Pierre become one of Russia's richest men? — He is legitimised and inherits Count Bezukhov's fortune. The old count dies as the novel begins; Pierre, his natural son, unexpectedly inherits.
- Where is Prince Andrei gravely wounded in the first war section? — At Austerlitz, looking at the sky. He lies on the field at Austerlitz admiring the 'lofty, infinite sky'.
- Whom does Natasha Rostova first become engaged to? — Prince Andrei. The engagement waits a year — in which Anatole nearly seduces her into eloping.
- What happens at Borodino? — A huge battle before Moscow is abandoned to Napoleon. The novel's greatest battle chapter; Moscow burns soon after.
- Who is Kutuzov? — The old Russian commander-in-chief. Tolstoy's hero of patience and refusal: hold, wait, let France destroy itself.
- Whom does Pierre marry at the novel's end? — Natasha Rostova. After Hélène's death, Pierre and Natasha — the marriage the whole book points to.
- What is Petya Rostov's fate? — He is killed in a skirmish as a young officer. The youngest Rostov dies in 1812; the family's warmth and ruin run together.
About War and Peace
Tolstoy's 1869 epic follows three families — the Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys and Rostovs — through Napoleon's invasion of Russia, from the salons of 1805 to Moscow's burning and beyond. Often called the greatest novel ever written; famously long. The novel runs about 561,000 words (roughly 1,225 pages in a standard paperback) — about 39 hours and 17 minutes of reading at an average pace. Before you commit, see the full breakdown in how long it takes to read War and Peace or calculate reading time for any other book.
Hard — 500k+ words and hundreds of characters, but the chapters are short. If you get 6 or more of the eight questions right, the book clearly stuck.
What this quiz covers
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace sits in our russian classics shelf, and the eight questions follow the book the way a reader experiences it: how the story opens, the turn in the middle, the characters who carry it, and the ending people still argue about. You will not be asked for page numbers or publication trivia — but three or four questions are built to separate people who read the book from people who read a summary. If a question stumps you, that gap is your reading list talking.
Fair warning for the ambitious: readers who clear this quiz often move straight to the reading-time breakdown for War and Peace to plan the reread, then test the rest of their shelf against the mixed classic literature quiz.
More book quizzes
Anna Karenina quiz, Crime and Punishment quiz, 1984 quiz, Animal Farm quiz, Brave New World quiz — or browse every book quiz on the site. For scale, War and Peace is the 1st longest of the 133 classics timed here — the shortest — only Don Quixote is quicker.
Doing the whole author? Our Leo Tolstoy books in order guide lists every book with the best entry point.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are in the War and Peace quiz?
Eight multiple-choice questions covering Leo Tolstoy's plot, characters and most famous moments. The quiz takes about two minutes and your score is instant.
Is the War and Peace book quiz free?
Yes — no signup, no email, nothing to install. Answer the eight questions and get your score immediately.
What score should I aim for?
8/8 means you know the book cold; 6+ is a solid score. Below 4, the book is calling you back for a reread.
Is the War and Peace quiz hard?
Hard — 500k+ words and hundreds of characters, but the chapters are short. The questions themselves stick to famous, load-bearing moments — the scenes and lines the book is remembered for — so a genuine read usually scores 6+.
How long is the War and Peace reading itself?
About 561,000 words — roughly 1,225 pages, or about 39 hours and 17 minutes at an average pace. The full pace breakdown is in how long it takes to read War and Peace. It runs 361 chapters, averaging 1,554 words each; see the book-count guide for its full structure.