In what language was War and Peace originally written?

War and Peace was originally written in Russian.

Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 epic is a Russian literary work set during the Napoleonic Wars. Its original title was Война и миръ, written in pre-revolutionary Russian orthography. The novel was serialized before appearing in a complete edition.

A common mix-up comes from the book’s extensive use of French. Russian aristocrats often spoke French in social settings, so Tolstoy includes French dialogue and passages to reflect their culture and, at times, their distance from ordinary Russian life. German also appears occasionally, but neither language is the novel’s original language.

The book was first translated into English by Nathan Haskell Dole in 1889. Tolstoy later became equally famous in English through translations of Anna Karenina and his shorter works.