What is the name of the Rostovs' youngest child in War and Peace?

Petya Rostov is the youngest child of the Rostov family in *War and Peace*.

His full name is Pyotr Ilyich Rostov, and “Petya” is the familiar form used throughout the novel. He is the youngest of Count Ilya Rostov and Countess Natalia Rostova’s children, following Vera, Nikolai, and Natasha. Sonya is part of the household but is their orphaned cousin, not their youngest child.

Petya begins as a lively boy on the margins of the family story. As the French invasion of 1812 approaches, however, his patriotic excitement grows. He wants to join the army despite his youth and eventually becomes involved in the Russian campaign against Napoleon’s forces.

Petya’s later fate is one of the novel’s most painful shocks. At about fifteen, he takes part in a night attack on a French detachment and is fatally wounded. His death contrasts youthful enthusiasm with the brutal reality of war, while also marking the Rostov family’s movement from carefree domestic life into historical catastrophe.