The popular idea of the novel, the War and Peace epic, is not one-sided and simple. It is closely related to the thought of the economic and spiritual decline of Russian rule as a whole and its opportunities for rebirth. In the spirit of the last idea is shown the spiritual development of Nikolay and Natasha Rostov and Maria Bolkonska. In connection with the folk idea, the initial stage of the formation of the Dekabrian movement is shown through the images of Andrei Bolkonski and Pierre Bezuhov. The complex zigzags in their spiritual development, their numerous wandering, mistakes, and discoveries are characteristic of the offspring but the decabris.
Owners of origin, on different paths - one, beginning with dissatisfaction with general morals, others directly from social disadvantages or problems - eventually end up denying the entire public and state system of the Russian Empire. It is known from the story that decaBritish, with few exceptions, are active participants in the Patriotic War against Napoleon and that almost all are holders of high martial awards. The supreme trials that the peasant masses - soldier and guerrilla, the observations on the life of countries without post-war rule, the expansion of the revolutionary movements against the feudal regimes and the national oppression throughout Europe are decisively contributing to the formation of the decaberist ideology and movement. Andrei Bolkonski marks with his spiritual quest the initial stage in the development of the decabrist, and Pierre Bezuhov reaches the end of the novel to the secret organizations themselves and approves their ideas. In his novel Tolstoy, the Russian military school of Suvorov and Kutuzov has also reevaluated the positions of the "people's idea".
This was done both by reassessing the characteristics of the persons known and confirmed by then, and by tracking the complex course of action of the armies and staffs during the two anti-Napoleonic wars. In the course of events, not only the image of Kutuzov, but also of Barclay de Tolly, of the young generation of generals such as Bagration, Raevsky, Dochturov and others. By avoiding most of his direct interference, Tolstoy leaves the events to clarify the look of his characters. But, as a general rule, he is passionately, publicly interested. He fought for the Russian military school. "War and Peace" reflects the life of the broad strata of the people. The action develops around two focuses - war and peace. These are the two basic conditions of society in which the many characters are best distinguished and the fates of the people and the country are dealt with. No one before and after Tolstoy drowned to create such a bright, multicolored picture of the life of a vast nation at a time of such complex social and political events and at the time of a root spiritual transition experienced by the different strata and classes .