Leo Tolstoy, novelist and moral thinker, was one of the great writers of realistic fiction. Tolstoy was born on Sept. 9, 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, south of Moscow. He was orphaned at the age of nine and was educated by tutors. At 16 he enrolled in Kazan University but became dissatisfied and left without a degree. In 1851 he joined his brother's army regiment in the Caucasus, where he came into contact with Cossacks. Between battles, he wrote three autobiographical novels, Childhood (1852), Boyhood (1854) and Youth (1856) which received instant acclaim.