How Russian Soldiers Die

"How Russian Soldiers Die," or "Как умирают русские солдаты (тревога)" (How Russian Soldiers Die (Alarm)) in its full Russian title, was composed in late 1854 while Tolstoy was serving in Sevastopol. This short story, based on a real life episode from Tolstoy's own military service in the Caucasus, directly in the fortress of Chakhgiri (Vozdvizhenskaya) in Chechnya, was initially intended for a journal titled "Военный листок" (Military Leaflet), which finally never saw publication. Consequently, the work remained unprinted during the author's lifetime, finally being published posthumously in 1928 as part of "Лев Толстой. Неизданные художественные произведения" (Leo Tolstoy. Unpublished Artistic Works). The story's direct foundation in Tolstoy's personal military experiences in the Caucasus ensures a raw, unembellished realism, providing an authentic, granular view of combat and its human cost, a departure from romanticized war stories.

This critical reader's edition presents a modern translation of the original manuscript, crafted for the modern reader with clean, modern language and simplified sentence structures that clarify his difficult Russian phrasing and specific antiquated references. Supplementary material enriches the text with autobiographical, historical, and linguistic setting, including an afterword by the translator on Tolstoy's personal history, impact, and intellectual legacy, an index of the philosophical concepts he employs, giving attention to Existentialism and influence by Schopenhauer, a complete chronological list of his published writings, and a detailed timeline of his life, showing the personal relationships that shaped his philosophy.