Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer and moral philosopher, and one of the world's greatest novelists. He was born on April 30,1828 and died on Feb. 14, 1910. His writings【1】influenced much of 20th-century literature, and his moral【2】helped shape the thinking of several important【3】and political leaders. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born【4】a family of noble landowners at his family【5】south of Moscow. His early education came from tutors at home, but after the deaths of his parents in the 1830s, he was【6】by relatives. He entered Kazan' University when he was 16 but preferred to educate himself independently, and in 1847 he【7】his studies without finishing his degree. His next 15 years were very【8】. Tolstoy returned to manage the family estate, with the determination to improve himself【9】and physically. Alter less than two years, however, he abandoned rural life【10】the pleasures of Moscow. In 1851 Tolstoy traveled to the Caucasus, a region then part of southern Russia,【11】his brother was serving in the army. He was【12】as a volunteer, serving with distinction in the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856. Tolstoy began his literary career during his army service, and his first work, the semiautobiographical short novel Childhood【13】was published in 1852, brought him fame. A series of other stories【14】, and when he left the army in 1856 he was acknowledged as a rising new talent in literature. Tolstoy achieved great literary fame during his lifetime, both in Russia and abroad. Thirty-one translations of his works【15】in the year 1887 alone. The most significant part of Tolstoy's legacy may be his defense of the individual personality. (1)