In November 1854, the young Leo Tolstoy traveled to Sevastopol to join the beleaguered Russian defense against British and French forces. Dispirited by the decadence of his aristocratic lifestyle, Tolstoy sought fulfilment among the patriotic peasants guarding the crucial port. “Long will Russia bear the imposing traces of this epic of Sevastopol,” Tolstoy wrote at the climax of the siege. “It is quite impossible for Sevastopol ever to be taken by the enemy.” Months later, the fortress fell, and the Crimean War concluded.