Andrey Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
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Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.
At the beginning of the novel, Andrei is an officer in the Third Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte (who nevertheless idolises Napoleon), married to Princess Lise. The intellectual Andrei has become disillusioned with married life, finding his wife shallow and preoccupied with trivialities. He leaves the pregnant Lise to live with his rational father, Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, and his deeply religious sister, Princess Mary, while he goes to war.
Andrei is wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz. He has an epiphany while lying on the battlefield, realising that he has the potential to be happy. Shortly afterwards, Andrei is rescued from the battlefield by Napoleon, who takes a liking to this anonymous young officer who fell with his country's standard in his hand. However, Prince Andrei is not listed among the dead or the officers taken prisoner, leading his father to assume the worst. Princess Mary remains hopeful that Andrei is still alive but convalescing and prays daily for his safe return. Neither inform Lise that he is unaccounted-for, fearing to cause her any anxiety in the final stages of her pregnancy. Andrei arrives, fully recovered, while his wife is in labour and gets to see her only briefly. Lise bears him a son, Nikolai, but dies in childbirth.
Disillusioned with war after Austerlitz, Andrei is loath to return to active service and spends the following years serving under his father, who has been made a general. He is visited by his old friend, Pierre Bezukhov. Since they last met, Pierre has become a devoted Freemason and has dedicated his life to improving the lives of others, beginning with the serfs on his estates. Though Andrei is scornful of Pierre's efforts (claiming that illiteracy and poverty are necessary elements of a serf's life, just as intellectual pursuits and comforts are essential to aristocrats like himself and Pierre), he begins similar schemes on his own estates, including freeing his serfs.
In 1809, Andrei is recalled to Petersburg. He finds that his actions regarding his serfs have earned him a reputation in high society a liberal and reformer. He makes the acquaintance of Mikhail Speransky, one of the most powerful men in government, who considers Andrei a kindred spirit. Andrei is uncomfortable with Speransky's treatment of those he considers inferior and finally distances himself from him.
At the first grand ball of 1810, Andrei formally meets Natasha Rostova for the first time. They had crossed paths the previous year, when Andrei spent the night at the Rostov family's country estate en route to St. Petersburg. On that occasion, Andrei was struck by Natasha's youth and vivacity. At the ball, he is again entranced by her beauty and enthusiasm and begins to court her. Andrei wishes to marry Natasha, but his father expresses concern: he does not wish to see his son rush into another marriage he will regret, especially to a woman barely half his age. Nikolai demands that they wait a year before marrying. In the meantime (partly inspired by Natasha's joie de vivre), Andrei decides to again emulate his friend Pierre and to tour Europe while he is still a young man.
However, while he is abroad, Natasha falls in love with Anatole Kuragin and plans to elope with him. She is stopped by her cousin Sonya, who suspects that Anatole is already married to another woman.
He received shocking news of the death of his father, Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky. Prince Andrei no longer loved her and, for the last time, went to fight in the war with Napoleon. At Borodino he was hit by a grenade and seriously wounded in the stomach. He was driven back to Moscow and Sonya (Natasha's cousin) noticed him. She took him to her house and Natasha nursed him. Prince Andrei, who had been afraid of death in the past, now thought of death; and in his sleep, he died.
