Leo Tolstoy then spent much of his time in Moscow, Tula and Saint Petersburg, leading a lax and leisurely lifestyle. He began writing during this period, including his first novel "Childhood", a fictitious account of his own youth, which was published in 1852. In 1851, after running up heavy gambling debts, he went with his older brother to the Caucasus and joined the army. Tolstoy served as a young artillery officer during the Crimean War and was in Sevastopol during the 11-month-long siege of Sevastopol in 1854–55, including the Battle of the Chernaya. During the war he was recognised for his bravery
And Quiet Flows the Don Abramovic and V.V. Gura, quoted in "Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov", by L.L. Litus.) Grigori Melekhov is reportedly based on two Cossacks from Veshenskaya, Pavel Nazarovich Kudinov and Kharlampii Vasilyevich Yermakov, who were key figures in the anti-Bolshevist struggle of the upper Don. The novel has been compared to "War and Peace" (1869), written by Leo Tolstoy. Like the Tolstoy novel, "And Quiet Flows the Don" is an epic picture of Russian life during a time of crisis and examines it through political, military, romantic, and civilian lenses. Sholokhov was accused by Solzhenitsyn and others, amongst them Svetlana Alliluyeva (the daughter of