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
L. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky L. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky L. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky was a critical essay written by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and published between 1900-1901 in "Mir iskusstva" magazine. The publication coincided with Leo Tolstoy's excommunication by Most Holy Synod and drew a wide public response. "L. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky" is considered the most significant work of Merezhkovsky in the genre of literary research essays. The work was partly devoted to the history of Russian literature and partly to the views of Dmitry Merezhkovsky. An ideological basis of the essay is the dilemma of Christianity and paganism. Alexander Men noted that Tolstoy was described as