 Complete the following phrase:  Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate southwest of Tula, and south of Moscow. He was the fourth of five children of Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy 17941837, a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, and Countess Mariya Tolstaya née Volkonskaya; 17901830. His mother died when he was two and his father when he was nine. Tolstoy and his siblings were brought up by relatives. In 1844, he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University, where teachers described him as both unable and unwilling to learn. Tolstoy left the university in the middle of his studies, returned to Yasnaya Polyana and then spent much 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 185455, including the 