Petya Rostov

Count Petya Rostov (1796-1812) is a character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. The youngest member of the Rostov family, Petya is initially a minor character, however towards the end of the novel Petya's importance to the plot increases as he joins the Russian army in their defence against the French invasion of 1812. In the latter stages of the book Petya takes part in an attack on a French corps and is fatally wounded. This scene, along with the death of Prince Andrei Nikolaeitch Bolkonski is one of the most famous (and shocking) in classical Russian literature.