Count[1] Pyotr "Pierre" Kirillovich Bezukhov[2] (/bɛ.zjuːˈkɒv/; Russian: Пьер Безу́хов, Пётр Кири́ллович Безу́хов) is the fictional protagonist of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace.
Pierre is ensnared by the fortune-hunting Hélène Kuragina, whose eventual deception leaves him depressed and confused, spurring a spiritual odyssey that spans the novel.
His lack of direction leads him to fall in with a group of profligate young men like Anatole Kuragin and Dolokhov whose pranks and heavy drinking cause mild scandals.
His inability to control his emotions and sexual passions lead him into a marriage with the vapid but sensually beautiful Princess Hélène, a match which her self-serving father, Prince Vasily, sets up to secure his access to Pierre's newly acquired vast fortune.
His madcap escape into the city of Moscow and his subsequent obsessive belief that he is destined to be Napoleon’s assassin show his submission to irrational impulses.
The awkward, illegitimate son of a dazzlingly wealthy Count, he was educated in France but returns to Russia now that his father’s health is in decline.