War and Peace: Austerlitz, Borodino, Moscow

The Rostovs' big house on the Povarskaya is, in the book's words, "so well known to all Moscow", and it is where the family's name-day party is held and the visitors keep arriving. In 1812 the same street fills with carts of wounded men, turned into the yards at the invitation of the townsfolk. Tolstoy gives only the street, but some hold that the former Sollogub mansion there is the house described as Natasha Rostova's. From 1933 to 1992 it was the seat of the Soviet Writers' Union.

Location precision: The novel names only Povarskaya Street; the pin marks the mansion that some identify as the Rostov house.

Bald Hills is the Bolkonsky family seat. Old Prince Nicholas, nicknamed "the King of Prussia", has lived here since Emperor Paul exiled him to his country estate, and he is convinced that Bonaparte is "an insignificant little Frenchy". Before Prince Andrew leaves for the war, his sister Mary gives him an antique icon of the Saviour on a silver chain. The estate is modelled on Yasnaya Polyana, where Tolstoy wrote the novel between 1862 and 1869, so the pin marks that real estate.

Location precision: Bald Hills exists only in the novel; the pin marks Yasnaya Polyana, the estate it is modelled on.

Visitor guidance: Yasnaya Polyana has been a state museum-estate since 1921, and Tolstoy is buried nearby.

On 16 November 1805 Bagration's rearguard holds the hill above Schöngrabern, about 6 km north of Hollabrunn, to delay the French while Kutuzov's army retreats. In the novel Prince Andrew attaches himself to Captain Tushin's battery. Forgotten by everyone, its four guns on a hillock keep firing, set the village alight and drive the French back with grapeshot, delaying their advance. How closely Tolstoy's account follows the real action is unclear, for the sources say little.

Location precision: Little detail of the fighting survives, so the pin marks the village of Schöngrabern, not the battery's hillock.

The Pratzen Heights, a gently sloping hill, are the centrepiece of the Austerlitz battlefield, and Kutuzov's fourth column stands on them on 2 December 1805. When a second lieutenant lets the flag fall, Prince Andrew leaps from his horse, seizes the standard and shouts "Forward, lads!" Struck down, he sees only "the lofty sky" above him. Napoleon rides past and remarks, "That's a fine death!" The Cairn of Peace, built 1910-1912, now crowns the summit, beside a museum with a permanent Austerlitz exhibition.

Location precision: The novel does not fix the spot where Andrew falls; the pin marks the summit of the hill.

Visitor guidance: The Cairn of Peace on Pracký kopec is run by a regional museum and has a permanent exhibition on the battle.

When the Emperor comes to Moscow, young Petya Rostov is carried by the crowd into the Kremlin Square to see him. As the Emperor passes from the palace to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Petya is crushed and faints. A church clerk seats him on the platform of the Tsar Cannon, from where he watches a service of thanksgiving for peace with the Turks and a cannon salute, and resolves that tomorrow, come what might, he will join the army. The bronze cannon, cast in 1586 by Andrey Chokhov, still stands just past the Kremlin Armory.

Location precision: Tolstoy puts Petya by the Tsar-cannon on a crowded square; the pin marks the cannon on display today.

Visitor guidance: The Tsar Cannon is on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, a major tourist attraction.

Starting on 3 September, Kutuzov had his line near Borodino strengthened with earthworks, among them the redoubt named after Nikolay Raevsky, who defended it. On the day of the battle Pierre, a civilian in a white hat, climbs this knoll with no idea that it is the most important point of the field, and the gunners at first look askance at him. Around it tens of thousands fell, and the French regarded it as the key to the whole position. The first monument-chapel opened on the battery in 1839; the field has been a museum-reserve since 1961.

Visitor guidance: The battery is part of the Borodino Field museum-reserve, near the village of Borodino.

On 13 September 1812, after Borodino, Kutuzov gathers his generals at Fili, west of Moscow, to decide whether to fight again or give up the city. In the novel the council sits in the roomier part of Andrew Savostyanov's hut while six-year-old Malasha watches the generals from the oven. Kutuzov says he will have to pay for the broken crockery and orders a retreat. The historical owner is usually named Mikhail Frolov; the original hut burned in 1868, and a rebuilt peasant hut now houses a museum.

Visitor guidance: The Kutuzov Hut museum, a branch of the Borodino Panorama Museum, is at Kutuzovsky Prospekt 38.

Kutuzov sits on a bench here by the roadside, four miles from the Dorogomilov gate, before riding on to Fili. Days later, on the second of September, Napoleon stands among his troops on the same hill and looks at Moscow, its cupolas "glittering like stars in the sunlight". He lunches, waits two hours for the deputation that never comes, and in vain expects the keys to the Kremlin. The name means "bow-down hill": everyone approaching from the west was expected to do homage here. Today it is Victory Park.

Location precision: The novel names no exact spot on the broad hill; the pin marks Poklonnaya Hill.

Visitor guidance: The hill is part of Victory Park, with military vehicles on display.