Tolstoy was born to aristocratic parents on his family estate, but both his parents, as well as two successive guardians, died while he was very young. His early influences included English novelists Laurence Sterne and Charles Dickens and, most importantly, French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He joined the army and fought in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. In 1862 Tolstoy married; he and his wife had 13 children, of whom 10 survived infancy. Neither his wife nor children embraced his teachings, and his marriage dissolved over time. In 1910 Tolstoy secretly left his estate to travel incognito; he caught pneumonia and died a few days later.