Biography of Mi Kutuzov

The Russian tsar and his ally of the Austrian emperor Franz II longed to give Bonaparte a general battle. Kutuzov, being by the character of the courtier, did not find the strength to seriously object to the autocrat. As a result, the battle of Austerlitz December 2, in which Kutuzov was wounded on the cheek and lost his son-in-law-the adjutant of Fedor Tizenhausen, ended with the defeat of the allied troops.

Alexander I could not forgive the military leader for a long time that he did not dissuade him, a young monarch from a fatal battle. Participation in the war with Turkey for many years was in disgrace for many years, holding secondary positions: in the years he was a Kyiv military governor, in M ​​he served as a corps commander in the Moldavian army, and in the years he served as a Lithuanian military governor.

Kutuzov showed his general and diplomatic talents at the final stage of the Russian-Turkish war. In April, GO Kutuzov entered into the command of the Moldavian army. Stepan Schukin Image: BG-Gallery. In the Battle of Rushchuk, on July 4, Kutuzov’s troops inflicted a crushing defeat to the Ottoman units, and in October of that year, the commander surrounded the entire Turkish army near Slobodze, which on December 5 surrendered.

Constantinople was forced to start negotiations on the world in Bucharest, and Kutuzov received the title of Count. The strategic world with Constantinople, meanwhile, was brewing a war with Napoleon, who gathered an army for invasion of Russia, counting on military assistance and Turkey. In St. Petersburg, they were nervous, believing that the Turks intentionally delayed the course of negotiations, waiting for the French invasion to the northern neighbor.

However, Kutuzov, knowing the enemy’s mentality well, achieved on May 28 of the year the agreement was called the Bucharest Peace Treaty. One of the arguments that influenced the Ottoman representatives was Kutuzov’s assertion that the Russian war with France has not yet been resolved, and if Alexander I reconciles with Napoleon, then emperors will certainly share Turkey in half.

For the conclusion of the contract, which the delighted Russian emperor called "God -given", he honored Kutuzov the title of the Minor Prince. In the Patriotic War of the year, Kutuzov met the commander in chief of the Russian Army by the Patriotic War of the year by the commander met the head of the St. Petersburg militia. Meanwhile, a serious crisis was brewing: the Russian troops retreated, and the commander of the armies, Generals Peter Bagration and Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, got along well with each other.

I needed a third military leader, one above everyone. The special committee, having examined several candidates, recommended the emperor to appoint Mikhail Golenishchev-Kutuzov. Alexander I wrote to his sister: in St. Petersburg, I found that all the minds are configured in favor of the appointment of the old Kutuzov as commander in chief. It was a common cry, all of Moscow wants Kutuzov to command, as they find that Barclay and Bagration both were incapable of this on August 18, Kutuzov was appointed commander in chief of all Russian armies and militia.

A multi -hearted summer general perfectly understood with which enemy he would have to deal with. Before leaving for the army between him and his nephew, a characteristic dialogue occurred: “Do you, uncle, hope to break Napoleon? No, I do not hope to break. And to deceive - I hope! However, both the court and the generals strongly demanded from the commander the general battle, and Kutuzov understood that without a fight no one would allow him to surrender Moscow.

Sergey Gerasimov Image: Globallookpress. French infantry and cavalry in waves stormed Russian fortifications. The thunder of hundreds of guns drowned off rifle shots and screams of the wounded. Repeatedly opponents passed into furious bayonet attacks, led by senior and even higher officers. Kutuzov carried out general leadership, entrusting the protection of the flanks of Bagration and Barclay de Tolly.

Opponents suffered colossal losses: the French lost from 30 thousand to 40 thousand killed and wounded, Russians - from 39 thousand to 45 thousand dead and received injuries. The Russians withstood the terrible blow of the French, who squeezed the left flank and the center of enemy positions. Napoleon subsequently spoke about the battle like this: the worst of all my battles is the one that I gave near Moscow.

The French in it showed themselves worthy to win, and the Russians were worthy to be invincible to the abandonment of Moscow to save the army in St. Petersburg regarded the Borodino battle as the victory of the Russian troops, and Kutuzov was promoted to Alexander I in Field Marshals. However, the commander himself understood that it was pointless to continue the battle the next day: he had no reserves left, while Napoleon had not yet used his old guard.

Kutuzov made a strategic decision: the main thing is to maintain the army. Russian troops retreated from Borodin, and then left Moscow, located on October 2, a camp near the village of Tarutino in the Kaluga province, pulling up reserves and preparing to continue the war.Responding to the reproaches of the king, Kutuzov wrote to Alexander I: I dare to convey to you all the most all -mocking sovereign, that the enemy entered Moscow is not yet conquering Russia on September 14, Napoleon’s army entered empty Moscow, and he himself settled down with his retinue in the Kremlin.

The emperor decided to give a rest in the city with tired and very thinned French troops, but soon realized that he had been trapped. Alexander I did not answer his proposals about the world, and in the meantime, discipline in units of the Great Army, whose hungry soldiers scoured around the neighborhood in search of food for themselves and a forage for horses, fell lower and lower. Blocking the path of Napoleon on October 18, Russian troops unexpectedly attacked parts of Marshal Joachim Murat, who, having lost about four thousand soldiers, was forced to retreat.

Napoleon realized that he was sitting too much in the inhospitable Moscow, in which there was nowhere to winter because of the fire. The partisans were increasingly beaten by communications of the Great Army, and Bonaparte decided to retreat to winter apartments in Smolensk. The path along the old Kaluga road in the Tarutino area was obscured by Kutuzov’s army. Napoleon Bonaparte Image: NJN.

Understanding this, Bonaparte decided not to break through the fortified enemy positions, but to go around them, turning them on a new Kaluga road. However, Kutuzov promptly transferred his troops near Maloyaroslavets, blocking and this direction to Kaluga. The defeat of the French army on October 24 of the year broke out a fierce battle for Maloyaroslavets, who was transferred from hand to hand eight times and burned almost to the ground.

By the end of the day, the city remained with the French, but the Russian troops at heights south prevented their movement to Kaluga. On the morning of October 25, both sides were preparing to continue the battle and studied the disposition. At that moment, the Cossacks of the General of the Cavalry Matvey Platov attacked the French camp and almost captured Napoleon himself.

Peter von Hess Image: Wikipedia made it the most depressing impression on the French emperor. Upon learning that General Charles Lefevr-Denwait, who was exploring the road into Yukhnov, was divided under honey Cossack units, Bonaparte realized that the path to the southwest was firmly closed, and he could only go to Smolensk through Borovsk-Vereya-Mozhaisk.

It was necessary to save the troops, and on October 26, the Great Army began a strategic offensive. The Russian units conducted parallel persecution, inflicting sensitive blows to the French rearguard during the battles near Vyazma on November 3 and the Red of November. The final defeat of Napoleon’s troops occurred on the Berezina River on November, after which the Great Army ceased to exist.

The last months of life and death for the victory over Bonaparte on December 18, the emperor granted Kutuzov the title of the Small Prince Smolensk, the commander was also awarded the Order of St. George of the 1st degree, becoming the first in the history of his full gentleman. As the Commander -in -Chief, Kutuzov continued to be in his post and at the beginning of the foreign campaign of the Russian Army, although he was against transferring hostilities to Europe, believing that the overthrow of Napoleon is primarily beneficial to England, the future opponent of Russia.

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