Christopher Antonovich
Battles and victories
He earned himself the fame of an invincible field marshal, the successor of the work of Peter the Great. Under his command, the Russian army invaded the Crimea for the first time and took the capital of the Khanate, Bakhchisaray. It was he who laid the foundation for the victorious wars between Russia and the Porte, opening a new page of Russian military glory.
The most active military leader during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, statesman, engineer.
Christopher Antonovich Minich, aka Count Burchard Christoph von Münnich, although he had a foreign origin, rightfully became an outstanding military and statesman of Russia. Folk wisdom says: "What is good for a Russian is death for a German!" However, many Germans who have devoted their lives to Russia have proved that this is far from an indisputable statement. Among them is Christopher Antonovich Minich.
I see that you are a worthy person!
Peter I about Minikh
Count Burchard Christoph
von Munnich
The future famous Russian commander was born in Oldenburg, a Danish possession in Germany. His father gave his son an excellent education, young years trained him as an engineer. In 1701-1716. young Munnich was in the Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel service, went from captain to colonel, fought against the French in Italy and the Netherlands, was captured by the French, upon his return to Germany, he was engaged in the construction of a gateway and a canal in Hesse-Kassel. In search of new perspectives, he sent his treatise on fortification to Peter I, who was attracted by the ability of a German engineer, and received an invitation to Russia. In February 1721, his amazing career began on Russian soil.
German precision, extraordinary ability to work, ambition and determination - everything was put at the service of Peter's Russia, which was catching up with Europe in its development with leaps and bounds. In 1720, Munnich received an offer to take the post of General Engineer in Russia. Arriving there in 1721, he pledged in writing to serve for 5-6 years, supervising engineering work on the Baltic coast.
Peter I highly appreciated the engineering talent of Christopher Munnich, stating in the Senate:I found a person who will finish the Ladoga Canal for me. Even in the service, I did not have such a foreigner who would be so able to carry out great plans as Minich! You must do everything according to his will!
And Munnich, in turn, saw huge prospects for development in Russia.
Minich's most important work last years life of Peter I and after his death was the construction of the Ladoga Canal. In 1727, the engineer was appointed chief director of fortification work. A year later, he received the title of count and the post of governor-general of St. Petersburg, Ingermanland, Karelia and Finland. One by one, his talents are revealed: he conducts intensive construction in St. Petersburg, Vyborg and Kronstadt, shows himself to be an active, persistent and managerial administrator with very thorough knowledge in fortification, hydraulic engineering and military affairs.
Its benefit for Russia is indisputable: the completion of work on the Ladoga Canal ensured safe navigation around the stormy Lake Ladoga, which was extremely great importance for the city's economy, since it connected it with the central provinces of Russia and significantly expanded the trade turnover of the port. Thanks to the efforts of Munnich, regular sea communication between the new Russian capital and Europe begins, the construction of the building of 12 colleges and the construction of the stone bastions of the Peter and Paul Fortress are being completed.
Portrait of B.Kh. Minikha
Engraving. 1844
The zenith of Munnich's career was the ten-year reign of Anna Ioannovna. With her accession, he was appointed president of the Military Collegium and Feldzeugmeister General, and in 1732 received the rank of Field Marshal General. A year earlier, Munnich had become chairman of a commission whose goal was to streamline the condition of the troops and find measures to maintain the latter without much burdening the people. He outlined a new order for the guards, field and garrison regiments, formed two new guards regiments (Izmailovsky and horse guards), introduced cuirassiers, separated the engineering unit from the artillery, established the land cadet corps, took measures to more properly equip and arm the troops, arranged twenty regiments of the Ukrainian militia from the noblemen-odnodvortsev of the former Belgorod and Sevsky ranks.
During the struggle for the Polish throne in 1734, Minich commanded the troops operating in Poland, and in the midst of hostilities took the city of Danzig. After the end of the war "for the Polish inheritance" Russia began in 1735 a new war - with the Ottoman Empire. The humiliating Treaty of Prut in 1711, according to which Peter I lost Azov, Taman, the Azov fleet built with such difficulty, was very painfully perceived in Russia. They did not forget about him either under Peter I or under Anna. The command of the army was entrusted to Field Marshal Munnich.
Starting a war with the Turks, he drew up a plan according to which the army was to fight for 4 years, occupy the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, Moldavia, Wallachia, and in 1739 enter Constantinople. This grandiose plan was not destined to come true, although at first things went well for the Russian army. The Don army of Lassi easily took Azov, and on May 22, 1736, a historic event took place - for the first time Russian troops entered the Crimea. I must say that this fact was preceded by centuries of Crimean raids on Russia. Dozens of Russian cities were plundered and set on fire, hundreds of thousands of Russian prisoners were taken away by the Tatars and sold into slavery. Now it's time to secure the Crimea. With fire and sword, Russian troops marched across the Crimea in 1736. The Tatars, unable to resist the invasion of the regular army, fled to the mountains. Military operations west of the Crimea developed successfully. In the summer of 1737, Russian troops took the large Turkish fortress of Ochakov. But a quick movement to Istanbul did not work. This task was difficult: the military power of the Turks had not yet been broken. Under the threat that the Russian troops might be locked up, they had to be withdrawn from the peninsula.
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| The capture of Ochakov. 1737 |
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In the summer of 1739 Munnich resumed the offensive. At the beginning of June 1739, he crossed the Dnieper, and on August 15 he was already beyond the Dniester. To repel the offensive of the Russian army, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish army, Veli Pasha, concentrated all the troops that he could muster in the region, including the Khotyn garrison, on the positions at Stavuchany. The army reached the size of 70-90 thousand people, consisting of: 15-20 thousand Janissaries, 8-20 thousand Spahs and Serbejs, 7 thousand Lipkans and 40-50 thousand Crimean Tatars. The artillery of the army consisted of 70 guns. The Russian army numbered 61 thousand people with 250 guns, including 85 field guns. In the battle "with a gun in the ranks" was attended by 48 thousand people.
Waiting for the approach of the army of Count Minich, Veli Pasha sent the Tatars to the rear of the Russian army, trying to surround the enemy troops. The commander-in-chief placed the Turkish cavalry on the flanks of his army. Thus, for the defense of the main positions, stretched for five miles, Veli Pasha left about 20 thousand people. To ensure the best defense, the Pasha concentrated on defending the western part of his positions, which directly covered the road to Khotyn. To organize the defense, the Turks built 11 batteries in this direction, armed with 60 mortars and cannons, and built a triple line of trenches. The trenches on the right flank adjoined the village of Nedoboevtsy and had a length of 3 versts. The last work in the trenches was carried out on the night of August 28, when the Russian army had already entered the area. As a result, the left section of the trenches, 2 versts long, was not occupied by Turkish troops at all.
On the evening of August 27, the Russian army reached the Shulanets River, where they camped. Having made reconnaissance, Count Munnich was convinced that his army was tightly surrounded. In the rear and from the flanks of the Russians, the Crimean Tatars and the Turkish cavalry surrounded. Ahead, Minich had 20,000 Turkish infantry, which "in the mountainous places, which are already very strong and adventurous, the situation was very strong [dug in]." But at the same time, the field marshal noted that “the enemy, in front of his right wing, against which our army stood, continued the work of retranches and batteries, and the left wing, which, although in an adventurous place [dangerous for a breakthrough], however, was not encamped.”
After weighing the current situation, realizing the unfortunate location of his camp, which was subjected to artillery fire and attacks by enemy cavalry detachments, the lack of firewood and fodder, the impossibility of a roundabout maneuver, Count Minich "took a resolution on the 17th to attack the enemy in his camp", concentrating a blow on the left enemy flank. This was facilitated by the mood of the troops, who, according to the count, "showed an almost unheard of hunting for battle and were very willing to get closer to the enemy as soon as possible." According to the drawn up battle plan, part of the army was to make a distracting maneuver on the right flank of the enemy, and the rest of the army to inflict main blow on the left flank. For a distracting maneuver, a detachment of Lieutenant General Gustav Biron was appointed, consisting of a guard, two dragoons, three infantry regiments and a certain number of irregular troops, totaling 9 thousand people, with four howitzers and 30 cannons.
Early in the morning of August 28, a detachment of Gustav Biron, representing the vanguard of the entire army, crossed the river and stood at a low altitude two versts from the enemy positions. After that, an artillery duel began, which lasted until noon, but was ineffective. At noon, Field Marshal Munnich ordered the entire army to turn to the right and advance to the confluence of the Shulanets River and the stream that flowed near the village of Dolina. The detachment of General Gustav Biron turned around and crossed back across the river, taking their places in the battle order of the army. Veli Pasha mistook such maneuvers for a Russian retreat and even sent news of the victory to Khotyn. Soon the Turks realized their mistake and began to transfer troops to the left flank, where they began the construction of new batteries. Genzh-Ali Pasha and Kolchak Pasha tried to attack the enemy army with cavalry at the crossing, where the Russians had to climb a low but steep bank.
After the crossing, the Russian army lined up in one square, inside of which was the entire convoy, and slowly moved towards the enemy. At five o'clock in the afternoon, when the army was passing near Stavucani, the Turks went on a decisive attack. 12-13 thousand Janissaries attacked from the front, Turkish cavalry attacked from the right flank. The Russian army stopped and, fenced off with slingshots, opened rifle and artillery fire. The Turkish cavalry, unable to withstand the fire, turned around and went back behind the Stavucani stream. Of the Janissaries, only about 3 thousand people reached the slingshots, but, having no success, took to flight. Fearing for his convoy, Minich decided to abandon the pursuit of the enemy. Impressed by the failure of the attack, the Turkish troops occupying positions set fire to their camp and hastily left in the direction of Khotyn. Only the cavalry and the Crimean Tatars remained on the field, who were still trying to attack the enemy.
At 7 pm, the Russian army reached the Turkish positions and occupied the enemy camp. Here Genj-Ali Pasha tried to make a last attempt to attack the Russians. But the fire of two artillery brigades upset the Turkish cavalry, which did not have time to join the battle. After that, the entire Turkish army fled, pursued by Russian troops. The rout was complete, the Turkish army was dispersed. Most of the Turks, including the Khotyn garrison, under the command of Veli Pasha and Genj Ali Pasha went to Bendery, part went to the Prut, and the Tatars went to Budzhak. The winners got 19 copper cannons, 4 mortars, banners, a lot of shells.
Moderate in his personal life, he often turned out to be unnecessarily strict and further merciless with other people subordinate to him. However, due to his directness, justice and personal courage, the popularity of Field Marshal B.Kh. Minikha in the army has always remained high. Especially among the lower ranks, about whom he zealously baked. The soldiers called the commander "falcon"
Shishov A.V.
Russian losses amounted to 13 people killed, including one colonel of the Don army, and 54 wounded, including 6 officers. Count Munnich called courage the reasons for such small losses. Russian soldiers and artillery and trench fire, in which they are trained.
The losses of the Ottoman army amounted to more than a thousand people killed, whom they left on the battlefield. The consequence of this victory was the capitulation of Khotin. On August 30, commandant Kolchak Pasha surrendered the city at the first request of Count Minich.
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Despite the victory of the Russian army near Stavuchany and the occupation of the Khotyn fortress, in 1739 the war ended with the assistance of French diplomacy in the Belgrade peace, which was not so beneficial for Russia. In this world, she returned all her conquests to Turkey. However, the significance of this war is great - the road to the Black Sea Russian army was now known. The next generation of Russian soldiers and commanders under Catherine II will quickly move along it.
It should be noted that historians ambiguously evaluate the activities of Munnich in the military field. He is blamed for the lack of military genius, and unwillingness to feel sorry for the soldiers, and excessive ambition, and rudeness. However, no matter how they talk about him, he achieved success in all military enterprises, and in the battle of Stavuchany he showed genuine tactical skill and won a brilliant victory. The reasons for the numerous losses are partly revealed in his letter: “There were thirty thousand armed troops in Danzig, but I did not have twenty thousand to conduct a siege, and meanwhile the line of encirclement of the fortress stretched for nine German miles” (1 German mile is approximately equal to 8 kilometers).
It would be a big mistake to present Munnich as a rude martinet. The letters left after him testify to the sophistication of the author's mind, his ability to express himself beautifully. Here is what the Englishwoman Lady Rondo writes about him to her correspondent in 1735: “You say that you imagine him as an old man, whose appearance is characterized by all the rudeness of a soldier who has been in alterations ... He has a beautiful face, very white skin, he is tall and slender, and that’s all his movements are soft and graceful. He dances well, from all his actions he breathes youth, with the ladies he behaves like one of the most gallant gentlemen of this court and, being among the representatives of our sex, radiates gaiety and tenderness.
In 1740, Minich tried to head the government of Anna Leopoldovna, receiving the post of First Minister for Military, Civil and Diplomatic Affairs. However, soon as a result of Osterman's intrigues, Munnich was forced to resign, and in 1741, with the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna, he was put on trial and sentenced to death on a whole series of false accusations: treason, aiding Biron, bribery and embezzlement. .
Prince Nikita Trubetskoy presided over the trial, who tried to accuse Minich, but he bitterly remarked to him:Before the court of the Most High, my justification will be better accepted than before your court!
Among all those sentenced to death, only Munnich retained, as history testifies, courage and vigor, talked with the officers accompanying him, recalled the war and the readiness for death familiar to a military man. Ascending the scaffold, he was carefully shaved, on the shoulders of the suicide bomber there was a field marshal's red cloak. Having learned that the death penalty was replaced by exile, the German met the news without the slightest emotion and also cheerfully descended from the scaffold, as he ascended it.
In exile, in the village of Pelym, Minich spent 20 long years. Without giving up for years, he was engaged in physical and mental labor, grew vegetables, taught children, composed various engineering and military projects (remaining, however, without any application), from time to time sent proposals to the capital to appoint him a Siberian governor.
After twenty years of exile, Minich returned to St. Petersburg again at the beginning of 1762 by decree of Peter III. In May, the field marshal turned 79 years old, but he was full of energy and creative plans. In the same month, Peter III appointed him a member of the Imperial Council, but Minich asked for two more positions for himself: the Siberian governor and the chief director of the Ladoga Canal. He was going to govern Siberia without leaving St. Petersburg.
By decree of June 9, 1762, the emperor satisfied both desires of the active and ambitious old man, entrusting him with the management of the Kronstadt Canal at the same time. But in the same month new coup, Peter III was deposed from the throne and soon killed. Minich remained faithful to the emperor until the last hours of his reign and tried to tell him the way to salvation. But Catherine II, with her characteristic prudence, did not pursue the former supporters of her unfortunate spouse. She was emphatically benevolent towards “the patriarch with hair as white as snow” and “the most senior field marshal in Europe”, as Minich called himself in letters to the empress. He was left in the position of chief director of the Ladoga and Kronstadt canals, and in addition, he was instructed to complete the construction of the Baltic port. Minich worked until the last months of his life, supervised the construction and repair of hydraulic structures entrusted to him, sent proposals to the empress on issues public policy. On the eve of his 85th birthday, he finally asked for his resignation. The empress refused, stating that she did not have a second Minich. But the days of the field marshal were already numbered, he soon died.
After him, there were works devoted to the structure of Russia, which became everything for him: a place of life and activity, the embodiment of plans and dreams, an arena of ups and downs. One of them is "Essay on management Russian Empire”, or “Essay giving an idea of the form of government of the Russian Empire”, was created at the end of the author’s life. In December 1763, Academician G.-F. Miller reported in one of his letters: “The Empress was pleased to appoint me to help Field Marshal Munnich write his memoirs. This will be a very interesting work. No matter how old the field marshal, however, he has an excellent memory and in French he writes very elegantly. All that remains for me is to correct the dates ”(Minnich B.-X. Notes of the Field Marshal. St. Petersburg, 1874. S. XVI.). Consequently, Catherine II knew about Munnich's work and was interested in it. From other sources it is known that in 1763 one of the versions of the "Essay ..." was already completed and sent by the author for review to the historian A.-F. Bushing. More accurate information the time of creation of the memoirs has not been found, but, apparently, they were written in 1763-1764.
For forty-six years, Count Burchard Christoph von Münnich faithfully served Russia, considering it his second homeland, never getting tired of admiring her riddle and never ceasing to take care of her development.
Surzhik D.V., IVI RAS
Compositions
Literature
Bantysh-Kamensky D.N. Biographies of Russian generalissimos and field marshals. In 4 parts. Reprint reproduction of the 1840 edition. Part 1–2. M., 1991
The Most Submissive Reports of Count Munnich. Reports of 1737 and 1738. SPb., 1899
Field Marshal Munnich's report on the collection and publication of all Russian Decrees and Regulations, filed in May 1735 14. Domestic notes of P. Svinin. SPb., 1821. Part 5
Durov N.P. Notes, etc. works of Field Marshal Munnich // Russian Starina, 1872. V. 6. No. 9
Soloviev S.M. History of Russia since ancient times. SPb., 1896. T. 29
Internet
Prince Svyatoslav
Momyshuly Bauyrzhan
Fidel Castro called him a hero of World War II.
He brilliantly put into practice the tactics developed by Major General I.V. Panfilov of fighting with small forces against an enemy many times superior in strength, which later received the name "Momyshuly's spiral".
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
Finnish war.
Strategic retreat in the first half of 1812
European campaign of 1812
Monomakh Vladimir Vsevolodovich
Rurik Svyatoslav Igorevich
Year of birth 942 date of death 972 Expansion of the borders of the state. 965 the conquest of the Khazars, 963 the campaign to the south to the Kuban region the capture of Tmutarakan, 969 the conquest of the Volga Bulgars, 971 the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom, 968 the foundation of Pereyaslavets on the Danube (the new capital of Russia), 969 the defeat of the Pechenegs in the defense of Kyiv.
Denikin Anton Ivanovich
Russian military leader, political and public figure, writer, memoirist, publicist and military documentary.
Member of the Russo-Japanese War. One of the most productive generals of the Russian Imperial Army during the First World War. Commander of the 4th Rifle "Iron" Brigade (1914-1916, since 1915 - deployed under his command into a division), 8th Army Corps (1916-1917). Lieutenant General of the General Staff (1916), commander of the Western and Southwestern Fronts (1917). An active participant in the military congresses of 1917, an opponent of the democratization of the army. He expressed support for the Kornilov speech, for which he was arrested by the Provisional Government, a member of the Berdichevsky and Bykhov sittings of generals (1917).
One of the main leaders of the White movement during the Civil War, its leader in the South of Russia (1918-1920). He achieved the greatest military and political results among all the leaders of the White movement. Pioneer, one of the main organizers, and then commander of the Volunteer Army (1918-1919). Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1919-1920), Deputy Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Admiral Kolchak (1919-1920).
Since April 1920 - an emigrant, one of the main political figures of the Russian emigration. The author of the memoirs "Essays on Russian Troubles" (1921-1926) - a fundamental historical and biographical work about the Civil War in Russia, memoirs " old army"(1929-1931), the autobiographical story "The Way of the Russian Officer" (published in 1953) and a number of other works.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
It's simple - It was he, as a commander, who introduced largest contribution in the defeat of Napoleon. He saved the army in the most difficult conditions, despite misunderstanding and heavy accusations of betrayal. It was to him that our great poet Pushkin, practically a contemporary of those events, dedicated the verse "Commander".
Pushkin, recognizing the merits of Kutuzov, did not oppose him to Barclay. To replace the common alternative “Barclay or Kutuzov”, with the traditional resolution in favor of Kutuzov, Pushkin came to a new position: both Barclay and Kutuzov are both worthy of the grateful memory of their descendants, but everyone honors Kutuzov, but Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly is undeserved forgotten.
Pushkin mentioned Barclay de Tolly even earlier, in one of the chapters of "Eugene Onegin" -
Thunderstorm of the twelfth year
It has come - who helped us here?
The frenzy of the people
Barclay, winter or Russian god?...
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He was the Supreme Commander of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War! Under his leadership, the USSR won Great Victory during the Great Patriotic War!
Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
The Greatest Commander and Diplomat!!! Who utterly defeated the troops of the "first European Union" !!!
Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky Pyotr Alexandrovich
Maximov Evgeny Yakovlevich
Russian hero of the Transvaal War. He was a volunteer in fraternal Serbia, participating in the Russian-Turkish war. At the beginning of the 20th century, the British began to wage war against a small people, the Boers. Japanese war. Except military career, he excelled in the literary field.
Paskevich Ivan Fyodorovich
Hero of Borodin, Leipzig, Paris (division commander)
As commander in chief, he won 4 companies (Russian-Persian 1826-1828, Russian-Turkish 1828-1829, Polish 1830-1831, Hungarian 1849).
Knight of the Order of St. George 1st class - for the capture of Warsaw (according to the statute, the order was awarded either for saving the fatherland or for taking the enemy capital).
Field Marshal.
Rumyantsev Petr Alexandrovich
Russian military and statesman, during the entire reign of Catherine II (1761-96) who ruled Little Russia. During the Seven Years' War he commanded the capture of Kolberg. For the victories over the Turks at Larga, Kagul and others, which led to the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace, he was awarded the title of "Transdanubian". In 1770 he received the rank of Field Marshal. Cavalier of the orders of the Russian St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. George 1st class and St. Vladimir I degree, the Prussian Black Eagle and St. Anna I degree
Kondratenko Roman Isidorovich
Warrior of honor without fear and reproach, the soul of the defense of Port Arthur.
Pozharsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
In 1612, the most difficult time for Russia, he headed the Russian militia and liberated the capital from the hands of the conquerors.
Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky (November 1, 1578 - April 30, 1642) - Russian national hero, military and political figure, head of the Second militia, who liberated Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. With his name and with the name of Kuzma Minin, the exit of the country from the Time of Troubles, which is currently celebrated in Russia on November 4, is closely connected.
After being elected to Russian throne Mikhail Fedorovich D. M. Pozharsky plays a leading role in royal court as a talented military leader and statesman. Despite the victory of the people's militia and the election of the tsar, the war in Russia still continued. In 1615-1616. Pozharsky, at the direction of the tsar, was sent at the head of a large army to fight against the detachments of the Polish colonel Lisovsky, who besieged the city of Bryansk and took Karachev. After the struggle with Lisovsky, the tsar instructed Pozharsky in the spring of 1616 to collect the fifth money from the merchants to the treasury, since the wars did not stop, and the treasury was depleted. In 1617, the tsar instructed Pozharsky to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the English ambassador John Merik, appointing Pozharsky as the governor of Kolomensky. In the same year, the Polish prince Vladislav came to the Moscow state. The inhabitants of Kaluga and neighboring cities turned to the tsar with a request to send them D. M. Pozharsky to protect them from the Poles. The tsar fulfilled the request of the people of Kaluga and ordered Pozharsky on October 18, 1617 to protect Kaluga and the surrounding cities with all available measures. Prince Pozharsky fulfilled the tsar's order with honor. Having successfully defended Kaluga, Pozharsky received an order from the tsar to go to the aid of Mozhaisk, namely, to the city of Borovsk, and began to disturb the troops of Prince Vladislav with flying detachments, inflicting significant damage on them. However, at the same time, Pozharsky fell seriously ill and, at the behest of the tsar, returned to Moscow. Pozharsky, barely recovering from his illness, took an active part in the defense of the capital from the troops of Vladislav, for which Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich rewarded him with new estates and estates.
Makarov Stepan Osipovich
Russian oceanographer, polar explorer, shipbuilder, vice admiral. Developed the Russian semaphore alphabet. A worthy person, on the list of worthy ones!
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
To a person to whom this name does not say anything - there is no need to explain and it is useless. To the one to whom it says something - and so everything is clear.
Double hero Soviet Union. Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. The youngest front commander. Counts,. that of the army general - but before his death (February 18, 1945) he received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Liberated three of the six capitals captured by the Nazis Union republics: Kyiv, Minsk. Vilnius. Decided the fate of Keniksberg.
One of the few who pushed back the Germans on June 23, 1941.
He held the front in Valdai. In many ways, he determined the fate of repelling the German offensive on Leningrad. He kept Voronezh. Freed Kursk.
He successfully advanced until the summer of 1943. Having formed the top of the Kursk Bulge with his army. Liberated the Left Bank of Ukraine. Take Kyiv. Repelled Manstein's counterattack. Liberated Western Ukraine.
Carried out the operation Bagration. Surrounded and captured by his offensive in the summer of 1944, the Germans then humiliatedly marched through the streets of Moscow. Belarus. Lithuania. Neman. East Prussia.
Rurikovich Yaroslav Wise Vladimirovich
He devoted his life to defending the Fatherland. Defeated the Pechenegs. He established the Russian state as one of the greatest states of his time.
Grachev Pavel Sergeevich
The hero of the USSR. May 5, 1988 "for the performance of combat missions with minimal casualties and for the professional command of a controlled formation and the successful actions of the 103rd Airborne Division, in particular, to occupy the strategically important pass Satukandav (Khost province) during the military operation" Highway " "received a medal" Golden Star» No. 11573. Commander of the Airborne Troops of the USSR. In total, during his military service, he made 647 parachute jumps, some of them while testing new equipment.
He was shell-shocked 8 times, received several wounds. Suppressed the armed coup in Moscow and thereby saved the system of democracy. As Minister of Defense, he made great efforts to preserve the remnants of the army - a task that few people had in the history of Russia. Only because of the collapse of the army and a decrease in the number of military equipment in the Armed Forces, he could not end the Chechen war victoriously.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He led the armed struggle of the Soviet people in the war against Germany and its allies and satellites, as well as in the war against Japan.
He led the Red Army to Berlin and Port Arthur.
Bagration, Denis Davydov...
The war of 1812, the glorious names of Bagration, Barclay, Davydov, Platov. An example of honor and courage.
Shein Alexey Semyonovich
The first Russian generalissimo. Leader of the Azov campaigns of Peter I.
Muravyov-Karssky Nikolai Nikolaevich
One of the most successful commanders of the middle of the 19th century in the Turkish direction.
Hero of the first capture of Kars (1828), leader of the second capture of Kars ( biggest success Crimean War, 1855, which allowed to end the war without territorial losses for Russia).
Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich
A man whose faith, courage, and patriotism defended our state
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
Creator modern airborne forces. When for the first time the BMD parachuted with the crew, the commander in it was his son. In my opinion, this fact speaks of such a remarkable person as V.F. Margelov, everyone. About his devotion to the Airborne Forces!
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
The author and initiator of the creation of technical means of the Airborne Forces and methods of using units and formations of the Airborne Forces, many of which embody the image of the Airborne Forces of the USSR Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces that currently exists.
General Pavel Fedoseevich Pavlenko:
In the history of the Airborne Forces, and in the Armed Forces of Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, his name will remain forever. He personified a whole era in the development and formation of the Airborne Forces, their authority and popularity are associated with his name, not only in our country, but also abroad ...
Colonel Nikolai Fedorovich Ivanov:
Under the leadership of Margelov for more than twenty years, the landing troops became one of the most mobile in the combat structure of the Armed Forces, prestigious service in them, especially revered by the people ... Vasily Filippovich's photograph in demobilization albums went to the soldiers at the highest price - for a set of badges. Competition in Ryazan airborne school blocked the figures of VGIK and GITIS, and applicants who were cut off in exams for two or three months, before snows and frosts, lived in the forests near Ryazan in the hope that someone would not withstand the stress and it would be possible to take his place.
Rurikovich (Grozny) Ivan Vasilyevich
In the variety of perceptions of Ivan the Terrible, they often forget about his unconditional talent and achievements as a commander. He personally led the capture of Kazan and organized military reform, leading the country, which simultaneously waged 2-3 wars on different fronts.
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich
Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of Russian losses and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress - 1:10.
Oktyabrsky Philip Sergeevich
Admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, the commander Black Sea Fleet. One of the leaders of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1941 - 1942, as well as the Crimean operation of 1944. During the Great Patriotic War, Vice Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky was one of the leaders of the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Being the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, at the same time in 1941-1942 he was the commander of the Sevastopol Defense Region.
Three orders of Lenin
three orders of the Red Banner
two orders of Ushakov 1st degree
Order of Nakhimov 1st class
Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Order of the Red Star
medals
Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich
A man of great courage, a great tactician, organizer. M.D. Skobelev possessed strategic thinking, saw the situation, both in real time and in perspective
Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich
A talented commander who repeatedly showed personal courage in defending the Fatherland in the First World War. He assessed the rejection of the revolution and hostility to the new government as secondary compared to serving the interests of the Motherland.
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
Russian admiral who gave his life for the liberation of the Fatherland.
Scientist-oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, military and political figure, naval commander, full member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, leader of the White Movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Gavrilov Petr Mikhailovich
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War - in active army. Major Gavrilov P.M. from June 22 to July 23, 1941 led the defense of the Eastern Fort Brest Fortress. He managed to rally around him all the surviving fighters and commanders of various units and subunits, close the most vulnerable places for the enemy to break through. On July 23, he was seriously wounded by a shell explosion in the casemate and was captured in an unconscious state. He spent the war years in the Nazi concentration camps of Hammelburg and Revensburg, having experienced all the horrors of captivity. Liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945. http://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=484
Slashchev-Krymsky Yakov Alexandrovich
Defense of the Crimea in 1919-20 “The Reds are my enemies, but they did the main thing - my business: they revived great Russia!” (General Slashchev-Krymsky).
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like a prequel to "300 Spartans" (20,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet charges, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). A golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of madness with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian impudence
Stalin (Dzhugashvili) Joseph Vissarionovich
He was the Supreme Commander of all the armed forces of the Soviet Union. Thanks to his talent as a Commander and an Outstanding Statesman, the USSR won the bloodiest WAR in the history of mankind. Most of the battles of the Second World War were won with his direct participation in the development of their plans.
A talented commander who proved himself during the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1608, Skopin-Shuisky was sent by Tsar Vasily Shuisky to negotiate with the Swedes in Novgorod the Great. He managed to agree on Swedish assistance to Russia in the fight against False Dmitry II. The Swedes recognized Skopin-Shuisky as the undisputed leader. In 1609, with the Russian-Swedish army, he came to the rescue of the capital, which was under siege by False Dmitry II. In the battles near Torzhok, Tver and Dmitrov, he defeated detachments of adherents of the impostor, liberated the Volga region from them. He removed the blockade from Moscow and entered it in March 1610.
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
The only one of the commanders, who on 06/22/1941 carried out the order of the Stavka, counterattacked the Germans, threw them back in his sector and went on the offensive.
Ermak Timofeevich
Russian. Cossack. Ataman. Defeated Kuchum and his satellites. Approved Siberia as part of the Russian state. He devoted his whole life to military work.
Denikin Anton Ivanovich
The commander, under whose leadership the white army with smaller forces for 1.5 years won victories over the red army and captured the North Caucasus, Crimea, Novorossia, Donbass, Ukraine, the Don, part of the Volga region and the central black earth provinces of Russia. He retained the dignity of the Russian name during the Second World War, refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, despite his uncompromisingly anti-Soviet position
Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Soldier, several wars (including World War I and World War II). past path to Marshal of the USSR and Poland. Military intellectual. not resorting to "obscene leadership." he knew tactics in military affairs to the subtleties. practice, strategy and operational art.
John 4 Vasilyevich
Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich
He made the greatest contribution as a strategist to the victory in the Great Patriotic War (it is also the Second World War).
Ridiger Fedor Vasilievich
Adjutant general, cavalry general, adjutant general... He had three Golden sabers with the inscription: "For courage"... In 1849, Ridiger participated in a campaign in Hungary to suppress the unrest that arose there, being appointed head of the right column. On May 9, Russian troops entered the borders of the Austrian Empire. He pursued the rebel army until August 1, forcing them to lay down their arms in front of the Russian troops near Vilyaghosh. On August 5, the troops entrusted to him occupied the fortress of Arad. During the trip of Field Marshal Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich to Warsaw, Count Ridiger commanded the troops located in Hungary and Transylvania ... On February 21, 1854, during the absence of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich in the Kingdom of Poland, Count Ridiger commanded all the troops located in the area of the active army - as a commander separate corps and at the same time served as head of the Kingdom of Poland. After the return of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich to Warsaw, from August 3, 1854, he served as the Warsaw military governor.
Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich
Field Marshal Ivan Gudovich
The assault on the Turkish fortress of Anapa on June 22, 1791. In terms of complexity and importance, it is only inferior to the assault on Izmail by A.V. Suvorov.
A 7,000-strong Russian detachment stormed Anapa, which was defended by a 25,000-strong Turkish garrison. At the same time, shortly after the start of the assault, 8,000 mounted mountaineers and Turks attacked the Russian detachment from the mountains, who attacked the Russian camp, but could not break into it, were repulsed in a fierce battle and pursued by Russian cavalry.
The fierce battle for the fortress lasted over 5 hours. Of the Anapa garrison, about 8,000 people died, 13,532 defenders were taken prisoner, led by the commandant and Sheikh Mansur. A small part (about 150 people) escaped on ships. Almost all artillery was captured or destroyed (83 cannons and 12 mortars), 130 banners were taken. To the nearby fortress of Sudzhuk-Kale (on the site of modern Novorossiysk), Gudovich sent a separate detachment from Anapa, but when he approached, the garrison burned the fortress and fled to the mountains, leaving 25 guns.
The losses of the Russian detachment were very high - 23 officers and 1,215 privates were killed, 71 officers and 2,401 privates were wounded (slightly lower data are indicated in Sytin's Military Encyclopedia - 940 killed and 1,995 wounded). Gudovich was awarded the Order of St. George of the 2nd degree, all the officers of his detachment were awarded, a special medal was established for the lower ranks.
Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, F.F. Ushakov made a serious contribution to the development of the tactics of the sailing fleet. Based on the totality of the principles of training the forces of the fleet and military art, having absorbed all the accumulated tactical experience, F. F. Ushakov acted creatively, based on the specific situation and common sense. His actions were distinguished by decisiveness and extraordinary courage. He did not hesitate to reorganize the fleet into battle formation already at a close approach to the enemy, minimizing the time of tactical deployment. Despite the established tactical rule of finding the commander in the middle of the battle formation, Ushakov, implementing the principle of concentration of forces, boldly put his ship in the forefront and at the same time occupied the most dangerous positions, encouraging his commanders with his own courage. He was distinguished by a quick assessment of the situation, an accurate calculation of all success factors and a decisive attack aimed at achieving complete victory over the enemy. In this regard, Admiral F.F. Ushakov can rightfully be considered the founder of the Russian tactical school in naval art.
Bobrok-Volynsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
Boyar and governor of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. "Developer" of the tactics of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich
Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich
Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945).
From 1942 to 1946 he was commander of the 62nd Army (8th Guards Army), which especially distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad. He took part in defensive battles on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From September 12, 1942 he commanded the 62nd Army. IN AND. Chuikov received the task of defending Stalingrad at any cost. The front command believed that Lieutenant General Chuikov was characterized by such positive qualities as determination and firmness, courage and a broad operational outlook, a high sense of responsibility and consciousness of his duty. The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street fighting in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads, on the banks of the wide Volga.
For unparalleled mass heroism and steadfastness of personnel, in April 1943, the 62nd Army received the guards honorary title of Guards and became known as the 8th Guards Army.
Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich
I beg the military-historical society to correct the extreme historical injustice and add to the list of 100 best commanders, the leader of the northern militia who did not lose a single battle, who played an outstanding role in liberating Russia from the Polish yoke and unrest. And apparently poisoned for his talent and skill.
Dolgorukov Yury Alekseevich
An outstanding statesman and military leader of the era of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, prince. Commanding the Russian army in Lithuania, in 1658 he defeated hetman V. Gonsevsky in the battle of Verki, taking him prisoner. This was the first time after 1500 when a Russian governor captured the hetman. In 1660, at the head of an army sent under Mogilev, besieged by the Polish-Lithuanian troops, he won a strategic victory over the enemy on the Basya River near the village of Gubarevo, forcing hetmans P. Sapieha and S. Czarnetsky to retreat from the city. Thanks to the actions of Dolgorukov, the "front line" in Belarus along the Dnieper was maintained until the end of the war of 1654-1667. In 1670, he led the army, sent to fight against the Cossacks of Stenka Razin, in the shortest possible time suppressed the Cossack rebellion, which later led to the oath Don Cossacks on loyalty to the tsar and the transformation of the Cossacks from robbers into "sovereign servants".
Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich
Member of the Russo-Japanese and World War I, one of the main leaders (1918−1920) of the White movement during the Civil War. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in the Crimea and Poland (1920). General Staff Lieutenant General (1918). Georgievsky Cavalier.
Osterman-Tolstoy Alexander Ivanovich
One of the brightest "field" generals of the early 19th century. Hero of the battles of Preussisch-Eylau, Ostrovno and Kulm.
Paskevich Ivan Fyodorovich
The armies under his command defeated Persia in the war of 1826-1828 and completely defeated the Turkish troops in Transcaucasia in the war of 1828-1829.
Awarded all 4 degrees of the Order of St. George and the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called with diamonds.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
The greatest Russian commander! He has over 60 wins and no losses. Thanks to his talent to win, the whole world learned the power of Russian weapons.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
Grand Duke of Novgorod, from 945 Kyiv. Son of Grand Duke Igor Rurikovich and Princess Olga. Svyatoslav became famous as a great commander, whom N.M. Karamzin called "Alexander (Macedonian) our ancient history».
After the military campaigns of Svyatoslav Igorevich (965-972), the territory of the Russian land increased from the Volga to the Caspian, from the North Caucasus to the Black Sea, from the Balkan Mountains to Byzantium. Defeated Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria, weakened and frightened the Byzantine Empire, opened the way for trade between Russia and Eastern countries
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (November 4 (November 16), 1874, St. Petersburg, - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers of the late XIX - early XX centuries, military and political figure, naval commander, active member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (1906), admiral (1918), leader of the White movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Member of the Russo-Japanese War, Defense of Port Arthur. During the First World War, he commanded the mine division of the Baltic Fleet (1915-1916), the Black Sea Fleet (1916-1917). Georgievsky Cavalier.
The leader of the White movement both on a national scale and directly in the East of Russia. At the post supreme ruler Russia (1918-1920) was recognized by all the leaders of the White movement, "de jure" - by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "de facto" - by the Entente states.
Supreme Commander of the Russian Army.
Due to the ambiguous attitude to the period of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the largely underestimated commander, who was the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops throughout her reign.
Commander of the Russian troops during the War of the Polish Succession and architect of the victory of Russian arms in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739.
Prince Monomakh Vladimir Vsevolodovich
The most remarkable of the Russian princes of the pre-Tatar period of our history, who left behind great fame and a good memory.
Gurko Joseph Vladimirovich
Field Marshal General (1828-1901) Hero of Shipka and Plevna, Liberator of Bulgaria (a street in Sofia was named after him, a monument was erected). In 1877 he commanded the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. To quickly capture some of the passes through the Balkans, Gurko led an advance detachment, composed of four cavalry regiments, an infantry brigade and a newly formed Bulgarian militia, with two batteries of horse artillery. Gurko completed his task quickly and boldly, won a series of victories over the Turks, ending with the capture of Kazanlak and Shipka. During the struggle for Plevna, Gurko, at the head of the troops of the guard and cavalry of the western detachment, defeated the Turks near Gorny Dubnyak and Telish, then again went to the Balkans, occupied Entropol and Orkhanie, and after the fall of Plevna, reinforced by the IX Corps and the 3rd Guards Infantry Division , despite the terrible cold, he crossed the Balkan Range, took Philippopolis and occupied Adrianople, opening the way to Constantinople. At the end of the war, he commanded military districts, was a governor-general, and a member of the state council. Buried in Tver (settlement Sakharovo)
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel, Chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. He showed himself most clearly in the Persian Company of 1805; when, with a detachment of 500 people, surrounded by a 20,000-strong Persian army, he resisted it for three weeks, not only repulsing the attacks of the Persians with honor, but taking fortresses himself, and finally, with a detachment of 100 people, made his way to Tsitsianov, who was going to help him.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Chairman of the GKO, Supreme Commander of the USSR Armed Forces during the Great Patriotic War.
What other questions might there be? Ivan the Terrible
He conquered the Astrakhan kingdom, to which Russia paid tribute. smashed Livonian Order. Expanded the borders of Russia far beyond the Urals.
Rurikovich Svyatoslav Igorevich
Great commander Old Russian period. The first known to us Kyiv prince having a Slavic name. The last pagan ruler Old Russian state. He glorified Russia as a great military power in the campaigns of 965-971. Karamzin called him "Alexander (Macedonian) of our ancient history." The prince freed the Slavic tribes from vassalage from the Khazars, defeating Khazar Khaganate in 965. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, in 970, during the Russian-Byzantine war, Svyatoslav managed to win the battle of Arcadiopol, having 10,000 soldiers under his command, against 100,000 Greeks. But at the same time, Svyatoslav led the life of a simple warrior: “On campaigns, he didn’t carry carts or cauldrons with him, he didn’t cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or beast, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate like that; he didn’t have a tent , but slept, spreading a sweatshirt with a saddle in their heads - the same were all the rest of his warriors... And sent to other lands [envoys, as a rule, before declaring war] with the words: "I'm going to you!" (According to PVL)
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
In front of the Kazan Cathedral there are two statues of the saviors of the fatherland. Saving the army, exhausting the enemy, Smolensk battle- that's more than enough.
Belov Pavel Alekseevich
He led the cavalry corps during the Second World War. It proved to be excellent during the Battle of Moscow, especially in defensive battles near Tula. He especially distinguished himself in the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation, where he left the encirclement after 5 months of stubborn fighting.
Golovanov Alexander Evgenievich
Is the creator Soviet aviation long range (ADD).
Units under the command of Golovanov bombed Berlin, Koenigsberg, Danzig and other cities in Germany, attacked important strategic targets behind enemy lines.
Suvorov, Count Rymniksky, Prince of Italy Alexander Vasilyevich
The Greatest Commander, a general strategist, tactician and military theorist. Author of the book "The Science of Victory", Generalissimo of the Russian Army. The only one in the history of Russia that did not suffer a single defeat.
Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich
Hero of the Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813
"General Meteor" and "Caucasian Suvorov".
He fought not in numbers, but in skill - first, 450 Russian soldiers attacked 1,200 Persian sardars in the Migri fortress and took it, then 500 of our soldiers and Cossacks attacked 5,000 askers at the crossing over the Araks. More than 700 enemies were exterminated, only 2,500 Persian fighters managed to escape from ours.
In both cases, our losses are less than 50 killed and up to 100 wounded.
Further, in the war against the Turks, with a swift attack, 1000 Russian soldiers defeated the 2000th garrison of the Akhalkalaki fortress.
Then, again in the Persian direction, he cleared Karabakh of the enemy, and then, with 2,200 soldiers, defeated Abbas-Mirza with a 30,000-strong army near Aslanduz, a village near the Araks River. In two battles, he destroyed more than 10,000 enemies, including English advisers and artillerymen.
As usual, Russian losses were 30 killed and 100 wounded.
Kotlyarevsky won most of his victories in night assaults on fortresses and enemy camps, preventing the enemies from coming to their senses.
The last campaign - 2000 Russians against 7000 Persians to the fortress of Lankaran, where Kotlyarevsky almost died during the assault, lost consciousness at times from blood loss and pain from wounds, but still, until the final victory, he commanded the troops as soon as he regained consciousness, and after that he was forced to be treated for a long time and move away from military affairs.
His feats for the glory of Russia are much cooler than the "300 Spartans" - for our generals and warriors more than once beat the 10-fold superior enemy, and suffered minimal losses, saving Russian lives.
Alekseev Mikhail Vasilievich
One of the most talented Russian generals of the First World War. Hero of the Battle of Galicia 1914, savior Northwestern Front from the encirclement in 1915, chief of staff under Emperor Nicholas I.
General of Infantry (1914), Adjutant General (1916). Active participant in the White movement in the Civil War. One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Victory in the Great Patriotic War, saving the entire planet from absolute evil, and our country from extinction.
Stalin from the first hours of the war exercised control over the country, front and rear. On land, at sea and in the air.
His merit is not one or even ten battles or campaigns, his merit is the Victory, composed of hundreds of battles of the Great Patriotic War: the battle near Moscow, the battles in the North Caucasus, Battle of Stalingrad, the battles on the Kursk Bulge, the battles near Leningrad and many others before the capture of Berlin, success in which was achieved thanks to the monotonous inhuman work of the genius of the Supreme Commander.
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Successes in the Crimean War of 1853-56, victory in the battle of Sinop in 1853, defense of Sevastopol in 1854-55.
Spiridov Grigory Andreevich
Became a sailor under Peter I, an officer participated in Russian-Turkish war(1735-1739), finished the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) as Rear Admiral. The peak of his naval and diplomatic talent reached during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In 1769, he led the first transition of the Russian fleet from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the difficulties of the transition (among those who died from diseases was the son of the admiral - his grave was recently found on the island of Menorca), he quickly established control over the Greek archipelago. The Chesme battle in June 1770 remained unsurpassed in terms of loss ratio: 11 Russians - 11 thousand Turks! On the island of Paros, the Aouz naval base was equipped with coastal batteries and its own Admiralty.
The Russian fleet left mediterranean sea after the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainarji peace in July 1774, the Greek islands and the lands of the Levant, including Beirut, were returned to Turkey in exchange for territories in the Black Sea region. Nevertheless, the activities of the Russian fleet in the Archipelago were not in vain and played a significant role in the world naval history. Russia, having made a strategic maneuver with the forces of the fleet from one theater to another and having achieved a number of high-profile victories over the enemy, for the first time forced to speak of itself as a strong maritime power and an important player in European politics.
Platov Matvei Ivanovich
Ataman of the Great Don Army (since 1801), cavalry general (1809), who took part in all the wars of the Russian Empire at the end of the XVIII - early XIX century.
In 1771 he distinguished himself in the attack and capture of the Perekop line and Kinburn. From 1772 he began to command a Cossack regiment. 2nd Turkish war distinguished himself during the assault on Ochakov and Ishmael. Participated in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, he first commanded all the Cossack regiments on the border, and then, covering the retreat of the army, defeated the enemy near the town of Mir and Romanovo. In the battle near the village of Semlevo, Platov's army defeated the French and captured a colonel from the army of Marshal Murat. During the retreat French army Platov, pursuing her, defeated her at Gorodnya, the Kolotsk Monastery, Gzhatsk, Tsarevo-Zaimishch, near Dukhovshchina and while crossing the Vop River. For merit he was elevated to the dignity of a count. In November, Platov occupied Smolensk from battle and defeated the troops of Marshal Ney near Dubrovna. At the beginning of January 1813 he entered the borders of Prussia and overlaid Danzig; in September, he received command of a special corps, with which he participated in the battle of Leipzig and, pursuing the enemy, captured about 15 thousand people. In 1814 he fought at the head of his regiments in the capture of Nemur, at Arcy-sur-Aube, Cezanne, Villeneuve. He was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
The Soviet people, as the most talented, have a large number of outstanding military leaders, but the main one is Stalin. Without him, many of them might not have been in the military.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
Well, who else if not him - the only Russian commander who did not lose, who did not lose more than one battle !!!
Makhno Nestor Ivanovich
Over the mountains, over the valleys
waiting for your blues for a long time
wise father, glorious father,
our kind father - Makhno ...
(peasant song from the Civil War)
He was able to create an army, led successful military operations against the Austro-Germans, against Denikin.
And for * carts * even if he was not awarded the Order of the Red Banner, then this should be done now
Chichagov Vasily Yakovlevich
He excellently commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Eland (15/07/1789), in Revel (02/05/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, Supreme Commander. Brilliant military leadership of the USSR in World War II.
Bagramyan Ivan Khristoforovich
Marshal of the Soviet Union. Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front, then at the same time the headquarters of the troops of the Southwestern direction, commander of the 16th (11th Guards Army). From 1943 he commanded the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts. He showed military leadership talent and especially distinguished himself during the Belarusian and East Prussian operations. He stood out for his ability to prudently and flexibly respond to imminent changes in the situation.
Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich
An outstanding commander of the First World War, the founder of a new school of strategy and tactics, who made a huge contribution to overcoming the positional impasse. He was an innovator in the field of military art and one of the most prominent military leaders in Russian military history.
Cavalry General A. A. Brusilov showed the ability to manage large operational military formations - the army (8th - 05.08. May 21, 1917), a group of fronts (Supreme Commander-in-Chief - May 22, 1917 - July 19, 1917).
The personal contribution of A. A. Brusilov manifested itself in many successful operations of the Russian army during the First World War - the Battle of Galicia in 1914, the Battle of the Carpathians in 1914/15, the Lutsk and Czartoryi operations in 1915 and, of course, in the Offensive of the South-Western Front in 1916 city (the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough).
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
commanded tank corps, 60th Army, from April 1944 - 3rd Belorussian Front. He showed a bright talent and especially distinguished himself during the Belarusian and East Prussian operations. Distinguished by the ability to conduct highly maneuverable combat operations. Mortally wounded in February 1945.
Years of life: 1683-1767
From the biography:
- Minich Burchard Christoph, statesman during the reign of Peter 1 and Anna Ioannovna.
- He was born in the city of Oldenburg, Germany, in a family of hereditary engineers. He received an excellent engineering education.
- In 1721 he was invited by Peter I as an engineer
- The rise of the state and military career fell on the period of the reign of Anna Ioannovna.
- With the coming to power of Elizabeth Petrovna, Minich resigned. However, he was accused of treason and sentenced first to death and then to exile in Siberia, where he lived for 20 years.
- In 1762, Peter III returned him from exile, returned all the ranks and awards.
- Under Catherine II, he was appointed governor-general.
The main activities of Minikh B.K. and their results
Activities under Petra I
- As an engineer, he designed the fortifications of Kronstadt
- He made a significant contribution to the development of navigation on the Neva, the laying of roads, the construction of the Baltic port, and the construction of the Ladoga Canal in 1723-1728.
- Peter I highly appreciated Minich's talent, calling him a skillful "engineer and general."
Activities under Anna Ioannovna
- Under Anna Ioannovna, the career of B.Kh.
- Much was done by B.H. Minich to improve the situation of the Russian army: he put army finances in order, founded hospitals for the wounded and garrison schools at the troops, formed two guards regiments (Izmailovsky and Horse Guards), reorganized the guards and army regiments, transformed the Military Collegium; founded in St. Petersburg the first in Russia gentry cadet corps, in which from 1732 to 1741 he was the head. He introduced a corps (12 regiments) of heavy cavalry (cuirassier) into the army, created the first regiments of hussars; equalized the salary of natural Russian officers with invited foreign ones. He created a new kind of troops for Russia - sapper regiments and founded School of Engineering for officers. Under him, 50 fortresses were modernized or built. These and other transformations improved the condition of the Russian army.
- B.Kh. Minikh actively participated in military battles. So, in 1734, under his command, Danzig was taken and a protege of Russia, Augustus, was placed on the Polish throne.
- During the period Russian-Turkish war 1735-1739 years, the military talent of B.Kh. Minich appeared. He served as commander in chief. The troops besieged Azov, Ochakov, took Perekop, penetrated the Crimea, led the offensive into Moldova, the Russian army defeated the Turkish troops near Stavuchany, captured the fortress of Khotyn. The activity, energy of B.Kh.
Thus, German by birth, B.Kh. Minich served Russia all his life. He did tremendous work to transform the army, to strengthen the state system of Russia. Under his command, the Russian army invaded the Crimea for the first time, defeated the Turkish army for the first time in an open battle, dispelling the myth of the invincibility of the Turks, which appeared during the Prut campaign of Peter I. Minikh, in the battle of Stavucany, forced the Turkish army to flee, marking the beginning of victorious wars with Turkey.
Material to historical essay
| historical era | Historical event, causal relationships |
| PeterI
(168 2 -1725) |
Improvement and change of personnel policy by Peter I. Causes:
Consequence:
During the reign of Peter I, many foreign specialists were recruited both for state and military service. Among them was a German B.H. Minich invited to work as an engineer. There was a catastrophic lack of engineering personnel, and Minich was a real treasure for Russia. An experienced, intelligent, highly educated person, he fell in love with Russia with all his heart, where he was invited by Peter I in 1721. Thus, B.Kh. Minikh made a significant contribution to the Russian economy, to the implementation of Peter I's plans in domestic policy to strengthen the economic power of the country. |
| Anna Ioannovna
(1730-1740) |
strengthening military power Russian Empire, reorganization of the Russian army.
Causes:
Consequence:
A significant role in these events was played by B.Kh. Minikh, who headed the Military Collegium under the Empress. It was on his initiative and personal participation that a number of transformations were carried out in the army ( see above.) B.Kh. Minikh was a talented military leader. As commander in chief, held a number of successful operations in the war with Turkey in 1735-1739, using a number of successful tactical methods of warfare ( see above). B.Kh. Minikh was one of the brightest statesmen and military figures of Russia ( see above). |
This material can be used in preparation for task number 25, for a historical essay on the era and
Material prepared: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna
People with an enormous mind and a strong will, people capable of various activities, however, have objects to which they indulge more than others and, so to speak, show a predilection for them. Peter the Great had such an addiction to water. Swimming on water, directing water in such a way that it would benefit a person and not cause harm - these were Peter's favorite pastimes. Water navigation occupied his being to such an extent that he took it into his head to found a harbor in the middle of the mainland in Voronezh, and he wanted to make the deep-bottomed Don a direct route to the Black Sea. Petersburg, his creation, was his chosen "paradise", where he willy-nilly dragged inhabitants from all over his wide state, and no one dared complain to him about the damp and unhealthy air of this paradise. The arrangement of docks, the digging of canals, the construction and launching of ships - all this was pleasant to Peter's heart and gave him reasons to show festive pleasures. It is clear that with such a love for water, the Russian sovereign, both in Russia and abroad, was looking for people who, like him, would love the same water exercises and could be faithful and capable performers of his inscriptions. And in this regard, no one was a suitable person for the great sovereign to such an extent as Minich, just like Peter, versatile, capable of everything, agile, indefatigable, and also cherishing the water business to a passion. Munnich was a native of the region lying on the German Sea. This region in the seaside, between the Weser and the Bremen region from the east, the bishopric of Münster and the county of Ostfriesland from the west and the electorate of Brunswick from the south, from the 12th century included two separate counties - Oldenburg and Delmengorst, which at the beginning of the 14th century merged into one possession, but then more than once again divided and reunited. In the middle of the 15th century, the son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg, Christian, was elected the Danish king, and since then the fate of this region has been closely connected with the fate of Denmark, although at times there were individual rulers, and from the middle of the 17th century both counties firmly entered Danish possessions. In general, this region, according to its topographic position, was extremely abundant in water and was subject to frequent floods, and one of the volosts into which this region was divided, Die Vogtey Wüsteland, where Minich was born, was a perfect swamp; the construction of channels and the construction of dams, locks and bridges was a matter of prime necessity for the inhabitants; without it, it would be impossible to live there.
The Minich family belonged to the peasant class, and members of this family from generation to generation were engaged in the construction of dams and in general water business: the great-grandfather and grandfather of our Minich were the main dam builders in their small Vusteland volost, and his father, Anton-Günther Minich, served in the Danish service with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and then received from Danish king the title of chief overseer of dams and all water works in the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. He received the dignity of nobility, which was subsequently approved by Emperor Leopold in 1702. Being in the Danish service in the position indicated above, Anton-Günther Minich lived with his family on his estate in the village of Neingunttorf, and there, from his marriage to Sophia-Katerina, née von Etken, on May 9, 1683, his second son , Burchard-Christoph, the hero of this biography.
Even in tender childhood and then in adolescence, he showed extraordinary abilities, he quickly learned everything, easily adopted everything. At the age of nine, he copied drawings and plans, accompanied his parent on his travels on official duty and rewrote his father's book on water work in the Oldenburg county. The boy had no other tools for his drawings, except for those he bought with the savings left over from travel expenses to Courland, where he accompanied his sister, who had married there. In 1699, Anton-Günther left the Danish service and received a position in the neighboring principality of Ostfriesland. The young Burchard-Christoph continued to study, acquired a thorough mathematical knowledge, and learned French. When he was sixteen years old, his father let him go to France, where the young man entered the military service in engineering, but soon left it, having heard that there would be a war between France and Germany: he would have to fight against compatriots and participate in the shedding of German blood . After leaving France, he settled in Germany in the Hesse-Darmstadt Corps, which was preparing to fight the French. At that time, patriotic fanaticism flared up among German youth. From the words of a manifesto addressed to all Germans in general, they shouted that the French were the hereditary enemies of the German tribe, that they constantly slandered and humiliated the German people; the still unforgotten ferocity committed by the French in the conquest of Alsace, gave this enmity a justification for the need for retribution. Such a spirit then prevailed among all Germans, with the exception of the Bavarians, who alone were then the allies of France. Minich, having received the rank of captain, given to him because they noticed extraordinary information in military affairs in him, participated in the siege and conquest of the city of Landau, where the Hesse-Darmstadt army worked together with the Baden. But soon after that the Hesse-Darmstadt army retreated; Minich's father invited his son to his place and convinced him to take the position of chief engineer in the Ostfriesland principality. This happened in 1702, exactly the year when Anton-Günther received from the emperor approval of the noble dignity granted to him by the Danish king. The young Minich did not live long with the Ostfriesland prince Eberhard, serving in the engineering department. He was attracted to Darmstadt by heartfelt love. There he liked the court of the Hesse-Darmstadt maid of honor Christina-Lukrezia Witzleben, a beautiful person of twenty years old. Minich was twenty-two years old. This happened in 1705. He entered into a marriage alliance with this person, who became his friend in true meaning this word, devoted to him until her death and sharing with him all his labors and dangers.
At that time, the Hesse-Kassel corps entered the military field against France, on the Anglo-Dutch salary. Minich decided to join this corps and soon received the rank of major. He was on campaigns under the leadership of Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough, and had the opportunity to look at the military methods of these greatest generals of their century. Under the command of Eugene, Minich participated in the cleansing of upper Italy from the French, and although the Hessians were defeated at Castiglion, Eugene soon corrected the matter, defeating the French at Turin, and undertook an invasion of Provence, which ended only in the conquest of Susa. But then, when the French completely left Italy, Eugene transferred weapons to the Netherlands, where Marlborough was already fighting, and the Hesse-Kassel corps went there; Minich continued to serve in it. In 1708 he was at the battle of Oudenard: that was the first general battle in which our hero had to be; he was also under a long-term siege and the capture of Lille, during the capture of Bruges and Ghent. After that, peace negotiations were opened, and the Hesse-Kassel corps retreated to winter quarters in Germany. The winter that followed was unusually harsh and cruel: this is the winter that we in Little Russia destroyed a significant part of the Swedish forces brought there Charles XII. Peaceful attempts were not successful, and in the spring of 1709 hostilities began again between the Germans and the French. Minich with the Hessians-Kassels participated in the capture of Tournai and in the Battle of Malplaquet, the bloodiest of all the battles in the 18th century (August 31, or September 11, NS, 1709). AT next years, 1710 and 1711, German troops almost did not take part in the war, and in 1712, when negotiations were already taking place in Utrecht between the warring parties and everything in Europe was tending to peace, the Dutchman General Abermerle, who served under the banner of Prince Eugene, received an order from his chief commander to guard stores arranged for the troops with supplies. But England was negotiating peace with France, and as a result, the English troops suddenly retreated from Eugene; the repulsed Eugene could not help the detachment guarding the stores; Abermerl was taken prisoner with many generals and staff officers. On this day, Lieutenant Colonel Munnich, who served in the Hesse-Kassel army, was pierced in the lower abdomen, lost consciousness and was taken prisoner by the French. They treated him very kindly and attentively, bandaged his wound, looked after him, and when he began to get out of bed, they sent him as a prisoner of war somewhere in France (in Paris or in Cambrai?). There they continued to provide him with medical benefits, and meanwhile, he met the famous Archbishop Fenelon. Munnich liked to remember conversations with this man already in his old age as the most pleasant moments in his life, spent in a community with such a bright mind.
Minich recovered and received freedom. The War of the Spanish Succession ended. Minich arrived in Kassel, received the rank of colonel, and, being in the Hesse-Kassel service for another two years, was engaged in his favorite since childhood, water business - he watched the device of the canal and the gateway in Karlshaven. But his extremely lively disposition and the need for strong sensations carried him to where military activity could be revealed to him. The West of Europe was pacified; in the east, the great Northern War has not yet ended. In 1716 Munnich entered the service of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland Augustus. He arranged for the Polish crown guard, was promoted to the rank of major general and received fourteen thousand Reichstalers an annual salary. He was not at ease there. But he did not get along with some persons and, most importantly, did not get along with Count. Flemming, favorite of King Augustus. Already before, many generals left the Polish service through this man. And Minich had to experience the same. Minich from 1719 began to seek out another fatherland. He hesitated over which of his two rivals he should stick to: Charles XII or Peter I. Charles laid his violent head near Friedrichsham, and Munnich settled on Peter. He met his envoy in Warsaw, Prince Grigory Dolgoruky, and gave him his essay on fortification to inform the tsar. In this way, Minich became known to Peter, and in the next 1720, Prince. Grigory Dolgoruky invited Minikh to go to Russia and serve there as an engineer general, promising an immediate promotion to the rank of lieutenant general. Minich, apparently, respected Peter, and he really wanted to get into the service of such a sovereign, whose transforming exploits were then trumpeted in Europe. Munnich agreed at once and did not even Russian ambassador no written conditions: later, having seen Russia more closely, he considered it appropriate to limit his excessive credulity. Minich did not reveal to King Augustus his intention to enter the Russian service, but said that he was going to his old father in his homeland. Leaving Warsaw, he traveled through Konigsberg and Riga to Petersburg, where he arrived in February 1721.
From that time on, Minich became wholly owned by Russia, and his name entered a number of names of famous figures in Russian history. He was 37 years old. He was tall, extremely stately complex, handsome in face; his high open forehead and quick penetrating eyes showed from the first sight that greatness of spirit which makes one love, respect and obey in everything. But at the same time, he seemed very youthful for his years. Many in the Russian service, who distinguished themselves in the war against the Swedes, were older than the new stranger in years and time of service and remained in the rank of major general. The special preference of the newcomer would be insulting to them. Moreover, Peter himself wanted to test the newcomer. The tsar ordered him to accompany him on various trips, showed him the Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg himself, went with him to Kronstadt, then to Riga, surveyed various fortifications and listened attentively to Minich's remarks, made an inspection of the troops in front of his eyes, and also on this occasion listened to his speeches, but meanwhile, he did not promote him to the rank, as Minich hoped, having received a promise from Prince. Dolgoruky. An unexpected case decided this issue in favor of Munnich. The king with a circle of close associates was in Riga. Minich was also with them. Suddenly, a lightning strike lit up the bell tower of St. Peter's Church. The sovereign wanted to fix what had been destroyed and restore it in its original form, and demanded from the Riga magistrate a drawing of the former building. The drawing was not preserved in the magistrate. Luckily for Munnich, in the room allotted to him right opposite St. Peter's Church, sitting by the window, having nothing to do, he sketched a bell tower for himself. A certain Baron Waldecker, the commander of the Order of St. John, knew about this, posing as an envoy of the Elector of Trier, but in fact former agent the pretender to the English throne, Stuart, and who came to Russia to visit: is it possible to win over Tsar Peter to the pretender. When the magistrate did not have a drawing of the bell tower, Waldecker told Yaguzhinsky that Munnich had such a drawing. Yaguzhinsky demanded it from Minikh and presented it to the tsar, and the tsar, remembering that Minikh had been promised a promotion, ordered him to issue a patent for the rank of lieutenant general. But the patent was signed a year in advance - on May 22, 1722, and Minich still had to serve for another year in the rank of major general. Minich was to accept with gratitude this royal favor. Here Minich realized that if Prince. Dolgoruky promised him a promotion immediately, but it did not follow as soon as one could hope, which means that the Russian government cannot be trusted unconditionally. Now only he presented the conditions under which he pledged to serve Russia for five or six years - to supervise hydraulic work, but only on the Baltic coast, so that everything he needed was given to him at his request.
At the same time, in Riga, Munnich received the sad news of the death of both his parents, one after the other, and asked to go to Oldenburg to arrange his affairs. He visited his homeland, and that was the last time in his life, although his constant desire was to return there in his old age. His older brother (chief superintendent of the water business, appointed by the Danish king) disputed his father's will, which left the entire father's estate not to him, but to the second son. Christoph Munnich settled the dispute with his brother, reconciled with him and returned to Russia.
Taking care of St. Petersburg, his favorite work, Peter was worried that the water communication of the newly built city with inland countries Russia is hampered by the rapids on the Tosna River at its confluence with the Neva. The tsar wanted to build a sluice, draw a bypass canal and build a road along the banks of the Neva from Shlisselburg to St. Petersburg. All this was performed by Minich. Peter instructed him to draw a plan for the Rogervik harbor, which the king intended to build. Minich introduced him to the king.
In 1723, Munnich had other, more important and complex hydraulic work ahead of him. As far back as 1710, the Ladoga Canal was started in order to enable floating ships to avoid Lake Ladoga, which is extremely restless and stormy in autumn, where many ships disappeared every year. The work was carried out under the supervision of Major General Pisarev and proceeded extremely slowly. When in 1723 Peter returned from the Persian campaign and stopped in Moscow, he drew attention to the fact that the Ladoga Canal had been made for such a long time, barely twelve miles. Peter found that it was necessary to entrust the supervision of the canal works to another person. Feldzeugmeister General Bruce pointed out Munnich to the tsar. The tsar saw Minikh, listened to his considerations and instructed to visit the canal and make sure whether the water in Lake Ladoga either rises or falls, and whether it is necessary, in accordance with these changes in the water level in the lake, to build a channel. Minich made this trip. The inhabitants of the shores of Lake Ladoga assured that the water in the lake rises seven feet for seven years, and falls by the same amount over the next seven years; but Munnich, experienced and versed in the laws of hydraulics, found that to such a degree a difference in the rise and fall of the water level is impossible, and although it actually exists, it does not reach more than three feet. Upon the return of Minich from the trip, a disagreement arose between the engineers on the direction which should be chosen for the canal, and Tsar Peter appointed a commission of knowledgeable people who were to consider and resolve this issue. Major General Pisarev, who until that time was in charge of canal work, was among the members of this commission. He argued that the dug twelve versts should be left in their present form, and the remaining 92 versts (the length of the entire canal should have been 104 versts) - to dig a canal, to reduce costs by raising two arshins above ordinary water and only one arshin deeper than the water in the lake, having concluded these 92 versts between two locks in order to raise the water above the level. The majority of the commission members approved Pisarev's opinion solely because Pisarev was patronized by the all-powerful Menshikov. Only engineer Len suggested some change. Minich refuted both and argued that the small rivers, which were thought to fill the canal with their water, were so shallow that the canal could remain waterless during the summer. Peter, hearing such heterogeneity, referred the matter to the senate for discussion, but the senators, in addition to having little understanding of hydraulics, looked at how to please Menshikov as the main thing. Menshikov, on the other hand, did not like Minich and said: perhaps Minich is a good general, but he does not understand much about the canal business. Prince Grigory Dolgoruky, the same one who invited Minich to Russia from Warsaw, now informed Minich that Pisarev was slandering him before the tsar, as if he, Minich, wanted to deceive the tsar and deceive him. Minich, a proud and ardent man, said: "If the canal is conducted the way Pisarev wants, then it will never be finished. Let the sovereign look with his own eyes - and then he will say that Minich is right." This was conveyed to the sovereign, and Peter wished to survey the canal together with Minich and others. In the autumn of 1723, Peter set off on his journey. I had to make my way on horseback through the swampy impassability. The horses trod hard on the marshy ground. Minich, following the king, showed him that it was impossible to draw a canal through the swamp from seven to nine feet above the usual water level. "I see that you are a worthy man!" Peter told him in Dutch. In the evening we reached the village of Chernaya. Due to the abundance of cockroaches in the huts, the king did not dare to spend the night in human housing and ordered to pitch a tent for himself, where he spent the night in the great autumn cold. Here Pisarev used every effort to prevent the sovereign from going further, so that the sovereign would not see his bad work near the village of Dubna. Pisarev's side was held by the royal physician Blumentrost: he represented to the tsar that further riding would damage his health. Blumentrost also turned to Munnich and told him: “You are venturing into a dangerous business. You are dragging the sovereign on the path when he is weak, and this path can only be completed on horseback, and with great difficulty. Well, if he finds something different from what you reported to him, then great grief will happen to you!" "Come with me to the sovereign!" - said Minich. The king was then dressing. majesty took the trouble to personally review this channel! Your Majesty hasn't seen anything yet. If you please, go to Dubna to give an appropriate order to continue the canal." "What is this for?" asked Peter. Minich answered: "All the work begun twelve miles to Belozersk must change! This will require a lot of money, and if Your Majesty does not see it for yourself, then Pisarev's party will assure that the changes have been made in vain, the money has been spent, and the one who will be in charge of the work will disappear. "Peter was very tired, but ordered to give himself a horse and said: "Let's go to Dubna". Before reaching Dubna, the tsar surveyed part of Pisarev's works for fifteen miles. He did not like them very much. Peter jumped off his horse, lay down on his stomach on the ground and showed Pisarev with his hand that the bank of the canal does not go along one lines, that its bottom is not everywhere of equal depth, that curvature was made without any need, that a dam was not built, etc. "Gregory," the king told him, "there are two kinds of mistakes: some come from ignorance, others follow their own vision and other senses. The latter are unforgivable." Pisarev took it into his head to justify himself and began to prove that the soil was hilly. But Peter got to his feet, looked around him and asked: "Where are the hills? You, I see, are a real scoundrel!" Everyone then thought that Peter would beat Pisarev with a club, and Pisarev himself would be pleased if this happened, because then he could get forgiveness for himself sooner. But the tsar restrained himself.
It was a complete victory for Munnich over his opponents; the king entrusted him with the construction of the canal. For this, Minich has since made an enemy in Menshikov.
A year later, in the autumn of 1724, according to a promise made in advance, Peter arrived at the canal to inspect Munnich's work. Having met with Minich, he ordered the water to be drained and, with his own hand, taking a spade, began to dig the dam that held it. The water rushed into the canal with rapidity. Nearby stood a small boat. Peter entered it and ordered Minich to sit down. The little boat was carried along the current of the channel dug by Minich, according to one message 3, four versts, and according to another 4 - ten or twelve. Peter, always and everywhere passionately fond of swimming, was delighted, constantly threw off his hat from his head, waved it and shouted: "Hurrah! Hurray!" Having made a trial voyage, Peter hugged and kissed Minich. "This canal," said the tsar, "will be of great importance. It will deliver food to St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, as well as building materials, and will facilitate Russia's trade with the rest of Europe." Returning to Petersburg, the tsar ordered Minich to go there as well. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Peter said to Catherine: "The works of my Munnich delight me and strengthen my health. The time is not far off when we will board a boat in St. Petersburg and go ashore in Moscow, in the Golovinsky Garden." The next day, Peter, together with Minikh, appeared in the senate and said in front of all the senators: “I found a person who will finish the Ladoga Canal for me. Even in the service, I did not have such a foreigner who would be so able to carry out great plans like Minikh! You must do whatever he wants!" After the departure of the tsar, Yaguzhinsky told Minich: "General! We will await your orders." Peter then entrusted Minich with the direction of the construction of the canal. At first sixteen thousand people worked on it, now Peter appointed twenty-five thousand. The tsar gave Minikh a promise, upon the retirement of the old Yakov Vasilievich Bruce, to give Minikh the post of Feldzeugmeister General and director over all state and private buildings. Peter did not live to see the end of the Ladoga Canal by Minikh.
A new reign has begun. Munnich realized that he was in a country where there is nothing lasting, and tried to provide himself with new conditions. He submitted a project for approval by the empress, by which he doomed himself to the service of Russia for another ten years, after which he reserved the right to leave. During these ten years he was able to bring up his children abroad. Minich asked for the rank of feldzeigmeister promised by Peter, with the benefits enjoyed by his predecessor Bruce. He asked for several items of real estate as a gift: an island on the Neva near Shlisselburg, the village of Ledneva, lying in the middle of the canal he had built, an old palace in Ladoga and a house in St. Petersburg. In the event of a war with Denmark and England, Russia was to guarantee his property in the possession of these powers, or instead of those properties, allot him appropriate estates in Russia. All customs and tavern fees on the Ladoga Canal were given to him at the disposition. Catherine did not have time to approve the agreement with Minich. He was approved under her successor Peter II, but even then not completely, because Munnich received the title of chief director of fortifications, and not the rank of general feldzeugmister, which he desired, based on the promise given by Peter the Great. The fall of Menshikov, who did not love Minich, paved the way for the latter to rise. With Dolgoruky, who replaced Menshikov in influence over the tsar, Minich got along rather than with Menshikov. When in January 1728 Peter was taken to Moscow, Minich was left in St. Petersburg and entrusted to him to manage Ingermanland, Karelia and Finland with the main command over the troops stationed there, and on February 25 of the same year, on the day of the coronation of the sovereign, he was granted the title of count. One attention to him supreme power followed the other. In the same year, the Ladoga Canal was completely completed, and navigation was opened through it: on this occasion, the Supreme Privy Council sent him an address of thanks for completing such an important undertaking. The significance of Minich in the state increased with the granting of the post of governor-general in St. Petersburg. This happened because, as the chief commander of the troops, he had the right to promote and transfer persons who served under his command, and of these persons there were many who were in family and patronage ties with representatives of noble families, and the latter, interceding for their clients turned to Munnich with requests. Among the high-ranking persons who then needed Minich was Tsesarevna Elisaveta, who petitioned for some kind of second lieutenant.
One of the important things that Munnich did at that time was the project of establishing an engineering corps and a miner company (sappers) and an institution special school for the preparation of knowledgeable officers in this part 5. The following year, in 1729, after the death of General Feldzeigmeister Ginter, Munnich was made the chief commander of artillery 6.
In the autumn of 1728 Minich remarried. His first wife died in 1727. The new wife of Minikh was called Varvara-Eleonora, she was the widow of the Chief Marshal Saltykov, nee Baroness Maltzan, a natural German. Fortunately for Minich, the second friend of life, like the first, turned out to be a virtuous woman, she was sincerely devoted to him and, together with him, shared all the twists and turns of fate that befell him.
A new reign of Anna Ivanovna began. Minich, a prudent man and, moreover, aware that he was a foreigner in Russia, did not interfere in the political undertakings of the leaders, who were trying to limit the autocratic power, and did not lean to either side. When Anna declared herself autocrat, Munnich became close to Osterman, who introduced him to the new empress and her favorite, Biron. Both liked it, and with the new reign began to acquire more significance. He received the long-desired rank of Feldzeigmeister General, and after the death of the old Prince Trubetskoy, the post of President of the Military Collegium, in which until that time he had been Vice President. Staying permanently in St. Petersburg as a local governor-general and leaving a memory in the annals of St. Petersburg with the cleansing of the Mya (Moika) River and the construction of several bridges and canals, Minich visited the Empress in Moscow, and became more and more close to Osterman and Biron. Osterman set up Minich to propose to the empress that instead of the destroyed supreme privy council, an office be established, the highest government place that would serve as an intermediary body between the highest person and the ruling senate. Initially, Minich proposed three dignitaries to this cabinet - Osterman, Golovkin and Prince. Cherkassky; Anna Ivanovna herself wished to add Munnich himself to them. Minich excused himself, finding that, as a foreigner, he was not sufficiently familiar with the domestic policy of Russia, but the empress insisted that Minich without fail join the cabinet for military and foreign affairs. In 1731, Minich was made chairman of a commission set up to find and establish measures for the elimination of unrest in the army and so arrange that the army be kept in order without burdening the people. As the head of this commission, Minich made several changes in the structure of the military unit in Russia; he drew up a new order for the guards, field and garrison regiments, formed two new guards regiments: Izmailovsky and Horse Guards, brought in heavy cavalry, the so-called cuirassiers, changing three dragoon regiments into cuirassiers, gave an independent appearance to the engineering unit, previously merged with artillery, and established the Land Cadet Corps, in which Russian and Livonian gentry children from 13 to 18 years old should be taught arithmetic, geometry, drawing, fortification, horseback riding, fencing, shooting and any military formation. In addition, it was taken into account that the state needs not only military, but also political and civilian education, and, moreover, not everyone is capable of military service, and in these forms it is necessary to have teachers of foreign languages, to teach history, geography, jurisprudence, dancing, music and other sciences, which are considered useful, depending on the natural ability of the pupils. First, the number of students was determined at two hundred, then at 300; they were given to the premises on Vasilyevsky Island, the house of Prince. Menshikov, confiscated after his exile, and an amount was determined for the maintenance of the entire corpus, which increased with the multiplication of the number of students. Attention was also drawn to the children of military men of non-noble rank. Schools were established at the garrison infantry regiments, where boys from 7 to 15 years old were gathered for training, born while their fathers were in the service, but by no means those who were born already when their parents were retired. This was decided on the principle that the sons of servicemen should themselves be servicemen. By this measure, they thought to reduce recruitment sets in the form of alleviating the people. Minich, although he was a German by birth and until his death remained attached to his nationality, nowhere showed that arrogant attitude towards the Russians, which distinguished the Germans who served in Russia. Peter the Great, in order to lure foreign officers into the Russian army, ordered foreigners serving in the Russian army to make a double salary against natural Russians. And so the rule remained. Munnich was the first to realize the injustice of such a distinction and equate both to the same degree. For this, he won forever the love of Russians. Among the useful military institutions indicated by Minich at that time were the establishment of grocery stores for food for the troops, hospitals for crippled soldiers; various measures have been taken to properly equip and arm the troops; general reviews were established. Twenty regiments of the Ukrainian Land Militia were organized from the one-palaces of the Belogorod and Sevsk categories, resettling them and endowing them with arable land along the line of fortifications being built between the Dnieper and the Northern Donets and along the Northern Donets to the Cossack Don cities. A similar population followed the Tsaritsyn line. Instead of the six thousand settlers supposed under Peter the Great, twenty thousand were now assigned to the Ukrainian line. The recruitment and arrangement of the newly established Ukrainian line was assigned to General Tarakanov. On the Tsaritsyno militia along the banks of the Ilavlya and Medveditsa, a similar population of Cossacks under the chieftainship of Persidsky followed.
Minich, with his advice, helped to move the court from Moscow to St. Petersburg. As a foreigner and a sane supporter of the Peter the Great reform, he was not disposed to stay at the court in Moscow, where the influence of the party, which did not part with the memories of the old Muscovite Russia and did not tolerate any foreignness, was felt. After the empress settled down in Petersburg, Minich begged her to survey the canal he had completed and, so to speak, sanctify it with his personal attention. The Empress arrived in Shlisselburg and from there set off along the entire length of the canal in a yacht, which was accompanied by eighty ships. So they swam to the Volkhov River for a hundred and four miles. Two huge locks at both ends of the length of the canal closed the canal and kept water in it, the average height of which was up to a sazhen. Sixteen smaller locks were built on the north and south sides of the canal, which ran from west to east. These locks served to ensure that the accumulated excess water poured into the lake, and small rivers: Naziia, Shaldikha, Kabona and others, bringing their waters into the canal, into summer time they did not carry masses of sand and mud with them.
Munnich, as was said, at first became very close to Osterman, but when the empress made him a member of the cabinet, Osterman changed his feelings towards him. Biron began to hate Minich even more inwardly. The empress, seeing in Minich a very intelligent, versatile person and, moreover, devoted to her interests, more and more obeyed his advice and became attached to him. Biron was afraid that the clever Munnich would not push him away from the highest person, since Biron himself did not have a great mind or education, and he always felt his own smallness in front of Munnich. Minich was disliked by Ober-Stalmeister Levenvold and Chancellor Count. Golovkin. Both of them felt that Minich was more gifted and smarter than them; both excited, together with Osterman, the favorite of the Empress against Munnich. Biron and Levenvold arranged for Minich's behavior to be supervised, appointed fiscal officers who were supposed to find out his intentions or induce him to take some step that could harm him in the grace of the empress. But Munnich was not such that he could be let down by such measures. Minich lived in the palace, next to the chambers of the empress. Biron planned to force him out of there, so that at least such proximity of the premises would not arouse fears in him that he could easily replace him, Biron, for Anna Ivanovna. Taking advantage of the empress's extraordinary confidence in himself, he presented to her that it was necessary to clear a room in the palace for the empress's niece, who had arrived in Petersburg; and the Empress looked upon her as her successor. Minich was told that for this reason he had to cross the Neva. Minich obeyed, especially since there was a plausible reason: beyond the Neva, on Vasilyevsky Island, there was a cadet corps, of which Minich was the chief commander. Biron ordered so unceremoniously that he did not even leave the field marshal time to move his furniture. But Minich's rivals were not content with this. They were looking for a reason to remove him altogether from the capital. The occasion presented itself.
King Augustus of Poland, a long-term ally of Russia, died on February 11, 1733. Two parties arose in Poland: one wanted to elect his son, Elector of Saxony, as Augustus' successor, the other - Stanislav Leshchinsky, who had already been elected king at the insistence of the Swedish king Charles XII. The courts of Russia and Vienna favored the elector of Saxony, because he promised, having become king, to approve a pragmatic sanction, an act by which the Roman emperor Charles VI transferred his hereditary possessions to his daughter Maria Theresa, and the Russian court not to interfere with the dignity of the Duke of Courland, favorite of Empress Anna Ivanovna, Biron. France, on the contrary, supported Stanislav Leshchinsky. Field Marshal Lassi, sent with 20,000 Russian troops to Poland, contributed to the election of the Elector of Saxony under the name of August III and pursued the party of Stanislav Leshchinsky, who settled in the city of Gdansk. On February 22, 1734, Lassi with 12,000 troops laid siege to Gdansk. But the besieged had more strength, and the war went on indecisively, limited to skirmishes between the besieged, who made sorties, and the Cossacks. Then Biron, in order to get rid of the eyes of the Empress Minich, convinced her to send Minich to Poland with an army against Leshchinsky. Minich himself was not disgusted with such an assignment, since from his youth he loved military affairs, and court intrigues could not satisfy him.
Minich arrived at Gdansk on March 5, 1734, and took over the main command over the Russian army remaining there, demanding a few more fresh forces for himself.
First, Minich sent a formidable manifesto to the inhabitants of Gdansk, demanded obedience to King Augustus III and the extradition of Stanislav Leshchinsky, in case of refusal he threatened to destroy the city to the ground and punish the sins of the fathers on their children. There was no resignation to such a statement. Minich was forced to abandon the assassination attempts to carry out his threats: he lacked siege artillery. But then mortars arrived from Saxony, transported through the Prussian possessions in carts under the guise of the carriages of the Duke of Weissenfell, and other Russian artillery came from Poland: then began throwing bombs into the city. The siege of Gdansk lasted 135 days. The Poles of Leshchinsky's party tried to help the besieged from outside by attacking the Russians, but were defeated by Russian detachments. The besieged hoped for the arrival of the French flotilla, which they expected would bring them fresh forces. The French ships brought and landed on the shore only 2,400 people. Then the Saxon military force came to the aid of Minich, and on June 12, the Russian flotilla, including 29 ships, entered the Gdansk raid and brought more guns to Minich. The bombardment intensified. On June 19, Munnich demanded surrender again. The besieged begged for three days to think. After many negotiations French army it turned out that they would be taken to one of the neutral ports Baltic Sea and sent from there to France. They hoped that they would be taken to Copenhagen, but they were taken to Livonia, placed there in apartments, and a few months later they were sent to France.
On June 28, the Gdansk magistrate sent an envoy to Minich. Minich demanded obedience to King Augustus and the extradition of Stanislav Leshchinsky with his main followers. The next day, the magistrate informed Munnich that it was impossible to extradite Stanislav, because he had run away, having changed into peasant clothes. Munnich became very angry and ordered the bombardment to begin again; finally, on June 30, he accepted the humility of the city and allowed the Polish pans who were in the city to go wherever they wished, ordering the arrest of only three persons: the primate, Pan Poniatowski and the Frenchman Marquis de Monti; they were taken to Torun. Thus ended this siege, during which the Russians lost eight thousand soldiers and two hundred officers. An indemnity of two million was imposed on the city of Gdansk; the Empress threw away half of this amount.
Minich returned to Petersburg in triumph. His ill-wishers tried to denigrate his actions, dismissed suspicions that Minich took bribes from the enemy and deliberately allowed Stanislav Leshchinsky to leave. But all this did not hurt Minich.
Following this, another war was started, where Minich also had to go, to the pleasure of both himself and his enemies, who rejoiced that he could be removed from the capital under any pretext. It was a war with Turkey.
Turkey has been at war with Persia for several years. In order to strike the Persians on the northern side at a time when the Persian forces were heading south, the Crimean Tatars, tributaries of the Turkish state, were ordered to invade Persia, and since the nearest route lay through Russian possessions, they did not find it difficult to pass through them, thereby violating neutrality Russia. So, in 1732, on the banks of the Terek River, they encountered a Russian detachment under the command of the General Prince of Hesse-Hamburg. There was a battle: up to a thousand Tatars, up to four hundred Russians, lay down in it. Russia complained diplomatically to Turkey about the violation of neutrality and did not receive satisfaction: on the contrary, Turkey again sent the Crimean Khan with 70,000 troops through Russian possessions to Persia. The Turkish force this time suffered a severe defeat from the Persians. Then Neplyuev, who was Russian ambassador in Constantinople, declared to his government the opinion that now was a convenient time to repay Turkey for the Treaty of Prut, humiliating for the honor of the Russian name. At court, Ober-Stalmeister Levenvold supported the same opinion. Osterman, always prudent and cautious, advised against giving in to such seductive hopes and not daring to tease Turkey, because she was still strong; in his opinion, it was enough to limit himself to pacifying the Tatars, since this would not lead to a break with Turkey: the padishah was dissatisfied with the arbitrariness of his tributary, the Crimean Khan, but could not keep him in obedience. Field Marshal Munnich, later an ardent supporter of the war with Turkey, this time joined Osterman. He wanted a war, but one that would not start from a direct challenge by Russia. After spending several months in St. Petersburg after the Gdansk case, Minich had to go to the army left in Poland, since there were still many opponents of King August III in Poland. Affairs with Turkey, meanwhile, began to escalate. The Persian Shah Kulikhan was already agreeing to reconcile with Turkey, but the Russian envoy in Persia, Prince Sergei Golitsyn, did his best to prevent such a reconciliation - and succeeded: the Persian Shah became indebted to Russia with gratitude, because Russia then ceded to Persia acquisitions of Peter the Great - Baku, Derbent and even the fortress of St. Cross. Under the influence of Russia, the Shah of Persia again resumed the war with Turkey. Then the Petersburg court, having secured an alliance with Persia, openly decided to go to war, but not directly with Turkey, but with the Tatars, under the pretext that the latter incessantly launch raids and recently violated the neutrality of Russia twice by passing their troops through the Russian regions. Weisbach, the Governor-General of Kyiv, was supposed to start hostile actions against the Tatars. But he died at the same time. His successor, Lieutenant General Leontiev, the same one who went to Mitava to Anna Ivanovna as a deputy from the generals, went on a campaign. It was already in October, in bad weather, and he returned back, having lost nine thousand soldiers who died not from enemy weapons, but from disease and deprivation. At this time, an order was sent to Minich to move with his army from Poland to Ukraine and go with him on a campaign against the Tatars.
Having instructed the General Prince of Hesse-Hamburg to lead the army to Ukraine, Minich went to Pavlovsk-on-Don, made an order there to load artillery and supplies on ships necessary for the proposed siege of Azov, then arrived in Ukraine, examined the Ukrainian line from the Dnieper to the Donets, where he found sixteen fortresses, each with an earthen parapet, with a counter-escarp, with a moat filled with water, and redoubts of various sizes were erected between these fortifications. Minich traveled all over this line, guarded, as was said above, by the land militia from the settled one-palaces, made the necessary orders for the placement of guards and noticed that in the Bakhmut province the line remained open and work was needed to bring it to the proper position. To this end, Munnich demanded 53,263 workers. Prince Shakhovskoy, who then ruled the Little Russian region, in response to such a request, reported to the government that such work would be extremely ruinous for the people. Minich, for his part, reported that, having surveyed the then state of Ukraine, he clearly sees that the ruin of the people is really noticeable, but it does not come from work, but from bad administration, headed by Shakhovskoy: incapable people are appointed colonels and centurions, everywhere they try get rich at the expense of subordinates, rich people try to shirk their service, and only the poor are sent on campaigns. The Cossacks, dissatisfied with the injustices of their superiors, run away and pester the owners of the lands, who promise the settlers years of grace, while others run to the Tatars, and together with them go to fight against Russia. Because of this, the Cossacks in the Hetmanate generally diminished: before, it used to be possible to gather a hundred thousand Cossacks, and recently, when Leontiev’s campaign in the Crimea was announced, there were barely twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty of them. Here Minich met with the Cossacks, whom he found in military terms much better than the Little Russian city Cossacks, and had a meeting with the Zaporozhye foremen in Tsarichinka. The Cossacks gave him advice to set out on a campaign in the steppe from early spring, when the waters from the melting snows had not yet completely dried up, and the young grass had not yet been burned. Munnich found this advice suitable and in March went to Azov, from which military operations were to begin. He instructed General Levashov to conduct the siege of Azov, and he himself returned to his army in Ukraine, again consulted with the Zaporizhzhya foremen, and on April 10 set off on a campaign in the steppe. With him were 54,000 Russian troops and 12,000 Cossacks (5,000 Don, 4,000 Ukrainian and 3,000 Cossacks). According to the biographer Minikhov, the convoy that set off with this military force extended up to nine thousand carts, and there were two hundred and fifty of them for each regiment. There were up to seven thousand marketers alone. The entire convoy did not go with the army; a significant part of it with heavy artillery was entrusted to Prince Trubetskoy, who was supposed to deliver military and food supplies, accompanied by the part of the army left for that, previously stationed in a more remote region in apartments.
The army moved into the steppe in five columns under the command of Generals Spiegel, Prince of Hesse-Hamburg, Izmailov, Leontiev and Tarakanov. Commander-in-Chief Minich himself was in the forefront. The Cossacks said that on their way the Russian army would find food and fodder; Minich trusted them and was not very concerned about the speedy delivery of supplies by Prince Trubetskoy, and this prince was so slow that he reached the point when Minich had finished his campaign. To ensure communication between the army and Ukraine, Minikh, on the way across the steppe, ordered redoubts to be set up at a distance of five and ten miles from one another and to leave ten soldiers and thirty Cossacks in each under the supervision of a chief officer, and on three large retrenchments from 400 to 500 people with a staff officer.
After minor skirmishes with the enemy Spiegel's column, the army approached Perekop on May 28. The Perekop Isthmus was dug with a ditch seven versts long: the ditch was up to twelve yards wide and seven yards deep. Behind this ditch was a rampart up to 70 feet high from the top to the bottom of the ditch. Six stone towers covered the entire line of the rampart; Behind this rampart was the fortress of Perekopskaya. Khan, as reported by the captives, was not far from the hundred thousandth army.
Minich began by writing to the khan, informing him that he had come with an army to punish the Tatars who raided Russian possessions, and asked the khan to voluntarily let the Russian garrison into the Perekop fortress and recognize superiority over him Russian empress; otherwise, he threatened to devastate the entire Crimea. Khan sent Murza with an answer in the following sense: the khan is a tributary of the Turkish sovereign and does not want to betray him; he cannot let the Russians into Perekop, because the Turkish garrison is placed there not from the Crimean Khan, but from Turkey itself; the Tatars did not give a reason for war, and if they made raids, then the legs did it, and the Russian troops can deal with them, as was done before: these people, although they are under the rule of the khan, are not always obedient to this authority and allow themselves self-will . To top it off, the khan asked the field marshal to suspend hostilities and then enter into explanations.
But Munnich did not then come to spend time explaining. Having sent the Khan's Murza with a refusal, the field marshal the next day, before dawn, sent two thousand five hundred people to the right in the direction of the Perekop line, and at the same time the Russian army moved with its entire mass to the left. Tatars, deceived fake movement two thousand five hundred detachment, rushed at him, and suddenly suddenly saw the Russian forces on the other side. The Russians reached the ditch and stopped for a short time. The ditch was very wide. But this ditch was dry. The soldiers went down to the bottom, and from there they began to climb the rampart. Instead of ladders, they were served with pikes, bayonets and slingshots. The rear ones helped the front ones, and then, holding on to them, they climbed themselves, and so they reached the top of the rampart under strong enemy fire. Such fearlessness struck the Tatars: they fled. Turkish janissaries were sitting in the towers. By order of Minich, the Prince of Hesse-Hamburg sent the St. Petersburg Grenadier Regiment of Captain Manstein with sixty people from his company to one of the towers. The grenadiers cut through the doors: Manstein went inside and demanded surrender. The Janissaries, of course, agreed and began to lay down their weapons, but then a dispute arose between the grenadiers and the Janissaries, and then a fight: the Janissaries killed six and wounded sixteen grenadiers; the grenadiers killed all the Janissaries, and there were one hundred and sixty of them in the tower. Then the Janissaries, who were sitting in other towers, left them and fled after the Tatars. Minich demanded surrender from the Perekop commandant: it was promised to escort everyone to the seaside pier to sail to Turkey. The commandant agreed to everything. But when the Turks laid down their arms, they were all declared prisoners of war under the pretext that, contrary to the peace treaty, two hundred Russian merchants were detained, and when their freedom is restored, then the Turks taken in Perekop will be released to the fatherland.
The city of Perekop, containing up to 800 wooden houses and surrounded by a wall of sandstone crumbling from cannon shots, was immediately occupied by one Russian regiment, and on June 4, Minikh sent Lieutenant General Leontiev with ten thousand to Kinburn. With the remaining generals, Minich held a military council - what to do next. Many were of the opinion that they should not be driven into the interior of the country, since food for the army remained for no more than twelve days, but it was better to fortify at Perekop and wait for the arrival of Prince. Trubetskoy with a convoy. Minich opposed this and insisted that it was necessary to go forward and inflict fear on the Tatars; he hoped that the convoy would be in time and catch up with them, and if it were late, the army could be fed at the expense of the enemy region.
And the army went through the waterless wilderness into the depths Crimean peninsula. The Tatars deliberately spoiled the water, which was already scarce in the wells. Their flying detachments disturbed the army, moving in a quadrangle. When the army settled down for the day in Balchik, the Tatars approached it. Major General Gein, who was seconded against them, although he was not defeated, did not exactly fulfill the instructions given by the field marshal, and for this he was immediately brought to court-martial and demoted to the soldiers. Minich was extremely strict about the matter of discipline in the army. Day after day went by. The heat was unbearable. The soldiers disappeared from thirst and heat. The delivery of the expected supplies did not come due to the slowness of Prince Trubetskoy. The General Prince of Hesse-Hamburg, who had already been at enmity with Minich, and after him other generals, including Biron's close relative, who bore the same surname, reproaches Minich among his subordinates that he destroys an entire army in order to satisfy his ambition and acts completely against the wishes and prescriptions of the Petersburg court. Fortunately for Minich, the army, still not waiting for Prince Trubetskoy with the convoy, suddenly found food for themselves. On the tenth day of the journey from Perekop, it reached the city of Khazleiva (Kozlov-Evpatoria) and entered there without any resistance: all the Muslim inhabitants of this city fled from there in advance, having managed to take with them what was possible in a hurry, and set fire to the houses of Christian merchants behind them . But those who fled to take everything with them were not able to. The Russians in the deserted and half-burnt city found treasures buried in the ground - gold, silver, pearls; copper, iron and lead were in abundance, rice and wheat were so abundant that Minich distributed them as food to the soldiers for twenty-four days.
In addition, the Russians managed to capture ten thousand sheep and several hundred pieces of cattle, and this was very useful, since the soldiers had not eaten anything meat for two weeks.
After spending five days in Hazleiva in order to give the bakers time to make bread and crackers for the soldiers, Minich moved on. He chose a path near the sea: the Tatars did not expect the Russians to go there, and did not make devastation; therefore, the Russians could get fodder on this way: Minich spread a rumor among the enemies that he was returning to Perekop.
Meanwhile, on June 27, the army approached the Khan's capital Bakhchisaray. Minich left most of the troops with luggage, entrusting the leadership to Spiegel, he himself went around the mountains with another part, and at dawn the Russians were right under the city. The Tatars did not expect this and were extremely surprised to see Russians there at such a time. They attacked Don Cossacks and on the Vladimir infantry regiment, they managed to force them to lean back, and took away one gun. But when General Leslie arrived in time with five other regiments, the Tatars immediately fled. Panic fear attacked all the inhabitants of Bakhchisaray. They left their homes, took with them what they could grab, and fled to the mountains.
In Bakhchisarai at that time there were two thousand houses: a third of them belonged to Christians of Greek origin. The Russians burned everything. The beautiful Khan's palace, which consisted of many buildings and surrounded by gardens, was reduced to ashes. The Jesuit house with the library burned down. The Jesuits themselves left the city in advance.
Having dealt with Bakhchisarai, on June 29, Minikh withdrew his army to the Alma River. The convoy that went with Munnich also arrived there; the Tatars attacked him, but unsuccessfully.
On July 3, the commander-in-chief detached generals Izmailov and Magnus Biron with eight thousand soldiers and two thousand Cossacks to Akmechet (now Simferopol), the capital of Kalgi-saltan and its murzas. The Russians did not find a soul in the city: two days later the inhabitants left. The Russians robbed everything they could find and burned the whole city, which then had eighteen hundred wooden houses.
Minich intended to go to Kafu, the richest and most populous city on Black Sea coast. This was opposed at the military council by all the generals.
They imagined that a third of the army was ill, and many were so weak that they were unable to move further, meanwhile, on this path, there were no hopes ahead of delivering food to people and horses, since the Tatars, waiting for their enemies, burned all the surroundings of Kafa to a distant space. In addition, the heat increased. Minich had to keep his warlike enthusiasm and turn to Perekop. The army reached Perekop on July 17 and, to everyone's pleasure, met General Arakcheev, who brought grain supplies from Ukraine, and with him the sutlers arrived and brought a large amount of wine and all kinds of food. So, after many labors and hardships, the army felt abundance. To multiply the joy, the news came that Lieutenant General Leontiev took Kinburn without losing a single person: the Turks surrendered him without a fight and, by capitulation, left the fortress among two thousand; two hundred and fifty Christian slaves kept in the fortress were released. Russians in Kinburn found a lot of cattle and sheep. Minich ordered to blow up the Perekop fortifications with gunpowder and on July 28 moved to Ukraine. The Tatars did not disturb the returning Russian army. General Leontiev joined the main army.
On the banks of the Samara River, Minikh reviewed his army. There was not a single regiment where the number of employees reached the full set: in those days, the full set of the infantry regiment extended to 1575 people with the inclusion of officers, and the set of the cavalry regiment - 1231 people. Now there was not a single one where there would be more than 600 people. Meanwhile, it was reliably known that the number of those killed by the enemy did not exceed two thousand. The army was reduced by disease and deprivation. The slowness of the book contributed a lot to this. Trubetskoy and the malfunction of the commissariat in delivery livelihoods at the right time. But Field Marshal Munnich himself was accused of not pitying his soldiers, leading them during the summer heat of the day, not giving rest, and taking too lightly the failure to deliver Prince. Trubetskoy of food, hoping to feed the army at the expense of the enemy country. The campaign in the Crimea cost Russia up to thirty thousand people. Munnich's opponent, the Prince of Hesse-Hamburg, raised the generals against him, and from the last murmurs against the field marshal passed to the headquarters and chief officers and even reached the rank and file.
Upon arrival in Ukraine, Minikh, in order to prevent Tatar winter raids through the ice of the Dnieper into the Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine, made an order from the first frosts to cut ice on the rivers and for this use soldiers and drive the people. This aroused grumbling between soldiers and villagers, and did not reach the goal, because in February 1737 the Tatars broke into Ukraine through the Dnieper at Keleberda; General Leslie, who defended the pass, was killed and many officers were taken prisoner.
The Prince of Hesse-Hamburg did not limit himself to inciting the generals of his army against Minich, but also wrote and sent a denunciation to the field marshal to Duke Biron, and although Biron sent this denunciation to Minich himself, he left an unpleasant impression at court. This was not slow to take advantage of Minikhov's ill-wishers and envious people. Despite the fact that Munnich's main enemy, Oberstalmeister Levenvold, had died, in the office itself they wanted to humiliate the field marshal: they decided to discuss Munnich's actions in the military council and indicate the reasons for the large loss of troops. The chairmanship of this council belonged to Field Marshal Lassi, who, during Minich’s campaign in the Crimea through Perekop, besieging Azov for a month and a half, forced him to surrender and then went to connect with Minich, but, having learned that Minich was already returning, he himself turned to Sloboda Ukraine. Now he was instructed to analyze the actions of his comrade, who had recently acquired such fame and importance that he was becoming higher than him. Lassie turned down such an assignment. He was not replaced by anyone else, and so there was no investigation of Minich's actions, and Empress Anna not only did not show Minich her displeasure, but also rewarded him with estates in Ukraine, which were at the disposal of the late Weisbach.
In the spring of 1737 a campaign against the Turks was again undertaken. The Petersburg government concluded an agreement with the Vienna court on the mutual action of troops against the Turks, a new recruitment was made - 40,000 people, orders were made to set up stores, and in Bryansk it was supposed to build flat-bottomed ships at the shipyard to launch them on the Dnieper.
At the end of March 1737, Field Marshal Munnich gave an order that the entire army, whose number ranged from 60 to 70 thousand people, be ready for the campaign twenty-four hours after receiving the warrant. In early April, everyone left the apartments where they had been put up for the winter. From the end of April to May 6 (NS), the army crossed the Dnieper at three points: at Perevolnaya, at Orlik, and at Kremenchug. June 3 (N. S.) All departments joined on the Omelnik River; from June 25 (NS) to July 2 (NS) the army crossed the Bug. Wanting to hide his real intentions, Minich showed everyone the appearance that he was heading towards the Benders. He hid even from the Poles, who seemed to be allies. When the adjutant of the Polish Crown Hetman Potocki came to the General-Field Marshal, Minikh, treating him, proposed a toast to the happy success of Russian weapons near Ochakov, and at the same time, in the form of special confidence in him, announced the proposed route to Bendery.
The Pole, who was then sent to see where Minich would lead his army, was at a loss and did not know what to convey to those who had given him the order. It was all the more difficult for the Turks to find out about Minich's plans. Just in case, they were waiting for him at Bender, but they sent significant reinforcements to Ochakov.
Minich accelerated his campaign and headed for Ochakov, wanting to get there before the enemy had time to gather strength there. But heavy artillery, combat and food stocks followed the water, and this was in charge of the same Prince Trubetskoy, who declared himself to be incompetent during the last campaign. And now the same thing happened. When Minich with the whole army was already approaching Ochakov, Prince Trubetskoy was not there, although he should have arrived there before the troops. The army found itself without fodder, without firewood, without fascines, and there was no forest around to get the necessary supplies. Contemporaries found it strange that Munnich was so gullible towards a man who had already shown his inability. Evil tongues of that time attributed the reasons for the indulgence of the field marshal to Prince. Trubetskoy's attention to the wife of the latter, famous beauty of his century. Prince Trubetskoy subsequently justified himself by the fact that in that summer there was little water on the Dnieper, and therefore more time was spent during transportation through the rapids than would normally be required.
Approaching Ochakov at night from 10 to 11 (new style) July and seeing the fire of the suburbs, lit, in view of the approach of the Russians, by the Ochakov commandant himself, on the morning of the 11th in the camp located between the mouth of the Dnieper and the Black Sea, Minich gathered a military council and on he declared that it was impossible to delay, so as not to give the enemy time to bring fresh forces to Ochakov, and that Ochakov should be taken with all possible speed. Minich hoped that the flotilla of Prince. Trubetskoy will come soon and the army will not be put in a difficult position for a long time.
At first they thought of digging trenches and pouring redoubts, but the earth turned out to be excessively hard. Fortunately for the Russians, there were gardens with earthen fences near the city. The Russians turned them into redoubts. In one such garden, they set up heavy artillery and began to throw bombs, which, bursting in the fortress, set fires there. On the 13th (N.S. or 2nd Art.) July, an hour before dawn, a flame broke out in the corner where, according to the plan that Minich managed to get himself in advance, there was a gunpowder magazine. Shots were sent there.
Meanwhile, in order to distract the besieged and prevent them from extinguishing the fire, Minich, in the hope of luring them to the other side, ordered a general attack. Generals Rumyantsev and Biron commanded on the right wing, Keith and Levendal commanded on the left. The field marshal himself reinforced those going on the attack, exposing himself personally to dangers - a horse was killed under him. With him, Prince Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick was inseparable, who was already being tagged as a fiancé to the Empress's niece. The army reached a ditch 12 feet wide, the bravest descended into it and from there tried in vain to climb to the opposite side: hit by enemy shots from above, they fell in heaps. So it took about two hours. Unable to climb, they began to retreat. General Rumyantsev was the first to notice that the fire produced by Russian bombs was approaching the powder magazine, and fearing that the explosion would not harm the besiegers, he signaled to retreat. The left wing was carried away by the retreat of the right. Several hundred Turks jumped out of the fortress and attacked the retreating, many were killed by the Turks, and the wounded were unable to keep up with the others: it was like a flight. If the seraskir and the commandant of the Ochakov fortress had guessed and hit with all their might on the fugitives, the victory would have been on the side of the Turks, and the Russians would have been forced to leave the siege. Minich was in terrible agitation. Artillery corrected the matter.
With a terrifying crash, a gunpowder magazine flew into the air, and after that a white banner appeared, and a Turkish adjutant appeared to the Russian commander-in-chief to ask for a truce for several hours. Minich understood what was happening, rejected the offer and demanded that the entire Turkish garrison surrender to prisoners of war within one hour, otherwise he threatened to show no mercy to anyone. Meanwhile, Seraskir, having sent this adjutant to Minich, planned to make his way from the fortress to the sea with part of the garrison and escape, boarding the Turkish galleys at the time when the articles of surrender were being drawn up. But the Russian hussars and Cossacks did not allow him to the sea with the Turks who were with him, drove him into the fortress, and after them they themselves broke in there and began to beat the Turks. Then the seraskier sent another adjutant to the Field Marshal General to announce that he was surrendering unconditionally. The gates of the fortress opened; the garrison laid down their weapons and was taken to the Russian camp for prisoners of war. About two hundred 7, and according to other news, up to two thousand 8 Turks managed to get to the galleys, but many could not get there, because the helmsmen, seeing that the city was taken by the Russians, hastily weighed anchor and raised sails, and the Turks from Ochakov, who wanted sail away with them, rushed after the ships by swimming and, weakened, drowned. Others, before the withdrawal of the garrison into captivity, were stabbed to death by the Russians who broke into the fortress. Seventeen thousand Turkish corpses were buried by the Russians on July 20 (NS). Big number they died under the ruins of collapsed walls and buildings. During the explosion of a gunpowder magazine, more than six thousand of them died, and after this explosion, two more such magazines caught fire, and many Russians also died, who had already rushed to the conquered city to plunder. Of the Turkish garrison, which at first consisted of twenty thousand, only three thousand five hundred people surrendered as prisoners of war, and among them were the seraskir Yaya, the Ochakovo commandant Mustafa-aga and three hundred officers. Several hundred Christian slaves received freedom, fifty-four Greeks entered the Russian service as hussars. The Russians killed 68 officers and 987 privates with non-commissioned officers, and wounded about a hundred officers and 2703 privates.
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In January 1742, Prince Yakov Shakhovsky announced to the arrested dignitaries of Anna Leopoldovna the decree of the new Empress Elizaveta Petrovna on the decision of their fate. The condemned met their executor in different ways. Some, sobbing, hugged his knees, others moaned about their bitter fate. And only the former Field Marshal Munnich moved towards Shakhovsky, fearlessly awaiting the verdict.
Shakhovskoy, who had once served under the command of Munnich, recognized this courageous look of wide-open eyes, "with which I have had occasion to see him repeatedly in dangerous battles with the enemy, fumigated with gunpowder."
Yes, Minich was a real daredevil and embodied the then common type of landsknecht, a mercenary who was ready to sell his sword to hell. For him there was nothing sacred, except for ambition and, of course, money.
Mercenary, informer, engineer
Burchard Christopher Minich was born in the Duchy of Oldenburg in 1683. His father received the nobility after the birth of his son, which is why Minich himself, a commoner by birth, was always eager to prove his superiority to everyone. His father was a military engineer, a builder of dams and canals, and the capable Burchard followed the same path, having adopted considerable knowledge from his father. For two decades of service, engineer Munnich, like many other landsknechts, changed five armies! His early biography is woven from the wars in which he participated, and constant quarrels and duels with his colleagues. In the late 1710s, while serving in the Saxon army of August II, he quarreled with his boss, Field Marshal Fleming, and decided to once more to change the banner, for which he turned to Peter I, sending him his treatise on fortification.
This was the beginning of the Russian biography of Munnich. He was engaged in the fortifications of Riga and Kronstadt, and since 1723, the construction of the Ladoga Canal. With the disgrace in 1727 of Menshikov, Minikh's main enemy, the latter's career went up sharply: Minikh became a count, governor-general of St. Petersburg, received an estate in Livonia.
And with the beginning of the reign of Anna Ioannovna in 1730, a golden age began for Munnich. He quickly became one of the most trusted dignitaries of the new empress. Minich not only took the oath of St. Petersburg entrusted to him to the new empress, but also denounced Admiral Peter Sievers, who, during the days of Anna Ioannovna's election to the throne, showed a clear preference for the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth. According to Munnich's denunciation, Sievers was stripped of all titles and orders and went into exile for ten years.
There is no doubt that Munnich was a good engineer. He successfully completed and opened the Ladoga Canal. It is noteworthy that he not only did his job well, but was even better able to present it.
Minich made such a fuss about his success that the propagandists of later times can envy him. He personally drove foreign envoys along the canal "to inspect the great and very fair work there." In 1732, he even lured Anna Ioannovna, a small huntress before trips, to the canal. Then he stood at the head of the military department, received the rank of field marshal.
Charming and deceitful
It would be a mistake to present Munnich as a rude martinet. The letters left after him speak of the sophistication of the mind. Minich had a pompous, flamboyant style. In a letter to Catherine II, he wrote: "Come, empress of high spirit, all of Russia, all of Europe, both Indias, look for where you will find such a rare bird ... But you will say:" Who is this such an extraordinary person? empress! This is the person whom you know better than others, who is constantly at your feet, to whom you reach out your hand to raise him ... "
I think that these sublime formulas have been tested by their author on many ladies, and there is evidence of this. Here is what Lady Rondo wrote to her correspondent in England in 1735: “You say that you imagine him as an old man, whose appearance is characterized by all the rudeness of a soldier who has been in alterations .... He has a beautiful face, very white skin, he is tall and slender, and all his movements are soft and graceful. He dances well, from all his actions he breathes youth, with the ladies he behaves like one of the most gallant gentlemen of this court and, being among the representatives of our sex, radiates gaiety and tenderness. "
Lady Rondo adds that at the same time, Minih lacks a sense of proportion and seems very deceitful: "Sincerity is a quality with which, in my opinion, he is not familiar."
This portrait cannot but be recognized as accurate. To deal with Minich, and especially to serve under him, meant to experience humiliation, to know slander, to be drawn into endless intrigues. Courage and determination, charm and courtesy were combined in him with incredible aplomb, narcissism, arrogance, arrogance and rudeness.
However, there were limits for Munnich. They were installed by another, even more powerful person, whom everyone was afraid of - the favorite of the Empress Anna, Duke Biron. A jealous favorite, a purely civilian man, Biron was afraid to lose in Anna's eyes to this warrior in brilliant armor. Therefore, the favorite tried to direct all tremendous energy field marshal in another direction - instructed him to fight on the borders of the empire, away from St. Petersburg.
Scammer and lucky
Sent to the Russian-Polish war of 1733-35, Minich then almost continuously fought with the Turks in the south. With his arrival in the army, such quarrels and scandals began among the generals, which the Russian army did not know either before or after Minich.
Minich had an amazing talent for making mortal enemies: first he brought people closer to him, and then he rudely insulted him. There was not a general in the army with whom Minich would not quarrel. In 1736, a real conspiracy formed in the army against the field marshal, whom the enraged generals were ready to kill.
All this caused the Empress to worry. She demanded from the diplomats an urgent conclusion of peace with the Porte, and from the generals - an end to the quarrel. Minich received the highest reprimand and calmed down a little.
Meanwhile, Munnich himself was a would-be commander. In his actions during the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. you can see so many gross mistakes, ill-conceived decisions, unjustified human losses!
But surprisingly - luck and happiness never left him! He was saved from defeat more than once by a happy accident or fantastic luck. When he took the Turkish fortress of Ochakov, he was almost defeated. Attacked in the forehead by Russian regiments, the fortress successfully repulsed the assault. Minich, seeing the death of a third of his army, was already ready to fall into despair, when the main powder magazine in the fortress suddenly exploded and a monstrous explosion destroyed all the fortifications and half of the Turkish garrison.
Otherwise, Minich acted like many Russian commanders - he ruined soldiers without measure, for which he received the nickname "Flayer" in the army.
With a scythe on the shoulder
In 1740 he finally tried to play a political role. After the death of Anna Ioannovna, he showed himself to be a supporter of the regent Biron, and then unexpectedly plotted and overthrew the temporary worker, arresting him in bed. He hoped to take first place under the ruler Anna Leopoldovna and receive the coveted rank of generalissimo. But the ruler, proceeding from the principle "I love a traitor - I hate betrayal", transferred this rank to her husband, Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick.
Annoyed, Minich defiantly submitted a letter of resignation, which Anna Leopoldovna, who had long suffered from Minich's exorbitant ambitions, immediately signed. So, unexpectedly for himself, the field marshal, full of strength and plans, turned out to be a pensioner.
But they were afraid of him: until Minich moved from the palace where he lived to his own house, the ruler slept in different rooms every night, fearing that Minich would do to her what he had done to Biron.
And then there was a coup in 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna came to power. Companions of the ruler were arrested and sentenced to death, including Minich. When they were led to their execution in January 1742, Minich behaved best of all: smart, clean-shaven, he walked calmly and had a friendly conversation about something with a security officer who, perhaps, had once served under him.
I especially emphasize that Minich was shaved, while all the other criminals were overgrown with beards - which means that the guards gave Minich a razor without fear that he, as happened with those sentenced to death, would commit suicide. The guards had no doubts - they knew that a brave warrior would meet death as it should, boldly and courageously. But Elizabeth pardoned Minich and exiled him to Siberia.
And now Shakhovskoy read the verdict. Minich and his wife got into a sleigh, and they were taken to Siberia, to exile, to Pelym.
People in exile behave differently. Some drink too much, others run wild, others die of longing. Not that Minich! In the difficult conditions of the polar Pelym, he showed courage and patience. He became interested in gardening, and when he got the opportunity to go beyond the prison, he took up cattle breeding and field cultivation. During the long polar nights, by candlelight, the field marshal sorted and sorted the seeds, knitted nets.
A lot of things awaited Munnich in the barnyard, where he had cows and other livestock. In the summer, the Pelymians could see how Minikh, in a burnt-out field marshal's uniform without insignia, with a scythe on his shoulder, went to haymaking with mowers hired by him.
When the longed-for moment of freedom came in the spring of 1762 and Munnich returned to St. Petersburg, all his numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who met the patriarch at the entrance to St. Petersburg, were shocked when a brave tall old man, straight and cheerful, jumped out of the road wagon in a torn sheepskin coat. He seemed, as a contemporary wrote, "not touched by corruption, upheavals of happiness." And meanwhile, he was almost 80 years old!
Arriving from Siberia, Munnich tried again to take a prominent place at court. It was he who, during the coup of Catherine II in June 1762, advised Peter III in Peterhof to mount a horse, go to St. Petersburg and personally suppress the rebellion. Where there! Peter III was a coward - he did not go himself and did not send Minich.
But in vain! Of course, the aged field marshal would hardly have defeated the rebels in battle, but under the influence of his bizarre fortune, some bridge could collapse or something could fall from above on the conspirators, and the history of Russia would have gone a different way. But that did not happen. Peter III was successfully overthrown, Catherine II reigned, and Minich remained a useless old man.
In 1767 he died, and we all often pass by the place where he is buried - the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Prospekt.
Russian commander and statesman, count (1728), field marshal general (1732).
Burchard Christoph Munnich was born on May 9 (19), 1683 in the county of Oldenburg in the family of a hydraulic engineer. He received a thorough education, focused mainly on engineering.
In the years 1700-1720, B.K. Minich served as an engineer in the French, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel and Polish-Saxon armies, gained combat experience in the War of the Spanish Succession.
In 1721, having the rank of major general of the Polish-Saxon army, B.K. Minich came to and was introduced. He successfully passed tests for knowledge of engineering (he was instructed to draw a fortification plan), received the rank of major general in the Russian service, and soon lieutenant general. In Russia, they began to call him Christopher Antonovich.
Since 1723, Kh. A. Minikh supervised the construction of the Ladoga Canal (completed in 1728). In 1726 he was promoted to General-in-Chief and awarded the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. The promotion of H. A. Munnich was harmed by hostile relations with, while his patron was. After the fall in 1727, Munnich's career went up sharply: in 1728 he received the title of count, and in 1729 - the post of Feldzeugmeister General. Peter II appointed Kh. A. Munnich as governor-general.
The peak of H. A. Munnich's career fell on the years of his reign. In 1731 he became a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, Chief of Police and President of the Military College, in 1732 he received the rank of Field Marshal. Kh. A. Minikh carried out a number of important transformations in the Russian army. On his initiative, a decree was issued on equalizing the salaries of Russian and foreign officers, the Shlyakhetsky Cadet Corps was founded, which soon turned into one of the best educational institutions. Also H. A. Minich is credited with the creation of heavy cavalry in the Russian army - a cuirassier. Thanks to his efforts, the first hussar regiments appeared.
Kh. A. Minikh developed and put into effect a number of new documents of a statutory nature concerning the training of troops, the organization of combat, the structure of army regiments, etc.
In 1734-1735, H. A. Minich commanded the Russian troops in the War of the Polish Succession, took Danzig (Gdansk) and secured the Polish throne for King August III. In the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739, the troops of H. A. Minich captured Perekop, penetrated the Crimea and captured the capital Crimean Khanate- Bakhchisaray. In July 1737, he stormed the fortress of Ochakov. In August 1739, the army of Kh. A. Minich defeated the Turkish troops, which outnumbered them in the battle near Stavuchany, after which the Khotyn fortress capitulated.
After the death in 1740, H. A. Minich, together with organized a palace coup, which removed the favorite of the empress from power. In 1741, with the accession to the throne, the field marshal was arrested, tried and sentenced to death, replaced by exile in the town of the Tobolsk province of the Siberian province.
In 1762 he returned Kh. A. Munnich from exile and returned to him all the ranks and awards. The field marshal occupied a prominent position at court. Being with the person of the emperor on the day of the coup d'état on June 28 (July 9), 1762, H. A. Minich gave him a number of valuable advice on how to organize resistance to the conspirators, but the emperor did not listen to them. When the case was lost, the commander swore allegiance and was appointed commander-in-chief of the ports of Rogervik, Reval, Narva, Kronstadt, and also over the Ladoga Canal.
In the last years of his life H. A. Munnich was engaged in the construction of a port in Rogervik (now Paldiski in Estonia).
Khristofor Antonovich Minich died on October 16 (27), 1767 in Dorpat (now the Estonian city of Tartu), and was buried in his Livonian estate Lunia.
