Mikhail Miloradovich
Vladimir Nabokov called him "a gallant soldier, bon vivant and a somewhat bizarre administrator";[6] Alexander Herzen wrote that he was "one of those military men who occupied the most senior positions in civilian life with not the slightest idea about public affairs".December 13] 1825, Miloradovich exercised de facto dictatorial authority, but he ultimately recognised Nicholas as his sovereign after the Romanovs had sorted out their confusion over the succession.The Miloradovichs descended from an Eastern Orthodox Serb noble family and a katun clan from Hum, who rose to a station of prominent of Sanjak of Herzegovina.[13] Sixteen-year-old Mikhail returned to Russia in 1787, joined the army as a praporshchik (a junior commissioned officer rank) in the Izmaylovsky Regiment and was soon sent into action in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790.A captain of the Guards in 1796, Paul I regarded him favorably and he was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1797 and major general and chief of the Apsheron Artillery Regiment in 1798.[18] Miloradovich played a key role in the Battle of Amstetten, where Mikhail Kutuzov ordered his three regiments to take a stand and provide relief for Pyotr Bagration's troops.[14] At the beginning of the 1812 campaign, Miloradovich was tasked with assembling and training volunteer militia troops in the hinterland; he returned to action on the eve of the Battle of Borodino with 14,600 militiamen.[33] Riding in advance of his troops, Miloradovich was caught up in the heat of the battle for Semyonovskoe and, together with Barclay de Tolly, Yermolov and Rayevsky, sought refuge in the defences of the Fourth Division.Hereford George wrote that "Murat apparently deemed it beneath his dignity to confer with a mere general" and that he left the talks to Sébastiani.Sébastiani honored the accord, called back the cavalry and allowed the safe retreat of two Russian regiments trapped between advancing French columns.[42] Four days later, Murat engaged Miloradovich and forced him to fall back to Krasnaya Pakhra[43] (deliberately setting a trap, according to Glinka[44]).[52] Miloradovich marched directly on Vyazma, occupied by four French corps (Beauharnais, Davout, Ney, Poniatowski), while Platov closed in on it from the north.Davout lost two hours taking a detour to reunite with Ney in Vyazma; at 2 p.m., when Miloradovich ordered a general assault, the French were already unable to resist.[54] The next day, Beauharnais exhausted his troops in a breakthrough and refused Miloradovich's invitation to surrender; at night the decimated remains of his corps escaped through the woods.[59] The appointment of Peter Wittgenstein as commander-in-chief of the united Russian and Prussian armies provoked open hostility from his new subordinates and, at the same time, from his seniors: Miloradovich, Barclay de Tolly, Langeron, Platov and Tormasov.In August 1813, after expiry of the Truce of Pläswitz, Miloradovich led the reserve force of 24,000 Guards and Grenadiers into Bohemia and Constantine followed him with 11,000 "splendid cavalry"[69] and artillery.[73] Miloradovich's actions in 1813 were rewarded with the Order of St. Andrew, the title of count and the right to wear Alexander's insignia on his shoulder, the first such honor ever granted in Russia.After General Gorchakov's infantry overran the French defensive artillery, Miloradovich was the one to bring in twenty howitzers and open fire at the city.As chief of police, Miloradovich controlled political surveillance and investigation in Saint Petersburg, but the events of 1825 demonstrated that he ultimately failed to respond to the real threat: he dismissed the evidence against the Decembrists, saying "It's all stuff; leave these young blockheads alone to read to each other their trash of miserable verses."[77] His affection for the arts and his ex officio duty as a censor at the peak of the Golden Age of Russian Poetry resulted in frequent contacts with authors and actors, and, apart from his death and his actions during the disastrous flood of 1824, his administration was remembered largely through anecdotes and artists' memoirs of varying reliability.This was not uncommon for Russian commanders; Nikolay Raevsky said "They [the writers of his time] turned me into a Roman, Miloradovich into a great man, Wittgenstein into the saviour of the fatherland, and Kutuzov into Fabius.According to these sources, Miloradovich "had a weakness for women" and regularly spent evenings in the company of Shakhovskoy and female trainees of his theatre school; the chosen favorites then enjoyed the general's benevolence after graduation.[91] Alexandra Kolosova, in 1822, was the first actress to break the ring and flee to Paris;[88] upon return to Saint Petersburg she sought protection from Alexander, but Miloradovich had her arrested for twenty-four hours for turning down "the most insignificant role" offered to her.(Durova, disguised as a young man, was aide to Miloradovich in 1810 and later wrote about his affairs with women and their influence on the general's demeanor and on his relationships with subordinate officers.November 27] 1825, when news of Alexander's death in Taganrog reached Saint Petersburg, Miloradovich bullied Nicholas into pledging allegiance to Constantine, who was then living in Warsaw as viceroy of Poland.[100] Golitsyn arrived at the palace later and announced the terms of Alexander's manifest, but Miloradovich persuaded the State Council that Nicholas was aware of it and that his pledge of allegiance to Constantine was effectively an act of abdication.December 12], Nicholas received detailed reports of the brewing Decembrist revolt from Diebitsch and Chernyshov,[110] and discussed the matter with Miloradovich and Golitsyn.[115] The actions of Miloradovich during the interregnum were highly controversial and provoked fringe conspiracy theories placing him at the top of the Decembrist rebel ring.Once again Miloradovich assured Nicholas that the city was "perfectly tranquil";[111][122] Alexander von Benckendorff and other witnesses wrote that he was in his usual boastful, optimistic mood.[126] According to Nicholas, Miloradovich told him: "Сеlа va mаl; ils marchent au Sénat, mais je vais leur раrlеr"[111] (French: "That is bad; they are marching toward the Senate, but I will talk to them").
Eastern Slavic naming customspatronymicfamily nameMiloradovichGeorge DaweGovernor General of Saint PetersburgSergey VyazmitinovSaint PetersburgRussian EmpireAnnunciation ChurchAlexander Nevsky LavraAlma materUniversity of GöttingenUniversity of KönigsbergImperial Russian ArmyIzmailovsky Life Guards RegimentImperial GuardRusso-Swedish War (1788–1790)Italian and Swiss expeditionCombat of LeccoBattle of the TrebbiaBattle of NoviBattle of the Gotthard PassBattle of MuottentalWar of the Third CoalitionBattle of AmstettenBattle of DürensteinBattle of AusterlitzRusso-Turkish War (1806-1812)Patriotic War of 1812Battle of BorodinoBattle of TarutinoBattle of MaloyaroslavetsBattle of VyazmaBattle of KrasnoiWar of the Sixth CoalitionBattle of LützenBattle of BautzenBattle of KulmBattle of LeipzigBattle of Arcis-sur-AubeBattle of BrienneBattle of Fère-ChampenoiseDecembrist RevoltOrder of St. GeorgeOrder of St. AndrewOrder of St. VladimirOrder of St. AnnaOrder of St. John of JerusalemOrder of St. Alexander NevskyOrder of the Red EagleOrder of Saints Maurice and LazarusIron CrossGolden Weapon "For Bravery"RussianSerbianNapoleonic WarsMiloradovićSanjak of HerzegovinaBosnia and HerzegovinaRusso-Swedish War of 1788–1790Paul IAlexander SuvorovPyotr Bagrationmilitary history of RussiaOttoman Empirecapture of BucharestBattle of Paris (1814)BayardVladimir NabokovAlexander HerzenAlexander INicholas IRomanovsSenate SquarePyotr KakhovskyYevgeny ObolenskyAndrei MiloradovichMiloradovichsSerbian CyrillicPeter Irebellion against the TurksHerzegovinaHadiach RegimentPavlo PolubotokLittle RussiaChernigov governoratePoltava GovernorateKönigsbergGöttingenStrasbourgNikolai LeskovpraporshchikIzmaylovsky RegimentThe Italian and Swiss expedition (1799-1800)Battle of Cassanocrossing of the Gotthard PassBassignanaAltdorfAdolphe ThiersOrder of St. AnneConstantineMikhail KutuzovBowdenKarl Wilhelm von TollRusso-Turkish War (1806–1812)MoldaviaWallachiaBucharestIvan Ivanovich MichelsonSébastianiGiurgiuAlexander ProzorovskyAlexanderBelarusFrench invasion of RussiamilitiaBaggovutOstermann-TolstoySmolenskBarclay de TollyYermolovRayevskyCouncilurban warfareHereford George