Short biography. General Ermolov briefly about the Chechens. How General Ermolov weaned the Chechens from trading hostages Biography of Ermolov, hero of the Caucasian war

I. YERMOLOV But behold, a howl rises up in the east!.. Lower your snowy head, Humble yourself, Caucasus, - Ermolov is coming! A. Pushkin...And you, unforgettable Ermolov, glory to Russia, fear to the mountaineers, whose name, like a sacred covenant, is carved into the mountains with bayonets... Domontovich in 1816, when he appears in the Caucasus

XI. YERMOLOV IN CHECHNYA (1825–1826) The Chechen rebellion of 1825 found Yermolov in Tiflis. Confident in General Grekov, who commanded on the Sunzhenskaya line, he was, however, calm, when suddenly in July thunderous news arrived about the death of both Grekov and Lisanevich in Gerzel-aul. Not on line

XLIV. YERMOLOV IN THE PERSIAN WAR (Paskevich and Dibich) In the summer of 1826, the Persian War suddenly began, and at the same time Yermolov’s star bowed to the horizon. Ermolov, as a wonderful and original person, always had many enemies. Once I expressed this to him once

A. P. Ermolov: biographical sketch

Alexey Petrovich Ermolov undoubtedly belongs to the number of outstanding military and government figures in Russia. According to the Decembrist M.F. Orlov, the name of Ermolov “should serve as an adornment to our history.” “Your exploits are the property of the Fatherland, and your glory belongs to Russia,” A. S. Pushkin wrote to Ermolov. Ermolov was sung in the poems of Pushkin, Lermontov, Zhukovsky, the Decembrists Kondraty Ryleev, Fyodor Glinka, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker.

A.P. Ermolov came from an old but poor noble family. His father, Pyotr Alekseevich Ermolov (1747-1832), was the owner of a small estate of 150 peasants in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province. During the reign of Catherine II, he served as ruler of the office of Prosecutor General Count A. N. Samoilov, and with the accession of Paul I to the throne, he retired and settled in his village of Lukyanchikovo. A.P. Ermolov’s mother, nee Davydova, was in his second marriage to his father. On his mother’s side, A.P. Ermolov was related to the Davydovs, Potemkins, Raevskys and Orlovs. The famous partisan and poet Denis Davydov was his cousin.

A.P. Ermolov was born on May 24, 1777 in Moscow. At first he was educated at home. His first teacher was a farmer. Further, Ermolov was trained by rich and noble relatives, who invited home teachers. Ermolov completed his education at the Noble boarding school at Moscow University.

As was customary then, even in infancy Ermolov was enrolled in military service: in 1778 he was already listed as captain of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, and soon as a sergeant of this regiment. A.P. Ermolov began military service at the age of 15: in 1792 he was brought to St. Petersburg, promoted to captain and enlisted in the Nezhin Dragoon Regiment as senior adjutant to Lieutenant General A.N. Samoilov.

In 1794, Ermolov's military service began. That year he distinguished himself during the storming of the Warsaw suburb of Prague and was noticed by the commander of the Russian troops against the rebel army of Tadeusz Kosciuszko A.V. Suvorov. By personal order of Suvorov, Ermolov was awarded the Order of George, 4th degree. In 1795, Ermolov was returned to St. Petersburg and assigned to the 2nd bombardier battalion, but in the same year, under the patronage of the influential Count A.N. Samoilov, he was sent to Italy, where he was with the commander-in-chief of the Austrian troops, General Davis, who were operating against the French troops who were in Italy. However, Ermolov was soon summoned to St. Petersburg and assigned to the Caspian Corps of Count V.P. Zubov, directed against the army of Agha Mohammed Khan Qajar (from 1796 Shah of Iran) that had invaded Transcaucasia. After the death of Catherine II, Zubov's corps was withdrawn by Paul I from Transcaucasia.

At first, A.P. Ermolov’s military career was successful. In 1797, he was already with the rank of major, and on February 1, 1798, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed commander of a horse artillery company stationed in the small town of Nesvizh, Minsk province. But he was soon destined to endure severe trials.

The spread of educational ideas in Russia at the end of the 18th century. captured young Ermolov too. He became a member of a political circle led by his brother (on his mother’s side) A. M. Kakhovsky, who had a great influence on his younger brother. The circle was engaged in reading banned books, “praising” the French Republic, composing and rewriting satirical poems that ridiculed Paul I. The circle did not last long and was discovered by Paul’s secret police. A. M. Kakhovsky was arrested; during a search, a letter from A. P. Ermolov to him was discovered in his papers, who sharply “certified” his superiors. The letter was the reason for the arrest and interrogation of Ermolov, who was taken to St. Petersburg and put in the casemate of the Alekseevsky ravelin. Two months later, he was released from the casemate and sent into exile in Kostroma as a royal “mercy”. Here he met M.I. Platov, who was also in exile, later the famous ataman of the Don Army, hero of the War of 1812. In Kostroma exile, Ermolov intensively engaged in self-education: he read a lot, independently studied the Latin language, and made a number of translations from the works of Roman classics. He talks about the years of this exile in “Notes” about his youth, published in this publication.

The arrest, dungeon and exile had a strong effect on Ermolov. According to him, Paul I “taught me a cruel lesson in my early youth.” After this, secrecy, caution, and the ability to maneuver became characteristic features of Ermolov. He admitted that his “turbulent, ebullient nature” would subsequently be “unfortunate” if not for this “cruel lesson.” Later, he will demonstratively emphasize his loyalty to the regime and disinterest in political affairs.

During the accession of Alexander I, among many disgraced and exiled under Paul I, A.P. Ermolov was also returned from exile. On June 9, 1801, he was again accepted into service and sent to Vilna, where he remained until 1804. Despite the forgiveness and “mercy” of the new tsar, the senior military authorities for a long time prevented Ermolov’s further promotion in the service. This undoubtedly reflected the dislike of the all-powerful A. A. Arakcheev, who disliked the “impudent” artillery lieutenant colonel, as well as Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, who spoke of Ermolov like this: “Very sharp and very often to the point of impudence.” Ermolov’s secrecy and caution coexisted well with his sharp, caustic aphorisms and remarks, which were then passed from mouth to mouth and contributed to his popularity, especially among young officers, who saw in him a man of independent views, despising flattery and servility.

The 19th century began with the Napoleonic Wars, in which almost all European states, including Russia, were drawn. In 1805, a new, third, coalition took shape against Napoleon, consisting of Russia, England, Austria, Sweden and the Kingdom of Naples. However, in fact, only Russian and Austrian troops were sent against Napoleon. M.I. Kutuzov was placed at the head of the Russian army. It also included a horse artillery company under the command of Lieutenant Colonel A.P. Ermolov. During this war, Ermolov and his company took part in the battles with the French at Amstetten and Krems. The brave and efficient artillery lieutenant colonel was noticed by Kutuzov.

Emperors Alexander I and Franz I, who were with the united Russian-Austrian army, insisted on a general battle against superior French forces. Contrary to the advice of the far-sighted Kutuzov, on November 20 (December 2), 1805, a battle was fought at an unsuccessfully chosen position for the Russian-Austrian troops near the city of Austerlitz near Vienna, which ended in Napoleon’s victory. In this battle, a rapid attack by the French captured Ermolov’s artillery company along with its commander, but the Russian grenadiers arrived in time with a counterattack and freed him from captivity.

After Austerlitz, Austria capitulated and concluded a humiliating peace with Napoleon. The coalition against Napoleon actually collapsed. Russian-French peace negotiations also began. But Alexander I refused to ratify the peace concluded in Paris on June 8 (20), 1806. In the summer of the same year, Napoleon captured Holland and the West German principalities. He installed his brother Louis as King of Holland, and from 16 West German principalities he created the Confederation of the Rhine under his “protectorate”. Napoleon was preparing to invade Prussia. England and Sweden promised her support. Russia also joined them. Thus, in September 1806, the fourth coalition was created against France (Prussia, England, Sweden and Russia).

Anticipating the approach of Russian troops, Napoleon in mid-October in two battles (at Jena and Auerstedt) inflicted a crushing defeat on the Prussian army. The Prussian king Frederick William III fled to the borders of Russia. Almost all of Prussia was occupied by French troops. In the next seven months, the Russian army alone had to wage a stubborn struggle against Napoleon's superior forces. A.P. Ermolov took part in this war already with the rank of colonel and commander of the 7th artillery brigade, which he talks about in detail in his “Notes”. Ermolov was in the most dangerous sectors of the battles of Preussisch-Eylau on January 26-27 (February 7-8) and near Friedland on June 2 (14), 1807. Ermolov’s artillery provided significant support to the Russian troops in these battles. During this campaign, the Russian army was commanded by L. L. Bennigsen, who was not distinguished by military talents (M. I. Kutuzov fell into disgrace after Austerlitz and was appointed governor-general of Kyiv).

Although during bloody battles Napoleon managed to push Russian troops back to the Neman (Russian border), he suffered such significant losses that he himself proposed to Alexander I to make peace. Peace and a secret defensive and offensive alliance between Russia and France were concluded in Tilsit on June 25 (July 7), 1807. Thus ended Russia’s participation in the fourth coalition of European powers against Napoleon.

In the war of 1806-1807. Ermolov has already become widely known as a talented and brave staff officer. P.I. Bagration, who favored him, twice nominated him for the rank of major general, but each time Arakcheev stood in the way. At the end of 1807, the all-powerful temporary worker suddenly changed his anger to mercy, and at the beginning of 1808, Ermolov was awarded the rank of major general, and then he was appointed to the post of head of the reserve detachment stationed in the Volyn and Podolsk provinces. Ermolov moves to Kyiv and devotes himself entirely to his official affairs. Here he met a well-bred and highly educated girl from the local nobility. Warm mutual love, however, did not end in marriage. In his “Notes,” he explains that the main obstacle to marriage was his unenviable financial situation, which did not allow him to comfortably support his family. So he remained a bachelor forever.

Even then Ermolov was very popular. According to the testimony of contemporaries who interacted with him, his sharp mind, ease of manner and impressive appearance made a great impression on his interlocutor. A curious testimony is given by A. S. Griboyedov’s sister M. S. Durnovo, who met Ermolov in Kyiv in 1811: “The general’s reception was very affectionate and polite. Ermolov’s address has a certain charming simplicity and at the same time charm. I noticed a feature in him that makes me assume that Ermolov has an extraordinary mind... Ermolov’s facial features and physiognomy show a great and unyielding soul.”

At the end of 1811, Ermolov was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed commander of the Guards brigade, which consisted of the Izmailovsky and Lithuanian regiments, and in March 1812 he was appointed commander of the Guards infantry division. Ermolov's military career began to develop successfully again.

The “thunderstorm of the twelfth year” struck. On the night of June 12 (24), 1812, Napoleon’s multilingual 600,000-strong “Grand Army” invaded Russia. On July 1, 1812, Ermolov was appointed chief of staff of the 1st Western Army, commanded by Minister of War M. B. Barclay de Tolly. From that time on, Ermolov was a direct participant in all more or less major battles and battles of the Patriotic War of 1812, both during the offensive of the French army and during its expulsion from Russia. He especially distinguished himself in the battles of Vitebsk, Smolensk, Borodino, Maloyaroslavets, Krasny, and Berezina. After the Battle of Smolensk on August 7, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Ermolov's fame as a talented military leader grew. With the arrival of M.Y. Kutuzov to the united army on August 17, Ermolov became his chief of staff - he held this position until the expulsion of the French from Russia, while in addition to “staff” work during the counter-offensive of the Russian army, he commanded its vanguard.

On December 25, 1812, a royal manifesto was issued, announcing the end of the Patriotic War. But this did not mean the end of hostilities against Napoleon, which were now transferred outside of Russia. The entry of the Russian army into Western Europe served as a signal for the uprising of the peoples of a number of countries against the Napoleonic yoke. One by one, his former allies fell away from Napoleon and joined Russia. The famous foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-1814 began, ending with the collapse of the Napoleonic empire, Napoleon's abdication of power and his expulsion.

Already at the very beginning of the foreign campaign, A.P. Ermolov was placed at the head of the entire artillery of the Russian army. In the campaign of 1813 he took part in the battles of Dresden, Lutzen, Bautzen, Leipzig, and Kulm. After the Kulm victory over the French troops, in which Ermolov especially distinguished himself, Alexander I asked him what reward he wanted. The sharp-tongued Ermolov, knowing the tsar’s commitment to foreigners in Russian service, replied: “Promote me as a German, sir!” This phrase was then repeated with delight by patriotic youth.

In December 1813, French troops retreated across the Rhine, and the 1814 campaign began within France. On March 18 (30), the last battle between the troops of the coalition and Napoleon took place under the walls of Paris. Ermolov commanded the Russian and Prussian guards here. The next day, Allied troops entered Paris. In May 1814, he was appointed commander of the 80,000-strong reserve army stationed in Krakow.

At the beginning of March 1815, representatives of the powers that defeated Napoleon, gathered at the Congress of Vienna, received news that he, having left his place of exile, Fr. Elba, landed in the south of France and is rapidly approaching Paris. Disputes and disagreements between the participants of the congress faded into the background, and a new army was hastily prepared against Napoleon. Ermolov received an order to move his corps to the borders of France. On May 21, he was already in Nuremberg, and on June 3, in the town of Ayub, bordering France. But Ermolov’s corps did not have to take direct part in military operations against Napoleon’s troops. On June 2(18), 1815, Napoleon's army was defeated by Anglo-Prussian troops in the famous Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon again signed his abdication, surrendered to the British and was sent into exile to Fr. Saint Helena. Allied troops re-entered Paris. Ermolov and his corps were among them.

In November 1815, Ermolov surrendered his corps to General I.F. Paskevich and returned to Russia. Taking leave, he went to his father in Oryol.

On April 6, 1816, a rescript from Alexander I followed on the appointment of Ermolov as commander of a separate Georgian (from 1820 - Caucasian) corps and manager of the civil sector in the Caucasus and Astrakhan province. The Caucasian period of Ermolov’s life was very interesting; during the 10 years of his leadership, he changed life for the better, thanks to which Russia established itself in the Caucasus.

But 1826 became a turning point both in the life of the Caucasus and in the life of Ermolov. Circumstances suddenly changed unexpectedly, and “a menacing cloud began to gather over the hitherto invulnerable Ermolov.” In June, the Persians suddenly invaded Russian borders, and the Muslim provinces rebelled. The danger that threatened Georgia naturally forced us to turn all our forces there and leave affairs in the North Caucasus until a more favorable time. Meanwhile, it was already becoming restless in the mountains; there Muridism matured, signs of a new unknown force appeared, and the harbingers of the coming storm became brighter and more uncontrollable. Perhaps the Caucasus never needed Ermolov as much as at this time, but fate decreed otherwise; Ermolov should have left him. Several individual unsuccessful actions that accompanied the first moments of the Persian invasion - actions that did not directly depend on Ermolov himself, but which he could still have foreseen and prevented - served as the reason for the appointment of Paskevich to the Caucasus. I described Ermolov’s activities in the Caucasus in more detail in paragraph 3.

After his resignation, Ermolov was in Tiflis until the beginning of May 1827, putting his affairs in order, then in a simple wagon he went to live with his elderly father on his Oryol estate Lukyanchikovo. Here he took up housekeeping, spent a lot of time reading books, and occasionally visited Oryol. One day he visited the Oryol noble meeting, which was an event for this provincial city. Ermolov made it a rule not to receive only city officials, “and everyone else has free access.”

In August 1827, Ermolov was visited by his closest relative and great friend Denis Davydov. In 1829, A.S. Pushkin, on his way to the Caucasus, made a special detour of 200 miles to stop in the village of Lukyanchikovo to see Ermolov, who received him “with ordinary courtesy.” Later, also on the way to the Caucasus, M. Yu. Lermontov visited Ermolov.

By order of Nicholas I, Ermolov was introduced to the State Council. Ermolov moved to St. Petersburg. In the State Council, he became close to N.S. Mordvinov, whom he valued as “a man of high knowledge and remarkable intelligence.” Ermolov also enjoyed great authority from Mordvinov: the elderly admiral sincerely loved Ermolov. Ermolov's service in the State Council did not last long. He was burdened by verbal disputes, began to be indifferent to his duties, and used various pretexts to avoid meetings. In 1839, Ermolov submitted a request for dismissal (“until the illness is cured”) from the affairs of the State Council. This caused the displeasure of Nicholas I, but the dismissal was given, and Ermolov returned to Moscow.

After the death of his father, Ermolov sold the village of Lukyanchikovo to his former adjutant and executor N.P. Voeikov and acquired a small estate near Moscow, Osorgino, where he spent every summer, and in the winter he lived in his own wooden house on Gagarinsky Lane not far from Prechistensky Boulevard.

In 1848, Ermolov was given permission to travel abroad for treatment, but due to the revolutionary events that broke out that year in Western European countries, the trip did not take place.

The military conflict that arose in October 1853 between Russia and Turkey, which was then supported by England and France, marked the beginning of the difficult and debilitating Crimean War. To help the regular army in Russia, militias began to form. On February 15, 1855, the Moscow nobility unanimously elected Ermolov as head of the Moscow militia. A few days later, Ermolov received notification of his election as chief of the St. Petersburg militia, and after this - chief of the militias of the Novgorod, Kaluga, Oryol and Ryazan provinces, which indicated Ermolov’s great popularity. He agreed to lead the Moscow militia. Two of his battalions were formed, which Ermolov even presented to the Danish crown prince who came to Moscow. But Ermolov soon refused this position, citing his old age as the reason for his refusal.

Until his death, Ermolov was keenly interested in the events taking place in the world, put his memoirs in order, carried on extensive correspondence with friends, devoted a lot of time to reading and his favorite hobby of binding books, and loved visiting old veteran soldiers. Ermolov established friendly relations with the historian M.P. Pogodin, who subsequently published a collection of biographical materials about Ermolov. The writer L.N. Tolstoy also met Ermolov in Moscow, who in 1859 began writing the novel “Decembrists” and an epic about the war of 1812. In the 50s, Ermolov met with the Decembrists M.A. Fonvizin and those who returned from Siberian exile. S. G. Volkonsky. In 1860, Shamil, who had surrendered to the Russian command, was brought to Moscow. His first visit was to Ermolov, whom he treated with great respect.

Ermolov died on April 11, 1861 in Moscow. He bequeathed to be buried in Orel next to his father’s grave, “as simply as possible,” but the residents of Orel organized a grandiose memorial service: on the day of his funeral, masses of people filled the church where the funeral service was taking place, the square in front of the church and the surrounding streets. The memory of Ermolov was deeply respected in other cities of Russia. Thus, they wrote from St. Petersburg that after Ermolov’s death, “his portraits were displayed in all the shops on Nevsky Prospekt, and it was as if he was resurrected in the memory of Russia at the moment of his death.”

Social and political views of A. P. Ermolov

Alexander I, in order to reward Ermolov for his failed appointment as commander of the Russian expeditionary army, assigned him a “rent” with an annual income of 40 thousand rubles. Ermolov convinced the tsar to cancel the rescript he signed and use the specified amount to help poor employees.

Ermolov rejected all titles and distinctions. “God forbid if they decide to disfigure me with the title of count,” he said in response to persistent rumors about his possible elevation to the dignity of count. High moral qualities, intelligence and decency - that's what he valued in a person. “In the face of justice, a noble and rich person has no advantage over a poor person of low status,” he wrote in one of his letters to his friend.

In March 1821, the Greeks rebelled against the Ottoman yoke. All of advanced Russia (and especially the Decembrists) came out with a demand to protect the rebel Greeks. Ermolov also advised Alexander I to provide support to the Greeks, but the king did not heed his advice, considering the Greeks to be “rebels” who rebelled against their “legitimate” sovereign.

Decembrist researchers have repeatedly turned to clarifying the issue of Ermolov’s relationship with the Decembrists. The data they identified indicates that Ermolov was close to many of them, was well aware of their views and sentiments, and sympathized with these views, although he did not accept their revolutionary methods of struggle. His first adjutants were the Decembrists P.X. Grabbe and M.A. Fonvizin. Later, Ermolov was in close relations with many Decembrists, including K. F. Ryleev, S. G. Volkonsky, M. F. Orlov. In the Caucasus, the Decembrists A. A. Avenarius, P. G. Kakhovsky, E. E. Lachinov, A. I. Yakubovich, V. K. Kuchelbecker, P. M. Ustimovich, P. A. served under his command at different times. Mukhanov, G.I. Kopylov and others who made up his “entourage”.

Ermolov’s closest friend was A. S. Griboedov, who was closely associated with the Decembrists and, perhaps, as Academician M. V. Nechkina believed, a member of their secret organizations. Ermolov immediately noted the charm of Griboyedov’s personality: his sharp mind, deep knowledge, open, noble behavior, which could not but arouse the sympathy of the famous general for Griboyedov, who soon accepted him into his “inner circle.” When the arrests of the Decembrists began and a courier arrived in the Caucasus with an order to deliver Griboedov to St. Petersburg, Ermolov gave his friend the opportunity to destroy documents that were “dangerous” to him.

Ermolov had long known about the existence of secret Decembrist societies. At the end of 1820, when the first denunciations against them began to be received by Alexander I, Ermolov first warned his adjutant Colonel P.Kh. Grabbe: “Leave the nonsense, the sovereign knows about your society.” He gave the same warning to M.A. Fonvizin. While traveling from Laibach to the Caucasus at the beginning of 1821, he turned to Fonvizin with the following words: “Come here, greatest Carbonari! I don’t want to know anything about what’s going on with you, but I’ll tell you that he (i.e. Alexander I. - V.F.) is as afraid of you as I would like him to be afraid of me.” Ryleev told his fellow secret society members: “General Ermolov knows about the existence of our society,” “Ermolov is ours.”

The closeness of A.P. Ermolov (as well as some other generals - N.N. Raevsky, P.D. Kiselev) to the “freethinkers” was not a secret for the government. In 1826, while sorting through the papers of the late Alexander I, a note dating from 1824 was discovered, which stated: “There are rumors that the pernicious spirit of freethinking or liberalism is spreading, or at least spreading, between the troops; that in both armies, as well as in individual corps, there are secret societies or clubs in different places, which also have missionaries to spread their party - Ermolov, Raevsky, Kiselev, Mikh. Orlov...” Nicholas I, being then the Grand Duke, said about Ermolov: “This man in the Caucasus has an extraordinary influence on the army, and I am absolutely afraid that he will ever decide to resign.”

A man of strong will and independent views, who did not recognize any authority, a devoted patriot, who passionately loved Russia and everything Russian, who was in opposition to the Arakcheev regime, Ermolov impressed the Decembrists. He was connected with some of them by bonds of personal friendship and undoubtedly knew about the existence of secret Decembrist societies. It is no coincidence that the Decembrists in their plans counted on Ermolov as an authoritative member of the future Provisional Revolutionary Government. But Yermolov’s opposition did not rise to this level. recognition of the injustice of the existing feudal-absolutist orders and the need to eliminate them. He faithfully served the monarch in the military and public fields during the Russian coalition wars against Napoleon in 1805-1814. and being the “proconsul of the Caucasus” in 1816-1827, where he was supposed to pursue the colonial policy of the autocracy.

A.P. Ermolov in the Caucasus. Military operations in the Caucasus, administrative and economic activities

Ermolov held the firm conviction that the entire Caucasus should and will inevitably become an inseparable part of the Russian Empire, that the existence in these parts of independent and semi-independent states and societies of any kind and religion, be it Christianity, Islam or paganism, in the mountains or on the plain, is simply incompatible with the honor and dignity of the Russian Emperor, with the safety and well-being of his subjects.

Ermolov set his first and most important task to the success of the mission in Tehran, which consisted in evading the fulfillment of Alexander I’s promise to Fet Ali Shah to return part of the territories that had ceded to Russia as a result of the Treaty of Gulistan. By behaving extremely arrogantly and combining “crude flattery to the Shah with direct intimidation of his ministers,” Ermolov achieved his goal. “My formidable appearance,” wrote Ermolov, well expressed my feelings, and when it came to the war, from the outside it seemed that I was ready to gnaw their throats. Unfortunately for them, I noticed that they did not like this very much, and when I needed more convincing arguments, I relied on my bestial face, huge and terrifying figure and loud throat; for they understood that if someone yells so fiercely, he has good and compelling reasons.” However, Ermolov’s arrogance and arrogance in dealing with the Qajars, especially with Abbas Mirza (heir to the throne), contributed greatly to the new Russian-Persian war of 1826-1828.

Returning from Tehran, Ermolov immediately began to conquer the mountains. In November 1817 and May 1818, he sent Emperor Alexander I a detailed plan for a military campaign." First of all, it was proposed to deal with the Chechens - "a daring and dangerous people." Ermolov's plan included the construction of a new defensive line along the lower reaches of the Sunzha, and between her and the Terek he proposed to settle the Cossacks: “In this way,” he explained to the king, “we will get closer to Dagestan and improve our routes to the rich region of Kubakh and further to Georgia.”

When the new Line was erected, Ermolov informed Alexander I: In this way, “we will push the Chechens into the mountains,” the general hoped, “and without arable land and pastures, where their cattle winter during the period of severe cold in the mountains,” they will have nothing else left but come to terms with Russian rule.

Ermolov intended to implement this plan by 1819, for which he proposed to enter Dagestan, extend the new defensive line along Sulak, station troops in the possessions of Shamkhal and take possession of “salt-rich lakes that supply the mountain peoples, including the Chechens, with this product.” This would give the Russians another means of subjugating the mountaineers. Having finished with Dagestan, Ermolov was going to move to Kabarda and the Right flank in 1820.

This was the first expression of the doctrine that Russian authors would later erroneously call the “Ermolov system.”

Being only a year younger than Ermolov, Velyaminov, as J. Badley wrote, did not achieve even a tenth of his (Ermolov’s) fame and glory; but his career was no less brilliant, and his merits were in some ways greater. The reason for this is not difficult to find. He was a man of great and diligently developed abilities, who succeeded greatly in the study of military history; he knew how to apply the lessons of the past to the tasks of the present, moreover, he always took into account the peculiarities of the current moment and resorted to tactics and strategies that best suited them; quick to make decisions and quick to strike, he had an iron will and indestructible determination; good organizer; completely fearless in battle and no less generously endowed with moral courage, he possessed every conceivable quality that inspires respect in soldiers, and many qualities that induce people to boldly follow the man, and nothing at all for which one could love him. Calm, self-possessed, silent, secretive, he was inexorably ruthless towards his soldiers and merciless towards the enemy; he was feared, extolled and hated by both.

Velyaminov was a colleague of Ermolov during the Napoleonic wars, and they were close friends. When Ermolov was sent to the Caucasus, he achieved the appointment of Velyaminov to the post of chief of staff of the Georgian Corps. Here, in Tiflis, Velyaminov’s analytical mind and organizational talent apparently made a decisive contribution to the success of his senior comrade. The siege strategy of military operations in the Caucasus and the reorganization of the Caucasian Corps are usually associated with the name of Ermolov, but both were developed, and perhaps it was proposed by Velyaminov.

Under Velyaminov, the Caucasian Corps received an organization that existed for another quarter of a century. Among other things, the regiments and their headquarters received a permanent location, were included in the system of siege parallels and turned into economic and production units, partly capable of self-sufficiency.

Having received approval from the tsar for his plan, Ermolov immediately went to Chechnya. On June 22, 1819, the Grozny fortress was founded. The Chechens' attempt to resist was suppressed by artillery. The next year, Ermolov founded a fortress opposite Enderi, which was called Sudden, and in 1821, with the construction of the Burnaya fortress near Tarka, the construction of the defensive line was completed.

“The appearance of Grozny and Ermolov’s intentions, which became known,” as J. Badley points out, worried not only the Chechens; their neighbors to the south and southwest were also alarmed. The rulers of Avaristan, Kazikumukh, Mehtuli, Karakaitaka, Tabasarani and the Akushi communities formed an alliance against the Russians.

But soon Yermolov himself came to the Khanate of Mehtuli, neighboring Karakaytak, with five battalions of infantry, 300 Cossacks and 14 guns. He took two main villages by storm - Paraul and Dzhentutai. At the same time, Mishchenko, on the orders of Ermolov, captured and destroyed Bashli. Mehtuli Khan Hasan fled, and the Khanate was liquidated. Part of its territory was given to the Tarkov Shamkhal, and the other became the property of the Russian Empire. However, the allies were not defeated. The following spring they struck on two fronts. In the south, they cut the roads leading to Derbent and began to threaten Kurakh and Kubakh.

Madatov, who replaced Pestel, was “a good grunt... he interpreted the requirements of discipline quite broadly.” On his own initiative, he led 2 battalions, 300 Cossacks and 8 guns to Tabasaran and forced the Khanate to submit.

In the north, the Avar Sultan Ahmad Khan, at the head of 6,000 fighters, attacked Russian troops engaged in the construction of the Vnezapnaya fortress in mid-September. The Russians defeated the Avar army, deposed the khan himself, and installed his son, Janku Sukhai, in his place.

In October, Madatov again moved to Karakaytak and stormed Bashlykent and Yangikent, the residence of the ruler - utsmi. The ruler fled, his power was overthrown, and his possession became part of the Russian Empire. At the same time, Cherkey expressed his humility and was forgiven.

In mid-November, having completed the construction of the Sudden, Prmolov with nine battalions and “many guns” moved to Akusha. On December 31, near Levashi, he defeated the highlanders and appointed a new qadi in Akusha, who, in his words, became “our ally in the full sense of the word, and 24 hostages from the most influential families that we hold in Derbent are the best guarantee of his obedience.”

In June 1820, Madatov conquered Kazikumukh. Sukhai Khan fled, and the Russians installed Kurakh Khan Aslan in his place, as has already been mentioned. “The conquest of Dagestan that began last year,” Ermolov reported to the emperor, has now been completed; and this country, proud, warlike and hitherto unconquered by anyone, fell at the sacred feet of Your Imperial Majesty.”

Ermolov was confident that the conquest of other parts of the Caucasus through an economic blockade or “siege” would take place without much difficulty. However, in thinking this way, he, along with all his like-minded people, was very mistaken. Little did he know, noted one Russian historian, that although the crater of the volcano was muffled, its internal flame was far from extinguished.

But at that moment everything seemed to be going well. Having completed the construction of the Burnaya fortress in 1821, Ermolov turned to the Caucasian line. In 1822, he extended the Line in the center to Kabarda, and in 1825 he began to do the same on the Right Flank.

Some information about Ermolov contains foreign sources that recorded rumors about him: “Ermolov is not subject to anyone or anything (as the head of the secret police of Nicholas II spoke about him), except his vanity.” Badley cites Yermolov’s statement: “I wish that the horror of my name would guard our borders more reliably than a chain of fortresses, so that my word would be a law more indisputable than death itself.”

In achieving this, Ermolov was merciless. “In his cruelty he was not inferior even to the mountaineers,” reported one Russian author quoted by Badley. Not only did he not concede, but he was much more ruthless, for which he was reproached by both emperors - Nicholas and Alexander. “Kindness in the eyes of Asians is a sign of weakness,” Ermolov objected to them, “and I act with cruel severity for purely humane reasons. The execution of one saves hundreds of Russians from death and thousands of Muslims from treason.”

But executions were not limited to isolated cases, and Ermolov executed not only the guilty. There was at least one case when, with the consent of Yermolov, the house of a suspect was blown up, where his entire family died. When he decided to push the Chechens south, he attacked one village and killed all the inhabitants there - men, women and children. Another case is known when he sold captured women into slavery and distributed them to his subordinates, so that in winter quarters “at least the officers, following the example of their commander-in-chief, would have a fairly pleasant time in the company of their mountain wives.”

In this light, the Russian assertion that one of their goals in conquering the Caucasus was to end the slave trade there sounds rather cynical.

J. Badley wonders why Russian authors still cannot discern a direct connection between the vaunted “Ermolov system” and the Murid war. The point was that, as one Austrian diplomat noted, “the whole art of government in Russia consists in the use of violence.” This was true in relation to Russia itself and even more so in relation to the Caucasus. The majority of the Russian military (Badley calls them the "Suvorov school") were firmly convinced that the "Asiatics" understood only force, and those few who tried to express a different view, who considered it "impossible to achieve by coercion and brute force what can be done by love and trust in a person,” aroused contempt, they were condemned in every possible way and “vilified as cowardly weaklings.”

Russian rule in the Caucasus from the very beginning was built on the following premise: “everything that happens there is driven by fear and self-interest,” and “the whole policy of these peoples (i.e., the mountaineers) is based on force.” Thus, in this respect, Ermolov did not at all go beyond the framework of the general ideas that existed at that time. And if he did, it was with the severity of his measures, the amount of effort expended, cruelty and mercilessness. In fact, if in very rare cases pre-revolutionary authors criticize him, it is only for the mentioned excesses and completely private actions, which are recognized as erroneous.

The main flaw in relying solely on force, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, is that you can terrorize a whole people some of the time, or a part of the people all the time, but you cannot terrorize all the people all the time. Ermolov did not succeed in either one or the other, but his name remained in the memory of the mountain peoples for centuries. Thanks to the widespread use of artillery, which the mountaineers had not known before, he briefly conquered Dagestan. “I could not take advantage of such convincing proof of our rights,” Ermolov wrote to Davydov (in February 1819) about the use of artillery. “It was very interesting to watch people’s first impressions of this innocent technique, and I immediately realized what a convenience it is when someone needs to be subdued.” But in Chechnya everything happened differently. There Ermolov saw that it was beyond his strength and capabilities to subjugate the highlanders.

All he was capable of there was to carry out devastating “punitive expeditions”, during which gardens, crops and entire villages were destroyed. Unlike the Dagestan auls built of stone, which resembled a fortress and were a tough nut to crack for an invader, the villages of foothill Chechnya were built of wood. They were not difficult to destroy, which means they were easily restored. It was easier to capture them because the Chechens usually did not defend them, they simply left their homes and, along with their belongings and livestock, went into the forests and mountains. The result of Russian expeditions was rarely anything more than simple soldier's trophies. But these expeditions intensified the bitterness of the Chechens many times over. However, this did not bother Ermolov at all; his troops of the new Sunzha Line continued their expeditions.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Grekov surpassed his predecessor in vanity, severity and cruelty. He “looked at the Chechens from a point of view that can hardly be called contemptuous, and in his speech and official papers he called them nothing less than scoundrels, and their representatives in the negotiations - either robbers or swindlers.” Grekov “dedicated himself entirely to carrying out Yermolov’s policy and fulfilling his instructions,” that is, destroying villages, hanging hostages, killing women and children.

“Whatever sins the Chechens committed,” wrote J. Badley, “none of the impartial readers of Russian descriptions of this period, and we do not know others, expressed doubts that the Chechens were subjected to severe persecution.” Soon, the resistance of the Chechens acquired the character of a religious war, which was especially facilitated by the arrival in 1824 of Kazn-Mullah from Dagestan to Mayrtup (the future first imam of Dagestan Gazi Magomed), who declared a certain Avko from Germenchuk the long-awaited chosen one of Allah for jihad (holy war) against the Russians. But Beybulat Taimazogul (Taymazov), a very influential man in Greater Chechnya and a renowned military leader who had a personal hatred of Grekov, became the leader of the military actions of the Chechens, and became a bone in the throat for the Russians for five long years.

Very soon the uprising spread throughout Chechnya, the rebels were joined by Ingush, Kabardians, Aksay Kumyks, as well as Ossetians and several hundred Dagestanis. Grekov, who initially ignored the uprising, was soon forced to act. He “resorted to his usual measures, but they achieved nothing. Prominent leaders of the uprising were captured and publicly flogged, some were beaten to death. But no punishment, even the most sophisticated, had a serious impact on the enemy; rather, on the contrary, his cruelty only embittered them more... writes Badley. “Grekov marched first against one and then against another, but the Chechens eluded him or suffered only minor defeats,” and this was only a prelude to what became a constant picture over the next 15 years.

On the night of July 20, 1825, the highlanders, under the leadership of the aforementioned Avko and Kazi-Mulla, stormed the Amir-Hadji Yurt redoubt and destroyed it. Of the fort's 181 defenders, 98 were killed and 13 captured. The Chechens captured the cannon as a rich trophy. On the same day they besieged the Gurzul redoubt (Gerzel village) and held the siege for seven days. On July 27, 1825, Grekov and his immediate superior Lisanovich drove back the besiegers. The next day, Russian generals, planning to punish the Chechens, invited 300 men from Aksay to the redoubt, intending to arrest them. Lisanovich began to scold and insult them in Chechen, and in the end, threatening to punish them for treason, he ordered them to hand over their daggers. One of the Chechens named Hadji Uchar Yakub refused to do this. Grekov lost his temper and hit him in the face. In the blink of an eye, the Chechen struck down Grekov and two more officers with a dagger and mortally wounded Lisanovich.

Dying, he ordered the soldiers to kill all 300 Chechens.

Having received the report, Ermolov immediately left for Vladikavkaz. Here he stayed until the end of the year, rebuilding the Line, demolishing some redoubts and erecting others. Meanwhile, the uprising was growing, the Chechens attacked Russian redoubts and villages, some of them were captured. Finally, in January 1826, Ermolov went on a campaign. In January-February, and then again in April and May, he walked the length and breadth of rebellious Chechnya, according to Badli, “punishing the rebellious Chechens, burning villages, cutting down forests, exterminating rebels in skirmishes that never escalated into battle, and sometimes he tried to win them over to his side, showing condescension that was not characteristic of him.”

A careful analysis of the course of these events convinces that Ermolov’s actions had the most minimal result. Strictly speaking, the uprising failed for internal reasons, mainly due to its poor organization. This is clearly evident from the fact that its leaders lived quietly in societies that coexisted peacefully with the Russians, which went unnoticed at that time. Since, as Badley writes, “everything looked as if success was complete,” Yermolov returned to Tiflis. But this was his last triumph. Soon the general's successful career was suddenly interrupted.

With enormous energy, he took up the construction of medical and health institutions in the Caucasus, followed by the creation of the now famous resorts - Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk and Essentuki, essentially built by the hands of soldiers.

Thanks to Ermolov, the formation of companies of married soldiers at the regimental headquarters laid the foundation for the family, sedentary life of the Transcaucasian and line regiments. “My soldier believes that he is my comrade,” the commander wrote.

A.P. Ermolov remained a historical era for the Caucasus, a number of cultural innovations in Georgia are associated with his name, under his direct supervision the center of Tiflis was rebuilt, he revived trade by introducing a preferential tariff for transit European goods, carried out significant road construction, it is also worth say that

Ermolov deserves great credit for establishing German settlements in the Transcaucasus; this was done in order to set an example on how to run a household in a better way. New factories were also opened that were not there before. The first newspaper appeared in Georgia. Ermolov also built several fortresses, against which in the future the enemy was defeated.

All these events helped the Russian army improve its financial situation, which certainly helped Russia to stay in this territory. The events carried out by Ermolov in the Caucasus prove that he was truly “a statesman in the broad sense of the word.” According to A.S. Pushkin, “The Caucasus region, the sultry border of Asia, is curious in all respects. Ermolov filled it with his name and beneficial genius...”.

On July 31, 1826, the Persian Mirza Abbas set out on a campaign in the Caucasus. Despite repeated warnings about the possibility of war with Persia, the attack took Ermolov by surprise, and his actions turned out to be surprisingly indecisive. Despite warnings about the possibility of war with the Persians (leaving aside his contribution to the outbreak of this war), Ermolov apparently believed that he was keeping them at bay so much that the Persian attack was a complete surprise to him. Nicholas I, who had long disliked Ermolov, sent Count (and then Prince) Paskevich to take command of the Caucasian Front. As one might expect, this appointment was followed by six months of intrigue and mutual accusations. In the end, under the pretext of finding out what was happening between the two military leaders, the tsar sent Count Dibich to the Caucasus with the task of removing Ermolov.

On April 9, 1827, Ermolov left Tiflis, and Paskevich took his place, but the gigantic figure of Ermolov continued to cast a shadow over the Caucasus, and all his successors were forced to compete with it. One of his legacies in the sphere of relations with the highlanders, which is passed over in silence in all Russian sources, became especially harmful for his successors: Ermolov’s exceptional cruelty gave the opposite results to those expected and instilled in the highlanders immunity to terror. Having experienced everything themselves, they stopped being afraid of the Russians.

outstanding Russian military leader and statesman

Alexey Ermolov

short biography

Alexey Petrovich Ermolov(June 4, 1777, Moscow - April 23, 1861, Moscow) - an outstanding Russian military leader and statesman, a participant in many major wars that the Russian Empire waged from the 1790s to the 1820s. General of Infantry (1818) and General of Artillery (1837). Commander-in-Chief at the first stage of the Caucasian War (until 1827). Author of memoirs.

Origin and early years

Ermolov was born in Moscow in 1777. Originally from poor nobles of the Oryol province. His father, Pyotr Alekseevich Ermolov (1747-1832), was a landowner, the owner of a small estate of 150 peasants in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province. During the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796), he served as ruler of the office of Prosecutor General Count A. N. Samoilov, and with the accession of Paul I to the throne, he retired and settled in his village of Lukyanchikovo. The Ermolovs come from the Horde murza Arslan-Ermol.

Mother - Maria Denisovna Kakhovskaya, nee Davydova, was in her second marriage to his father, in her first marriage she was to General Mikhail Vasilyevich Kakhovsky, from whom she had a son and two daughters. According to a contemporary, she was “a smart lady, but capricious and did not spare anyone with slander.” On his mother’s side, Alexey Ermolov was related to the Davydovs, Potemkins, Raevskys, Orlovs and Kakhovskys. The famous partisan and poet Denis Davydov was his cousin.

As was customary then, even in infancy, Ermolov was enlisted in military service: in 1778 he was enlisted as captain of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, and soon as a sergeant of this regiment. Initially he was brought up in the house of his relatives, Oryol landowners Shcherbinin and Levin.

He received his education at the Moscow University boarding school, which accepted boys 9-14 years old of noble origin. The boarding school prepared for military, civil, court and diplomatic service. He was assigned to the Noble boarding school (1784) under the care of Professor I. A. Geim, with whom he studied until 1791. The director of Moscow University, P. I. Fonvizin, was repeatedly interested in the fate of young Ermolov and gave him books for his success in his studies. As a child, Ermolov read Plutarch, especially the lives of Caesar and Alexander the Great. Enlisted as a non-commissioned officer in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment on January 5, 1787.

In the army

A. P. Ermolov. "Russian portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries"

In 1792, with the rank of guard captain, 15-year-old Alexey moved to St. Petersburg and was enrolled in the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, stationed in the Caucasus. He, however, remained in St. Petersburg as an adjutant under the Prosecutor General Count Samoilov, whose father Ermolov was then the ruler of the chancellery. Soon Ermolov entered the gentry artillery corps, which was better equipped with scientific equipment than other educational institutions of that time. In 1793, Ermolov passed the exam with special distinction and, as part of Derfelden's corps, already as an artilleryman, went on a campaign against Poland.

Polish campaign

In 1794 he began serving under the command of. He received his baptism of fire during the Polish campaign (the suppression of the Polish uprising led by Kosciuszko). He distinguished himself while commanding a battery during the assault on the outskirts of Warsaw, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

Business trip to Italy and the war of the first coalition

On January 9, 1795, Ermolov returned to St. Petersburg, where he was assigned to the 2nd Bombardment Battalion. However, in the same year, under the patronage of Count A.N. Samoilov, he was sent to Italy with his trusted official for financial affairs, Wurst. The latter was sent there to resolve banking issues in the Genoese Republic.

For Ermolov, that business trip with Wurst was purely formal, since he himself was absolutely "useless" and, accordingly, did not bear any responsibilities. At the same time, Count A.A. Bezborodko issued Ermolov a letter of recommendation addressed to the Austrian Chancellor Baron F. von Thugut, with a request to allow this Russian young man to take part in hostilities against the French in Italy as part of the Austrian troops. After delivering the letter to the addressee, Ermolov, waiting for a response, began traveling around the cities of Italy, visiting museums and other significant cultural sites. It was at that time that Ermolov laid the foundations of his collection of engravings and personal library.

Upon receiving permission to enlist in the active Austrian army, Ermolov was seconded to the main apartment of the Austrian commander-in-chief, General Davis, who, after participating in the battle with Turkish troops at Rymnik in 1789, had a fondness for the Russians "greatest respect". There, as a volunteer, he was assigned to the Croatian irregular light cavalry, in units of which he took part in hostilities against the French army in northern Italy in the Maritime Alps.

Persian campaign

In 1796, he took part in the Persian campaign under the command of General Valerian Zubov, who was considered his patron. For excellent zeal and merit during the siege of the fortress, Derbent was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree with a bow. Received the rank of lieutenant colonel. Between the wars he lived in Moscow and Orel.

Opal

In 1798, shortly after the arrest of his older brother Count Alexander Mikhailovich Kakhovsky, Ermolov was also arrested, and then dismissed from service and sent into exile on his estate in the case of the creation of the Smolensk officer political circle and on suspicion of participation in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul . The members of the circle exchanged free-thinking views that foreshadowed the Decembrists, and in correspondence they spoke of the sovereign “extremely disrespectfully.” Young Ermolov knew little about the activities and plans of the leaders of the “organization”. Nevertheless, he was taken into custody twice and kept for a whole month in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

After a military trial, Ermolov was exiled to live in Kostroma. Here the Cossack Matvey Platov shared his exile with him, who from then on became his friend. Ermolov diligently engaged in self-education, learned Latin from a local archpriest and read Roman classics in the original, paying special attention to the “Notes on the Gallic War.” The Kostroma governor offered him his intercession before the emperor, but Ermolov remained in exile until Paul's death. Pardoned by decree of Alexander I of March 15, 1801.

Wars with Napoleon

Coalition Wars (1805-1807)

The liberated Ermolov, by his own admission, “with difficulty received (in 1802) a company of horse artillery” located in Vilna. Peaceful service tormented him. “I’m 25 years old,” he wrote in his notes then, “I miss the war.” The last entry was not long in coming: the war of coalitions with Napoleonic France began (1805, 1806-1807).

Battle of Preussisch Eylau
(artist Jean-Antoine-Simeon Fort)

In 1805, Ermolov's company was assigned to Kutuzov's army, which was sent to help Austria against France. Catching up with the army, Ermolov walked all the time in “accelerated marches,” but, despite the 2-month campaign, he presented his company to Kutuzov along the way in such an exemplary manner that the latter said that he would keep him in mind and left the company at his disposal as artillery reserve.

Near Amstetten, Ermolov was in combat with horse artillery for the first time. He stopped the enemy and gave the squadrons the opportunity to gather and hold in place under strong enemy pressure, and by occupying one hill and accurate fire, he prevented the enemy from setting up a battery, which could cause great harm to the Russian troops. However, Ermolov did not receive a reward for this feat due to Arakcheev’s opposition. During a review in Vilna, he expressed displeasure with the fatigue of the horses of Ermolov’s company, to which he heard: “It’s a pity, Your Excellency, that in the artillery the reputation of officers depends on cattle.” The future Minister of War took this remark personally and, being stung, for some time prevented the young officer's career in artillery. Subsequently he became his patron.

Near Austerlitz, when the division of Adjutant General Uvarov was crushed and put to flight by the French cavalry, Ermolov did not succumb to the general panic and stopped his battery, “presuming by its action to hold off the cavalry pursuing us.” But the very first guns that he could “free from their own overwhelming cavalry” by firing a few shots were taken, people were killed, and Ermolov himself, under whom the horse was killed, was captured. He was already close to the French line when a regiment of Elisavetgrad Hussars came to his rescue and recaptured him from the French. Ermolov's awards for this campaign were the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree, and the rank of colonel.

During the Russian-Prussian-French War (1806-1807), Ermolov distinguished himself in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau in February 1807. By bombing from the guns of his horse artillery company, Ermolov stopped the French advance, thereby saving the army. Moreover, he opened fire without any orders, on his own initiative.

During the French attack at Heilsberg, in response to the officers’ remark that it was not time to open fire, Colonel Ermolov said: “I will shoot when I distinguish the blond from the black-haired.”

In 1807, 29-year-old Alexey Ermolov returned to Russia with a reputation as one of the first artillerymen in the Russian army. Since 1809, he commanded reserve troops in the Kyiv, Poltava and Chernigov provinces.

Ermolov loved to show off in front of young officers and play the “Russian” card, which ensured his popularity among junior officers. They say that once in 1811 Ermolov went to the main apartment of Barclay de Tolly, where Bezrodny was the ruler of the office. “Well, what’s it like there?” - they asked him upon his return. “It’s bad,” answered Alexey Petrovich, “all Germans, purely Germans. I found one Russian there, and he was Bezrodny.” “Ermolov’s heart is as black as his boot,” - this is the review of Alexander I given in his notes by General Levenstern (according to Colonel Kridner).

Patriotic War

Before the start of the Patriotic War, he was appointed chief of the General Staff of the 1st Western Army. This was a mockery of fate, because Ermolov had a cold, purely official relationship with the army commander Barclay, while with Bagration, the commander of the 2nd Western Army, it was friendly, cordial, and yet the relations of both commanders with each other were extremely strained, even clearly hostile . “A man with dignity, but deceitful and an intriguer,” - this is how Barclay certified his chief of staff. 34-year-old Ermolov thus found himself in a delicate and difficult situation; As best he could, he tried to soften these relationships, eliminate irritation, smooth out rough edges.

Upon his departure from the army, Alexander I instructed Ermolov to inform himself with complete frankness by letters about all events in the army. Of the people who were in the army, he did not speak ill of anyone (except General Ertel), although his notes are full of harsh characteristics of many. However, these letters, given by the emperor to read to Kutuzov when he was sent to the army, nevertheless changed the latter’s attitude towards Ermolov, replacing the old disposition with suspicion, and then becoming known to Barclay de Tolly, gave rise to even greater coldness of this “arctic German” towards Ermolov. As a result of all this, Ermolov’s position at the end of the 1812 campaign was such that he wrote to one of his friends: “I don’t want to serve and there is no power to force me.”

During the withdrawal from Smolensk, General Ermolov, under the authority of Barclay, completely independently and brilliantly led the battle near the village of Zabolotye (August 7), and was involved in organizing the defense of the Smolensk fortress.

Alexey Ermolov's counterattack on the captured Raevsky battery during the Battle of Borodino. Chromolithography by A. Safonov(early 20th century)

At the beginning of the Battle of Borodino, Ermolov was with Kutuzov, who in the afternoon, at a critical moment for the left flank of the Russian army, sent Ermolov there with instructions to “bring the artillery of the 2nd Army into proper order.” Driving close to Raevsky's battery, he discovered that it had been taken by the enemy, and the Russian infantry had fled in disarray. Ermolov immediately ordered the horse artillery companies that were with him to take a flank position, relative to the lost battery, and open fire on the enemy, and he himself, taking the 3rd battalion of the Ufa Infantry Regiment, which had not yet participated in the “case,” led it towards the fleeing Russian infantry . Having stopped the latter and collected it in "a disorderly crowd consisting of people from different regiments", Ermolov ordered the drummer to beat “on bayonets” and personally led the “combined team” to the dominant height, at which Raevsky’s battery was occupied by the enemy. In 20 minutes the mound was taken by the Russians, and its defenders were mostly killed.

In order not to expose the infantry to artillery fire from enemy batteries and a possible surprise attack from those standing in "full device" enemy regiments of divisional general Sh. Moran, Ermolov ordered to stop further offensive. However, unable to stop "passionate about success" soldier, Ermolov ordered the dragoons of Major General K. A. Kreutz to enter the Russian infantry from the front and "drive her back". For three hours, Ermolov remained at the battery, directing its defense, until he was wounded in the neck.

From Kutuzov’s report on Ermolov’s feat:

During the formation of the 1st Army and its preparation for battle, he assisted with great activity and prudence, and when the enemy managed to take the central battery and overturn part of the 7th Corps, which covered it<…>Then this general rushed forward himself, encouraged the soldiers with his example, and instantly this battery was again taken and the enemy in it was completely destroyed, in which case the French general Bonamy was captured.

At the council in Fili, General Ermolov spoke in favor of a new battle near Moscow. After the retreat to the Tarutino camp, due to Ermolov’s fault, the attack on Murat’s vanguard was postponed: Kutuzov could not find the chief of staff, because at that time he was having a meal somewhere. At the same time, it was Ermolov who insisted on warning Napoleon in Maloyaroslavets. The stubborn defense of this city forced the French army to turn to the old, already traversed and ruined path, which led it to disaster.

Having learned from his former subordinate Seslavin that Napoleon’s army was coming from Tarutin along the Borovskaya road, Ermolov, at his own risk, in the name of the commander-in-chief, changed the direction of Dokhturov’s corps, moving it hastily to Maloyaroslavets. After the battle of Maloyaroslavets, in the defense of which Ermolov played a crucial role, he, on behalf of Kutuzov, walked all the time in the vanguard of the army with Miloradovich’s detachment, giving him orders in the name of the commander-in-chief. Ermolov's reward for the Patriotic War was only the rank of lieutenant general, given to him for the battle at Valutina Mountain (Zabolotye). Barclay de Tolly's idea of ​​awarding Ermolov for Borodino with the Order of St. George 2nd degree was ignored by Kutuzov.

Foreign trip

In December 1812, before the foreign campaign, Ermolov was appointed chief of artillery of all active armies. According to Ermolov, - “Together with this sonorous name, I received,” he writes, “a vast, disorganized and confused unit, especially since each of the armies had special artillery chiefs and there was nothing in common.”.

From April 1813 he commanded various formations.

After the defeat of the Russian-Prussian army at Lützen on April 20, 1813, the cavalry general, Count P. H. Wittgenstein, who led that battle, named the reason for that defeat as the lack of charges for artillery, accusing Ermolov of this, as a result of which the latter was removed from his position on May 2 them positions. Later, Ermolov was temporarily transferred to the post of chief of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division, instead of Lieutenant General N.I. Lavrov, who was seriously ill.

On May 9, during the retreat of the allied armies near Bautzen, Ermolov was entrusted with the rearguard. Being in his tail, Ermolov repelled attacks of French troops under the command of Napoleon I himself for quite a long time, thereby allowing the allies to successfully retreat across the Loebau River without major losses. Count P. H. Wittgenstein, doing him justice, wrote in a report to Alexander I:

I left Ermolov on the battlefield for an hour and a half, but he, holding on to it with his characteristic stubbornness much longer, thereby saved Your Majesty about 50 guns.

The next day, Yermolov was attacked by the troops of generals Latour-Maubourg and Renier at Ketiz and retreated to Reichenbach.

In the battle of Kulm, which took place on August 29-30, he led the 1st Guards Division, and after General A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy was wounded, he took over his combined detachment. Was in the center of the battle. For a whole day against an enemy twice as numerous. At the end of the battle, Lieutenant General Prince D.V. Golitsyn arrived at the detachment’s location with his cavalry, who, as the senior in rank, was to take command of the troops. Ermolov immediately appeared to him as a subordinate, but Prince D.V. Golitsyn, out of noble motives, told him

Alexey Petrovich, victory is yours, complete it; if you need cavalry, I will willingly and immediately send it at your first request.

When, after the battle, the adjutant brought the Order of St. George, 2nd class, to the wounded A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy, the latter told him that “this order should belong not to me, but to Ermolov, who took an important part in the battle and finished it with such glory”. Nevertheless, Osterman-Tolstoy was awarded that order, and Yermolov was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky right at the battle site, and from the Prussian king he received the Red Eagle Cross, 1st degree, for that battle. Denis Davydov later wrote:

The famous Battle of Kulma, which on the first day of this battle, great in its consequences, belonged primarily to Ermolov, serves as one of the decorations of this general’s military career.

The victory on the first day of the Battle of Kulm, which belonged exclusively to the Russian guard and its chief, Lieutenant General Ermolov, provided the Allied forces with the opportunity to withdraw to Bohemia. Ermolov was given the opportunity to draw up a report about that battle, in which he indicated, in particular, that the victory in it went to the Russians thanks to “to the unshakable courage of the troops and the stewardship of Count Osterman-Tolstoy”, while almost keeping silent about his command and merits. Count Osterman-Tolstoy, having familiarized himself with the report, despite "unbearable" pain from the wound, he wrote to Ermolov in his own hand:

I cannot thank Your Excellency enough, finding only that you mentioned little about General Yermolov, to whom I am accustomed to give all true justice.

Count A. I. Osterman-Tolstoy to A. P. Ermolov.

In the battle for Paris in March 1814, Ermolov commanded the united Russian, Prussian and Baden guards. At the final stage, on the personal instructions of Alexander I, at the head of the grenadier corps, he attacked the Belleville heights (the eastern gate of Paris) and forced the enemy to capitulate. The emperor instructed him to write a manifesto about the capture of Paris. For his distinction during its capture, Ermolov was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree.

After the signing of the Peace of Paris in May 1814, Alexander I sent Ermolov to Krakow, located on the border with Austria, as commander of the 80,000-strong observation army stationed in the Duchy of Warsaw. Russia needed troops on the border because, on the eve of the planned congress in Vienna, disagreement on the part of Austria was expected in determining new borders.

In April 1815, instead of reserve troops, the 6th Corps, temporarily composed of two infantry, one hussar divisions and several Cossack regiments, was transferred to Ermolov's subordination. Then, by order, he set out from Krakow and crossed the border, heading to France. On May 21 he was already in Nuremberg, and on June 3 he was on the border with France.

However, during this second campaign in France, there were no battles between Russian troops and French troops, since after a series of battles (Quatre Bras, Ligny, Wavre) Napoleon’s army was finally defeated in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. Ermolov and his troops nevertheless entered France, and Alexander I went to Paris.

After arriving on the Rhine, Ermolov, instead of the 6th Corps, with which he came, was given the Grenadier Corps, part of which went to Paris to maintain guard with the sovereign, since there were no guards with the army. In Paris, Alexey Petrovich asked for leave on sick leave for six months. With the grenadier corps, Ermolov returned to the Kingdom of Poland. On July 20, 1815, he was in Warsaw, where the solemn announcement of the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland and the promulgation of the constitution took place, and witnessed how the troops of the Polish army swore allegiance to Emperor Alexander I as the Tsar of Poland.

In November 1815, Alexei Ermolov handed over his corps to Lieutenant General I.F. Paskevich and, having received leave, left for Russia. At the beginning of 1816, he went to the Oryol province to the village of Lukyanchikovo, where his elderly father lived.

Service in the Caucasus

Appointment as commander of the Separate Georgian Corps

While Ermolov was on vacation in the Oryol province, his future service in St. Petersburg was being decided. Count A. A. Arakcheev recommended Ermolov to Alexander I for the post of Minister of War of Russia. From his statement:

“Our army, exhausted by long wars, needs a good minister<…>The appointment of Ermolov would be very unpleasant for many, because he would start by squabbling with everyone; but his activity, intelligence, strength of character, selflessness and frugality would fully justify him.”.

Earlier, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, Ermolov, in a conversation with Count A. A. Arakcheev and Prince P. M. Volkonsky, once said that he “I would be very pleased if he were entrusted with the main command in the Caucasus”. When Alexander I learned about Ermolov’s desire, he was extremely surprised, since at that time in St. Petersburg they did not attach much importance to the Caucasus and, as a rule, they appointed there "minor generals", inappropriate “to the merits and official position of Ermolov”. However, Alexander I, pursuing far-reaching military-political goals in the Caucasus, and also taking into account the circumstances of the Great Game, by a rescript dated April 6, 1816, appointed Ermolov commander of the Separate Georgian Corps (from August 1820 - Separate Caucasian Corps).

Having summoned Ermolov to St. Petersburg, Alexander I officially announced this appointment to him, and added on his own behalf:

“I never thought that you could desire this appointment, but to such witnesses as Count Alexei Andreevich and Prince Pyotr Mikhailovich[Arakcheev and Volkonsky] I have to believe".

In addition, Ermolov was also appointed chief administrator of the civil part in the Caucasus and the Astrakhan province, and at the same time the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Russia to Persia.

In September, Ermolov arrived at the border of the Caucasian province, in October he arrived on the Caucasian line in the city of Georgievsk, and from there he immediately left for Tiflis. On October 12, having taken over the affairs of Infantry General N.F. Rtishchev, who was then commander of the OGK, he officially assumed his position.

Embassy to Persia

After surveying the border with Persia, he went in 1817 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the court of the Persian Shah Feth-Ali, where he spent many months. At the court of the Shah, Ermolov often behaved defiantly. Thus, the Russian envoy did not fail to recall the destruction of Persia by the Mongols and even stated that Genghis Khan was his direct ancestor. Nevertheless, Ermolov managed to achieve high favor with the Shah. The issue with the regions transferred to Russia under the Gulistan Treaty was resolved.

At the same time, Ermolov demonstrated his selflessness. At the end of the embassy, ​​he accepted gifts only from the Shah and the Vizier, and returned gifts from the ministers. In addition, as N. N. Muravyov-Karsky, who accompanied Ermolov to Persia and was a staff captain at that time, noted:

He had the opportunity to enrich himself with one ambassadorial salary, but he refused, being content with the salary belonging to his rank.

For the successful completion of the mission, Ermolov was awarded the rank of infantry general on February 8, 1818.

Caucasian War

Commanding the Russian troops in the Caucasus, Ermolov forbade the exhaustion of the troops with senseless marching, increased the meat and wine rations, allowed them to wear hats instead of shakos, canvas bags instead of knapsacks, short fur coats instead of overcoats in winter, built durable apartments for the troops, and with the money he saved from his business trip to Persia, built Tiflis hospital and tried in every possible way to brighten up the difficult life of the troops.

Ermolov started the construction of many fortresses in the North Caucasus, such as Nalchik, Vnezapnaya and Groznaya. In 1819, the Black Sea Cossack Army was included in the Ermolov Corps. Ermolov provided the Cossacks with land along the banks of the Kuban and gave a two-year deferment of payment for it. In December of the same year he made a trip to the village of Akusha. As a result of a short battle, the Akushin militia was defeated, and the population of Akushi was sworn to allegiance to the Russian emperor.

In 1823, Ermolov led the fighting in Dagestan, and in 1825 he fought with the Chechens. The name Ermolov became a threat to the mountaineers, and Caucasian women frightened their children with it for a long time after that. He quite “consciously sowed the seeds of discord between the mountaineers and set one tribe against another.” In 1820, he composed the text of a prayer for Muslims of the Caucasus with praise to Emperor Alexander I and best wishes to him. The prayer didn't take root.

During Ermolov’s trip to Persia to visit Feth Ali Shah, the Chechens took the chief of staff of the corps, Colonel Shevtsov, hostage and began to demand a ransom of 18 carts of silver for him. Instead of the traditional protracted bargaining in such cases about the size of the ransom in order to reduce it, Ermolov sent several hundred Cossacks to Chechnya, who took 18 of the most respected elders of the largest villages into their amanates. Ermolov brought to the attention of the mountaineers that if Shevtsov did not receive freedom within a month, the amanats would be hanged. The Russian colonel was released without ransom.

With the small funds available to him, Ermolov did quite a lot for the Caucasus region: he modernized the Georgian Military Road and other means of communication, established medical institutions at mineral waters, and facilitated the influx of Russian settlers. He sent H. N. Muravyov to the Trans-Caspian region. Nicknamed the “proconsul of the Caucasus,” Ermolov ruled it with almost absolute power, with cold calculation, systematically, persistently and energetically implementing his plan to pacify the region

Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828

Ermolov warned Emperor Nicholas I that Persia was openly preparing for war. Nicholas I, in view of the escalating conflict with Turkey, was ready to cede to it the southern part of the Talysh Khanate for Persia’s neutrality. However, Prince A. S. Menshikov, whom Nicholas I sent to Tehran with instructions to ensure peace at any cost, could not achieve anything and left the Iranian capital.

In July 1826, the Iranian army, without declaring war, invaded the Transcaucasus into the territory of the Karabakh and Talysh khanates. The Persians occupied Lankaran and Karabakh, after which they moved to Tiflis. The bulk of the border “zemstvo guards,” consisting of armed horsemen and foot soldiers of Azerbaijani peasants, with rare exceptions, surrendered their positions to the invading Iranian troops without much resistance or even joined them.

At the end of August 1826, troops of the Separate Caucasian Corps under the command of Alexei Ermolov completely cleared Transcaucasia of Iranian troops and military operations were transferred to Iranian territory.

Having received a report from Ermolov about the Persian invasion, Nicholas I, not trusting Ermolov (he suspected him of having connections with the Decembrists), sent his favorite Paskevich to him in early August, two weeks before the coronation. The newcomer was given command of the troops of the Caucasian district, although formally he was subordinate to Ermolov, which led to a conflict, to resolve which Adjutant General I.I. Dibich was sent. He took Paskevich’s side, behaved cheekily and even insultingly towards Ermolov, almost arranging biased interrogations for him. In his reports to the Tsar, Dibich wrote that “the pernicious spirit of freethinking and liberalism is spreading among the troops” of Ermolov’s corps. The fact of Ermolov’s favorable reception of the Decembrists exiled to the Caucasus and demoted to the rank and file, who were even "invited to some officers' dinners".

Resignation

On March 3, 1827, Ermolov resigned “due to domestic circumstances.” On March 27, he was relieved of all positions. Notifying Ermolov of his resignation, Nicholas I wrote to him: “Due to the circumstances of the present affairs in Georgia, having recognized the need to give the troops stationed there a special Chief Commander, I command you to return to Russia and remain in your villages until my command.”. Along with Yermolov, his associates (“Yermolovites”), recognized as “harmful,” were also dismissed.

According to Paskevich, Ermolov was removed from command for arbitrary actions, because the troops were disbanded, in bad condition, without discipline, and because theft in the corps was unusual; people were dissatisfied with their salaries for several years, they needed everything, the material part was all in disrepair. The newly crowned Nicholas I wanted to appoint Alexander Rudzevich to replace Ermolov, but this intention remained unfulfilled. The new emperor did not have the best opinion of Ermolov and directly wrote to I. I. Dibich: “I trust Ermolov least of all”.

At the same time, the true reasons for Ermolov's removal were obvious - the tsar's suspicions of Ermolov's involvement in the Decembrist conspiracy. “Due to slander, on suspicion of taking part in the plans of a secret society, Ermolov was replaced”, - wrote the Decembrist A.E. Rosen. Secret agents reported that “The army feels sorry for Ermolov”, "People[soldiers] are grieving" in connection with his resignation. The devotion of soldiers and officers to him was so great that Nicholas I seriously feared possible unrest in the Caucasian Corps. Ermolov's resignation caused a great resonance in progressive public circles.

Retired

In 1827, Nicholas I dismissed Ermolov. At first, the ex-proconsul lived in the Lukyanchikovo estate near Orel, where on the way to Erzurum in 1829 he was visited by A. S. Pushkin, who left the following testimony:

At first glance, I did not find in him the slightest resemblance to his portraits, usually painted in profile. Round face, fiery, gray eyes, gray hair standing on end. The head of a tiger on the torso of Hercules. A smile is unpleasant because it is not natural. When he thinks and frowns, he becomes beautiful and strikingly resembles the poetic portrait painted by Dov. He was wearing a green Circassian checkman. On the walls of his office hung checkers and daggers, monuments of his rule in the Caucasus. He seems impatient with his inaction. He says about Griboedov’s poems that reading them makes his cheekbones hurt.

Since 1831, member of the State Council. He was an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1818), a member of the Russian Academy (1832) and an honorary member of Moscow University (1853). Involved in the development of quarantine regulations. He allowed himself a slight dissent: “He deliberately walks around not in a uniform, but in a black frock coat and the only award of George, 4th class.”

In 1848, Ermolov was planning to go abroad with the Likhachev brothers, whom he always loved. But, according to the memoirs of M. Pogodin, he did not receive permission.

With the outbreak of the Crimean War at the end of 1853, 76-year-old Ermolov was elected head of the state militia in seven provinces, but accepted this position only in Moscow. In May 1855, due to old age, he left this post. Died on April 11 (23), 1861 in Moscow.

In his spiritual will, he made the following instructions for his burial:

I bequeath to bury me as simply as possible. I ask you to make a simple wooden coffin, like a soldier’s, painted with yellow paint. A memorial service for me should be celebrated by one priest. I would not like military honors or orders to be given to me, but since this does not depend on me, I leave it to whoever should decide on this matter. I wish to be buried in Orel, near my mother and sister; take me there on a simple road without a canopy, on a pair of horses; The children will follow me, and my Nikolai, and my old artillery comrades will probably not refuse to drag me through Moscow.

Moscow saw off the general for two days, and the residents of Orel, upon his body’s arrival in his homeland, organized a grand memorial service for him. The square in front of the Trinity Church, where Yermolov’s funeral service was taking place, and all the surrounding streets were filled with people. In St. Petersburg, on Nevsky Prospekt, his portraits were displayed in all the stores.

Ermolov was buried in Orel, next to his father, in a special chapel of the Trinity Cemetery Church. On one of the walls of the grave crypt there is a board with a simple inscription: “Alexey Petrovich Ermolov, died on April 12, 1861.” The publication of his archive was carried out in Paris by emigrant P. V. Dolgorukov.

In service:

• January 5, 1787 - entered service as a captain, in the Life Guards. Preobrazhensky Regiment;
• September 28, 1788 - sergeant;
• January 1, 1791 - captain, transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment;
• 1791 - appointed senior adjutant to the headquarters of Lieutenant General Samoilov;
• March 18, 1793 - quartermaster, in the 2nd bombardier battalion;
• August 26, 1793 - promoted to captain;
• October 8, 1793 - transferred to the Artillery Cadet Corps;
• January 9, 1795 - to the 2nd bombardier battalion;
• January 11, 1797 - promoted to major;
• January 20, 1797 - entered the battalion of Lieutenant General Euler;
• February 1, 1798 - promoted to lieutenant colonel;
• December 26, 1798 - dismissed from service;
• May 1, 1801 - re-entered into service in the 8th Artillery Regiment;
• June 9, 1801 - transferred to the horse artillery battalion;
• May 4, 1806 - promoted to colonel;
• August 26, 1806 - after the division of the regiments into brigades, he entered the 7th brigade as a commander;
• March 10, 1808 - promoted to major general;
• October 1, 1809 - after the brigade was renamed, he entered the 9th brigade;
• May 10, 1811 - appointed commander of the Life Guards. Artillery Brigade;
• August 7, 1812 - promoted to lieutenant general for distinction in battle;
• April 9, 1816 - appointed commander of the Separate Georgian Corps;
• February 20, 1818 - for the prudent and successful completion of the embassy entrusted to him in Persia, he was promoted to infantry general.

During the campaigns I was:

• from May 1, 1794 - in Poland; October 13, took part in the battle of crossing the river. Bug; 23 - was during the formation of batteries during the day against the Warsaw suburb of Prague, under heavy cannonade; 24 - during the assault on the fortifications of Prague, he commanded a special battery, for which he was awarded, on January 1, 1795, the Order of St. George, 4th class;
• from April 26, 1796 to February 24, 1797 - was in Persia; On May 9, during the siege of Derbent, he commanded a battery; participated in the pacification of the mountain peoples, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class;
• from August 26, 1805 to January 26, 1806 - was in Austria and took part in the battles: in October, at Amsteten and at Krems; November 20, at Austerlitz; for the campaign he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 2nd class;
• from October 25, 1806 to June 7, 1807 - was in Prussia, in battles against the French: December 14, 1806, at Golimin, for which he was awarded a golden sword, with the inscription “for bravery”; January 13, 1807, at Morungen; 24 - under Wolfsdorf; 26 - under Landsberg; 27 - at Preussisch-Eylau, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class; February 20, at Zechern; May 24, at Altkirchen; 25 - when driving the enemy beyond the river. Passargu, for which he received, on August 26, 1807, the Order of St. George, 3rd class; 27 - when protecting the crossing across the river. Passargu; 28 - covered the retreat of the army across the river. Alle to Gutstadt; 29 - under Heilsberg; and June 2, under Friedland, for which he received the Order of St. Anne, with diamonds; throughout the entire campaign he commanded the vanguard artillery;
• in 1812 - commanded the Guards Infantry Division, and then, with the rank of chief of the main staff of the 1st Western Army, was in the battles of Vitebsk and Smolensk; August 7, at the village. Zabolotye, near Smolensk, for which he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general; August 24 and 26, at Borodino, for which he received the Order of St. Anna, 1st class; October 6, under Tarutin; 12 - at Maloyaroslavets, where he was sent with the corps of General Dokhturov, for which he received the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class; 22 - at Vyazma, where he commanded a detachment; November 4, 5 and 6, at Krasny, in the vanguard of General Miloradovich, for which he received a sword decorated with diamonds;
• in 1813 - April 20, with the rank of chief of artillery of the active armies, he was in the battle of Lutzen; On May 8, at Bautzen, he commanded a detachment and rearguard, for which he was awarded the diamond insignia of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky; August 16, was in the battle of Pirna; 17 - at Kulm, in Bohemia; October 4, at Leipzig;
• in 1814 - March 18, during the capture of Paris, for which he was awarded, on March 26, 1814, the Order of St. George, 2nd class;
• in 1818-1826 - on the Caucasian line, in Dagestan and Kabarda, during the conquest of the mountain peoples.

By the highest order of November 25, 1827, he was dismissed from service, due to domestic circumstances, with his uniform. Appointed member of the State Council on December 6, 1831; received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called in 1832.

Personal life

Portrait of A. P. Ermolov by P. Zakharov-Chechen, approximately 1843.

N. F. Dubrovin, one of Ermolov’s first biographers, considered his defining characteristic to be “unlimited ambition.” Liberal-minded contemporaries had high hopes for him, although no one fully understood him. “The Sphinx of modern times,” is how A. S. Griboedov, who served under his command, certified the ruler of the Caucasus.

Ermolov was single, although in 1810 he almost got married. Thanks to his natural stature, he enjoyed success with women:

“Ermolov had a peculiar appearance, reminiscent of something like a lion: enormous height, heroic build, large facial features under a cap of thick hair, knitted eyebrows with a deep fold between them gave his face a stern expression, small fiery gray eyes looked sternly and definitely.”

Military encyclopedia

At the same time, a number of contemporaries had the impression that he himself “avoided” female society. The explanation for this can be found in his memoirs:

“Together with the Volyn province I left a most pleasant life. I will say in short words that I passionately loved W., a lovely girl who had equal affection for me. For the first time in my life, the thought of marriage came to me, but the lack of wealth on both sides was the main obstacle, and I was no longer at that age when it is so convenient to believe that food can be replaced by tenderness. However, the dominant passion was service, and I could not help but know that only through this alone could I achieve a somewhat pleasant existence. So, it was necessary to overcome love. Not without difficulty, but I managed...”

During the war in the Caucasus, like other officers, Ermolov kept with him several “Asian” concubines. He entered into a “cabin marriage” with the girl Totai from the Kumyk village of Kaka-Shura. The very fact of concluding a kebin union is questioned, since this form of marriage is categorically prohibited in the Sunni direction of Islam, to which the peoples of Dagestan, including the Kumyks, belonged. From various connections, Ermolov gave birth to sons Victor (Bakhtiyar) (from the Kumyk Suyda), Sever and Claudius (both from Totai) and Peter (from Sultanum; died in his youth), who received the rights of legitimate children from Alexander II, as well as daughter Sophia (Sapiyat, d. 1870), who remained a Muslim and married a mountaineer, Mahai-Ogly, from the village of Geli.

Awards

• Order of St. George, 4th class (01/01/1795)
• Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class with bow (1796)
• Order of St. Anne, 2nd degree (02/24/1806)
• Golden sword “For bravery” (04/13/1807)
• Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree (04/26/1807)
• Order of St. George, 3rd class (08/26/1807)
• Order of St. Anne, 1st degree (08/26/1812)
• Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree (02/15/1813)
• Golden sword “For bravery” with diamonds (09/11/1813)
• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (11/11/1813)
• Diamond badges for the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (12/31/1813)
• Order of St. George, 2nd class (26.03.1814)
• Order of St. Vladimir, 1st degree (01/01/1821)
• Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (09/17/1835)
• Order of the White Eagle (1835)

Foreign:

• Prussian Order "Pour le Mérite" (03.1807)
• Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, 1st class (1813)
• Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa, 3rd class (1813)
• Baden Order of Military Merit of Karl Friedrich (1814)
• Prussian Kulm Cross (1816)
• Persian Order of the Lion and Sun, 1st class with diamonds (08/27/1817)
• Crown for the Prussian Order “Pour le Mérite” (07/22/1858)

Personal library

In 1855, A.P. Ermolov sold his universal book collection to Moscow University, a total of about 7800 volumes of books on history, philosophy, art, and military art; mostly books in French, Italian, English, German. Many copies have preserved dedicatory inscriptions and autographs of famous historical figures (V. A. Zhukovsky, D. V. Davydov, A. S. Norov, Yakov Willie, etc.). The collection also includes more than 160 atlases and maps.

In 1907, Ermolov's personal archive was transferred to the Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.

Currently, Ermolov’s personal library is kept in the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. The owner's arrangement of books into 29 sections has been preserved; most books have retained their unique bindings, created by order of Ermolov.

Memory

Objects

In Orel

• The right aisle of the Oryol Holy Trinity Church is the Ermolov family tomb. Built on October 15, 1867 with funds allocated by Emperor Alexander II in memory of the great merits of artillery general Alexei Petrovich Ermolov. Next to him lie his father Pyotr Alekseevich (1748-1832), son Major General Claudius Alekseevich (1823-1895) and daughter-in-law Varvara Nikolaevna (1825-1897).
• In Orel, where Ermolov is buried, in 1911, by decision of the City Duma, the street leading from the city park to his grave was named after A.P. Ermolov, and it was also announced to raise funds for the installation of a monument to the general. A considerable amount of money was raised for the monument, but the First World War first interfered, and then the October Revolution finally buried these plans. Since 1924, Ermolov Street has been called Pionerskaya, and Ermolov Street has been named after another street, where the house of Alexei Petrovich’s father is located.
• A second attempt to erect a monument was made almost 100 years later. One of the central squares of the city (opposite the Oktyabr cinema) was given the name “Ermolov Square” in 2003. A picturesque square was laid out on Yermolov Square, where on June 4, 2002 a stone was laid with a memorial inscription that a monument to Yermolov would be unveiled at this place. In June 2012, the stone was dismantled and construction of a pedestal for the monument began. In July, the monument was brought to the installation site. The monument was unveiled on July 27, 2012. The height of the sculpture is five and a half meters, the pedestal is four meters.

In the Caucasus

Monument to General Ermolov in Grozny (sculptor A. L. Ober)

• In Grozny in 1888, near the dugout in which Ermolov lived during the foundation of the Groznaya fortress, a bronze bust of General Ermolov was built on a high tetrahedral stone pedestal, donated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District, Lieutenant General A. M. Dondukov-Korsakov (the bust was made by sculptor A. L. Ober). The dugout was surrounded by a lattice; the entrance to the fence was designed in the form of a stone slab topped with fortress battlements. On the iron door there was an inscription: “Alexey Petrovich Ermolov lived here.” In 1921, the bust was demolished.
• In 1951, a new bust of Yermolov was installed in Grozny (sculptor I. G. Tverdokhlebov). Under Soviet rule, upon the return of Chechens to Grozny after their deportation in 1944, the bust was repeatedly blown up (folklore - 12 times). However, after each time it was restored anew. It was demolished again in 1991 during the reign of Dzhokhar Dudayev.
• the village of Ermolovskaya, Terek region - since 1990, the village of Alkhan-Kal of the Chechen Republic.
• Ermolovsk is the former name of the village of Leselidze, Abkhazia. Founded in the 19th century as the village of Ermolovsk, named after the Minister of Agriculture A.S. Ermolov, who visited this village in 1894. The reference found in the literature to the connection of the oikonym with the name of the famous General Ermolov, commander-in-chief in the Caucasian War, is erroneous.
• In 2008, in the city of Mineralnye Vody, Stavropol Territory, by decision of the City Duma, in the Nadezhda square, renamed Ermolov Square, a monument was erected to the “Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, General A.P. Ermolov.”
• In Stavropol, on General Ermolov Boulevard (along Karl Marx Avenue), a monument was erected - a bust on a pedestal.
• In September 2010, a monument to Ermolov was opened in Pyatigorsk (square on Lermontov Street). The monument is a sculpture of a general on a horse.
• The monument to the Russian military leader and statesman was erected on October 4, on the 130th anniversary of Mineralnye Vody, in the Nadezhda park not far from the Intercession Cathedral of the city. The sculpture, 2.85 meters high, was installed on a three-meter granite pedestal. The solemn meeting held in honor of the opening of the monument was attended by leaders of the region and deputies of the State Duma, Cossacks of the Terek army and representatives of national diasporas. According to one of the main initiators of the creation of the monument, ataman of the Mineralovodsky department of the Stavropol Cossack district of the Terek Cossack army Oleg Gubenko, the monument costs about 4 million rubles. can be called truly national. More than 300 enterprises, organizations and ordinary people from different regions took part in the creation of the monument. On October 21, 2011, unknown vandals desecrated the monument to General A.P. Ermolov in the city of Mineralnye Vody. The entire monument is smeared with yellow paint; the same paint is used to paint offensive inscriptions on the local administration building and on the adjacent corrugated fence.

Other

• In 1962, a street in Moscow was named after the general (General Ermolov Street).
• Ermolov streets in Derbent, Mozhaisk, Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Cherkessk, Essentuki, Georgievsk, Mikhailovsk (Stavropol Territory).
• Ermolovskaya street - the former name of the street. Chernyshevsky, Grozny; st. May 1, Vladikavkaz; st. Malyugina, Rostov-on-Don; st. Chitadze, Tbilisi;
• in Moscow, an equestrian statue by Alexander Burganov was installed on September 6, 2012 on the street. Profsoyuznaya in the Konkovo ​​area
• A cadet school in Stavropol was named after the general.

In numismatics

• In 2012, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued a coin (2 rubles, steel with nickel galvanic coating) from the series “Commanders and Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812” with an image on the reverse of a portrait of Infantry General A.P. Ermolov.

In fiction

• Bespalova, Tatyana General Ermolov. Novel. - M.: Bustard, 2014. - 416 p. - (World history in novels).

In music

The Russian folk metal band GjeldRune dedicated a song to Yermolov. "GjeldRune – Ermolov"

Among the Russian military leaders of the Caucasian War, there is perhaps no more complex and multifaceted personality than General Ermolov, whose name is associated with the beginning of the conquest of the Caucasus.

The initial period of the Caucasian War is inextricably linked with the activities of Alexei Petrovich Ermolov, who concentrated in his hands all the power in the troubled Caucasus. For the first time, Russian troops in the Caucasus had to face such a new phenomenon as an eastern war - a war where victory is achieved not only on the battlefield, and is not always related to the number of defeated enemies. An inevitable component of such a war is the demonstrative humiliation and robbery of the defeated enemy, without which victory could not be achieved in its full sense. Hence the extreme cruelty of the actions of both sides, which sometimes did not fit into the minds of contemporaries. In 1818, in a letter to Vorontsov, who many years later would have to continue the work of his friend and ally, Ermolov noted: “I founded a fortress here called Groznaya. It will have a garrison of up to a thousand people and five fears for the Chechens. Next year I will build another not so large fortress and redoubts at several points at the most convenient fords across the Sunzha, and the Chechens will be more accommodating. Then I will destroy the Chechen villages, in which the most harmful robbers in the neighborhood hide under the name of peaceful ones; I will distribute their most beautiful lands to our Cossacks, who either completely need them or have very inconvenient ones.” True, Ermolov’s decisions were not always of such a radical nature; whenever possible, everything was resolved through negotiations, where Ermolov acted from a position of strength that was understandable to the mountaineers and did not try to flirt with the local nobility, making them his support in management. Although there were exceptions when it was necessary to enlist the support of influential and respected persons in mountain societies, in this case the actions were, as Ermolov himself admitted, secret in nature.

The appearance of the Ermolov troops
The specific conditions of the war in the Caucasus, when the troops had a very limited strength, and the approach of reinforcements and the supply of equipment was difficult, forced the Russian command to adapt to the new unusual conditions of the struggle, making the necessary changes.

For example, the fighting in the Caucasus forced a change in the marching order of troops. If initially the vanguard of the detachment was strong, which often had to be the first to fall under enemy attack, holding out until the main forces arrived, then in the Caucasus, on the contrary, the rearguard, which brought up the rear, was reinforced. The highlanders often let the advance detachment and the main forces go ahead and attack the rearguard, which was impossible not to take the fight, and any delay in time threatened that it would lag behind the main forces and be destroyed. One of the features of the wars in the Caucasus was the fairly widespread use of service dogs. The dogs performed guard duty while protecting the fortifications - as a rule, at night they were released beyond the ramparts of the fortifications until the morning. Dogs were also widely used during campaigns in the side chains of the columns. Certain money from the treasury was specially allocated for the maintenance of dogs. With regard to the armament of troops, Ermolov gave preference to smooth-bore weapons, which, due to the relatively high rate of fire, made it possible to compensate for the lack of accuracy with high density (volley fire) and intensity of fire. Rifled weapons became widespread among skirmishers who formed the security chains of columns and usually acted in pairs. Moreover, the skirmisher was advised not to fire a shot until his partner had time to reload the nozzle. In close combat, if the terrain allowed, the Russian infantry carried out bayonet attacks in close formation, overthrowing the numerically superior enemy. The success of bayonet attacks was also facilitated by the widespread superstition among the mountaineers that to be bayoneted means to become like a pig, which was considered a shameful death. The conduct of combat operations in the specific conditions of the Caucasus left its mark on the uniform of the troops of the Caucasian Corps. Starting from Yermolov times, significant changes have occurred in the appearance of Cossack units and regular troops. This was caused by the need to adapt to the conditions of service and warfare, as well as by the poor supply of troops, when quickly worn out uniforms could not be replaced with new ones. The Kuban linear Cossack army essentially borrowed the equipment and weapons of the Circassians. In the infantry, high shakos are replaced by hats and caps. Boots, as a rule, were taken care of, often replacing them with mountain leather bast shoes. To carry cartridges, gazyrs are sewn on. Knapsacks are being replaced by duffel bags.

Life amidst war
Pursuing a tough policy, Ermolov paid great attention to the construction of fortresses, roads, clearings and the development of trade. From the very beginning, the emphasis was placed on the gradual development of new territories, where military campaigns alone could not give complete success.

True, the only lever for carrying out policy in the developed territory, due to the lack of an administrative apparatus, remained in the hands of Ermolov. It is around the army backbone that a civilian system of governance in the Caucasus will begin to take shape. Ermolov conducted an audit of fortresses and cities, ordering the abandonment of a number of fortifications built without taking into account the sanitary conditions of the area. Thus, the fortification of St. Nicholas in the Kuban was abandoned, and the regional center was moved from Georgievsk to Stavropol. The basis of future cities were military settlements, in the creation of which Alexey Petrovich had much greater success than Arakcheev. He put forward and legislatively implemented the idea of ​​​​creating so-called “married companies” and achieving benefits for the wives of recruits who served in the Caucasian Corps. Gradually, the exclusively military population was supplemented by migrant peasants. To the extent possible, the legal system was streamlined, where previously there had been Russian law, laws in force on the territory of Georgia, as well as local customs of the highlanders. In 1822, the Caucasian province was transformed into a region with four counties. To manage the territory, the institution of bailiffs was introduced, who were essentially military officials. Their task was to monitor the life of the mountain population in order to prevent protests. In Dagestan, where radical changes could not be carried out in a short time, Ermolov limited himself to replacing the most hostile nobility and clergy with their more loyal representatives, who exercised power under the control of Russian military officials. Whenever possible, the slave trade was destroyed, and in Georgia in 1824, peasants received the right to obtain personal freedom for a ransom. By the way, the experience of peasants purchasing personal freedom with a state subsidy will subsequently be used in Russia in the 40s of the 19th century. Not all of Ermolov’s administrative and economic transformations were successful, but nevertheless, amidst a period of military campaigns, with limited resources, Ermolov managed to begin the systematic establishment of Russian statehood in the Caucasus.

Persian question
During the period of Ermolov’s rule, the main potential threat to the Russian troops was not isolated actions of the highlanders, but the likelihood of a major war with Persia, which was seeking revenge and revision of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813.

Having a dangerous enemy in front of him, Ermolov made enormous efforts to prepare for the inevitable war, and yet Ermolov’s constant reports about the inevitability of war with Persia were not seriously considered by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Quite the contrary: fearing to provoke a conflict, St. Petersburg tried in every possible way to limit military preparations for defense in Transcaucasia. Ermolov’s plan boiled down to active defense, when within a year it was supposed to wear down the enemy in conditions of war in the mountains, when the main losses of the troops were from disease and deprivation. Then, having a reliable rear, consistently and methodically push the enemy deep into his territory, trying to minimize the movement of troops and losses from disease. In fact, this plan could be in a somewhat accelerated and harsh form and was later implemented by Paskevich, who had at his disposal troops well prepared and trained by Yermolov and strong officer cadres.

Alexey Petrovich Ermolov. Born May 24 (June 4), 1777 in Moscow - died April 11 (23), 1861 in Moscow. An outstanding Russian military leader and statesman, participant in many major wars. General of Infantry (1818) and General of Artillery (1837). Commander-in-Chief during the first stage of the Caucasian War (until 1827).

He came from a family of poor nobles in the Oryol province.

Father - Pyotr Alekseevich Ermolov (1747-1832), landowner, owner of a small estate of 150 peasants in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province. During his reign, he served as ruler of the office of Prosecutor General Count A. N. Samoilov, and with the accession of Paul I to the throne, he retired and settled in his village of Lukyanchikovo.

Mother - Maria Denisovna Kakhovskaya, nee Davydova, was in his second marriage to his father. According to a contemporary, she was “a smart lady, but capricious and did not spare anyone with slander.” On his mother’s side, Alexey Ermolov was related to the Davydovs, Potemkins, Raevskys and Orlovs. The famous partisan and poet Denis Davydov was his cousin.

As was customary then, even in infancy, Ermolov was enlisted in military service: in 1778 he was enlisted as captain of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, and soon as a sergeant of this regiment. Initially he was brought up in the house of his relatives, Oryol landowners Shcherbinin and Levin.

He received his education at the Moscow University boarding school, which accepted boys 9-14 years old of noble origin. The boarding school prepared for military, civil, court and diplomatic service. He was assigned to the Noble boarding school (1784) under the care of Professor I. A. Geim, with whom he studied until 1791.

The director of Moscow University, P. I. Fonvizin, was repeatedly interested in the fate of young Ermolov and gave him books for his success in his studies. As a child, Ermolov read Plutarch, especially the biographies of Caesar and Alexander the Great. Enlisted as a non-commissioned officer in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment on January 5, 1787.

In 1792, with the rank of guard captain, 15-year-old Alexey moved to St. Petersburg and was enrolled in the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, stationed in the Caucasus. He, however, remained in St. Petersburg as an adjutant under the Prosecutor General Count Samoilov, whose father Ermolov was then the ruler of the chancellery. Soon Ermolov entered the gentry artillery corps, which was better equipped with scientific equipment than other educational institutions of that time. In 1793, Ermolov passed the exam with special distinction and, as part of Derfelden's corps, already as an artilleryman, went on a campaign against Poland.

In 1794 he began serving under the command of. He received his baptism of fire during the Polish campaign (the suppression of the Polish uprising led by Kosciuszko). He distinguished himself while commanding a battery during the assault on the outskirts of Warsaw, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

In 1796 he took part in the Persian campaign under the command of General Valerian Zubov, who was considered his patron. For excellent zeal and merit during the siege of the fortress, Derbent was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree with a bow. Received the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Between the wars he lived in Moscow and Orel.

In 1798, Ermolov was arrested, and then dismissed from service and sent into exile. to his estate in the case of the creation of the Smolensk officer political circle and on suspicion of participation in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul. The members of the circle exchanged free-thinking views that foreshadowed the Decembrists, and in correspondence they spoke of the sovereign “extremely disrespectfully.” Young Ermolov knew little about the activities and plans of the organization’s leaders. Nevertheless, he was taken into custody twice and kept for a whole month in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

After a military trial, Ermolov was exiled to live in Kostroma. Here the Cossack Matvey Platov shared his exile with him, who from then on became his friend. Ermolov diligently engaged in self-education, learned Latin from a local archpriest and read Roman classics in the original, paying special attention to the “Notes on the Gallic War.”

The Kostroma governor offered him his intercession before the sovereign, but Ermolov remained in exile until Paul's death. Pardoned by decree of March 15, 1801.

The liberated Ermolov, by his own admission, “with difficulty received (in 1802) a company of horse artillery” located in Vilna. Peaceful service tormented him: “I’m 25 years old, I miss the war,” he wrote in his notes then. The last entry was not long in coming: the war of coalitions with Napoleonic France began (1805, 1806-1807).

In 1805, Ermolov's company was assigned to Kutuzov's army, which was sent to help Austria against France. Catching up with the army, Ermolov walked all the time in “accelerated marches”, but, despite the 2-month campaign, he presented his company along the way in such exemplary order that the latter said that he would keep him in mind and left the company at his disposal as a reserve artillery.

Near Amstetten, Ermolov was in combat with horse artillery for the first time. He stopped the enemy and gave the squadrons the opportunity to gather and hold in place under strong enemy pressure, and by occupying one hill and accurate fire, he prevented the enemy from setting up a battery, which could cause great harm to the Russian troops. However, Ermolov did not receive a reward for this feat due to Arakcheev’s opposition. During a review in Vilna, he expressed displeasure with the fatigue of the horses of Ermolov’s company, to which he heard: “It’s a pity, Your Excellency, that in the artillery the reputation of officers depends on cattle.” The future Minister of War took this remark personally and, being stung, for some time prevented the young officer's career in artillery. Subsequently he became his patron.

Near Austerlitz, when the division of Adjutant General Uvarov was crushed and put to flight by the French cavalry, Ermolov did not succumb to the general panic and stopped his battery, “presuming by its action to hold off the cavalry pursuing us.” But the very first guns that he could “free from their own overwhelming cavalry” by firing a few shots were taken, people were killed, and Ermolov himself, under whom the horse was killed, was captured. He was already close to the French line when a regiment of Elisavetgrad Hussars came to his rescue and recaptured him from the French. Ermolov's awards for this campaign were the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree, and the rank of colonel.

During the Russian-Prussian-French War (1806-1807) Ermolov distinguished himself in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau in February 1807. By bombing from the guns of his horse artillery company, Ermolov stopped the French advance, thereby saving the army. Moreover, they opened fire without any orders, on their own initiative.

During the French attack at Heilsberg, in response to the officers’ remark that it was not time to open fire, Colonel Ermolov said: “I will shoot when I distinguish the blond from the black-haired.”

In 1807, 29-year-old Alexey Ermolov returned to Russia with a reputation as one of the first artillerymen in the Russian army. Since 1809, he commanded reserve troops in the Kyiv, Poltava and Chernigov provinces.

It is known that Ermolov loved to play the “Russian” card in front of young officers, which ensured his popularity among junior officers. They say that once in 1811 Ermolov went to the main apartment of Barclay de Tolly, where Bezrodny was the ruler of the office. “Well, what’s it like there?” - they asked him upon his return. “It’s bad,” answered Alexey Petrovich, “all Germans, purely Germans. I found one Russian there, and he was Bezrodny.” “Ermolov’s heart is as black as his boot,” - this is the review of Alexander I given in his notes by General Levenstern (according to Colonel Kridner).

Alexey Ermolov in the Patriotic War of 1812

Before the start of World War II, he was appointed chief of the General Staff of the 1st Western Army. This was a mockery of fate, because Ermolov had a cold, purely official relationship with the army commander Barclay, while with Bagration, the commander of the 2nd Western Army, it was friendly, cordial, and yet the relations of both commanders with each other were extremely strained, even clearly hostile .

“A man with dignity, but deceitful and an intriguer,” - this is how Barclay certified his chief of staff.

34-year-old Ermolov thus found himself in a delicate and difficult situation; As best he could, he tried to soften these relationships, eliminate irritation, smooth out rough edges.

Upon his departure from the army, Alexander I instructed Ermolov to inform himself with complete frankness by letters about all events in the army. Of the people who were in the army, he did not speak ill of anyone (except General Ertel), although his notes are full of harsh characteristics of many. However, these letters, given by the emperor to read to Kutuzov when he was sent to the army, nevertheless changed the latter’s attitude towards Ermolov, replacing the old disposition with suspicion, and then becoming known to Barclay de Tolly, gave rise to even greater coldness of this “arctic German” towards Ermolov.

As a result of all this, Ermolov’s position at the end of the 1812 campaign was such that he wrote to one of his friends: “I don’t want to serve and there is no power to force me.”

During the withdrawal from Smolensk, General Ermolov, under the authority of Barclay, completely independently and brilliantly led the battle near the village of Zabolotye (August 7), and was involved in organizing the defense of the Smolensk fortress. At the beginning of the Battle of Borodino, Ermolov was with Kutuzov, who in the afternoon, at a critical moment for the left flank of the Russian army, sent Ermolov there with instructions to “bring the artillery of the 2nd Army into proper order.” Driving not far from Raevsky's battery, which had just been taken by the enemy, Ermolov immediately rushed to the nearest VI Corps, took a battalion of the Ufa infantry, personally led it at a run to the battery, and ordered 3 cavalry companies to divert enemy fire and in no more than 20 minutes with bayonets recaptured the battery from the French. Ermolov then remained at the battery for three hours, organizing its defense and leading it, until he was severely wounded in the neck by buckshot.

At the council in Fili, General Ermolov spoke in favor of a new battle near Moscow. After the retreat to the Tarutino camp, due to Ermolov’s fault, the attack on Murat’s vanguard was postponed: Kutuzov could not find the chief of staff, because at that time he was having a meal somewhere. At the same time it was Ermolov who insisted on warning Napoleon in Maloyaroslavets. The stubborn defense of this city forced the French army to turn back to the old path it had already traveled and ruined, which led it to disaster.

Having learned from his former subordinate Seslavin that Napoleon’s army was coming from Tarutin along the Borovskaya road, Ermolov, at his own risk, in the name of the commander-in-chief, changed the direction of Dokhturov’s corps, moving it hastily to Maloyaroslavets. After the battle of Maloyaroslavets, in the defense of which Ermolov played a crucial role, he, on Kutuzov’s instructions, walked all the time in the vanguard of the army with Miloradovich’s detachment, giving him orders in the name of the commander-in-chief. Ermolov's reward for the Patriotic War was only the rank of lieutenant general, given to him for the battle at Valutina Mountain (Zabolotye).

Barclay de Tolly's idea of ​​awarding Ermolov for Borodino with the Order of St. George 2nd degree was ignored by Kutuzov.

Upon crossing the Neman, General Ermolov was appointed chief of artillery of all active armies. “Together with this sonorous name, I received,” Ermolov writes, “a part that was vast, upset and confused, especially since each of the armies had special artillery chiefs and there was nothing in common.”

From April 1813 he commanded various formations. On May 2, 1813, after the unsuccessful battle of Lützen, Ermolov was accused by General P. Wittgenstein of lack of management and transferred to the post of commander of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division.

On May 21, at the Battle of Bautzen, the allied forces were forced to retreat. The rearguard was entrusted to Ermolov, and only his decisive actions ensured the army's withdrawal without major losses.

On May 22, Ermolov was attacked by the troops of generals Latour-Maubourg and Renier at Ketiz and retreated to Reichenbach.

In the battle of Kulm, which took place on August 29-30, he led the 1st Guards Division, and after General A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy was wounded, he took over his combined detachment. Was in the center of the battle. At the most critical moment, fighting all day against an enemy twice as numerous, Yermolov’s guard saved the entire allied army with its heroic self-sacrifice, ensuring its final victory. Right at the site of the battle, Ermolov was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. For Kulm, he received the Red Eagle Cross, 1st degree, from the Prussian king. According to Denis Davydov, “the famous Battle of Kulm, which on the first day of this battle, great in its consequences, belonged primarily to Ermolov, serves as one of the decorations of this general’s military career.”

In the bloody “battle of the peoples” in October 1813 near Leipzig, Ermolov, commanding the Russian and Prussian guards, with a decisive attack wedged into the center of Napoleon’s positions, depriving him of the opportunity to maneuver.

In the battle for Paris in March 1814, Ermolov commanded the combined Russian, Prussian and Baden guards. After the surrender of the French, he, as one of the most educated Russian generals, was instructed by Alexander I to write a manifesto on the capture of Paris. Arakcheev predicted Ermolov the post of Minister of War, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich offered him command of the guard, but the general’s arrogant behavior in Paris forced Emperor Alexander to reject these offers. Nevertheless, Ermolov still received the long-awaited Order of St. George, 2nd degree.

After the signing of the Peace of Paris in May 1814, Alexander I sent Ermolov to Krakow (located on the border with Austria) as commander of the 80,000 strong vanguard, consisting of most of the reserve army formed in the Duchy of Warsaw. Russia needed troops on the border because, on the eve of the planned congress in Vienna, disagreement on the part of Austria was expected in determining new borders.

In April 1815, instead of reserve troops, the 6th Corps, temporarily composed of two infantry, one hussar divisions and several Cossack regiments, was transferred to Ermolov's command. Then, by order, he set out from Krakow and crossed the border, heading to France. On May 21 he was already in Nuremberg, and on June 3 he was on the border with France.

However, during this second campaign in France, there were no battles between Russian troops and French troops, since after a series of battles (Quatre Bras, Ligny, Wavre) Napoleon’s army was finally defeated in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. Ermolov and his troops nevertheless entered France, and Alexander I went to Paris.

After arriving on the Rhine, Ermolov, instead of the 6th Corps, with which he came, was given the Grenadier Corps, part of which went to Paris to maintain guard with the sovereign, since there were no guards with the army. In Paris, Alexey Petrovich asked for leave on sick leave for six months. With the grenadier corps, Ermolov returned to the Kingdom of Poland. On July 20, 1815, he was in Warsaw, where the solemn announcement of the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland and the promulgation of the constitution took place, and witnessed how the troops of the Polish army swore allegiance to Emperor Alexander I as the Tsar of Poland.

After some time, in November 1815, Alexei Ermolov surrendered his corps to General Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich and left for Russia. At the very beginning of 1816, he was in Orel with his elderly parents.

Alexey Ermolov in the Caucasus

In 1816, Lieutenant General Ermolov, by order of Alexander I, was appointed commander of the Separate Georgian Corps, managing the civil affairs in the Caucasus and Astrakhan province. He long and persistently sought this post through his acquaintances in St. Petersburg.

Since the time of the Zubov campaign, Ermolov strongly disliked the Persians and, in imitation of Alexander the Great, developed a “plan for the destruction of the Persian state.”

In September, Ermolov arrived at the border of the Caucasus province. In October he arrived on the Caucasus Line in the city of Georgievsk. From there he immediately went to Tiflis, where the former Commander-in-Chief, Infantry General Nikolai Rtishchev, was waiting for him.

After surveying the border with Persia, he went in 1817 as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the court of the Persian Shah Feth-Ali, where he spent many months. Ermolov's actions at the Shah's court were not always diplomatic. Thus, the Russian envoy did not fail to recall the destruction of Persia by the Mongols and even stated that Genghis Khan was his direct ancestor. Nevertheless, peace was approved, and the Shah agreed to allow the Russian charge d'affaires and the mission to stay in Tehran. Upon his return from Persia, Ermolov was awarded the rank of infantry general.

Commanding the Russian troops in the Caucasus, Ermolov forbade the exhaustion of the troops with senseless marching, increased the meat and wine rations, allowed them to wear hats instead of shakos, canvas bags instead of knapsacks, short fur coats instead of overcoats in winter, built durable apartments for the troops, and with the money he saved from his business trip to Persia, built Tiflis hospital and tried in every possible way to brighten up the difficult life of the troops.

Ermolov started the construction of many fortresses in the North Caucasus, such as Nalchik, Vnezapnaya and Groznaya. In 1819, the Black Sea Cossack Army was included in the Ermolov Corps. Ermolov provided the Cossacks with land along the banks of the Kuban and gave a two-year deferment of payment for it. In December of the same year he made a trip to the village of Akusha. As a result of a short battle, the Akushin militia was defeated, and the population of Akushi was sworn to allegiance to the Russian emperor.

In 1823, General A.P. Ermolov commanded military operations in Dagestan, and in 1825 he fought with the Chechens. The name Ermolov became a threat to the mountaineers, and Caucasian women frightened their children with it for a long time after that. He quite “consciously sowed the seeds of discord between the mountaineers and set one tribe against another.”

In 1820, he composed the text of a prayer for Muslims of the Caucasus with praise to Emperor Alexander I and best wishes to him. The prayer didn't take root.

Ermolov's fair attitude towards the mountaineers can be illustrated by the following fact. During Ermolov’s trip to Persia to visit Feth Ali Shah, the Chechens took the chief of staff of the corps, Colonel Shevtsov, hostage and began to demand a ransom of 18 carts of silver for him. Instead of the traditional protracted bargaining in such cases about the size of the ransom in order to reduce it, Ermolov sent several hundred Cossacks to Chechnya, who took 18 of the most respected elders of the largest villages into their amanates. Ermolov brought to the attention of the mountaineers that if Shevtsov did not receive freedom within a month, the amanats would be hanged. The Russian colonel was released without ransom.

With the small funds available to him, Ermolov did quite a lot for the Caucasus region: he modernized the Georgian Military Road and other means of communication, established medical institutions at mineral waters, and facilitated the influx of Russian settlers. He sent H. N. Muravyov to the Trans-Caspian region. Nicknamed the “proconsul of the Caucasus,” Ermolov ruled it with almost absolute power, with cold calculation, systematically, persistently and energetically implementing his plan for pacifying the region.

General Ermolov, commander-in-chief of the Separate Caucasian Corps, warned Emperor Nicholas I that Persia was openly preparing for war. Nicholas I, in view of the escalating conflict with Turkey, was ready to cede to it the southern part of the Talysh Khanate for Persia’s neutrality. However, Prince A. S. Menshikov, whom Nicholas I sent to Tehran with instructions to ensure peace at any cost, could not achieve anything and left the Iranian capital.

In July 1826, the Iranian army, without declaring war, invaded the Transcaucasus into the territory of the Karabakh and Talysh khanates. The Persians occupied Lankaran and Karabakh, after which they moved to Tiflis. The bulk of the border “zemstvo guards,” consisting of armed horsemen and foot soldiers of Azerbaijani peasants, with rare exceptions, surrendered their positions to the invading Iranian troops without much resistance or even joined them.

At the end of August 1826, troops of the Separate Caucasian Corps under the command of Alexei Ermolov completely cleared Transcaucasia of Iranian troops and military operations were transferred to Iranian territory.

Having received a report from Ermolov about the Persian invasion, Nicholas I, not trusting Ermolov (he suspected him of having connections with the Decembrists), sent his favorite Paskevich to him in early August, two weeks before the coronation. The newcomer was given command of the troops of the Caucasian district, although formally he was subordinate to Ermolov, which led to a conflict, to resolve which Adjutant General I.I. Dibich was sent. He took Paskevich’s side, behaved cheekily and even insultingly towards Ermolov, almost arranging biased interrogations for him. In his reports to the Tsar, Dibich wrote that “the pernicious spirit of freethinking and liberalism is spreading among the troops” of Ermolov’s corps. The fact of Yermolov’s favorable reception of the Decembrists exiled to the Caucasus and demoted to the rank and file, who were even “invited to some officer dinners,” did not go unnoticed.

Ermolov's fate was decided. On March 3, 1827, Ermolov resigned “due to domestic circumstances.” On March 27, he was relieved of all positions. Notifying Ermolov of his resignation, Nicholas I wrote to him: “Due to the circumstances of the present affairs in Georgia, having recognized the need to give the troops stationed there a special Chief Commander, I command you to return to Russia and remain in your villages until my command.” Along with Yermolov, his associates (“Yermolovites”), recognized as “harmful,” were also dismissed.

According to Paskevich, Ermolov was removed from command for arbitrary actions, because the troops were disbanded, in bad condition, without discipline, and because theft in the corps was unusual; people were dissatisfied with their salaries for several years, they needed everything, the material part was all in disrepair. The newly crowned Nicholas I wanted to appoint Alexander Rudzevich to replace Ermolov, but this intention remained unfulfilled. The new emperor did not have the best opinion of Yermolov and directly wrote to I.I. Dibich: “I believe Yermolov least of all.”

At the same time, the true reasons for Ermolov's removal were obvious - the tsar's suspicions of Ermolov's involvement in the Decembrist conspiracy. “Due to slander, on suspicion of taking part in the plans of a secret society, Yermolov was replaced,” wrote the Decembrist A.E. Rosen. Secret agents reported that “the army feels sorry for Ermolov”, “people (that is, soldiers) are grieving” in connection with his resignation. The devotion of soldiers and officers to him was so great that Nicholas I seriously feared possible unrest in the Caucasian Corps. Ermolov's resignation caused a great resonance in progressive public circles.

Alexey Ermolov

In 1827, Nicholas I dismissed Ermolov. At first, the ex-proconsul lived in the Lukyanchikovo estate near Orel, where on the way to Erzurum in 1829 he was visited, who left the following testimony: “At first glance, I did not find in him the slightest resemblance to his portraits, usually painted in profile. Round face, fiery, gray eyes, gray hair standing on end. The head of a tiger on the torso of Hercules. A smile is unpleasant because it is not natural. When he thinks and frowns, he becomes beautiful and strikingly resembles the poetic portrait painted by Dov. He was wearing a green Circassian checkman. On the walls of his office hung checkers and daggers, monuments of his rule in the Caucasus. He seems impatient with his inaction. He says about Griboyedov’s poems that reading them makes his cheekbones hurt.”

Since 1831, member of the State Council. He was an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1818), a member of the Russian Academy (1832) and an honorary member of Moscow University (1853).

Involved in the development of quarantine regulations. He allowed himself a slight dissent: “He deliberately walks around not in a uniform, but in a black frock coat and the only award of George, 4th class.”

In 1848, Ermolov was planning to go abroad with the Likhachev brothers, whom he always loved. But, according to the memoirs of M. Pogodin, he did not receive permission.

With the outbreak of the Crimean War at the end of 1853, 76-year-old Ermolov was elected head of the state militia in seven provinces, but accepted this position only in Moscow. In May 1855, due to old age, he left this post.

In his spiritual will, he made the following instructions for his burial: “I bequeath that I be buried as simply as possible. I ask you to make a simple wooden coffin, like a soldier’s, painted with yellow paint. A memorial service for me should be celebrated by one priest. I would not like military honors or orders to be given to me, but since this does not depend on me, I leave it to whoever should decide on this matter. I wish to be buried in Orel, near my mother and sister; take me there on a simple road without a canopy, on a pair of horses; The children will follow me, and my Nikolai, and my old artillery comrades will probably not refuse to drag me through Moscow.”

Moscow saw off the general for two days, and the residents of Orel, upon his body’s arrival in his homeland, organized a grand memorial service for him. The square in front of the Trinity Church, where Yermolov’s funeral service was taking place, and all the surrounding streets were filled with people. In St. Petersburg, on Nevsky Prospekt, his portraits were displayed in all the stores.

Ermolov was buried in Orel, next to his father, in a special chapel of the Trinity Cemetery Church. On one of the walls of the grave crypt there is a board with a simple inscription: “Alexey Petrovich Ermolov, died on April 12, 1861.” The publication of his archive was carried out in Paris by emigrant P. V. Dolgorukov.

In the footsteps of General Ermolov

Personal life of Alexey Ermolov:

He was not married, although in 1810 he had such plans.

During the war in the Caucasus, like other officers, Ermolov kept with him several “Asian” concubines.

With the girl Totai from the village of Kaka-Shura, according to some sources, he entered into a “kebin marriage” (marriage for pleasure or temporary marriage). However, the fact of concluding a kebin union is questioned, since this form of marriage is categorically prohibited in the Sunni direction of Islam, to which the Kumyks belonged.

From various connections he had sons Victor (from the Kumyk Syuda), Sever and Claudius (both from Totai) and Nikolai, who received legitimate children from the law, and a daughter Sophia (Sopiat, d. 1870), who remained a Muslim and married a mountaineer Mahai- Ogly from the village of Gili.

Had a good library.

In 1855, A.P. Ermolov sold his universal book collection to Moscow University - a total of about 7800 volumes of books on history, philosophy, art, and military art; mostly books in French, Italian, English, German. Many copies have preserved dedicatory inscriptions and autographs of famous historical figures (V. A. Zhukovsky, D. V. Davydov, A. S. Norov, Yakov Willie, etc.). The collection also includes more than 160 atlases and maps.

Currently, Ermolov’s personal library is kept in the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. The owner's arrangement of books into 29 sections has been preserved; most books have retained their unique bindings, created by order of A.P. Ermolov.

Memory of General Alexei Ermolov

In 1962, a street in Moscow was named after the general (General Ermolov Street).

There are Ermolov streets in Derbent, Mozhaisk, Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Cherkessk, Essentuki, Georgievsk, Mikhailovsk (Stavropol Territory).

In Moscow there is an equestrian statue by Alexander Burganov, installed on September 6, 2012 on the street. Trade union in the Konkovo ​​area.

A cadet school in Stavropol is named after the general.

In 2012, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued a coin (2 rubles, steel with nickel galvanic coating) from the series “Commanders and Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812” with an image on the reverse of a portrait of Infantry General A.P. Ermolov.

In Orel:

The right aisle of the Oryol Holy Trinity Church is the Ermolov family tomb. Built on October 15, 1867 with funds allocated by Emperor Alexander II in memory of the great merits of artillery general Alexei Petrovich Ermolov. Next to him lie his father Pyotr Alekseevich (1748-1832), son Major General Claudius Alekseevich (1823-1895) and daughter-in-law Varvara Nikolaevna (1825-1897).

In Orel, where Ermolov is buried, in 1911, by decision of the City Duma, the street leading from the city park to his grave was named after A.P. Ermolov, and it was also announced to raise funds for the installation of a monument to the general. A considerable amount of money was raised for the monument, but the First World War first interfered, and then the October Revolution finally buried these plans. Since 1924, Ermolov Street has been called Pionerskaya, and Ermolov Street has been named after another street, where the house of Alexei Petrovich’s father is located.

A second attempt to erect a monument was made almost 100 years later. One of the central squares of the city (opposite the Oktyabr cinema) was given the name “Ermolov Square” in 2003. A picturesque square was laid out on Yermolov Square, where on June 4, 2002 a stone was laid with a memorial inscription that a monument to Yermolov would be unveiled at this place. In June 2012, the stone was dismantled and construction of a pedestal for the monument began. In July, the monument was brought to the installation site. The monument was unveiled on July 27, 2012. The height of the sculpture is five and a half meters, the pedestal is four meters.

In the Caucasus:

In Grozny in 1888, near the dugout in which Ermolov lived during the foundation of the Groznaya fortress, a bronze bust of General Ermolov was built on a high tetrahedral stone pedestal, donated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Military District, Lieutenant General A. M. Dondukov-Korsakov (the bust was made by sculptor A. L. Ober). The dugout was surrounded by a lattice; the entrance to the fence was designed in the form of a stone slab topped with fortress battlements. On the iron door there was an inscription: “Alexey Petrovich Ermolov lived here.” In 1921, the bust was demolished.

In 1951, a new bust of Yermolov was installed in Grozny (sculptor I. G. Tverdokhlebov). Under Soviet rule, upon the return of Chechens to Grozny after their deportation in 1944, the bust was repeatedly blown up. However, after each time it was restored anew. It was demolished again in 1991 during the reign of Dzhokhar Dudayev.

The village of Ermolovskaya, Terek region - since 1990, the village of Alkhan-Kal of the Chechen Republic.

Ermolovsk is the former name of the village of Leselidze, Abkhazia. Founded in the 19th century as the village of Ermolovsk, named after the Minister of Agriculture A.S. Ermolov, who visited this village in 1894. The reference found in the literature to the connection of the oikonym with the name of the famous General Ermolov, commander-in-chief in the Caucasian War, is erroneous.

In 2008, in the city of Mineralnye Vody, Stavropol Territory, by decision of the City Duma, in the Nadezhda square, renamed Ermolov Square, a monument was erected to the “Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, General A.P. Ermolov.”

In Stavropol, on General Ermolov Boulevard (along Karl Marx Avenue), a monument was erected - a bust on a pedestal.

In September 2010, a monument to Ermolov was opened in Pyatigorsk (square on Lermontov Street). The monument is a sculpture of a general on a horse.

The monument to the Russian military leader and statesman was erected on October 4, on the 130th anniversary of Mineralnye Vody, in the Nadezhda park not far from the Intercession Cathedral of the city. The sculpture, 2.85 meters high, was installed on a three-meter granite pedestal. The solemn meeting held in honor of the opening of the monument was attended by leaders of the region and deputies of the State Duma, Cossacks of the Terek army and representatives of national diasporas. According to one of the main initiators of the creation of the monument, ataman of the Mineralovodsky department of the Stavropol Cossack district of the Terek Cossack army Oleg Gubenko, the monument costs about 4 million rubles. can be called truly national. More than 300 enterprises, organizations and ordinary people from different regions took part in the creation of the monument. On October 21, 2011, unknown vandals desecrated the monument to General A.P. Ermolov in the city of Mineralnye Vody. The entire monument is smeared with yellow paint; the same paint is used to paint offensive inscriptions on the local administration building and on the adjacent corrugated fence.