"Strategic mindset": how Ivan Paskevich became the most influential Russian military leader under Nicholas I

On May 19, 1782, the Russian military leader and statesman Ivan Paskevich was born, who became famous for his victories in the wars with Turkey, France and Persia, and also proved himself to be a wise civil manager in various regions of the Russian Empire.

First successes

Ivan Paskevich was born in Poltava, in the family of a wealthy landowner, who came from a Cossack elder family and served as chairman of the Supreme Zemstvo Court of the Voznesenskaya province.

When Ivan grew up, he was sent to the Corps of Pages, during his studies in which he often visited the court of Catherine II.

In 1796, the empress died, and she was replaced on the throne by Paul I, who saw Paskevich's ability to serve.

After graduating from the Corps of Pages, Ivan was promoted to lieutenant of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment and appointed adjutant wing of the emperor.

He was daily present at reviews and exercises, carrying out various assignments of the sovereign.

After Alexander I came to power, Paskevich was sent to the troops stationed on the western border at the disposal of General Ivan Mikhelson, under his command he soon took part in the war with Turkey.

Here Paskevich showed himself as a valiant officer.

In 1806, near Giurgiu (the modern city of Giurgiu in Romania. -

) one of the military columns lost its way.

Paskevich personally rushed to lay a route in the night steppe, for which he was awarded the Order of St.

Vladimir 4th degree.

Later, he participated in battles with the Turks and carried out diplomatic missions for the command in the Ottoman Empire, collecting information about the enemy army along the way.

At the beginning of 1810, 27-year-old Paskevich was appointed commander of the regiment.

Having distinguished himself during the assault on Bazardzhik, the siege of Varna and in the battle of Batin, he was promoted to major general.

Returning from the front, Paskevich immediately received an order to independently form a new Orlovsky regiment in Kyiv.

According to historians, he brilliantly coped with this task, but due to overtime, he fell ill with a strong nervous fever, from which he almost died.

However, when France attacked Russia in 1812, he was already in service.

• Young Ivan Paskevich

• © Public Domain

At the head of the 26th division, Paskevich took part in the defense of Smolensk and in the battle of Borodino.

Then he defended the Kurgan Height in the center of the positions of the Russian troops and personally led the soldiers in bayonet attacks.

Later he participated in the final battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the Foreign Campaign.

Alexander I, introducing him to his brother Nikolai Pavlovich (the future Nicholas I), spoke of him as one of the best generals of the Russian army.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Paskevich received a new unusual assignment from Alexander I - to investigate the conflict between officials and peasants of the Lipetsk district, who refused to pay taxes for 1814.

Previously, the local authorities, contrary to the law, did not forgive them for arrears associated with the Napoleonic invasion.

At the initiative of local officials, the peasants were sentenced for this to punishment with whips and imprisonment.

But according to the results of Paskevich's investigation, the peasants were released from punishment and given them a monetary allowance.

In 1817, the imperial family chose Paskevich as an escort for the younger brother of Alexander I - Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich - during his travels in Russia and Europe.

• Ivan Paskevich

• © Public Domain

In 1822, Ivan Paskevich was appointed commander of the guards corps, and three years later - adjutant general and commander of the 1st army corps.

At the peak of fame

After the Decembrist uprising in 1825, Paskevich was summoned to St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of the summer of 1826, the Supreme Criminal Court was established over the Decembrists, and Paskevich became a member of it.

Later, without even seeing the coronation of the new Emperor Nicholas I, Paskevich was sent to the Caucasus, where at that time a threatening situation had developed due to the Persian invasion.

After Paskevich's arrival in the war zone, he developed bad relations with the commander-in-chief of the Caucasian Corps, General Alexei Yermolov.

Although Ermolov was formally higher in rank, Paskevich was instructed to directly command the troops and report on the course of the campaign to the emperor.

Paskevich divided the troops entrusted to him into two detachments, one of which operated in the Elizavetpol region (the modern city of Ganja in Azerbaijan), and the other in the Erivan region (the modern city of Yerevan in Armenia).

In 1827, instead of Yermolov, Paskevich took command of a separate Caucasian corps and the administration of the Caucasian region.

Soon after, he went on the offensive and inflicted several serious defeats on the Persian troops.

The defeat of the main Persian forces in Transcaucasia in just three months undermined the morale of the Persian authorities, who agreed to peace on Russian terms.

In 1828, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Persia in the village of Turkmanchay, for which the Russian commander received the title of Count Paskevich-Erivansky and a million rubles from the contribution as a reward.

The troops under the command of Paskevich also successfully operated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829.

After its completion, Paskevich stopped the raids of the highlanders and was engaged in the civil development of the Caucasus.

As historians note, on his initiative, educational and cultural institutions were created in the region, the system of administrative management was established, corruption and bureaucratic abuses were eradicated.

• General Paskevich and Prince Abbas-Mirza at the signing of a peace treaty in Turkmanchay

• © Public Domain

In 1831, due to health problems, Paskevich was recalled from the Caucasus, but did not have time to rest.

Nicholas I sent him to suppress the uprising in Poland.

Paskevich tried to resolve the conflict peacefully, but the participants in the uprising refused to accept his proposals.

As a result, Russian troops stormed Warsaw.

Paskevich himself in battle was wounded by a cannonball in his left hand.

In September 1831, Paskevich was elevated to the rank of prince of the Russian Empire with the title of His Serene Highness and the title of Warsaw.

After the mutiny was pacified, he was appointed to Poland as the tsar's governor.

The Russian statesman contributed to the development of Polish industry and the construction of roads.

In addition, he protected the local peasants from the arbitrariness of the landowners and created new educational institutions in Poland.

• Paskevich accepts the surrender of Turkish troops in Erzurum

• © Public Domain

“The leadership of Poland is the least visible, but at the same time the most productive period in the life of Paskevich.

He showed himself as a remarkable administrator, having managed to ensure internal balance in the Kingdom of Poland.

His task - to achieve peace, being in a deliberately hostile environment - was not easy, but he coped with it, ”said Denis Shilov, a leading researcher at the Genealogy Center of the Russian National Library, in a conversation with RT.

In 1849, during the revolution in Austria-Hungary, Paskevich commanded the Russian troops that defeated the Hungarian rebels.

By decree of Nicholas I, he was granted the right to military honors on a par with the emperor.

Some historians call Paskevich the most titled of the Russian military leaders of the 19th century.

He not only received the titles of count and prince, but also became the only full holder in history of two orders at the same time - St.

George and St.

Vladimir.

“Prince Varshavsky, in terms of his importance in the state, among Russian subjects, had no equal,” wrote his biographer Alexander Shcherbatov about Paskevich.

• Ivan Paskevich

• © Public Domain

At the same time, as Igor Kurukin, a professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University, notes, Paskevich was a cautious person and urged Nicholas I to behave carefully against the backdrop of aggravated relations with Turkey, England and France in the middle of the 19th century.

“Everything indicates that Paskevich was against joining the Crimean War, but he could not convince Nicholas I,” Kurukin said in an interview with RT.

In 1854, during the Crimean War, Paskevich was appointed commander of the Russian troops on the southern and western borders of the empire.

However, while conducting reconnaissance in the area of ​​the Silistra fortress (the modern city of Silistra in Bulgaria), he was severely shell-shocked and transferred command to General Mikhail Gorchakov.

After treatment in his Gomel estate, Paskevich returned to the administration of Poland.

But the wound undermined his health too much, and on February 1, 1856, he died in Warsaw.

Professor of Moscow State Pedagogical University Vitaly Zakharov draws attention to the fact that in historiography one can sometimes find ambiguous assessments of Paskevich's activities.

However, as a military leader and administrator, he deserves only positive characteristics, the specialist is sure.

“On the one hand, Paskevich is called a talented general, on the other hand, he is called a henchman of the “gendarme of Europe” Nicholas I, who suppressed uprisings in Hungary and Poland.

In any case, from a military point of view, Paskevich deserves the highest ratings, ”summed up Zakharov.