Mikhail Miloradovich
Count Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich, spelled Miloradovitch in contemporary English sources, was a Russian general prominent during the Napoleonic Wars. On his father's side, Miloradovich descended from the Serb noble family and the katun clan of Miloradović from Hum, later part of Sanjak of Herzegovina, in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. He entered military service on the eve of the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 and his career advanced rapidly during the reign of Emperor Paul I. He served under Alexander Suvorov during Italian and Swiss campaigns of 1799. Miloradovich was, along with Mikhail Kutuzov and Pyotr Bagration, a brilliant pupil of Suvorov, and became one of the outstanding figures in the military history of Russia.
Miloradovich served in wars against France and the Ottoman Empire, earning distinction in the Battle of Amstetten, the capture of Bucharest, the Battle of Borodino, the Battle of Tarutino, the Battle of Vyazma, and the Battle of Krasnoi. He led the reserves into the Battle of Kulm, the Battle of Leipzig and the Battle of Paris. Miloradovich attained the rank of General of the Infantry in 1809 and the title of count in 1813. His reputation as a daring battlefield commander rivalled that of his bitter personal enemy Bagration, but Miloradovich also had a reputation for good luck. He boasted that he had fought fifty battles but had never been wounded nor even scratched by the enemy.
By 1818, when Miloradovich was appointed Governor General of Saint Petersburg, the retirement or death of other senior generals made him the most highly-decorated active officer of the Russian army, holding the Order of St. George 2nd class, the Order of St. Andrew, the Order of St. Vladimir 1st class, the Order of St. Anna 1st class, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds. A chivalrous man of boastful and flamboyant character, Miloradovich was a poor fit for the governorship. Vladimir Nabokov called him "a gallant soldier, bon vivant and a somewhat bizarre administrator"; Alexander Herzen wrote that he was "one of those military men who occupied the most senior positions in civilian life with not the slightest idea about public affairs".
When news of the death of Alexander I reached Saint Petersburg, Miloradovich prevented the heir, the future Emperor Nicholas I, from acceding to the throne. From to, Miloradovich exercised de facto dictatorial authority, but he ultimately recognised Nicholas as his sovereign after the Romanovs had sorted out their confusion over the succession. Miloradovich had sufficient evidence of the mounting Decembrist revolt, but did not take any action until the rebels took over the Senate Square on. He rode into the rows of rebel troops and tried to talk them into obedience, but was fatally shot by Pyotr Kakhovsky and stabbed by Yevgeny Obolensky.
Early years
Mikhail Miloradovich was the son of Major General Andrei Miloradovich. The Miloradovichs descended from an Eastern Orthodox Serb noble family and a katun clan from Hum, who rose to a station of prominent of Sanjak of Herzegovina. The Russian branch of the Miloradovich family was established in 1715, when Mikhail I Miloradovich , one of three brothers recruited by Peter I to incite rebellion against the Turks four years earlier, fled from Herzegovina to Russia and joined Peter's service as a colonel. He was a commander of the Hadiach Regiment. Towards the end of Peter's reign he was imprisoned in connection with Pavlo Polubotok's treason case, but was spared from further misfortune by Peter's death. His grandson Andrey served thirty years in the Russian Army and later moved into civil administration as the Governor of Little Russia and the Chernigov governorate. The family owned lands in the Poltava Governorate; Mikhail inherited up to fifteen hundred serfs.Mikhail's father "enrolled" him in the military in his infancy, and later sent teenage Mikhail to study military sciences in the universities of Königsberg and Göttingen, and in Strasbourg and Metz. According to Nikolai Leskov, the education was superficial: Leskov described Mikhail as a boy of "charming ignorance" who did not even master the French language properly, and said that his French was littered with the "most grave and curious mistakes". Sixteen-year-old Mikhail returned to Russia in 1787, joined the army as a praporshchik in the Izmaylovsky Regiment and was soon sent into action in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790.
Military career
Italian and Swiss campaigns
Miloradovich did not earn any distinction in the war of 1788–1790, but he advanced rapidly in peacetime. A captain of the Guards in 1796, Paul I regarded him favorably and he was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1797 and major general and chief of the Apsheron Artillery Regiment in 1798. In the same year, he departed to join Alexander Suvorov's troops in Italy. He won Suvorov's unconditional trust for taking Lecco on the eve of the Battle of Cassano and for commanding the rearguard in the crossing of the Gotthard Pass. At Bassignana he changed three horses killed by the enemy but was not even scratched; at Altdorf he led assault infantry over a burning bridge; at Mutten on 1 October his regiment was standing ahead of the first line in skirmish order. These and similar episodes, true or anecdotal, forged public opinion of Miloradovich as a daring and lucky field commander, an opinion that he himself cultivated for the rest of his life. Miloradovich was adored at home, but the French held a different opinion: Adolphe Thiers described Miloradovich as "a Servian, of brilliant valour, but absolutely destitute of military knowledge, dissolute in manners, uniting all the vices of civilization with all the vices of barbarism".Paul rewarded Miloradovich with the Order of St. Anne 1st class, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. Suvorov, in violation of military codes, transferred Miloradovich from field troops to his staff as a "general in waiting"; Paul later cited this fact as a pretext to dismiss Suvorov. Friendship between Miloradovich and Paul's second son Constantine also dated back to the Swiss campaign. Constantine awarded Miloradovich a gilded sword with an inscription To my friend Miloradovich, which Miloradovich had with him on the day of his death.
Amstetten and Austerlitz
Miloradovich played a key role in the Battle of Amstetten, where Mikhail Kutuzov ordered his three regiments to take a stand and provide relief for Pyotr Bagration's troops. "Above all, skillful maneuvering of the Russian force, including timely arrival of Miloradovich and his intelligent application of the reserve forces at his disposal, prevented the collapse of the rear guard". The action at Amstetten allowed Kutuzov to break contact with the French and prevented an all-out battle that would have been disastrous for the Russians. Reports of the battle by Miloradovich himself contradict the French accounts and are not corroborated by Bagration's laconic report: each side presented their own perspective, and Miloradovich had a particular penchant for glorifying his own actions. His action at Amstetten was rewarded with the Order of St. George 3rd class and promotion to lieutenant general. On November 11, 1805 Miloradovich attacked the French in the Battle of Dürenstein, but the French withdrew before his corps could inflict significant damage.The Battle of Austerlitz saw Miloradovich in charge of the Russian part of a Russian-Austrian infantry column, one of the four columns placed on Pratzen Heights, which had been abandoned by the French. Another, a larger part of the column was under Austrian command; the close presence of Kutuzov somewhat mitigated the perils of divided command. Tsar Alexander ordered this column to move before others were deployed; Kutuzov, unable to oppose the tsar, ordered Miloradovich to advance across the Goldbach Stream to Kobylnice, disregarding enemy action and difficult terrain. Hills and fog obstructed the view, and the column marched straight into the bulk of the French armies. Soult's troops mauled the mixed column and Miloradovich retreated. Alexander summoned his brother Constantine for help. Contrary to the popular view that "he was almost the only Russian general who obtained an advantage over the French" at Austerlitz, General Karl Wilhelm von Toll contested Miloradovich's actions, asserting that his column was the first to fall back and that it was Bagration, not Miloradovich, who saved the allied troops from annihilation.
Russian-Turkish War
The war of 1806–1812 began with Russian occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia. After the Turks responded by taking Bucharest, Russian commander-in-chief Ivan Ivanovich Michelson dispatched Miloradovich to intervene. Miloradovich captured Bucharest on December 13 without significant resistance from the Turks and was rewarded with a golden sword with diamonds "For the taking of Bucharest". The Turks, manipulated by the French envoy Sébastiani, did not declare war until five days later. No large-scale action followed. In May 1807 Miloradovich tried to capture Giurgiu, but failed and fell back to Bucharest. On 2 June 1807, he redeemed himself by checking the Turkish advance at Obilești.The years 1808 and 1809 did not see any remarkable action either, but were marked by a dual intrigue among top Russian generals; at the top level, Mikhail Kutuzov was in conflict with Alexander Prozorovsky, while below them burned a feud between Miloradovich and Pyotr Bagration. Bagration temporarily succeeded Prozorovsky as commander-in-chief, but later both Miloradovich and Bagration lost their commands. At the beginning of 1810 Alexander recalled Miloradovich from front-line duty and tasked him with assembling a new army in Belarus. In April 1810 Miloradovich was appointed Governor of Kiev but soon tended his resignation. He was officially discharged in September 1810 but was called up for service in November, again, as Governor of Kiev.