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SUVAROV

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 173 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SUVAROV . See also:

ALEXANDER VASILIEVICH, See also:COUNT SUVAROV RIMNIKSKY, See also:PRINCE ITALYSKY (1729-1800), See also:Russian See also:field See also:marshal, was See also:born at See also:Moscow on the 24th of See also:November 1729, the descendant of a Swede named Suvor who emigrated to See also:Russia in 1622. He entered the See also:army as a boy, served against the Swedes in See also:Finland and against the Prussians during the Seven Years' See also:War. After repeatedly distinguishing himself in See also:battle he was made a See also:colonel in 1762. He next served in See also:Poland, dispersed the See also:Polish forces under Pulawski, stormed See also:Cracow (1768) and was made a See also:major-See also:general. In his first See also:campaigns against the See also:Turks in 1773-74, and particularly in the battle of Kosludscki in the latter See also:year, he laid the See also:foundations of his reputation. In 1775 he suppressed the See also:rebel-See also:lion of See also:Pugachev, who was decapitated at Moscow. From 1777-1783 he served in the See also:Crimea and the See also:Caucasus, becoming a See also:lieutenant-general in 178o, and general of See also:infantry in 1783, on the conclusion of his See also:work there. From 1787 to 1791 he was again fighting the Turks and won many victories; he was wounded at Kinburn (1787), took See also:part in the See also:siege of See also:Ochakov, and in 1788 won two See also:great victories at Focsani and on the Rimnik. For the latter victory, in which an See also:Austrian See also:corps under Prince Josias of See also:Saxe-See also:Coburg participated, See also:Catherine II. made him a count with the name Rimniksky in addition to his own name, and the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II. created him a count of the See also:Holy See also:Roman See also:Empire. On the 22nd of See also:December 1790 Suvarov stormed See also:Ismail in See also:Bessarabia, and the See also:sack and the See also:massacre that followed the See also:capture equals in horror such events as the " See also:Spanish Fury " and the fall of See also:Magdeburg. He was next placed at the See also:head of the army which subdued the Poles, and repeated the See also:triumph, and some of the cruelties, of Ismail at See also:Warsaw.

He was now made a field marshal, and was retained in Poland till 1795, when he returned to St See also:

Petersburg. But his See also:sovereign and friend Catherine died in 1796, and her successor See also:Paul dismissed the See also:veteran in disgrace. Suvarov then lived for some years in retirement on his See also:estate of Konchauskoy, near Moscow. He criticized the new military See also:tactics and See also:dress introduced by the emperor, and some of his See also:caustic See also:verse reached the ears of Paul. His conduct was therefore watched and his See also:correspondence with his wife, who had remained at Moscow—for his See also:marriage relations had not been happy—was tampered with. On Sundays he tolled the See also:bell for See also:church and sang among the rustics in the See also:village See also:choir. On See also:week days he worked among them in a smock See also:frock. But in See also:February 1799 he was summoned by the See also:tsar to take the field again, this See also:time against the See also:French Revolutionary armies in See also:Italy. The See also:campaign (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY See also:WARS) opened with a See also:series of victories (See also:Cassano, Trebbia, Novi) which reduced the French See also:government to desperate straits and drove every French soldier from Italy, See also:save for the handful under See also:Moreau, which maintained a foothold in the Maritime See also:Alps and around See also:Genoa. Suvarov himself was made a prince. But the later events of the eventful year went uniformly against the See also:allies. Suvarov's lieutenant Korsakov was defeated by See also:Massena at See also:Zurich, and the old field marshal, seeking to make his way over the Swiss passes to the Upper See also:Rhine, had to See also:retreat to the See also:Vorarlberg, where the army, much shattered and almost destitute of horses and See also:artillery, went into See also:winter quarters.

See also:

Early in 1800 Suvarov returned to St Petersburg in disgrace. Paul refused to give him an See also:audience, and, worn out and See also:ill, he died a few days afterwards on the 18th of May 1800 at St Petersburg. See also:Lord See also:Whitworth, the See also:English See also:ambassador, was the only See also:person of distinction See also:present at the funeral. Suvarov lies buried in the church of the See also:Annunciation in the Alexandro-Nevskii monastery, the See also:simple inscription on his See also:grave being, according to his own direction, " Here lies Suvarov." But within a year of his See also:death the tsar Alexander I. erected a statue to his memory in the Field of See also:Mars, St Petersburg. His son Arkadi (1783—1811) was a general officer in the Russian army during the See also:Napoleonic and See also:Turkish wars of the early 19th See also:century, and was drowned in the See also:river Rimnik in 1811. His See also:grandson Alexander Arkadievich (s8o4–1882) was also a Russian general. Among the Russians the memory of Suvarov is cherished to this See also:day. A great See also:captain, viewed from the standpoint of any See also:age of military See also:history, he is specially the great captain of the Russian nation, for the See also:character of his leadership responded to the character of the Russian soldier. In an age when war had become an See also:act of See also:diplomacy he restored its true significance as an act of force. He was reckless of human See also:life, See also:bent only on the achievement of the See also:object in See also:hand, and he spared his own soldiers as little as he showed See also:mercy to the See also:population of a fallen See also:city. He was a See also:man of great simplicity of See also:manners, and while on a campaign lived as a private soldier, sleeping on See also:straw and contenting himself with the humblest fare. But he had himself passed through all the gradations of military service; moreover, his See also:education had been of the rudest See also:kind.

His gibes procured him many enemies. He had all the contempt of a man of ability and See also:

action for ignorant favourites and ornamental See also:carpet-knights. But his drolleries served, sometimes to hide, more often to See also:express, a soldierly See also:genius, the effect of which the Russian army has not outgrown. If the tactics of the Russians in the war of 1904—05 reflected too literally some of the See also:maxims of Suvarov's Turkish wars, the spirit of self-See also:sacrifice, See also:resolution and indifference to losses there shown was a See also:precious See also:legacy from those wars. See also:Dragomirov (q.v.) avowed that his teaching was based on Suvarov's practice, which he held to be representative of the fundamental truths of war and of the military qualities of the Russian nation. See Anthing, Versuch einer Kriegsgeschichte See also:des Grafen Suworow (See also:Gotha, 1796—1799) ; F. von Smitt, Suworows Leben and Heerziige (See also:Vilna, 1833—1834) and Suworow and Polens Untergang (See also:Leipzig, 1858); Von Reding-Biberegg, Der See also:Zug Suworows durch See also:die Schweiz (Zurich, 1896) ; Lieut.-Colonel See also:Spalding, Suvorof (See also:London, 189o); G. von See also:Fuchs, Suworows Korrespondenz, 1799 (See also:Glogau, 1835) ; Souvorov en Italie, by Gachot, Massena's biographer (See also:Paris, 1903); and the See also:standard Russian See also:biographies of Polevoi (1853; Ger. trans., See also:Mitau, 1853) ; Rybkin (Moscow, 1874) and Vasiliev (Vilna, 1899).

End of Article: SUVAROV

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