Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf - a wonderful Russian officer, the hero of the 1812 war
Many figures of the historical past, especially in Russian storiesfor some reason, they are often perceived not wholly, comprehensively, not in an attempt to cover all facets of a person’s personality, but through the prism of some particular period of his life (usually negative), sticking out the alleged shortcomings of this person, some of his actions, assessing that critical descendants clatter with their tongues and shake their heads in disapproval. This rule, however, concerns not only people, but also historical eras, separate stages, which are also divided into conditionally “black” and “white” according to the results of the cases of certain historical figures.
An example of this kind of subjective approach is Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf, known to most people from the Soviet school day as a servant of the tyrant and the “gendarme of Europe” Nicholas I, the founder of the school of political intelligence and the stern royal repressive apparatus.
At the same time, the fact that Benkendorf was a brilliant Russian military officer, one of the revered heroes of World War 1812 of the year, the author of the military memorial Notes, which is interesting in historical terms until now, is completely forgotten.
The Russian genus Benkendorf originated from a certain Andrei Benkendorf, who moved from Germany to Livonia in the 16th century. Over time, having passed into Russian citizenship, the descendants of this Benkendorf received nobility for good service to the Russian tsars. Benkendorf's grandfather, Johann Michael, advanced in service to the rank of lieutenant-general, being at the same time military commander of the Baltic Revel. One of his five sons, Christopher Ivanovich, also chose a military career and proved himself to be a courageous officer, a hero of the Russian-Turkish war. For which he was rightly appointed by Paul I as a general of infantry and the military commander of Riga.
Thus, it is clear that Alexander Khristoforovich did not have a special career alternative: it was necessary to continue the dynastic tradition of his military fathers, and to serve the tsar and the Fatherland as brilliantly as his ancestors did. I must say, Alexander Benkendorf coped with this task as well as possible.
The war period of Alexander Benkendorf began in the Life Guards Semenov regiment. In the 1799 year, at the age of 16 years, he already receives the rank of ensign and serves at the same time as the outhouse adjutant of Emperor Paul I.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Alexander Khristoforovich, along with some other young noblemen, was enrolled in a group that set out on a “inspectorate” tour of Russia. Baikal, Samara, Kazan, Simbirsk Province - in this voyage Benkendorf got acquainted with the life of Russia in the outback.
In Astrakhan, he became acquainted with Mikhail S. Vorontsov, and having become firmly friends, the young people decided to drastically change their fate by enrolling as a volunteer in the Caucasian Corps under the leadership of Prince Tsitsianov. This corps was marched to the Ganja Khanate (one of the oldest territories of Georgia). In this campaign, Benkendorf showed desperate courage, and for participating in the seizure of the Ganji fortress, he received the Order of Anna 3 degree and St. Vladimir 4 degree.
During the war 1806 -1807 Benkendorf participates in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, distinguishing himself again for courage worthy of the best Russian officers, and receiving the Order of St. Anna of the 2 degree. The end of the entire military campaign stumbles Benkendorf already in the rank of colonel.
After the end of this war, Alexander Khristoforovich, as part of the embassy of P. A. Tolstoy, goes to Paris and spends the next couple of years in traveling between France and Russia, carrying out important missions.
In the spring of 1809, relations with Turkey again deteriorated, and a new war began. Alexander Benkendorf participates in the battle of Rushchuk, where he also displayed remarkable heroism and tactical ingenuity. So, it was documented that, being at the head of the Chuguevsky Regiment of the Ulans, Benkendorf noticed that the enemy had bypassed the location of the Russian units and with a lightning attack had blocked the enemy’s path, breaking it with a swift attack. For his courage during this campaign, Benkendorf was awarded the Order of Saint George of the 4 degree.
After such a stormy life in military campaigns, it would seem that nothing remained to Benkendorf, how to return to the fold of social life as adjutant Alexander I, but fate again gave him a chance to show himself a brilliant and brave Russian officer on the battlefield. 1812 has come the year ...
Alexander Khristoforovich meets the war as part of the Imperial Main Apartment (an institution that is under the emperor for the execution of his personal errands). Alexander I appreciates Benkendorf, trusting him to send secret reports to P. I. Bagration, commander of the Second Army. The reports had a really deeply secret status and concerned the considerations of the emperor about the combination of the First and Second armies. In the summer of 1812, Benkendorf is sent to the "flying squad" by Adjutant-General F. F. Wintzingerode, whose task was to serve as a link between "a large army and an army under the command of Count Wittgenstein, to protect the interior of the country from enemy troops and foragers and act depending on the circumstances to the messages of the French army ”(as Benkendorf himself writes in his memoirs). As part of this 27 squad of July, he attacked the city of Velizh occupied by French troops, for which he was promoted to the rank of major general.
A little later, Benkendorf with a detachment of 80 Cossacks helps to establish the connection of the Wienzgerrode detachment with the corps of General Wittgenstein, capturing three hundred French prisoners.
After the Battle of Borodino, a detachment of Wintzgerrode on the Zvenigorod road entered battle with the vanguard of the 4 Corps of the combined Italian-French forces, managing to detain them and thus ensure the passage of Kutuzov to Moscow. Shortly thereafter, Wintzgererode departed for the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief at Fili, transferring control of the "flying squad" to Alexander Benkendorf.
After the 7 of October, the French left Moscow, the detachment was one of the first to appear in the city, and Benkendorf became the temporary Moscow commandant. And then he had the opportunity to display his administrative capabilities for the first time: after driving the crowd of marauders away from the Kremlin, he placed guards at wine cellars and vegetable shops, sealed the Assumption Cathedral and brought about relative order in the French-agitated Moscow.
However, the wartime did not allow us to stay long in one place, and already on October 23 Benkendorf rejoins the “flying squad”, which is now headed by Major-General P. V. Golenischev-Kutuzov. Leading the attack on the French fleeing up to the Neman, the detachment was the first to cross the river. During this offensive, Russian units under the command of Benkendorf captured more than 6000 people, including three generals.
In further hostilities, Alexander Benkendorf commanded his own partisan detachment, consisting of 180 hussars, 150 dragoons and 700-800 removed Cossacks. The battles of Marienwerder, Frankfurt an der Oder, Fürstenwalde, Müncherberg and other cities once again showed Benkendorf as an excellent fighter who boldly acted in the thick of military events, and did not sit out in the rear headquarters.
20 February 1813, Benkendorf, together with the troops of Chernyshev and Tetenborn, entered Berlin, and after a while they were active throughout Saxony. Since September 1813, Alexander Khristoforovich in the vanguard of the corps of Wintzengerod fights at Groß-Beeren, and in the momentous Leipzig battle leads the left cavalry corps of the Vincengerode army.
A separate episode in the Patriotic War 1812 of the year, undeservedly “forgotten” descendants, for Benkendorf was the liberation of the state of the Netherlands from the French army. Speaking as an avant-garde squadron in 7, a thousand people assigned to him by Wintzengerod, Benkendorf showed a truly commanding talent in the Dutch campaign: he took Amsterdam and Utrecht, captured several fortresses and more 100 units of military equipment. Later detachment Benkendorf successfully operated in Belgium.
From January 1814, the detachment of Benkendorf can be seen again as part of the corps of General Wintzingerode (as part of the Silesian Army). Already in France, during the general offensive of the Allied army against Paris, the corps of Wintzgerrode near Saint-Dizier interfered with the passage of Napoleon’s army to the capital — Benkendorf was also an active participant in those military operations.
During the 1812 - 1814 campaign, Alexander Benkendorf received no injuries, but received regular military awards: the Order of St. Anna of the 1 degree with diamond marks, the Order of St. Vladimir of the 2 degree, as well as the Great Cross of the Swedish Sword and the Order of "Pour le merite. The Russian hero was also awarded the Dutch king, who granted Dutch citizenship to Benkendorf and presented him with a sword with the dedication "Amsterdam and Breda".
Count Benkendorf devoted his further life to state service, seeing in his mission the head of the gendarmerie police department is not a way to repress the love of liking and dissent of Russian citizens by reprisals, but a simple civilian (symmetrical to military) service to society as a whole and to the monarch personally, who had the responsibility to manage it by society.
Hopefully, sooner or later, the personality of Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf will finally be objectively assessed by historians as far as possible, and in school textbooks, instead of stamped phrases about him as a “royal satrap,” at least a few paragraphs will appear, representing Benkendorf as a remarkable Russian royal officer. , a true hero of World War 1812.
Sources:
1) http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/benkendorf_ah/06.html - The History of 1812 of the Year and "Benkendorf's Notes"
2) http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index-269346.html?page=7 - P.N. Grunberg. “The Story of 1812 of the Year and the Benkendorf Notes”
3) http://www.zaweru.ru/content/view/1429/2/ - Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf: statesman of the Nicholas era
4) http://www.peoples.ru/state/statesmen/benkendorf/history2.html - A.H. Benkendorf: "They also danced at the balls, and Napoleon had already crossed the Neman"
5) http://kozaostra.mybb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=807 - forum dedicated to Benkendorf
6) Wikipedia
An example of this kind of subjective approach is Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf, known to most people from the Soviet school day as a servant of the tyrant and the “gendarme of Europe” Nicholas I, the founder of the school of political intelligence and the stern royal repressive apparatus.
At the same time, the fact that Benkendorf was a brilliant Russian military officer, one of the revered heroes of World War 1812 of the year, the author of the military memorial Notes, which is interesting in historical terms until now, is completely forgotten.
The Russian genus Benkendorf originated from a certain Andrei Benkendorf, who moved from Germany to Livonia in the 16th century. Over time, having passed into Russian citizenship, the descendants of this Benkendorf received nobility for good service to the Russian tsars. Benkendorf's grandfather, Johann Michael, advanced in service to the rank of lieutenant-general, being at the same time military commander of the Baltic Revel. One of his five sons, Christopher Ivanovich, also chose a military career and proved himself to be a courageous officer, a hero of the Russian-Turkish war. For which he was rightly appointed by Paul I as a general of infantry and the military commander of Riga.
Thus, it is clear that Alexander Khristoforovich did not have a special career alternative: it was necessary to continue the dynastic tradition of his military fathers, and to serve the tsar and the Fatherland as brilliantly as his ancestors did. I must say, Alexander Benkendorf coped with this task as well as possible.
The war period of Alexander Benkendorf began in the Life Guards Semenov regiment. In the 1799 year, at the age of 16 years, he already receives the rank of ensign and serves at the same time as the outhouse adjutant of Emperor Paul I.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Alexander Khristoforovich, along with some other young noblemen, was enrolled in a group that set out on a “inspectorate” tour of Russia. Baikal, Samara, Kazan, Simbirsk Province - in this voyage Benkendorf got acquainted with the life of Russia in the outback.
In Astrakhan, he became acquainted with Mikhail S. Vorontsov, and having become firmly friends, the young people decided to drastically change their fate by enrolling as a volunteer in the Caucasian Corps under the leadership of Prince Tsitsianov. This corps was marched to the Ganja Khanate (one of the oldest territories of Georgia). In this campaign, Benkendorf showed desperate courage, and for participating in the seizure of the Ganji fortress, he received the Order of Anna 3 degree and St. Vladimir 4 degree.
During the war 1806 -1807 Benkendorf participates in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, distinguishing himself again for courage worthy of the best Russian officers, and receiving the Order of St. Anna of the 2 degree. The end of the entire military campaign stumbles Benkendorf already in the rank of colonel.
After the end of this war, Alexander Khristoforovich, as part of the embassy of P. A. Tolstoy, goes to Paris and spends the next couple of years in traveling between France and Russia, carrying out important missions.
In the spring of 1809, relations with Turkey again deteriorated, and a new war began. Alexander Benkendorf participates in the battle of Rushchuk, where he also displayed remarkable heroism and tactical ingenuity. So, it was documented that, being at the head of the Chuguevsky Regiment of the Ulans, Benkendorf noticed that the enemy had bypassed the location of the Russian units and with a lightning attack had blocked the enemy’s path, breaking it with a swift attack. For his courage during this campaign, Benkendorf was awarded the Order of Saint George of the 4 degree.
After such a stormy life in military campaigns, it would seem that nothing remained to Benkendorf, how to return to the fold of social life as adjutant Alexander I, but fate again gave him a chance to show himself a brilliant and brave Russian officer on the battlefield. 1812 has come the year ...
Alexander Khristoforovich meets the war as part of the Imperial Main Apartment (an institution that is under the emperor for the execution of his personal errands). Alexander I appreciates Benkendorf, trusting him to send secret reports to P. I. Bagration, commander of the Second Army. The reports had a really deeply secret status and concerned the considerations of the emperor about the combination of the First and Second armies. In the summer of 1812, Benkendorf is sent to the "flying squad" by Adjutant-General F. F. Wintzingerode, whose task was to serve as a link between "a large army and an army under the command of Count Wittgenstein, to protect the interior of the country from enemy troops and foragers and act depending on the circumstances to the messages of the French army ”(as Benkendorf himself writes in his memoirs). As part of this 27 squad of July, he attacked the city of Velizh occupied by French troops, for which he was promoted to the rank of major general.
A little later, Benkendorf with a detachment of 80 Cossacks helps to establish the connection of the Wienzgerrode detachment with the corps of General Wittgenstein, capturing three hundred French prisoners.
After the Battle of Borodino, a detachment of Wintzgerrode on the Zvenigorod road entered battle with the vanguard of the 4 Corps of the combined Italian-French forces, managing to detain them and thus ensure the passage of Kutuzov to Moscow. Shortly thereafter, Wintzgererode departed for the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief at Fili, transferring control of the "flying squad" to Alexander Benkendorf.
After the 7 of October, the French left Moscow, the detachment was one of the first to appear in the city, and Benkendorf became the temporary Moscow commandant. And then he had the opportunity to display his administrative capabilities for the first time: after driving the crowd of marauders away from the Kremlin, he placed guards at wine cellars and vegetable shops, sealed the Assumption Cathedral and brought about relative order in the French-agitated Moscow.
However, the wartime did not allow us to stay long in one place, and already on October 23 Benkendorf rejoins the “flying squad”, which is now headed by Major-General P. V. Golenischev-Kutuzov. Leading the attack on the French fleeing up to the Neman, the detachment was the first to cross the river. During this offensive, Russian units under the command of Benkendorf captured more than 6000 people, including three generals.
In further hostilities, Alexander Benkendorf commanded his own partisan detachment, consisting of 180 hussars, 150 dragoons and 700-800 removed Cossacks. The battles of Marienwerder, Frankfurt an der Oder, Fürstenwalde, Müncherberg and other cities once again showed Benkendorf as an excellent fighter who boldly acted in the thick of military events, and did not sit out in the rear headquarters.
20 February 1813, Benkendorf, together with the troops of Chernyshev and Tetenborn, entered Berlin, and after a while they were active throughout Saxony. Since September 1813, Alexander Khristoforovich in the vanguard of the corps of Wintzengerod fights at Groß-Beeren, and in the momentous Leipzig battle leads the left cavalry corps of the Vincengerode army.
A separate episode in the Patriotic War 1812 of the year, undeservedly “forgotten” descendants, for Benkendorf was the liberation of the state of the Netherlands from the French army. Speaking as an avant-garde squadron in 7, a thousand people assigned to him by Wintzengerod, Benkendorf showed a truly commanding talent in the Dutch campaign: he took Amsterdam and Utrecht, captured several fortresses and more 100 units of military equipment. Later detachment Benkendorf successfully operated in Belgium.
From January 1814, the detachment of Benkendorf can be seen again as part of the corps of General Wintzingerode (as part of the Silesian Army). Already in France, during the general offensive of the Allied army against Paris, the corps of Wintzgerrode near Saint-Dizier interfered with the passage of Napoleon’s army to the capital — Benkendorf was also an active participant in those military operations.
During the 1812 - 1814 campaign, Alexander Benkendorf received no injuries, but received regular military awards: the Order of St. Anna of the 1 degree with diamond marks, the Order of St. Vladimir of the 2 degree, as well as the Great Cross of the Swedish Sword and the Order of "Pour le merite. The Russian hero was also awarded the Dutch king, who granted Dutch citizenship to Benkendorf and presented him with a sword with the dedication "Amsterdam and Breda".
Count Benkendorf devoted his further life to state service, seeing in his mission the head of the gendarmerie police department is not a way to repress the love of liking and dissent of Russian citizens by reprisals, but a simple civilian (symmetrical to military) service to society as a whole and to the monarch personally, who had the responsibility to manage it by society.
Hopefully, sooner or later, the personality of Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf will finally be objectively assessed by historians as far as possible, and in school textbooks, instead of stamped phrases about him as a “royal satrap,” at least a few paragraphs will appear, representing Benkendorf as a remarkable Russian royal officer. , a true hero of World War 1812.
Sources:
1) http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/benkendorf_ah/06.html - The History of 1812 of the Year and "Benkendorf's Notes"
2) http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index-269346.html?page=7 - P.N. Grunberg. “The Story of 1812 of the Year and the Benkendorf Notes”
3) http://www.zaweru.ru/content/view/1429/2/ - Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf: statesman of the Nicholas era
4) http://www.peoples.ru/state/statesmen/benkendorf/history2.html - A.H. Benkendorf: "They also danced at the balls, and Napoleon had already crossed the Neman"
5) http://kozaostra.mybb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=807 - forum dedicated to Benkendorf
6) Wikipedia
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