Peter Wittgenstein: The Beginning of the Military Career of the "Savior of St. Petersburg"
General Wittgenstein in an engraving by an unknown artist from the first quarter of the 19th century, Hermitage
The subject of today's article is not well known in our country. When studying the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, the emphasis is invariably on the main offensive of Napoleon's Grande Armée, with only a passing mention of the fact that some enemy troops were also advancing northward, toward the capital of the Russian Empire. This advance was halted by Pyotr Khristianovich Wittgenstein, who was then officially called the "Savior of St. Petersburg" and even the country's best military leader.
After the abandonment of Moscow, the dispossessed nobles called Kutuzov not the most serene but the "most dark" prince; many military men reproached him for his passivity and his de facto removal from command of the troops. In the aristocratic salons of St. Petersburg, it was said that Wittgenstein, not "old man" Kutuzov, should have been appointed commander of the main forces. Napoleon himself acknowledged that "Wittgenstein often maneuvered better than his opponents.".
Carl Clausewitz, who served in the Russian army in 1812, testifies:
There was no unanimous opinion in the Russian army regarding Kutuzov's military reputation: alongside the faction that considered him an outstanding commander, there was another that denied his military talents; however, everyone agreed that a capable Russian, a student of Suvorov, was better than a foreigner.
And Zhukovsky wrote about Wittgenstein in 1812, in his poem “A Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors,” which became very popular in the Russian army:
Our Wittgenstein, the hero-leader,
Petropolis savior,
Praise! .. He is a shield to his native country,
He is a predatory fighter.
Petropolis savior,
Praise! .. He is a shield to his native country,
He is a predatory fighter.
The journal "Son of the Fatherland," founded by N. Grech in 1812, devoted much attention to the actions of the Wittgenstein Corps. One of Pushkin's lyceum classmates recalled the events of 1812:
Towards autumn, we ourselves began to be mustered for the campaign. The plan was to move the Lyceum north, but Wittgenstein's victories soon brought us back to our uniform coats. The Count guarded the approaches to St. Petersburg, captured Polotsk, and won a victory at Lepel.
And Pushkin himself wrote in 1814:
Good poems are not easy to write.
How Wittgenstein defeated the French.
How Wittgenstein defeated the French.
This was a reflection of the real mood in high society.
Moreover, in those days, in the eyes of the emperor and the highest aristocrats of the Russian Empire, Moscow was merely a large provincial capital, where retired nobles with no political influence traditionally spent their final years. Big politics and great careers were made in St. Petersburg, and the security of the capital seemed far more important to Alexander I and his entourage than the protection of a city of old men in outdated waistcoats, nostalgic for the years of previous reigns. And on October 2 (Old Style), Alexander I sent Kutuzov a letter in which the emperor's fear was palpable:
It will remain your responsibility if the enemy is able to dispatch a significant corps to Petersburg... for with the army entrusted to you... you have all the means to avert this new misfortune.
And so the figure of the defender of the Russian capital inevitably came to the fore. Only many years later did a reassessment of the events of those years begin, and in 1831, the same Pushkin wrote the poem "Before the Tomb of the Saint...," which included the following lines:
This idol of the northern squads
The venerable guard of the land of sovereign,
The suppressor of all her enemies
This rest of the glory
Catherine eagles.
The delight lives in your coffin!
He gives us the Russian voice;
He repeats us about that year
When the popular faith voice
Appealed to your holy graying:
"Go and save!"
You stood up and saved.
The venerable guard of the land of sovereign,
The suppressor of all her enemies
This rest of the glory
Catherine eagles.
The delight lives in your coffin!
He gives us the Russian voice;
He repeats us about that year
When the popular faith voice
Appealed to your holy graying:
"Go and save!"
You stood up and saved.
Five years later, he added in the article “Explanation”:
Kutuzov's glory is inseparably linked with the glory of Russia. His title is "Savior of Russia"; his monument is the rock of Saint Helena! Kutuzov alone could have proposed the Battle of Borodino; Kutuzov alone could have surrendered Moscow to the enemy; Kutuzov alone could have remained in this wise, active inaction, lulling Napoleon to sleep amid the conflagration of Moscow and awaiting the fateful moment, for Kutuzov alone was invested with the people's trust, which he so marvelously justified!
However, then the official Russian historical Science made a mind-blowing somersault and the reason for Russia's victory in the war of 1812 was ordered to be considered "the unification of the estates around the throne", and Emperor Alexander I, who had been effectively "expelled" from the army, was declared the main hero of the Patriotic War. This concept was first promoted by Alexander I's aide-de-camp, D. P. Buturlin. Even Kutuzov's former aide-de-camp, A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, wrote about the emperor as "a radiant light that warmed and enlivened everything"Even such an authoritative historian as S. M. Solovyov wrote about Kutuzov with great restraint. Historians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries rejected the official concept that Alexander I was the "organizer of victory," but they also refused to consider Kutuzov a greater military leader than Napoleon.
In the first years of Soviet power, the attitude toward Kutuzov was "moderately laudatory" (with the exception of the works of M.N. Pokrovsky, who sharply criticized this commander). Stalin declared Kutuzov the main hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. Initially, on November 7, 1941, from the rostrum of the mausoleum, he called this commander one of "our great ancestors"In 1942, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the military Order of Kutuzov was established—along with the Orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky. Finally, in 1947, the journal Bolshevik published an article by Stalin, which stated:
Kutuzov... destroyed Napoleon and his army with a well-prepared counteroffensive... Engels once said that of the Russian commanders of the 1812 period, General Barclay de Tolly was the only one worthy of attention. Engels was, of course, mistaken, for Kutuzov was undoubtedly two heads taller than Barclay de Tolly.
From that time on, Kutuzov became the central figure of the Patriotic War of 1812 and practically the sole savior of the Fatherland. In 1957, one of the capital's central and "respectable" avenues was named after the field marshal.
But in this article we will still talk specifically about Peter Wittgenstein.
The origin and youth of the hero of the article
Peter Christianovich Wittgenstein (Ludwig Adolf Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein) was a representative of an ancient German family - perhaps this "unpatriotic origin" played a certain role in the relative oblivion of this commander.
The article's subject's father entered Russian service during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. According to some sources, this occurred after he was captured by the Russians during the Seven Years' War. After converting to Orthodoxy, he quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant general.
Christian Ludwig Casmir Wittgenstein, portrait by an unknown artist, late 18th century.
On December 25, 1768 (January 5, 1769), his son Peter, the subject of this article, was born in Russia (either Nizhyn or Pereyaslav). His mother was Amalia Louise Finckenstein, the daughter of a Prussian count, who died after giving birth to another child when the boy was four years old.
Amalia von Finckenstein, portrait by an unknown artist from the late 18th century.
Then the family's house burned down, so the boy was raised by relatives—the family of Field Marshal N. Saltykov. His father remarried, to the widow Anna Petrovna Bestuzheva (née Princess Dolgorukova).
Back in March 1714, Peter I issued a decree prohibiting the promotion of noble children to officers who did not know "the foundation of soldierly affairs"Now, to obtain an officer's rank, a nobleman had to serve as a private in one of the guards regiments for at least 3-4 years. This was confirmed by the "Military Regulations" of 1716, which clearly stated:
The Russian gentry has no other way to become officers than to serve in the guards" - starting with "soldiering".
The idea was a good one, but it never came to fruition: nobles began enlisting young children in regiments—almost from the moment they were born. As a result, they often received officer ranks as teenagers, without ever reporting to "their" regiment. Pyotr Wittgenstein was no exception: at 12, he was already a sergeant in the Semenovsky Regiment, and began his real service in 1789, at the age of 20, as a sergeant major in the Horse Life Guards Regiment. A year later, he was promoted to cornet. In 1793, he was transferred to the army's Nezhin Light Cavalry Regiment—and since guards ranks ranked above army ranks, he was promoted to premier major, and in 1794, lieutenant colonel.
The first combat campaign of the article's hero
From 1792 onward, with the consent of King Stanisław Poniatowski and the Polish government, foreign military garrisons were stationed in major Polish cities. Their commanders did not interfere in the internal affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Therefore, the uprising led by T. Kościuszko, which began in March 1794, was also anti-government in nature.
The most famous episodes of this rebellion were the massacre of unarmed Russian soldiers in Warsaw churches and in the apartments they occupied (the "Warsaw Matins" – on Maundy Thursday of Easter week, April 6 (17), 1794) and the subsequent assault by Suvorov on the outskirts of the Polish capital, Prague. In Warsaw, 2265 Russian soldiers and officers were killed in the first 24 hours, 122 wounded, and 161 unarmed officers and 1764 soldiers were captured in churches. Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, citing the account of a participant in those events, wrote in his essay "Evening on the Caucasian Waters in 1824":
Thousands of Russians were slaughtered then, sleepy and unarmed, in homes they considered friendly. Taken by surprise, scattered, some in their beds, others preparing for the feast, others on their way to churches, they were unable to defend themselves or flee and fell under the inglorious blows, cursing fate for dying without vengeance. Some, however, managed to grab guns and, locking themselves in rooms, barns, or attics, fired back desperately; very few managed to escape.
But there were also attacks in other cities, for example in Vilnius, where the rebels managed to capture 50 officers and about 600 unsuspecting Russian soldiers.
For the Poles, this uprising was an act of pure madness, since Catherine II, unlike the Austrians and Prussians, desired the preservation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose throne was occupied by her former lover. Upon receiving news of the massacres in Poland, she fell into a state of hysteria, and upon recovering, appointed P. A. Rumyantsev to suppress the rebels. The now-elderly field marshal declined this assignment, sending General-in-Chief A. V. Suvorov to Poland.
The future generalissimo replaced his old comrade, V. H. Derfelden, who had already defeated the rebels in the battles of Dubenka and Chelm. The hero of this article was also a volunteer in Derfelden's corps. He had already distinguished himself in one of the battles, when, at the head of a squadron, he attacked and captured artillery On October 24, 1794, Peter Wittgenstein took part in the battle for Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, which was so fierce that it was compared to the storming of Izmail.
A. Orlovsky. The assault on Prague in 1794. Ink drawing on paper, 1797
The rebels outnumbered the assaulting Russian troops: 30 men and 106 artillery pieces against 25 soldiers and 86 cannons. But Prague was taken, and the soldiers were so eager to avenge the murders of their comrades that Suvorov ordered the destruction of the bridges leading from Prague to Warsaw. They were rebuilt by the Poles themselves, and on October 29 (November 9), 1794, the members of the magistrate presented Suvorov with a symbolic key to the city and a diamond snuffbox inscribed "Warszawa zbawcu swemu" - "To the Deliverer of Warsaw." And then they declared him "a blood-drenched barbarian".
It was this adventure that cost the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth its statehood: on October 24, 1795, at a conference in St. Petersburg, representatives of Austria, Prussia, and Russia declared the liquidation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (and even the ban on the very term "Polish Kingdom"). The last Polish king, Stanisław Poniatowski, abdicated a month later—on Catherine II's birthday, November 25, 1795.
Persian hike
In 1796, we see the article's hero in the Caucasus, in the corps of Valerian Zubov, the brother of Catherine II's last favorite.
"The Fool" Platon Zubov was undoubtedly the most insignificant and worthless of all the aging empress's lovers. His main characteristic was a foolish and silly infantilism, and Catherine herself called him "Little Baby", "Little Frolic", "Child" and "Written Boy"Catherine's female attention was also drawn to Plato's younger brother Valerian, about whom she wrote to Potemkin:
I think he is an interesting child.
Valerian Zubov in a portrait of Jean-Louis Voil (1791)
However, Valerian proved to be a capable combat officer and general: he wasn't exactly a shining example, but his courage and diligence were undeniable. He participated in the suppression of the Kościuszko Uprising, serving under Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Bagration at the time. Near the Western Bug River, V. Zubov was wounded by a cannonball in his left leg, which had to be amputated, but English doctors made him a prosthetic with a knee joint—Valerian returned to duty and was even able to ride horseback.
The war with Persia was triggered by an attack on Kartli and Kakheti by the army of the Persian Shah Agha Mohammed Qajar and his allies, the khans of Ganja and Erivan. This occurred in the summer of 1795. The Georgian King Heraclius II was defeated at the Battle of Krtsanisi, and the Persians occupied Tiflis, completely plundering the city. Both the Georgian king and the Persian Shah's brother, Murtaza Kuli Khan, who desired to assume the Persian throne himself, arrived in St. Petersburg asking for help. In 1796, Catherine II appointed Valerian Zubov Governor-General of the Caucasus Viceroyalty and commander of the 35-strong Caspian Corps.
Russian troops began their advance in April 1796, and by May 10, Derbent, known as the "Gate of the Caucasus" (also known as the "Iron Gate," or sometimes the "Golden Gate"), was captured. Peter Wittgenstein was entrusted with delivering the keys to this city to St. Petersburg—a task traditionally considered extremely honorable and a mark of special merit. The subject of this article was 28 years old at the time.
The Russian Persian campaign was abandoned after the death of Catherine II, as Paul I, still heir to the throne, believed that his mother, in order to please the Zubov clan, had dragged the country into an unnecessary Asian war for foreign interests. Meanwhile, the situation in Europe at the time was extremely tense, and the Persian campaign had already expended significant resources.
Continuation of the military career of the article's hero
P. Wittgenstein in a portrait by an unknown artist
In 1797, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Wittgenstein continued his service in the Rostov Dragoon Regiment, but was soon transferred to the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment. And in June of the following year, 1798, he married Antonia-Cecilia Snarskaya, a poor Catholic noblewoman—the daughter of the marshal (leader of the nobility) of the Polotsk Viceroyalty. The subject of the article called his wife "in the French manner"—Antoinette.
Antoinette Wittgenstein in a portrait by an unknown artist from the late 18th century.
This union proved happy: from 1799 to 1815, his wife gave birth to 12 children—eight sons and four daughters—but four sons and three daughters died during their parents' lifetimes. In 1812, the subject's wife was awarded the Order of St. Catherine, Second Class, and in 1820, she became a lady-in-waiting. She died in 1855, outliving her husband by 12 years.
But let's return to the hero of this article. In 1799, we see him as the commander of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment.
It's worth noting that the regiment's chef de corps is not its commander: it's an honorary position that could be held by foreign monarchs and even women. Catherine I, for example, was the chef de corps of the Preobrazhensky Regiment—for this occasion, she was awarded the rank of colonel. However, the right for women to wear the military uniform of "their" regiment only arose during the reign of Catherine II.
Kaiser Wilhelm II in the dress uniform of the 39th Narva Dragoon Regiment, bearing his name, with the insignia of a Field Marshal and the ribbon and star of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. On December 6, 1907, this regiment became the 13th Narva Hussar Regiment.
But already on January 1, 1801, Paul I dismissed Wittgenstein, although the disgrace did not last long: after the murder of his father, the new Emperor Alexander I not only returned the hero of the article to service, but also appointed him commander of the Elisavetgrad Hussar Regiment (October 2, 1801).
Private of the Elizavetgrad Hussar Regiment
Peter Wittgenstein then fought against Napoleonic France: in 1805–1807 he took part in such famous battles as Austerlitz and Preussisch Eylau, as well as in the battles of Wolfsdorf, Morungen and Ostrołęka.
On November 16 (November 28), 1805, during the Battle of Vishau, commanding three light cavalry regiments, he routed an enemy cavalry detachment, capturing approximately 400 prisoners. That same year, 1805, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd Class. In 1806, he also fought against the Turks as part of General I. Mikhelson's army.
In October 1807, the hero of the article became the chief of the privileged Life Guards Hussar Regiment, and in December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant general.
During the last war with Sweden (1808–1809), he was placed at the head of a 9-strong infantry detachment, whose task was to guard the coast of the Gulf of Finland.
In the next article, we will discuss Peter Wittgenstein's "finest hour," which came in 1812, the peak of his military career in 1813, and his subsequent life.
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