Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov (1729-1800) - Count Rymniksky (1789), Prince of Italy (1799), Russian commander, Generalissimo (1799). He began his service as a corporal in 1748. Member of the Seven Years' War. During the Russian-Turkish wars (1768-74 and 1787-91) he won victories at Kozludzha (1774), Kinburn (1787), Focsani (1789), Rymnik (1789) and captured the Izmail fortress by storm (1790).

In the last stage of the Emelyan Pugachev uprising from August 1774, Suvorov led the troops sent to suppress it. He commanded the troops that suppressed the Polish uprising of 1794. In 1799 he conducted the Italian and Swiss campaigns, defeating the French troops on the rivers Adda and Trebbia and at Novi; out of encirclement by crossing the Swiss Alps.

Author of military-theoretical works ("Regimental Institution", "Science of Victory"). He created an original system of views on the methods of warfare and combat, education and training of troops. Suvorov's strategy was offensive in nature. He developed the tactics of columns and loose formation. Didn't lose a single battle.

The beginning of a military career

Alexander Suvorov was born on November 13 (24), 1729, in Moscow in the family of a nobleman. His father was a general in the Russian army, who strictly followed the upbringing and education of his son. The most favorite subject of young Alexander Suvorov was military history, while he spoke seven languages. In 1742, according to the custom of that time, he was enlisted as a private in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment. He began his active service at the age of seventeen as a corporal. From that moment on, Suvorov's whole life was subordinated to military service. Later, Suvorov wrote about himself: "I am only a military man and I am a stranger to other talents."

Possessing relatively poor health, Alexander Suvorov constantly tempered himself physically. Even then, he established himself as a serviceable and demanding non-commissioned officer. In 1754 he was promoted to the first officer rank of lieutenant and assigned to the Ingermanland Infantry Regiment. He received his baptism of fire during the Seven Years' War, then took part in the hostilities against the Prussians in the period 1758-1761, in particular, in the bloody battle of Kunersdorf in 1759. Since 1761 A.V. Suvorov successfully commanded a cavalry regiment and was promoted to colonel for his distinction in battle. Thus, in six years he went from junior officer to colonel and was praised by many Russian military leaders for his composure and courage on the battlefields.

The formation of the commander

The formation and formation of Alexander Suvorov as a commander took place during two Russian-Turkish wars in the victorious century of Empress Catherine II. In 1770, becoming a major general, he participated in the war with the Turks of 1768-1774, however, at its final stage, commanding a separate detachment. Thanks to successful actions against the Turks near Turtukai and Kozludzha, he was promoted to lieutenant general. At the same time, he had the honor to fight under the leadership of Field Marshal P. A. Rumyantsev, which played a significant role in the development of his military talents.

But Suvorov's talent, both as a tactician and an original strategist, was fully revealed during the second war with the Turks in 1787-1791. Produced in 1786 to the rank of General-in-Chief, Alexander Suvorov, first commanding a corps, distinguished himself in the defense of Kinburn, where he was seriously wounded; then he took part in the assault on the Turkish fortress of Ochakov, receiving a second wound. In 1789, the Russian-Austrian troops under his leadership inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks near Focsani, and then on the Rymnik River. These victories radically changed the strategic situation in the theater of operations in favor of the Russian army.

But a particularly striking victory for Alexander Suvorov was the swift assault on the impregnable Turkish fortress of Izmail in 1790. The participants in the bloody Izmail battle were rightly proud that they fought under the command of Suvorov that day, and this event entered the annals of Russian history on a par with the Poltava and Borodino battles. Military successes brought the commander and new awards, for this war he received the highest Russian orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. George 1st class, and was also granted the title of Count Rymniksky with posterity.

The next stage in the military biography of Alexander Suvorov was the command of Russian troops against the Polish confederates (Polish uprising, 1794). The arrival of Suvorov in Poland immediately turned the tide in favor of the Russians, the Poles began to suffer one defeat after another, and after the assault on Prague, the fortified suburb of Warsaw, the Confederates laid down their arms and capitulated. For successful operations in Poland, he received the rank of Field Marshal.

Theorist and practitioner

Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov, ahead of his time, nevertheless, was able to develop and enrich the best traditions of Russian military art. They were embodied in the famous Suvorov instruction - the book "The Science of Victory", written by him before 1796. This work summarizes not only the richest combat experience of Suvorov, accumulated over a long military career, it can be considered an excellent tactical aid.