Pyotr Bagration

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Prince Pyotr Bagration (Пётр Иванович Багратион) (1765 - September 12, 1812), a descendant of the Georgian Royal family of the Bagrations, served as a Russian general. He was born in 1765, in Kizlyar (Dagestan, Northern Caucasus). His father was a Georgian Prince, Colonel Ivane Bagrationi. His brother Roman (Revaz) Bagrationi was also a general of the Russian army.

Bagration entered the Russian army in 1782, and served for some years in the Caucasus. He participated in the Siege of Ochakov (1788), and in the Polish campaign of 1794. His merits were recognized by Suvorov, whom he accompanied in the Italian and Swiss campaign of 1799, winning particular distinction by the capture of the town of Brescia.

In the wars of 1805 Bagration's achievements appeared even more brilliant. With a small rearguard he successfully resisted the repeated attacks of forces five times his own numbers at the Battle of Hollabrunn (1805), and though half his men fell, the retreat of the main army under Kutuzov was thereby secured. At Austerlitz (2 December 1805) Bagration fought against the left wing of the French army commanded by Murat and Lannes. He fought bravely and obstinately at the battles of Eylau (7 February 1807), Heilsberg (11 June 1807) and Friedland (14 June 1807).

In 1808, by a daring march across the frozen Gulf of Finland, Bagration captured the Åland Islands, and in 1809 he commanded against the Turks at the battles of Rassowa and Tataritza. In 1809 he was promoted to Full General ("General ot Infanterii").

In 1812 Bagration commanded the 2nd army of the West, and though defeated at Mogilev (23 July 1812), rejoined the main army under Barclay de Tolly, and led the left wing at the Battle of Borodino (7 September 1812), where he received a mortal wound. He died on 12 September, in the village of Simi, which belonged to his aunt.

Tsar Nicholas I had a monument erected in his honour on the battlefield of Borodino. The general's remains were transferred to the place where he had fallen and remain there to this day (although the grave has been blown up in World War II, it has since then been restored).

Joseph Stalin chose Bagration as the name of the Soviet Union's June 22, 1944 successful offensive that defeated the German Army Group Centre and drove Nazi forces out of what is now Belarus. After the war, the Soviet Union annexed northern East Prussia, and the until-then German town of Preussisch Eylau – scene of the 1807 battle – was renamed Bagrationovsk in his memory.

Bagration is a minor character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

BAGRATION, Peter Ivanovich (b. July 1765, Georgia – d. 24 September 1812, Simy) descended from the Bagration royal dynasty that ruled Georgia for over nine hundred years. His father immigrated to Russia in 1766 and served at a garrison of Kizlyar. Despite some claims that Bagration was born in Kizlyar, Prince Peter’s was born in Georgia (probably in Tbilisi) in the summer of 1765 and traveled with his parents to Kizlyar in 1766. Brought up in Daghestan, Bagration received basic education at a garrison school. He enlisted as a supernumerary [sverkh-komplekta] in the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment on 12 May 1783 and became a private on 4 September 1783. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791, Bagration served under Alexander Suvorov in the Crimea, distinguishing himself at Ochakov in 1788, for which he was promoted to captain skipping the rank of sub-lieutenant, perhaps due to Potemkin’s patronage. Thus, Bagration rose to an ensign on 9 July 1787, to captain on 18 December 1788 and nominally given rank of sub lieutenant on 9 July 1789.

In 1789-1790, Bagration served in Gregory Potemkin’s staff and participated in the negotiations with representatives of Ali Mahmud Khan of Persia. He also served as an adjutant to various generals, including Count Ivan Saltykov and Johann Herman, who commanded the Russian troops in the Caucasus. In 1790, he participated in the campaign against the Chechens and was seriously wounded in an action near village of Alda on the Sunzha River. By early 1792, Bagration had transferred to the Kiev Horse Jager Regiment, becoming a second major on 9 July 1792 and a premier major on 8 December 1793. On 15 May 1794, he transferred to the Sofia Carabineer Regiment, and in Poland in late 1794, he participated in the actions at Brest-Litovsk, Sedlitsy, Deryachin, Tatarovka and Sokolnya. In October, he led his squadron in a surprise attack against a 1,000-men strong Polish detachment and captured 250 men and a gun, for which Bagration was promoted to a lieutenant colonel on 27 October 1794. In November of the same year, he followed the main army to Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, but he did not participate in the subsequent assault. After the war in Poland, Bagration returned to Russia and, in June 1795, he took command of the 1st Battalion of the Lifland Jagers at Volkovisk in the Grodno gubernia. After the military reorganization in 1796, Bagration became commander of the 7th Independent Jager Battalion on 28 May 1797 and his unit was soon converted to the 7th Jager Regiment. On 24 February 1798, Bagration took promotion to colonel and, on 28 January 1799, he became chef of the 7th Jager Regiment, now renamed as Prince Bagration’s Jager Regiment.

During Alexander Suvorov’s campaigns in Italy and Switzerland in 1799, Bagration commanded the advance and rearguards of the Russian army and distinguished himself in the battles at Brescia, Lecco, Tortona, Alexandria, Marengo, Turin, on the Tidone and Trebbia Rivers and at Novi in Italy. In Suvorov’s ill-fated campaign in Switzerland, Bagration served during the crossing of the St. Gottard Pass, the storming of the Devil’s Bridge, the actions in Muothatal Valley, at Nafels, Netstal, Glarus and he was pivotal during the harrowing escape through the Panixer Pass. For his actions, Bagration garnered the Orders of St. Anna (1st class), of St. Alexander of Neva, of St. John of Jerusalem, the Sardinian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and the Austrian Order of Maria Theresa. On 10 April 1800, his regiment was transformed into the 6th Jagers and Bagration became chef of the Life Guard Jager Battalion on 21 June. In 1801, he became the commandant of the Imperial residence at Pavlovsk.

In 1805, Bagration commanded the rearguard of the Austro-Russian army and fought with determination at Lambach and Amstetten. At Schöngraben (Hollabrunn) on 16 November 1805, he commanded 7,000 men against 30,000 French under Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes. Loosing two thirds of his troops, Bagration halted the French for over eighteen hours and let the main Allied forces escape to safety. For his actions, he was promoted to a lieutenant general and decorated with the Order of St. George (2nd class) on 20 November 1805. During the Allied offensive, he fought at Wischau and Raussnitz and commanded the right wing of the Allied army at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. After the battle, he covered the retreat of the Russian army to Hungary. He was again appointed commander of the Russian advance guard in early January 1807 and he assumed this position on 25 January. Bagration then distinguished himself at Wolfsdorf, Eylau, Altkirch, Guttstadt, Quest, Deppen, Heilsberg, Friedland and Tilsit; in consequence he garnered the Order of St. Vladimir (2nd class) and Prussian Orders of the Red and Black Eagles.

During the Russo-Swedish War, he commanded the 21st Division and successfully occupied southwestern Finland and occupied Abo, where he later defeated the Swedish landing force in September 1808. On 15 March 1809, he led the famous march across the frozen Gulf of Bothnia to occupy the Aland Islands and his advance guard reached the Swedish shores in the vicinity of the Swedish capital, precipitating the coup d’etat in Stockholm. For his actions against the Swedes, Bagration was promoted to a general of infantry on 21 March 1809 and appointed an assistant to the Commander-in-Chief General Prozorovsky of the Army of Moldavia on 13 July 1809.

After Prozorovsky’s death on 21 August 1809, he took command of the army and immediately launched an offensive southward against the Turks, capturing the fortresses of Macin, Constanta (Kustendji) and Girsov on his way to Cavarna and Bazardjik. On 16 September 1809, Bagration defeated the Turks at Rassevat and, on 22 September, he invested Silistra, forcing the Grand Vizier Yussuf to cancel his invasion of Serbia and Wallachia. Bagration halted the superior Turkish army at Tataritsa on 22 October, but had to lift the siege of Silistra because of lack of supplies and ammunition. He succeeded in taking Ismail and Braila in late 1809. In March 1810, he resigned after a disagreement with Emperor Alexander on the overall strategy in the Danubian Principalities. He briefly traveled to Vienna in late 1810 and became involved in a diplomatic scandal between France and Russia after he unsuccessfully tried to obtain secret documents on Franco-Persian relations. Returning to Russia, Bagration was appointed to command the Army of Podolsk on 25 August 1811; this army had been later reorganized into the 2nd Western Army in March 1812.

During the 1812 Campaign, Bagration successfully eluded Napoleon’s enveloping maneuvers and achieved victories at Mir and Romanovo. He outmaneuvered Marshal Nicholas Davout at Moghilev and joined Barclay de Tolly’s 1st Western Army at Smolensk on 3 August. The aggressive Bagration was the chief proponent of the Smolensk offensive, but he was ultimately able to perceive Napoleon’s designs to outflank the Russians. Falling back from the French envelopment in time, he successfully defended Smolensk on 15-16 August. His bitter opposition to Barclay de Tolly’s policy of scorched earth and retreat led to Barclay’s replacement by Mikhail Kutuzov. On 7 September, Bagration commanded the Russian left flank at Borodino and fiercely defended the fléches against the main French attacks. However, he was seriously wounded by a shell splinter in his left leg and died of wound complications on 24 September at the village Simy in the Vladimir gubernia. He was buried at a local church but his remains were transferred to the Great Redoubt at the Borodino Battlefield in August 1839. His grave was destroyed by the communists in 1932, but restored in 1987. He was unhappily married to Countess Ekaterina Skavronsky, who left him within a year of marriage and had an illegitimate child with Austrian Diplomat Clemence von Metternich. Princess Bagration later played important role in the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

Prince Peter Bagration was one of the best tactical commanders in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. His rearguard actions in Moravia in 1805 and Poland in 1807 were truly remarkable. However, he also demonstrated poor strategic abilities in 1812. He was a man of an uncontrolled, ambitious and violent temper, who expressed his feelings in a passionate manner. He was one of the most beloved generals in the Russian army and was often called “the Glory of the Russian army” (S. Volkonsky) and “Bog-rati-on” – “the God of the Army” (G. Derzhavin).

Literature

Alexander Mikaberidze, The Lion of the Russian Army: Life and Military Career of Prince General Peter Bagration, 3 volumes, (doct. diss., Florida State University, 2003)
General Bagration: Sbornik dokumentov i materialov, pod redaktsiei S.N. Golubova [General Bagration: Compilation of Documents and Materials], (Moscow, 1945)
Bagration v Dunaiskikh kniazhestvakh: Sbornik Dokumentov [Bagration in the Danubian Principalities: Compilation of Documents], (Chisineu, 1949)
Tsintsadze, Zurab, Bagration Voennaia Deiatelnost General Petra Ivanovicha Bagrationa, 1782-1812, [Military Career of General Peter Ivanovich Bagration, 1782-1812] (Moscow, 1997);
V. Gribanov, Bagration v Peterburge [Bagration in St. Petersburg] (Leningrad 1979)
I.I. Rostunov. "P.I. Bagration" (a monograph), Moscow, 1947 (in Russian)
T. Lomouri. "Petre Bagrationi" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1946 (in Georgian)
N. Nakashidze. "Hero of Borodino", Tbilisi, 1961 (in Georgian)