Mikhail Kutuzov

Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (Russian: князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов; 16 September [O.S. 5 September] 1745 – 28 April [O.S. 16 April] 1813) was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars: Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. His military career was closely associated with the rising period of Russia from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Kutuzov contributed much to the military history of Russia and is considered to have been one of the best Russian generals under the reign of Catherine II. He took part in the suppression of the Bar Confederation's uprising, in three of the Russo-Turkish Wars and in the Napoleonic War, including two major battles at Austerlitz and the battle of Borodino.

However, Kutuzov is credited most with his brilliant leadership during the French invasion of Russia. Under Kutuzov's command, the Russian army was defeated by the Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino but counter-attacked once Napoleon retreated from Moscow, pushing the French out of the Russian homeland. In recognition of this, Kutuzov was awarded the title of Prince of Smolensk. A memorial was built at Moscow in 1973 to commemorate the 1812 war and Kutuzov's leadership. An order of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation is also named after him. Kutuzov was highly regarded in the works of Russian and Soviet historians.

Early career

Mikhail Kutuzov was born in Saint Petersburg on 16 September 1745. His father, Lieutenant-General Illarion Matveevich Kutuzov, had served for thirty years with the Corps of Engineers, had seen action against the Turks and served under Peter the Great. Mikhail Kutuzov’s mother was from the Beklemishevyi family of nobles. Between his father’s distinguished service and his mother’s high birth, Mikhail Kutuzov had contact with the imperial Romanov family from an early age. In 1757, twelve-year-old Kutuzov went to a military engineering school as a cadet private. (Since Peter the Great’s reforms of the military, all noblemen had to serve in the military starting as a private. To become an officer, they had to work their way through the ranks.) Kutuzov quickly became popular with his peers and teachers alike, proving himself to be highly intelligent, and showed bravery in his school’s numerous horse races. Kutuzov became fluent in English, French, German, Polish, Swedish, and Turkish; his language skills served him well throughout his career.

In 1762, Kutuzov, now a captain under the command of Colonel Alexander Suvorov, traveled to the town of Astrakhan, a major city near the Volga Delta. Kutuzov studied Suvorov’s style of command and learned how to be a good commander in battle. Suvorov believed that an effective order should be simple, direct and concise, and that a commander should care deeply about the health and training of his soldiers. Kutuzov also adopted Suvorov’s conviction that a commander should lead his troops from the front instead of the rear to provide an example of bravery for the troops to follow. Suvorov also taught Kutuzov the importance of developing close relationships with those under his command. Kutuzov’s followed this advice to the benefit of his career. This advice contributed to Kutuzov’s appointment as Commander-in-Chief in 1812.

In late 1762, Kutuzov became the aide-de-camp to the Military-Governor of Revel, Prince Golshtein-Bekskii, where he proved himself to be a capable politician. In 1768, Kutuzov fought in Poland, after the Polish Szlachta—the Polish noble class—rebelled against Russia. There he captured a number of strong defensive positions and thereby proved his skill on the battlefield.

In October 1768, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Two years later, Kutuzov, now a major, joined the soon-to-be-famous Count Petr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky’s army in the south to fight against the Turks. Though Kutuzov served valiantly in this campaign, he did not receive any medals as another officer reported to Rumyantsev that Kutuzov mocked Rumyantsev behind his back. Rumyantsev had Lieutenant-Colonel Kutuzov transferred into Prince Vasili Dolgorukov-Krymsky’s Russian Second Army fighting the Turks and the Tartars in Crimea. During this campaign, Kutuzov learned how to use the deadly Cossack cavalry, another skill which would prove useful in the defense of Russia against Napoleon's invading armies in 1812. In 1773, he was ordered to storm the well-defended town of Alushta on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula. After he realized the attack was faltering, he grabbed the fallen regimental standard and led the attack. While charging forward, he was shot in the right temple—an almost certainly fatal wound at the time. However, Kutuzov slowly recovered, though frequently overcome by sharp pains and dizziness, and his right eye remained permanently twisted. He left the army later that year due to his wound.

Kutuzov’s pain did not subside, and so he decided to travel to Western Europe for better medical care. He arrived in Berlin in 1774 where he spent much time with King Frederick the Great of Prussia, who took great interest in Kutuzov. They spent long periods of time discussing tactics, weaponry, and uniforms. Kutuzov then traveled to Leyden, Holland and London, England for further treatment. In London, Kutuzov studied the American general George Washington’s campaign against the British, concluding that it was not necessary to win battles in order to win a war.

Kutuzov returned to the Russian Army in 1776, where he again served under Suvorov in the Crimea for the next six years. He learned that letting the common soldier use his natural intellect and initiative created a more effective army. Suvorov also taught him how to use mobility in order to exploit the constantly changing situation on the battlefield. By 1782, Kutuzov had been promoted to Brigadier General as Suvorov recognized Kutuzov’s potential as a shrewd and intelligent leader. Indeed, Suvorov wrote that he would not even have to tell Kutuzov what needed to be done in order for him to carry out his objective. In 1787, Kutuzov was again wounded in the right temple, in almost exactly the same place as before, and again doctors feared for his life. However, Kutuzov recovered, though his right eye was even more twisted than before and he had even worse head pains.

In 1784 he became a major general, in 1787 governor-general of the Crimea; and under Suvorov, whose disciple he became, he won considerable distinction in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), at the taking of Ochakov, Odessa, Bender and Ismail, and the battles of Rimnik and Mashin. He was by that time (1791) a lieutenant-general and successively occupied the positions of ambassador at Constantinople, governor-general of Finland, commandant of the corps of cadets at Saint Petersburg, ambassador at Berlin, and governor-general of Saint Petersburg.

Kutuzov was a favorite of Tsar Paul I, and after that emperor's murder he was temporarily out of favor with the new Tsar Alexander I, though he remained loyal.

Napoleonic wars in Europe

In 1805 Kutuzov commanded the Russian corps which opposed Napoleon's advance on Vienna.

On the eve of Austerlitz, Kutuzov tried to convince the Allied generals of the necessity of waiting for reinforcements before facing Napoleon. Alexander believed that waiting to engage Napoleon’s forces would be seen as cowardly. Kutuzov quickly realized that he no longer had any power with Alexander and the Austrian chief of staff General-Major Franz von Weyrother. When he asked Alexander where he planned to move a unit of troops, he was told “That’s none of your business.” Kutuzov pretended to sleep throughout the battle planning session as he feared that Alexander would blame him for the inevitable defeat. Kutuzov was present at the battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Though Alexander’s orders made it clear that the Russians should move off of the strategic Pratzen Plateau, Kutuzov stalled for as long as possible as he recognized the advantage that Napoleon would gain from this high ground. Finally, Alexander forced Kutuzov to abandon the Plateau. Napoleon quickly seized the ridge and broke the Allied lines with his artillery which now commanded the battlefield from the Pratzen Plateau. The battle was lost, and over 25,000 Russians were killed. Kutuzov was put in charge of organizing the army’s retreat across Hungary and back into Russia as Alexander was overcome by grief.

He was then put in charge of the Russian army operating against the Turks in the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812. Understanding that his armies would be badly needed in the upcoming battle with the French, he hastily brought the prolonged war to a victorious end and concluded the propitious Treaty of Bucharest, which stipulated the incorporation of Bessarabia into the Russian Empire. For this success he was elevated to the rank of Knyaz (Prince or Duke).

The Patriotic War (1812)

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (then Minister of War) chose to follow the scorched earth principle and retreat rather than to risk a major battle. His strategy aroused grudges from most of the generals and soldiers, notably Prince Pyotr Bagration. As Alexander had to choose a new general, there was only one choice: Kutuzov. He found popularity among the troops mainly because he was Russian (most of the generals commanding Russian troops at that time were foreign), he was brave, he had proven himself in battle, strongly believed in the Russian Orthodox Church, and he looked out for the troops’ well-being. The nobles and clergy also regarded Kutuzov highly. Therefore, when Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief and arrived with the Russian army on 17 August 1812, the nation greeted Kutuzov with delight. Only Alexander, repulsed by Kutuzov’s physique and irrationally holding him responsible for the defeat at Austerlitz did not celebrate Kutuzov’s commission. Within two weeks Kutuzov decided to give major battle on approaches to Moscow. Two huge armies clashed near Borodino on 7 September 1812 in what has been described as the greatest battle in human history up to that date, involving nearly a quarter of a million soldiers. The result of the battle was inconclusive, with a third of the French and half of the Russian army killed or wounded. After a conference at the village of Fili, Kutuzov fell back on the strategy of his predecessor: withdraw in order to save the Russian army as long as possible.

This came at the price of losing Moscow, whose population was evacuated. Having retreated along the Kaluga road and replenished his munitions, he forced Napoleon into retreat in the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. The old general's cautious pursuit evoked much criticism, but ultimately only a small remnant (93,000 of the 690,000 men) of the Grand Army returned to Prussian soil alive. Hence the Russian general's caution was thoroughly vindicated.

Kutuzov now held the rank of Field Marshal and had been awarded the victory title of His Serene Highness Knyaz Smolensky (Светлейший князь Смоленский) – having achieved this title for a victory over part of the French army at Smolensk in November 1812.

Memorials

Early in 1813 Kutuzov fell ill, and he died on 28 April 1813 at Bunzlau. Memorials have been erected to him there, at the Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow and in front of the Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, where he is buried, by Boris Orlovsky. As he had no male issue, his estates passed to the Tolstoy family (one of his five daughters, Praskovia, had married Matvei Feodorovich Tolstoy). Among Russian military commanders, Kutuzov is held second only to his teacher Suvorov.

Alexander Pushkin addressed the Field Marshal in the famous elegy on Kutuzov's sepulchre, and he also figures as a patient and wise leader in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), the Soviet government established the Order of Kutuzov which, among several other decorations, was preserved in Russia upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, thus remaining among the highest military awards in Russia.

Also during the Second World War one of the key strategic operations of the Red Army, the Orel Strategic Offensive Operation "Kutuzov" was named after the Field Marshal (Russian: Орловская Стратегическая Наступательная Операция Кутузов) (12 July-18 August 1943).