Suvorov

Across Russia, squares, schools and military orders are named for him. Every Russian schoolchild knows his name, synonymous in Russian with courage, tenacity and bravery. Widely considered to be one of Russia’s greatest military strategists, he led Russian forces into over 60 battles, against Turkish, Polish, German and French troops, winning every one. And yet, despite being so well known and loved in his homeland, Alexander Suvorov rarely gets more than a scant mention in western histories of Russia, usually only for his daring crossing of the Alps in 1799. On May 18 (May 6, old style), Russia marks the bicentennial of Suvorov’s death—a fitting pretext for an in-depth look at the life and work of this extraordinary leader.

Alexander Vasiliyevich Suvorov was born November 13, 1730 in the Arbat region of Moscow. His father, Vasily Suvorov, was a senator, a four-star general, and aide-de-camp to Peter the Great. Catherine the Great wrote that Vasily Suvorov “was a man of incorruptible honesty, very well educated ... I nurtured immense trust for him and have never pronounced his name without veneration.”

Alexander took this heritage very seriously, and from an early age prepared himself for the hardship of military service, undertaking strenuous daily physical exercise and  cold water baths. At the age of 12, he was enlisted in the Life Guards Reserve of the Semyonovsky Regiment, then granted a leave of duty to study at home. In the 18th century, it was common for the nobility to enroll their sons in the Guards as children: as the children grew up, they climbed the ranks, enabling them to begin their later, true service with an officer’s rank.

Alexander studied hard. Too hard, his father felt. One day, when Vasily Suvorov was hosting an old friend—Abraham Hannibal, pupil of Peter the Great and ancestor of the poet Alexander Pushkin—he told Hannibal of his concern for his son. Alexander shunned society, he said, spending his time locked away in his room, reading books on military art. Hannibal offered to speak to Alexander, and went to his room, where he was, of course, immersed in reading and drafting up military plans. Hannibal, himself a renowned military commander, grilled Alexander on his military knowledge and witnessed his deep passion for military science. In the end, he hugged Alexander and said, “If our Father-Tsar Pyotr Alexeyevich [Peter the Great] were alive, he would kiss you on the head and be happy for you!” Returning to Vasily, Hannibal advised his friend to let his son be. “He will go farther than us,” Hannibal stated prophetically.

Suvorov maintained a passion for education and self-improvement his entire life. Not only did he excel at the expected military disciplines of fortification and mathematics, but he also delved deeply into philosophy and history, as well as languages.  From his early education he spoke and wrote German and French. In later years he picked up Italian, Spanish and Latin, reading ancient writers in the original.

On January 1, 1748, at the age of 17, Suvorov began a military career that would span five decades, enlisting as a corporal in the Third Company of the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment. From the very beginning, he was a zealous soldier, volunteering for dreaded sentry duty, even in bad weather. He also professed a preference for simple military rations over fine cuisine. Needless to say, such quirks quickly earned him a reputation among his comrades and superiors as an odd fellow.

Indeed, throughout Suvorov’s life, his contemporaries found him hard to read. Even portraits done during his lifetime differ widely from one another, for his visage was ever-changing. At one point it was tender and loving, then irritated and scary, then calm and serious. A certain Dr. Tiebeau, a German scientist who knew the soldier well, offered this description:

He was a small man, rather solid, slim but not emaciated, very active and agile. I have never seen anyone in my life so energetic as he in his looks, his words and his movements. He seemed to need to do thousands of things at a time, jumping like lightning from item to item, from thought to thought.

Suvorov also had a very deeply felt sense of duty. According to one story, Corporal Suvorov was once standing sentry near Monplaisir palace at Peterhof when Empress Elizaveta Petrovna [ruled 1741-1761] walked by his post. She immediately recognized him as the son of General Vasily Suvorov, who had served not only her but also her father, Peter the Great. Elizaveta decided to bestow on the young corporal a silver ruble (a lot of money at that time). But Suvorov refused the gift. “My empress!” he said. “The law forbids soldiers from accepting money while on guard duty!” The empress liked his answer so well that she gently clapped him on the cheek and allowed him to kiss her hand. “Well done, soldier!” she said. “You do know how to serve. I will lay the ruble on the ground, right here. You can pick it up when you are replaced.” Alexander Vasiliyevich reputedly kept this ruble his whole life.

He has only one passion: to serve. And only one delight: to command the soldiers!

— Suvorov’s company commander, in a letter to Suvorov’s father.

In 1754, Suvorov switched from the Life Guards to the army, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. By 1758, he had been further promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and on July 14, 1759, eleven-and-a-half years after entering the military service, Suvorov joined his first battle, against Prussian troops, near Krossen in Silesia. A month later, he fought at Kunersdorf (where Russian and Austrian troops crushed Frederick II’s forces) and on September 28, 1760 he was among the Russian soldiers which entered Berlin under the leadership of Peter Saltykov, bringing an end to the Seven Years War.

On August 26, 1762, Suvorov was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the Astrakhansky, then, in 1763, the Suzdalsky infantry regiment. It was at this time that he began to put in writing what he had been studying and learning. He wrote his “Regimental Regulations,” outlining the organization of service and training in a regiment. It was the precursor to his future book on military art, Nauka Pobezhdat (The Science of Winning).

Suvorov was adamant about preparing his soldiers for battle, not for parades. He trained them relentlessly: at any time of day or night, regardless of the weather, he would lead them on sudden raids and marches, fording the river Volkhov or taking an Old Ladoga monastery by storm. Appropriately, Suvorov authored the now familiar Russian proverb—“ífl ÂÎÓ ‚ Û˜Â̸Â, ΄ÍÓ ‚ ·Ó˛.” (“Tough in training, easy in battle.”).

Suvorov preached three basic military precepts. First, measure and assess: “how to set a camp, how to march, where to attack, how to pursue...” Second, value the element of surprise: “The enemy doesn’t expect us. Here we are, falling on them like snow on their heads. Their heads will spin!” Third, focus on close combat: “Leg to leg, hand to hand ... It all adds up. The enemy has the same hands, but he doesn’t know what a Russian bayonet is. Stretch in one line and attack with bayonets!”

In Suvorov’s time, the range of rifles was not more than 100 paces. A soldier would load his rifle from the muzzle, tamping the bullet down with his ramrod. Having shot his bullet, the soldier became effectively disarmed for a few minutes. And to recharge a rifle in a close battle was next to impossible. So Suvorov taught his soldiers to rely mainly on cold steel. His favorite proverb was “ÔÛÎfl—‰Û‡, ‡ ¯Ú˚Í ÏÓÎӉˆ” (“The bullet is foolish, but the bayonet is great!”). The bayonet was particularly decisive in Suvorov’s battles against the Turks—the Koran interprets piercing wounds as shameful and dirty; only unclean swine are killed in this manner.

Finally, Suvorov was a leader closely in tune with his soldiers. As one of his biographers wrote: “Suvorov was an accomplished Russian man; his immersion in the soldier’s environment could not help but influence him. He felt an eternal oneness with his soldiers.” Suvorov would eat, sleep and march alongside his soldiers, developing an affection and unity with the soldiers he called his “miraculous warriors” (chudo-bogatyri), which surely contributed to their victories in battle.

Suvorov’s first victory in battle came on September 2, 1769, when he commanded three regiments to put down the Bar Rebellion for Polish independence. The victory led to a promotion to the rank of major-general in 1770. More victories followed and Suvorov soon received three prestigious orders: St. Anna, St. George (3rd degree) and St. Alexander Nevsky. On April 15, 1772, he accepted the surrender of the Polish garrison at the castle in Krakow.

Meanwhile, in the South, Russia and Turkey had been at war since 1768. Suvorov  asked to be transferred to Fieldmarshal Pyotr Rumyantsev’s army, where he quickly scored victories at Karasu and Kuchuk Kainardzha. In May 1773, he led 3000 Russian troops against 12,000 Turks to capture the Turkish fortifications and the town of Turtukai. In June he undertook a second successful raid and received the very prestigious Order of St. George (2nd degree)—awarded only for major military victories. Later historians would agree that Suvorov’s glory began near Turtukai.

In the fall, Suvorov went on leave and visited Moscow. During the visit, his father, worried about a lack of grandchildren, urged Suvorov to marry. So, on January 16, 1774, Alexander Suvorov wed Varvara Prozorovskaya, a tall, pretty girl 20 years his junior.

But the marriage was not to last. Suvorov, a devout Russian Orthodox, did not accept the loose morals of the gentry under Catherine II [later, “the Great,” she came to power through a coup on December 25, 1761—Ed.]. So when his wife later had an affair with a young officer, even protracted and concerted efforts at reconciliation could not save their marriage. And, although Catherine the Great insisted that Suvorov preserve the marriage (the far from virtuous empress did not want Suvorov to set a “bad example” to other nobles—in the 18th century husbands typically turned a blind eye to their wives’ affairs), the couple was divorced. Nonetheless, Suvorov remained close to his daughter Natasha and even eventually accepted his younger son Arkady, born to Varvara while the couple were living apart.

In general, Suvorov did not appear to “play well with others” in the capital’s noble society. One of the most famous contemporary foreign chroniclers of the reign of Catherine the Great was Count Louis Phillipe de Segure. About Suvorov, he observed:

He managed to distinguish himself and get promotions due to his temerity, skill and diligence, all of which he instilled in his soldiers—he was neither rich, nor very noble, nor did he have valuable connections. He earned his rank with his saber. His superiors always sent Suvorov wherever there was a dangerous affair, a difficult and audacious exploit in the offing. Yet, from the very first steps on his road to glory, he met envious and strong rivals who could bar his path. So he decided to hide his gifts behind a mask of eccentricity. His exploits were brilliant, his thoughts deep, his actions rapid. But in private life—in society, in his gestures, in his introductions and conversations—he presented himself as an odd, somewhat eccentric man. This disarmed his ambitious rivals, who did not fear him, but saw in Suvorov a useful tool for carrying out their own projects. They considered him incapable of harming them or barring them from enjoying their perks, their weight and their might. Reverent to his superiors, kind to his soldiers, Suvorov was proud, even impolite and rude with equals.

Suvorov did not stay long in Moscow after saying his marriage vows. On March 17, 1774, he was promoted to lieutenant general and on June 10 he led a daring nighttime bayonet attack against 40,000 Turks at Kozludzha (now in eastern Bulgaria), which broke the Turkish line of defense. The victory was decisive in ending the war with Turkey on favorable terms for Russia. The treaty of Kuchuk Kainardzha (1774) made the Crimea independent of Ottoman control, gave Russia the right to establish a Russian Orthodox church in Constantinople, and made Russia the defender of the interests of Moldavia and Wallachia in Turkey. Russia also gained the towns of Azov and Kerch, cementing Russian control of much of the Black Sea coast.

Russia’s gains from the war might have been even greater, had not the domestic peasant rebellion, led by Yemelyan Pugachov, diverted Catherine’s attention. Suvorov was dispatched to the Urals to help quash the revolt. But, by the time Suvorov arrived, Pugachov had been caught and the revolt was already waning. Suvorov spent 1775 liquidating minor revolts in the Ural and Povolzhye regions.

Suvorov spent the next several years in the Crimea, the Kuban and Astrakhan. In 1780-1782 he prepared a secret expedition against Iran which was never launched. Later, he was actively involved in annexing the Crimea and Kuban regions to Russia.

On September 22, 1786, on the eve of the Second Russo-Turkish war (1787-1792), Suvorov was promoted to the rank of four-star general. The war began when Turkey (urged on by England, which was disturbed by Catherine’s diplomatic efforts to annex Georgia, part of Turkey) demanded that Russia evacuate the Crimea and the Black Sea coast. It ended with utter defeat for Turkey, which was forced to recognize Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and the Black Sea coast west to the Dniester (now Ukraine). England did not enter the war, but Austria (calling itself the Holy Roman Empire at the time) allied with Russia. Sweden complicated matters by attacking Russia vigorously from the north.

By the time the war broke out, Suvorov was 57 years old, had been wounded numerous times in battle and had actually been removed from the active duty list. This of course distressed him and he longed to join the war with Turkey. One popular legend has it that the general went to visit Catherine at Tsarskoye Selo and took her out rowing. Part way across the lake, the diminutive Suvorov began rocking the boat with such a furor that Catherine had to admit he still had the strength to lead soldiers into battle.

In any event, Suvorov was given command of the third division under Fieldmarshal Grigory Potemkin (see Russian Life, May 1998). In October 1787, he led a battle that destroyed the Turkish marines on Kinburn’s pit of land, was wounded twice and received the Order of St. Andrei the First Called. In December the following year, he was wounded in the neck when repulsing a raid at the sieged Turkish garrison of Ochakov (see illustration, page 43). He was evacuated from the battlefield but returned just a few months later. [In an interesting footnote, John Paul Jones was serving as a Rear Admiral in the Black Sea Fleet at this time, and helped lead a decisive naval victory over the Turks that paved the way for success at Ochakov.]

On June 21, 1789, Suvorov led his forces in a victory over the Turks near Focsani (now in eastern Romania), and, on September 11, together with Austrian troops, destroyed the army of the Great Vizier in the battle of Rymnik (Rimnicu Sarat). For this victory, Austrian Emperor Joseph II honored Suvorov with the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire; Catherine bestowed on him the title Count Rymniksky and presented him with a diamond-encrusted gold sword and Russia’s highest military honor, the Order of St. George (1st Degree). Suvorov relished these honors. In later correspondence with his daughter Natasha, he called her “countess of two empires.”

Encouraged by his success near Rymnik, Suvorov went on to face one of his most formidable military challenges: the “impregnable” Turkish fortress of Izmail, on the banks of the Danube. “The Danube will change directions before Izmail will fall,” the proud Turkish commandant of Izmail responded when Suvorov demanded his surrender.

Yet fall it did. And it was seen as the crowning achievement of  Suvorov’s career, even by Suvorov himself. “Only once in a lifetime can one dare do something like this,” he said. The success was due to rigorous training on a mock fortress and excellent communications between the two infantry columns. Interestingly, the left column was commanded by Mikhail Kutuzov, who 20 years later would vanquish Napolean; the fleet on the Danube was led by Iosif de Ribas, who would later found Odessa. Suvorov’s victory was again decisive to the outcome of the war. The Turks sued for peace to keep the tenacious general from marching on Constantinople.

After the war ended in 1792, Suvorov was put in command of Russian troops in southern Ukraine. But when a Polish national uprising, led by Thaddeus Kosciuszko, broke out in March 1794, Suvorov was sent to put it down. His victories, capped with the storming of Praga, outside Warsaw, ended the war and led to the third partitioning of Poland by Austria, Prussia and Russia. In the partition, Russia added to its empire the western territories of contemporary Belarus and Ukraine, as well as Lithuania. For his part, Count Suvorov-Rymniksky was promoted to Fieldmarshal on November 19, 1794. On December 3, 1795, he was greeted en grande pompe when he returned to St. Petersburg as a victor and national hero.

But history did not leave Suvorov much time to savor his glory. Less than a year later, on November 6, 1796, Catherine II died, succeeded by her son Paul I. Paul was enamored of all things Prussian, in allegiance to his German-born father, Peter III, who Catherine had ousted (and murdered). Suvorov, however, had nothing but scorn for Prussian parade-ground drilling and their heavy, tight uniforms, which Paul revered. “Russians have always beaten Prussians, why should we learn from them?!” Suvorov said.

Suvorov was forced to retire and spent the next two years exiled to the village of Konchanskoye. Discontented officers from Suvorov’s former General Staff, fed up with Paul (as was most of the nobility), suggested that the popular general lead a conspiracy to dethrone Paul. But Suvorov refused, saying he was incapable of “shedding the blood of his fellow citizens.” Interestingly, however, he did not report the conspirators. Instead he lived out his exile quietly, with few guests and no right to travel. Reportedly, the maverick commander considered finding his last refuge in a monastery.

Paul, meanwhile, was conducting an irrational foreign policy against all things French and in support of the Catholic Knights of Malta. It led Russia to war with France when the latter (led by Napolean Bonaparte) took over the island of Malta in the Mediterranean in 1798. The Russian fleet (under Fyodor Ushakov), together with Britain and Turkey, eventually took the fortress of Malta. Meanwhile, France had occupied much of Italy and Greece. Austria (with which Russia had entered into a defensive alliance four months earlier, along with Prussia and England) pressured Paul to call the famous Suvorov out of retirement to help dislodge France from northern Italy.

Suvorov was placed at the head of a unified Russian-Austrian army, and arrived in Vienna on March 15, 1799. By April 3, he was in Verona to assume his command. On April 16, he  engaged the French in battle and routed them at the Adda river, opening up the road to Milan. He took Turin on May 14 in a surprise attack that caused only 70 Russian casualties. Suvorov then turned to the south and forced his troops on a miraculous 50 mile, 36-hour march to rout the French forces led by General Etienne Macdonald that were trying to link up with the main French force. Then, in August, Suvorov led the most successful battle of the campaign, at the town of Novi, where fully two-thirds of French forces were wiped out. (For this spectacular victory, Suvorov was given yet another title: Count of Italy.)

The victory opened a clear path to the Italian Riviera in the south and the French border in the west. But the Austrian Military Council, which sought to reap the fruits of this victory on its own, demanded that Suvorov leave the Austrian troops in Italy and lead his Russian troops to Switzerland, to link up with Russian troops commanded by General Rimsky-Korsakov.

Suvorov, now 68 years old, had to lead his 20,000 battle-weary troops over the Alps to take on four times as many top-flite French soldiers. In a 16-day march in September, Russian troops fought through treacherous mountain passes, overcoming French snipers and artillery. In the most amazing feat, Russian troops under fire repaired Devil’s Bridge, which spanned a narrow gorge, and fought their way to the other side (see illustration, opposite). But the army’s descent was blocked by 80,000 well-rested and heavily-armed French troops (which had defeated Rimsky-Korsakov while Suvorov was in the Alps).

Not one to balk at difficult odds, Suvorov ordered his starving troops to break out of the French encirclement: “Mikhail,” he said to his trusted favorite, Miloradich, “you’ll be in front, face to the enemy!” Turning to the troops, he declared, “You are all Russians! don’t let the enemy get on top. Hit him and chase him as you always have done.” Indeed they did, routing the French troops and taking over a thousand prisoners. In the first days of October, Suvorov met up with Rimsky-Korsakov in Prague. Three-quarters of his army had survived the grueling march and battles.

Just days after Suvorov’s triumpant arrival in Prague, Paul cancelled his alliances with Austria and Britain and ordered Suvorov home. By year’s end, he was exploring a rapprochement with France, now ruled by Bonaparte.

Needless to say, Suvorov’s heroic passage through the Alps was the most remarkable exploit of an already astounding military career. The Swiss were so impressed, they erected a monument in his honor, which still stands along the route of his march. From his homeland, he was given the highest possible military rank, generalissimus—it meant that troops were even required to salute him in the presence of the emperor.

Despite the accolades bestowed on Suvorov, Paul I still reviled him. He even went so far as to cancel the state reception to be held in Suvorov’s honor upon his return. As it turned out, Suvorov fell gravely ill en route to the capital from Prague. He arrived in St. Petersburg late at night on April 20, 1800. On May 6 (old style), he died.

On May 12, 1800, Alexander Suvorov was laid to rest in one of the most venerated places of burial in Russia: the Lower Church of the Annunciation of Alexander-Nevsky Lavra. The plaque on his grave says simply, “Here lies Suvorov.” Little more seems worth saying about a soldier who served his homeland for over fifty years, participating in seven wars, all victorious.

Shortly before Suvorov’s death, Johann Heinrich Schmidt, the court painter of Saxony, painted a portrait of Suvorov. As he hated both mirrors and portraits, Suvorov refused to sit still for long, even for this renowned artist. But he did make a revealing and eloquent speech:

Your brush will portray the traits of my face: they are visible. But my human nature is hidden. So, I must tell you, my dear Mr. Schmidt, that I shed streams of blood. It makes me shiver. But I do love my fellow man and have never made anyone miserable in my whole life. Nor did a I sign a single death sentence. No insect ever died at my hand. I was small, I was also great (jumping on the chair to make his point). Whether happiness followed me or not, I always relied on God and was unwavering (sitting back on the chair), just like now.”

Such a frank self-description perfectly depicts the nature and character of this outstanding man. Alexander Suvorov was a bright incarnation of Russian values and the Russian national character, a perfect realization of the ideals of serving one’s fatherland. This may be why he is one of the rare heroes from Russian history who has been equally revered in tsarist, soviet and post-soviet Russia. In 1942, the Soviet leadership instituted the Order of Suvorov, with Three Degrees. They were awarded to officers, generals and marshals for display of “high military art on the battlefield.” Not surprisingly, the first Suvorov Order, 1st Degree was awarded to Marshal Georgy Zhukov, for his victory at Stalingrad.

One year later, in 1943, bearing in mind the large number of children orphaned by the war, the Soviet military established a network of secondary military schools named after Suvorov, known nationwide as Suvorovskoye Uchilische. Many Russians (including well-known Russians, like current Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov) have studied in these schools. There could be few more fitting legacies for such an extraordinary leader: to have his values of honor, bravery and hard work instilled in generations of Russians two centuries after his passing.