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Nikolay Vuich
Nikolay Vasilyevich Vuich (also spelled Nikolaj Vasiljevič Vujič or Nikolaj Vasiljević Vujić; russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Ву́ич; 1765–27 March 1836) was an Imperial Russian general who fought in the Russo-Swedish War, Russo Turkish War, the Polish campaign and the Napoleonic Wars. He distinguished himself in all the wars in defense of Imperial Russia and contributed his mite in the success of the Coalition forces against Napoleon. His portrait now hangs at the 1812 Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. Biography His ancestors moved to Russia from Serbian lands in the middle of the 18th century. Russian military service records show that he enlisted in the 12th Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment on 12 December 1777. He moved to the Belarusian Yaeger Corps on 8 April 1787 with the rank of ensign. In 1790, he was made captain for the assault on the fortress of Izmail. For bravery exhibited in the Polish-Russian War of 1792, he received the rank of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Dawe
George Dawe (6 February 1781 – 15 October 1829) was an English portraitist who painted 329 portraits of Russian generals active during Napoleon's invasion of Russia for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. He relocated to Saint Petersburg in 1819, where he won acclaim for his work from the artistic establishment and complimentary verses by Pushkin. He was the son of Philip Dawe, a successful mezzotint engraver who also produced political cartoons relating to the events of the Boston Tea Party. One of his brothers was Henry Edward Dawe, also a portraitist. He died on 15 October 1829 in Kentish Town, United Kingdom. Life and career Early life and studies George Dawe was born on 6 February 1781 to Philip Dawe and Jane in Brewer Street, in the parish of St James's in Westminster. Philip was an artist and engraver in mezzotint who had worked with Hogarth and Joseph Mallord William Turner and who also produced satirical political cartoons about life in America which a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ensign (rank)
Ensign (; Late Middle English, from Old French (), from Latin (plural)) is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank acquired the name. This rank has generally been replaced in army ranks by second lieutenant. Ensigns were generally the lowest-ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of subaltern existed. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, لواء, '' liwa''', derives from the command of units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a unit's ensign, and is today the equivalent of a major general. In Thomas Venn's 1672 ''Military and Maritime Discipline in Three Books'', the duties of ensigns are to include not only carrying the color but assisting the captain and lieutenant of a company and in their absence, have their authority. "Ensign" is ''enseigne'' in French, and '' chorąży'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a lieutenant general outranking a major general, whereas a major outranks a lieutenant. In the Commonwealth and in the United States, when appointed to a field command, a major general is typically in command of a division consisting of around 6,000 to 25,000 troops (several regiments or brigades). It is a two-star rank that is subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the rank of brigadier or brigadier general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the navy rank of rear admiral. In air forces with a separate rank structure (Commonwealth), major general is equivalent to air vice-marshal. In some countries including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the general officer ranks, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolay Raevsky
Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky (; — ) was a Russian general and statesman who achieved fame for his feats of arms during the Napoleonic Wars. His family left a lasting legacy in Russian society and culture. Early life Nikolay Raevsky was born in Saint Petersburg. He descended from the Rayevsky noble family which has claimed remote Scandinavian and Polish–Lithuanian ancestry. One of Peter the Great's great grandmothers came from the Raevsky family. Nikolay's grandfather, Semyon Raevsky, was the Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. The family rose to prominence in Russia when Raevsky's father, Colonel Nikolay Semyonovich Raevsky, commander of the elite Izmaylovsky Regiment, married Ekaterina Samoylova.Montefiore, Simon Sebag. ''Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin'', p. 452 London: Thomas Dunne Books, 2001 Ekaterina was a lady-in-waiting and close friend of Empress Catherine II, and a niece of the Empress’ influential favorite, Prince Potemkin. Ekaterina's brother was the genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapper
A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, and road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained and equipped to serve as provisional infantry, fighting as such as a secondary mission. A sapper's duties facilitate and support movement, defense, and survival of allied forces and impede those of enemies. The term "sapper" is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations and the U.S. military. The word "sapper" comes from the French word ''sapeur'', itself being derived from the verb ''saper'' (to undermine, to dig under a wall or building to cause its collapse). Historical origin Sapping A sapper, in the sense first used by the French military, was one who dug trenches to allow besieging forces to advance towards the enemy defensive works and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barclay De Tolly
Barclay de Tolly () is the name of a Baltic German noble family of Scottish origin (Clan Barclay). During the time of the Revolution of 1688 in Britain, the family migrated to Swedish Livonia from Towy (Towie) in Aberdeenshire. Its subsequent generations became a German-speaking family in Livonia, which became part of the Russian Empire after the 1700–1721 Great Northern War. Weinhold Gotthard Barclay de Tolly (; 1734–1781) was a ''poruchik'' of the Russian Army and a descendant of one of the burgomasters of Riga. He was the first of his family to be accepted into the Russian nobility. He was married to Margaretha Elisabeth von Smitten (1733–1771), and they had four sons: Emil Johann, a General in the Russian service; B. Michael Bogdanovitch; C. Andrei Bogdanovitch, a Colonel; and Michael Bogdanovitch (known as Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly), a very prominent military commander who was made a count in 1813 and a prince in 1815 by Alexander I of Russia. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Smolensk (1812)
The Battle of Smolensk was the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia. It took place on 16–18 August 1812 and involved about 45,000 men of the Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I against about 30,000 Russian troops under General Barclay de Tolly. Napoleon occupied Smolensk by driving out Prince Pyotr Bagration's Second Army. The French artillery bombardment burned the city to the ground. Of 2,250 buildings, 84% were destroyed with only 350 surviving intact. Of the city's 15,000 inhabitants, about 1,000 were left at the end of the battle inside the smoking ruins. With over 15,000 casualties, it was one of the bloodiest battles of the invasion. Prelude Vitebsk operation The Russian First Western Army under General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly slipped away from Vitebsk on 27 July after an inconclusive fight against Emperor Napoleon, avoiding a general engagement. Napoleon was frustrated by his inability to bring the Russian army to battle and lingered at Vit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Vitebsk (1812)
The battle of Vitebsk, sometimes spelled Witepsk, was a military engagement that took place on 26 and 27 July 1812 during the French invasion of Russia. The battle put a French force, under the command of Emperor Napoleon I, in combat with Russian rearguard forces under General Petr Konovnitsyn (on 26 July) and Peter von der Pahlen (on 27 July) and ended with the Russian forces making a strategic retreat from the battlefield. The battle occurred as Napoleon was trying to envelop the Russian First Army at Vitebsk and force them to accept battle. The commander of the Russian First Army, General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, was himself aiming to fight and thus massed the bulk of his forces at Vitebsk, even though he was aware that his chances to win against Napoleon were not good. Barclay's motivation to make a stand resulted from political pressures and from his own desire to improve the army's morale, after weeks of retreating without a fight. The fighting on 26 July ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau, or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, was a bloody and strategically inconclusive battle on 7 and 8 February 1807 between Napoléon's '' Grande Armée'' and the Imperial Russian Army under the command of Levin August von Bennigsen near the town of Preussisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians received timely reinforcements from a Prussian division of von L'Estocq. After 1945, the town was renamed Bagrationovsk as part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The engagement was fought during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoléon's armies had smashed the army of the Austrian Empire in the Ulm Campaign and the combined Austrian and Russian armies at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. On 14 October 1806, Napoléon crushed the armies of the Kingdom of Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt and hunted down the scattered Prussians at Prenzlau, Lübeck, Erfurt, Pasewalk, Stettin, Magdeburg and Hamel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service. The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank. Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain. History and origins By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chasseur
''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History This branch of the French Army originated during the War of the Austrian Succession when, in 1743, Jean Chrétien Fischer was authorized by the Marshal de Belle-Isle to raise a 600 strong mixed force of infantry and cavalry. It was called '' Chasseurs de Fischer.'' During the remainder of the 18th century various types of light troops () were employed within the French army, either as independent units or as companies within existing regiments. In 1788, there were 8 battalions of chasseurs, and in March 1793 this was expanded to 21 battalions. The first battalions of Chasseurs raised by 1788 included: * (1st) '' Chasseurs Royaux de Provence'' * (2nd) '' Chasseurs Royaux de Dauphiné'' * (3rd) '' Chasseurs Royaux Corses'' (Corsican) * (4th) '' Chasseurs Corses'' (Corsica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major
Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank above captain, and one rank below lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Background Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers while in some nations, like Germany, majors are often in command of a company. When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including ''general-major'' or ''major general'', denoting a low-level general officer, and '' sergeant major'', denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term ''major'' can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
