Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Михайло́вский-Даниле́вский; )) was a Russian Lieutenant General, senator, military writer, historian and author of the first official history of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, written in four volumes on the instructions of Nicholas I.

Biography

Alexander's father Ivan Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky was a known doctor of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

origin who studied at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

and briefly worked in 1789 at the Russian Ministry of Finance. Alexander studied German at Saint Peter's School joined the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

militia on 1 August 1812 and was chosen by Field Marshal

Mikhail Kutuzov Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ( rus, Князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов, Knyaz' Mikhaíl Illariónovich Goleníshchev-Kutúzov; german: Mikhail Illarion Golenishchev-Kut ...

, an adjutant, mainly for correspondence in French. He fought in the

Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino (). took place near the village of Borodino on during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The ' won the battle against the Imperial Russian Army but failed to gain a decisive victory and suffered tremendous losses. Napoleon ...

and in the

Battle of Tarutino The Battle of Tarutino (russian: Тарутинo) was a part of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In the battle Russian troops under the command of Bennigsen defeated French troops under the command of Joachim Murat. The battle is sometimes cal ...

where he was critically wounded. After the war, in September 1814 Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky was a member of the Russian delegation at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

and remained until its end in June 1815. In 1816, he was appointed Aide-de-camp to the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, who was accompanied on his travels to the south and Russia to the congress in Aachen. In 1829, he participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 serving with the rank of major general under the command of Field Marshal

Hans Karl von Diebitsch Hans Karl Friedrich Anton Graf von Diebitsch und Narten (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ди́бич-Забалка́нский, tr. ; 13 May 1785 – 10 June 1831) was a German-born soldier serving as Russian field marshal. Career ...

. He was critically wounded in the

Battle of Olszynka Grochowska The Battle of Olszynka Grochowska was fought on 25 February 1831 in the woods near Grochów, on the eastern outskirts of Warsaw. The Polish army, commanded by Józef Chłopicki, succeeded in preventing its Russian counterpart, under Hans Karl vo ...

on 25 February 1830. On 6 December 1835 he was promoted to

Lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

and on 9 December he was appointed chairman of the Military Censorship Committee. In 1839 he became a senator and as such, he was appointed as a member of the council of war, where he tried to end his life to reform the army. He became a member of Emperor's Council of War in 1839 and of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1843. He died in September 1848 in the Saint Petersburg cholera epidemic of 1847–1849. He was buried next to his wife (d. 1832) at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, where their tomb is preserved.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, Alexander 1848 deaths 1789 births Imperial Russian Army generals Russian military writers 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Russian military historians Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery