Yelena Ivanovna Shidyanskaya ( rus, Елена Ивановна Шидянская) nee Yelena Ivanovna Sardanova ( rus, Елена Ивановна Сарданова), 1755–1849) was a Greek-Russian military commander.
[.Ф. Домбровский. «Капитан амазонской роты» (Одесский Вестник, 1849, № 1)] She was an ethnic Greek Crimean appointed commander of the "Amazon company" appointed by
Grigory Potemkin
Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...
to serve during the
visit of Catherine the Great to the Crimea in 1787. While this military unit was largely ceremonial and existed only during Catherine's visit, it was nevertheless formally a military unit during its existence, and Yelena Shidyanskaya was thereby the first woman in Russia to be appointed to the post of commander of a military unit.
References
1755 births
1849 deaths
18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire
Female military personnel
Women in 18th-century warfare
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