From kings to field marshals. Portraits of the highest officials of the Russian Empire

11.11.2019

Boyarin Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, even before the accession of Peter I, had a lot of merits before Russia - military and diplomatic. But he did not get into favor with Peter at all for them. In 1698, when the tsar returned from a trip abroad, Sheremetev was the only one of all the Moscow boyars who met him dressed in full European uniform - in a "German" dress, without a beard and with a cross knight of malta on the chest. Peter realized that such a person can be relied upon.

And for sure: Sheremetev served the young tsar faithfully. It all started, however, with a major setback. In 1700, near Narva, Boris Petrovich commanded the noble cavalry, which was the first to run away under the onslaught of the Swedes.

But Sheremetev quickly learned a bitter lesson and a few months later, on December 29, he won the first victory in the Northern War over the Swedes at the Erestvehr manor in Estonia.

Peter, to celebrate, rewarded the winner in a royal way: he granted the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and a field marshal's baton. Both awards were still a novelty in Russia then.

In the summer of 1702, Sheremetev captured an amazing trophy in Marienburg - Marta Skavronskaya, a pupil of Pastor Gluck. From Boris Petrovich, she passed to Menshikov, and Peter took Martha from Danilych, baptizing her into Catherine. In 1712 they got married. From now on, Sheremetev's position at court was finally consolidated. Only he and Prince-Caesar Romodanovsky were admitted to the tsar without a report. And although they were not close to the tsar, Peter's respect for the first Russian field marshal was great. Suffice it to say that Sheremetev was released from the obligation to drain royal feasts the Great Eagle Cup. You need to see this bottomless vessel at least once in order to understand what a heavy duty our hero was spared.

Sheremetev traveled all the roads of the Northern War, was commander-in-chief in the battle of Poltava, took Riga, suppressed the evil Astrakhan rebellion, shared the shame of the Prut campaign with the tsar, led Russian regiments to Pomerania ...
In 1712, 60-year-old Boris Petrovich requested to retire. He dreamed of taking monastic vows in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. But Peter, who loved surprises, instead of a monastic hood presented Sheremetev with a beautiful bride - his relative, Anna Petrovna Naryshkina (nee Saltykova). The old field marshal did not refuse the new service. He performed his marital duty as honestly as he had done in the military. For seven years, the young wife bore him five children.

Shortly before his death, in 1718, Sheremetev showed himself to be a man of honor, refusing to participate in the trial of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich under the pretext of poor health.

However, his health was really undermined by many years of military labors.
In 1719, Peter personally interred the ashes of the first Russian field marshal.

In his will, Sheremetyev asked to be buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but Peter I, having decided to create a pantheon in St. Petersburg, ordered Sheremetyev to be buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The body of the first Russian field marshal was buried on April 10, 1719. The tsar followed the coffin from the field marshal's house, located on the Fontanka, opposite the Summer Garden, to the monastery, accompanied by the court, foreign ministers, generals and two guards regiments, Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. On the grave of Sheremetev, Peter ordered to put a banner with the image of a field marshal.

P.S.
The first Russian field marshal was a man of humor, as evidenced by the following story.
“Sheremetev near Riga wanted to hunt. There was then in our service some prince from the coast, they said, from Mecklenburg. Pyotr Alekseevich caressed him. He also went for the field marshal (B.P. Sheremetev). Until they reached the beast, the prince asked Sheremetev about Malta; how he didn’t get rid of it and wanted to know if he had traveled anywhere else from Malta, then Sheremetev took him around the whole world: he decided to go around all of Europe, look at Constantinople, and in Egypt, fry, look at America. Rumyantsev, Ushakov, the prince, the usual conversation of the sovereign, returned to dinner. At the table, the prince could not be quite surprised how the field marshal managed to travel around so much land. "Yes, I sent him to Malta." - "And from there, wherever he was!" And told all his journey. Pyotr Alekseevich was silent, and after the table, leaving to rest, ordered Rumyantsev and Ushakov to stay; then giving them question points, he ordered to take an answer from the field marshal on them, among other things: from whom did he have a vacation to Constantinople, to Egypt, to America? Found him in the heat of a story about dogs and hares. “And the joke is not a joke; I myself go with a guilty head, ”said Sheremetev. When Pyotr Alekseevich began to scold him for fooling the foreign prince in such a way: “He’s a rather poor kid,” Sheremetev replied. “There was nowhere to run from the demands. So listen, I thought, and he hung his ears.
Lubyanovsky F.P. Memoirs. M., 1872, p. 50-52.

However, such tricks did not prevent foreigners from considering him the most polite and cultured person in Russia. The count knew Polish and Latin well.

Among the associates of Peter I special place occupied by Boris Petrovich Sheremetev (1652-1719). The Sheremetevs have been leading their genealogy since the 14th century. The first representative of the genus known from the sources was called Mare. The surname Sheremetevs originated from the nickname Sheremet, which was worn by one of the field marshal's ancestors at the end of the 15th century. The descendants of Sheremet are already mentioned as military leaders at the end of the 16th century. Since that time, the Sheremetev family began to supply boyars.

Boris Petrovich was born on April 25, 1652. At first, his career did not differ significantly from the career of other well-born offspring: at the age of 13 he was granted a room steward. This court rank, providing closeness to the king, opened up wide prospects for promotion in ranks and positions. But only in 1682, that is, at the age of 30, he was granted a boyar. Subsequently, Sheremetev "asceticated" in the military and diplomatic fields. So, during negotiations in 1686 in Moscow with the embassy of the Commonwealth, Boris Petrovich was among the four members of the Russian embassy. As a reward for the successful conclusion of the "Eternal Peace", Sheremetev was granted a gilded silver bowl, a satin caftan and 4 thousand rubles. In the same year, he became the first Russian representative to present a letter directly to the Austrian emperor. Prior to this, letters were accepted by ministers. Moscow positively assessed the results of his embassy. He received as a reward a large estate in the Kolomna district. In 1688, Sheremetev was in military service and continued the family tradition. In Belgorod and Sevsk, he was entrusted with the command of the troops that blocked the way for raids from the Crimea.

In the first Azov campaign (1695), he participated in a theater of operations remote from Azov: Peter entrusted him with command of the troops, which diverted Turkey's attention from the main direction of the Russian offensive. It was unfortunate for Boris Petrovich to take part in the battles for the extraction of the Swedish fortress of Narva (Old Russian Rugodev) in 1700. Narva did not add glory to Sheremetev's military reputation. At least twice, his actions caused the tsar's censure: he refused to fight the Swedes when he commanded a 5,000-strong cavalry detachment, which deprived the army besieging Narva of the opportunity to prepare for a meeting with the main forces of Charles XII; later, together with the cavalry, Sheremetev fled in a panic from the battlefield during the offensive of the Swedes. True, the defeat near Narva was primarily a consequence of Russia's unpreparedness for war. Peter, who lost almost the entire officer corps near Narva (only 79 generals and officers were captured), had no choice, and he again resorted to the services of Sheremetev. Two weeks after Narva, the tsar entrusts him with the command of cavalry regiments in order to "go into the distance for better harm to the enemy." Giving this instruction, Peter believed that since it takes time to master modern military art and restore the morale of the army, demoralized by the failure near Narva, the only form of combat operations remains the so-called "small" war - action in small detachments. At this time, Charles XII left the corps of V. A. Schlippenbach in the Baltic, entrusting him with the defense of the regions that had long been the breadbasket of Sweden, as well as the capture of Gdov, Pechory, and in the future - Pskov and Novgorod. At the end of 1700 and the first half of 1701, the initiative in the Baltic belonged to the Swedes. Sheremetev's regiments made small raids.

Sheremetev undertook the first more or less significant operation at the beginning of September 1701, when he moved three detachments with a total number of 21 thousand people into enemy territory. He entrusted the command of the largest of them (over 11 thousand) to his son Mikhail. The actions of this detachment, aimed at Räpina Manor, brought success: the Swedes lost 300 people killed, two cannons, over 100 rifles; 9 Russians were killed. A magnificent meeting was arranged for the winners in the Pechora Monastery. The military fortune was less favorable to the commanders of the other two detachments.

The new campaign was preceded by a thorough collection of data on the enemy. Boris Petrovich learned that Schlippenbach concentrated 7-8 thousand cavalry and infantry at the Erestfer manor in order to attack the Pechora Monastery and other points where Russian regiments were stationed for the winter. Sheremetev decided to preempt the enemy, to take the initiative of offensive operations into his own hands. To do this, on December 23, the corps set out from Pskov on a campaign against the Swedes in the hope of catching the enemy by surprise. The suddenness of this attack Sheremetev succeeded. The Swedes, not waiting for the arrival of the Russians deep snow, carelessly indulged in revelry on the occasion of Christmas and discovered the approach of the enemy only on December 27th. The battle began on December 29 at the Erestfer Manor. Schlippenbach was forced to flee. With the remnants of the cavalry, he took refuge behind the walls of the fortress in Derpt (Russian - Yuryev, Estonian - Tartu). In the hands of the Russians were about 150 prisoners, 16 guns, as well as food and fodder prepared by the Swedes for the future. Sheremetev considered his task accomplished, because, as he reported to the tsar, the Swedes from the defeat "for a long time did not come to their senses and did not recover." Boris Petrovich sent the news of the victory on January 2 "with his son Mishka." After receiving this news, for the first time since the beginning of the Northern War, cannon fire and the ringing of bells were heard in Moscow. Banners and standards captured from the Swedes fluttered on the Kremlin towers. Sheremetev was awarded the order Andrew the First-Called with a gold chain and diamonds worth 2 thousand rubles, and also granted the rank of Field Marshal. Each soldier and dragoon who participated in the battle received a ruble. The victory made Boris Petrovich famous. The combat effectiveness of the Russian army, however, was still inferior to the Swedish one. But at this stage of the war, the result achieved was important. Its meaning was succinctly and expressively assessed by the king with his exclamation: “We can finally beat the Swedes!” There was also a commander who learned to defeat them - the first Russian field marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev.

The young years of Boris Petrovich as a representative of the noble nobility were no different from his peers: at the age of 13 he was granted a room steward, accompanied Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich on trips to monasteries and villages near Moscow, stood at the throne at solemn receptions. The position of stolnik ensured proximity to the throne and opened up wide prospects for promotion in ranks and positions. In 1679, Sheremetev began military service. He was appointed comrade voivode in the Big Regiment, and two years later - voivode of one of the categories. In 1682, with the accession to the throne of tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich, Sheremetev was granted a boyar status.

In 1686, the embassy of the Commonwealth arrived in Moscow to conclude a peace treaty. The four members of the Russian embassy included the boyar Sheremetev. Under the terms of the agreement, Kiev, Smolensk, Left-bank Ukraine, Zaporozhye and Seversk land with Chernigov and Starodub were finally assigned to Russia. The treaty also served as the basis for the Russian-Polish alliance in the Great Northern War. As a reward for the successful conclusion of "Eternal Peace", Boris Petrovich was granted a silver bowl, a satin caftan and 4,000 rubles. In the summer of the same year, Sheremetev went with the Russian embassy to Poland to ratify the treaty, and then to Vienna to conclude a military alliance against the Turks. However, the Austrian emperor Leopold I decided not to burden himself with allied obligations, the negotiations did not lead to the desired results.

After returning, Boris Petrovich is appointed governor in Belgorod. In 1688, he took part in the Crimean campaign of Prince V.V. Golitsyn. However, the first combat experience of the future field marshal was unsuccessful. In the battles in the Black and Green valleys, the detachment under his command was crushed by the Tatars.

In the struggle for power between Peter and Sofia, Sheremetev took the side of Peter, but for many years he was not called to the court, remaining the Belgorod governor. In the first Azov campaign in 1695, he participated in a theater of operations remote from Azov, commanding troops that were supposed to divert Turkey's attention from the main direction of the offensive of Russian troops. Peter I instructed Sheremetev to form an army of 120,000, which was supposed to go to the lower reaches of the Dnieper and tie down actions Crimean Tatars. In the first year of the war, after a long siege, four fortified Turkish cities(including Kizy-Kermen on the Dnieper). However, he did not reach the Crimea and returned with troops to Ukraine, although almost the entire Tatar army at that time was near Azov. With the end of the Azov campaigns in 1696, Sheremetev returned to Belgorod.

In 1697, the Great Embassy headed by Peter I went to Europe. Sheremetev was also part of the embassy. From the king, he received messages to Emperor Leopold I, Pope Innocent XII, Doge of Venice and Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The purpose of the visits was to conclude an anti-Turkish alliance, but it was not successful. At the same time, Boris Petrovich was given high honors. So, the master of the order laid the Maltese commander's cross on him, thereby accepting him as a knight. In the history of Russia, this was the first time that a Russian was awarded a foreign order.

By the end of the XVII century. Sweden has become very powerful. The Western powers, rightly fearing her aggressive aspirations, were willing to conclude an alliance against her. In addition to Russia, the anti-Swedish alliance included Denmark and Saxony. This alignment of forces meant a sharp turn in foreign policy Russia - instead of fighting for access to the Black Sea, there was a struggle for the Baltic coast and for the return of the lands that Sweden had torn away at the beginning of the 17th century. In the summer of 1699, the Northern Union was concluded in Moscow.

Ingria (the coast of the Gulf of Finland) was to become the main theater of operations. The primary task was to capture the fortress of Narva (Old Russian Rugodev) and the entire course of the Narova River. Boris Petrovich is entrusted with the formation of regiments of the noble militia. In September 1700, with a 6,000-strong detachment noble cavalry Sheremetev reached Wesenberg, but, without engaging in battle, retreated to the main Russian forces near Narva. The Swedish king Charles XII with 30,000 troops approached the fortress in November. November 19, the Swedes launched an offensive. Their attack was unexpected for the Russians. At the very beginning of the battle, foreigners who were in the Russian service went over to the side of the enemy. Only the Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments held out stubbornly for several hours. Sheremetev's cavalry was crushed by the Swedes. In the battle near Narva, the Russian army lost up to 6 thousand people and 145 guns. The losses of the Swedes amounted to 2 thousand people.

After this battle, Charles XII directed all his efforts against Saxony, considering it his main enemy (Denmark was withdrawn from the war as early as the beginning of 1700). The corps of General V.A. was left in the Baltic states. Schlippenbach, who was entrusted with the defense of the border regions, as well as the capture of Gdov, Pechory, and in the future - Pskov and Novgorod. The Swedish king had a low opinion of the combat effectiveness of the Russian regiments and did not consider it necessary to keep a large number of troops against them.

In June 1701, Boris Petrovich was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in the Baltic. The king ordered him, without getting involved in major battles, to send cavalry detachments to the areas occupied by the enemy in order to destroy the food and fodder of the Swedes, to accustom the troops to fight with a trained enemy. In November 1701, a campaign was announced in Livonia. And already in December, the troops under the command of Sheremetev won the first victory over the Swedes at Erestfer. 10,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry with 16 guns acted against the 7,000-strong Schlippenbach detachment. Initially, the battle was not entirely successful for the Russians, since only dragoons participated in it. Finding themselves without the support of infantry and artillery, which did not arrive in time for the battlefield, the dragoon regiments were scattered by enemy grapeshot. However, the approaching infantry and artillery dramatically changed the course of the battle. After a 5-hour battle, the Swedes began to flee. In the hands of the Russians were 150 prisoners, 16 guns, as well as food and fodder. Assessing the significance of this victory, the tsar wrote: "We have reached the point that we can defeat the Swedes; while two against one fought, but soon we will begin to defeat them in equal numbers."

For this victory, Sheremetev is awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with a gold chain and diamonds and is promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. In June 1702, he already defeated the main forces of Schlippenbach at Hummelshof. As in the case of Erestfer, the Swedish cavalry, unable to withstand the pressure, took to flight, upsetting the ranks of their own infantry, dooming them to destruction. The success of the field marshal is again noted by Peter: "We are very grateful for your labors." In the same year, the fortresses of Marienburg and Noteburg (ancient Russian Oreshek) were taken, and the following year, Nienschanz, Yamburg, and others. Livonia and Ingria were completely in the hands of the Russians. In Estonia, Wesenberg was taken by storm, and then (in 1704) Dorpat. The tsar deservedly recognized Boris Petrovich as the first winner of the Swedes.

In the summer of 1705, an uprising broke out in southern Russia, in Astrakhan, led by archers, who were sent there for the most part after the streltsy riots in Moscow and other cities. Sheremetev is sent to suppress the uprising. In March 1706, his troops approached the city. After the bombing of Astrakhan, the archers surrendered. "For which your work," the king wrote, "the Lord God will pay you, and we will not leave." Sheremetev was the first in Russia to be granted the title of count, he received 2400 households and 7 thousand rubles.

At the end of 1706, Boris Petrovich again took command of the troops operating against the Swedes. The tactics of the Russians, who were expecting a Swedish invasion, boiled down to the following: without accepting a general battle, retreat into the depths of Russia, acting on the flanks and behind enemy lines. Charles XII by this time managed to deprive Augustus II of the Polish crown and put it on his protege Stanislav Leshchinsky, and also to force Augustus to break allied relations with Russia. In December 1707 Charles left Saxony. The Russian army of up to 60 thousand people, commanded by the tsar to Sheremetev, retreated to the east.

From the beginning of April 1709, the attention of Charles XII was riveted to Poltava. The capture of this fortress made it possible to stabilize communications with the Crimea and Poland, where there were significant forces of the Swedes. And besides, the road from the south to Moscow would be opened to the king. The tsar ordered Boris Petrovich to move to Poltava to join up with the troops of A.D. Menshikov and thereby deprive the Swedes of the opportunity to break the Russian troops in parts. At the end of May, Sheremetev arrived near Poltava and immediately assumed the duties of commander in chief. But during the battle, he was the commander-in-chief only formally, while the king led all the actions. Driving around the troops before the battle, Peter turned to Sheremetev: "Mr. Field Marshal! I entrust my army to you and I hope that in commanding it you will act according to the instructions given to you ...". active participation Sheremetev did not accept in the battle, but the tsar was pleased with the actions of the field marshal: Boris Petrovich was the first in the award list of senior officers.

In July, he was sent by the king to the Baltic at the head of the infantry and a small detachment of cavalry. The immediate task is the capture of Riga, under the walls of which the troops arrived in October. The tsar instructed Sheremetev to capture Riga not by storm, but by siege, believing that victory would be achieved at the cost of minimal losses. But the raging plague epidemic claimed the lives of almost 10 thousand Russian soldiers. Nevertheless, the bombing of the city did not stop. The capitulation of Riga was signed on July 4, 1710.

In December 1710, Turkey declared war on Russia, and Peter ordered the troops stationed in the Baltic to move south. A poorly prepared campaign, lack of food and inconsistency in the actions of the Russian command put the army in a difficult situation. Russian regiments were surrounded in the area of the river. The Prut, which many times outnumbered the Turkish-Tatar troops. However, the Turks did not impose a general battle on the Russians, and on July 12 a peace was signed, according to which Azov returned to Turkey. As a guarantee of the fulfillment of obligations by Russia, Chancellor P.P. was held hostage by the Turks. Shafirov and son B.P. Sheremeteva Mikhail.

Upon returning from the Prut campaign, Boris Petrovich commands troops in Ukraine and Poland. In 1714 the tsar sent Sheremetev to Pomerania. Gradually, the tsar began to lose confidence in the field marshal, suspecting him of sympathy for Tsarevich Alexei. 127 people signed the death sentence for Peter's son. Sheremetev's signature was missing.

In December 1716 he was released from command of the army. The field marshal asked the king to give him a position more suitable for his age. Peter wanted to appoint him governor-general of the lands in Estonia, Livonia and Ingria. But the appointment did not take place: on February 17, 1719, Boris Petrovich died.

Already in the time of Peter I, there were two field marshals in the Russian army (F. A. Golovin and de Croix, then F. A. Golovin and B. P. Sheremetev, then B. P. Sheremetev and A. D. Menshikov, in In 1724, the second Field Marshal A. I. Repnin was appointed to A. D. Menshikov, who fell into disgrace.

Under Peter I, there was also the rank of Field Marshal-Lieutenant (that is, Deputy Field Marshal, higher than General-in-Chief), it was awarded only to two foreigners accepted into the Russian service: George Benedict Ogilvy (, with in the Saxon service) and Heinrich Goltz ( , in dismissed from the service), was not subsequently assigned.

Often, the rank was awarded in the form of an honorary award to foreign military leaders who did not serve in the Russian army. Among them are such well-known military leaders as the Duke of Wellington, Austrian Field Marshal Johann Joseph Radetzky and Prussian General Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, as well as several monarchs and members of their families (in Alexander II, field marshal's batons were granted to four Hohenzollerns).

Of all Russian emperors only under Ivan Antonovich and under Alexander III (Peacemaker) field marshal ranks were not assigned. According to some reports, Alexander II himself unofficially wore field marshal insignia (without a formal order to assign such a rank to himself).

By the time the Table of Ranks was canceled in 1917, only one Russian Field Marshal General, Nikola Petrovich Njegosh (Nicholas I, King of Montenegro), was alive. The last Field Marshal of the Russian Service, Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, died in 1912.

List of Russian general field marshals

List of Russian field marshal general, perhaps not all who had this rank are represented:

curiosities

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Notes

Literature

Bantysh-Kamensky, D.N.. - M .: Culture, 1991.
Egorshin V. A. Field Marshals and Marshals. - M .: "Patriot", 2000.



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An excerpt characterizing Field Marshal General (Russia)

– Really? exclaimed Anna Mikhailovna. - Oh, it's terrible! It’s terrible to think… This is my son,” she added, pointing to Boris. “He wanted to thank you himself.
Boris bowed again politely.
“Believe, prince, that a mother’s heart will never forget what you have done for us.
“I am glad that I could please you, my dear Anna Mikhailovna,” said Prince Vasily, adjusting the frill and showing in gesture and voice here in Moscow, before the patronized Anna Mikhailovna, even much greater importance than in St. Petersburg, at the evening at Annette Scherer.
“Try to serve well and be worthy,” he added, addressing Boris sternly. - I'm glad ... Are you here on vacation? he dictated in his impassive tone.
“I am waiting for an order, Your Excellency, to go to a new destination,” Boris answered, showing neither annoyance at the prince’s harsh tone, nor a desire to enter into a conversation, but so calmly and respectfully that the prince looked at him intently.
- Do you live with your mother?
“I live with Countess Rostova,” Boris said, adding again: “Your Excellency.”
“This is the Ilya Rostov who married Nathalie Shinshina,” said Anna Mikhailovna.
“I know, I know,” said Prince Vasily in his monotonous voice. - Je n "ai jamais pu concevoir, comment Nathalieie s" est decidee a epouser cet ours mal - leche l Un personnage completement stupide et ridicule. Et joueur a ce qu "on dit. [I could never understand how Natalie decided to go out marry that filthy bear. Completely stupid and funny person. Besides a gambler, they say.]
- Mais tres brave homme, mon prince, [But a good man, prince,] - Anna Mikhailovna remarked, smiling touchingly, as if she knew that Count Rostov deserved such an opinion, but asked to pity the poor old man. - What do the doctors say? asked the princess, after a pause, and again expressing great sadness on her tear-stained face.
“There is little hope,” said the prince.
- And I so wanted to thank my uncle again for all his good deeds to me and Borya. C "est son filleuil, [This is his godson,] - she added in such a tone, as if this news should have extremely pleased Prince Vasily.
Prince Vasily thought for a moment and grimaced. Anna Mikhailovna realized that he was afraid to find in her a rival according to the will of Count Bezukhoy. She hastened to reassure him.
“If it weren’t for my true love and devotion to my uncle,” she said, pronouncing this word with particular confidence and carelessness: “I know his character, noble, direct, but only the princesses are with him ... They are still young ...” She tilted her head and she added in a whisper: “Did he fulfill his last duty, prince?” How precious are these last moments! After all, it couldn't be worse; it must be cooked if it is so bad. We women, prince,” she smiled tenderly, “always know how to say these things. You need to see him. No matter how hard it was for me, but I'm used to suffering.
The prince, apparently, understood, and understood, as he did at the evening at Annette Scherer's, that it was difficult to get rid of Anna Mikhailovna.
“This meeting wouldn’t be hard for him, chere Anna Mikhailovna,” he said. - Let's wait until the evening, the doctors promised a crisis.
“But you can’t wait, prince, at this moment. Pensez, il u va du salut de son ame… Ah! c "est terrible, les devoirs d" un chretien ... [Think, it's about saving his soul! Oh! this is terrible, the duty of a Christian…]
A door opened from the inner rooms, and one of the princesses, the count's nieces, came in, with a gloomy and cold face and a long waist strikingly disproportionate to her legs.
Prince Vasily turned to her.
- Well, what is he?
- All the same. And as you wish, this noise ... - said the princess, looking at Anna Mikhailovna, as if she were a stranger.
“Ah, chere, je ne vous reconnaissais pas, [Ah, my dear, I didn’t recognize you,” Anna Mikhailovna said with a happy smile, approaching the count’s niece with a light amble. - Je viens d "arriver et je suis a vous pour vous aider a soigner mon oncle. J`imagine, combien vous avez souffert, [I came to help you follow your uncle. I imagine how much you suffered,] - she added, with participation rolling his eyes.
The princess made no answer, did not even smile, and went out at once. Anna Mikhailovna took off her gloves and, in a conquered position, settled down on an armchair, inviting Prince Vasily to sit down beside her.
- Boris! - she said to her son and smiled, - I'll go to the count, to my uncle, and you go to Pierre, mon ami, for the time being, don't forget to give him an invitation from the Rostovs. They invite him to dinner. I don't think he will? she turned to the prince.
“On the contrary,” said the prince, apparently out of sorts. – Je serais tres content si vous me debarrassez de ce jeune homme… [I would be very happy if you would get rid of this young man…] Sitting here. The Count never once asked about him.
He shrugged. The waiter led the young man up and down another staircase to Pyotr Kirillovich.

Pierre did not manage to choose a career for himself in St. Petersburg and, indeed, was exiled to Moscow for riot. The story told at Count Rostov's was true. Pierre participated in tying the quarter with a bear. He arrived a few days ago and stayed, as always, at his father's house. Although he assumed that his story was already known in Moscow, and that the ladies surrounding his father, who were always unfriendly to him, would take advantage of this opportunity to annoy the count, he nevertheless went to half his father on the day of his arrival. Entering the drawing room, the usual residence of the princesses, he greeted the ladies who were sitting at the embroidery frame and at the book, which one of them was reading aloud. There were three. The eldest, clean, long-waisted, strict girl, the same one who went out to Anna Mikhailovna, was reading; the younger ones, both ruddy and pretty, differing from each other only in that one had a mole above her lip, which made her very pretty, sewed in a hoop. Pierre was greeted as dead or plagued. The eldest princess interrupted her reading and silently looked at him with frightened eyes; the youngest, without a mole, assumed exactly the same expression; the smallest, with a mole, of a merry and humorous disposition, bent down to the hoop to hide a smile, probably provoked by the upcoming scene, the amusingness of which she foresaw. She pulled down the hair and bent down, as if sorting out the patterns and barely holding back her laughter.
“Bonjour, ma cousine,” said Pierre. - Vous ne me hesonnaissez pas? [Hello cousin. You don't recognize me?]
“I know you too well, too well.
How is the Count's health? May I see him? Pierre asked awkwardly, as always, but not embarrassed.
“The Count suffers both physically and morally, and it seems that you took care to inflict more moral suffering on him.
May I see the count? Pierre repeated.
“Hm!.. If you want to kill him, kill him completely, you can see. Olga, go and see if the broth is ready for the uncle, the time will soon be, ”she added, showing Pierre that they are busy and busy reassuring his father, while he is obviously busy only upsetting.
Olga left. Pierre stood for a moment, looked at the sisters, and, bowing, said:
- So I'll go to my place. When you can, tell me.
He went out, and the sonorous but quiet laughter of the sister with the mole was heard behind him.
The next day, Prince Vasily arrived and settled in the count's house. He called Pierre to him and said to him:
- Mon cher, si vous vous conduisez ici, comme a Petersbourg, vous finirez tres mal; c "est tout ce que je vous dis. [My dear, if you behave here as in Petersburg, you will end up very badly; I have nothing more to say to you.] The count is very, very sick: you do not need to see him at all.
Since then, Pierre has not been disturbed, and he spent the whole day alone upstairs in his room.
While Boris entered him, Pierre was walking around his room, occasionally stopping in the corners, making threatening gestures to the wall, as if piercing an invisible enemy with a sword, and sternly looking over his glasses and then starting his walk again, pronouncing obscure words, shaking shoulders and arms outstretched.
- L "Angleterre a vecu, [End of England]," he said, frowning and pointing his finger at someone. - M. Pitt comme traitre a la nation et au droit des gens est condamiene a ... [Pitt, as a traitor to the nation and the people right, sentenced to ...] - He did not have time to finish Pitt's sentence, imagining himself at that moment as Napoleon himself and, together with his hero, having already made a dangerous crossing through the Pas de Calais and having conquered London, - as he saw a young, slender and handsome officer entering him He stopped. Pierre left Boris a fourteen-year-old boy and decidedly did not remember him, but, in spite of this, with his characteristic quick and cordial manner, he took him by the hand and smiled amiably.
- You remember me? Boris said calmly, with a pleasant smile. - I came with my mother to the count, but it seems that he is not completely healthy.
Yes, it looks unhealthy. Everything disturbs him, - Pierre answered, trying to remember who this young man was.
Boris felt that Pierre did not recognize him, but did not consider it necessary to identify himself and, without experiencing the slightest embarrassment, looked into his eyes.
“Count Rostov asked you to come and dine with him today,” he said after a rather long and awkward silence for Pierre.
- A! Count Rostov! Pierre spoke happily. “So you are his son, Ilya. You can imagine, I didn't recognize you at first. Remember how we went to Sparrow Hills with m me Jacquot ... [Madame Jaco ...] a long time ago.
“You are mistaken,” Boris said slowly, with a bold and somewhat mocking smile. - I am Boris, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. Rostov's father's name is Ilya, and his son's name is Nikolai. And I m me Jacquot didn't know any.
Pierre waved his arms and head as if mosquitoes or bees had attacked him.
- Oh, what is it! I confused everything. There are so many relatives in Moscow! You are Boris...yes. Well, here we are with you and agreed. Well, what do you think of the Boulogne expedition? Surely the English will have a hard time if only Napoleon crosses the canal? I think the expedition is very possible. Villeneuve would not have blundered!
Boris did not know anything about the Boulogne expedition, he did not read the newspapers and heard about Villeneuve for the first time.
“We are more busy here in Moscow with dinners and gossip than with politics,” he said in his calm, mocking tone. I don't know anything about it and don't think so. Moscow is busy with gossip the most,” he continued. “Now they are talking about you and the count.
Pierre smiled his kind smile, as if afraid for his interlocutor, lest he say something that he would begin to repent of. But Boris spoke distinctly, clearly and dryly, looking directly into Pierre's eyes.
“Moscow has nothing else to do but gossip,” he continued. “Everyone is busy with who the count will leave his fortune to, although perhaps he will outlive us all, which I sincerely wish ...
- Yes, it's all very hard, - Pierre picked up, - very hard. - Pierre was still afraid that this officer would inadvertently get into an awkward conversation for himself.
“But it must seem to you,” Boris said, blushing slightly, but without changing his voice and posture, “it must seem to you that everyone is only busy getting something from the rich man.
"So it is," thought Pierre.
- And I just want to tell you, to avoid misunderstandings, that you will be very mistaken if you count me and my mother among these people. We are very poor, but I, at least, speak for myself: precisely because your father is rich, I do not consider myself his relative, and neither I nor my mother will ever ask for anything and will not accept anything from him.
Pierre could not understand for a long time, but when he understood, he jumped up from the sofa, grabbed Boris by the arm from below with his characteristic speed and awkwardness, and, blushing much more than Boris, began to speak with a mixed feeling of shame and annoyance.
– This is strange! I really ... and who could have thought ... I know very well ...
But Boris interrupted him again:
- I'm glad I said it all. Maybe it’s unpleasant for you, you’ll excuse me, ”he said, reassuring Pierre, instead of being reassured by him,“ but I hope that I didn’t offend you. I have a rule to say everything directly ... How can I convey it? Are you coming to dine at the Rostovs?

April 25 is the birthday of the hero of the Northern War, the first Russian Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. In the history of Russia, he will forever remain as the first winner of the Swedes.

In 1679, military service began for Sheremetev. He was appointed comrade voivode in the Big Regiment, and two years later - voivode of one of the categories. In 1682, with the accession to the throne of tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich, Sheremetev was granted a boyar status.

In the struggle for power between Peter and Sofia, Sheremetev took the side of Peter, but for many years he was not called to the court, remaining the Belgorod governor. In the first Azov campaign in 1695, he participated in a theater of operations remote from Azov, commanding troops that were supposed to divert Turkey's attention from the main direction of the offensive of Russian troops. Peter I instructed Sheremetev to form an army of 120,000, which was supposed to go to the lower reaches of the Dnieper and tie down the actions of the Crimean Tatars. In the first year of the war, after a long siege, four fortified Turkish cities surrendered to Sheremetev (including Kizy-Kermen on the Dnieper). However, he did not reach the Crimea and returned with troops to Ukraine, although almost the entire Tatar army at that time was near Azov. With the end of the Azov campaigns in 1696, Sheremetev returned to Belgorod.

By the end of the XVII century. Sweden has become very powerful. The Western powers, rightly fearing her aggressive aspirations, were willing to conclude an alliance against her. In addition to Russia, the anti-Swedish alliance included Denmark and Saxony. Such a balance of power meant a sharp turn in Russia's foreign policy - instead of a struggle for access to the Black Sea, there was a struggle for the Baltic coast and for the return of lands torn off by Sweden at the beginning of the 17th century. In the summer of 1699, the Northern Union was concluded in Moscow.

Ingria (the coast of the Gulf of Finland) was to become the main theater of operations. The primary task was to capture the fortress of Narva (Old Russian Rugodev) and the entire course of the Narova River. Boris Petrovich is entrusted with the formation of regiments of the noble militia. In September 1700, with a 6,000-strong detachment of noble cavalry, Sheremetev reached Wesenberg, but, without engaging in battle, retreated to the main Russian forces near Narva. The Swedish king Charles XII with 30,000 troops approached the fortress in November. November 19, the Swedes launched an offensive. Their attack was unexpected for the Russians. At the very beginning of the battle, foreigners who were in the Russian service went over to the side of the enemy. Only the Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments held out stubbornly for several hours. Sheremetev's cavalry was crushed by the Swedes. In the battle near Narva, the Russian army lost up to 6 thousand people and 145 guns. The losses of the Swedes amounted to 2 thousand people.

From the beginning of April 1709, the attention of Charles XII was riveted to Poltava. The capture of this fortress made it possible to stabilize communications with the Crimea and Poland, where there were significant forces of the Swedes. And besides, the road from the south to Moscow would be opened to the king. The tsar ordered Boris Petrovich to move to Poltava to join up with the troops of A.D. Menshikov and thereby deprive the Swedes of the opportunity to break the Russian troops in parts. At the end of May, Sheremetev arrived near Poltava and immediately assumed the duties of commander in chief. But during the battle, he was the commander-in-chief only formally, while the king led all the actions. Driving around the troops before the battle, Peter turned to Sheremetev: "Mr. Field Marshal! I entrust my army to you and I hope that in commanding it you will act according to the instructions given to you ...". Sheremetev did not take an active part in the battle, but the tsar was pleased with the actions of the field marshal: Boris Petrovich was the first in the award list of senior officers.