A full-life portrait of the man Tolstoy immortalized, Stalin lionized, and Russian history has manipulated and mythologized beyond recognition.\nEvery Russian knows him purely by his patronym. He was the general who triumphed over Napoleon's Grande Armée during the Patriotic War of 1812, not merely restoring national pride but securing national identity. Many Russians consider Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Golenischev-Kutuzov the greatest figure of the 19th century, ahead of Pushkin, Tchaikovsky, even Tolstoy himself. Immediately after his death in 1813, Kutuzov's remains were hurried into the pantheon of heroes. Statues of him rose up across the Russian empire and later the Soviet Union. Over the course of decades and centuries he hardened into legend.\nAs award-winning author Alexander Mikaberidze shows in this fascinating, often startling, and wholly humanizing new biography, Kutuzov's story is far more compelling and complex than the myths that have encased him. An unabashed imperialist who rose in the ranks through his victories over the Turks and the Poles, Kutuzov was also a realist and a skeptic about military power. When the Russians and their allies were routed by the French at Austerlitz he was openly appalled by the incompetence of leadership and the sheer waste of life. Over his long career―marked equally by victory and defeat, embrace and ostracism―he grew to despise those whose concept of war had devolved to mindless attack.\nHere, at last, is Kutuzov as he really was―a master and survivor of intrigue, moving in and out of royal favor, committed to the welfare of those under his command, and an innovative strategist. When, reluctantly and at the 11th hour, Czar Alexander I called upon him to lead the fight against Napoleon's invading army, Kutuzov accomplished what needed to be done not by a heroic charge but by a strategic retreat. Across the generations, portraits of Kutuzov have ranged from hagiography to dismissal, with Tolstoy's portrait of him in War and Peace perhaps the most indelible of all. This immersive biography returns a touchstone figure in Russian history to human scale.

Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace

Biographies & Memoirs

Mikaberidze, Alexander

Historical

Oxford University Press

Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are the places most closely associated with the era of the Napoleonic Wars. But how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect the world beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of the tremors that spread throughout the world. In this ambitious and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective. France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses major political-military events around the world and situates geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts. From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control. Skillfully narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their role in laying the foundations of the modern world.

The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History

History

Military

Situated in the breathtaking Caucasus Mountains between the Black and the Caspian Seas, the country of Georgia sits at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; it has gone through more turbulence and change in the last 15 years―the casting off of the Soviet regime, a civil war, two ethno-territorial conflicts, economic collapse, corruption, government inefficiency, and massive emigration―than most countries go through in 150 years. However, despite all its hardships, this resilient and ancient country, with thousands of years of winemaking, three-thousand years of statehood, and almost two millennia of Christianity, continues to survive, and with the new government's reforms, promises to improve.Scholar Alexander Mikaberidze has created an invaluable source on the long and turbulent history of Georgia. The Historical Dictionary of Georgia, through its chronology, glossary, introduction, appendixes, maps, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects, traces Georgia's history and provides a compass for the direction the country is heading.

Historical Dictionary of Georgia (Historical Dictionaries of Europe)

Americas

Scarecrow Press

Situated in the breathtaking Caucasus Mountains between the Black and the Caspian Seas, the country of Georgia sits at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; it has gone through more turbulence and change in the last 15 years-the casting off of the Soviet regime, a civil war, two ethno-territorial conflicts, economic collapse, corruption, government inefficiency, and massive emigration-than most countries go through in 150 years. However, despite all its hardships, this resilient and ancient country, with thousands of years of winemaking, three-thousand years of statehood, and almost two millennia of Christianity, continues to survive, and with the new government's reforms, promises to improve.Scholar Alexander Mikaberidze has created an invaluable source on the long and turbulent history of Georgia. The A to Z of Georgia, through its chronology, glossary, introduction, appendixes, maps, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects, traces Georgia's history and provides a compass for the direction the country is heading.

The A to Z of Georgia (Volume 228) (The A to Z Guide Series (228))

Europe

The diary of Pavel Pushin, an officer of the Life Guard Semeyonovskii Regiment, covering the last three years of the Napoleonic Wars. It provides valuable insights into the characters of Russian generals and officers and realities of campaigning, relations within the ranks as well as the outside world.

Pavel Pushin's Diary of the 1812-1814 Campaigns

Napoleonic Society of Georgia

The fourth installment in this series is the memoirs of Moritz von Kotzebue, the son of the famous August von Kotzebue. After being captured at Polotsk in August 1812, Kotzebue spent the next year and a half in the French captivity as he was moved first to Germany and then to France. His memoir is fascinating for its vivid, and occasionally witty, descriptions of his experiences.

Moritz von Kotzebue's Memoir

Memoirs

lulu.com

Biography of Colonel Nicolas Tokhadze of the French Foreign Legion. Born and raised in Georgia, Tokhadze immigrated to France after the Bolshevik occupation of Georgia in 1921. Enrolling in the Foreign Legion, he served with distinction in Morocco between 1925 and 1939. During the World War Ii, he was sent to the 5th Foreign Regiment of the French Foreign Legion in Indochina, where he distinguished himself during the fighting the Japanese in 1945, when the legionnaires conducted an epic retreat of some 1000 km from the Tonkin region to China. Rising to the rank of colonel and garnering the much coveted Legion d'Honneur, Tokhadze was the highest ranked Georgian officer in the French army.

"With Honor and Fidelity": Life and Career of Colonel Nicolas Tokhadze of the French Foreign Legion

A Georgian-language translation of Napoleon Bonaparte's memoirs on the siege and capture of Toulon in 1793.

Napoleon - Siege of Toulon 1793 (Georgian Edition)

The second of three volumes, this book represents the first English translation of the memoirs that rank among the best in the vast Napoleonic memoir literature. The author, Ilya Timofeyevich Radozhitskii, served with distinction during the wars against Napoleon and wrote down his reminisces shortly after the war based on the notes that he kept while campaigning. Born in 1788, Radozhitskii studied at the Imperial Orphanage, enlisted in the artillery unit in 1806, and steadily rose through the ranks, earning a reputation of a capable officer.Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 changed his life. Serving as an artillery lieutenant, he saw action in virtually every major battle of that historic campaign. In 1813-1814, Radozhitskii took part in the War of the German Liberation and the invasion of France, serving with distinction at Bischofswerde, Bautzen, Katzbach, and Leipzig before finishing the war as a staff captain in Paris in 1814. Upon Napoleon's return in 1815, Radozhitskii was assigned to the Russian Expeditionary Corps that was dispatched to France but arrived too late to confront Napoleon.Radozhitskii offers fresh insight into the life and daily experiences of Russian officers during the Napoleonic Wars. This volume follows Radozhitskii across Germany as the Russian army, buoyed by the victory over Napoleon in 1812, marched on to liberate German states. Radozhitskii's narrative contains striking descriptions of the wartime experiences of soldiers and officers, vivid accounts of the battles, and heartrending stories from the French retreat. When published in Russia, these memoirs garnered considerable public attention and Leo Tolstoy consulted them extensively while writing his famous "War and Peace".The first volume, entitled The Russian Campaign of 1812, was published by Pen & Sword in 2023. Volume 3, The Invasion of France 1814, will follow in 2024.

The German Liberation War of 1813: The Memoirs of a Russian Artilleryman

Phillips, Peter G A

Leaders & Notable People

Pen and Sword Military

The Russian Campaign of 1812: The Memoirs of a Russian Artilleryman

G A Phillips, Peter

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Books by Mikaberidze, Alexander