Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov (; born Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova; September 17, 1783 – March 21, 1866) was a Russian cavalry soldier and writer who participated in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Alexandrov was

assigned female at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the ...

, but presented as a man for his entire adult life. At twenty-three, Alexandrov fled his home, and enlisted in an

uhlan Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started as Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Polis ...

(light cavalry) regiment, dressing as a male soldier and taking on the name Alexander Sokolov. He served from 1806 to 1816, and received the

Cross of St. George In heraldry, Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with th ...

for bravery. After his service, he published a memoir, originally titled, "Notes of Alexsandrov", one of the earliest autobiographies in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

. To his outrage, publishers re-titled it using his birth name "Notes of N.A. Durova", and eventually ''The Cavalry Maiden''. Historians have traditionally regarded him as a female

wartime cross-dresser Many people have engaged in cross-dressing during wartime under various circumstances and for various motives. This has been especially true of women, whether while serving as a soldier in otherwise all-male armies, while protecting themselves or ...

, while several modern scholars describe him as a

transgender man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identit ...

Early life

Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov (named Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova), was born on September 17, 1783, into the family of a Russian major. Sources identify his birth place as either the

Vyatka Governorate Vyatka Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR from 1796 to 1929, with its capital in Vyatka (now Kirov, Kirov Oblast, Kirov). The ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

,Cook, Bernard A., ed., ''Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present, Volume 2'' (2006)
p. 156
ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA. an army camp in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

,Mauricio Borrero. Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. 2004
P. 135
or

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

. His mother came from a family of wealthy landowners from

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

, and married his father against the will of his own father. According to Alexandrov, his mother "passionately wanted to have a son" and was dismayed to apparently have a daughter instead; he describes an incident in which she—furious at her infant for crying all night—threw him from the window of a moving carriage, nearly killing him. After that his father placed him in the care of his soldiers. As a child, Alexandrov learned the standard marching commands, and an unloaded gun was his favorite toy. After his father retired from service, he continued playing with broken sabers and frightened his family by secretly taming a stallion that they considered unbreakable. In 1801, he married a

Sarapul Sarapul ( Udmurt and ) is a city and a river port in the Udmurt Republic, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River, southeast of Izhevsk, the capital of the republic. Population: History Sarapul is one of the oldest cities of the Ka ...

judge, Vasily Stefanovich Chernov, a man seven years his senior. He gave birth to Chernov's son on January 4, 1803. On September 17, 1806, Alexandrov dressed in a Cossack uniform, abandoned home, and enlisted in the Polish

Uhlan Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started as Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Polis ...

Regiment, presenting himself as a nobleman named Alexander Sokolov.

Military service and later life

As "Alexander Sokolov", he fought in the major Russian engagements of the 1806–1807 Prussian campaign. During two of those battles, he saved the lives of two fellow Russian soldiers. The first was an enlisted man who suffered a concussion falling off his horse in battle. Alexandrov provided first aid under heavy fire, and brought him to safety as the army retreated around them. The second was an officer, unhorsed but uninjured. Three French

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

s were closing on him. Alexandrov couched his

lance The English term lance is derived, via Middle English '' launce'' and Old French '' lance'', from the Latin '' lancea'', a generic term meaning a wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generic term meaning a spear">wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generi ...

and scattered the enemy. Then, against regulations, he let the officer borrow his own horse to hasten his retreat, which left Alexandrov himself more vulnerable to attack. During the campaign, he wrote to his family explaining his disappearance. They used their connections in a desperate attempt to locate him. Rumors of an

Amazon warrior The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. They were female war ...

in the army reached

Tsar Alexander I Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleo ...

, who took a personal interest and summoned him the palace at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, where he was awarded the

and promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

of the Mariupol

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

Regiment. The tsar also granted him the surname "Alexandrov". In an era when Russian officers were expected to grow a mustache, Alexandrov's youthful appearance harmed his chances for promotion. He transferred away from the hussars to the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment in order to avoid the colonel's daughter, who had fallen in love with him. He saw action again during

Napoleon's invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the continent ...

in 1812. He fought in the Battle of Smolensk. During the

Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. ...

, a

cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

wounded him in the leg, yet he continued serving full duty for several days afterwards until ordered away to recuperate. He retired from the army in 1816 with the rank of stabs-rotmistr ("staff riding master"), the equivalent of

captain lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Fin ...

Writings

Twenty years later, Alexandrov met writer

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

. Upon learning that Alexandrov had kept a journal of his army service, Pushkin encouraged him to publish it as a memoir. Alexandrov added background about his early childhood, adjusted his age by seven years, and omitted any reference to his marriage. He wished to publish it as "Notes of Alexandrov", but Pushkin changed the title without his approval to "Notes of N.A. Durova" in 1836. An outraged Alexandrov wrote, "The name which you called me, dear sir Alexander Sergeyevich, in the preface haunts me! Is there no remedy for my grief? You called me by that name that makes me shudder, and soon 20,000 people will read it and call me by it too!" When it was published as a book, editor and publisher Ivan Butovskii retitled it to ''The Cavalry Maiden''. Alexandrov also wrote five other novels.

Later life

Alexandrov continued to wear male clothing for the rest of his life, continued to use his male name, and spoke using masculine grammar. He died in

Yelabuga Yelabuga (also spelled ''Elabuga''; ; ) is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River and east from Kazan. Population: The evolution of name The name of the city of Yelabuga comes from the T ...

on March 21, 1866, and was buried with full military honors. His son, Ivan Durov, had died 10 years prior, in 1856.

Legacy

"Notes" is one of the few sustained accounts of the Napoleonic wars to describe events from the perspective of a junior officer and one of the earliest autobiographical works in

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

. Alexandrov became a figure of some cultural interest in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

but remained largely unknown in the

Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...

until Mary Zirin's 1988 English translation of ''The Cavalry Maiden''. Alexandrov is now a subject of university syllabi and scholarly publications in comparative literature and

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

Gender identity

Alexandrov's

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

has been the subject of debate. Many historians and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

scholars have described him as a

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

woman, while some modern scholars say Alexandrov is better understood as

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

. In "Notes", he describes himself with terms of androgyny, describing himself both as a

bogatyr A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came i ...

and as an

. One of his prose stories, ''Nurmeka'', revolves around a male-to-female cross-dresser, leading to speculation that this was an expression of a trans identity. In his personal life, Alexandrov rejected femininity, and behaved as a man. After leaving the army, he continued to prefer the masculine name Alexander Alexandrov, which he used with the approval of Tsar Aleksander I. Public records recording him as Aleksandrov include his military pension accounts, his will, and the record of his death in the parish registry books.

Artistic works

*''Nadezhda Durova'', an opera by

Anatoly Bogatyrev Anatoly Vasilyevich Bogatyrev (, ; – 19 September 2003) was a Soviet and Belarusian composer and music teacher, seen as one of the leaders of the national school of Belarusian music. Biography Bogatyrev was born in Vitebsk Russian Empire ...

. *''A Long Time Ago'', a play by Alexander Gladkov. *''Hussar Ballad'', an operetta by

Tikhon Khrennikov Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov (; – 14 August 2007) was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, and General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers (1948–1991), who was also known for his political activities. He wrote three symphonies, f ...

*''

Hussar Ballad ''The Hussar Ballad'' () is a 1962 Soviet musical film by Eldar Ryazanov, filmed on Mosfilm. In effect, it is one of the best loved musical comedies in Russia. With most of its dialogue delivered in verse, Ryazanov's script romanticizes the advent ...

'', a film directed by

Eldar Ryazanov Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov (; 18 November 1927 – 30 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satirizing the daily life of the Soviet Union and Russia, are celebrat ...

. *''The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire'', a novel by Linda Lafferty

Bibliography

*Durova, Nadezhda, ''The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars''. Mary Fleming Zirin.

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...

, 1989. (see book reviews o
Amazon.com
.

Notes

References

;Publications * *Barta, Peter I., "Gender Trial and Gothic Trill: Nadezhda Durova's Subversive Self-Exploration" by Amdreas Schonle in ''Gender and Sexuality in Russian Civilization'', 2001.

External links

*
History Net
summary of Alexandrov's life. *

account of Alexandrov. *
brief excerpt
from Alexandrov's experiences during the retreat to Moscow in 1812. * Th

in Moscow, a surviving legacy of the Durov clan.

Nadezhda Durova
in the

Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary The ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary'' (35 volumes, small; 86 volumes, large) is a comprehensive multi-volume encyclopaedia in Russian. It contains 121,240 articles, 7,800 images, and 235 maps. It was published in the Russian Em ...

- *
Biography of Durova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durova, Nadezhda 1783 births 1866 deaths Historical figures with ambiguous or disputed gender identity People from Vyatka Governorate Military personnel from Kyiv Memoirists from the Russian Empire Russian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Russian people of the Napoleonic Wars Nobility from the Russian Empire 18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire 19th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire