Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (; ) was a Russian nobleman and field-marshal, renowned for his success 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 ...

and most famous for his participation in the

Caucasian War The Caucasian War () or the Caucasus War was a 19th-century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. It consisted of a series o ...

from 1844 to 1853.

Early life

Vorontsov was born on 30 May 1782, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 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 ...

. He was the only son of Ekaterina Alekseevna Seniavina and Count

Semyon Vorontsov Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (or Woronzow; ; 9 July 1832) was a Russian diplomat from the aristocratic Vorontsov family. He resided in Britain for the last 47 years of his life, from 1785 until his death in 1832, during which time he was the ...

. Mikail and his sister,

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

(who later became the wife of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke), spent their childhood and youth with his father in London, where his father was the Russian Ambassador to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. He was the nephew of Imperial Chancellor Alexander Vorontsov, Elizaveta Vorontsova and Princess Dashkova, a friend of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

and a conspirator in the ''coup d'état'' that deposed Tsar Peter III and put his wife on the throne.

Career

From 1803 to 1804, he served in the Caucasus under Pavel Tsitsianov and Gulyakov. From 1805 to 1807, he served in the Napoleonic Wars and was present at the battles of

Pułtusk Pułtusk () is a town in Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it has a population of 19,224 as of 2023. Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( in length), it is a po ...

and Friedland. From 1809 to 1811 he participated in the Russo-Turkish War. Cruikshank - The Allied Bakers

He commanded the composite grenadiers division in Prince Petr Bagration's Second Western Army 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. At the Battle of Borodino, his division was on the front line and was attacked by three French divisions under Marshal Davout. Of the 4,000 men in his division, only 300 survived the battle. Vorontsov was wounded but recovered to rejoin the army in 1813. He commanded a new grenadiers division and fought at the

Battle of Dennewitz The Battle of Dennewitz () took place on 6September 1813 between French forces commanded by Marshal Michel Ney and the Sixth Coalition's Allied Army of the North commanded by Charles XIV John of Sweden, Crown Prince Charles John of Sweden, Fr ...

and the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

. He was the commander of the corps of occupation in France from 1815 to 1818. On 7 May 1823, he was appointed

governor-general Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

of New Russia, as the southern provinces of the empire were then called, and ''

namestnik A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

'' of

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

. At the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Vorontsov succeeded the wounded Menshikov as commander of the forces besieging Varna, which he captured on 28 September 1828. Due to his energetic efforts, the plague, which had broken out in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, did not spread into Russia. In 1844, Vorontsov was appointed commander-in-chief and viceroy of the Caucasus (for military details see Murid War). At the Battle of Dargo (1845), he was nearly defeated and barely fought his way out of the Chechen forest. By 1848, he had captured two-thirds of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

, and the situation of the Russians in the Caucasus, which had long been almost desperate, was steadily improving. For his campaign against Shamil, and for his difficult march through the dangerous forests of Ichkeria, he was raised to the dignity of prince, with the title of Serene Highness. At the beginning of 1853, Vorontsov was allowed to retire because of his increasing infirmities. He was made a field-marshal in 1856, and died the same year at Odessa. His archives were published, in 40 volumes, by Pyotr Bartenev between 1870 and 1897.

Personal life

Vorontsov was married to Polish Countess Elżbieta "Elisabeth" Branicka, a daughter of Count Franciszek Ksawery Branicki and Aleksandra von Engelhardt (a member of the powerful Engelhardt family). Her brother was Count Władysław Grzegorz Branicki who married Countess Róża Potocka (daughter of

Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki Count Stanisław Szczęsny Feliks Potocki (; 1751–1805), of the Piława coat of arms, known as Szczęsny PotockiE. Rostworowski, Potocki Stanisław Szczęsny (Feliks) herbu Pilawa, n:Polski Słownik Biograficzny, t. XXVIII, Wrocław–Wars ...

). His wife reportedly had a liaison with

Alexander 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 consid ...

during her stay in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, which resulted in some of the finest poems in the Russian language. Together, Mikhail and Elisabeth were the parents of: * Prince Semyon Mikhailovich Vorontsov (1823–1882), who began construction of Massandra Palace upon his return from the Russo-Turkish War but died before completion; he married, against his parents' wishes, Maria Vasilyevna Stolypina, née Princess Trubetskoy (1819-1895), daughter of Prince Vasily Sergeevich Trubetskoy (1773-1841) and Sophia Andreevna Weiss (1795-1848); widow of Alexei Grigoryevich Stolypin. They married in Alupka on August 26, 1851. * Princess Sofya Mikhailovna Vorontsova (1825–1879), who married Count Andrey Pavlovich Shuvalov in 1844. Prince Vorontsov died on 18 November 1856 in Odessa.

Descendants

As his son died without issue, his grandson through his daughter Sofya, Count Mikhail Andreyevich Shuvalov (1850–1903), inherited the title of Prince Vorontsov. Upon his death, without issue in 1903, the Vorontsov fortune passed to his elder sister, Countess Elizabeth Andreevna Shuvalova (1845–1924), who had married Count Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov.

Legacy

Between 1828 and 1848, Vorontsov built Vorontsov Palace as a summer residence for 9 million roubles. The palace is located at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of

Alupka Alupka (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and Russian language, Russian: ; ; , Alòpex) is a resort city located in the Crimea, Crimean peninsula, a territory of Ukraine currently annexed by Russian Federation (see 2014 Crimean crisis). It is located ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. Today, it is one of the oldest and largest palaces in Crimea and one of the most popular tourist attractions on Crimea's southern coast. It was designed in a loose interpretation of the English Renaissance revival style by English architect

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career Blore was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...

and his assistant William Hunt. The building is a hybrid of several architectural styles, but faithful to none. Among those styles are elements of Scottish Baronial,

Indo-Saracenic Revival Architecture Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government buildings in the B ...

, and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architecture. The house stayed in the family until four years after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

when it was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

in 1921 and converted into a museum. A statue of Prince Vorontsov was unveiled in Odesa in 1863. On 11 November 2023 the monumental status of this sculpture was scrapped in order to comply with 2023 derussification-laws. In front of the statue stands the Transfiguration Cathedral with the marble tombs of Prince Vorontsov and his wife. After the Soviets demolished the cathedral in 1936, Vorontsov's remains were secretly reburied in a local cemetery. The cathedral was rebuilt in the early 2000s. The remains of Vorontsov and his wife were solemnly transferred to the church in 2005.

Notes

References

* *Gammer, Moshe. ''Muslim Resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the Conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan''. Frank Cass & Co., London, 1994. . * * * * * * *

External links

Online museum of the Vorontsov FamilyMikeshin, Mikhail. "Mikhail Vorontsov: A Metaphysical Portrait in the Landscape".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vorontsov, Mikhail Field marshals of the Russian Empire Governors-general of Novorossiya Viceroys in Moldova 1782 births 1856 deaths Russian military personnel of the Caucasian War Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917) 1840s in Georgia (country) Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Military personnel from Saint Petersburg Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Mikhail Semyonovich People of the Caucasian War