Nikolai Onufrievich Sukhozanet () (1794 – 22 July 1871) was an

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

general and statesman. Nikolai Sukhozanet was born in a noble family of

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...

. During the

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 ...

he fought in numerous battles and finished the campaign in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the rank of

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 artillery. His awards included Order of St. Vladimir of 4th degree and Order of St. Anna of 2nd degree. After the war he occupied different positions in the 1st Army and in 1824 was promoted to Major General. When the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

began he led the Staff of artillery in the acting army. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Ostrołęka and received the

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

of 3rd degree. From 1836 to 1849 he commanded the 4th artillery division. From 1849 until the Battle of Chernaya River of

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

he commanded the artillery of the acting army, after that Sukhozanet got the 3rd Corps and the Southern Army the next year. On 17 April 1856 he became the

Minister of War A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. Emperor Alexander II has put him two main tasks: the reduction of army's expenses and the deep reform of the army. The first task was solved but the second was completely abandoned by Sukhozanet. During his minister's term he two times acted as a Governor-General of Warsaw – first time during the illness of Prince Mikhail Gorchakov and second after resign of

Karl Lambert Count Karl Karlovich Lambert (; ) (1815 – 20 July 1865) was a Russian General of Cavalry and Namestnik of the Kingdom of Poland from August to October 1861. From 1840 to 1844, he fought against Chechnya, Chechen highlanders during the Caucasia ...

. Because of bad health he left on 6 October 1861 the army and on 9 November resigns his post of minister.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sukhozanet, Nikolai 1794 births 1871 deaths Imperial Russian Army generals Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Russian people of the November Uprising Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Belarusian nobility Ministers of War of the Russian Empire