Foreign military in the service of the Russian Empire

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Unable to make a career in their homeland, these officers went to a distant unfamiliar Russia, which was able to appreciate their talents and abilities.

1. Patrick Gordon

Before joining the Russian service, the Scotsman Patrick Leopold Gordon of Ohlukhris managed to serve Sweden and Poland. He showed himself so brightly during the Russian-Polish war (1654-1667) that the admired Russian ambassador to Warsaw Zamyatnya Leontyev persuaded him to go to the camp of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

After many years spent in wars against the Turks and Crimean Tatars on the southern borders of the Russian state, Patrick Gordon became one of the confidants and associates of Peter the Great, helping him to carry out large-scale transformations in the country. An excellent theorist and practitioner of military affairs, he became the "godfather" of the Russian guard: he was engaged in combat training of the first guardsmen, taught them how to build, introduce fortifications, set up military camps, etc.

As one of the commanders, the Scotsman took part in the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696, during which Russia took the first step towards consolidation in the Black Sea region. At the funeral of Patrick Gordon, who died in 1699, Peter the Great said: "I give him only a handful of land, and he gave me a whole space of land with Azov."

2. Christopher Munnich

When in 1721 the Saxon Count Burchard Christoph von Munnich received an invitation to enter the service of the Russian ruler Peter the Great, he had already served as a military engineer in four European armies and had gone through countless wars and conflicts. In Russia, however, Count von Munnich (referred to as Christopher Antonovich Minich) at first was mainly engaged in civilian objects: he laid roads, built ports and bypass canals.

With the accession of Anna Ioannovna in 1730, Minich was entrusted with reforming the army. Khristofor Antonovich did a great job: he put in order the army finances, established garrison schools and hospitals for the wounded, founded the first nobility cadet corps in Russia. Under him, the first hussar and sapper regiments appeared in the Russian army, more than fifty fortresses were built and modernized.

Minich also proved himself on the battlefield as a military leader. In 1736, the Russian army under his command invaded Crimea for the first time in history and burned the capital of the Crimean Khanate, Bakhchisarai. On August 28, 1739, the commander defeated the numerically superior army of the Ottoman Empire (60 thousand against 90 thousand people) in the battle of Stavuchany, having lost only 13 soldiers (the enemy's losses amounted to more than a thousand). This victory dispelled the legend of the "invincible Turks" and marked the beginning of a series of successes that accompanied the Russian troops in the wars with Turkey throughout the 18th century.

A real soldier, Khristofor Antonovich was not very well versed in the intricacies of court intrigues. In 1741, by order of Elizaveta Petrovna, he was sent into exile in the Urals, where he spent 20 years. In 1762, Emperor Peter III returned 78-year-old Minich to St. Petersburg.

The extravagant and unpredictable monarch managed to turn all his entourage against himself, which ultimately led to his overthrow and the accession of his wife Catherine II. Grateful for the release, the field marshal was almost the only one who remained loyal to Peter III at the time of the coup. The Empress did not punish the old German. On the contrary, she made his old dream come true - she appointed him the governor of Siberia, who he was until his death in 1767.

3. Samuel Greig

Like many Scots before and after him, it was not easy for Samuel Greig to advance in the British navy system. When he learned that Russia needed capable foreign naval officers, he did not hesitate for a long time.

During the Battle of Chesme (1770), one of the most glorious in the history of Russia, Greig led a strike group of fire ships that dealt a decisive blow to the Ottoman fleet. As a result of the battle, the enemy lost 15 of its 16 ships of the line, 6 frigates, as well as 11 thousand soldiers and sailors.

Samuel Greig proved himself not only in battle, but also did a lot for the development of the Russian navy. Thanks to him, naval artillery was significantly improved, new types of ships were developed, and for the first time in Russia, the underwater part of ships began to be sheathed with copper sheets, which made it possible to improve their driving performance.

4. Roman Crown

In 1788, 34-year-old Lieutenant of the British Navy, Scotsman Robert Crown, entered the service in the Baltic Fleet of Russia, where he received the Russian name Roman Vasilyevich and command of the sailing-rowing boat (cotter) "Mercury". He did not have to wait long for the moment to prove himself - in the same year the war with Sweden began (1788-1790).

Crown possessed decisiveness and courage, knew how to choose the right moment for an attack. With only 24 guns on board, he boldly attacked and boarded the 44-gun frigate Venus, and also helped to capture the 64-gun ship Retvizan. In the battle of Vyborg on July 3, 1790, his "Mercury" sank 12 Swedish rowing ships.

Participation in the subsequent wars against France lifted Crown to the top of the career ladder. The Scotsman showed himself well in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, as well as in the naval blockade of French and Danish ports. In 1814, Vice Admiral Roman Crown was given a special honor - on the flagship of his squadron, King Louis XVIII returned to France from his exile in England.

5. Login Geiden

When the French army occupied the Netherlands in 1795 and forced its stadtholder (ruler) Prince William V of Orange to flee, naval officer Count Ludwig-Sigismund Gustav von Heiden remained loyal to the exile, for which he was imprisoned for several months. When he was released, he decided that further stay in his homeland could be dangerous for him, and swore allegiance to Russia.

The count, who became Login Petrovich Heyden in the Russian manner, had the wars with Sweden in 1808-1809 and Napoleonic France, but the main battle of his life was the Battle of Navarino against the Turkish-Egyptian fleet in 1827.

The squadron who rose to the rank of Rear Admiral Heiden not only withstood the main attack of the enemy, but eventually defeated its center and right flank. The victory played a significant role in the success of the Greek national liberation movement, and Greece did not forget the feat of the naval commander: a street in Athens was named after him, a monument was erected in Pylos, and a postage stamp with the image of Login Petrovich was issued on the centenary of the significant battle.