Duke Alexander Friedrich Karl of Württemberg ( German: Alexander Friedrich Karl von Württemberg , April 24, 1771 , Mömpelgard - April 4, 1833 , Gotha ) - participant in the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, Austrian and Russian cavalry general , military governor of Belarus . The brother of the Empress Maria Feodorovna , uncle of Alexander I and Nicholas I.
| Alexander Friedrich of Württemberg | |||||||||||||||
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| him. Alexander Friedrich Karl von Württemberg | |||||||||||||||
 Portrait of Alexander Württemberg work [1] by George Dow . Military Gallery of the Winter Palace , State Hermitage Museum ( St. Petersburg ) | |||||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | April 24, 1771 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Mömpelgard (now Montbeliard , France ) | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death | April 4, 1833 (61 years old) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Gotha (now - Thuringia , Germany ) | ||||||||||||||
| Affiliation |  Kingdom of Wurttemberg Kingdom of neapolitan Holy Roman Empire Russian empire | ||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1791-1833 | ||||||||||||||
| Rank | Cavalry General | ||||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | War of the first coalition War of the second coalition World War 1812 , War of the sixth coalition | ||||||||||||||
| Awards and prizes |
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Content
Biography
Born in Mömpelgard (now Montbeliard in the French department of Du Franche-Comté ). The son of Friedrich Eugene (later the reigning Duke of Württemberg ) and Frederick Dorothea Sophia Brandenburg of Sweden , the brother of King Württemberg Frederick I.
From birth, enrolled in the Württemberg army. At the age of 11, June 29, 1782 received from Catherine II the rank of brigadier of the Russian army. In 1791 he entered the Neapolitan service and was promoted to major general. In 1793 he joined the Austrian army with the rank of colonel, and served in the 7th Dragoon Regiment of Prince Waldeck. January 13, 1796 received the rank of Major General, July 17, 1798 - Field Marshal, Lieutenant , April 12, 1800 promoted to general from the cavalry. In 1794 - 1801 - a participant in the wars against France, he fought at Althausen, Ostrach and Zurich, especially distinguished himself at Stockach , where he defeated General Vandam .
On the recommendation of A.V. Suvorov, he was accepted on May 7, 1800 to the Russian service with the rank of lieutenant general and was appointed chief of his cuirassier’s regiment name (from July 20, 1801 - the Riga Dragoon Regiment ). He gained possession of vast lands, including the Grünhof manor. He was promoted to general from cavalry on August 24, 1800 , but did not hold any posts, being only the chief of the regiment. April 3, 1811 was appointed by the Belarusian military governor, as well as the Vitebsk and Mogilev governors.
In the Patriotic War of 1812 he was at the headquarters of the 1st Western Army, took part in the battles of Vitebsk and Smolensk . During the battle of Borodino , Kutuzov was appointed to the place of the wounded Bagration, but soon the order was canceled and the command of the 2nd Army was taken by D.S. Dokhturov , in which the duke remained until the end of the battle. In the Tarutino camp, he joined the general opposition, which criticized the actions of Kutuzov. In the battle of Tarutin , the duke's battery helped the troops win. Then he participated in the battles of Maloyaroslavets , Vyazma and Red . For Borodino he was awarded the Golden Sword with diamonds “For Courage”, and for Tarutino the Order of St. George of the 3rd class. December 23, 1812 .
On April 11, 1813, he was appointed to command the siege corps blocking Danzig , whose garrison was twice as strong as the besieging troops. Successfully repulsing the sieges of the besieged, the duke inflicted a strong defeat on General Rapp , who left the fortress with 15 thousand people. Then successively taking a series of enemy fortifications, he led the correct siege of the fortress and forced it to surrender. For the capture of Danzig and the capture of General Rapp's corps, he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 2nd class on August 19, 1813 . and a golden sword decorated with diamonds and laurel branches, with the inscription: "For the conquest of Danzig." The St. Petersburg militia that participated in the siege presented the duke with a gold medal with the inscription: "His royal Highness Duke Alexander Wirtemberg, his benevolent superior, is recognized St. Petersburg militia."
In 1814 , the Belarusian military governor again, on February 5, 1818 he was appointed chief of the Riga Dragoon Regiment. On August 2, 1822 he was appointed head of the Main Directorate of Railways. He reorganized the management of the Corps of Railway Engineers and founded the School of Civil Engineers in St. Petersburg. Under his supervision, the Vyshnevolotskaya, Mariinskaya, Tikhvinskaya, Oginskaya and Berezinskaya water systems were reconstructed, funds were found to destroy the rapids on the Dnieper, work continued on the construction of a highway between the two capitals, and construction of a highway from St. Petersburg through Dinaburg to Kovno was begun. The construction of a significant number of bridges was undertaken, including in St. Petersburg ( Trinity and 5 chain). Of the new channels planned by the Duke, two channels were ended in his control: Augustovsky and a channel named after him, connecting Sukhona , a tributary of the Northern Dvina , with Sheksna , which is part of the Mariinsky system .
August 23, 1828 -
| for the successful construction of a canal in the environs of the city of Kirilov between Lake Kubensky and the Sheksnoy River, which established a permanent inland waterway connection between St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk in order to forever preserve the memory of the works for the benefit of the State |
ordered to call this channel " channel of the Duke of Alexander Wirtemberg ."
He was a member of the Committee of Ministers ; on December 5, 1826 he was appointed a member of the Council of State.
He was a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences , the Moscow Society of Naturalists , the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society, etc.
On January 1, 1826 he was appointed chief of the Yekaterinoslav cuirassier regiment , and on June 25, 1827 - again the Riga Dragoon Regiment, who was ordered to be called the Dragoon of His Royal Highness the Duke Alexander Wirtemberg Regiment.
He died on July 4, 1833 in the Thuringian city of Gotha and was buried in the princely tomb in the Friedenstein Palace .
Rewards
- Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with diamonds (06.28.1798)
- Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (06.28.1798)
- Order of St. John of Jerusalem , Grand Commander's Cross (06.28.1798)
- Order of St. Anne 1st Art. (06/28/1798)
- Order of St. George of the 3rd class (12/23/1812)
- Order of St. Vladimir 1st Art. (02/25/1813)
- Golden sword with diamonds "For Courage" (08.26.1812)
- Order of St. George 2nd class (08/19/1813)
- Golden sword with diamonds and laurel branches "For the conquest of Danzig" (1813)
- Insignia "XXX Years of Immaculate Service" (1828)
- Prussian Order of the Black Eagle
- Prussian Order of the Red Eagle 1st Art.
- Bavarian Military Order of Maximilian Joseph
- Württemberg Order of the Württemberg Crown
- Wurttemberg Order of Merit
Family
From November 17, 1798, Alexander was married to Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld ( 1779 - 1824 ), daughter of Franz Friedrich , Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Children:
- Maria Antonia ( 1799 - 1860 ), married to Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ;
- Pavel ( 1800 - 1801 );
- Alexander Württemberg ( 1804 - 1881 ), Duke of Württemberg - married to Maria Christine of Orleans (1813-1839) since 1837;
- Ernst ( 1807 - 1868 ) - from 1860 he was married to Natalia Ashgorn von Grünhof (1829-1905);
- Frederick ( 1810 - 1815 ).
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. Western European painting. Catalog / Ed. V. F. Levinson-Lessing; ed. A. E. Krol , K. M. Semenova. - 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. - L .: Art, 1981. - T. 2. - P. 252, cat. No 7812. - 360 p.
Links
- Alexander, Duke of Wirthemberg // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive. The history of the Fatherland in the evidence and documents of the XVIII — XX centuries. : Collection. - M .: TRITE studio N. Mikhalkova , 1996. - T. VII . - S. 347-348 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )
- Württemberg, Alexander Friedrich Karl Herzog