Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov

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Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich ( Russian Алексей Александрович ; born January 2, jul. / 14. January  1850 greg. In Saint Petersburg , † November 1 jul. / 14. November  1908 greg. In Paris ) was a member of the House of Romanov-Holstein Gottorp and Admiral General of the Imperial Russian Navy .

Life

Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

Alexei was the fourth son of the Russian Tsar Alexander II (1818-1881) and his wife Princess Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt ( Maria Alexandrovna , 1824-1880), a daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse-Darmstadt . He was a younger brother of Tsar Alexander III. (1845–1894) and an uncle of Tsar Nicholas II (* 1868) who was murdered in 1918 .

The Alexei Alexandrovich Palace on Moika Bank in Saint Petersburg was built for him by the architect Maximilian Messmacher (1842–1906).

Count Alexei Alexeiwitsch Belewsky, the illegitimate son of the Grand Duke

In the years 1869/1870 Grand Duke Alexei had a love affair with the court lady Alexandra Wassiljewna Schukowskaja (1842-1899), who was eight years older than him. This relationship resulted in a son, Alexei (born November 26, 1871 in Salzburg). The grand duke's father, Tsar Alexander II, disapproved of his son's relationship. Alexandra Schukowskaja married as "Baroness Seggiano" (a title perhaps bought in San Marino by the Grand Duke) on December 14, 1875, the Saxon Colonel Baron Christian-Henrich von Wöhrmann in Munich and died in 1899 in Wendischbora / Saxony.

It was not until the Grand Duke's brother, Tsar Alexander III., In 1884 that his brother's illegitimate son was given the title of Count Belewski, after his grandfather's birthplace. In 1913 he received permission to add his mother's family name (Schukowski). Count Alexei Alexeyevich Belewsky married in 1894 in Ilyinskoye the Princess Maria Petrovna Trubezkaja (1872-1954). Ilyinskoye was owned by Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich , the governor of Moscow, to whom he served as adjutant from 1904. This speaks for his recognition in the imperial family.

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was never married. At the end of the 1880s he began a relationship with the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, the morganatic wife of his cousin Eugène von Leuchtenberg , Prince Romanowski, (1847-1901). In 1870 he had married "Sina" Sinaida Skobelewa in second marriage, who was considered a beauty and was a daughter of General Mikhail Dmitrijewitsch Skobelew . Tsar Alexander II gave her the title of Countess de Beauharnais and his son Alexander III. made her Duchess of Leuchtenberg . The Grand Duke ran the affair openly and in the husband's house. When Eugène von Leuchtenberg had exhausted his inheritance, he and his wife lived with the Grand Duke and when Sinaida died in 1899, Eugène continued to live with Alexei.

The Grand Duke was considered a womanizer, he spent his vacations in Paris or Biarritz and usually accompanied by a new lover. His critics accused him of his love for "fast women and slow ships".
This referred to the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War for which the Grand Duke was held responsible. Since 1883 Admiral General of the Imperial Russian Fleet , in this role he had, in some cases, decisively influenced the planning and procurement of the Navy. He also had considerable influence on the tsar and his political and strategic decisions.

Training in the Navy

The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was intended for service in the Navy from childhood. When he was seven, he was made a cadet. From 1858 the naval officer Konstantin Nikolajewitsch Posjet (1819–1899) became head of his training. The winter was reserved for scientific and theoretical training, while in the summer training was carried out on Russian warships. In 1860, Alexei Alexandrovich took part in a trip on the yacht Schtandart from Peterhof on the Baltic Sea to Livada on the Black Sea near Burgas , Bulgaria. 1861-1863 followed trips on the yacht Sabawa under the flag of his instructor Rear Admiral Posjet in Finland and Gulf of Bothnia of the Baltic Sea, in 1864, another trip to the Baltic Sea on the frigate Svetlana and 1866 a ride on the frigate Russian battleship Oslyabya to the Azores . On September 18, 1866, the 16-year-old Grand Duke was appointed lieutenant. He now served as an officer on the frigate Alexander Nevsky on a trip through the Mediterranean to Piraeus , from where he the marriage of his cousin Olga Konstantinovna with the Greek King George I visited.

In 1868 the summer educational trip took the train from Saint Petersburg through southern Russia to Nikolayevsk on the Volga . On the Volga it went on to Astrakhan . From there he drove on a warship across the Caspian Sea to Baku , Petrowsk (today Makhachkala ) and Iran . By land he then crossed the Caucasus to Poti on the Black Sea, where the Alexander Nevsky awaited him again . On theirs he then sailed via Constantinople and Athens back to the Azores. On the way back to the Baltic Sea, the frigate was shipwrecked on the Jutian coast during a North Sea storm. The ship was lost, but the crew, including the Grand Duke and his instructors, got up to five men with the help of Danish fishermen. The commandant and Admiral Posjet had wrongly determined the ship's location.

In January 1870 the Grand Duke came of age under Russian law and the last phase of his training followed from June. With a cutter with a steam engine he drove from Saint Petersburg through the canal system from Mariinsk and the Northern Dvina to Arkhangelsk . There a navigation training began under arctic conditions on the corvette Varyag , which led to the Solovetsky Islands and through the White Sea and the Barents Sea to Novaya Zemlya . The return journey went via the Kola Bay , today's Murmansk and ports in Northern Norway and Iceland . In September Alexei Alexandrovich returned to Kronstadt .

Visit to the United States

With a Russian squadron to the United States

In response to the visit of an American squadron to Saint Petersburg in 1867 under the command of Admiral David Farragut , the Russian government decided to send a Russian delegation under Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. The Russian Naval Minister, Admiral Nikolai Karlowitsch Krabbe (1814–1876), announced this on June 29, 1871

The frigate Svetlana

A squadron was sent under Admiral Posjet, the tutor of the Grand Duke, with the frigates Bogalje , Svetlana - on which the Grand Duke served as a lieutenant and officer on watch - and Admiral General , the corvette Ignatijew and the gunboat Abrek . Although all ships had steam engines, the squadron sailed most of the way so as not to have to pick up coal. In addition to the Grand Duke's personal staff, the squadron included 200 officers and over 3,000 sailors who left Kronstadt on August 20, 1871. The squadron was first in Copenhagen , where Alexei Alexandrovich the Danish King Christian IX. visited. In the English Channel , a squadron of the Royal Navy escorted the Russians and escorted them to Plymouth , where the Grand Duke met with Prince Alfred , the Duke of Edinburgh, who in 1876 married the Grand Duke's only surviving sister, Marija Alexandrovna . A planned visit to Balmoral Castle was canceled due to a serious illness of the British Crown Prince Edward . On September 26, the Russian squadron left Plymouth for New York , but stopped for a few days in Madeira . Before the squadron reached the United States, the Pacific squadron's frigate Wsadnik joined the unit. The Russian squadron was received by an American squadron under Vice Admiral Stephen Clegg Rowan (1808-1890), the Port Admiral of New York on the frigate Congress off Staten Island , which was still the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron of the United States Navy , the Severn with Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee , the Iroquois as well as the Kansas and several tugboats belonged to. On November 21, 1871, the squadron anchored in New York.

Visits to the east coast

On November 22nd, the Grand Duke took the train to Washington to visit American President Ulysses S. Grant . The President's family and almost the entire cabinet, some of them wives, attended the reception the following day. Nevertheless, there was only a very short meeting without a meal or something similar. The President had so far unsuccessfully demanded the withdrawal of the Russian ambassador Katakasi , who accompanied the Grand Duke along with his instructor, Admiral Posjet, and some members of his staff. The Grand Duke had expressed the wish to attend a session of the Congress , which also failed because of the resentment about the whereabouts of the Ambassador Katakasi. Contrary to expectations, no alliance or other agreements were concluded.

Alexei Alexandrovich left the capital the next day and attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis on the way back to New York . In and around New York he then toured military, social and community facilities, with the New York Times reporting on his visits continuously. On December 3, 1871, the Grand Duke traveled on to Philadelphia , then he was in Boston from December 7 to 14 . He was interested in military contacts, industrial plants and American educational institutions.

Excursion to Canada

The Grand Duke then traveled by train to Canada , where he first visited Montreal . After further visits, including from Ottawa and Toronto , he visited Niagara Falls from Clifton Hill shortly before Christmas by sled and on foot , where he also returned to the USA. He spent Christmas in Buffalo and via Cleveland and Detroit he reached Chicago at the turn of the year , where he visited the districts destroyed by the fire and donated a large amount for the reconstruction. In the new year he then traveled via Milwaukee to St. Louis , where he stayed for a week. On January 12, 1872, he reached Omaha , the starting point for a hunting expedition.

Hunting excursion in the Wild West

This excursion had been extensively prepared by the American side. Under the command of General Joel Palmer , two companies of infantry in wagons, two companies of cavalry , a military band, and a variety of other auxiliaries had been provided. The Grand Duke arrived at Fort McPherson on January 13, 1872, in the company of Generals Philip Sheridan , Edward Ord and the selected organizer of the hunt, George Armstrong Custer , on a special train of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. They were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd led by William Frederick Cody (known as Buffalo Bill ). After speeches we went on to the hunting area. The Grand Duke and General Sheridan drove four in hand in an open car accompanied by Cody and eight other cars and over fifteen reserve horses. Replacement horses were stationed at Medicine Creek , where lunch was served halfway to the hunting camp. In the “Camp Alexis” hunting camp on Red Willow Creek , the band of the 2nd US Cavalry Regiment welcomed the guest on arrival. It had taken eight hours to travel about 50 miles. The camp consisted of a large number of army tents that were heated. A large hospital tent served as the dining room. Some tents had a floor and the Grand Duke's tent was furnished with oriental carpets.

Cody had arranged the actual hunt with the chief Spotted Tail of the Brulé Lakotas , who had agreed to "receive a great chief from across the great water who wanted to visit him." Around 600 warriors from various Sioux tribes were gathered under five other chiefs to greet them. For this deployment they had received 10,000 rations of flour, sugar and coffee and 1,000 pounds of tobacco (25 truckloads in total) from the US Army.

The Indians gave demonstrations of their riding skills, throwing lances and using their bows, and conducted mock battles. The performance ended with a war dance. There was trouble because of Custer, who had approached the daughter Spotted Tails intoxicated. The Grand Duke was able to calm the excitement with his gifts. A formal hearing was held in Sheridan's tent. Spotted Tail enforced its demand for free hunting south of the Platte River and permission to do business with various trading posts before the dispute was resolved by smoking the peace pipe.

The Grand Duke kills a buffalo with a pistol shot

The great hunt took place on January 14, 1872, the 22nd birthday of the Grand Duke. Alexei received Cody's horse, which was trained to hunt bison, and his weapon, with which he allegedly had already killed 4,200 bison . Over twenty animals were shot on the first day of the hunt. The following day, at the request of Spotted Tail, a traditional Indian hunt for the bison took place, with the chief Two Lance of the Nakota- Sioux tribe looking after the grand duke. Alexei managed to kill two animals, one from a considerable distance with a pistol shot. Before the Grand Duke parted with the hunting party, General Sheridan organized a trip across the prairie for him in the style of the earlier stagecoaches that Cody carried out. When they separated at Fort McPherson, Cody was given a fur coat and valuable cufflinks as a parting gift.

Alexei Alexandrovich took the train to Denver and Colorado Springs , where he again took part in a buffalo hunt. This hunt with inexperienced army horses resulted in several injuries; the Grand Duke was unharmed and shot 25 bison. On the onward journey by train through Kansas to Topeka , more bison were shot from the train.

General Custer became a friend of the Grand Duke during this excursion and accompanied him until the end of the trip through the United States. They also exchanged letters until Custer's death.
In the United States, this hunting trip is known as "The Great Royal Buffalo Hunt". Since 2000, the “Grand Duke Alexis Rendezvous” has been held every year in Nebraska to commemorate the buffalo hunt. The Grand Duke had received some presents from Chief Spotted Tail, which he took to Russia and which are now exhibited in a museum in Tver . As a reminder of his adventures in America, he held a festival every year with a tent camp, old carriages for the guests, canoes on the palace lake and disguised guests to represent the old west of America.

Visit to the southern states

The Grand Duke returned to St. Louis and then visited Cincinnati . On January 28th, he continued his journey to the southern United States. He took the train to Louisville (Kentucky) , where he visited the Mammoth Cave . From there it went on with the river steamer Great Republic to Memphis (Tennessee) and from there with the James Howard via Vicksburg (Mississippi) to New Orleans , where he arrived on February 12, 1872. In New Orleans the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich took part in the Mardi Gras celebrations and was a guest of the first Rex Parade .

On February 22nd, 1872, the Russian squadron left Pensacola (Florida) . It is said to have previously taken significant quantities of frozen bison meat on board. The Grand Duke now served again as an officer on watch on the Svetlana .

Onward journey to Japan

Telegram from the Grand Duke to the Tsar regarding the visit to Japan

The trip to the Far East

On the way to the Far East, the Russian squadron first stopped in Havana , Cuba , where it arrived on February 29, 1872. At that time Cuba was still a Spanish colony and in a fight with insurgents who wanted the island to be independent. In the western part of the island the rebels fought under Carlos Manuel de Céspedes , but the governor Blas Villate , Count Valmaceda, received the Grand Duke. Balls were held every day of his stay in Havana. In addition, Alexei Alexandrovich attended two opera performances. There were also a large number of visits and excursions.

The next stopover took place in Rio de Janeiro , where the squadron arrived on June 3, 1872. The Grand Duke gave a reception for Emperor Pedro II and his court on board the Svetlana . The journey continued on June 9th.

On the journey to the Far East, the squadron stopped in Cape Town , Batavia , Singapore , Hong Kong , Canton and Shanghai .

The visit to Japan

On October 15, 1872, the Russian squadron anchored in Nagasaki . In addition to the public events on the Japanese side, Alexei and his company visited the village of Inasa, Shizuoka , where a Russian colony lived. On October 24th, the squadron continued to Kobe . A trip to the Nunobiki Falls near the city took place with rickshaws . On November 1st, the trip to Yokohama continued. There the Grand Duke was greeted by the Japanese Daijō Daijin (Grand Chancellor), Prince Arisugawa Taruhito , who accompanied him to Edo Castle . There he met Soejima Taneomi , the head of the Gaimushō (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), who organized the visit of the Russian delegation. On November 5th, the Grand Duke was received by the Japanese Emperor (Mikado) Meiji . In the days that followed, both of them visited a parade of the Japanese armed forces and Alexei was also introduced to the Empress Masako. The Mikado also visited the Russian squadron in Yokohama and released 34 Japanese Christians from prison at the Grand Duke's request. On November 26, 1872, the Russian squadron continued its voyage to Vladivostok , the base of the Russian Pacific Squadron , where it arrived on December 5, after a journey of almost 18 months. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich traveled through Siberia back to St. Petersburg. The young Grand Duke's distraction from his father's unwanted love affair was largely successful.

Top positions in the Navy

In 1873 Grand Duke Alexei became head of the Imperial Marine Guard and a member of the Shipbuilding and Naval Artillery Sections of the Technical Committee of the Imperial Navy. In 1875/76 he commanded the screw frigate Swetlana in the Atlantic, on which he had already served as a lieutenant in 1871/72. One of his officers was his illegitimate half-brother Yevgeny Ivanovich Alexejew , with whom he remained closely connected ever since.

During the Russo-Turkish War , he was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1877 and became the commander of the ships on the Danube . He was awarded for building and securing the river crossings of Zimnicea , Pietroșani (Teleorman) and Nikopol with pontoon bridges .

In 1880 he became Imperial Adjutant General. After his brother Alexander III ascended the throne . Grand Duke Alexei was promoted to Vice-Admiral Chief of the Imperial Navy in place of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolajewitsch . In 1883 the 33-year-old Grand Duke was promoted to General Admiral and highest officer in the Imperial Russian Fleet. In this position his influence on day-to-day events was very limited, but Alexei was involved in all basic planning issues. In addition, his influence over the tsars (first his brother Alexander III, then his nephew Nicholas II ) gave him a very important voice in all strategic decisions. In addition to his position as head of the Imperial Russian Fleet, the Grand Duke also acted as commander of the Marine Cadet Corps, the Moscow Guard Regiment , the 37th Ekaterinburger (since 1857!), And since 1868 the 77th Tenginsk and the 17th East Siberian Infantry Regiment.

The Grand Duke in old age

As commander of the Navy, the Grand Duke advocated modernizing the fleet while taking technical progress into account. Under his leadership, spending on the Navy quintupled. A large number of new ships of the line and cruisers were procured and old ships were modernized, sometimes with considerable effort. New, in Russia for the Baltic Fleet built battleships were the Navarin , by the Galerni shipyard constructed in St. Petersburg Petropavlovsk class , the ships of the Peresvet class and from the Russian battleship Tsesarevich according to a draft of the shipyard La Seyne-sur-Mer developed Borodino class , three of which sank at Tsushima.
The fleet building program of 1898, which he influenced, also led to the procurement of ships abroad, which were hoped to have a positive influence on shipbuilding in Russia and for which replica rights were also acquired. In France, the ship of the line Zessarewitsch , the armored cruiser Bajan and destroyers were ordered, all of which were recreated. The ship of the line Retwisan and the protected cruiser Varyag came from the USA - the single ships remained - and from Germany the cruisers Askold , Bogatyr and Novik , of which the latter two were copied in Russia, as well as other destroyers. In addition, the cruiser Bojarin was ordered in Denmark. This construction program, which was not completed when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, did not make the Russian fleet look very homogeneous. Also, not all new buildings met the requirements. The accusation that the ships he had commissioned were out of date only applies to the replicas because of the very long construction times in Russia.
The Grand Duke also campaigned for the expansion of the naval bases, in particular for Sevastopol , "Alexander III" (the largely ice-free Libau ) and Port Arthur , increased the number of naval shipyards and expanded the dry docks in Kronstadt , Vladivostok and Sevastopol. He also arranged for a reorganization of the training of the Navy and had rules for the qualifications required for the various careers written down.

Because of the increasing tensions, he had more ships moved to the Far East. All of the aforementioned ships ordered abroad were there when the war broke out. With the local commander in chief, his half-brother Yevgeny Alexejew, a proponent of a war with Japan, he remained closely connected. Although the Pacific Squadron was able to withstand the attacks of the Japanese and also assert itself in the naval battle in the Yellow Sea (1904) , it turned out that there was no concept for warfare. The squadron was finally mostly destroyed in Port Arthur by Japanese land artillery. The departure of the Baltic fleet came too late and ended in total defeat in the naval battle of Tsushima . The Grand Duke then resigned from his offices on June 2, 1905.

End of life

The murder of his brother, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich , in February 1905 and the allegations made by Nikolai Klado, among others, against his leadership of the navy prompted Alexei Alexandrovich to move to Paris, where he had already bought a house in 1897. His house on Avenue Gabriel became a meeting place for writers, painters, actors, and especially actresses. For years he had been more interested in the fine arts and fashion than in military service, he was a great patron of ballet in Russia and he was known as a connoisseur of Parisian life. He has now become a permanent guest in Parisian restaurants and at theater premieres. His last public appearance was at the dress rehearsal for a new music show. On November 14, 1908, the Grand Duke died in Paris after pneumonia.

Afterlife

In 2006, the diary of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, written in English, was accidentally found in the Russian National Library, which is said to cover the years from 1862 to 1907. It has not yet been published.

Parts of his life were processed in 1973 in the Lucky Luke comic Le Grand Duc (" The Grand Duke ") and in 1994 in the film "Maverick" with Mel Gibson . He is also described as Georgi Aleksandrovich in the novel The Coronation of the Last Romanov (Коронация, или Последний из Романовых, 'The Abduction of the Grand Duke') by Boris Akunin .

literature

  • Marlene A. Eilers: Queen Victoria's Descendants .: Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore MD 1987.
  • C. Arnold McNaughton: The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy . Garnstone Press, London 1973.

Web links

Commons : Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Baron Christian-Henrich von Wöhrmann, son of Christian Heinrich von Wöhrmann
  2. Eugène von Leuchtenberg (1847–1901), Russian general of the infantry, since 1891 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg, second son of Maximilian de Beauharnais (1817–1852), 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1835), 1839 Prince Romanowski and the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolajewna Romanowa (1819–1876), eldest daughter of Russian Tsar Nicholas I.
  3. Confirmation of the Grand Duke's visit. In: New York Times , June 30, 1871
  4. Grand Duke Alexis leaves Kronstadt. In: New York Times , August 21, 1871
  5. Impressive reception of the Grand Duke in Plymouth. In: New York Times , September 18, 1871
  6. ^ New York Times , October 29, 1871
  7. Reception of the Grand Duke. In: New York Times , October 4, 1871
  8. Reception of the Grand Duke. In: New York Times , November 22, 1871
  9. ^ Visit of the Grand Duke to the President. In: New York Times , November 24, 1871
  10. The Grand Duke. His Movements Yesterday . In: New York Times
  11. Breakfast with the Mayor of Montrea. In: New York Times , December 16, 1871
  12. The Grand Duke Alexis arrived at Omaha. In: New York Times , January 13, 1872
  13. Custer was a lieutenant colonel, but was approached as a general because of his rank in the Civil War
  14. The Hunt of the Grand Duke Alexis
  15. B uffalo Hunting by the Grand Duke . In: New York Times , January 14, 1872
  16. Jean Day - Buffalo Hunting - The Red Devils Chapter 29 ( Memento of September 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ "Grand Duke Alexis Rendezvous" ( Memento from February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  18. Артем Кречетников Царская охота в прериях Небраски (russ.)
  19. The Grand Duke of Louisville, Ky. In: New York Times , January 28, 1872
  20. ^ Poster of the Great Republic
  21. ^ Arrival of the Grand Duke at the Crescent City. In: New York Times , February 13, 1872
  22. ^ Discovery of the American West
  23. ^ Arrival of the Grand Duke Alexis in Havana. In: New York Times , March 1, 1872
  24. ^ Cuba: The Progress of the War - The New York Times, March 3, 1872
  25. Alexis. In: New York Times , March 15, 1872
  26. The Alexander Palace Time Machine
  27. Brazil. In: New York Times , July 23, 1872
  28. ^ Arrival of the Grand Duke in Cape Town. In: New York Times , August 24, 1872. End of Cape Town visit. In: New York Times , September 6, 1872
  29. Arrival of Grand Duke Alexis in Hong Kong-NY Times, September 18, 1872
  30. China: Visits by Grand Duke Alexis - NY Times October 13, 1872 and China: Grand Duke Alexis - NY Times, November 16, 1872
  31. Алексей Александрович Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (Russian)
  32. a b Van der Kiste: The Romanovs 1818-1959 , p. 179