Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin
Grigory Potemkin ([ pɐtʲɵ.mkʲɪn ], Russian Григорий Александрович Потёмкин , scientific. Transliteration Grigory Aleksandrovich Potëmkin , German and Gregory Alexandrovich Potemkin ; born September 13 . Jul / 24. September 1739 greg. In Tschischowo at Smolensk ; † October 5 July / October 16, 1791 Greg. near Jassy , buried in the St. Yekaterinen Church in Cherson ) was a Russian prince , field marshal and confidante and lover of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great . He was also Prince of the Empire in the Holy Roman Empire .
Potjomkin is considered to be the most important personality behind the conquest, development and settlement of New Russia and was known for his eccentricity and outstanding organizational skills. The legend associated with his name about the Potemkin villages is considered by historians to be incorrect.
Life
Potjomkin was born the son of a farewell major , initially studied at Moscow University , but then joined the Russian army . He was a distant relative of the diplomat Pyotr Potjomkin .
When Catherine II after the overthrow of her husband Peter III. from the throne (July 9, 1762) inspected the guards on horseback, Potjomkin, then a sergeant, is said to have noticed that she had no portepee on her sword and offered her his. What is certain is that he attracted the attention of the Empress during the first period of Catherine's reign and was appointed chamberlain on November 30 (December 11), 1762.
Soon afterwards, as a result of the inept treatment of a natural doctor, he lost an eye without his beauty (he was compared to Alcibiades ) being significantly affected. But the accident caused him to retire from court for a year and a half.
At the outbreak of the 7th Russian Turkish War he initiated , he went south, where he led the Russian army and was able to achieve large territorial gains ( New Russia ) for the country. A number of large cities such as Odessa , Sevastopol , Nikolaev and Yekaterinoslav were laid out under Potjomkin's leadership . Potjomkin built the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea .
Returned as lieutenant general , he was also appointed count by the empress and in 1776 made her adjutant general and declared favorite. He influenced the empress significantly. He influenced both the internal and external politics of Russia. Most of this influence was successful, and he used it for his personal gain and career. In a short period of time he became Minister, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Governor General of the Southern Provinces and Grand Admiral of the Black Sea. Many imperial ukase were his work, as the empress was often convinced by him.
Emperor Joseph II granted him the dignity of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1776 . Even Frederick II. Of Prussia honored him in 1776, giving him the Black Eagle conferred.
Potjomkin was a skilled courtier and statesman. He was extremely greedy that despite his lavish lifestyle, he amassed a colossal fortune. From 1776 to 1778 the Anitschkow Palace in Saint Petersburg was redesigned on his behalf , and the Tauride Palace was built from 1783 to 1789 .
According to legend, he deceived Catherine the Great on her inspection trips through New Russia with dummies in order to simulate the advanced settlement of the new areas. This is where the term Potemkin Villages came from . In truth, this legend sprang from the envy of other Russian nobles, who fled the fact that the villages had been spruced up for visits by the Tsarina and European nobles. For his services to the occupation and administration of the Crimea , he was nicknamed the Tavritschesky (of Tauria ).
“Indeed, Potjomkin had promoted economic development in the south. In its provinces, the number of inhabitants increased many times over within a few years. Through generous reforms he transformed New Russia and the territories of the Zaporozhian Cossacks , which were combined under the governor-general GA Potjomkin to form the new province of Yekaterinoslav, into blooming landscapes that were far superior to other Russian provinces. Reports from foreign personalities confirm Potjomkin's success. The legend can be traced back to Potjomkin's opponents in the Russian upper classes, who envied his rapid success and disapproved of his reform course. ”( Lit .: Madariaga, 1981; Scharf, 2001 )
When the next Turkish war broke out in 1787 , Potjomkin took over the command of the Russian army and after the storming of Ochakov (December 17, 1788) received the large ribbon of the Order of George .
Although there was no lack of differences between Potjomkin and Katharina, an intimate and friendly relationship remained between them until Potjomkin's death. The Empress appreciated his great intellectual gifts and his unconditional devotion. It is said that he died pressed to his heart with her last letter.
Potjomkin died on October 16, 1791 of malaria in the arms of his niece, Countess Branicka , born von Engelhardt, on the way from Jassy to Nikolajew . He was buried in Kherson . Tsar Paul I had Potjomkin's bones removed in 1798, so that for a long time there was uncertainty about the actual burial site of Potjomkin's. It was only Tsar Alexander I who arranged for her reburial, and Tsar Nicholas I allowed the city of Kherson to erect his bronze statue in honor of its founder Potjomkin in 1836.
Eponyms
The warship of the Black Sea Fleet " Knjas Potjomkin Tawritscheski " (Prince Potjomkin of Tauria) was named after Potjomkin, on which a mutiny took place in 1905 . This was the template for Sergei Eisenstein's legendary film Battleship Potemkin .
In 1955, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the mutiny on that same armored cruiser, the great open staircase in Odessa , which played an essential role in the aforementioned film, was renamed the Potemkin Staircase .
On July 26, 2000 the asteroid (6954) Potemkin was named after him.
literature
- Isabel de Madariaga: Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great. Yale University Press, New Haven CT 1981, ISBN 0-300-02515-7 .
- Simon Sebag Montefiore : Catherine the Great and Prince Potemkin. An imperial affair. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-10-050613-9 (Original edition: The Prince of Princes. Potemkin - the Life. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2000, ISBN 0-297-81902-X ).
- Claus Scharf (Ed.): Katharina II., Russia and Europe. Contributions to international research (= publications by the Institute for European History, Mainz. Supplement. 45). von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2009-4 .
- Saint-Jean (secretary of the prince): biography of Gregor Alexandrowitsch Potemkin des Tauriers. Edited by Friedrich Rothermel. Publishing Association for Science, Karlsruhe 1888.
Web links
- Article Grigori Alexandrowitsch Potjomkin in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)
- Biography , Chronos (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Welt Online : Everything about Prince Potemkin was real. The villages too. February 28, 2011.
- ^ Leopold von Zedlitz-Neukirch : New Preussisches Adels-Lexicon . Volume 2, Gebrüder Reichenbach, Leipzig 1836, p. 95 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Svenja Muche: Your idol . In: G history . tape 1/2019 , p. 43-47 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Potjomkin, Grigory Alexandrovich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Potëmkin, Grigorij Aleksandrovič; Potemkin, Gregor Alexandrovich; Потёмкин, Григорий Александрович (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian field marshal, confidante and favorite of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 24, 1739 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tschischowo , Russian Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 16, 1791 |
| Place of death | at Jassy |