Ivan Vasilyevich Gudowitsch
Count Ivan Wassiljewitsch Gudowitsch ( Russian Иван Васильевич Гудович ; * 1741 ; † February 17, 1821 ) was a Russian general and field marshal and governor of Georgia .
Life
Ivan fought against Poland in 1764 , then with high honors against the Turks. Catherine II placed him over the Caucasian provinces and gave him goods including 1,800 farmers in Podolia .
Under his command, the Ottoman city of Kilija was conquered in 1790 and incorporated into the Russian Empire. In the Circassian country (Circassia / Black Sea coast) the well-deserved general conquered many points, including in 1791 the Black Sea port fortress Sudjuk Kale [Sujuk-Qale] (today Novorossiysk ).
On 21/22 In June 1791 he stormed the Turkish border fortress Anapa , built by French engineers in 1781, with 12,000 men , had it razed and burned down. 8,000 Turks were killed in the process; Mustafa Pasha and Sheikh Mansur, the Tatar "Prophet Bai Mansur" , were among his prisoners . His own losses were limited to 18 officers and 812 crew grades, plus around 2,000 wounded. In the peace of Jassy ( Iași ) the Turks got the city back in 1792.
At the coronation of Paul I on April 17, 1797, Gudowitsch was made hereditary count. At the same time he received further lands and the governorate of Kamenetz-Podolski . However , he was deposed again soon after on charges brought by a Cossack .
Paul's son and successor, Alexander I, rehabilitated him and gave him supreme command of the army in Georgia and Dagestan. In 1806 he made him governor of Georgia.
The attack by Gudowitsch and Pavel Zizianow on Echmiadzin , the holiest city in Armenia , triggered the war with Persia in 1804 .
The Ottoman Empire believed himself after the Russian defeat at Austerlitz by attacking the allies of Russia to reciprocate. In the initial phase of the war thus started, Gudowitsch was also involved: in Armenia on June 18, 1807, a 7,000-strong contingent of the Count defeated a Turkish force of 20,000 on the Arpachai River . For the brilliant victory over the Serasker ( Commander in Chief ) of Erzerum he was appointed Field Marshal .
On November 29, 1808, however, an attempt by his troops to storm the previously besieged Yerevan fortress failed (it was only conquered for Russia on October 19, 1827 by General Ivan Paskevitsch ). Sick and one-eyed, this failure may have been a reason for the 68-year-old to give up the supreme command and the Georgian governorate in 1809 and to bid farewell to the fighting army.
Alexander then made him Governor General of Moscow . Prince Fyodor Rostoptschin wanted to have this post and he tried to replace it. When it came to building a combat airship near Moscow to defend against the Grande Armée Napoléon in 1812 , this was kept secret from Gudowitsch at the behest of the Tsar, because his confidante and personal physician Dr. Salwator suspected of espionage for France.
Finally he resigned in favor of Rostopchin and withdrew to his Podolian goods. Here he was mainly concerned with hunting, music and his memoirs. In addition to Russian , he mastered Latin , Italian , French and German .
His marriage to the daughter of Count Kirill Rasumowski resulted in the only son Count Andrei Gudowitsch , who died in 1867 without male heirs.
His younger brothers were also ennobled by Alexander I on December 23, 1809 and continued the house.
literature
- Arthur Kleinschmidt : Russia's History and Politics ... , p. 515 ff.
Web links
- Retrolib - Meyers Konversationslexikon - Yerevan
- Retrolib - Meyers Konversationslexikon - Anapa
- Kadir I. Natho: The Russo-Circassian War - Sheikh Mansur
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gudowitsch, Iwan Wassiljewitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Гудович, Иван Васильевич (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian general and field marshal and governor of Georgia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1741 |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 1821 |