The advent of firearms greatly changed the principles of the use of cavalry in battle. The armored horsemen ceased to be an unconditional force, while the infantry acquired an effective weapon to fight the once invulnerable enemy. The best defense of the cavalrymen was speed, it was also the main tactical advantage. If the cavalry managed to get to the infantry that was not ready, then the defeat of the latter was deafening, if it did not have time, everything happened exactly the opposite. The personal role of cavalry commanders increased immeasurably. They had to have an excellent eye, an understanding of the logic of battle and incredible, sometimes desperate courage. Fyodor Uvarov undoubtedly shone with all these qualities in battle.
Fedor Petrovich was born in 1769 in a noble but poor noble family. From childhood, he was enrolled in the service, but he began active service three years later than it was accepted - at the age of 18. His father, Peter Uvarov, was in the capital under investigation, and the family was ordered to be on the estate. Only in 1788, having escaped to his father in St. Petersburg and using the patronage of General Tutolmin, Fyodor Uvarov was assigned to serve as the captain of the Sofia Infantry Regiment. A little later, he was sent to the Oryol province, where troops were drawn up to be sent to the war with Sweden. However, Uvarov did not go to war with the Swedes, having received a transfer to the Smolensk Dragoon regiment in 1790. All further service of Fyodor Petrovich took place in cavalry units.
In 1792-1794, Uvarov served under Alexander Suvorov in Poland and showed himself excellently in battles with the rebels at Stolbtsy and near Mir. An exceptional test of courage and fighting spirit was the uprising in Warsaw, when on the night of Easter the rebels treacherously attacked the Russian garrison. Few then managed to leave the city. Uvarov and his squadron were among them. Within 36 hours, fighting off the rebels, he managed to withdraw the squadron from the city and connect with the corps of Baron Igelstrom. For his courage and self-control, Uvarov was promoted to prime-major, and in the spring of next year he was promoted to lieutenant colonel by Suvorov personally.
After the suppression of the Polish uprising, Fyodor Petrovich's service was not marked by any informative official documents, but the surviving testimonies of his contemporaries tell something about Uvarov's military activities. At the beginning of 1797, Fyodor Petrovich was passing through the village of Radoschog, Oryol province. It so happened that Uvarov ended up there during a peasant uprising and assumed command of the squadron of the Akhtyrka hussar regiment. The speech was successfully suppressed, and the chief of the regiment, Major General F. I. Lindener, in a report to the sovereign praised Uvarov's actions. In the same year, Fyodor Petrovich was transferred to the Catherine Cuirassier Regiment, and the next year he was promoted to Colonel.
In 1798, Fyodor Petrovich moved to Moscow, where he began his rapid career rise. In the capital, the prominent cavalry officer liked the wife of Senator P. V. Lopukhin, the Serene Princess Ekaterina Nikolaevna. She, according to the characteristics of her contemporaries, was distinguished by an extremely windy character and sometimes spent fabulous sums on her lovers. Taking advantage of her husband's position, Lopukhina patronized Uvarov in every possible way, and once it almost ended in tragedy. Ekaterina Nikolaevna tried to procure the Order of St. Anna of the 1st degree through her stepdaughter, who at that time was the favorite of Emperor Paul I. However, the monarch treated this award with particular scrupulousness and selected candidates extremely meticulously.
Uvarov, according to Pavel, did not deserve the award. Not getting what she wanted, Lopukhina had a fight with her stepdaughter and tried to embroil her with the emperor. And then she pointedly poisoned herself - she took arsenic and loudly began to call for help … As a result, the Order of St. Anna Uvarov did get it.
In 1798, following the move of the Lopukhins couple, he was transferred to St. Petersburg, first to the Cuirassier regiment, and then to the Horse Guards. In the fall of 1799, Uvarov was promoted to major general and became adjutant general. By the end of the summer of 1799, Fyodor Petrovich was already in command of the Cavalry Corps, which was later transformed into a three-squadron combat regiment, Uvarov remained in the post of chief of the regiment. The emperor at the reviews more than once expressed his favor to the regiment, and only once displeasure with his training. Uvarov was the emperor's confidant throughout his reign.
And although he was in a conspiracy against Paul, he did not take an active part in the murder, which, by the way, was not planned. On that fateful evening, Uvarov with other officers personally guarded the heir and, unlike many other conspirators, remained under Emperor Alexander I.
Soon Uvarov justified the confidence of the young emperor, court intrigues and love affairs did not dull the officer's fighting qualities. In 1805, near Austerlitz, Fyodor Petrovich commanded the cavalry of the right wing, led by Bagration. When things took a nasty turn, Marshal Joachim Murat struck with the forces of an entire cavalry division, and these are 8 regiments of selected horsemen, in the cut of the right flank and center of the Russian troops. Uvarov managed to prevent the catastrophe that threatened the columns of Bagration with three regiments. Having lost all the cavalry, Fyodor Petrovich saved many hundreds of Russian soldiers. The Russian monarch praised Uvarov's actions, awarding him with the Order of St. George 3rd degree and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
During the 1807 campaign, Fyodor Petrovich came under Bennigsen and distinguished himself in several battles. On May 26, at the village of Wolfsdorf, he successfully attacked the enemy, not allowing the French to gain a foothold, then at Heilsberg, Uvarov did not allow the Russian troops to bypass, and at Friedland, Fyodor Petrovich's cavalry covered the right flank, and then fought in the rearguard, covering the retreat of the detachments of Eugene of Württemberg.
Later, Fyodor Uvarov was an inseparable part of the emperor's retinue, being present at the signing of the peace in Tilsit and at the meeting of Alexander with Napoleon in Erfurt. And in 1809 he accompanied the monarch on his travels.
But Uvarov did not stay long at court. Already in 1810, he went to the southern theater of military operations, where he fought against the Turks. Here he took part in the battles for Silistria, in the unsuccessful siege of Shumla and in the unsuccessful assault on Ruschuk, where he received a shell shock in the shoulder while commanding one of the columns. Later, Fyodor Petrovich showed himself at the capture of Nikopol and in the battle at Vatin, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George 2nd degree.
1812 Fyodor Petrovich met the commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps. During the retreat of the Russian army, the corps distinguished itself in the battles at Vilkomir, Ostrovno and Smolensk, as well as in numerous rearguard battles.
In the Battle of Borodino, Uvarov's corps (6 regiments and a horse-artillery company), together with the Cossacks under the command of Platov, made a raid across the right flank to the rear of the French. By the time Kutuzov gave the order for the raid, a very difficult situation had developed on the left flank: the Russian troops were exhausted by the endless attacks of the French infantry and cavalry, and Bonaparte was already preparing the final oblique blow, which was supposed to roll up the defense of the Russian army like a carpet. The young guard was preparing to march, but Napoleon was stopped by the confusion on his right flank caused by the appearance of Platov's Cossacks and Uvarov's regular cavalry. This attack is credited with saving the Russian army for a two-hour delay in the actions of the French, which made it possible to reorganize the disorganized regiments and strengthen the exhausted left flank.
Attack of the 1st Reserve Cavalry Corps of General F. P. Uvarov at Borodino
Despite this, Kutuzov was dissatisfied with the actions of the cavalrymen, and they are almost the only generals of Borodino who were left without awards. Subsequently, Fyodor Petrovich took an active part in the battles during the retreat to Moscow. So, in the village of Krymskoye, his detachments defeated and forced the French cavalry to retreat. Later he took part in the battle at Tarutino, when Murat's vanguard was defeated, then in the battle at Vyazma and during the pursuit of the enemy near the village of Krasnoe.
The foreign campaign of the Russian army for Uvarov was marked by many battles: at Bautzen, the already familiar rearguard battles, then fierce battles at Dresdna and Kulm. Fyodor Petrovich distinguished himself in the Battle of Leipzig, for which he was elevated to the rank of cavalry general.
With the end of the Napoleonic warriors, Uvarov became one of the most trusted persons of the sovereign and was always with him, performing the duties of an adjutant general. In 1821, Uvarov was appointed commander of the Guards Corps, and a year later he became a member of the State Council.
In 1824 Fyodor Petrovich fell ill, but continued to do business. On November 20, in the presence of the emperor and the grand dukes, he died. Uvarov will forever remain in history as an excellent cavalry commander.
