From the tropical islands and the Far Eastern coasts, we will be transported to Europe, where in the middle. In the first decade of the 19th century, Russia and its allies in the anti-Napoleonic coalition found themselves, to put it mildly, in a difficult situation.
In the spring of 1805, the Russians signed the Petersburg Treaty of Alliance with the British, which served as the basis for the so-called Third Coalition (Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden, Portugal and the Kingdom of Naples) that was soon created. The purpose of the unification was to oppose the overwhelming numerical superiority of the force of the hitherto unrestrained French expansion (it was supposed to put at least half a million soldiers under arms), to return the European countries at least approximately to their former borders, and on the overthrown thrones, restoring them, to plant the dynasties driven by revolutionary wars.
The negotiations were difficult. The British, for example, did not want to return to Alexander his, one might say, hereditary patrimony - the island of Malta, which they had intercepted from the French. But the history of the Order of Malta in Russia was inexorably coming to an end: events were unfolding at such a speed that Alexander was forced to give up on the Knights of St. John.
In the fall, hostilities began. The Austrians, without waiting for the approach of the Russian troops, invaded Bavaria controlled by the French, there, unexpectedly colliding with the main forces of Napoleon, they allowed themselves to be surrounded and on October 19 shamefully surrendered at Ulm.
Bonaparte, who usually did not know the restraint in self-praise, this time turned out to be surprisingly restrained, attributing the victory not so much to himself as to the stupidity of the Austrian command. His notorious "Bulletin of the Great Army" of September 21 said literally the following:
“Soldiers… I promised you a great battle. However, thanks to the bad actions of the enemy, I was able to achieve the same successes without any risk … In fifteen days we completed the campaign."
Austria on its own could not have resisted any longer, but Emperor Franz II hoped for the power of Russian weapons, which was recently shown in the memory of all Europe by the Suvorov miracle heroes in Italy and Switzerland. The Russians really did the almost impossible again: suddenly finding themselves face to face with the enemy, encouraged by the recently achieved tremendous success, they managed to slip out of the trap ready to slam and unite with the Volyn army of Count Fyodor Buksgevden, which had pulled up by that time.
The rearguard of Prince Peter Bagration distinguished itself especially during the retreat, by its heroic resistance several times it detained the strongest enemy many times over. All means were used on both sides, including military tricks and even political hoaxes.
Here are some of the most striking examples. Retreating, ours literally burned bridges behind them. Murat, who was pursuing them with the vanguard of the French, entered Vienna. Here he managed to swiftly and bloodlessly seize the bridges over the Danube, chatting up an Austrian officer whose duties were to blow up these strategic objects; Murat convinced the gullible warrior to conclude an armistice - and without hindrance moved his vanguard to the other side of the river.
But when he decided to use his "truce" trick to pin the Russian army to the spot, he himself was deceived. The fact is that the Russians were commanded by Kutuzov, who in cunning far surpassed not just Murat, but also Napoleon himself. Mikhail Illarionovich, although he was one-eyed, but he saw the essence of things: ours were far from their bases in a country that was about to capitulate or, at some hour, go over to the side of the enemy. Borodin's time has not come yet. Therefore, it was necessary at all costs to withdraw the army from a trap similar to the Ulm, until it was caught between the French hammer and the Austrian anvil.
Kutuzov entered into negotiations with Murat, made him a number of tempting offers and so turned around that he, imagining himself to be the second Charles Talleyrand, sent a courier with Kutuzov's proposals to Napoleon in Vienna. The telegraph did not yet exist, so a day passed before the courier turned back and forth with a sobering order.
At the same time, the time lost by the French was enough for the Russian army, under the cover of a small rearguard, to slip out of the trap set. Murat with thirty thousand troops rushed at first in pursuit, but at Schöngraben he was again detained by Bagration's detachment, six times smaller in number. On November 7, Kutuzov successfully linked up with Buxgewden in Olshany, where he took up a strong defensive position.
It seemed that this was where the French should be awaited, so that they broke off their teeth against the wall of Russian bayonets. However, instead of this, for reasons that did not depend on Mikhail Illarionovich, a catastrophe occurred. Napoleon also resorted to trickery. He skillfully spread rumors about the plight of his army, about the imminent retreat, and the Russian Emperor Alexander, apparently deciding to try his luck in the same field, which glorified his great Macedonian namesake in antiquity, despite the resistance of Kutuzov, ordered the troops to rush forward headlong. …
As you know, the matter ended with the battle of Austerlitz, in which the main blame for the defeat of the allied army, of course, falls on the Austrian general Franz von Weyrother, the compiler of the incompetent disposition. It is very likely that Weyrother has long since secretly gone over to the side of the French, for it was this officer of the Austrian General Staff, once attached to the Russian headquarters, who proposed the plan of the Swiss campaign, which was obviously fatal for the miraculous heroes. If it were not for the commander's genius Alexander Suvorov, Russian bones would lie somewhere near Saint Gotthard.
But it's time for us to return to our topic. After the Austerlitz defeat, the Russian army lost more than twenty thousand of its best soldiers and urgently needed replenishment of both manpower and weapons. Having received a bitter lesson, Alexander I, let's give him his due, no longer interfered in the direct command of the troops, but instead rather energetically dealt with the issues of, as they would say now, military development.
Until the thunder breaks out, the man does not cross himself. As well as two hundred years before and one hundred and thirty after, Russia at the beginning of the 19th century strained all its mobilization possibilities. The capacities of arms factories were increased at an accelerated pace. The latest technical inventions were urgently introduced into industrial practice. The previously established silver and gold medals "For Useful" and their varieties: "For diligence and benefit", "For work and diligence", etc. were intended for inventors and artisans. We already wrote about this in the article about the first medals of the Alexander reign.
In addition, the size of the army should have been increased immediately. Young recruits were promising material, but of little value: they needed to be thoroughly trained. Veterans - old-timers and retired soldiers - are a different matter. For returning to duty, they were entitled to an elegant small medal with military attributes on the obverse and the inscription on the reverse:
"IN - HONOR FOR - SERVICE - SOLDIER".
The medals were made of two types, depending on the duration of the repeated service: the silver one on the red ribbon of the Alexander Order - for six, and the gold one on the blue Andreevskaya one - for ten years. Since the medal still had to be served, they did not start issuing them right away: the first awards took place already in 1817. By that time, the thunderstorm of 1812 had already died down, the Russian army returned from the victorious, although costing many victims of the Foreign campaign. So there were very few survivors of the medals - only a few dozen people.
The authorship of both medals is interesting. At this time, a new generation of masters, represented by Vladimir Alekseev and Ivan Shilov, actively entered the field of medal art. The latter was a student of Karl Leberecht, whom we have repeatedly mentioned. But the "old guard" has not yet left the scene. So, another award is associated with the name of Leberekht, a more massive one.
The threat of Napoleon's imminent invasion of Russia after Austerlitz was worth considering seriously, and the Russian government took an extreme measure, prompted, however, by historical experience. At the end of 1806, the formation of the people's militia, the so-called Zemsky army, began. It was composed mainly of serfs and representatives of other taxable estates (and despite this, all the militias volunteered!), It was supported by national donations, of which up to ten million rubles were accumulated in a short time.
Soon the "army" grew to a gigantic figure of 612 thousand people. Of course, Russia at that time could not adequately arm such a mass: exotic pikes and stakes appeared in the hands of the militia. The backbone of the "army", divided into "battalions", was, however, made up of professionals - retired military men. And it was commanded by the elders whitened with gray hair, the famous "eagles" of the Catherine era.
Setting an example to loyal subjects, Alexander I took a personal part in a good undertaking, ordering from the palace peasants to organize a special battalion in Strelna, named to distinguish it from others "Imperial". It was his soldiers in 1808 who were the first to receive silver medals with the emperor's profile on the obverse and a four-line inscription on the reverse:
FOR FAITH AND - FATHERLAND - TO ZEMSKY - ARMY
To distinguish the officer corps, identical medals were minted, however, already made of gold, and the same, gold, but smaller in diameter, for Cossack officers. They were supposed to be worn on the St. George ribbon. The exception was the officials of the military department who were with the "army", but did not take part in the battles. For them, the tape was intended for a less "prestigious", although also a military Vladimir Order.
Variegated in composition and armament, the "Zemsky Host" was at the same time a serious help for the army in the field. Several militia battalions fought, say, in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau, victorious for the Russians, and, as they say, did not lose face.
About the Preussish-Eilaus battle in connection with a special type of military award - a cross - we will talk, as we have long intended, next time.
