Next year, on March 17, General Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev will turn 140 years old. In the encyclopedia you can read about him: “Count Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev (March 2 (14), 1877 - November 20, 1954) - Russian and Soviet military leader, diplomat, adviser to the head of the NKID, a writer from the Ignatiev family. The son of General A. P. Ignatieff and Princess S. S. Meshcherskaya.
And now, while the "top" are still thinking, the veterans are acting. "Diplomacy from below" is taking place. As a result, the Union of Veterans of the Military Institute of Foreign Languages (VIII), headed by Evgeny Loginov, outlined not only a number of events for the future, but also completed several practical tasks. Several "Ignatiev places" in Moscow have been identified: house 17 on Lubyansky proezd, Ilyinsky square, a monument and a bust of the general at the Novodevichy cemetery were tidied up, people who knew the general were found, contact was established with the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val, where the portrait of A. A. Ignatiev (1942). They also sent a signal to St. Petersburg, where there are also "Ignatievskie places". There are such places in France.
Military diplomats and UN military observers did not stand aside.
The fact is that peacekeeping is turning into a new type of military activity, one might say - a type of military art. And here are the advice of the outstanding military diplomat Lieutenant General A. A. Ignatiev's are of paramount importance. Veteran peacekeepers noticed this connection as early as 1973 at the dawn of Russian peacekeeping.
Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev is revered and respected by military diplomats, writers, intelligence officers, linguists and UN military observers (peacekeepers).
KNIGHT OF RUSSIAN MILITARY DIPLOMACY
November 2016 marks the 60th anniversary of the peacekeeping symbol - the UN blue beret. UN military observers in the area of peacekeeping missions wear national military uniforms and peacekeeping symbols: blue beret, cap, helmet, scarf, patch, armband, blue vest.
Let us quote an excerpt from the book by A. A. Ignatieva "50 years in the ranks", which in the last century was popular among Soviet military observers of the UN: "Military diplomats differ from civilians in that for them the military uniform itself is a symbol of some kind of international military solidarity." He survived three wars, and in 1947 he took off his military uniform.
It must be said that military diplomacy and the UN military observer service are two closely related activities. Military diplomacy and peacekeeping have a lot in common. They are brought together by diplomatic passports, professionalism, military etiquette, diplomatic immunity, military uniform, knowledge of military affairs and several foreign languages, nobility and prestige, as well as a worthy representation of our country abroad.
Our military observers served together with the officers of France and Denmark. Norway, Sweden, where Ignatiev had to work. Ignatiev's one-volume book was my colleague's handbook. Going to the UN observation post with a foreign observer, my friend looked through the pages of the book, which mentioned the Scandinavian countries. UN military observers have a lot to learn from General Ignatiev.
The famous writer Valentin Pikul in the book "I Have the Honor" 10 times mentions the name of Ignatiev. The expression "I have the honor" is also mentioned by General Ignatiev in his book. All his life he remained a knight of honor, was one of the brightest representatives of Russian military diplomacy. During the Great Patriotic War, the general provided invaluable assistance to the Red Army, helped in the formation of the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. He was awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany".
MILITARY CASE - A TOOL OF PEACEKEEPING
Ignatiev received a broad military education at the Cadet and Pages corps and at the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Army. He received and took advantage of the G. A. Leer to improve education. At the same time, General Ignatiev passed on knowledge of military affairs, history and foreign armies to colleagues and youth. In the military publishing house and in the administrative apparatus of higher military educational institutions, he enjoyed great prestige.
Let's look at the archives: “On April 17, 1943, Major General A. A. Ignatiev sent a personal letter to the People's Commissar of Defense … To begin with, in the form of experience, it is proposed to create, as a model, only one cadet corps in Moscow, which should enter into the system of UVUZ and the People's Commissariat of Defense. Suvorov military schools were soon established.
The general's advice on the preparation of written documents, diplomatic etiquette and country-specific topics is very relevant today for military peacekeepers.
THE POWER OF LANGUAGE
It is known that the main weapon of the UN military observers is a foreign language. We can say that a peacemaker is a peacemaker as many times as he knows foreign languages.
Speaking about the study of foreign languages, Alexei Ignatiev wrote: “The pages turned out to be head and shoulders above all the cadets in their knowledge of foreign languages. A course in the history of French and German literature was taught in special classes, and many pages wrote essays with the same ease as in Russian."
The requirements for language training and for the officers of the highest command level were very high. So, to enter the Academy of the General Staff, it was required to pass exams in two foreign languages - to write essays on given topics or translate complex technical texts with a dictionary.
It is difficult to learn a foreign language without knowing your native language. Now, when a total dictation is being conducted, let us recall the cornet Ignatiev: “According to the order established for a long time, the first exam was in the Russian language. It was required to get at least nine points on a 12-point system; the score consisted of the points received for dictation and composition. The Russian language exam was especially feared, since they knew in advance that it would entail the elimination of at least 20% of candidates.
About 400 people crammed into the semi-dark old auditorium, and I found myself squeezed somewhere in the back rows between two completely unknown army infantry officers. Everyone, as was expected during the exams, was in service uniform, that is, in uniforms, with shoulder straps and orders.
When the paper was handed out to everyone, Tsvetkovsky, a professor of Russian literature, began to clearly dictate an excerpt from The Pugachev Revolt. He repeated each phrase two, three times. The tension grew by the minute, and it seemed that in the most ordinary word there was some kind of catch."
The influence of the book "50 Years in the Line" on the establishment of the institution of UN military observers in our country is enormous. Several of our first draft peacekeepers took this book with them. And although our officers worked and took part in hostilities in other countries until 1973, they did not have to serve in an international peacekeeping military organization. There was no practice of communicating with two dozen officers from different countries around the clock at observation posts. Desire and necessity did their job. The book "50 years in the ranks" can be considered an instruction in artistic form on diplomatic work.
MILITARY OBSERVERS AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS
Foreign topographic maps are an indispensable aid to UN military observers. Currently, the maps of the deployment of peacekeeping missions are being dealt with by the UN Geospatial Information Section.
Peacekeepers recall: "It so happens that for UN military observers (military experts of peacekeeping missions), a peacekeeping day begins with a topographic map and ends with a map."
A. A. Ignatiev.
The famous writer Viktor Nekrasov, who read the sensational book "50 Years in the Service" in one gulp, recalled that in the General's office "there was a huge, wall-to-wall map of Europe. Alexey Alekseevich, not without pride, drew my attention to her.
“I can boast,” he said, “I think that neither the Academy of Sciences nor the Lenin Library has such a detailed map. I judge by the fact that it was specially requested by the Kremlin when the demarcation line was drawn between Germany and the USSR."
Working with maps in France, a military diplomat recalled: “Oh, this map! I will never forget her. “Look,” she seemed to say to me, “how badly you are working…”.
Our military observers and police officers have to work in 10 peacekeeping missions with officers from dozens of countries on all continents. Let's pay attention to several missions.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has officers from 34 countries. The oldest mission, the United Nations Truce Observatory in Palestine (UNTSO), is represented by 26 countries. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has officers from 54 countries.
Flags, signs, emblems, shoulder straps are always before our eyes. Around the open space - the geography of the whole world. Peacekeepers can do geographic dictation!
GENERAL IGNATIEV AND THE LITERARY AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
Let us refer to the "Brief Literary Encyclopedia". The article about A. A. Ignatiev wrote to V. G. Fink (1888-1973). In 1914, he volunteered for the French army and was enrolled in the Foreign Legion. After the war he returned to Russia. The author writes:
“The book of I.'s memoirs“50 years in the ranks”(parts 1–2, 1939–1940) depicts the life of the highest Russian. society and court, Russian-Japanese. war and the reasons for the defeat of the Russian. armies, life in Russia, Scandinavia and France in the period preceding World War I and after it. Memoirs of I., covering a great historical. period, written accurately and expressively, they represent not only cognitive, but also artist. interest.
General Ignatiev was familiar with many artists.
Fate brought him together with the artist Nikolai Glushchenko (1900-1976) in France, where he decorated the Soviet pavilion of the Lyon Fair in the 1920s. In 1936 the artist returned to Moscow, and in 1944 he moved to Kiev. He collaborated with Soviet intelligence, was one of those who in advance, in January 1940, informed the Soviet government about the impending attack by Nazi Germany. The works of N. P. Glushchenko are in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, in many foreign museums and private collections.
At the beginning of this century, the "fountain of books" from the series "ZhZL" on the theme of the "gallery of the beaten" who escaped "from the army": Wrangel, Denikin, Kornilov, Kutepov, Kolchak "hit". Some authors quote A. A. Ignatiev. The author of the book about Wrangel quotes Ignatiev especially abundantly.
Having scrolled through the "White Guard series of books", you will notice that they bear the "imprint of the political situation." This is not the time to count saber strikes. Unlike the White Guard generals, the cavalryman Ignatiev did not raise a saber against his compatriots.
The literary activity of Alexei Ignatiev is extensive. "Units of storage" in the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RGALI) and other archives enable writers to prepare a book about him from the series "Life of Remarkable People" (ZhZL).
The memoirs of Metropolitan Pitirim about Ignatiev are very interesting: “He was a very interesting person, an example of a cavalry guard. He was enormous in stature."
Ignatiev's good friend was the famous diplomat Vladimir Petrovich Potemkin. It is symbolic that our first peacekeeper, who appeared at the UN observation post on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal in 1973, was Major Nikolai Potemkin, albeit a namesake.
Let's give the floor to specialists. Analysis of the military-diplomatic work of General A. A. Ignatiev was given by Professor Vladimir Ivanovich Vinokurov in the first volume of the "History of Military Diplomacy": "All the activities and life of A. A. Ignatiev, a military diplomat of a wide profile, a versatile educated erudite, an officer, is an example of selfless devotion to the Motherland, an example of the ability to consistently defend the interests of the state and the Russian people in the difficult conditions of the early 20th century."
One can proudly say: manga pars fui - "he was a big part."
