On May 26, 1818, exactly 200 years ago, Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly, one of the most famous and outstanding Russian military leaders of that time, died. Some contemporaries gave him ambiguous assessments, which was associated with the retreat of the Russian troops during the invasion of Napoleon, but then Barclay de Tolly's contribution to the victories of the Russian army, and to its strengthening during Barclay de Tolly's tenure as Minister of War of the Russian Empire, was deservedly appreciated. Even Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin honored Barclay de Tolly with the poem "The Leader". Who was this man, without whom, as many historians today believe, the famous victory of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov near Moscow could not have been?
Interestingly, the exact date of birth of Mikhail Barclay de Tolly is still unknown. According to one version, he was born in 1755, according to another - in 1761, according to the third - in 1757. Barclay de Tolly himself recalled that he was born in Riga, and in one of the biographical publications it was reported that the future commander was born on the Lude Grosshof estate in the vicinity of Valka, on the border of Latvia and Estonia. The official birthplace of Barclay de Tolly is the Pamušis estate, where his parents' family moved in 1760. The ethnic origin of the military leader is no less confusing and interesting. Mikhail Bogdanovich's ancestors came from the German burgher family de Tolly - a lateral offshoot of the old Scottish noble family of Barkley, which had Norman roots. In the middle of the 17th century, Peter Barkley moved to Riga. Mikhail Barclay de Tolly's grandfather Wilhelm served as mayor of Riga, and his father, Weingold Gotthard Barclay de Tolly, served in the Russian army, retired with the rank of lieutenant. Michael Barclay de Tolly's mother, Margaret Elizabeth von Smithten, came from a local priest's family of German descent. The future commander in the family was called Michael-Andreas.
Being an ordinary person by birth, Barclay de Tolly nevertheless entered the military service, where at that time it was very, very difficult for a non-aristocrat to advance. Barclay de Tolly began his military service in 1776 in the Pskov Carabinieri Regiment, and on April 28 (May 9), 1778 he received the rank of cornet. The next officer's rank - second lieutenant - Barclay de Toli received only five years later, in 1783. Such a slow promotion in the service was a direct consequence of the officer's ignorant origin. In 1786, Barclay de Tolly received the rank of lieutenant in the Finnish Jaeger Corps, and in January 1788 he was appointed adjutant to the lieutenant-general Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg and received the rank of captain. He was at that time already about thirty years old, and many aristocrats at that age bore at least the rank of colonel.
Captain Barclay de Tolly took part in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, stormed Ochakov, for which he received the gold Ochakov cross on the St. George ribbon. Valorous service and courage allowed him to receive the rank of Major Seconds in the Izyum Light Horse Regiment. Then Barclay de Tolly was transferred to the Finnish army, in which he participated in the Russian-Swedish war of 1788-1790. On May 1 (12), 1790, Barclay de Tolly received the rank of Prime Major of the Tobolsk Infantry Regiment, and at the end of 1791 he was transferred as battalion commander to the St. Petersburg Grenadier Regiment.
Thus, the career of an officer was rather slow, while many of Barclay de Tolly's peers from aristocratic families tried on generals' uniforms, he remained a simple major - a battalion commander in the grenadier regiment. At this stage of his life, nothing predicted a quick and dizzying career and entry into the military-political elite of the Russian Empire. Barclay de Tolly had every chance to retire as a lieutenant colonel, never reaching really high ranks. By the way, the rank of lieutenant colonel and transfer to the Estland Jaeger Corps by the battalion commander Barclay de Tolly received in 1794, after three years of major service. In March 1798, Barclay de Tolly was promoted to colonel and was appointed commander of the 4th Jaeger Regiment. By this time he was already about forty years old. Since Colonel Barclay de Tolly managed to maintain exemplary order in the jaeger regiment, some showed great success in service, in March 1799 he was promoted to major general. It was a colossal success - after all, the path from colonel to major general took Barclay de Tolly only one year, and he had to serve as a colonel for more than twenty years. In 1805, when the war with France began, Major General Barclay de Tolly commanded a brigade as part of General Bennigsen's army, then the vanguard and rearguard in the same army, was seriously wounded in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau.
It was the war with Napoleon 1806-1807. became a turning point in the career of a general. In April 1807, Barclay de Tolly met twice with Emperor Alexander I, to whom he presented his position on the further war with Napoleon Bonaparte and advocated the use of "scorched earth" tactics. At the same time, Barclay de Tolly, after nine years of service as a major general, was promoted to lieutenant general and was appointed commander of the 6th Infantry Division. Thus, the path to division commander took thirty-one years for Barclay de Tolly and was very difficult, filled with participation in a number of wars and slow promotions. Even by modern standards, the journey of more than thirty years to the division commander would have been considered very long, while at that time many officers from noble families passed it in a matter of years. Barclay de Tolly was a real general who devoted his whole life to the army.
In May 1808, the 6th Infantry Division was transformed into a Separate Expeditionary Force and transferred to Finland to participate in hostilities against Swedish troops. This circumstance also contributed to the career growth of Barclay de Tolly - he received the powers of a corps commander, acted brilliantly in Finland. On March 20 (April 1), 1809, Lieutenant General Mikhail Barclay de Tolly received the rank of General from Infantry, and on March 29 (April 10) he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army and Governor-General of Finland. This meant the general's entry into the ranks of the highest military leaders of the Russian Empire and ensured his real influence on the Russian army.
The career rise of the unknown and ignorant Lieutenant General Barclay de Tolly became the subject of discussion in the aristocratic circles of the Russian Empire. Indeed, on the eve of Barclay de Tolly's promotion to general from infantry, there were 61 lieutenant generals in Russia. Among them, Barclay de Tolly was 47th in seniority, so after his appointment, 46 lieutenant generals who could claim the rank of infantry general felt left out. But the emperor, making the decision to promote Barclay de Tolly to the rank of infantry general and to appoint him governor-general of Finland, acted quite deliberately.
The fact is that, unlike most other generals, Barclay de Tolly was really not just an army commander, but a commander, capable and knowledgeable of the army, seeking to lead it to even greater victories. In addition, Barclay de Tolly proved to be an effective military administrator in the post of Governor-General of Finland, earning the full confidence of the emperor. On January 20 (February 1), 1810, General of Infantry Mikhail Barclay de Tolly was appointed Minister of War of the Russian Empire and was inducted into the Senate. It was a dizzying career.
Immediately after being appointed to the post of Minister of War, Barclay de Tolly began to strengthen the Russian army and prepare it for the inevitable clash with Napoleonic France. Barclay developed two basic military plans in the event of a possible French attack on the Russian Empire. According to the first plan, the Russian army was to go on the offensive and encircle the French troops in the Duchy of Warsaw and Prussia, and then launch an offensive against France, leading the troops through Germany. The second plan provided for the exhausting of the French troops by evading the Russian army from major "head-on" clashes with the Napoleonic army and luring the French deep into Russian territory, while simultaneously using the "scorched earth" tactics.
In the years 1810-1812. preparations for hostilities were in full swing. New fortresses were built, the number of personnel increased, the army was transferred to a corps organization, which contributed to an overall increase in the efficiency of unit management. Of great importance in the general context of preparation for hostilities was the creation of food bases for the armed forces, stocks of weapons and ammunition, more active production of artillery pieces and shells, firearms and bladed weapons. Most of the country's state budget was spent on military needs.
With the beginning of the war with Napoleon, Barclay de Tolly, at first retaining the post of Minister of War, at the same time led the Western Army. Since Napoleonic troops seriously outnumbered the Western army, Barclay de Tolly was forced to retreat further and further into the Russian Empire. He had disagreements with another commander - the commander of the 2nd Western Army, Infantry General Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, who insisted on fighting the French troops and accused Barclay de Tolly of being unable to command the troops entrusted to him.
Since formally the Minister of War Barclay de Tolly did not have the authority of the commander-in-chief of the army, a situation arose when two generals of equal rank did not want to obey each other and could not work together. The dissatisfaction of the local nobility with the actions of Barclay de Tolly, who used the "scorched earth" tactics, also began to grow. Two days before the Battle of Borodino, General Barclay de Tolly was relieved of his duties as the country's minister of war, remaining commander of the 1st Western Army. He was very upset by the public condemnation that he faced as a result of the retreat of the army entrusted to him deep into Russia.
In November 1812, Barclay de Tolly sent a letter to Emperor Alexander I, in which he explained the need for a retreat and outlined his vision of the war with Napoleon. Alexander I responded very favorably to Barclay de Tolly, since the general always appealed to the emperor. However, Barclay de Tolly returned to military service after the Patriotic War of 1812, in 1813. He was appointed commander of the 3rd Army in the Foreign campaign of the Russian army, and on May 17 (29), 1813, took command of the united Russian-Prussian army. Under the command of Barclay de Tolly, Russian troops successfully fought at Thorn, Kulm, Leipzig, Paris.
For the successes of the Russian troops in Germany and France, General of Infantry Barclay de Tolly on December 29, 1813 (January 10, 1814) was elevated to the rank of count, and on March 18 (30), 1814 he was promoted to field marshal general. The victory over Napoleon contributed to the real triumph of Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly. On August 30 (September 11), 1815, he was elevated to the dignity of a prince. The emperor began to shower the Field Marshal with honors, to show him all kinds of signs of attention. Alexander I personally invited Barclay de Tolly to St. Petersburg, where the military leader was met by a guard of honor.
After the victory over Napoleon, Barclay de Tolly continued to occupy the post of commander of the 1st Army, headquartered in Mogilev. He became familiar with the emperor, accompanied him on a trip to the Russian Empire. Comprehending his combat experience and analyzing the actions of the Russian and foreign armies, the Field Marshal published the essay "The rules of loose formation, or Instructions on the scattered action of the infantry for jaeger regiments and skirmishers of all infantry", later supplemented by the section "On the use of riflemen in line exercises."
Who knows how the future military, and maybe the political career of the famous commander would have developed, if not for the premature death at the age of 56. Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly died on May 14 (26), 1818 during a trip to Prussia for treatment. Death occurred on the Shtilitzen manor, now the village of Nagornoye in the Chernyakhovsky district of the Kaliningrad region of Russia. The general's ashes were buried in the family estate Bekhof (Livonia), but during the Great Patriotic War, the grave of the Field Marshal was desecrated by marauders who were looking for jewelry and valuable orders in his tomb.
