Pyotr Rumyantsev

{{family name hatnote|Alexandrovich|Rumyantsev|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = Count

| name = Pyotr Rumyantsev

| honorific-suffix = Zadunaisky

| image = Портрет ген.-фельдм.графа Петра Александрович Румянцева-Задунайского. ГИМ e1.jpg

| caption = Portrait by an unknown artist, 1770s

| alt =

| order =

| office = General Governor of Little Russia
Little Russian Collegium Chair

| term_start = 1764

| term_end = 1786

| monarch = Catherine the Great

| lieutenant =

| predecessor = office revived (replacing the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host Kirill Razumovsky)

| successor = office liquidated (himself as General Governor of Kiev, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky)

| office2 = General Governor of Kursk Namestnichestvo

| term_start2 = 1779

| term_end2 = 1781

| monarch2 = Catherine the Great

| lieutenant2 =

| predecessor2 = office created

| successor2 = Alexander Prozorovsky

| office3 = General Governor of Kiev, Chernigov, and Novgorod-Seversky Namestnichestvos

| term_start3 = 1782

| term_end3 = 1796

| monarch3 = Catherine the Great (1782–1796), Paul I (1796)

| deputy3 = Mikhail Krechetnikov (1791–1793), Iosif Igelström (1793–1794)

| predecessor3 = office created

| successor3 = office liquidated

| birth_name = Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1725|01|15|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Stroiești,Vartichan & Andrunakievich (1982), p. 535 Crown of the Kingdom of Poland or Moscow,{{sfn|Korobkov|1947|p=5}}{{sfn|Meerovich|1987|p=8}} Russian Empire

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1796|12|19|1725|01|15|df=yes}}

| death_place = Tashan, Pereyaslavsky Uyezd, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire

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| allegiance = {{flag|Russian Empire}}

| branch = Imperial Russian Army

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| rank = Field Marshal

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| awards = See § Awards

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| native_name = {{nobold|Пётр Румянцев}}

| native_name_lang = ru

}}

Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky{{efn|His name Pyotr is also anglicized as Peter.
The full name is also transliterated as Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky.}} ({{langx|ru|Пётр Александрович Румянцев-Задунайский}};{{efn|Pre-1918 orthography: Петръ Александровичъ Румянцевъ-Задунайскій}} {{OldStyleDate|15 January|1725|4 January}} – {{OldStyleDate|19 December|1796|8 December}}) was one of the foremost Russian generals of the 18th century, and is widely considered to be one of Russia's greatest military leaders,{{Cite book |last=Longworth |first=Philip |url=https://archive.org/details/artofvictorylife0000long |title=The Art of Victory: The Life and Achievements of Field-Marshal Suvorov, 1729-1800 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart & Winston |year=1966 |edition=1st |pages=28 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Шишов |first=Алексей |url=https://topreading.net/book-283695-aleksei-shishov-100-velikih-voenachalnikov |title=100 великих военачальников |publisher=Вече |year=2008 |isbn=978-5-9533-2594-3 |pages=183–188 |language=ru |trans-title=100 Great Military Leaders}} and one of the greatest military commanders in military history.{{sfn|Bodart|1908|p=789}}{{Cite book |url=https://prussia.online/books/istoriya-russkoy-armii-7-1 |title=История русской армии: В 7 т. |publisher=ООО «Издательство Полигон» |year=2003 |isbn=5-89173-205-X |editor-last=Волковский |editor-first=Н. Л. |volume=1: От зарождения Руси до войны 1812 г. |pages=326, 348 |language=ru |trans-title=History of the Russian Army: In 7 volumes. Volume 1: From the birth of Rus' to the War of 1812. |chapter=}} He is noted as one of the three best and most talented Russian military leaders of the time period, along with Alexander Suvorov and Grigory Potemkin.{{Cite book |url=https://prussia.online/books/istoriya-russkoy-armii-7-1 |title=История русской армии: В 7 т. |publisher=ООО «Издательство Полигон» |year=2003 |isbn=5-89173-205-X |editor-last=Волковский |editor-first=Н. Л. |volume=1: От зарождения Руси до войны 1812 г. |pages=298, 493 |language=ru |trans-title=History of the Russian Army: In 7 volumes. Volume 1: From the birth of Rus' to the War of 1812. |chapter=}} Rumyantsev used mobile divisional squares for the first time in history as opposed to linear battle orders and initiated the formation of light (jaeger) battalions in the Russian Army, which operated in a scattered order.{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=РУМЯНЦЕВ-ЗАДУНАЙСКИЙ ПЁТР АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧ • Great Russian Encyclopedia – Electronic version |url=https://old.bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/3520474 |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=old.bigenc.ru}}

He governed Little Russia{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Bezborodko, Aleksander Andreevich |volume=3 |page=840 |first=Robert Nisbet |last=Bain}} in the name of Empress Catherine the Great from the abolition of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1764 until Catherine's death 32 years later. Monuments to his victories include the Kagul Obelisk in Tsarskoye Selo (1772), the Rumyantsev Obelisk on Vasilievsky Island (1798–1801), and a galaxy of Derzhavin's odes.

Early life

{{Main|War of the Austrian Succession|Russo-Swedish War (1741–43)|Seven Years' War}}

Pyotr came from the Russian noble Rumyantsev family.{{sfn|Kuzmin|2017}} He was the only son of Count Alexander Rumyantsev, and was born in the village of Stroiești (modern Moldova/Transnistria), by Maria, the daughter and heiress of Count Andrey Matveyev. According to other versions, he was born in Moscow, and the Moldovan version of the birth is called legendary.{{sfn|Korobkov|1947|p=5}}{{sfn|Meerovich|1987|p=8}} As his mother spent much time in the company of Peter the Great, rumours suggested that the young Rumyantsev was the monarch's illegitimate son. He was named after the ruling Emperor who was his godfather. He was the brother of Praskovya Bruce, confidant of Catherine the Great.

Pyotr Alexandrovich first saw military service under his nominal father in the war with Sweden (1741–1743). He personally carried to the Empress the peace treaty of Åbo, concluded by his father in 1743. Thereupon he gained promotion to the rank of colonel.

His first military glory dates from the great battles of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), those of Gross-Jägersdorf (1757) and Kunersdorf (1759). In 1761 he besieged and took the Pomeranian fortress of Kolberg,{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Elizabeth Petrovna |volume=9 |page=285 |first=Robert Nisbet |last=Bain}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pyotr-Aleksandrovich-Rumyantsev-Graf-Zadunaysky|title=Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev, Count Zadunaysky {{!}} Russian military officer|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-08-30}} which had twice been unsuccessfully beleaguered by other Russia's commanders; thus clearing for Russian armies the path to Berlin. The siege of Kolberg of 1761 was an important milestone in the development of Russian military art. Here Rumyantsev pioneered a new tactic – the action of troops in battalion (regimental) columns, combined with a scattered formation of jaegers.{{sfn|Tashlykov|2016}}

First Russo-Turkish War

File:Rumyantsev skver.jpg (1799–1801) was moved from the Field of Mars to St. Andrew's Cathedral by Carlo Rossi in 1818.]]

Throughout the reign of Catherine the Great, Rumyantsev served as supreme governor of Little Russia. In this post, which his father had held with so much honesty, Rumyantsev made it his priority to eliminate any autonomy of the hetmans and to fully incorporate the newly conquered territories into the Russian Empire. Some accuse him of having promoted serfdom in New Russia, but the choice of such a policy remained out of his control.

With the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war in 1768, Rumyantsev took command of the army sent to capture Azov. He thoroughly defeated the Turks in the battles of Ryabaya Mogila, Larga, and Kagul, crossed the Danube and advanced to Romania. For these dazzling victories he became Field-Marshal and gained the victory title Zadunaisky (meaning "Trans-Danubian"). When his forces approached Shumla in 1774, the new Sultan Abdul Hamid I started to panic and sued for peace, which Rumyanstev signed upon a military tambourine at the village of Küçük Kaynarca.

Second Russo-Turkish War

By that point, Rumyantsev had undoubtedly become the most famous Russian commander. Other Catharinian generals, notably Potemkin, allegedly regarded his fame with such jealousy that they wouldn't permit him to take the command again. In times of peace, Rumyantsev expressed his innovative views on the martial art in the Instructions (1761), Customs of Military Service (1770), and the Thoughts (1777). These works provided a theoretical base for the re-organisation of the Russian army undertaken by Potemkin.

During the Second Russo-Turkish War, Rumyantsev suspected Potemkin of deliberately curtailing supplies of his army and presently resigned his command. In the Polish campaign of 1794 he once again won appointment as commander-in-chief, but his rival Suvorov actually led the armies into battle. On this occasion Rumyantsev didn't bother even to leave his Ukrainian manor at Tashan which he had rebuilt into a fortress. He died there on 19 December 1796, just over a month after Catherine's death, and was interred in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

As the story goes, old Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky grew enormously fat and avaricious, so that he pretended not to recognize his own sons when they came from the capital to ask for money. Under his son Sergey's administration, Tashan fell into ruins, although he erected a mausoleum near Balashikha for his father's reburial (which never took place). Neither Sergey nor his brother Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev married, and the comital branch of the Rumyantsev family became extinct upon their death.

Awards

Rumyantsev was awarded the following honors:

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1759);
Order of St. Andrew (1762);
Order of St. George 1st Class (1770);
Order of St. Vladimir 1st Class (1782);
Golden Weapon for Bravery (1775, 1791/92).

Gallery

File:Rumjanzew-sadunaiski.jpg|Portrait of Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky.{{efn|The portrait shows Rumyantsev in a fieldmarshal's uniform with gold embroidery on the collar, sides, and sleeves. Ribbons of the Orders of St. Andrew and St. George 1st Class are worn over the caftan. On the chest of the Field Marshal are embroidered stars of these awards.}} Unknown artist of the late 18th century.

File:Портрет графа Петра Андреевича Румянцева-Задунайского.Тончи. 2я пол.1790х ГИМ e1.jpg|Portrait of Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. Painting of the 1790s by Salvatore Tonci.

File:RusPortraits v4-102 Comte Pierre Alexandowitch Roumiantzeff.jpg|Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev, 18th century, unknown author

File:Rumyantsev Zadunaysky Mansion.jpg|Rumyantsev Zadunaysky Mansion, built in 1782.{{efn|A number of researchers called the famous architect of the project Vasily Bazhenov, others attribute the construction to M. F. Kazakov. There is no consensus on the issue; it is possible that both the architects were involved in the project.}}

File:Spb 06-2012 English Embankment 03.jpg|Nikolai Rumyantsev's mansion on English Quay, St. Petersburg

File:Belarus-Homel-Palace of Pashkevichs-13.jpg|Rumyantsev Residence in Gomel, Belarus

File:Maryinsky Palace, residence of the Ukrainian President.JPG|Governors' Palace in Kyiv

File:Kachanovka palace.JPG|Kachanivka Palace, Ukraine

Notes

References

Sources

{{Cite book |last=Bodart |first=Gaston |date=1908 |publisher=C. W. Stern |year=1908 |location=Vienna and Leipzig |language=de |title=Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905) |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_A0kNAAAAYAAJ |access-date=7 July 2022}}
{{Cite book |last=Korobkov |first=Nikolay Mikhailovich |date=1947 |title=Фельдмаршал Румянцев |publisher=Политгиз |location=Moscow |language=ru |trans-title=Field Marshal Rumyantsev}}
{{Cite book |last=Meerovich |first=Grigory Ilyich |date=1987 |title=Румянцев в Петербурге |publisher=Лениздат |location=Leningrad |language=ru |trans-title=Rumyantsev in Petersburg}}
{{Cite book |last1=Andrunakievich |first1=Vladimir Aleksandrovich |date=1982 |title=Советская Молдавия: краткая энциклопедия |last2=Vartichan |first2=Iosif Konstantinovich |publisher=Глав. ред. Молдавской Сов. энциклопедии |location=Kishinev |language=ru |trans-title=Soviet Moldavia: short encyclopedia}}
{{Cite web |last=Tashlykov |first=S. L. |date=2016 |title=КОЛЬБЕРГА ОСАДЫ |url=https://old.bigenc.ru/military_science/text/2621197 |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=Great Russian Encyclopedia. Electronic version}}
{{Cite web |last=Kuzmin |first=A. V. |date=2017 |title=РУМЯНЦЕВЫ |url=https://old.bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/3520505 |access-date=2 October 2023 |website=Great Russian Encyclopedia. Electronic version}}

{{s-bef | before = Kyrylo Rozumovsky|as=Hetman of Zaporizhian Host}}

{{s-ttl | title = Governor-General of Little Russia | years = 1764–1781}}

{{s-aft | after = himself|as=General Governor of Kiev, Chernigov and Novgorod-Siversky}}

{{s-bef | rows=2 | before = himself|as=General Governor of Little Russia}}

{{s-ttl | rows=2 | title = General Governor of Kiev, Chernigov, Novgorod-Siversky | years = 1782–1796}}

{{s-aft | after = Sergey Vyazmitinov|as=General Governor of Little Russia (Kamenets-Podolsky)}}

Category:1725 births

Category:1796 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Moscow

Category:People from Moskovsky Uyezd

Category:Counts of the Russian Empire

Category:Russian people of Romanian descent