A few days before his death in October 1851, sixty-nine-year-old infantry general Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky ordered his relatives to bring a rescript from Emperor Nicholas I given in 1826 about awarding him the rank of full general and appointing him commander of the Caucasian army in the war against Persia. The Tsar wrote: “I am confident that your name alone will be enough to animate the troops led by you, to frighten the enemy, who has been repeatedly defeated by you and who dares again to violate the peace for which you opened the first path with your exploits.”

“I would like to shed my last blood in your service, Most Gracious Sovereign, but my completely disturbed health, and especially the head wound, which recently reopened, not allowing me even to use the open air, takes away any opportunity to appear in the field of work and glory,” the glorious one was forced to disappoint emperor's general

The lifetime death of General Kotlyarevsky became part of the heroic myth of the Empire. Crippled during the victorious assault on Lankaran on December 31, 1812 (hereinafter dates according to the Julian calendar), the general always emphasized his status as a living dead. He ordered himself a special seal: a skeleton between two order stars of St. Anne, 1st class, and St. George, 2nd class.

“Hurray - Kotlyarevsky! You have turned into a precious bag in which your beaten, priceless, heroic bones are kept in pieces. But through your cruel torment you continue to serve the sovereign with benefit, setting an example worthy of imitation of the selflessness of a warrior and a Christian,” wrote another disabled Russian general, General I.N. Skobelev (grandfather of M.D. Skobelev), who lost his left and the first three fingers of his right hand during the war and still became a famous writer.

Infantry General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky

Kotlyarevsky became famous in 1812. Although he was not at Borodino, did not fight the French and did not enter Paris, his fame among his contemporaries was in no way inferior to the glory of the heroes of the war with Napoleon. The greatest of Russian poets, who deservedly received the nickname “singer of empire and freedom,” Pushkin, dedicated the following lines to the hero in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” in 1821:

Oh, Kotlyarevsky, scourge of the Caucasus!

Wherever you rushed like a thunderstorm -

Your path is like a black infection

He destroyed and destroyed tribes...

You left the saber of vengeance here,

You are not happy about war;

Bored by the world, in the wounds of honor,

You taste the idle peace

And the silence of the home valleys.

What were the exploits of the “meteor general” Kotlyarevsky and under what circumstances did he receive his “ulcers of honor”, with which he, however, lived in constant torment for forty years, survived both Pushkin and Skobelev and only almost crossed the threshold of his eighties?

Due to the circumstances of his birth, Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky (born in 1782) should not have become a military man at all. His father was of noble origin, but was a modest rural priest near Kharkov, and young Petya, preparing for the priesthood, studied at a theological college. However, one day Colonel I.P. found himself on the threshold of his house in a fierce blizzard. Lazarev. Having been delayed for several days on a visit due to bad weather, the military man appreciated the boy’s exceptional talents and recommended that his father send him to military service, which was more appropriate for a nobleman. The Kotlyarevskys forgot to think about this conversation with a passing military man, but one day a messenger appeared on the threshold of their house, saying that Fourier Kotlyarevsky, who had been enlisted in the army through the efforts of Lazarev, was expected in the service. So ten-year-old Petya turned out to be a non-commissioned officer of the Kuban Jaeger Corps.

In 1796, during the storming of Derbent during the Persian campaign, he was under bullets for the first time, and in 1799, at the age of seventeen, a young adjutant, in charge of the correspondence of his patron, General Lazarev, turned out to be the de facto ruler of the Georgian kingdom. Lazarev commanded a regiment sent to Tiflis to maintain order in the union state. At the same time, Kotlyarevsky received the first (but not the last) complaint in his life: the Russian envoy in Tiflis reported that the impudent adjutant had come to the elderly Georgian Tsar George directly in his bedroom to demand a report on why the supply of Russian troops was being disrupted.

However, the Russian military administration in Georgia generally behaved rather unceremoniously and this cost considerable troubles. After the decrees of Paul I and then Alexander I on the annexation of the country to Russia were announced in 1801 (this decision was made by Tsar George before his death), the new governor, Georgian by birth, Prince Tsitsianov, ordered General Lazarev to take care of the expulsion of members of the Georgian ruling house in Russia. In April 1803, Lazarev surrounded the house of the Dowager Tsarina Mariam Georgievna Tsitsishvili with soldiers and demanded that she get ready for the road. She began to insult Governor Tsitsianov, her distant relative, Lazarev grabbed her legs and tried to drag her away, and then the angry woman struck him in the chest with a dagger. Adjutant Kotlyarevsky, who heard the noise, burst in with a saber drawn and wounded the queen in the head, but she remained alive and lived until 1850, being imprisoned in the Belgorod convent until 1811, and then living in Moscow.

The annexation of Georgia had dramatic geopolitical consequences for Russia. Raised by Catholic missionaries, the Georgian prince Alexander, the younger brother of George, began a guerrilla war against Russia that lasted many decades, angering its neighbors. Persia, which considered Georgia its sphere of influence, became alarmed, and the Russian-Persian War of 1804-1813 began. Persia was supported with arms and gold by Britain, which feared that Russia was paving the road to India through the Caucasus. Napoleonic France and Turkey, which also entered the war against Russia in 1806, willingly supported anti-Russian combinations. In order to support the newly acquired geopolitical enclave in Transcaucasia, Russia was forced to enter into the most difficult Caucasian War, which lasted half a century, with the mountaineers who threatened communications to Tiflis along the Georgian Military Road. So the Russian forces had to fight in Transcaucasia, with almost no reinforcements, according to the formula “hundreds against thousands.”

It was in such conditions that the military genius of the “Caucasian Suvorov” - Kotlyarevsky revealed himself in full force, and this explains his lightning-fast career, surprising even for the Russian army, which did not shy away from “young generals of their destinies.” For most of his combat biography, he commanded rangers - they operated in loose formation, were accurate shooters and had high initiative, which was especially important in the Caucasus. Kotlyarevsky knew how to fight not with numbers, but with skill, to fall on the enemy out of the blue, to rush at the bayonet point, he knew how to control the spirit of his soldiers and even more so - the enemy soldiers, whom he knew how to deceive and intimidate. Realizing the low morale of the Persian army, he knew how to reduce it to complete insignificance and panic. The fortresses he took in small numbers with insignificant losses became impregnable.

Captain Kotlyarevsky received his first glory and first wound in December 1803 during the occupation of the outskirts of Ganja, where he climbed the walls without even using ladders. The captain, wounded in the leg, was picked up by private huntsman Ivan Bogatyrev, but was immediately killed by a bullet in the heart. Kotlyarevsky was brought out of the battlefield by the young Count Vorontsov, who in 1814 would win the battle against Napoleon himself, become the governor of Novorossiya and the Caucasus, and would forever remain Kotlyarevsky’s best friend.

In June 1805, Colonel Karyagin and Major Kotlyarevsky, at the head of 600 soldiers, headed to Karabakh, whose khan recognized the power of Russia (the main part of the territorial acquisitions of that war consisted in the acceptance of Russian citizenship by the Azerbaijani khans). However, the small detachment came across significant forces led by the Shah's son and the main Persian military leader Abbas Mirza. The ratio of forces was 1:50. Having fortified themselves in a cemetery on the river bank, the Russians lost a third of the detachment killed and wounded. Karyagin was wounded in the back, Kotlyarevsky - in the left leg. A particularly shameful fact was the desertion of Lieutenant Lisenko along with a group of soldiers who went over to the side of the Persians. The position of Karyagin’s detachment seemed so hopeless that the number of deserters reached 58 people, that is, a tenth.

It was then that Kotlyarevsky demonstrated his amazing military art for the first time. Having abandoned the convoy to plunder the Persians, the Russians at night, unnoticed by the enemy, who was carried away by the plunder of the camp, moved towards the Shah-Bulakh fortress. Under the command of Kotlyarevsky, Russian rangers took the fortress in a raid, and the major was wounded by grapeshot in his left hand. However, Shah-Bulakh also turned out to be a trap - there was not enough food there, they ate horse meat and grass. And then a new breakthrough - to the mountain fortress of Mukhratu, in the defense of which the number of troops did not matter. On the road to Mukhrata, there was a ditch that the guns could not overcome, and then four volunteers created a bridge from their bodies, two even survived (this feat is depicted in the famous painting by Franz Roubaud “The Living Bridge”). Again, under the command of Kotlyarevsky (twice wounded), the fortress is taken on the fly, and in it the heroes safely wait for Tsitsianov to release them.

Soon Tsitsianov is treacherously killed by the khan’s brother during negotiations on the surrender of Baku. The head of the Russian military leader is sent to the Shah in Persia. But even under Tsitsianov’s successors – Gudovich, Tormasov, Paulucci – Kotlyarevsky’s career is going up. In 1807 he was a lieutenant colonel, in 1808 he was a colonel. In 1810, he was assigned with just one battalion to occupy the impregnable fortress of Meghri, on the banks of the Araks, on the border with Persia of modern Armenian Zangezur. Having passed through inaccessible mountain paths, Kotlyarevsky, in a stunning, almost bloodless raid, occupied the fortifications of Meghri, which the Russians would now be able to defend even with a small garrison. The Persian army of Akhmet Khan, accompanied by English officers, advanced to Meghri, soon became convinced that it was powerless against Meghri in the hands of the Russians, and began evacuating to the Persian side of the Araks. And so, when the Persian cavalry crossed, Kotlyarevsky with a detachment of 500 people launched a bayonet attack on the Persian infantry, destroying several thousand opponents in an hour. For the victory at Meghri he receives his first George - 4th degree and a golden sword “For Bravery”. However, for the first time in his life after a new wound, Kotlyarevsky feels unwell in his health and asks for leave.

The vacation, however, is short-lived. In December 1810, Paulucci, inspired by the success under Meghri, decided to entrust Kotlyarevsky with the capture of the Akhalkalaki fortress. This fortress was the central point linking the Turkish and Persian armies in their attempts to wage joint action against Russia. In 1808, Gudovich tried to storm it, but suffered a crushing defeat. Kotlyarevsky's huntsmen, equipped with folding ladders, walked through mountain paths in the middle of the bitter winter, where even birds could not fly, and in the middle of the night on December 8 they attacked the Turks who were not expecting an attack. In an hour and a half the fortress was taken.

For Akhalkalaki, Kotlyarevsky at the age of 29 received the rank of major general. And in 1811, having blocked Abbas Mirza’s road to Karabakh with both military maneuvers and skillful diplomacy, and corrected the consequences of the disaster of Major Gino’s detachment defeated by the Persians, Pyotr Stepanovich was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree, and a pension of 1,200 rubles.

And then came 1812, a glorious year for Russian weapons not only in the center of Russia, but also in the Caucasus. Russian forces in this region found themselves in an extremely dangerous situation. Having seized the role of “Persia’s best friends” from the French, the British stuffed Tehran with money, weapons, and military instructors, just to harm Russia. In March 1812, the British ambassador in Tehran signed an anti-Russian alliance agreement with Persia. In June 1812, General Malcolm arrived in Persia with 350 British officers and non-commissioned officers to prepare the Persian army against Russia. The Shah was delivered 30 thousand rifles, 12 cannons, and cloth for uniforms. Britain pledged to provide cash subsidies to Persia. With the outbreak of the war with Napoleon, the British formally became friends of Russia. In fact, British agents continued to try to take advantage of Russia's difficulties in order to push it out of Transcaucasia. Some of the British officers remained with Abbas Mirza’s army, and for some reason, at the negotiations with the Russians, instead of the Shah’s diplomats, the British appeared, and with the most decisive provocative demands.

Almost simultaneously, news came to the Russian commander-in-chief Rtishchev that Moscow, burned by fire, had been given to the French, that the highlanders, rebelled by the Georgian prince Alexander, had intercepted the Georgian military road, which meant there would be no reinforcements, not even letters. The rebels were approaching Tiflis, and desperate Lezgins were already “horsing around Avlabar” (a Tiflis suburb). Finally, it became known that Abbas Mirza’s large army occupied the Russian-allied Talysh principality on the Caspian coast, and English engineers built the Lankaran fortress there, and now Abbas approached the Araks, threatening to invade Russian-controlled lands. Rtishchev, in such a desperate situation, decided to stall for time with negotiations, but at the instigation of the British advisers, Abbas-Mirza immediately took an aggressive tone towards them, demanding that Russia cede everything it had occupied since 1800, including Georgia.

A different strategy was advocated by Kotlyarevsky, who proposed crossing the Araks and defeating the Persians. Things came to a point of public disagreement between Rtishchev and Kotlyarevsky, the young general even threatened to resign. At that moment, he amazed everyone with his determination: let’s say, having learned about the disrespect shown by the Karabakh khan towards Russia and its allies, he galloped, accompanied by only one Cossack, to the khan’s courtyard and, threatening the ruler with a whip, forced him to ask for forgiveness and completely submit to Russian power. The maturation of the rebellion in the Russian rear was nipped in the bud.

Rtishchev left for Tiflis, making Kotlyarevsky agree not to cross the Araks. However, Pyotr Stepanovich almost immediately broke it. He sent a provocative message to Abbas Mirza. He, threatening the Russians, crossed the Araks, then, having come to his senses, evacuated back. And then Kotlyarevsky, having received the desired excuse, decided to act. He sends a letter to Rtishchev, in which he informs of his intention to defeat Abbas Mirza and thereby upset all his plans: “No matter how courageous my enterprise may seem, benefit, honor and glory require it from me, and I hope for God’s help, always fighting Russian weapons, and the bravery of the detachment entrusted to me, that if I remain alive, the enemy will be defeated.”

Kotlyarevsky announces an “easy march” to his detachment, when soldiers without overcoats take with them crackers for 3 days and 40 cartridges instead of 60, and crosses the Araks, prefacing the enterprise with a short and expressive speech: “Brothers! We must go beyond the Araks and defeat the Persians. There are ten of them for one, but each of you is worth ten, and the more enemies, the more glorious the victory. Let’s go, brothers, and let’s break it!”

On the morning of October 19, 1812, the approaching Russians were discovered by the English captain Lindsay, who did not immediately even realize that it was the enemy. Abbas Mirza himself believed even less in the likelihood of a Russian attack. Seeing Kotlyarevsky’s approaching Tatar auxiliary cavalry, he threw the phrase to the English officer: “This is some Tatar khan coming to me.” When the Englishman drew the attention of the Shah’s son that these were Russians after all, he muttered contemptuously: “The piglets themselves climb the knife.” Abbas Mirza had certain grounds for contempt: his army numbered, according to various estimates, from 15 to 30 thousand people, that is, it exceeded the forces of Kotlyarevsky, who had 2221 people, by about ten times. The Russians occupied a commanding height, cutting off Abbas-Mirza's escape route, and struck with bayonets from it. The Russians got the Persian camp and light artillery.

Abbas-Mirza fortified himself in Aslanduz, and that same night Kotlyarevsky led his detachment in a new attack. The order was given not to take prisoners, except for the Shah's heir himself. In complete silence, the Russians advanced towards the Persian fortifications, and then, shouting “Hurray,” they attacked with bayonets from three sides. Chaos and panic began among the Persians, some of them took refuge in a fortification on a hill, others, deciding that the Russians were there, attacked them and killed many. When the Russians arrived, they killed those who remained. The English Major Christie, who commanded the Persian artillery, was wounded in the neck, and half of his battalion died trying to pull him out of the battlefield. In the morning the major was found by the Russians, but he stabbed an officer who was trying to help him get up, and was eventually shot by a Russian Cossack. Only Abbas-Mirza, by a lucky chance, managed to escape to Tabriz.

As trophies, the Russians received 12 English cannons, including one with the inscription: “From the King above the Kings to the Shah above the Shahs, as a gift.” Several British non-commissioned officers were captured. 9 thousand Persians were killed on the battlefield. Kotlyarevsky ordered to write in the report that one and a half thousand of them died, adding that if you report the true number, they still won’t believe it.

The Battle of Aslanduz, which took place when no one on the distant outskirts yet knew about Napoleon’s abandonment of Moscow, irrevocably resolved the Caucasian crisis. The Persians and the British lost all hope of squeezing Russia out of Transcaucasia, and the rebellions began to wane. Kotlyarevsky was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and St. George, 3rd class. However, the hero himself believed that the job was not done as long as Lankaran was in the hands of the Persians, blocking the road along the Caspian Sea deep into Persia.

Taking with him a detachment of 1,761 people, Kotlyarevsky marched through the salt marsh Mugan steppes and approached a fortress that had a garrison of 4,000 people. The British did their best to build the fort: high stone walls, deep earthen trenches, corner bastions. With a ratio of forces of 1 to 2.5, Lankaran seemed impregnable. Kotlyarevsky turned to the Talysh, acting as a liberator: “The Russian word is not a Persian word: the Russian does not know deceit and has no need for deception,” and they left the side of the Persians.

The general twice offered to surrender to the Lankaran garrison, emphasizing that the Persians did not have the slightest chance against the victors at Aslanduz, but the garrison commander Sadikh Khan was a Persian of the old school and vowed to die rather than surrender (and fulfilled his promise).

Then, on December 30, Kotlyarevsky issued an order for the assault. “When deciding to proceed with this last resort, I let the troops know about it and consider it necessary to warn all officers and soldiers that there will be no retreat. We must either take the fortress, or we all must die, that’s why we were sent here. I twice offered the enemy the surrender of the fortress, but he persists. So let us prove to him, brave soldiers, that nothing can resist the Russian bayonet. The Russians did not take such fortresses and not from such enemies as the Persians; these mean nothing against them.”

On December 31, 1812, under terrible Persian fire, three columns of attackers rushed into the ditch and then tried to attack the walls. What happened next was described by Kotlyarevsky himself in a letter to the magazine “Russian Invalid”, where he was inadvertently called “who did not want to moderate his outburst of personal courage”:

“To say about a general “who did not want to moderate his outburst of personal courage” is the same as to say “he was incapable,” and this is the same as someone who did not know how to control himself, and, therefore, was unable to command others; for such a general with reckless courage can lead the troops entrusted to him to destruction... - Kotlyarevsky was indignant, - The commanding general should not be personally at the assault, and if I were only unwilling to moderate the impulse of personal courage, then I would rightly deserve the name of a daring brave man. An extraordinary assault could not have ended in success if the usual rules had been followed.

It happened like this: before the assault, when the columns were arranged, I was in each of them, I said everything I could and how I knew how to ignite the spirit; announced that there would be no retreat, and that we must take the fortress or die, he saw the readiness for this and, ordering to set out at five o’clock, remained on the nearest battery. The fierce fire, which continued for quite a long time, showed the tenacity of the defense, but I still hoped that courage would prevail when I received a report that Colonel Ushakov, who commanded the column, was killed, many officers were also killed, and the column stopped motionless in the ditch. There was no time for me to remain a spectator of horror and follow the rules in order to take the fortress. I went, personally took command of the first column, and barely had time to ignite my spirit and see the brave grenadiers flying on the stairs, when I was struck by three bullets, one of which was in the head, but the job was done: the bravest of the brave hoisted the banner of victory on the walls of Lenkoran "

Kotlyarevsky, who descended into the ditch, was immediately wounded in the leg. Holding his bloody knee with his hand, he pointed at the wall. The soldiers moved forward, and at that moment two more bullets hit the general. One entered the right side of the head, crushed the jaw, knocked out an eye, and the commander fell slain on a mountain of corpses. However, his death, seen by the soldiers, did not demoralize them, but, on the contrary, embittered them - they captured the walls and opened artillery fire from them. The entire Persian garrison was killed, but the Russian losses were horrific - 16 officers and 325 lower ranks were killed. Kotlyarevsky never lost so many troops.

No one expected that the general, who was found among the corpses and was considered killed, would come to his senses. According to legend, he said: “I died, but I hear everything, and I already guessed about your victory.” The disfigured Kotlyarevsky had the strength to manage the return journey and write a report to Rtishchev, which contained the following words: “I myself received three wounds, and I thank God, who blessed me to seal the success of this matter with my own blood. I hope that this same success will ease my suffering.” The capture of Lankaran broke the will of the Persians; the British, who were Russia's allies in Europe, could no longer maintain diplomatic ambiguity in Asia, and therefore the Peace of Gulistan was soon concluded, according to which Persia fully recognized Russia's acquisitions in Georgia and Azerbaijan. This world was the merit of Kotlyarevsky.

However, the general's condition was terrifying. His right cheekbone, jaw, and part of his temporal bone were destroyed. He lost his right eye, crushed pieces of bones with terrible agony came out through his right ear or stuck into his brain. It was obvious that he would not be able to return to service, although at first the general did not lose hope of being cured. For his feat, he was awarded George II class, and also received leave for treatment with full pay.

The regimental doctor, as best he could, alleviated his suffering and extracted the bones using methods available to the medicine of that time. The grateful Kotlyarevsky assigned this doctor (his name, unfortunately, is not mentioned anywhere) a lifelong pension and paid it for 39 years, until the last day of his life, even when he himself was in need.

Caucasian mineral waters were seen as a “last resort” for healing, to which Rtishchev asked to release Kotlyarevsky. Long-term treatment with water made it possible to slightly stabilize the sufferer’s condition, but nothing more. He could not be outside for most of the year, the cold caused unbearable suffering to his exposed brain, so he could only breathe fresh air in the summer. The right side of his face was distorted and his eye was missing. However, no one heard any complaints from him. Only in letters to his closest friend Vorontsov did he melancholy remark from time to time: “My hands are shaking extremely from weakness.”

Kotlyarevsky buys himself a small estate, Aleksandrovo, near Bakhmut (now Donetsk region), where he settles together with his comrade-in-arms, Major Schulten, who was wounded at Aslanduz. Having built a temple at his own expense, he invites his father-priest to serve in it. The general even makes an attempt to marry the daughter of his friend Major Enokhin. But his marriage became a new tragedy - his wife and child died in childbirth.

Nevertheless, Kotlyarevsky does not give up. His image of a “living corpse” is nothing more than a romantic literary fiction. In fact, he is engaged in farming, in particular, he breeds Merino sheep, constantly intercedes for his former soldiers and veterans of past wars, reads a lot, conducts intensive correspondence, sends polemical notes to magazines that give erroneous information about his campaigns. In 1835, a coined formulation came from his pen:

“Feats for the glory of the Fatherland should be assessed by their merits, and not by the parts of the world in which they took place. Russian blood shed in Asia, on the banks of the Araks and the Caspian Sea, is no less precious than that shed in Europe, on the banks of Moscow and the Seine, and the bullets of the Gauls and Persians cause equal suffering.”

Isn’t it true - the last thing you expect from a “living dead” is such brilliant rhetorical formulas? But he still cannot accept the will of the Tsar and lead the Russian troops in a new war with Persia, the suffering is too strong, and it is impossible to be on the street.

Significant improvements occurred in Kotlyarevsky’s fortunes after 1837, when he bought himself the “Good Shelter” manor in the Crimea, near Feodosia. The Crimean climate turns out to be healing for him, he can be outside all year round, and is friends with the young artist Aivazovsky, who lives in Feodosia. However, Kotlyarevsky attributes his improvements not so much to climate change, but to homeopathy, which was extremely fashionable during this period. He even argues on this subject with his sober friend Vorontsov: “Driven to the grave by the treatment of allopaths and, one might say, sentenced to death by them, abandoning them and taking up homeopathy - I was resurrected, and, having gotten rid of all painful suffering and allopathic torture, I live a new life.” life without suffering for 13 years.”

Kotlyarevsky is ready to admit the healing power of the Crimean climate, but, nevertheless, he believes in the power of “beneficent grains” that heal him from all diseases (he writes this a year before his death, in 1850). It is quite possible to assume that, in view of the powerlessness of the then medicine to seriously help Kotlyarevsky, it was the refusal of its interventions, and not homeopathy, that served to improve his well-being and relieve pain.

Kotlyarevsky had the characteristic features of a fracture of the temporal bone with ear bleeding, severe paresis of the facial nerve, focal symptoms associated with damage to the temporal lobe cortex - primarily tinnitus and limb spasms. However, most of the signs of a focal symptom are absent - the general understood speech, he did not have serious memory impairments, his brain, affected by painful sensations, functioned perfectly, and in general his body worked to the envy of many. If his convulsive hands sometimes refused to hold the pen, then the general walked on his many-shot legs with such speed and precision that none of his relatives usually could keep up with him.

In the last years of his life, Kotlyarevsky complained of severe neurological pain in his head: “When there is little noise or loud conversation between several people, it seems to swell, an extraordinary rumble occurs in it, which cannot be described, and I become as if stunned, and if it gets too much - either to the ear, or almost not to understand.” However, Kotlyarevsky makes such confessions in May 1851 shortly before his death, and describes these symptoms as new, which means that in the previous forty years they were not so clearly expressed.

Pyotr Stepanovich died at 69 years old, that is, an age that still exceeds the average life expectancy for men in Russia. He died in his right mind and strong memory, most of all worrying about the fact that he did not have time to marry his cousin and, thereby, ensure her right to a general’s pension. His last document turned out to be a pedantically written will, in which he indicates which of his cousins and in what cases should receive assistance from his inheritance, and orders the main heir to make the one who is “gifted with talents with which he could serve the Fatherland more than others.” On October 21, 1851, at 11 o'clock at night, he got out of bed, ordered to be placed in a chair and died. He was buried in the garden of the estate, and his friend Aivazovsky began to build a chapel-mausoleum over his grave. During the Soviet period, both the chapel and the grave were lost, and the site is now a sanatorium for the Russian Ministry of Defense, but Kotlyarevsky's grave has yet to be found (and, if found, his skull examined, learning more about his wounds).

The incredible suffering that made it impossible to continue military service did not break the spirit, mind, or will to live of General Kotlyarevsky. He did not “bury himself alive,” but remained a man of intelligence and action, an example of exceptional resilience even with combat injuries beyond imagination.

Kotlyarevsky was forever included in the lists of the Georgian Grenadier Regiment, over which he was chief. Until 1918, at the evening roll call, the sergeant major of the first company of the first battalion called out: “Infantry General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky.” The right-flank private answered: “He died a heroic death in 1851 from forty wounds he received in the battles for the Tsar and the Fatherland!”

Oh, Kotlyarevsky! Eternal glory
You have illuminated the Caucasian bayonet!
Let's remember his bloody path -
His regiments' victorious cry...
Domontovich

At the end of the 18th century. The southern borders of the Russian Empire moved close to the Caucasian ridge, which prompted the Russian government to formulate the foundations of Russia's Caucasian policy. Its general nature and direction were determined by the decree of Catherine II of February 28, 1792, which emphasized that “it is not necessary to defeat the peoples living in inaccessible mountains not by the sole force of arms, but rather by justice and fairness to acquire their trust in oneself, to soften them with meekness, to win hearts and teach them to treat Russians better.” The same decree charged the Caucasian command with the duty to strictly ensure that Russian soldiers and officers “did not inflict the slightest oppression or offense on the mountaineers.”

Emperors Paul I and Alexander I continued the tradition of patronage towards the peoples of the Caucasus, thanks to which at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Georgia, Dagestan and many Chechen villages voluntarily transferred to Russian citizenship.

Iran watched Russia's strengthening in the Caucasus with great dissatisfaction. Secret agents of the Shah of Iran spread rumors among the Muslim population about the terrible fate awaiting the faithful under the rule of the “White Tsar.” It was clear that Iran was not going to give up its sphere of influence in the Caucasus without a fight. One of the heroes of the Russian-Persian wars at the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries. became Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky.

He was the son of a priest in the village of Olkhovatka near Konotop, and his path was determined: study at a bursa and service in some rural parish. But in 1794, a passing officer Lazarev took with him a fourteen-year-old boy, and Peter went through all levels of military service from soldier to general in the Caucasian army.

At the end of the 18th century, Russian soldiers had to defend Georgia from Persian troops. A lot of Russian blood was shed in these wars.

One day, the 40,000-strong army of the Persian commander Abbas rushed to Karabakh. Kotlyarevsky had under the command of only one battalion of rangers - 150 people. Nothing can be done: Pyotr Stepanovich ordered a retreat. Abbas set off in pursuit of a small Russian detachment and overtook it five miles from the Muhrat fortress. A fierce battle ensued on the mountain paths, but the thinned battalion broke through and locked itself in the fortress. After enduring an 8-day siege, the Russians waited for reinforcements from Tiflis. The discouraged Persians lifted the siege. And then Kotlyarevsky boldly opposed the entire army of Abbas and defeated it at Migri. The Persians rushed into the Araks in horror, and the river, filled with their bodies, overflowed its banks. Since then, the name of Kotlyarevsky alone has caused the Persians to tremble.

Pyotr Stepanovich explained the secret of his victories this way: “I think coldly, I act hotly.” The year 1812 found him with the rank of major general, but in the Caucasian army he was given the nickname meteor general - his victories were so swift and fantastic, and he knew no defeats. When, taking advantage of the advance of Napoleonic troops deep into Russia, Abbas decided to take revenge, Kotlyarevsky again defeated the Persians with two decisive blows. The end to this protracted war was set on January 1 (13), 1813, when Kotlyarevsky’s troops stormed the Lenkoran fortress. During the bloodiest battle, the entire garrison was exterminated. No prisoners were taken, because... The command of the fortress twice rejected the offer of surrender. Kotlyarevsky personally led the soldiers into the attack and was seriously injured. He was found in a ditch under a pile of bodies with his right eye knocked out, his upper jaw crushed and his leg shot. The wounds were so terrible that the soldiers began to mourn him, thinking that their beloved commander was dead. Kotlyarevsky opened his remaining eye and said: “I died, but I hear everything and have already guessed about your victory.”

Even the formidable events of 1812 did not overshadow the glorious victories Kotlyarevsky won in the distant Transcaucasus.
“Russian blood,” said Pyotr Stepanovich himself, “shed in Asia, on the banks of the Araxes and the Caspian Sea, is no less precious than that shed in Europe, on the banks of Moscow and the Seine, and the bullets of the Gauls and Persians cause the same suffering.” One of the Russian military writers rightly noted: “Reading about the exploits of troops during the first Persian war in Transcaucasia, you might think that you are reading the biographies of the greatest heroes of ancient Rome and Greece.”

Kotlyarevsky’s victories ensured the conclusion of the Peace of Gulistan, favorable for Russia, signed on November 5, 1813 on behalf of Russia by Lieutenant General N. Rtishchev. Iran agreed to the inclusion of Dagestan, Georgia, Abkhazia, as well as the khanates of Karabakh, Derbent, Baku and a number of other territories into the Russian Empire. The treaty also gave Russia the exclusive right to have a navy in the Caspian Sea and to act as an arbitrator in Iranian dynastic disputes. Russia's presence in the Caucasus has received international recognition.

The “meteor general” himself, awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree, suffering from his wounds, “like a living dead” went home to Little Russia. With the amount granted by Alexander I, Kotlyarevsky bought himself an estate near Feodosia. His further life was more like torture. “Kotlyarevsky’s bright life,” says one of his biographers, “abruptly splits into two completely separate parts: during the first, he serves as the glory and pride of the Russian army; during the second - the adornment of all humanity. The first is marked by heroic victories, the second is dedicated to the resigned thirty-nine years of suffering from the many wounds he received in the Caucasus.”

The Meteor General retired as a 35-year-old invalid. In 1826, Nicholas I offered Kotlyarevsky the position of commander-in-chief in the Caucasus in a new war with Persia and Turkey, but Kotlyarevsky refused. Legend has it that Kotlyarevsky once visited St. Petersburg, at a reception in the Winter Palace, where the Tsar asked him: “Tell me, General, who helped you make such a successful military career?” “Your Majesty,” replied the hero, “my patrons are the soldiers whom I had the honor of commanding, and only to them I owe my career.”

Pushkin dedicated the following lines to the Caucasian hero:

I will sing your praises, hero,
Oh, Kotlyarevsky, scourge of the Caucasus!
Wherever you rushed like a thunderstorm -
Your path is like a black infection
He destroyed and destroyed tribes...
You left the saber of vengeance here,
You are not happy about war;
Bored by the world, in the wounds of honor,
You taste the idle peace
And the silence of the home valleys.

The life of the 70-year-old hero was cut short on October 21, 1851. In his house there was not even a ruble for burial, because he spent almost all of his general’s pension on disabled soldiers, his comrades in the campaigns. A few days before his death, Kotlyarevsky ordered to bring the highest rescript inviting him to serve, and a box, the key to which he always kept with himself. The box contained forty bones taken from his head after the battle of Lankaran. “Here,” said Pyotr Stepanovich to his family, pointing to the bones, “what was the reason why I could not accept the appointment of the sovereign and serve the throne and the fatherland until the grave... Let them remain with you as a memory of my suffering.”

Kotlyarevsky was buried in the garden near the house. During his lifetime, the new governor of the Caucasus, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, erected a monument to him.

Inscriptions on the monument:
On one side: “Near this place on December 2, 1803, during the capture of the gardens and outpost of the Ganzhi fortress, under the main command and in the presence of General Prince Tsitsianov, Captain Kotlyarevsky was wounded for the first time by a bullet in the leg of the 17th Jaeger Regiment.”
On the other side: “This modest monument to the hero of Aslanduz and Lenkoran was built in 1850 by Guard Lieutenant Count Vorontsov, who was with him in this matter, and later the commander-in-chief and governor of the Caucasus.”

“My biography will never come out - there will be no loss from this, but one correct description of the military affairs in which I took part can benefit military youth.” (Kotlyarevsky P.S.)

What you need to know about Kotlyarevsky

Equally talented as a military tactician and diplomat.
- He brought the lands of present-day Azerbaijan into the hands of the Russian Empire, winning them from Persia and Turkey. If it weren’t for him, there would be no Azerbaijans, Georgias and Armenians. From the word "in general".
- A brilliant strategist and battle tactician. His strong point is detailed planning, surprise assault and active operations at night.
- He had the gift of camouflage in general and masking intentions in particular. He “saw” the theater of military operations perfectly, which he always used to his advantage.
- On the eve and during the difficult time of the war with Napoleon, it was Kotlyarevsky’s brilliant actions in the Caucasus that did not allow the Persians and Turks, supported by British advisers, to open a full-fledged “second front”.
- He trolled the Persians under the nickname “Caucasian Sorcerer”, which they themselves gave him out of fear.
- Glorified by Pushkin and Domontovich.

That's it in a nutshell. Now, in order.

The son of a village priest in the village of Olkhovatka. I knew letters from childhood. Smart, agile, brave, resourceful. This attracted the attention of Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lazarev, who at the age of 10 was saved by the ringing of the bells of a local church during a storm. The crew got lost near their village, but the horses carried the half-frozen riders to the village itself.

At the age of 11, he was enlisted as a lodger in the 4th battalion of the Kuban Jaeger Corps under the patronage of the battalion commander Ivan Lazarev. The lodger (for a second) is not something criminal, but a member of a reconnaissance group that, moving ahead of a military formation, studies the proposed stopping and deployment area for troops, collects information about water sources, and the general sanitary condition of the region. Almost reconnaissance.

At 12 he is already a sergeant. At the age of 14 he took part in his first military campaign against Persia. He distinguished himself during the siege of Derbent. In three years, I read Lazarev’s entire field military library.

At the age of 17, he is a second lieutenant, adjutant to Lazarev - the chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, and then the entire GSVG - "Group of Soviet Forces in Georgia" :-) Moreover, everything is to the point: Kotlyarevsky monitors the military-political situation in the region, conducts all official Lazarev's correspondence, up to letters to the Georgian king, carries out the most important political assignments, such as persuading the Kartalin princes to transfer to Russian citizenship. In 17 years!

At the age of 18, he was promoted to staff captain and awarded the Order of St. John of Jerusalem for ensuring the interaction of Russian and Georgian troops and personal valor in the battle with the Persian Shah Omar Khan near the village of Kagabet.

At the age of 20, he was the commander of a company of rangers, awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and received the rank of major for the storming of the Ganja fortress. Wounded twice, he was pulled out of the battlefield under fire by another hero - the young officer Count Mikhail Vorontsov - the future field marshal general and governor of the Caucasus.

Having not yet recovered from his wounds, he negotiates with Khan Selim, convincing him not to go to war against the Russians, as a result of which, in the future, the territories he controlled voluntarily became part of the Republic of Ingushetia. This fact irreparably broke the pattern of understanding the status quo in the east for the Persian Shah.

He became a legend of the Caucasus after a series of battles as part of Colonel Karyagin’s detachment with the army of the son of the Persian Shah Abbas Mirza. Brief summary of these epic actions:
The huntsmen (600 people) with two guns set out for reconnaissance and reconstruction in search of the 20,000-strong army of Abbas-Mirza.

On June 24, they met the Persian vanguard of 3,000 people. Using the folds of the terrain, without stopping movement, we repelled enemy attacks for six hours, went to the Askaran River, and set up a camp.
The Persians did not give time to build fortifications; they quickly brought up 10,000 people. and during 9 hours of daylight, the Russian detachment repelled several cavalry and infantry attacks.

On June 25, the sides did not fight during the day. The Persians were waiting for reinforcements, the Russians were burying the dead and treating the wounded. Losses: half a squad. At night, Kotlyarevsky with a company of rangers made a sortie from the camp and destroyed three Persian batteries - almost all the Persian artillery. But it didn’t get any easier - on June 27, the rest of the Persian forces arrived and brought up artillery. The total was 300 versus 15,000.
The Zerg Rush of the Persians was repulsed by nightfall with great difficulty and the help of such and such a mother. Kotlyarevsky and Karyagin were wounded.

Kotlyarevsky put forward a daring plan: before the encirclement closed, abandon the convoy, quietly, and lightly leave the camp to the nearby Persian fortress of Shah-Bulakh, capture it and sit there behind the walls, heal and rest.
On the night of June 28, the crazy plan was carried out with utmost precision. The detachment was seen only at the walls of the fortress, which the Russians took by storm.

The Persians again surrounded the fortress as much as the terrain allowed. Within a week, ours ran out of meager food, then they ran out of horses, then even the grass ran out. Abbas, admiring the courage and courage of the Russians, made a broad oriental gesture - he offered service and honor to the Shah. Kotlyarevsky replied that the proposal was very good, but he would have to think about it in silence for four days, otherwise his ears would be blocked from the explosions.

The shooting stopped. At the end of the truce, Kotlyarevsky shouted from the tower that the Russians were putting themselves in order and would solemnly surrender in the morning on the honorable terms offered.
At night, fun began in Abbas’s camp and herbs were smoked. And the Russians again quietly left to capture the next small fortress of Mukhrat, 25 versts away, which contained large food reserves.

To simulate the presence of personnel in the fortress, they left a handful of skilled rangers, who for several more hours created the appearance of vigorous activity outside the walls, and only in the morning they left after the detachment. Mukhrat was also captured by ours suddenly, violently and without prisoners. Kotlyarevsky is wounded again. After sitting surrounded for another 8 days, repelling the Persian attacks, the remaining rangers (about 100 people) waited for the main forces of General Tsitsianov to arrive.

Having become a legend among both his friends and his enemies, Kotlyarevsky performs various tasks, sometimes by force of arms, sometimes by force of persuasion, promises and his personal location. So the ruler of the Shirvan Khanate, Mustafa Khan, having become a personal friend of Kotlyarevsky, voluntarily annexed his lands to the Republic of Ingushetia.

At the age of 25, he was already a colonel, with five hundred rangers, having walked along mountain paths, he captured by surprise the impregnable fortress of Migri - a strategically important point, with a garrison of 2000 people. The losses of the rangers were 35 people, Kotlyarevsky was wounded. Sitting in the fortress, Kotlyarevsky trolls the 10,000-strong corps under the command of Akhmet Khan, repelling all attacks and making daring forays. The most successful of which was a night, silent, bayonet attack on the Persian infantry camp near the crossing of the Araks. Having cut down 4,000 Persians rushing about in horror, ours returned to the fortress with 9 people. wounded and one killed.

For the capture of Migri, Kotlyarevsky received the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and for the hellish night stabbing on the Araks - a golden sword with the inscription “For bravery.” But Kotlyarevsky’s main reward was the documented (!) fact that the Persians, after Migri and Araks, called him Shaitan, had a superstitious fear of him and often involuntarily peed at night.

The Russian command in the Caucasus, apparently, also slightly believed in the “white shaman Kotlyarevsky”, and began to set impossible tasks. For example, take the Turkish fortress of Akhalkalaki with two battalions of grenadiers, and without artillery, because You can’t carry a cannon through the mountains in December.

The operation was planned and carried out brilliantly, as always, and again at night. The defenders of the fortress noticed ours only when they began to cross the fortress moat. An hour and a half later it was all over. Our losses: 1 killed and 29 wounded.

At the age of 29, Kotlyarevsky was promoted to major general for the storming of Akhalkalaki. All battalions participating in the assault received St. George's banners. In March 1812, Kotlyarevsky, with a detachment of 1000 grenadiers and Cossacks with three guns, captured another impregnable fortress, Kara-Kakh.

The Persians now began to involuntarily poop at night. Everyone except the self-confident Abbas-Mirza. His wet dreams, vigorously fueled by British advisers at his headquarters, drove him forward, citing the fact that Moscow under Napoleon and St. Petersburg were extremely concerned about the war with the usurper.

English General Malcolm and 350 British officers are not a small force. Britain gave 30,000 English guns, 12 guns free of charge to the Shah, as well as a personal gift from the crown - 36 falconets with the inscription “From the King above Kings to the Shah above Shahs as a gift.” Plus funding for 3 years of war with Russia. It’s worth remembering such things when the creative intelligentsia laughs at the phrase “The Englishwoman constantly spoils Russia.”

The intelligence of the Russian General Staff worked flawlessly, the command saw all these unambiguous preparations and, deciding that a bad peace was better than a good war, sent a delegation to Abbas Mirza’s headquarters with a proposal for peace negotiations.

However, it was not Abbas who met them there, not the beginning. headquarters, not Persian diplomats, but the English adviser Sir Owsley. I was met with a simple as an ax demand for the return of Georgia. The Russian command began to prepare for a war on two fronts.

In August 1812, Abbas gathered an army of 30,000, half of which was trained by British specialists, and captured the fortresses of Lankaran and Arkivan, not illusoryly hinting at a walk to Baku. In October, at the Battle of Aslanduz, this armada was defeated by Kotlyarevsky, having 6 times less people and 2 times less artillery.

In two stages, giving out two consecutive battles, different in technique and tactics, one of which (as you guessed) was at night. Russian losses: 28 killed and 99 wounded. Persian losses: several thousand killed, 500 prisoners. Abbas fled with his personal guard. In the Persian chronicles this battle is described as: "a dark and bloody night, which was truly an example for the Last Judgment."

Kotlyarevsky received lieutenant general and the Order of St. George 4th degree. Kotlyarevsky’s swan song was the capture of the Lankaran fortress, built using the latest fortification technologies by the British, on New Year’s Day 1813. This put an end to the war. In favor of Russia. Before the battle, the parties exchanged caustic letters, in the spirit of noble noble trolling, and realized that they were worthy of each other and would have to fight to the death. They fought to the death. 6 hours straight. Of the 4,000 defenders, only 300 seriously wounded survived. Russian losses out of 1800 people: 340 killed, 609 wounded.

Kotlyarevsky was seriously wounded three times - one wound in the leg and two in the head. He was found in a pile of bodies and was presumed dead. But Kotlyarevsky, having heard the words spoken about him, opened his eyes and said: “I died, but I hear everything and have already been notified of our victory.” Wounded, Kotlyarevsky could no longer serve the Tsar and the Fatherland and resigned from service. He went to Russia, saw his father, and bought a village near Bakhmut. Pyotr Stepanovich spent almost his entire pension on helping crippled soldiers.

13 years later, on the day of his coronation, Nicholas I invited him to become commander-in-chief of the Caucasian army. Kotlyarevsky was forced to bitterly refuse, because. health did not allow it. At the end of his life he moved to Crimea, near Feodosia. He died in 1852, he did not even have a ruble left for burial. Kotlyarevsky was buried in the garden near the house. During the funeral, a squadron of ships of the Black Sea Fleet lined up in the roadstead with mourning black flags at half-staff.

In honor of Kotlyarevsky, on the initiative of Aivazovsky, a mausoleum was built near Feodosia, on a high mountain overlooking the sea, which became a museum. Death prevented the artist from fulfilling his plan to the end: Kotlyarevsky’s ashes remained lying in the garden that he himself planted.

“My biography will never come out - there will be no loss from this, but one true description of the military affairs in which I took part can benefit military youth.”
(Kotlyarevsky P.S.)

You can read more about Pyotr Stepanovich here:

1. A.V. Potto - "Caucasian War".

Add information about the person

Biography

Born on June 12 (23), 1782 in the village of Olkhovatka, Kupyansky district, Kharkov province, in the family of a priest.

He studied at the Kharkov Theological School.

From 1793 he was brought up in an infantry regiment in Mozdok. In 1796 he took part in the campaign of Russian troops in Persia and the storming of Derbent. In 1799, he was promoted to officer and appointed adjutant to I. Lazarev, major general and chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, and accompanied him in crossing the Caucasus ridge to Georgia. Afterwards, Kotlyarevsky helped him in the administrative structure of the region. In 1800, Kotlyarevsky took part in repelling a 20,000-strong detachment of Lezgins who approached Tiflis, and received the rank of staff captain. After the tragic death of Lazarev, P.S. Kotlyarevsky becomes the company commander of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, although he was offered to be an adjutant to the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, Prince Tsitsianov. In 1803 and 1804, P.S. Kotlyarevsky twice took part in the assault on Ganja, was wounded both times, and was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, for bravery. Soon he was promoted to the rank of major.

Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky took an active part in the Russian-Persian War of 1804 - 1813. In 1805, he and his company, as part of Colonel Koryagin’s detachment, defended Karabakh from the Persian invasion and took part in the battle on the Askaran River. Despite receiving two new wounds, Kotlyarevsky soon took part in an expedition against the Baku Khan, and in 1806 he again fought against the Persians on the Askarani and Khonashin rivers. In 1807, 25-year-old Kotlyarevsky was promoted to colonel. In 1808, he took part in the campaign against the Nakhichevan Khanate, in the defeat of the Persians at the village of Karabab and in the capture of Nakhichevan. Since 1809, he was entrusted with ensuring the security of Karabakh. In 1810, Kotlyarevsky captured the Migri fortress, withstood a siege, and then defeated Iranian troops on the Araks River. For valiant actions he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and a golden sword with the inscription: “For bravery.”

In 1811, Kotlyarevsky was tasked with stopping the advance of the Persians and Turks from Akhaltsikhe, for which he decided to capture the Akhalkalaki fortress. Taking with him two battalions of his regiment and a hundred Cossacks, Kotlyarevsky crossed the mountains covered with deep snow in three days and took Akhalkalaki by storm at night. For this successful campaign he was promoted to major general.

On October 19-20, 1812, P.S. Kotlyarevsky defeated the superior forces of Abbas Mirza at Aslanduz, for which he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. On January 1, 1813, Kotlyarevsky with a 2,000-strong detachment took Lankaran by storm, which decided the outcome of the Russian-Persian war. During the battle, Kotlyarevsky himself was seriously wounded, so after the end of the war he had to retire. After the start of the Russian-Iranian War of 1826 - 1828, Emperor Nicholas I awarded the veteran of the previous war with Persia the rank of infantry general and even wanted to appoint Kotlyarevsky as commander of the troops, but for health reasons P.S. Kotlyarevsky was forced to abandon this mission.

Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky spent the remaining years of his life on his estates, first near the city of Bakhmut, and then near Feodosia in the Crimea, where he died on November 2 (new art.), 1852.

Achievements

General of Infantry (1828)

Awards

Order of St. Anne, III degree
Order of St. George, IV degree and gold sword with the inscription “For bravery” (1810)
Order of St. George, III degree (1812)

Miscellaneous

For many years he lived in solitude, tormented by his wounds. Having become gloomy and silent, Kotlyarevsky showed constant kindness and generosity to those around him. Receiving a good pension, he helped the poor, especially among his former soldiers who, like him, became disabled, they received a pension from him personally. Knowing that his name is often forgotten in comparison with the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, Kotlyarevsky said: “Russian blood shed in Asia, on the banks of the Araks and the Caspian Sea, is no less precious than that shed in Europe, on the banks of Moscow and the Seine, and the bullets of Gauls and Persians cause equal suffering."
He died in 1852, and he did not even have a ruble left for burial.
When the general was buried, a squadron of ships of the Black Sea Fleet lined up in the roadstead with mourning black flags at half-staff.
In the Georgian Grenadier Regiment, which bore the name of General Kotlyarevsky, at daily roll call the sergeant major of the First Company of the First Battalion called: “Infantry General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky.” The right-flank private answered: “He died a heroic death in 1851 from 40 wounds he received in the battles for the Tsar and the Fatherland!”
Kotlyarevsky was buried in the garden near the house.
During his lifetime, the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, Prince M.S. Vorontsov, an admirer of Kotlyarevsky, erected a monument to him in Ganja, which he stormed in his youth.
After the death of the hero general, in his honor, on the initiative of the artist I. Aivazovsky, a mausoleum was built near Feodosia, on a high mountain overlooking the sea, which became a museum.

Bibliography

Vateishvili D.L. General P.S. Kotlyarevsky: Essay on life and military activities. - Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1980. - 139 pp.: ill.
Knights of St. George: Collection in 4 volumes. T.I: 1769 - 1850 / Comp. A.V. Shishov. - M.: Patriot, 1993. - P. 235-240.
Dema E. A man of amazing courage: [O gen. from inf. P.S. Kotlyarevsky] // Military. messenger - 1994. -No. 5.-S. 74-78.
The Caucasian War and its heroes. Part 2: Kotlyarevsky and Sleptsov. - 3rd ed. - St. Petersburg: "Leisure and Business", 1903. - 35 p.
Kersnovsky A.A. History of the Russian Army: In 4 volumes. T. 1.- M.: Golos, 1992.-P. 235-240.
Pikul B.C. Warrior, like a meteor // Pikul V.S. Selected works: In XII volume. T. XII: Historical miniatures. - M.: Golos, 1994.-S. 38-47.
Potto V.A. Kotlyarevsky. (Excerpt from the book by the same author “The Caucasian War in selected essays, episodes, legends and biographies”). - St. Petersburg: type. V. Berezovsky, 1898. - 36 p.: ill.
Sollogub V.A. Biography of General Kotlyarevsky. - 3rd ed. - [SPb.: type. Ch. ex. Udelov, 1901.-158 p.
Sokhanskaya E.A. Biographical sketch of Infantry General Kotlyarevsky. - St. Petersburg, 1879. - 32 p.
Bobrovsky, "History of the 13th Life Grenadier Erivan Regiment", St. Petersburg. 1892, vol. II-VII; Kazbek, "History of the Georgian Regiment", 1865
Shabanov, "History of the Life Grenadier Erivan Regiment", part 1, ch. 5-6
"Caucasus", 1852, No. 62, 1866 No. 21, 46, 65
"Northern Bee", 1840, No. 255
"Russian Invalid" 1837 No. 25-22
"Russian Archive", 1876, No. 10, 203 - 204
"Memoirs of Wigel", vol. I, part 4. 176
"Military Collection" 1871, vol. 78, No. 3, 165-196, "General Kotlyarevsky"
"Tauride Diocesan Gazette", 1870, No. 22
"Tauride Provincial Gazette", 1871, 62 and 64

Pyotr Kotlyarevsky is a legend! During his lifetime, he was called the “Caucasian Suvorov” and “meteor general”; Pushkin dedicated poems to him, comparing the commander with […]

Pyotr Kotlyarevsky is a legend! During his lifetime, he was called the “Caucasian Suvorov” and the “meteor general”; Pushkin dedicated poems to him, comparing the commander with an irresistible element...

Kotlyarevsky was compared to Suvorov, but he surpassed him, going into battle with an enemy outnumbering him 12 times, with a desperate and cruel enemy - the Persians, with an enemy armed with the best guns and cannons of the British... and won!

Kotlyarevsky refuted the canons of military science - he stormed the strongest Persian fortress of Lenkoran, which was defended by four times as many soldiers as he had, stormed the Migri castle with five times the superior garrison forces and performed many other feats. The future general went on his first campaign at the age of 14, at 17 he was promoted to officer for bravery, and 13 years later he became a general.

Today we bring to your attention a detailed story about the exploits of the legendary commander, presented on the Orthodox Warrior website:

Pyotr Kotlyarevsky was the son of a priest in the village of Olkhovatki, Kharkov province. Initially, following in his father’s footsteps, he studied at the Kharkov Theological School.

An incident changed his fate: in the winter of 1792, Lieutenant Colonel I. Lazarev visited their house in Olkhovatka, while sheltering from a snowstorm on the road. Lazarev, who had just handed over a battalion of the newly formed Moscow Grenadier Regiment and was going for a new assignment, really liked the smart son of a village priest, who was visiting his father at that time. Wanting to somehow thank the owner for his hospitality, Ivan Petrovich offered to take the boy into his army as soon as he settled down. Stepan Yakovlevich made the officer promise that he would take care of the teenager as if he were his own son.

A little over a year later, in March 1793, a sergeant of the Kuban Jaeger Corps arrived from Lazarev and took the youth Peter to Mozdok. Lazarev commanded the 4th battalion of the Kuban Jaeger Corps. Pyotr Kotlyarevsky was enlisted as a fourier in Lazarev’s battalion on March 19, 1793. A year later, at the age of 12, he received the rank of sergeant. At the age of 15, Kotlyarevsky participated in the Persian campaign (1796) of Russian troops and the storming of Derbent.

In 1799, he was promoted to second lieutenant and appointed adjutant to Lazarev, then already a major general and chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, and accompanied him in crossing the Caucasus ridge to Georgia. Shortly before his appointment to Georgia, Ivan Petrovich Lazarev lost his wife and young daughter. The only close person nearby was Pyotr Kotlyarevsky. The rangers crossed the Greater Caucasus Range by forced march in 36 days and entered Tiflis on November 26, 1799. The meeting of the arriving troops was accompanied by extraordinary solemnity. The Georgian Tsar George XII, together with the princes and a large retinue, personally met I.P. Lazarev with bread and salt outside the city gates.

In 1800, Kotlyarevsky took part in repelling a 20,000-strong detachment of Lezgins who approached Tiflis, and received the rank of staff captain. After the tragic death of Lazarev, the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, Prince Tsitsianov, invited Kotlyarevsky to be his adjutant, but he decided to change his headquarters service to combat duty and achieved his goal: he received under his command a company of his native 17th Jaeger Regiment.

During the assault on Ganja, the strongest fortress of the Baku Khanate, Staff Captain Kotlyarevsky goes ahead of his company. In this battle, he received his first wound: a bullet hit him in the leg while he was climbing the outer fortification of the fortress. For the assault on Ganja, Kotlyarevsky received the rank of major and the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree.

With the beginning of the Russian-Iranian war of 1804 - 1813. the name of Kotlyarevsky thundered throughout the Caucasus.

In 1805, he and his company, as part of Colonel Karyagin’s detachment, defended Karabakh from the Persian invasion and took part in the battle on the Askaran River. A small Russian detachment, numbering 400 people and 2 guns, found itself cut off in its camp. Left to his own devices, Karyagin bravely defended himself against a ten-thousand-strong detachment of Persians for 4 days; heavy losses were aggravated by betrayal: more than 50 people, led by lieutenant Lisenko, deserted; hunger and thirst greatly weakened the detachment, which also lost many killed and wounded. In this hopeless situation, Major Kotlyarevsky proposes a daring plan: at night, secretly or blindly, pass through the Persian troops and capture the fortified Shah-Bulakh castle, which is under the control of the Persians, and hold out there until the last extremity.

The plan was very risky. Night military operations are considered the pinnacle of military art even today, let alone those years. But the plan was crowned with complete success: the Persians simply did not expect such impudence from the Russians. Having broken through the Persian lines, the Russian battalion reached the fortress. The detachment immediately knocked out the garrison, which consisted of 150 Persians, and took up defensive positions. The position of the Russians improved. The Persians, not hoping to take the castle by force, moved on to a siege. After 7 days, Karyagin received accurate information that the main forces of the Persians were moving into the fortress. Realizing the danger of remaining in Shah-Bulakh, Karyagin and Kotlyarevsky decided to make their way into the mountains to the Muhrat fortress. First, the wounded were secretly transported there, and then the entire detachment advanced along with the guns. The Persians noticed the retreat of the Russian detachment from Shah-Bulakh only when it was already 20 miles from the walls.

When the detachment’s path was blocked by a ditch, Kotlyarevsky’s rangers, who were walking ahead, descended into it, and from their bodies and guns placed on their shoulders, they organized a crossing, along which their comrades and guns crossed. Near Mukhrat, the detachment was overtaken by a Persian detachment numbering about 1,500 people, but this attack was easily repelled. Having taken refuge in Mukhrat, the Russians withstood the attack of thousands of Persian troops for eight days until the governor of Georgia, Prince Tsitsianov, arrived in time.

By his actions with a small detachment, Karyagin held the entire Persian army until Tsitsianov managed to gather so many troops that he could move himself.

In 1807, 25-year-old Kotlyarevsky was promoted to colonel. The following year, he took part in the campaign against the Nakhichevan Khanate, in the defeat of the Persians at the village of Karabab and in the capture of Nakhichevan.

Since 1809, he was entrusted with the security of all of Karabakh. The battalion assigned to him includes 2 staff officers, 9 chief officers, 20 non-commissioned officers, 8 drummers, 380 rangers (419 people in total) and 20 Cossacks.

When in 1810 the troops of Abbas Mirza, the son of the Persian Shah, invaded this region, Kotlyarevsky with a Jaeger battalion moved towards them. Having only about 400 bayonets, without guns, he decided to take the heavily fortified Migri fortress by storm.

The Persians were completely confident in their defense. There were only two roads leading to Migri and both were fortified by the Persians. The fortress itself, in addition to the walls and 2,000 garrison, also had natural fortifications in the form of steep cliffs, which were considered impassable. To attack such a fortified area head-on was pure suicide.

But this did not stop Kotlyarevsky. Leaving the convoys, at night (in general, night operations are the calling card of this commander), along the mountain slopes, he and his detachment walked around the fortress and attacked it from the rear. Having made a feint attack from one front, he attacked from the other and took it by storm.

Result of the battle: 2,000 Persian garrison was driven out of an important strategic fortified point. In Kotlyarevsky's detachment, Lieutenant Rogovtsov and 6 huntsmen were killed, 29 people were wounded, including Kotlyarevsky himself, who was wounded in the left arm.

Abbas-Mirza was stung: almost under his nose, the rangers captured an important strategic center on the Araks. Akhmet Khan was ordered to take the village of Migri back. Five thousand Persians besieged the fortress. Akhmet Khan was preparing for the assault, but the English advisers (whether without these “sworn friends”) dissuaded him from doing so. A frontal assault on such fortified positions was madness. In addition, the Russians got all the batteries almost intact.

Having not decided to storm, Akhmet Khan ordered the army to move back to the Araks. Unfortunately for him, Colonel Kotlyarevsky was not at all happy with this situation. (How is it that the enemy will leave unbeaten? It’s a mess!) He set off in pursuit and, having overtaken the enemy at the crossing, yes, and again attacked at night and completely defeated the Persians.

Kotlyarevsky’s detachment was so small that an order was given: not to take prisoners. Kotlyarevsky ordered all booty and weapons to be thrown into the water. The onset of panic in the Persian army completed the defeat. For this operation, Kotlyarevsky received the Order of St. George, 4th degree, a gold sword with the inscription “For bravery” and was appointed chief of the Georgian Grenadier Regiment.

Pyotr Stepanovich spoke about the secret of his victories: “I think coldly, but act hotly.”

Russia then had to conduct military operations on two fronts. In addition to Persia, which laid claim to eastern Transcaucasia, Turkey was a strong adversary, whose interests were focused on Western Georgia and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.

In 1811, Kotlyarevsky was tasked with stopping the advance of the Persians and Turks from Akhaltsikhe, for which he decided to capture the Akhalkalaki fortress. Taking with him two battalions of his regiment and a hundred Cossacks, Kotlyarevsky crossed mountains covered with deep snow in three days and took Akhalkalaki by storm at night.

The Turks, if they expected an enemy, did so only from the south, where the slopes were gentler and certainly not at night. Kotlyarevsky strike from the north. The night assault was successful. The Turkish garrison was taken by surprise and almost completely destroyed, despite the desperate resistance offered. 16 guns, 40 pounds of gunpowder, two banners, and a large number of weapons were taken from the fortress. On the morning of December 20, 1811, Kotlyarevsky’s detachment captured the fortress, losing 30 people killed.

While General Kotlyarevsky was fighting the Turks in Akhalkalaki, things were less successful on the Persian border. In January 1812, the Persians surged into the Karabagh Khanate and in Sultan-Bada-Kerch surrounded the battalion of the Trinity Regiment, which, having lost its senior commanders and remaining under the command of Captain Olovyanishnikov, laid down its arms. The entire Caucasian army was outraged by the surrender of Olovyanishnikov, and the commander-in-chief decided to send Kotlyarevsky to Karabakh, instructing him to “restore the residents’ trust in Russian weapons and erase the shameful case of Olovyanishnikov from their memory.”

The scourge of the Persians, Kotlyarevsky, began by clearing all of Karabakh from bandits and moving against Abbas Mirza. The very news of Kotlyarevsky’s arrival in Karabakh put the Persians to flight. Abbas Mirza's army, having plundered everything it could, began to hastily retreat beyond the Araks. They also took some civilians with them. Kotlyarevsky tried to recapture the civilian population and their property from the Persians. It was not possible to fully implement the plan - during the retreat, the Persians destroyed the bridge across the Araks, and heavy rains prevented the detachment from crossing the ford.

But Kotlyarevsky managed to defeat two small Persian detachments, take the village of Kir-Kokha, which was considered impregnable, and return 400 civilians and 15 heads of cattle to their native places. Although Kotlyarevsky himself was dissatisfied with the expedition, the new commander-in-chief Marquis Paulucci (very pleased with the results) awarded him the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree and “bonused” him with an annual cash allowance of 1,200 rubles.

The terrible year of 1812 arrived. Almost all the country's forces were thrown into the war with Napoleon, and in the Caucasus, weakened Russian troops continued to fight the Persians.

Commander-in-Chief Paulucci was recalled to St. Petersburg, and Lieutenant General Rtishchev was appointed in his place. Having entered into the administration of the region at an extremely difficult and alarming time, Rtishchev was unable to restore order, but, on the contrary, began to pursue a policy that further worsened the situation. Rtishchev thought to keep the mountaineers in obedience through gifts and money. For which he was immediately raked. The Chechen elders gathered in Mozdok for peace negotiations were showered with gifts, but that same night, returning home, they attacked Rtishchev’s own convoy beyond the Terek and plundered it almost in front of the general’s eyes.

The war with Napoleon forced St. Petersburg to look for ways to peacefully resolve the conflict in Transcaucasia. Rtishchev was demanded to suspend offensive actions and begin negotiations.

The Persians were completely insolent. Concentrating an army of 30,000 on the borders, trained by English instructors and at the instigation of the same English, they invade the Talysh Khanate and take Lankaran. Kotlyarevsky foresaw a similar scenario for the development of events, proposed not to waste time on negotiations and attack the Persians, “for,” he wrote, “if Abbas Mirza manages to take possession of the Talysh Khanate, it will cause us such harm that it will be impossible to correct it.”

Rtishchev, who tried his best to avoid bloody clashes, offered the Persians a truce and, to speed up negotiations, he himself arrived at the border. But as Rtishchev became more compliant, the Persians became more arrogant and demanding and, finally, demanded that the Russian border be moved to the Terek. The matter could have ended badly, but Kotlyarevsky, taking advantage of Rtishchev’s temporary departure to Tiflis and having previously demanded permission from him to act at his own peril and risk, proceeded to offensive actions. On October 19, 1812, with his 2,000-strong detachment, he crossed the Araks.

Before the start of the offensive, General Kotlyarevsky addressed the soldiers and officers with a speech: “Brothers! We must go beyond the Araks and defeat the Persians. There are ten of them for one - but the brave one among you is worth ten, and the more enemies, the more glorious the victory. Let’s go, brothers, and break it up.”

Having made a forced 70-kilometer march, he attacked the main forces of the Persians, who had a 15-fold numerical superiority. Thus began the famous Battle of Aslaundz.

Aslanduz or the Aslanduz ford across the Araks, where Kotlyarevsky’s detachment completely destroyed the Persian army, is located at the confluence of the Daravut-chai river into the Araks. On October 19, 1812, at the head of a detachment with 6 guns, Kotlyarevsky crossed the Araks 15 versts above the Persian camp.

In total, according to the statement, the detachment consisted of: 17th Jaeger Regiment: 2 staff officers, 11 chief officers, 24 non-commissioned officers, 9 musicians, 306 privates (total 352 people), Georgian Grenadier Regiment - 1058 people, Sevastopol Infantry regiment - 215 people, 20th Artillery Brigade - 85 people, Krasnov 3rd Don Cossack Regiment - 283 Cossacks, Popov 16th Don Cossack Regiment - 228 Cossacks. A total of 2,221 people took part in the expedition.

As early as October 10, the main forces of Abbas Mirza were pulled towards Aslanduz. Under his command there were 30,000 people with 12 guns. All actions of the Persians were supervised by English instructors. The Persians planned to defeat Kotlyarevsky’s detachment and go through Karabakh to the aid of rebellious Kakheti. To distract Russian troops, Abbas Mirza ordered the Erivan Khan to carry out a series of attacks on border posts, and Pir Quli Khan's detachment of 4,000 people to move around Karabakh to the Sheki Khanate. The actions of the Erivan Khan and Pir-Kuli Khan did not give the desired result.

On the morning of October 19, 1812, Kotlyarevsky attacked the fortified positions of the Persian army on the right bank of the Araks. No one in the enemy camp suspected the Russians were approaching. Everyone was going about their daily business: some were resting, some were engaged in tactical training. Abbas Mirza talked with British officers. Seeing cavalry on the horizon (for camouflage, Kotlyarevsky sent the mounted militia of Karabakh residents ahead), Abbas-Mirza said to the Englishman sitting next to him: “Look, some khan is coming to visit me.” The officer looked through the telescope and replied: “No, this is not the Khan, but Kotlyarevsky.” Abbas-Mirza was embarrassed, but bravely remarked: “The Russians themselves are trying to get at my knife.”

On the hill there was only the Persian cavalry, the infantry was located below, along the left bank of the Daravut-chay. Assessing the weak side of the enemy’s position, Kotlyarevsky directed his first blow at the cavalry and knocked it down from the commanding height. Russian artillery was deployed here at a high tempo and immediately began shelling the enemy infantry. Abbas Mirza did not dare to attack the heights and moved his army to the Araks in order to limit the movement of the Russians. But Pyotr Stepanovich guessed the enemy’s maneuver and hit the Persians from the flank. The Persians, seeing their superiority in men and artillery, did not expect such a turn of events. There was confusion, and then a flight across the Daravut-chay river to the fortification built at the Aslanduz ford. Russian troops got the enemy's artillery and convoy.

Kotlyarevsky did not want to stop there. During the day he gave his troops a rest. In the evening, Russian prisoners who escaped from the Persian camp were brought to General Kotlyarevsky. They reported that Abbas Mirza had assembled his scattered troops: in the morning he was preparing to repel new attacks. And Kotlyarevsky decided to attack the Persians at night. The former non-commissioned officer was ready to lead the detachment past the enemy's guns. Kotlyarevsky replied: “To the guns, brother, to the guns!” And he gave the disposition for battle. At night the Persians were attacked again. Seven companies of the Georgian Grenadier Regiment, having crossed the Daraurt River, went towards the enemy from the mountains, a battalion of rangers under the command of Dyachkov moved around to the Araks to strike from the opposite side, the reserve went down the Daraurt River. Cossack detachments were supposed to cut off the Persian retreat.

In this order, the grenadiers and rangers, in the deepest silence, came close enough to the enemy’s positions and, shouting “hurray,” quickly rushed with bayonets. After stubborn and short resistance, the Persians were put to flight. Having carried out a night assault, Russian troops completed the complete defeat of the Persian army. Only 537 people were taken prisoners, the Persians lost about 9,000 killed. Even the British who were with the Iranian army died in the battle: the artillery commander, Major Leuthen and Major Christie. Almost all the artillery was captured by Russian soldiers. 11 of the 12 guns produced in Britain were trophies. The losses of the Russian detachment amounted to 28 killed and 99 wounded.

The report on the capture of Aslanduz began like this: “God, cheers and the bayonet granted victory here to the troops of the most merciful sovereign.” In his report to his superiors about the enemy’s losses, Kotlyarevsky indicated 1,200 people. To the question of his surprised subordinates: why are there so few, since there are much more corpses, he smiled and replied: “It’s no use writing, they won’t believe us anyway.” The English-made guns became honorary trophies of the operation. Abbas Mirza escaped from shameful captivity with 20 horsemen. For Aslanduz, Kotlyarevsky received the Order of St. George, 3rd degree, and the rank of lieutenant general.

Now it was necessary to drive out the seven-thousandth Persian detachment that had settled there from Lenkoran and take possession of the Talyshin Khanate.

On December 17, 1812, the last glorious campaign of Pyotr Stepanovich began. On the way, he took the Arkeval fortification and on December 27 approached Lankaran, surrounded by swamps and protected by powerful fortifications.

Kotlyarevsky, lacking artillery and shells, once again decided to resort to a night assault. Realizing the complexity of the task, he wrote these days: “I, as a Russian, only have to win or die.” On the eve of the assault, an order was given to the troops, which said: “There will be no retreat. We must either take the fortress, or we must all die... Don’t listen to the all-clear, there won’t be one.”

The Lenkoran fortress looked like an irregular quadrangle on the Lenkoran River, 80 fathoms wide. Its largest side, 130 fathoms long, was located to the southwest. The northeastern side opposite to it was 80 fathoms. Batteries were erected in the corners - in the bastions, the strongest of which fired at the approaches to the fortress from the northern and western sides.

On the night of December 31, 1812, the assault began. At five o'clock in the morning the troops silently left the camp, but, before reaching the designated points, they were already met by enemy artillery fire. Without responding to the shots, the soldiers went down into the ditch and, placing ladders, quickly climbed the walls. A terrible battle began. The front ranks of the attackers could not resist and were thrown out, many officers, and among them Lieutenant Colonel Ushakov, were killed, and the number of Persians on the walls meanwhile quickly increased. Then Kotlyarevsky had to lead the troops by personal example: he rushed into the ditch, stood over Ushakov’s body and encouraged the people with a few energetic words. At this time, a bullet pierced his right leg. Holding his knee with his hand, he calmly turned his head and, pointing to the soldiers at the stairs, led them behind him. The inspired soldiers again rushed to attack. Climbing the stairs to the wall of the fortress, the general was seriously wounded: two bullets hit him in the head and he fell. But the victorious one: hurray! already sounded over the fortress. Mutilated, the general was found among a pile of bodies of those who stormed and defended.

When the soldiers, who found their commander among a pile of dead bodies, began to mourn him, he suddenly opened his remaining eye and said: “I died, but I hear everything and have already guessed about your victory.” The “meteor general” survived with severe and painful injuries.

Kotlyarevsky’s victories broke the Persians, who went to the conclusion of the Treaty of Gulistan, favorable for Russia, according to which the Karabagh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, Kuba, Baku khanates and part of the Talyshin with the Lenkoran fortress were recognized as belonging to Russia forever, and Persia renounced all claims to Dagestan and Georgia.

The general himself, awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree (only 131 people have received this award in history), suffering from his wounds, went home to Ukraine. With the amount donated by Alexander I, Kotlyarevsky bought himself an estate, first near Bakhmut, and then near Feodosia, where he was treated for wounds.

Legend has it that he once visited St. Petersburg, and at a reception in the Winter Palace, the Tsar, taking him aside, confidentially asked: “Tell me, General, who helped you make such a successful military career?” “Your Majesty,” replied the hero, “my patrons are the soldiers whom I had the honor of commanding, and only to them I owe my career.” In response, Alexander complained that Kotlyarevsky was secretive, unwilling to reveal the name of his patron, which offended the hero to the depths of his soul.

Pushkin in his “Prisoner of the Caucasus” dedicated the following lines to Kotlyarovsky:
I will sing your praises, hero,
Oh, Kotlyarevsky, scourge of the Caucasus!
Wherever you rushed like a thunderstorm -
Your path is like a black infection
He destroyed and destroyed tribes...
You left the saber of vengeance here,
You are not happy about war;
Bored by the world, in the wounds of honor,
You taste the idle peace
And the silence of the home valleys.

In honor of his accession to the throne in 1826, Emperor Nicholas I granted Pyotr Stepanovich the rank of infantry general and offered to lead the Caucasian army. In particular, the emperor wrote: “I flatter myself with the hope that time has healed your wounds and calmed you from the labors incurred for the glory of Russian weapons, and that your name alone will be enough to animate the troops led by you. To frighten the enemy who has been repeatedly struck by you and who dares again to violate the peace for which you first opened the path with your exploits. I wish that your review agrees with My expectations. I am in your favor, Nikolai.” But Kotlyarevsky refused. Old wounds haunted me.

For many years he lived in solitude, tormented by his wounds. Having become gloomy and silent, Kotlyarevsky showed constant kindness and generosity to those around him. Receiving a good pension, he helped the poor, especially among his former soldiers who, like him, became disabled, they received a pension from him personally. Knowing that his name is often forgotten in comparison with the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, Kotlyarevsky said: “Russian blood shed in Asia, on the banks of the Araks and the Caspian Sea, is no less precious than that shed in Europe, on the banks of Moscow and the Seine, and the bullets of the Gauls and Persians cause equal suffering.” He died in 1852.

In the Georgian Grenadier Regiment, which bore the name of General Kotlyarevsky, at daily roll call the sergeant major of the First Company of the First Battalion called: “Infantry General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky.” The right-flank private answered: “He died a heroic death in 1851 from 40 wounds he received in the battles for the Tsar and the Fatherland!”

While Kotlyarevsky was still alive, the commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, Prince M.S. Vorontsov, erected a monument to him in Ganja, which he stormed in his youth.

In the famous Kazan Cathedral, where the grave of M.I. Kutuzov is located, 107 banners and standards obtained in battles with the Napoleonic army were placed. Among this number of trophies of the Patriotic War of 1812, there were two banners captured near Lankaran by P.S. Kotlyarevsky’s detachment, as recognition of his military feat and military genius.

On October 30, 1913, at a meeting of the Society of History Admirers, dedicated to the memory of General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky, Professor I. Kovalevsky said: “When the sun shines, the shine of the stars is not visible.” The thunder of the battles of the Patriotic War on the fields of Russia overshadowed the amazing feats of Russian troops in the Caucasus. The professor ended his speech like this: “We Russians need to learn exploits not from distant Greeks or Romans, but from ourselves. Kotlyarevsky belongs to the Russian national heroes, to whom eternal glory and unforgettable memory belong.”

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