"You, whose wide overcoats

They looked like sails

And whose eyes, like diamonds,

A trace was carved on the heart, -

Charming dandies of the past years. "

Many people remember this piercingly inspired "Nastenka's romance" from the famous film by E. Ryazanov "Say a word about the poor hussar." Few know who the author of his text is. Even less is known about who he was dedicated to.

The poem "Generals of the 12th year", several quatrains of which became the famous romance of A. Petrov, was written a century after the war of 1812 by the Russian poetess M. Tsvetaeva and is dedicated to the 34-year-old Major General, the commander of Revelsky who heroically died on the Borodino field infantry regiment to Alexander Tuchkov.

This is easy to verify - just read full text poems, in order to understand not only who it is addressed to, but also the emotional attitude of the poet to the addressee.

General A. Tuchkov

M. Tsvetaeva

“Ah, on the half-erased engraving,

In one glorious moment

I met Tuchkov fourth,

Your gentle face

And your fragile figure

And gold orders ...

And I, having kissed the engraving, did not know a dream.

Tsvetaeva herself was poetically in love with the portrait-historical image of A. Tuchkov and kept a portrait image of the young hero-general on her desk. And, apparently, it was no coincidence that the knightly image of A. Tuchkov was projected by M. Tsvetaeva on her husband S. Efron more than once. In the poems dedicated to Sergei, the courageous image of a knight-hero, very similar to Tuchkov, always runs like a red thread.

Who was this young general who captured the poetic imagination of the famous poetess?

Alexander Alekseevich Tuchkov was born in 1778 in the family of an associate of Field Marshal, Count P.A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky general-engineer, chief of all military fortresses on the Polish and Turkish borders, Senator Alexei Vasilyevich Tuchkov, married to Elena Yakovlevna Kazarina.

Alexander was the youngest of five sons, and since all the brothers became very famous, glorified soldiers, in the army, in order to avoid confusion, they were called by their numbers: Tuchkov 1, Tuchkov 2, etc.

Noble family Tuchkovs originated from novgorod boyars, resettled by Tsar John III from Novgorod in the vicinity of Moscow.

The ancestor of the Tuchkovs, Mikhail, was a native of Prussia, which is why he was called Prushanich. His son, Terenty Mikhailovich, was already a boyar under the Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky and took part in the famous Battle of the Neva in 1240. One of his descendants received the nickname Tuchko - and this is how the famous noble family of Tuchkovs appeared.

Since ancient times, the Tver branch of the Tuchkovs settled near Kalyazin in the village of Troitskoye, which has survived to this day. Here after his death in 1799. Aleksandr Tuchkov's mother, Elena Yakovlevna, lived in her husband, General-Engineer Alexei Vasilyevich. On the ownership of the patrimony of the village of Troitskoe by Tuchkov, detailed records have been preserved in the Kashin census book (1628-1629) and the Kashin census book (1677).

Alexander Tuchkov himself was born in Kiev, where his father served at that time. Having received an excellent education at home, the young man, according to family tradition, was assigned to serve in the army in the artillery unit.

Having the opportunity and a certain freedom of action, Alexander Tuchkov made a great trip across Europe, attending the best academic educational establishments to replenish their knowledge. There in Europe, long before the start of World War II, fate brought him to Napoleon. In 1804, in Paris, he was present at the solemn ceremony of the proclamation of Napoleon as Emperor of France.

After returning to Russia, Tuchkov took command of the Murom Infantry Regiment and went to the battlefields of the Russian-Prussian-French War of 1806.

For personal courage and desperate bravery - this quality was especially distinguished by all the Tuchkov brothers - he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree and was appointed chief of the then famous Revel Infantry Regiment.

In a report on the actions of his subordinate Colonel A. Tuchkov, Count L.L. Bennigsen wrote: "Under the blows of a hail of bullets and buckshot, he acted as if he was a training exercise."

Famous Russian writer, journalist, critic, publisher of the first half of the 19th century. F.V. Bulgarin, a former combat officer of the French army, wrote about the military qualities of the Revel infantry regiment:

“I have never seen such excellent regiments as were the Nizovsky and Revelsky infantry ... Not only Napoleon, but even Caesar did not have the best warriors!

The officers were good fellows and educated people; the soldiers went to battle as to a feast: amicably, merrily, with songs and jokes. "

F. Bulgarin (1789-1859)

Badge of the Revel Infantry Regiment

Then there was the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809, brilliant military operations under the command of MB Barclay de Tolly, rapid promotion (at 31) to major general and honorary appointment as duty general under the Commander-in-Chief, Governor General of Finland and Minister of War Barclay de Tolly.

The famous bill writer of the 19th century, poet, public figure, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, our fellow countryman Fyodor Glinka wrote about his friend A. Tuchkov:

“Have you seen, in a portrait, a young general, with the camp of Apolon, with extremely attractive facial features? There is a mind in these traits, but you do not want to admire the mind alone when there is something external, something much more charming than the mind. These features, especially on the lips and eyes, have a soul! From these features, one can guess that the person to whom they belong has (now already had!) A heart, has an imagination; knows how to dream and think in a military uniform! Look how his beautiful head is ready to bow on his hand and indulge in a long, long line of thoughts! .. But in a lively conversation about the fate of the fatherland, a special life boiled up in him. And in the heat of the humming battle, he left his European education, his quiet thoughts and walked along with the columns, and was, with a gun in his hands, in the epaulets of a Russian general, a pure Russian soldier! This is General Tuchkov 4th. "

With the beginning of World War II, the commander of the Revel regiment A. Tuchkov as part of the division of Lieutenant General P.P. Konovnitsina with battles retreats from the Russian border through Smolensk to a decisive place both in her life and in the history of the Fatherland - to a small village near Mozhaisk - Borodino.

The Revel regiment was placed by Kutuzov on a position near the village. Semenovskoye, which became one of the bloodiest epicenters of the Battle of Borodino.

Let us recall M.Yu. Lermontov:

“Well, it was a day! Through the volatile smoke

The French moved like clouds, and everything on our redoubt ...

You will not see such battles! ..

Banners were worn like shadows, fire glittered in the smoke,

Damask steel sounded, buckshot squealed, the fighters' hand was tired to prick,

And a mountain of bloody bodies prevented the nuclei from flying ”.

F. Glinka is an eyewitness and participant in this tragically tense grandiose battle of the 19th century. this is how he described the lethality of the battle in the sketches of the Battle of Borodino: "blizzards of buckshot and drifts of the dead and dying."

In one of the most intense moments of the battle, when the Revel regiment wavered and began to retreat under a barrage of bullets, shells and buckshot, Tuchkov - according to F. Glinka's recollection - shouted: “Guys, go ahead! The soldiers, who had been lashed in the face with leaden rain, fell into thought. “Are you standing? I'll go alone!

He grabbed the banner and rushed forward. Buckshot hurt his chest. His body did not fall prey to the enemy. A multitude of cannonballs and bombs, like a hissing cloud, scooped up the ground and buried the general with thrown boulders. Struck by the heroic deed of their commander, the soldiers, bending over from the hurricane of fire, returned to their positions. "

The feat of General A. Tuchkov

In this sector of the Borodino battle, one of the most intense and bloody, the famous commander of the 2nd Army, a student of Suvorov, Prince P.I. Bagration - just like A. Tuchkov, who raised the faltering troops to attack.

In the immortal epic novel "War and Peace" by his writing genius L.N. Tolstoy best understood the greatness of the feat of Russian soldiers on the Borodino field:

"With many years of military experience, he (Kutuzov - author's note) knew and with his senile mind he understood that the fate of the battle is not decided by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not the place where the troops are stationed, not the number of guns ... but that elusive force called the spirit of the army."

It was the courage, perseverance, moral superiority of the defenders of the Motherland over the conqueror and the sacrifice for the Fatherland of Russian soldiers on the Borodino field that became the inner spiritual strength of our army, which L. Tolstoy very aptly called the spirit of the army.

It is no coincidence that the great Russian writer was one of the first to call the Battle of Borodino a moral victory for the Russian army.

It was these young generals of the 12th year, hundreds of Russian officers and thousands of ordinary soldiers who, by their very death, captured the invincible fortitude, spiritual power, and righteousness of the Russian army, becoming the moral force that, according to L.N. Tolstoy, defeated the great Invincible French army on the Borodino field.

In the fate of A. Tuchkov himself, the brightest page of glory and fame began after his heroic death. And this was due to the spiritual feat of his wife - "faithful to his death and inseparable from him after death" - who devoted her whole life to the memory of her deceased husband.

Margarita Mikhailovna Tuchkova - widow the deceased general was an outstanding woman of the first half of the 19th century. Many writers and publicists of that time wrote about her. She was favored by Alexander I and Nicholas I, Vlk was friends with her. Book. Maria Alexandrovna, wife of the future Emperor Alexander II. Many poets admired her spiritual appearance, the feat of life and dedicated poems to her; her spiritual father was the outstanding church leader of that time, Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret Drozdov.

MM. Tuchkova

Metropolitan Filaret Drozdov

Several books have been written about Margarita Tuchkova herself, who came from a noble noble family of Naryshkins, her correspondence with Metropolitan Filaret has been published, and she herself left a bright mark not only in the history of Russia, but also in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church.

After the news of the death of her beloved spouse, Margarita Mikhailovna, distraught with grief, could not find a place for herself, and her relatives quite reasonably feared for her health.

As soon as Napoleon's army, defeated near Maloyaroslavets, began its retreat, Margarita Mikhailovna rushed to the Borodino field, which had remained untouched from the day of the battle, in search of her husband's body.

Due to the fact that a friend of the Naryshkin family, one of the active heroes of the War of 1812, Lieutenant General P.P. Konovnitsyn witnessed the last moment of A. Tuchkov's life, sent Margarita Mikhailovna a military map-plan of the Battle of Borodino indicating the place of that terrible tragedy, Tuchkova knew the exact place of her husband's death.

Together with the governess and the monk of the nearby Luzhetsky monastery, she searched for the body of A. Tuchkov for a long time among thousands of unburied Russian and French soldiers lying interspersed on the Semenovsky redoubt.

But since the body of Tuchkov, according to the recollections of many eyewitnesses, was torn apart by cannonballs that hit him in the chest, head and legs, Margarita Mikhailovna did not find anything and was forced to put up a wooden grave cross only at the site of the alleged death of her husband.

From now on, secular life lost all meaning for her, and only the only consolation in the person of her son Nicholas gave her the strength and desire to live in this world.

There, on the hills of Borodinsky, she realized that she could no longer leave here, this place became too dear to her - the place of her husband's last breath, drenched in his blood.

Soon, at her own expense, she set up a small house-gatehouse here and lived here for a long time at different times of the year.

Gradually, the same widows of dead warriors, as well as poor destitute people from neighboring places, began to be added to it.

M. Tuchkova was the first to realize the high purpose and sacredness of the Borodino field. She was the first who came up with the idea to build a temple here for prayer commemoration both of her deceased husband and all Russian soldiers who laid down their heads for the Fatherland.

Margarita Mikhailovna asked the neighboring landowners to sell her part of the land for the construction of a memorial church, but the owners of the nearby lands considered it their duty to donate several plots to her for this holy cause.

Upon learning of M. Tuchkova's intention to erect a church on the Borodino field, Alexander I sent her his personal donation of 10 thousand rubles, and soon construction began, which was personally supervised by Margarita Mikhailovna.

In 1820 the temple was rebuilt and consecrated in honor of the regimental icon of the Revel infantry regiment, commanded by her beloved husband, the Savior Not Made by Hands. On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, A. Tuchkov, realizing the drama of the upcoming battle, gave the regimental image to his wife for safekeeping. The presentiment did not deceive the young general. On the Borodino field, the Revel regiment was almost completely exterminated by the enemy and only some time later was re-formed by order of the emperor.

So the regimental image of the Revel infantry regiment became the main shrine of the built church-monument, and then of the Spaso-Borodino monastery itself.

Temple at the site of the death of General A. Tuchkov

in honor of the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands

Regimental icon of Revelsky in honor of the image

Savior of the miraculous infantry regiment

After a sudden death from a fleeting illness at a young age, the only consolation in life - the son of Nikolai, Margarita Mikhailovna, realized that from now on her whole life would be inextricably linked with Borodino.

In 1833, the Spaso-Borodino women's community was established, Margarita Mikhailovna takes monastic vows, and in 1838, by decree of Emperor Nicholas I, the community acquires the status of a female co-operative monastery, the abbess of which becomes Margarita Mikhailovna herself with a new name Maria.

This is how the famous Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery arose - one of the shrines not only of the Moscow region, but of the whole of Russia - the first monument to the heroes of the Battle of Borodino and the largest military memorial in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Abbess Maria (M. Tuchkova)

Panorama of Spaso-Borodinsky monastery

Margarita Mikhailovna was the first to come to the idea of ​​the need for a special memorial service on the day of the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, and soon, through her efforts, every year on August 26, clergy and ordinary people began to gather from all the surrounding villages in order to honor the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland who died here with conciliar prayers.

Soon the majestic cathedral church of the monastery was laid and built in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, on the day of memory of which (August 26) the Battle of Borodino took place.

So thanks to Margarita Mikhailovna, the first monument to the Patriotic War of 1812 appeared in Russia over the place of death of our compatriot, a Tver nobleman, General Alexander Tuchkov.

The first state monument to Russia's victory over Napoleon was erected on the Borodino field only in 1839. At its opening, Nicholas I, addressing Margarita Mikhailovna, said: "You warned us, we erected a Pig-iron monument here, and you are spiritual."

The first state monument to the War of 1812 on the Borodinsk field (1839)

Emperor Nicholas I

The construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, a monumental imperial monument to the war of 1812, was also begun much later than the founding of the Spaso-Borodino monastery in 1839. Although the victor of Napoleon himself, Emperor Alexander I, planned to commemorate the greatness of his rule and the victory of Russia in the war with France by building a grandiose temple on Sparrow Hills immediately after the end of the war.

The evangelical expression is widely known that “There is no more love than if a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). A. Tuchkov and hundreds of other heroes gave their lives for the Fatherland, laid down “their souls for their friends,” and Margarita Mikhailovna laid down “her soul” so that the memory of the heroic deed of Russian soldiers would never fade away in our Fatherland.

The name of General A. Tuchkov is engraved in gold letters on a memorial pedestal in honor of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 at the Borodino field. It is also embossed on one of the marble walls of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - a memorial in 1812. His portrait is placed in the gallery of military glory of the Winter Palace. The Revel Infantry Regiment in 1912 received the honorary right to be called the A. Tuchkov Regiment for life. In Moscow, near the Fili metro station, there is a street named after the Tuchkov brothers.

Borodinsky (formerly Dorogomilovsky) bridge, turned into centenary war of Russia with Napoleon in a monument to Russian soldiers who distinguished themselves in the Borodino field. On one of several tetrahedral pedestals located on the bridge, there is a cast-iron plaque with the inscription: "Outstanding military commanders of the Russian army A. Tuchkov and N. Tuchkov."

The names of the two Tuchkov brothers, Alexander and Nikolai, are also carved on the white-stone support ring of the cylinder of the main building of the Borodino Battle panorama museum in Moscow.

And, probably, in this jubilee year, the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, the name of our fellow countryman - a Tver nobleman, a hero of the Battle of Borodino, could rightfully become one of the main contenders for the entry into the chronicle of the glory of our city - in the Golden Book of Tver.

C priest Roman Manilov

The Tuchkovs owned lands in the Moscow, Tula, Vladimir, Simbirsk, and Yaroslavl provinces. In the Penza province, they owned the village of Yakhontovo (Dolgorukovo) in the Insar district (now the Issinsky district).

Already in the 16th century, the Tuchkovs were close to the royal house, and in the 19th century the family became famous in the war of 1812.

Alexei Vasilievich Tuchkov (1729 - 1799, Moscow), engineer, lieutenant general, actual privy councilor. He participated in the Seven Years War, managed an engineering and artillery unit in St. Petersburg, built a bridge on Vasilievsky Island, had 5 sons, including:

Alexey Alekseevich (1766 - 1853), major general, retired since 1797, leader of the nobility of the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow province in 1812. For organizing the militia, Aleksey Alekseevich was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree. He owned the village of Dolgorukovo and more than 1000 serfs, lived in Moscow and on the estate.

His son Alexei Alekseevich (12/26/1800, Moscow - 1879, Dolgorukovo), a retired lieutenant of the General Staff since 1826. He studied at the school of column leaders and at Moscow University, was a member of the Union of Welfare in 1818 and the Moscow Council of the Sevastopol Society in 1825. On December 14, 1825, Alexei Tuchkov was in Moscow, arrested in January 1826, spent 4 months in prison and was released due to lack of evidence. After his resignation, he lived in the village of Dolgorukovo, was elected leader of the nobility of the Insar district in 1832-1847. In 1847 he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree "as a reward for diligent and blameless ministry in the election of the nobility." And at the same time, in 1848-1850, as well as in 1853-1857, he was under the secret police surveillance. In February 1850, he was arrested together with N.P. Ogarev, N.M. Satin, I.V. Selivanov for "belonging to a communist sect" on the denunciation of the governor A.A. Panchulidzeva and L. Ya. Roslavlev, father of Ogarev's first wife. Released after a month.

Tuchkov was a "good friend" of V.G. Belinsky, is familiar with A.I. Herzen, who wrote: "An extremely interesting person, with an unusually developed practical mind." Alexey Alekseevich was the guardian of the young I.A. Salov, the future writer. He opened a sugar factory in Dolgorukov and a school for peasant children for 40 student places, where he taught himself. Alexey Tuchkov was an ardent opponent of serfdom, distinguished himself by his humane attitude towards peasants and repeatedly defended their interests before the authorities. In 1823, Aleksey Alekseevich married Natalya Apollonovna Zhemchuzhnikova. They had two daughters:

Elena Alekseevna (1827 - 1871), wife of N.M. Satin, and

Natalya Alekseevna (1829 - 1913), memoirist, second wife of N.P. Ogarev, since 1857 - the common-law wife of A.I. Herzen.

Best of the day

Pavel Alekseevich (1803 - 1864), brother of Aleksei Alekseevich, uncle of Natalya Alekseevna Tuchkova-Ogaryova, rose to the rank of lieutenant general, was a member of the State Council, Moscow governor-general. After his death, two Tuchkov scholarships were established at Moscow University.

Review
Andrey Vyacheslavovich 24.09.2007 04:12:36

My ancestors rest in the cemetery in Kartino at the temple. Unfortunately, I could not find the grave. According to my father, there was a large tombstone at the burial site. These were not poor people and helped with funds for the construction of the temple. Now I have bought a dacha near Tuchkovo. In the ZhZL series there is an issue dedicated to the heroes of the won of 1812. There is a section dedicated to the Tuchkovs. I am very sorry that I missed this edition. I know little about the ancestors.

Since the end of the 18th century, representatives of the Tuchkov family, prominent military leaders of the Patriotic War of 1812 and their descendants, have played an outstanding role in the history of our settlements.
After the partition with the brothers, Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov (from the many Tuchkov estates in other places) got the villages of Mukhino, Lyakhovo (there was a manor's estate there), Truteevo, Artyukhino, Brykino. The latter was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.
Many generations of the Tuchkovs labored ascetic in the diplomatic and military service and contributed to the strengthening of the power of the Russian state. We meet the first news about the Tuchkovs at the time of Alexander Nevsky, when a particularly difficult situation developed for Russia: the Mongol-Tatar khans fell from the east, and German knights and Swedish feudal lords from the north-west. In 1240 during the famous battle on the Neva with the Swedes of the Novgorod forces under the leadership of the brave 20-year-old prince Alexander Yaroslavovich, nicknamed for this battle "Nevsky." in the ranks of the Russian army, a certain Terenty, the son of Mikhail, fought and fell in this battle. From him comes the Tuchkov family. Terenty's great-grandson Mikhail had two sons: Ignatius and Boris, nicknamed Tuchko-Morozov. All descendants of Boris Mikhailovich Tuchko-Morozov henceforth began to be called Tuchkovs.
At the end of the 18th century, a large estate located in two districts, Vereisky and Ruzsky, belonged to a colleague of the outstanding Russian commanders P.A.Rumyantsev and A.V.Suvorov, engineer-lieutenant-general Alexei Vasilyevich Tuchkov, the Tuchkov estate was located in the village of Lyakhovo. The Tuchkovs owned Mukhino, Brykino (the village was burned to the ground German fascist invaders in 1941), Truteevo and Artyukhino.
The sons of Boris Tuchko-Morozov, Ivan and Vasily Tuchkov, carried out major diplomatic assignments of Ivan III. One of them, Ivan, in 1477 negotiated with the Novgorodians about the annexation of Novgorod the Great to Moscow. In it
At that time, a strong army of the great princes stood under the walls of Novgorod, and the Novgorod boyars wanted to transfer Novgorod and all its rich possessions under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian state.

Learning about the intrigues of the Novgorod boyars, Ivan III in 1477 collected large army and made a campaign against Novgorod, sending Tuchkov to negotiate. With the support of many supporters of Moscow, Tuchkov negotiated successfully in 1478 Ivan III during the last campaign, Novgorod was easily captured and finally annexed to Moscow.
In 1480, Vasily Borisovich Tuchkov led complex diplomatic affairs in the negotiations of Ivan III with the brothers Boris Volotsky and Andrey Uglitsky. The appanage princes, dissatisfied with the growing power of the Grand Duke, rose with their courts and an army, numbering up to 20 thousand people, and moved to the Lithuanian border. Ivan III sent Tuchkov to persuade the brothers not to start feudal unrest. In the face of the danger hanging over Russia, in connection with the campaign of the Khan of the Golden Horde Akhmat and the intensified requests of Moscow diplomats, the brothers decided to make peace with Ivan III and came to him with their troops on the river. Ugra. Seeing the presence of the united forces of the Russian princes, the Tatars did not dare to start crossing the Ugra and went back to the Horde.
Thus, by the reconciliation of Ivan III with the brothers, Boris Tuchkov contributed to the final fall of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in 1480. However, if you believe the letter of Ivan the Terrible to Andrei Kurbsky, who was the great-grandson of Vasily Tuchkov, the Tuchkovs, on the one hand, helped to strengthen the power of the Grand Duke, and on the other, they opposed it. “You are accustomed,” the tsar says in a letter, “to commit treason from your ancestors: just as your grandfather Mikhailo Karamysh, with Prince Andrey Uglitsky, conspired to change customs against our grandfather, the great Tsar Ivan, so did your father, Prince Mikhailo, with the Grand Duke Dmitry , as the grandson of our father Vasily, he planned many fatal deaths; Likewise, your mother's grandfather Vasily Tuchkov has worn out many dirty and reproachful words to our grandfather, the great Emperor Ivan; Likewise, your grandfather Mikhailo Tuchkov, at the death of our mother, the great Queen Helena, uttered many haughty words to our clerk Tsyplyatyev. "
You are accustomed, - says the tsar in the letter, - to mend treason from your ancestors: just as your grandfather Mikhailo Karamysh, with Prince Andrey Uglitsky, conspired to change customs against our grandfather, the great Tsar Ivan, so did your father, Prince Mikhailo, with Grand Duke Dmitry, as the grandson of our father, Vasily, he planned many fatal deaths; Likewise, your mother's grandfather Vasily Tuchkov has worn out many dirty and reproachful words to our grandfather, the great Emperor Ivan; Likewise, your grandfather Mikhailo Tuchkov, at the death of our mother, the great Queen Elena, to our clerk Tsyplyatyev, uttered many haughty words
This circumstance, however, did not prevent Vasily III from repeatedly sending Mikhail Tuchkov, who was reputed to be an independent person, as an ambassador to foreign lands to resolve complex diplomatic issues. Mikhail Tuchkov coped with these assignments brilliantly.
Fulfilling complex diplomatic tasks, in order to secure the southern borders of the Moscow state, Mikhail Tuchkov in the rank of Grand Duke Ambassador from 1512 to 1515 negotiated with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey. After the raids Crimean Tatars and the devastation of the Tula and Ryazan lands in 1512, Mikhail Tuchkov had to make Mengli-Giray stop actions against Moscow to help the Polish king Sigismund.
Tuchkov fulfilled his mission successfully. The Khan did not help his ally Sigismund during the war between Russia and Poland, the conquest of the Smolensk principality and part of the lands of Belarus in 1514, although Sigismund did not spare money to bribe the Crimeans.
In 1516, having successfully completed negotiations with the Crimeans, Mikhail Tuchkov headed the Russian embassy in Kazan. This year, the embassy arrived from Kazan with the news that the Kazan Khan Magmet-Amen was dangerously ill, and asked on behalf of the sick khan and all Kazan residents to release the captive Kazan Tsarevich Abdyl-Letif who was imprisoned in Moscow and to appoint him as Khan in Kazan in the event of the death of Aminiyeva ... In the Moscow state, they were interested in a protege of Moscow to rule in Kazan. Vasily III agreed to fulfill the requests of the citizens of Kazan and sent an embassy to Kazan headed by the okolnichy Mikhail Tuchkov. Tuchkov took an oath from the khan and the whole land that Kazan would not appoint any ruler without the knowledge of the Grand Duke of Moscow, and as a result of these agreements, Letif was released, temporarily taking control of Kashira. The Russian government was especially worried about the question that a representative of the Gireiev house would not reign in Kazan.
Of the three sons of Mikhail Vasilyevich Tuchkov, Ivan and Vasily, as they say in the Tuchkov family tree, were brave warriors, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible they distinguished themselves in many battles, were voivods in the annexation of the Volga region to the Russian state and in the protracted Livonian war. The grandsons of his third son, Mikhail, Ivan and David, also asceticised in the military field in the 17th century. From their third brother, Yermolai Stepanovich, the Tuchkovs descend - heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. The great-great-grandson of Yermolai Stepanovich Aleksey Vasilyevich Tuchkov (1729-1799) was also related to the military case. His service took place during the period Seven Years War(1756-1763), which was led by Russia against feudal Prussia. The Russian army defeated the drilled army of Frederick II and entered Berlin in 1760. A.V. Tuchkov was a colleague of the talented Russian military leader Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev and a contemporary of the great Russian commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, who began his military career. Tuchkov, together with Rumyantsev, participated in Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774 Russian troops on the Danube won brilliant victories over the Turks. Tuchkov retired as engineer-general-lieutenant, was later a senator. All five sons of Lieutenant General Tuchkov became generals and four of them increased the glory of Russian weapons during the Patriotic War of 1812.
The fifth of the brothers, Aleksey Alekseevich Tuchkov, who retired during the reign of Paul I in 1797, lived in Moscow for a long time, and then moved to the remote estate of Yakhontovo, Penza province.
Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov, or, as they call it, Tuchkov-the third, was born in 1776 in Vyborg in the family of the engineer-major general Aleksey Vasilyevich Tuchkov, who during this period was in charge of the fortresses located on the border of Russia with Sweden. Military life was reflected in the upbringing of the young Tuchkov, since the Tuchkovs themselves came from a kind of military people, whose life was most of all connected with military affairs. He received a family education, then was brought up in a private boarding school by some German pastor, like all the children of Alexei Vasilyevich Tuchkov studied French- it was fashion in the times of Catherine. Raised on the ideas of the Great * French Revolution and the French encyclopedists, he was a humane and enlightened man.

According to family tradition, 9 years old, Pavel Tuchkov was enrolled as a sergeant in the bombing regiment, where at that time his older brother, artillery captain Nikolai Tuchkov, was serving. Two years later, eleven-year-old Tuchkov was promoted to ensign, and then ranks and awards fell like a horn of plenty. Having never participated by that time, not in any of the battles, in 1791, at the age of 15, he was promoted to captain with an appointment to the second bombardment battalion. All these ranks and promotions took place thanks to the position of the lieutenant-general's father. engineering troops, a combat comrade-in-arms of the outstanding generals P. A. Rumyantsev and A. V. Suvorov.
In 1797, Tuchkov was twice promoted to the rank, he was first promoted to major, and by the end of the year - to lieutenant colonel.
The last years of the 18th century are the period of the reign of Paul I, an unbalanced man, an extreme reactionary, a tyrant, at whose word one could be exiled to a distant province or be deprived of service. Others, on the contrary, quickly rose in ranks, especially those to which the emperor once had to turn his favorable attention.
In 1797, Tuchkov was awarded the Order of St. Anna on the Sword, and the next, in 1798, when examining the troops by Pavel I in Moscow, he was transferred to the Guards Artillery Battalion, received the rank of Colonel, and at a dizzying speed at the age of 25, without any special military merit, promoted to the rank of general with the appointment of the chief of the first artillery regiment, stationed in St. Petersburg.
But here military career Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov was suddenly cut off. In November 1803, he was forced to ask for resignation. At the beginning of the reign, Alexander I did not show his dislike for Pavel Tuchkov, but two years later this dislike of the new monarch became noticeable, and Tuchkov was not slow to resign. At this time, Pavel Alekseevich settled in his estate near Moscow Lyakhovo and other villages, drew attention to the estate, which was now the only source of income for the young retired general.
The new hostilities with Napoleonic France that began in 1806 and the increase in the contingent of troops forced Alexander I to turn to the military, whom he clearly showed his dislike, and Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov was offered to enter the military service... Missing the usual military situation for three years of inactivity, P.A.Tuchkov gladly accepted the emperor's proposal and was appointed commander of the 10th brigade of the 17th Infantry Division, which was being re-formed in Tver. The formation of the division was delayed and it did not have time to take part in hostilities. By this time, the news came about the Tilsit Peace, which was concluded by the French and Russian monarchs. A few days later, in the same place in Tilsit, Napoleon made peace with Prussia. The brigade commanded by Tuchkov was taken to the camp to Vitebsk and was there until December 1807. Then, she, as part of the entire 17th Infantry Division under the command of General A.I. Gorchakov, went to Finland, with which, as it was said in the essay about N.A. to the continental blockade of England, seeking to maintain friendly relations with his old ally.
Tuchkov's brigade acted against the Swedes in southern Finland, advancing from Friedrichsgam to Sveaborg and Helsinki-force, making up the left column of the Russian army, which was tasked with clearing the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland from the Swedes. Here, in Finland, in the war with the Swedes, General Tuchkov received his baptism of fire.
General A.I. Gorchakov, who headed the left column, formed a detachment from P.A.Tuchkov's brigade. Having given him the 30th and 31st Jaeger regiments, the squadron of the Finnish dragoon regiment, 2 squadrons of the Grodno hussar regiment and a hundred Don Cossacks, instructed the detachment to act on the right flank of the left column. Tuchkov's detachment successfully advanced along country roads after the Swedes, and on February 12, 1808, attacked a large Swedish detachment, turning it to flight to Abo.
In September 1808, the Swedes made an attempt to stop the Russian offensive by landing an amphibious assault. However, the Swedish landing was dropped into the sea by Tuchkov's detachment together with the detachment of P.I.Bagration that had approached here. At the same time, Tuchkov captured Gangut with 55 guns and, by order of the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops, General F.F.
P.A.Tuchkov was tasked with organizing the defense of the Gulf of Finland from Sveaborg to Abo. At this time, he successfully supported the actions of the Russian rowing fleet led by Captain I Rank Geigen from the shore with the fire of his batteries. Thanks to this, the Russian rowing fleet emerged victorious from a series of skirmishes with the Swedish fleet, repeating the exploits of the Russian sailors led by Peter I, who defeated the Swedish fleet at Gangut in 1714.
Tuchkov successfully repelled attempts by the Swedes to sabotage Russian troops on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, once he liquidated a large Swedish detachment of Colonel Palen, who was trying to attack the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Tuchkov's troops captured numerous detachments of the Swedes near the coast.

With the onset of cold weather and the terminated attacks of the Swedes on the Russian garrisons on the coast, in November 1808 Tuchkov's brigade successfully operated as part of the corps of General Kamensky along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. The most important tasks were always entrusted to the brigade of P.A.Tuchkov.
In December 1808, the new Russian commander-in-chief, General B. F. Knorring, who succeeded General F. F. Buxgewden in this post, was ordered to invade Sweden, making a winter crossing over the Gulf of Bothnia. It was envisaged that the troops of General P.I.Bagration, concentrated in Abo, the Aland Islands, with the subsequent exit to the territory of Sweden, were envisaged.
The brigade of P.A.Tuchkov now acted as part of P.I. Åland Islands, and the advance detachment of Ya. P. Kulnev on March 7 made a heroic transition across the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia and captured the Swedish city of Grisselgam. Major General Tuchkov's heroic actions in the war with Sweden were awarded the Order of St. Anna, 1st degree.
After the conclusion of the Friedrichsgam Peace Treaty (September 1809), the brigade of P.A. new heroic page.
In the Patriotic War of 1812, many residents of the Ruza district were in the regular troops. The Tuchkov brothers made an especially outstanding contribution to the defeat of the Napoleonic army.
The Tuchkovs in the Ruzsky district at that time owned the villages of Truteevo and Artyukhino, and in the neighboring Vereysky district they owned the villages of Mukhino, Lyakhovo, Brykino.
As part of the 1st Western Army, the 3rd Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General NA Tuchkov I fought to the east. General Tuchkov's troops distinguished themselves in battles with the French vanguard near Vitebsk on July 14 (26), 1812. There, on July 15, a brigade of the Revel and Murom regiments, which was part of N.A.Tuchkov's corps, met with the enemy in a rearguard battle. The brigade was commanded by his younger brother, Major General Alexander Tuchkov.
The brigade of A.A.Tuchkov, together with the Smolensk militias and other regular troops, participated in bloody battles at the Malakhovsky gate of ancient Smolensk and held back the outnumbered enemy troops from the Davout corps for more than 24 hours. However, it was dangerous to continue the defense of Smolensk. Napoleon, possessing a significant superiority in forces, could, having crossed the Dnieper, cause great harm to the Russian army by encirclement. On the evening of August 6 (18), Barclay de Tolly began to secretly withdraw his troops from Smolensk.
Next 1st Western army was divided into 2 columns. The first column, which included the 5th and 6th Infantry, 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Corps with artillery and a wagon train under the command of General DS Dokhturov, departed from Smolensk along the ring road through the villages of Stabnya and Prudishchevo.
The second column, consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th infantry and 1st cavalry corps under the command of Lieutenant General N.A.

Ahead of the 2nd column was the vanguard under the command of Major General P.A.Tuchkov III. Both columns were ordered to connect at the Solovyov Ferry by the evening of August 7 (19).
The second army also moved to the Nightingale crossing on the afternoon of August 6 (18). General P.I.Bagration left a strong detachment of General A.I.Gorchakov and one and a half thousand detachment of Cossacks A.A.Karpov near the village of Lubino. On August 7 (19), the 2nd Army crossed the Dnieper at the Solovyov Ferry and stopped before reaching Dorogobuzh.
Napoleon, trying to cut off the withdrawal of the Russian troops and go to the crossing, blocking the path of withdrawal for the Russian troops, sent the corps of Ney to the village of Lubino and to the crossing, then the corps of Ju-no and Murat. Meanwhile, a column of N.A.Tuchkov I went out to the crossing, at the head of the vanguard of which were the regiments of the brigade of P.A.Tuchkov III.
In addition to these regiments, Lubin had only three Cossack regiments of A.A. Karpov. The three-thousandth detachment of Tuchkov III, then increased by the approaching reinforcements to 8 thousand infantry and cavalry, restraining the fierce attacks of Murat's cavalry and infantry. Ney, covered the retreat of the Russian armies to the Nightingale Ferry. Detachment P. A. Tu

28-year-old Adjutant General Mikhail Petrovich Dolgoruky, close to the court and in love with Princess Ekaterina Pavlovna (the feeling was mutual, but the Empress Dowager Mother, alas, objected to this marriage), in 1808, participating in the "Swedish war" in Finland , once galloped to the disposition of the troops commanded by Lieutenant General Nikolai Alekseevich Tuchkov.

“Upon the arrival of Prince Dolgoruky, he immediately presented to Tuchkov claims to command the troops of the latter, in the attack intended by him, referring to the authority given to him, Dolgoruky, by the sovereign himself in a form, signed by him in his own hand. and the appointment of the commander-in-chief (Bukogevden), he did not consider himself entitled, without the knowledge and permission of the latter, to cede the leadership to another person, moreover to a junior in the rank. ”Prince Dolgoruky, in extreme impetuosity, word for word, uttered insolence to Tuchkov - and challenged him to a duel! objected that in a war, in view of the enemy and the attack on him, it was unthinkable for two generals to shoot themselves in a duel, but instead suggested that they should settle the dispute so that both of them should go to the front line and leave the dispute to fate, that is, to the enemy's bullet or nucleus. Dolgoruky agreed, and the Swedish core immediately killed him on the spot! It was no longer fate, and not a blind chance, but clearly the judgment of God! "*

Another memoirist, I. Liprandi, talks about the death of the prince, clearly not suspecting any quarrel or any duel. According to this story, at the fateful moments near Dolgoruky were he, Liprandi, with a plan of positions in his hands, and Count Fyodor Tolstoy "with a huge hemp pipe."

"The prince was in a frock coat wide open, under which there was a spencer, that is, a uniform without folds. In his right hand he held a pipe on a short shank, in his left - a small telescope. It was a beautiful autumn day. The prince walked downhill for the shelves that had crossed Suddenly we heard a cannonball hit and at the same time saw the prince falling into a pit from which they took clay along the road ... He was lying on his back. A three-pound cannonball hit him in the elbow of his right hand and pierced his waist. ... "

However, NS Golitsyn tells from the words of his brother Tuchkov, and therefore there are good reasons to believe this story. By the way, according to legend, two days later the news came about Dolgoruky's promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general with the appointment of a corps commander in Tuchkov's place, as well as a letter from the emperor with the message that the path to marriage with the Grand Duchess was free "

<Вот точно говорят, что кошка скребет на свой хребет. Ну не надо было лезть на рожон, провоцировать и оскорблять командира. Даже, если ты настолько уверен в своей крутости и полномочности. Ибо заканчивается оно... печально>.