Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich short biography and Interesting Facts from the life of the Russian general are set out in this article.

Brief biography of Mikhail Skobelev

Future General Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich was born September 29, 1843 in a military family in St. Petersburg.

From an early age, he showed a craving for science and knowledge. It was very easy for him to learn languages ​​and music. Mikhail decides to enter St. Petersburg University,

and after finishing educational institution- go to military service. Genes still take their toll. Very quickly, Skobelev becomes a cadet in the Cavalier Guard Regiment. For successful training, he is enrolled in the Academy of the General Staff. He became interested in military art and political history. Having successfully passed the exams at the Academy, Mikhail was enrolled in the General Staff, while receiving a new military rank.

Mikhail Dmitrievich actively fought in the Transcaspian region and Turkestan. During one military operation received 7 wounds, but miraculously survived. For his courage he was awarded the Order of St. George IV degree.

In 1874, Mikhail Skobelev received a new rank - adjutant wing. Two years later, he led an expedition in southern Kyrgyzstan, during which the Fergana Tien Shan was recognized as Russian territory.

Another Russian-Turkish war was brewing, and Skobelev volunteered to join the Danube Army, the 14th division in a new rank - major general. He was responsible for the safe passage of troops across the Danube River. For a successful operation, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st degree.

In the period 1875-1876, Mikhail Skobelev led an expedition whose goal was to suppress the rebellion of the feudal lords from the Kokand Khanate and to oust the nomadic robbers from the Russian border lands. After the expedition, he received the rank of major general, governorship and command of troops in the Fergana region, created on the territory of the subordinate Kokand Khanate.

Peak military career fell on the period of the next Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Successful combat operations, the siege of the city of Plevna showed the general from the best side.

In the period of 1880-1881 he led a military expedition to Akhal-Tekinsk. Skobelev stormed Ashgabat and Den-gil-Tepe fortress.

After Mikhail Dmitrievich was sent on leave, he soon died in 1882 in Moscow under mysterious circumstances. Rumor has it that he was killed in a political conspiracy.

Interesting facts about Mikhail Skobelev

1. The family of Mikhail Dmitrievich had military roots. His father and grandfather were faithful to the Russian people and the royal throne. The boy was brought up in a manner of patriotism, with an emphasis on work and civic duty. Therefore, it is not surprising that he followed in the footsteps of his parents.

2. Skobelev was a gifted young man. Science was easy for him. Free spoke 8 languages studied the history of Russia.

3. After successful campaigns in Kyrgyzstan, the Kokhan Khanate, the local population called him the "White Officer".

4. Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich became famous as a genius of offensive war.

5.Was married twice. After graduating from the Academy of the General Staff, he tied the knot with Princess N.M. Gagarina at the insistence of her parents. But soon Michael lost interest in his wife and a break followed in 1876. Shortly before his death, Skobelev fell in love with Ekaterina Golovkina, a teacher in a women's gymnasium, who became his chosen one.

6. He was negative about the state of Germany and German influence in Russia. Skobelev predicted a long war with the Germans, which eventually happened.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev - "White General"

M.D. Skobelev

The future commander was born on September 17 (September 29, according to a new style), 1843, in the Commandant's House of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where his famous grandfather, General Ivan Nikitich Skobelev, was the commandant. His son Dmitry Ivanovich brilliantly continued his military career. Growing up next to his grandfather, the grandson inherited his military talent, love for the soldier and care for him. Skobelev's profession was the defense of the Motherland. Russian Academy The General Staff highly appreciated the military talent of Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, calling him "equal to Suvorov." General Skobelev did not lose a single battle, while demonstrating exceptional courage and high military skill. This was especially evident during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.

Childhood and youth

Mikhail's grandfather, Ivan Nikitich, during the Patriotic War of 1812 was Kutuzov's adjutant, rose to the rank of infantry general, was the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress and at the same time an original military writer and playwright. The grandfather was the main figure in the home education of his grandson. After his death, the mother of the young Skobelev decided to send her son to France, where he studied at a boarding school, mastered several languages. Subsequently, Skobelev spoke eight European languages ​​​​(in French, as in his native Russian) and could recite large excerpts from the works of Balzac, Sheridan, Spencer, Byron, Shelley. Of the Russian authors, he fell in love with Lermontov, Khomyakov, Kireevsky. He played the piano and sang in a pleasant baritone voice. In a word, he was a real hussar - a romantic in an officer's uniform. Returning to his homeland, Mikhail entered St. Petersburg University in 1861, but the university was temporarily closed due to student unrest, and Skobelev petitioned the tsar to enroll him as a cadet in the Cavalier Guard regiment.

Military service

On November 22, 1861, the 18-year-old Skobelev took an oath of allegiance to the sovereign and the Fatherland in front of the formation of the cavalry guards, and with zeal began to comprehend the basics of military affairs. In March 1863 he became an officer. In February 1864, he accompanied, as an orderly, Adjutant General Count Baranov, who was sent to Warsaw to promulgate the Manifesto on the liberation of the peasants and on the allocation of land to them. Upon arrival in Poland, Skobelev asked to be transferred to the Life Guards Grodno Hussars, named after the hero Patriotic War 1812 Y. Kulneva. The regiment at that time was conducting military operations against the Polish rebels. On March 19, 1864, Skobelev was transferred and from March 31, in the detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Zankisov, he took part in the destruction of Polish gangs. For the destruction of the Shemiot detachment in the Radkovitsky forest, Skobelev was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 4th degree "for courage". In the memoirs of the officers of the Grodno regiment, he remained "a true gentleman and a dashing cavalry officer."

In 1866 Lieutenant M.D. Skobelev, brilliantly passing entry exams, entered the Academy of the General Staff. It was the heyday of the academy, in which such prominent military scientists as G. Leer, M. Dragomirov, A. Puzyrevsky taught. Temperamental officer study was not easy. He either worked hard, delighting teachers with his knowledge, or stopped going to lectures, wandering around the city and indulging in bachelor parties. Probably, he would not have been able to complete the course of the academy if it were not for Professor Leer, who guessed exceptional military talents in the “varmint” Skobelev and therefore took care of him with all his attention. At the request of Leer, Staff Captain Skobelev, upon graduation from the academy, was enrolled in the staff of officers of the General Staff. However, he did not stay there long. At the first opportunity, he asked for the right to participate in combat activities.

In 1869, as a representative of the General Staff, Skobelev participated in the expedition of Major General A. Abramov to the borders of the Bukhara Khanate. This enterprise was not entirely successful, however, it allowed Mikhail Dmitrievich to get acquainted with Asian methods of warfare, which were strikingly different from those used in Poland. What I saw captured young officer, and since then Central Asia has been pulling him like a magnet. For participation in the Khiva campaign of 1873, Mikhail Dmitrievich received his first St. George award - the Order of St. George IV degree.

In 1874, Mikhail Dmitrievich was promoted to colonel and adjutant wing, married the maid of honor of the Empress, Princess M. Gagarina. The couple did not love each other. The parents of M.D. Skobelev insisted on marriage, who believed that marriage would help their son settle down and get away from their idle amusements. Family life did not ask from the very beginning, and already next year Skobelev literally begged the authorities to send him to Turkestan, where the Kokand uprising broke out. As part of the Kaufman detachment, Skobelev commanded the Cossack cavalry, and his decisive actions contributed to the defeat of the enemy near Makhram. Then he was instructed to act at the head of a separate detachment against the Kara-Kyrgyz participating in the uprising; Skobelev's victories near Andijan and Asaka put an end to the uprising. Always dressed in a white uniform, on a white horse, Skobelev remained safe and sound after the most heated fights with the enemy (he himself inspired himself and others that he would never be killed in white clothes). Already at that time there was a legend that he was charmed by bullets. For his exploits in the Kokand campaign, Skobelev was awarded the rank of major general, the orders of St. George of the 3rd degree and St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree with swords, as well as a golden saber with the inscription "For Courage" adorned with diamonds. The first glory came to General Skobelev. In 1876 he divorced his wife. “To live my life, I confess, is unflattering for a woman,” Skobelev wrote to his uncle. In conversations with friends, he often said that "Ignatius Loyola was great only because he did not know women and families ..." And yet, leading a bachelor's life, Skobelev often showed a desire to "babysit his children". Unfortunately, this was not destined to come true.

Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878

In April 1877, the Russian-Turkish war began, in which Russia came to the aid of the fraternal Slavic peoples, and Skobelev decided to take part in it without fail. But in St. Petersburg, an unfriendly opinion had formed about the young general by that time: envious people accused him of excessive ambition. With difficulty, Skobelev was appointed to the Danube army as chief of staff of the Cossack division, but soon he was sent to be at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. When the days of preparing the Russian army for forcing the Danube came, Mikhail Dmitrievich achieved secondment of his assistant to the head of the 14th division M. Dragomirov. The division was instructed to be the first to cross the Danube, and the arrival of Skobelev turned out to be just in time. Dragomirov and the soldiers greeted him as "their own", and he was actively involved in the preparation of the crossing at Zimnitsa. The crossing was successful, despite the strong resistance of the Turks. After crossing the Danube by the army, the advance detachment of General I. Gurko moved to the Balkans. On behalf of the commander-in-chief, Skobelev helped the detachment in mastering the Shipka Pass. By this time, large Turkish forces under the command of Osman Pasha launched a counteroffensive against the main forces of the Russian army and organized a strong defense of Plevna, a strategically important fortress and city.

Plevna

Mikhail Dmitrievich happened to become one of the active participants in the epic struggle for Plevna. The first two assaults on the city (July 8 and 18), which ended in failure for the Russian troops, revealed serious flaws in the organization of their actions. Skobelev was given little consolation by the fact that during the assault on July 18, the consolidated Cossack detachment, which he commanded, moved forward further than its neighbors, and during the general retreat, retreated in perfect order. In the interval between the second and third assaults, he proposed to capture Lovcha, an important road junction leading to Plevna. " White General"led the actions of the Russian detachment that took Lovcha. Before the third assault on Plevna at the end of August, Skobelev was entrusted with the command of a unit of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Brigade. Having shown great energy and put everyone on their feet, he and his chief of staff A. Kuropatkin brought their troops to the maximum combat readiness. On the day of the assault, Skobelev, as always on a white horse and in white clothes, led the actions of his detachment on the left flank of the advancing troops. His detachment went into battle with music and drumming. After fierce battles with the enemy, he captured two Turkish redoubts and broke through to Plevna. But it was not possible to break the enemy in the center and on the right flank, and the Russian troops received a command to withdraw. This fight brought Skobelev more fame and made his name more famous throughout Russia than all his previous successes. Alexander II, who was near Plevna, awarded the 34-year-old commander with the rank of lieutenant general and the Order of St. Stanislav, 1st degree.

The sharp increase in Skobelev's popularity was largely due to the originality of his personality and the ability to win the hearts of soldiers. He considered it his sacred duty to take care of his subordinates, whom he provided with hot food in any combat situation. With sincere and emotional patriotic slogans and a lively appeal to the troops, the fearless general influenced them like no other.

His associate and permanent chief of staff Kuropatkin recalled:

“On the day of the battle, Skobelev each time appeared to the troops as especially joyful, cheerful, handsome ... The soldiers and officers looked with confidence at his martial beautiful figure, admired him, joyfully greeted him and from the bottom of their hearts answered him “glad to try” to his wishes, so that they will be great in the upcoming work.

In October 1877, Mikhail Dmitrievich took command of the 16th Infantry Division near Plevna. Three regiments of this division were already under his command: Kazan - near Lovcha, Vladimir and Suzdal - during the assaults on Plevna. During the period of complete encirclement and blockade of the city, he put his division in order, upset by heavy losses in previous battles. After the capitulation of Plevna, which could not withstand the blockade, Skobelev took part in the winter passage of Russian troops through the Balkans.

In his order before speaking to the mountains it was said:

“We have a difficult feat worthy of the tested glory of the Russian banners: today we are starting to cross the Balkans with artillery, without roads, making our way, in the sight of the enemy, through deep snowdrifts. Do not forget, brothers, that we have been entrusted with the honor of the Fatherland. Our holy cause!

As part of the Central Detachment of General F. Radetsky, Skobelev, with his division and the forces attached to it, overcame the Imetlisky Pass, to the right of Shipka, and on the morning of December 28 came to the aid of the column of N. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, who bypassed Shipka on the left and entered the battle with the Turks at Sheinovo . The attack of the Skobelev column, carried out almost on the move, without preparation, but in accordance with all the rules of military art, ended with the encirclement of the Turkish corps of Wessel Pasha. The Turkish commander surrendered his saber to the Russian general. For this victory, Skobelev was awarded the third golden sword with the inscription: "For courage."

At the beginning of 1878, Mikhail Dmitrievich, heading the avant-garde corps, ensured the occupation of Adrianople (Edirne). After a short rest, his corps marched on Istanbul (Constantinople), on January 17 broke into Chorla, which is 80 kilometers from the Turkish capital. In February, Skobelev's troops occupied San Stefano, which stood on the near approaches to Istanbul, just 12 kilometers from it. Exhausted Turkey asked for peace.

Skobelev was appointed commander of the 4th Army Corps stationed in the vicinity of Adrianople. On March 3, 1878, a peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, according to which Bulgaria became an independent principality, Turkey recognized the sovereignty of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. After signing the peace, the Turkish sultan wished to personally meet the Russian White General - Ak Pasha and invited Skobelev to Istanbul. The Turks were very impressed by the fact that the illustrious general knew the Koran and could quote it in Arabic. The Russian army, under the terms of the San Stefano peace treaty, remained on Bulgarian soil for two years. In January 1879, Skobelev was appointed its commander in chief. As a reward for winning this war, he received the court rank of adjutant general. The peace treaty signed in San Stefano was quite beneficial for Russia and the Balkan peoples, but six months later, under pressure from the European powers, it was revised in Berlin, which caused a sharply negative reaction from Skobelev.

By the end of the 70s, the struggle between Russia and England for influence in Central Asia. In 1880, Alexander II instructed Skobelev to lead an expedition of Russian troops to the Akhal-Teke oasis of Turkmenistan. The main goal of the campaign was the capture of the Geok-Tepe fortress (45 kilometers northwest of Ashgabat) - the main stronghold of the Tekins. After a five-month struggle with the sands and the courageous Tekins, the 13,000-strong detachment of Skobelev approached Geok-Tepe, and on January 12, after the assault, the fortress fell. Then Ashgabat was occupied, and other regions of Turkmenistan were annexed to Russia. On the occasion of the successful completion of the expedition, Alexander II promoted Skobelev to the generals of infantry and awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree.

Skobelev and Alexander III

Alexander III, who ascended the throne in March 1881, was wary of the loud glory of the “white general”. The March explosion on the Catherine Canal took the life of not only the ruler of the Russian land, but also painfully responded to many state initiatives. Together with the "Tsar Liberator" in the crypt of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the hope of Russian society for changes, which in the future could be a gradual and thoughtful transition without troubles and upheavals to a parliamentary monarchy, turned out to be tightly immured.

According to A. F. Koni, “... the fateful day of March 1 ... pushed it back for a whole quarter of a century ... Everything timid in society shied towards reaction and the ominous figures of K. P. Pobedonostsev and Count D.I. Tolstoy. Calling Pobedonostsev a sinister figure, a prominent public figure probably knew about other epithets that were invariably used next to the name of the chief prosecutor of the Synod: "the evil genius of Russia", "the most cunning man of Russia", "the leader of obscurantism" and the like.

Yes, the high-ranking imperial dignitary had a lively mind, deep knowledge in the theory of state and law, in jurisprudence, in philosophy and other social sciences. Colossal erudition allowed him to create his own theory about the prospects for the development of Russia. “They reproach me for pulling Russia back,” said the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, “but this is not true, but it’s true that I look at Russia as a majestic building built on a solid foundation, from which various charlatans are trying to pull it off, which I don't want to. This foundation: Orthodoxy and autocracy. I have nothing against superstructures on the building, if they correspond to the foundation and the general architecture of the century-old building, but the foundation must remain strong and intact.

But after all, Pobedonostsev could not help but know that Skobelev's views coincided in many respects with his own. The worldview of Mikhail Skobelev was formed several years before the end of his life. Already at the end of the war in the Balkans, he said: “My symbol is short: love for the Fatherland; science and Slavdom. On these whales we will build such a political force that we will not be afraid of either enemies or friends! And there is nothing to think about the belly, for the sake of these great goals we will make all the sacrifices.

Exactly at last years life, the general became close to the Slavophiles, and especially I.S. Aksakov, who had a lot of influence on him, which was noticed by his contemporaries. With Aksakov and the Slavophiles, he was brought together by common views on foreign policy Russia, which they all considered unpatriotic, dependent on external influence. This conviction was formed by Skobelev after the Berlin Congress, where statesmen of the non-warring European powers dictated their terms to the victorious Russia. Skobelev was an ardent supporter of the liberation and unification of the Slavic peoples, but without harsh dictates from Russia. It should be noted that his attitude to the Slavs was romantic and altruistic, similar to the position of F.M. Dostoevsky. By the way, neither Pobedonostsev nor Skobelev went further than a hat acquaintance. It's a pity. For each of them, the well-being of Russia was the highest life goal. Wasn't Pobedonostsev thinking about winning over Skobelev to his side because this would greatly strengthen the Russian Conservative Party?

In a letter to Alexander III, K.P. Pobedonostsev wrote:

“Let Skobelev, as they say, be an immoral person ... Skobelev, I will say again, has become a great force and acquired an enormous moral influence on the masses, that is, people believe him and follow him ... Now is a critical time for you personally, now or never you bring to your side best forces Russia, people capable of not only speaking, but most importantly, capable of acting at decisive moments ... All the more precious now is a person who has shown that he has will and reason and knows how to act: oh, there are so few of these people.

Pobedonostsev had a very great influence on the monarch in the early years of his reign, but other people also sought to influence Alexander III, who did not like the rise of Skobelev during the war and his extremely independent position in the field of foreign policy.

On the one hand, the entourage of Alexander III repeatedly tried to attract the "white general" to their side in order to use his authority to maintain the increasingly declining prestige of the tsarist government. On the other hand, they were afraid that Skobelev's authority would overshadow the unsympathetic personality of the current monarch. There were persistent rumors that General Skobelev was preparing a conspiracy or a coup d'état to overthrow Alexander III and his own accession. However, there is no real evidence of the preparation of such a conspiracy to this day.

Death of Skobelev

Having received a month's leave on June 22 (July 4), 1882, M. D. Skobelev left Minsk, where his headquarters were located, for Moscow. The general was accompanied by several staff officers and the commander of one of the regiments, Baron Rosen. As usual, Mikhail Dmitrievich stayed at the Dusso Hotel, intending to leave for his Spasskoye estate on June 25 (July 7) in order to stay there "until the big maneuvers." Upon arrival in Moscow, Skobelev met with Prince D. D. Obolensky, according to whom the general was out of sorts, did not answer questions, and if he did, then somehow jerkily. It looks like he's worried about something. On June 24, Skobelev came to I.S. Aksakov, brought a bunch of some documents and asked to keep them, saying: “I'm afraid that they will steal them from me. For some time now I have become suspicious.

The next day there was a dinner hosted by Baron Rosen in honor of receiving another award. After dinner in the evening, M. D. Skobelev went to the England Hotel, which was located on the corner of Stoleshnikov Lane and Petrovka. Girls of easy virtue lived here, including Charlotte Altenrose (according to other sources, her name was Eleanor, Wanda, Rose). This coquette of unknown nationality, who supposedly came from Austria-Hungary and spoke German, occupied a luxurious room on the lower floor and was known to all the reveling Moscow.

Late at night, Charlotte ran to the janitor and said that an officer had suddenly died in her room. Skobelev was immediately identified in the deceased. The arriving police eliminated the panic among the residents by transporting Skobelev's body to the Dusso Hotel, where he stayed. The official cause of death was "paralysis of the heart".

Around the tragedy in the Moscow hotel, like a snowball, a tangle of legends and rumors grew. The most diverse, even mutually exclusive assumptions were expressed, but they were all unanimous in one thing: the death of M. D. Skobelev was connected with mysterious circumstances. Broadcasting a rumor widely circulated in Russia about suicide, one of the European newspapers wrote that "the general committed this act of desperation in order to avoid the dishonor that threatened him as a result of revelations certifying him in the activities of nihilists."

Most of the public was inclined to believe that Skobelev fell victim to German hatred. The presence of a “German woman” at his death seemed to give these rumors more credibility.

This version was supported by some representatives of official circles. One of the inspirers of the reaction, Prince N. Meshchersky, wrote to Pobedonostsev in 1887:

“From day to day, Germany could pounce on France, crush her. But suddenly, thanks to Skobelev's bold step, for the first time the common interests of France and Russia showed up, unexpectedly for everyone and to the horror of Bismarck. Neither Russia nor France were already isolated. Skobelev fell victim to his convictions, and the Russian people have no doubt about it.

There were also rumors that Skobelev was plotting to arrest the tsar and force him to sign the constitution, and for this reason he was allegedly poisoned by police agents, with the sanction of one of the grand dukes.

The funeral of Skobelev resulted in a grandiose popular demonstration. From the Church of the Three Hierarchs to the station, the coffin was carried in their arms. Along the entire movement of the funeral train, to the very homeland of Skobelev - the village of Spassky (Ryazan province), peasants with priests came out to the railway - they went out with entire villages, towns with banners and banners.

The name of the general was immediately overgrown with legends and all sorts of hoaxes (in subsequent decades, there were real people who pretended to be General Skobelev). His mysterious death provided food for the plots of adventure novels of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Today, one can often hear voices that if Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev had been destined to live another 20 years, he would, no doubt, become the Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief during the Far Eastern campaign of 1904-1905. Perhaps he would not have missed the victories at Liaoyang and Mukden, would have saved Port Arthur, and indeed the entire campaign, from indelible shame. Then the political situation in Russia would have been completely different and the development of the country would have taken a more successful course, without the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Maybe. Only "one in the field is not a warrior," as history testifies. It is unlikely that all the talents of even such an extraordinary person as Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev would be enough to resolve all painful and completely insoluble issues. As the experience of the revolution and civil war, the brightest minds and true patriots of the country were powerless before the populist promises of political adventurers and the call to "rob the loot." Alas, history cannot be rewritten...

Compilation by Elena Shirokova
According to materials:

Kostin B. A. Skobelev. - M.: Young Guard, 2000.

An outstanding Russian military leader, national hero of the Bulgarian people Mikhail Skobelev was born in St. Petersburg 172 years ago - on September 29, 1843.

Fate decreed that the “white general”, who received this nickname for the bright robe that he wore during numerous battles, was waiting for early glory, mysterious death and complete oblivion.

"Tremble, Asians!"

The name of General Skobelev enjoyed incredible popularity in all sectors of Russian society. During his lifetime, squares and cities were named after him, and songs were composed about his exploits and campaigns. The portrait of the "white general" hung in almost every Russian peasant hut, near the icons.

Popularity came to the general after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78 to liberate the fraternal Balkan peoples from the Ottoman yoke. Not a single military leader in Russian history has been honored with such popular adoration.

Skobelev was waiting for glory during his lifetime and complete disappearance from history under the Soviet Union. Photo: Public Domain

Mikhail Skobelev was born in the Peter and Paul Fortress. As a child, he was raised by his grandfather Ivan Nikitich Skobelev, the commandant of the main fortress in the country. He was a retired military man, a hero of the battles of Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, he took Paris. It is clear that, like most of the noble offspring, he prepared his grandson for military service.

Later, Mikhail left for training in France. The young man spoke eight languages, and spoke French no worse than Russian. In 1861, Skobelev entered St. Petersburg University, but later the craving for military affairs overcame - the young man went to serve in the Nikolaev General Staff Academy. Unlike many officers who preferred playing cards and revelry to science, Skobelev read a lot and was engaged in self-education.

Skobelev received his first serious baptism of fire during the campaign of Russian troops against Khiva in the spring of 1873. The Russian state made an attempt to deal with the center of the slave trade in Central Asia. The Khiva Khanate for a century and a half was the market for Russian slaves. Since the time of Catherine II, huge amounts of money have been allocated from the budget to ransom their subjects from Asian captivity. Russian slaves were valued very highly, because they were considered the most hardy and quick-witted workers. And for a beautiful young woman, sometimes they gave up to 1 thousand rubles, which at that time was a colossal amount.

During skirmishes with the enemy, Skobelev received five wounds inflicted by a pike and a saber. With a detachment, he advanced 730 versts across the desert and took Khiva without a fight. More than 25,000 slaves were immediately freed.

hot and glorious time

Skobelev was not afraid to personally conduct reconnaissance in enemy territories. He dressed up in the clothes of commoners and went on sorties. Thus, he earned his first St. George's Cross when he studied in detail the route among the hostile Turkmen tribes. Later, he also went to Constantinople, studying the preparation of the Ottoman troops for the defense of the city.

"General M. D. Skobelev on horseback" N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, (1883). Photo: Public Domain

Contemporaries admitted that the commander received all his awards and distinctions not through patronage, but with battle, by personal example showing the soldiers how to fight. In 1875, Skobelev's troops defeated the 60,000th army of the Kokand rebels, their number was 17 times greater than the number of Russian troops. Despite this, the enemy was utterly defeated, our losses amounted to six people. For these military successes, Mikhail Dmitrievich, at the age of 32, was awarded the rank of major general.

Thanks to the leadership of the young general, slavery and child trafficking were abolished everywhere in Central Asia, a post office and a telegraph appeared, and the construction of a railway began.

In 1876, a popular uprising broke out in Bulgaria against the Ottoman yoke. Hundreds of Russian volunteer doctors and nurses went to the Balkans. The uprising was drowned in blood, Turkish troops massacred tens of thousands of Bulgarians. Cities were reduced to ash heaps, priests and monks were beheaded, babies were tossed into the air and caught with bayonets. Emperor Alexander II was shocked by the cruelty of the Ottomans. Skobelev could not stay away from these bloody events and in 1877 he recovered to the active army. He participated in many battles, later becoming the liberator of Bulgaria.

“A hot and glorious time began, the whole of Russia rose in spirit and heart,” Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky wrote about those events.

Father to soldiers

The courage and courage of Skobelev were combined in him with the foresight and prudence of an experienced military leader. The little things that touched the soldier's life did not escape his attention. Not a single subordinate of the “white general” during the campaign through the mountains died of frostbite. He forced everyone to take at least one log with them. And when other soldiers were freezing because they could not make fires, Skobelev's soldiers were warmed and fed with hot food.

Skobelev did not hesitate to talk with ordinary soldiers, he ate, drank, slept with the privates. In these qualities, the general was very much like another great Russian commander, Alexander Suvorov.

The most famous exploits of Skobelev in Russian-Turkish war- the defeat and capture of the entire army of Wessel Pasha and the capture of two fortresses during the assault on Plevna. The general himself led his soldiers under heavy enemy fire.

In total, more than 200 thousand Russian soldiers and officers died during the Russian-Turkish war for the liberation of the Balkan Slavs.

Disappeared from history

Skobelev became the first governor of the liberated Plevna. There he met with the emperor of Russia, who highly appreciated the merits of the commander. After this war, the "white general" became very famous in the country. In 1880, Skobelev took part in the Akhal-Teke expedition. Then, with a detachment of seven thousand people, he took the enemy fortress with a fourfold superiority of the defenders.

Mikhail Skobelev died at the age of 38 under mysterious circumstances. Having received leave, he arrived in Moscow, where, as usual, he stayed at the Dusso Hotel. After several business meetings, he went to the Angleterre Hotel, where ladies of easy virtue lived. In the middle of the night, one of them ran to the janitor and said that an officer had suddenly died in her room. The cause of death of the fearless commander is still unclear. It was rumored that German intelligence took part in the elimination of the brilliant commander. The doctor who performed the autopsy stated that death was the result of sudden paralysis of the heart, which was in a terrible state. The death of the general shocked the whole of Russia, his funeral turned into a nationwide event.

After October revolution all the gains of autocratic Russia began to be deleted from history. In 1918, the monument to Skobelev in Moscow was barbarously destroyed on Lenin's personal order. In accordance with the decree on the "removal of monuments erected in honor of the kings and their servants." All bronze figures and bas-reliefs were sawn, broken into pieces and sent for remelting. And the granite pedestal was simply blown up.

Immediately, Soviet historians, with great zeal and pleasure, declared the general an enslaver and oppressor of the working masses and the fraternal peoples of the East. On the site of the destroyed monument to the general, a plaster monument to revolutionary freedom was erected. Subsequently, a monument to Yuri Dolgoruky appeared here.

“My symbol is short: love for the Fatherland, freedom, science and Slavdom!”
M. Skobelev

The most famous Russian commander of the second half of XIX century Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev (1843-1882), the conqueror of Khiva and the liberator of Bulgaria, Mikhail Skobelev entered under the name of "white general". An outstanding strategist, a man of great personal courage, who died in the prime of his life under very mysterious circumstances.

In relation to the soldiers and the offensive strategy, he was called the "second Suvorov", the Bulgarians, in gratitude, called him the "liberator general" and even offered to lead the Bulgarian people, and the Ottomans spoke with respect - "Ak-pasha" ("white general"). So, he was called for his uniform and white horse, as well as his attitude towards people. Skobelev said: “Convince the soldiers in practice that you are paternally caring about them outside the battle, that in battle there is strength, and nothing will be impossible for you.” The soldiers loved him and said, "He did not send to death, but led him." In Europe, the general was compared to Napoleon Bonaparte. His star was only rising, despite the fact that over the 19 years of his military career, Mikhail Dmitrievich managed to be in the fire of 70 battles. The path from lieutenant to general M.D. Skobelev passed in a surprisingly short time - 11 years (1864 - 1875). The geography of Skobelev's service also inspires respect - from Central Asia to the Balkans, knowledge of the religious and everyday traditions of local peoples. The legendary general knew the Qur'an and recited it in Arabic to the astonishment of the Turks.

Mikhail Skobelev became famous not only as a military figure, but also as an exponent of the aspirations of the Slavic world, whose leader he rightly considered the mighty Russian Empire. Mikhail Dmitrievich can rightfully be considered one of the ideologists of Slavism (pan-Slavism), understood as the unity of peoples and countries related by blood and faith, headed by Russia. Skobelev was a fighter for the unity of the Slavic world. The basis of such an association was common Slavic roots, traditions, the Russian language and Russian culture, which had powerful properties for the unity of many peoples around the Russian people, the core of Russian civilization. Military power also had a special unifying appeal. military glory Russia, which was usually mined in the struggle for historical justice. The strength of Russia, aimed at fighting for justice, attracted other peoples. So it was during the struggle of Russia for the liberation of the Balkan peoples. And on an even larger scale this property of the Russian people will manifest itself in the future, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, when the heroic struggle of the USSR will attract the attention and sympathy of all progressive people of mankind. It is quite natural that Mikhail Dmitrievich also saw the Russian people as the core of a vast and diverse Eurasian ethnic system, giving security to a multitude of the most diverse peoples and nationalities, capable of fairly solving problems internal development, and defeat any opponent.

When the Russian army, at the forefront of which were the troops of Mikhail Skobelev, advanced on Constantinople, the "second Suvorov" dreamed of entering ancient city, the former "Tsargrad", the capital of the Second Rome - Byzantium. He associated with the entry of Russian troops into Constantinople hopes for the revival of the Slavic world and its unification. However, the Western powers, and primarily Great Britain, did not allow such a development of the event. This was also due to the political weakness of the figure of Emperor Alexander II, who did not have the will to defend the fruits of the victory of 1877-1878, withstand the pressure of the West and end the war with a brilliant victory for Russia (the capture of the straits and Constantinople). The unity of the Slavic world was a terrible threat to the Anglo-Saxon project of globalization. England sought to save the wreckage Ottoman Empire, as a power hostile to Russia, a buffer holding back the movement of Russians to the South. Perhaps it was these geopolitical views of the general, given his enormous popularity, that became the reason for his sudden death. Unfortunately, during the years of Soviet power, the name of the "white general" was practically deleted from literature and people's memory.

Skobelev as a cadet.

A family, early biography and military education. First combat experience

The Russian military leader was the third in the family of famous generals (his grandfather and father had a lot of military merit). Mikhail Dmitrievich was born in St. Petersburg on September 17 (29), 1843. His father was Lieutenant General Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev (1821-1879), and his mother was Olga Nikolaevna (1823 - 1880), nee Poltavtseva. D. M. Skobelev was a participant in the Hungarian campaign, for military merit and courage he was awarded the Order of St.. Vladimir of the 4th degree with a bow, as well as the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown of the 3rd degree. During the years of the Eastern (Crimean) War, he fought on the Caucasian front, was awarded a golden sword with the inscription "for courage", was promoted to colonel for distinction in the Bash-Kadyklar battle and was awarded the Order of St. Anna 2nd degree. Consistently commanded the Elisavetgrad Dragoon Regiment, the Life Guards Cavalry Grenadier Regiment, was the commander of His Majesty's own convoy, cavalry inspector. He took part in the war with Turkey in 1877-1878, commanding the Caucasian Cossack division together with the 4th rifle brigade. Then he was at the disposal of the commander in chief and took part in a number of cases. For the campaign of 1877-1878. Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev received the Order of St. George, 3rd class.

Mikhail was in a very warm relationship with his mother, retained his spiritual intimacy with her for the rest of his life and inherited from her the “subtlety of nature”. Olga Nikolaevna was engaged in charitable activities and supported her son's policy on the Slavic issue. After the death of her husband in 1879, she devoted herself entirely to charity, went to the Balkans and headed the Bulgarian department of the Red Cross Society. She founded an orphanage in Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), organized shelters and schools in several other cities, organized the supply of hospitals in Bulgaria and eastern Rumelia. June 6, 1880 Olga Nikolaevna was killed by robbers in the vicinity of Philippopolis. Her death was a great tragedy for Skobelev.

Mikhail's grandfather, Ivan Nikitich (1778-1849), was the son of a single-palace sergeant, and began his service at the age of 14, enrolling as a soldier in the Orenburg 1st field battalion (later the 66th Butyrsky infantry regiment). With his abilities and energetic character, he soon attracted the attention of his superiors and in the 4th year of service he received the rank of sergeant, and then an officer. As part of the 26th chasseur regiment distinguished himself in the anti-French campaign of 1807. For the Swedish campaign he was awarded a golden sword with the inscription "for bravery" and the Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree. He was seriously wounded, but continued to serve and distinguished himself in the war against the Ottomans. In the rank of captain, he was retired for some time. In 1812 he became an adjutant to M. Kutuzov. Participated in the foreign campaign of the Russian army, distinguished himself in a number of cases. His last campaign was the Polish one, in the battle near Minsk he lost his arm. Ivan Nikitich not only went from a soldier to an infantry general, but also became famous writer, speaking under the pseudonym "Russian invalid". Skobelev wrote on military topics, and his writings were very popular with the military. The general wrote in a lively, common language, using soldier's humor, folk proverbs. Ivan Nikitich wrote in one of his stories - “I remember the good, I remember the bad, but, I confess, I don’t remember anything better than a Russian soldier.” The perfect knowledge of the Russian soldier led to the great fame of his writings. In addition, his writings were filled with faith and deep patriotism.

In the first years of Mikhail Dmitrievich's life, the grandfather-soldier was the main figure in the home education of his grandson. The boy listened with great interest to the stories of Ivan Nikitich about military campaigns and exploits, a Russian soldier. Unfortunately, soon I. N. Skobelev died, and from the age of 6 the boy was left without his beloved grandfather-educator. The German tutor began to raise the child, but relations with him did not work out. Later, Mikhail was sent to Paris to a boarding house with the Frenchman Desiderius Girardet. In France, the future general mastered a large amount of knowledge and several languages. And Girardet will eventually become a close friend of Mikhail and follow him to Russia. AT Russian Empire in 1858-1860 the young man was preparing to enter St. Petersburg University. The preparation was successful, and in 1861 he entered the mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University. However, further studies were prevented by student unrest, due to which the university was temporarily closed. As a result, family traditions took up and “too graceful for a real military man,” Skobelev in November 1861 enters the cavalry guard regiment as a volunteer. This event was a turning point in his life.

18-year-old Mikhail, in the ranks of cavalry guards, took an oath of allegiance to the sovereign and the Fatherland and eagerly began to study military affairs. On September 8, 1862, after passing the exam, he was promoted to junker harness, and on March 31, 1863, to cornet. In 1864, at his own request, he was transferred to the Life Guards Grodno Hussar Regiment, which was stationed in Warsaw and led fighting against the Polish rebels. Mikhail Dmitrievich, in battles with the Poles, receives his first combat experience. As part of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, he pursued the Polish detachment under the leadership of Shpak. As part of a flying detachment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel K.I. Zankisov, a young officer took part in the destruction of the Polish gang under the command of Shemiot in the Radkovitsky forest. For this battle, Skobelev was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 4th degree "for bravery". In the memoirs of the officers of the Grodno regiment, young Mikhail Skobelev remained "a true gentleman and a dashing cavalry officer."

Skobelev as a lieutenant.

In 1864, while on vacation, Skobelev made a trip to Europe to study the theater of military operations of the Danes against the Germans (in 1864 there was a conflict between Denmark, Prussia and Austria over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein). In the same year, Skobelev was promoted to lieutenant. In 1866, the lieutenant entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, which then taught such prominent military figures as G.A. Leer, M.I. Dragomirov, A.K. Puzyrevsky. Skobelev studied unevenly, showing brilliant knowledge only in those subjects that interested him. So, he was the first in the entire issue of military history, showed excellent results in foreign and Russian languages, in political history, but did not shine in military statistics and photography, and especially in geodesy. Therefore, Skobelev graduated from the academy not in the forefront, but he was still enrolled in the General Staff.

According to the biographer of the commander, writer V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, Skobelev, on practical tests in the North-Western Territory, had to find the most convenient point for crossing the Neman River. To do this, it was necessary to study the entire course of the river. But Skobelev did not do this, having lived all the time in the same place. When the inspection commission arrived with Lieutenant General G.A. Leer, Skobelev jumped on his horse and crossed the river, safely crossing the Neman in both directions. Leer was so delighted that he insisted on enrolling a promising, determined and energetic officer in the General Staff. Shortly before graduating from the Academy of the General Staff, Skobelev was promoted to the next rank - staff captain.

First business in Asia

In 1868, at the request of the Commander of the Turkestan Military District, Adjutant General von Kaufmann 1st, Skobelev was sent to the Turkestan District. Mikhail Dmitrievich arrived in Tashkent at the beginning of 1869 and initially served in the headquarters of the district. The officer studied local battle tactics. Commanding the Siberian Cossack Hundred, he participated in petty affairs on the Bukhara border, showing personal courage. Carried out a cartographic survey of the Zarevshansky district, recently annexed to the empire. However, despite the skills and courage shown, Skobelev did not work out in the Turkestan district. Mikhail Dmitrievich, due to "lack of the necessary restraint and tact," was a man of conflict, intolerant of other people's weaknesses.

Skobelev quarreled with some of the Cossacks, and with two representatives of the Tashkent "golden youth" it came to a duel. This caused the displeasure of General Kaufman. Mikhail Dmitrievich was seconded back, he was assigned to the reserve squadron of the Life Guards of the Grodno Hussars.

At the end of 1870, Skobelev was placed at the disposal of the commander of the Caucasian army. In the spring of 1871, Mikhail was sent to the Krasnovodsk detachment of Colonel N.G. Stoletov, on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. There, the officer commanded the cavalry and studied the possibility of a Russian army march to Khiva through the northern part of the Karakum desert. Mikhail Dmitrievich reconnoitered the path to the Sarykamysh well, having covered a difficult path with a total distance of 536 versts: from Mullakari to Uzunkuyu - 410 versts in 9 days, and back to Kum-Sebshen, 126 versts in 16.5 hours. He was accompanied by only six people. Skobelev compiled a detailed description of the route and the wells available there. But here, too, the officer aroused the discontent of his superiors, he arbitrarily reviewed the plan for the upcoming campaign in Khiva, for which he was sent on an 11-month vacation.

In April 1872, Mikhail was again assigned to the General Staff, to the Military Registration Office. He participated in the preparation of a field trip for officers of the headquarters and the St. Petersburg military district to the Baltic provinces. In June 1872 he was appointed senior adjutant of the headquarters of the 22nd Infantry Division, which was stationed in Novgorod. Already on August 30, 1872, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, becoming a staff officer at the headquarters of the Moscow Military District. But he did not stay in Moscow for long, Skobelev was sent to the 74th Stavropol Infantry Regiment as a battalion commander.

Khiva campaign

Skobelev did not linger in the Maykop area, where the Stavropol regiment was located. At this time, the Russian armed forces were preparing a campaign against Khiva, "to liberate our compatriots" who were in slavery. In addition, there were constant complaints from local residents who had transferred to Russian citizenship, they were attacked by feudal lords equipped with English. The Stavropol regiment was not included in the number of formations that were to take part in this operation. But Skobelev was not going to stay away from the place where it would be hot. He asked for a vacation and arrived in Turkestan in the midst of preparations for the campaign. In April 1873, Russian troops set out on a campaign from four points: Tashkent (General Kaufman), Krasnovodsk (Colonel Markozov), Orenburg (General Verevkin) and Mangyshlak (Colonel Lomakin). The total number of troops was 12-13 thousand soldiers with 56 guns. General command was carried out by General Konstantin Kaufman.

Skobelev led the vanguard of the Mangyshlak detachment of Colonel Nikolai Lomakin. They left on April 16, Mikhail Dmitrievich, like other officers, walked. There was a shortage of camels in the detachment (only 1,500 camels for 2,140 people), so they loaded all the combat horses. Skobelev was always distinguished by severity and exactingness in wartime conditions, and first of all to himself. In civilian life, he could doubt, but in the military he was as collected, responsible and courageous as possible.

AT difficult situation When the water ran out halfway to the Senek well, Skobelev showed himself to be a skilled commander and organizer, maintaining complete order in his echelon and taking care of the needs of the soldiers. On May 5, while carrying out reconnaissance near the Itybay well, Skobelev with 10 soldiers discovered a caravan heading for Khiva. Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, Skobelev attacked the enemy. In this battle, he received several wounds from edged weapons and returned to duty only on May 20. On May 21, a lieutenant colonel with a small detachment carried out a punitive operation against the Turkmens. They were punished for hostile actions against Russian troops. On May 22, Skobelev covered the convoy, repelling several attacks from the Khiva. On May 24, when the Russian troops were at Chinakchik (8 miles from Khiva), the enemy attacked the camel convoy. Mikhail Dmitrievich immediately took two hundred, quietly went to the rear and hit the Khivans. He overturned the enemy cavalry, put the infantry to flight and recaptured 400 camels.

Khiva campaign in 1873. Through the dead sands to the wells of Adam-Krylgan (Karazin N.N., 1888).

On May 26, the united Orenburg and Mangyshlak detachments went to Khiva, located at the Shahabad Gate. On May 28, reconnaissance in force was carried out. On May 29, the Turkestan detachment under the command of Kaufman approached the city from the southeast. Khivans capitulated. Kaufman's troops began to enter the city from the south. But, due to unrest in the city, the northern part of Khiva did not know about the surrender and refused to surrender. Skobelev with two companies began the assault on the Shakhabad Gates and was the first to make his way inside the fortress. The Khivans launched a counterattack, but Skobelev kept the gate and the rampart behind him. Soon, on the orders of Kaufman, the assault was stopped, the city finally capitulated. Khiva subdued.

Scheme of the fortifications of Khiva.

During the campaign, the Krasnovodsk detachment of Colonel Markozov did not take part in the capture of Khiva and was forced to return to Krasnovodsk. Skobelev volunteered to carry out reconnaissance of the path not passed by the Krasnovodsk detachment in order to find out the cause of what happened. The task was fraught with great risk: it was necessary to pass the section Zmukshir - Ortakai, 340 miles away, in a hostile environment. Mikhail Dmitrievich took only 5 people with him, including 3 Turkmens. On 4 August he set out from Zmukshir. There was no water in the Daudur well. For 15-25 miles to Ortakuyu, Skobelev's detachment on the morning of August 7, near the Nefes-kuli well, ran into a detachment of hostile Turkmens. The lieutenant colonel and his companions escaped with difficulty. It was obvious that it was impossible to get further. On August 11, having passed 640 versts, Skobelev returned. The corresponding report was submitted to Kaufman. This intelligence helped to remove the charge against Colonel Vasily Markozov, who was considered responsible for the failure of the Krasnovodsk detachment. For this intelligence, Mikhail Skobelev was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

In the winter of 1873-1874, the officer was on vacation in southern France. During it, he traveled to Spain, where the Third Carlist War was going on (the uprising was raised by a party that supported the rights of Don Carlos and his heirs), and was an eyewitness to several battles. In February 1874, Skobelev was promoted to colonel, and in April he was enlisted as an aide-de-camp in the retinue of His Imperial Majesty.

Major General and Military Governor

At the end of May 1875, Mikhail Dmitrievich again sought an appointment to Turkestan. Skobelev was appointed commander of a small military team (22 Cossacks), which escorted the Russian embassy sent to Kashgar. At the same time, he performed the function of a scout - he had to evaluate military value Kashgar. The embassy passed through Kokand, where Khudoyar Khan, who was under Russian influence, ruled. At this time, an uprising broke out against the khan, who fled to Khujand. The Russian embassy covered him up. Thanks to Skobelev's skill, his caution and firmness, the battle, which threatened to exterminate the small Russian detachment, was avoided.

At that time, a ghazavat was proclaimed in Kokand against the infidels, and the Kokand detachments invaded the Russian borders. Khujand was besieged. Unrest broke out among the locals. Skobelev with two hundred Cossacks was sent to fight against bandit formations. Soon Khojent was liberated by Kaufman's troops, Skobelev led the cavalry. On August 22, 1875, Russian troops took Makhram, the center of the forces of the rebels (there were up to 50 thousand people). The Kokand people suffered a complete defeat, losing up to 2 thousand people killed (Russian troops lost 5 killed and 8 wounded). Skobelev in this battle, with the support of a rocket battery, rapidly attacked the enemy, put to flight numerous enemy flocks of foot and horsemen and drove them 10 miles away. In this case, the colonel proved to be an excellent cavalry commander.

The leader of the rebels, Abdurrahman, fled, six hundred, two companies of infantry and a rocket battery under the command of Skobelev were sent to pursue him. Russian soldiers destroyed the enemy detachment, but Abdurrahman was able to leave. Russia annexed the lands north of the Syr Darya (Namangan department). However, the uprising continued. Abdurrahman deposed Khan Nasreddin (son of Khudoyar) and enthroned Pulat Khan (Bolot Khan). Andijan became the center of the uprising. On October 1, a detachment of Major General Vitaly Trotsky took the enemy fortress. Skobelev distinguished himself in this battle. On the way back, the Russian detachment met the enemy, on October 5, Skobelev destroyed the camp of the rebellious Kipchaks with a night attack.

On October 18, Mikhail Skobelev was promoted to major general and appointed head of the Namangan department for his distinctions in this campaign. Under his command there were three battalions, five hundred and 12 guns. Skobelev received the task of "acting strategically defensively," that is, without leaving the borders of the Russian Empire. However, the situation was so difficult that Skobelev had to go on the offensive. "Positional warfare" led to the success of the enemy. Bandit elements and gangs constantly crossed the Russian border, a small war was almost continuously going on. Major-General Mikhail Skobelev constantly thwarted enemy attempts to cross the border, on October 23 he defeated an enemy detachment at Tyur-Kurgan, and then helped the Namangan garrison, where an uprising broke out. On November 12, he scattered a large enemy detachment near Balykchi (up to 20 thousand people). It was necessary to answer. Kaufman ordered a limited offensive operation.

On December 25, Skobelev set out from Namangan with 2.8 thousand soldiers with 12 guns and a rocket battery. Moving towards Ike-su-arasy, Russian troops destroyed "non-peaceful" villages. The enemy could not offer worthy resistance. Only in Andijan Abdurrahman decided to fight and gathered up to 37 thousand soldiers. On January 8, 1876, Russian troops stormed the fortress. Abdurrahman fled to Assaka, where on January 18 he suffered a new defeat. The rebel leader fled again, wandered for a while, then surrendered to the mercy of the victors. The surviving "irreconcilable" rebels fled to Afghanistan.

Kokand. Entrance to Khudoyar Khan's palace, built in 1871

In February, the Kokand Khanate was transformed into the Fergana region and became part of the Russian Empire. On March 2, Mikhail Skobelev was appointed military governor and commander of the troops of the Fergana region. For the appeasement of Kokand, Skobelev was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 3rd class with swords and the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree, and also marked with a golden sword with diamonds with the inscription "for courage".

Being the head of the region, Skobelev managed to pacify the Kipchaks, who gave their word to live peacefully. He also made a campaign against the Kirghiz, who inhabited the Alai ranges and the valley of the Kizyl-su river. The expedition to the borders of Kashgaria, to the Tien Shan, ended with the annexation of the Alai land to the Fergana region, the occupation of the Kashgar border and the construction of the Gulchinsko-Alai road. Skobelev held the post of governor for no more than a year, he was recalled to St. Petersburg. The general fought against embezzlement, making many enemies for himself. Complaints constantly rained down on him in the capital. The accusations were not confirmed, but Skobelev was nevertheless recalled. Now he had to prove that the successes in Central Asia were not accidental.

"General M. D. Skobelev on horseback." N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, (1883).

To be continued…

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(Material prepared by O. V. KRISTININA,
head the library of the village Alexander Nevsky, Ryazan region)

Equal to Suvorov

To begin acquaintance with a great man should be from the time that determines the psychology of the individual from his origins, from childhood.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was born on September 17, 1843 in St. Petersburg, into a family of hereditary military men. His grandfather, Ivan Nikitich Skobelev, went through a difficult path from an ordinary soldier to an infantry general. During the Patriotic War of 1812, he was an adjutant at Kutuzov himself, fought at Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, participated in foreign campaigns of 1813-1814 and took Paris. On April 14, 1831, in a battle with Polish rebels, Ivan Nikitich was torn off by a cannonball on his left hand. At the same time, Ivan Nikitich was an original military writer and playwright. In the last years of his life he served as the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and today his grave can be seen in the fence of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Father, Dmitry Ivanovich, also became a general. He participated in the Hungarian campaign of 1849, Crimean War 1853-1856, in the suppression of the uprising of 1863-1864 in Poland, he commanded the Caucasian Cossack division during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Just like his grandfather, Mikhail's father had St. George's crosses of the IV and III degrees, was a gentleman of the honorary golden sword.

Yes, in this family there was someone to look up to.

The grandfather was the main figure in the home education of his grandson. He was the first to instill in the boy's soul the idea of ​​duty to the Motherland, ignited in him a love for a soldier, taught him to speak a language that was close and understandable to a soldier. Comparing the orders of Mikhail Skobelev, given to him near Plevna, with the orders and literary works of Skobelev-grandfather, it becomes clear who was a model for him.

After the death of Ivan Nikitich, Mikhail's parents decided to send their son to France, to Paris, to the private boarding school Desiderio Girardet, where he spent five years. From here Michael brought forth a brilliant knowledge foreign languages and world literature. Subsequently, Mikhail Dmitrievich spoke eight European languages, and he spoke French as his native Russian. He could read by heart large passages from the works of Balzac, Sheridan, Spencer, Byron, Shelley. Of the Russian authors, Skobelev fell in love with Lermontov, Khomyakov, Kireevsky.

Mikhail Skobelev continued his further education in Russia. Having successfully passed the exams, he entered the mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University. But he was drawn in a completely different direction, and at home Skobelev sat for hours on military sciences. When, due to student unrest in 1861, the university was closed for an indefinite period, Mikhail Dmitrievich petitioned the tsar to enroll him as a cadet in the Cavalry Guards Regiment. Still, family traditions prevailed. Thus began his military service. On November 22, 1861, 18-year-old Skobelev, in the ranks of the cavalry guards, took the oath of allegiance to the sovereign and the Fatherland and began to learn the basics of military affairs with zeal. Already in one of the first attestations about the cadet of the Cavalry Guards Regiment it is said: "Serves zealously, not sparing himself". In March 1863 he became an officer, the following year he was transferred to the Life Guards Grodno Hussar Regiment, named after the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812 Y. Kulnev, was promoted to lieutenant.

In 1866, Skobelev, having brilliantly passed the entrance exams, entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, where he surprised the teachers with his talent and originality of thinking. Here his extraordinary craving for self-education manifested itself. I must say that Skobelev constantly studied and read incessantly, sometimes under the most impossible conditions - on bivouacs, on the shafts of batteries under fire, during the intermissions of a hot battle. Even on military expeditions, he knew how to get military magazines and essays in several languages, and not a single one came out of his hands without notes in the margins. Skobelev was a man who constantly educated himself. IN AND. Nemirovich-Danchenko in his memoirs cites the following episode: “After an extremely difficult transition to Biya, on the way to the 3imnitsa, I found him in some hayloft of a Romanian landowner. Skobelev threw himself on the hay and pulled a book out of his pocket.

- Are you still going to work? All of us had tired arms and legs.

- Yes, how else ... You won’t work? so it will fly into the tail later, perhaps.

- What are you?

- A French sapper of one book about earthworks.

- Yes, why do you need it?

- What do you mean why? - Skobelev was amazed.

- After all, you will have sapper teams who specially know this business ...

- Well, this is already a mess ... The general in command of the detachment must be able to dig the ground himself. He should know everything, otherwise he has no right to force others to do ... "

He never parted with the book and shared his knowledge with everyone. Skobelev often said to his officers: “I ask you to read in our specialty, read more in our specialty.”

Upon graduation from the academy in 1868, he was enrolled in the staff of officers of the General Staff.

In the next four years, Mikhail Dmitrievich, as a representative of the General Staff, visited the border with the Bukhara Khanate, traveled to the Caucasus, and under the leadership of N. Stoletov participated in an expedition to the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea. In 1872, Skobelev became a lieutenant colonel.

Mikhail Dmitrievich received his baptism of fire in the spring of 1873 during the campaign of Russian troops under the command of General K. Kaufman to Khiva, which for a century and a half, along with Bukhara and Kokand, was the market for Russian slaves.

The lifeless deserts surrounding Khiva were considered insurmountable. Forty-degree heat, hot sands and constant skirmishes with the enemy, who attacked mainly at night. Having overcome 730 miles with his detachment, Skobelev received five wounds inflicted by a pike and a saber, but remained in the ranks. His courage and courage were noticed by everyone.

In the summer of the same year, Skobelev, at the request of the commander of the expedition, General Kaufman, reconnoitered the path along which one of the Russian detachments could not pass. Accompanied by four local residents, dressed in an Asian dress, Mikhail Dmitrievich traveled among the hostile Turkmen tribes, making a detailed description of the most dangerous route. For this feat, he received his first military award - the Order of St. George IV degree and was promoted by the sovereign to the adjutant wing.

In the memoirs of Skobelev, his artist friend V.V. Vereshchagin wrote that the commander received all his awards and distinctions not through patronage, but won in battle, by personal example showing the soldiers how to fight.

The following year, he again seeks to send him to Turkestan, where the Kokandon uprising broke out. As part of the Kaufman detachment, Skobelev commanded the Cossack cavalry and distinguished himself in the capture of the Makhram fortress. The enemy, who had a seventeen-fold advantage, was utterly defeated. During the assault, more than a thousand Kokandians died, Russian losses amounted to six people. In addition to remarkable courage, he showed organizational talent and a thorough acquaintance with the region and with the tactics of the Asians. For these military successes, at the age of thirty-two, Skobelev was awarded the rank of Major General, awarded the Orders of St. George of the III degree and St. Vladimir of the III degree, and received a golden saber with the inscription "3a courage."

The first fame came to him.

From February 1876 M.D. Skobelev is the military governor of the Fergana region. He quickly restores peace and tranquility in the region, and not unsuccessfully counteracts the spread of British influence in Central Asia.

In April 1876, a popular uprising broke out in Bulgaria against the five-hundred-year-old Ottoman yoke. All of Russia, with bated breath, followed the desperate struggle of its fellow believers against the cruel enslavers. Hundreds of Russian volunteers, doctors and nurses went to the Balkans, but the forces were unequal. The uprising was literally drowned in blood.

On April 12, 1877, Russia declared war on Turkey. Mikhail Dmitrievich hardly achieves an appointment in the army. It was here, in the Balkans, that Skobelev's military leadership talent was fully manifested.

On the night of June 15, the 260,000-strong Russian army crossed the Danube and moved deep into Bulgaria. Being an assistant to the commander of the 14th division M. Dragomirov, Skobelev skillfully organized the crossing at Zimnitsa, which was successful, despite the strong resistance of the Turks.

It should be noted that, unlike many generals of that time, Skobelev always prepared his operations very carefully. Before starting any operation, he carried out a long reconnaissance work, he himself went on reconnaissance, risking his life. He had intelligence personnel who were in different places and reported to him. Skobelev knew everything the enemy was doing, and this was his brilliant feature.

After the army had forced the Danube forward to the Balkans, the advance detachment of General I. Gurko moved, and on behalf of the commander-in-chief, Skobelev helped the detachment in mastering the Shipka Pass. By this time, large Turkish forces under the command of Osman Pasha launched a counteroffensive against the main forces of the Russian army and organized a strong defense of Plevna, a strategically important fortress and city.

Mikhail Dmitrievich happened to become one of the active participants in the epic struggle for Plevna. The first two assaults on the city (July 8 and 18) ended in failure for the Russian troops and revealed serious flaws in the organization of their actions. Before the third assault on Plevna at the end of August, Skobelev was entrusted with the command of a unit of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Brigade.

On the day of the assault, Skobelev, as always, on a white horse and in white clothes, he himself led his soldiers under heavy fire to the enemy batteries. After fierce battles, he took possession of two Turkish redoubts. There were no more fortifications between the Russian troops and Plevna. Victory seemed assured. However, the bloodless Skobelev units did not receive reinforcements. By this time, the command had already assessed the battle as unsuccessful, and Skobelev, with a handful of soldiers, was left face to face with the entire 40,000-strong army of Osman Pasha. But, despite this, he held his positions for another thirty hours, repelling five Turkish counterattacks, after which he retreated, taking all the wounded. During this battle, the Skobelev detachment lost six and a half thousand people killed and wounded. Particularly distinguished Vladimir and Suzdal regiments lost half of their composition.

As many historians believe, the reason why Skobelev was not helped was banal envy - they envied his youth, his early career, his George on his neck, his knowledge and energy, his ability to communicate with subordinates, did not understand this active mind. Vsevolod Krestovsky in his book "Twenty Months in the Army" quotes Skobelev: “Napoleon the great was grateful to his marshals if they won him half an hour of time in battle to win; I won you a whole day, and you did not support me!

Alexander II, who was near Plevna, awarded the 34-year-old commander with the rank of lieutenant general and the Order of St. Stanislav, I degree.

Here it is necessary to note the following circumstance. In the minutes of the fighting, Skobelev was calm, resolute and energetic. He himself went to his death and did not spare others. Skobelev sometimes directly told people: “I am sending you to your death, brothers. Do you see this position? You can't take it, and I don't think I'll take it either. It is necessary that the Turks throw all their forces there, and in the meantime I will approach them from there. You will be killed - but you will give victory to my entire detachment. Your death will be an honorable and glorious death.", - and one should have heard what “cheers” these people sent to them to death answered with.

“I regard as the greatest talent the one who sacrifices people as little as possible. I treat myself the same as I treat those who shed blood"- said Mikhail Dmitrievich. But after the battle, hard days, hard nights came for him. The rapture of victory could not kill the heavy doubts in his sensitive soul. At this moment the commander stepped back and the man came to the fore with repentance, with a painful consciousness of what a dear, terrible price each success requires. The White General was very worried about those soldiers who laid down their lives in battle. Referring to his enemies, Skobelev exclaimed: “They think that there is nothing better than to lead troops under fire, to death. Not if they saw me on sleepless nights. If only they could see what's going on in my soul. Sometimes you yourself want to die - so terribly, scary, so painful for these meaningful sacrifices. Vasily Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko, who knew the general well, brother of the founder of the Art Theater, noted: “He knew that he was leading to death, and without hesitation did not send, but led. The first bullet - to him, the first meeting with the enemy was his, The case requires sacrifice, and, having resolved the need for this case, he would not back down from any sacrifice.

After the capitulation of Plevna, which could not withstand the blockade, Skobelev took part in the winter passage of Russian troops through the Balkans. It was a unique crossing, with which only Suvorov's passage through the Alps can be compared. Foreign military experts were sure that it was impossible to force the Balkans in winter. The Chief of the General Staff of Germany, H. Moltke, allowed the German military observers with the Russian army to go on vacation for the winter, and Bismarck folded a map of the Balkan Peninsula and said that he would not need it until spring.

In the order of General Skobelev, which became known, before going to the mountains it was said: “We have a difficult feat worthy of the tested glory of the Russian banners: today we are starting to cross the Balkans with artillery, without roads, making our way, in the sight of the enemy, through deep snowdrifts. Do not forget, brothers, that we have been entrusted with the honor of the Fatherland. Our holy cause! The transition was indeed one of the most difficult in the history of wars. With incredible effort, Russian soldiers dragged guns onto the icy steeps, which often, together with people and horses, fell into the abyss.

As part of the Central Detachment of General F. Radetsky, Skobelev with his division and the forces attached to it overcame the Imetlisky Pass, to the right of Shipka, and on the morning of December 28 came to the aid of the column of N. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, who bypassed Shipka on the left and entered the battle with the Turks at Sheinovo . “The soldiers were very animated. Skobelev, circling the ranks, repeated:

Congratulations, well done! Today is the day just for the battle - the twenty-eighth ... Remember, on the twenty-eighth we took the Green Mountains, on the twenty-eighth Plevna surrendered ... And today we will capture the last Turkish army! Let's take it?

- Let's take... Hurrah! - sounded from the ranks.

Thank you in advance, brothers!

Just as Suvorov knew how to make “miracle heroes” out of his soldiers, suggesting to them that they were miracle heroes, so every soldier in Skobelev’s detachment ceased to be a “gray cattle”, but performed miracles, striking everyone with his endurance and resourcefulness, and exceptional courage. The attack of the Skobelev column, carried out almost on the move, without preparation, but in accordance with all the rules of military art, ended with the encirclement of the Turkish corps of Wessel Pasha. The Turkish commander surrendered his saber to the Russian general. For this victory, Skobelev was awarded a second golden sword with the inscription "For Courage".

The general, extremely merciless in battle, recognizing in decisive cases only a bayonet attack, without a single shot, in order to see the enemy face to face, taught his soldiers in victorious days: “Beat the enemy without mercy while he holds a weapon in his hands. But as soon as he surrendered, he asked for amina, he became a prisoner - he is your friend and brother. Don't eat it yourself, give it to him. He needs more. He is a soldier like you, only in misfortune.”

Desperate courage and personal courage were combined in him with the foresight and prudence of an experienced military leader.

The sharp increase in Skobelev's popularity was largely due to the originality of his personality and the ability to win the hearts of soldiers. His associate and permanent chief of staff Kuropatkin recalled: “On the day of the battle, Skobelev each time appeared to the troops as especially joyful, cheerful, handsome ... The soldiers and officers looked with confidence at his martial beautiful figure, admired him, joyfully greeted him and from the bottom of their hearts answered him “glad to try” to his wishes, so that they are well done in the upcoming business "

In this war, no one cared about his soldiers as much as Mikhail Dmitrievich. During the crossing of the Balkans, he managed not to lose a single soldier from frost and snowstorms where others had entire regiments and divisions frozen to death. the day before winter transition through the Balkans, with his own money and the money of his father, he dressed the entire division in sheepskin coats. Preparing his division to cross the mountains, General Skobelev issued several orders, which some commanders at first simply laughed at. In particular, he ordered every soldier to carry at least one log of dry firewood. When the troops entered the mountains, it suddenly turned out that the local forest was so damp that it was simply impossible to make a fire out of it to cook food or keep warm. And only the soldiers of Mikhail Dmitrievich were always warmed and fed. Not a single trifle concerning the soldier's life escaped his attention. “After a stubborn battle, exhausted, he rushed to rest, and after three hours he was already on his feet. What for? To get around the soldiers' boilers and find out what is brewing in them. . Here are just a few excerpts from his orders:

“I once again draw the attention of the chiefs of units to their duty to ensure that the lower ranks are fed under any conditions. Once and for all I demand that not a single day pass on which they would not receive hot food, if the lower ranks are not fed, then this happens from the confusion and negligence of the boss. Both can lead to dismissal."

“To all the chiefs of the units, inspect the clothes of the lower ranks and fix what they can, buy the missing number of jerseys, warm socks and mittens along the way in passing cities. Stockings, footcloths should be smeared with lard, which protects against freezing, goose lard is best, lamb lard is not allowed.

“Shoes on a campaign are the first thing that, if neglected, makes a completely healthy, strong and brave soldier incapable of any military activity. In view of the seriousness of this matter, I prescribe to inspect and correct the shoes of the lower ranks. Now I ask regimental and company commanders to take this question to heart.

Once, in order to take out the wounded for treatment, he chartered a steamer to Odessa at his own expense.

Mikhail Dmitrievich did not hesitate not only to talk with the soldiers, he ate and slept with them, and shared all the difficulties of camp life. In this he is really close to Suvorov. At the headquarters of Skobelev, a petition service was created, where ordinary soldiers could apply for material assistance. The requests were varied. Once a soldier reported that a cow had died in his relative in the village, Mikhail Dmitrievich gave him 50 rubles from his salary. General Skobelev repeatedly told his subordinates that he owed his fame, and indeed his whole life, to a Russian soldier, and they paid him the same. The peasants, recent peasants, revered him as one of their own. “He is ours, he is Russian,” they said, “His great-grandfather still plowed the land. When others talk to us, we don’t understand, but when he does, we always understand.”

The general could not stand a careless and formal attitude to the service.

Being with him meant the same thing as studying on your own. He told the officers around him about his conclusions, ideas, consulted with them, entered into disputes, listened to every opinion. The chief of staff of the 4th Corps, General Dukhonin, characterized Skobelev as follows: “Other talented generals take only part of a person, they will not be able to use all of his strengths and abilities. Skobelev, on the contrary ... Skobelev will take everything that a subordinate has, and even more, because he will make him go forward, improve, work on himself ... He knew how to stir up a person’s mind, make him think ... "- “It’s not enough to be brave, you have to be smart and resourceful!” he said.

Decisiveness and ability for initiative were enormous in him and were reflected in everything.

At the beginning of 1878, Mikhail Dmitrievich was subordinate to the head of the Western Detachment, General I. Gurko, and, having led the avant-garde corps, ensured the occupation of Adrianople (Edirne). After a short rest, his corps marched on Istanbul (Constantinople), on January 17 broke into Chorla, which is 80 kilometers from the Turkish capital. An exhausted Turkey asked for peace. The peace treaty signed in San Stefano was quite beneficial for Russia and the Balkan peoples, but six months later, under pressure from the European powers, it was revised in Berlin, which caused a sharply negative reaction from M.D. Skobelev.

General Skobelev returned to Russia as a national hero.

His last military operation was a campaign against the Tekins, who were considered the best warriors in Central Asia. With a detachment of seven thousand men, Skobelev stormed their main fortress, Geok-Tepe (1881), completely defeating the enemy, who outnumbered him four times. Then Askhabad was occupied, and other regions of Turkmenistan were annexed to Russia. On the occasion of the successful completion of the expedition, Alexander II promoted Skobelev to the generals of the infantry and awarded the Order of St. George II degree.

F.M. Dostoevsky in his "Diary of a Writer" wrote about the capture of Geok-Tepe by General Skobelev: "Long live the victory at Geok-Tepe! Long live Skobelev and his soldiers, and eternal memory « dropped out of the list "heroes!".

A year and a half after this victory, Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev died in Moscow, having lived only 38 years.

The funeral of Skobelev resulted in a grandiose popular demonstration. The funeral service gathered a huge number of military and people, people went to say goodbye to M.D. Skobelev all day, the church was buried in flowers, wreaths and mourning ribbons. On the wreath from the Academy of the General Staff was the inscription: "To the Hero Mikhail Dmitrievich SKOBELEV - commander SUVOROV equal".

Skobelev in the eyes of the people became the man who raised the glory of Russia and made people feel involved in the great state. Mikhail Dmitrievich was a real Russian patriot. He wanted Russia to be a prosperous country.

“My symbol is short - love for the Fatherland, freedom, science and Slavdom. On these four whales we will build such a force that we will not be afraid of either enemies or friends., - the illustrious general liked to repeat.

Along the entire movement of the funeral train, to the very homeland of Skobelev - the village of Spassky - peasants with priests came out to the railway, whole villages, towns with banners and banners came out. Peasants of 20 versts carried the coffin of Mikhail Dmitrievich in their arms to Spassky, the family estate of the Skobelevs. There he was buried in the church next to his father and mother.

During his lifetime, he was compared with Alexander Suvorov, cities and squares were named after him, songs were composed about his exploits and campaigns. But after 1917, the Russian commander was forgotten. On May 1, 1918, a monument to the general was barbarously destroyed in Moscow in accordance with the decree on the removal of monuments erected in honor of the tsars and their servants. But it was erected at the expense of the people. All the bronze figures and bas-reliefs, and even the lanterns that surrounded the monument, were sawn, broken into pieces and sent for remelting.

Unfortunately, after the revolution, his family estate Zaborovo-Spasskoye was also destroyed. Only two buildings have survived to our time - a school built by Mikhail Dmitrievich for peasant children, and the Church of the Transfiguration. According to Skobelev's will, a house for retired soldiers and military invalids was built on the estate, but it was also destroyed. The church and the school were restored on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the commander's birth. In a buiding former school today houses a museum dedicated to M.D. Skobelev.

The memory of General Skobelev must live on, and we must draw spiritual strength from his exploits.

SKOBELEV

From immortality and eternity in a step He rides on a white horse And decided to write Vereshchagin, Like many wrote in the war. Among the unprecedented roses of Kazanlak, And among the caps flying up, In the midst of a soldier's powerful cry, So like fireworks Among the bayonets that did not become blunt, Among the glory that follows Vereshchagin sniffs over the sheets, Where there is nothing yet. Skobelev rides in a white tunic, All grievances and wounds are gone, Cavaliers, to whom he did not have time, Sends a bow to the ground. What are the thoughts now behind the soul, What kind of tears accidentally flowed? It is no coincidence that his Ak-Pasha, It is no coincidence that the enemies were named. Our victory banners curl, It pours endlessly: "Hurrah!" Closes the easel Vereshchagin, Former self under shrapnel yesterday.

V.A. Silkin

General S.L. Markov (a contemporary of M.D. Skobelev)

General M.D. Skobelev

(abbreviated)

And if these lines once again attract the reader's sympathy to the personality of Skobelev, if the consciousness that M.D. Skobelev appeared with us in Russia and was ours, he will make the feeling of national pride speak and give faith in the possibility of the appearance of a new Skobelev in our army in the future - I will consider my modest task completed.

Perhaps the best assessment of the significance of Skobelev for Russia in general, and for all Slavs in particular, was given after his death by foreign newspapers hostile to Mikhail Dmitrievich. The Borsen Courier, by the way, printed the following: “Well, this one is not dangerous now ... Let the pan-Slavists and Russian Slavists weep at Skobelev's coffin. As for us, we honestly confess that we are pleased with the death of a zealous enemy. We don't feel any regret. A man has died who really was able to use all his efforts to apply the word to the deed.

Skobelev, the father, a rather stern, stingy and old-minded man, had less influence on his son. St. George's crosses, both grandfather and father, from childhood served as a guiding star for Skobelev-child and determined his career. Grandfather - Ivan Nikitich Skobelev - earned his two St. George's crosses during the capture of Paris and Warsaw. On June 25, 1807, in the battle of Friedland, he was wounded by a bullet in the right leg. On August 20, 1808, during the conquest of Finland, two fingers of his right hand were torn off and his chest concussed. March 18, 1814 near Paris, he was wounded in left hand, and on April 14, 1831, in a battle with the Polish rebels, Ivan Nikitich was torn off by a cannonball of his left hand. The image of the wounded hero-grandfather could not help capturing the impressionable boy.

Skobelev was born into a family that occupied an exceptional position, both in terms of their family ties and material support. His father owned 40,000 acres of land. Until the age of six, Mikhail Dmitrievich was the darling of his grandfather, who died in 1849. The German tutor hired by the father, Kanica, was very unfortunately chosen. Extremely cruel, he often beat the boy for a poorly learned lesson and for the slightest prank. Nervous, impressionable, mobile, independent by nature and quick-tempered to the extreme, Skobelev could not come to terms with such a system of education. The absurd enmity of the pupil with the tutor only embittered the first and had to find an outlet for itself. One day, twelve-year-old Skobelev, in the presence of a girl of his age, whom he was fond of, the tutor hit him in the face. The boy could not stand it, returned the slap to the German.

This episode influenced further fate Mikhail Dmitrievich. The father realized that the cruel tutor could not cope with his son, and sent the boy to Paris, to the boarding house of the Frenchman Desideria Girardet.

In the person of Girardet, Skobelev found an experienced, educated teacher and an honest person who sincerely attached himself to him. Girardet had a great moral influence on Mikhail Dmitrievich, and, according to Skobelev, instilled in him a religion of duty. After the end of Mikhail Dmitrievich's stay in Paris, Girardet, at the insistence of Skobelev's mother, closed the boarding school and followed his pupil to Russia.

In 1861 Skobelev entered the mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University.

But the attraction of the young man was already determined - he was attracted to military service with its military exploits.

The appearance of the hero-grandfather, conversations about campaigns in the Caucasus, in Hungary, in the Crimea, the father with old comrades-in-arms have long been identified life path Mikhail Dmitrievich. He takes advantage of the first opportunity - the unrest that arose at the university - leaves him and in November of the same 1861 enters the cavalry guard regiment as a volunteer.

Skobelev, like another great Russian commander, Suvorov, forges his own destiny in spite of the prevailing situation. The lives of both were directed along a channel alien to them, but the call to military service with all its hardships, labors, capricious happiness, the tempting fascination of risk and the majestic idea - "to lay down one's soul for one's friends" - prevailed and helped to overcome all obstacles.

It is a great happiness for everyone to find a job to their liking, to feel their true calling, to work in a field that captures all thoughts, all energy. This happiness became available to Skobelev from the moment the university bench was replaced by a horse, and mathematical books were replaced by military history works.

In the fall of 1866, Skobelev was admitted to the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. During his stay at the academy, there were different opinions about him - his comrades appreciated in him outstanding person, the authorities considered capable, but lazy.

Such an assessment was quite natural. Like most gifted people, he could not fit the general standard. He could not deal with equally attentively everything that was required by the academic program. But on the other hand, often gathering his colleagues from the academy around him, Skobelev read to them some note he had compiled regarding Napoleon's campaigns or any episodes from Russian military history. Such reading has always captivated listeners, causing lively debate and reasoning.

Thanks to the knowledge of all European languages ​​​​and love of reading, Skobelev knew everything that in one way or another concerned military affairs. His love for military history reached such an extent that even near Plevna, busy day and night, he found time to read novelties sent to him from St. Petersburg in this area.

“I ask all officers to read more about what concerns our business”, - Skobelev writes in one of the orders for the troops of the Fergana region. Subsequently demanding this from his subordinates, Mikhail Dmitrievich himself served as a vivid example for them. Skobelev not only read - he knew how to read, choosing everything useful and instructive from books, taking notes and forcing the officers around him to comment on what they read with him.

At the same time, Skobelev is gaining confidence that the almost impossible can be demanded of a soldier, you just need to be able to demand, and this confidence will create new miraculous heroes near Lovcha, Plevna, Sheinov and Geok-Tepe.

A dashing cornet, an athlete, if you like - a hussar-reveler shows personal courage in the fight against insurgents in Poland. The same personal courage in small expeditions in Turkestan, the ability to captivate his subordinates, to inspire them that the impossible is possible, characterizes the first period of Skobelev's service in Turkestan. In the Caucasus, Mikhail Dmitrievich falls into the drill of the famous Prussian regimental commander, Colonel von Shack, and lovingly studies the methods of drill and rifle training of a soldier. But more than that, Skobelev here by experience learns the spirit of army camaraderie and the fighting leaven of the regiment, developed in continuous struggle and constant deprivation.

The second period of Skobelev's service in Turkestan is associated with an expedition against Khiva in 1873.

Skobelev made every effort to get on this expedition. Initially, Mikhail Dmitrievich was appointed to be with the detachment of Colonel Lomakin, who was moving towards Khiva from the north through the Ust-Urt desert.

Here is how Skobelev himself later spoke about the Khiva campaign: “In April, the movement of troops began in echelons. At first I was at one of the columns and carried out various assignments. At the wells of Bash-Act, I was entrusted with the command of a separate small column. We moved forward slowly, experiencing terrible hardships: the heat reached 45, the stuffiness and dryness of the air were unbearable; all around, wherever you look, a lifeless desert, endless sands, sands. The water in the wells was mostly bad, brackish; the wells are deep, sometimes up to 30 fathoms, and it was very difficult to get water under such conditions, and this operation was carried out extremely slowly. Sometimes there was not enough water not only for horses, camels, sheep that accompanied the detachment, but even for people. Finally we climbed Ust-Urt. The dryness of the air and stuffiness increased even more, there were several sandstorms... In a word, we entered the realm of a real desert... In general, this whole campaign is a continuous struggle with nature. Not a word about the enemy! People received more modest food, they hardly ate hot food due to lack of fuel.

We moved in the morning and in the evening, but during the day we rested, or, rather, suffered, baked in the sun, since we did not have tents (we took only the most necessary things). There were cases when people completely lost heart, pestered during the campaign and even had to resort to drastic measures to support them. Once I led one company under the drum and on the shoulder about six versts in order to raise energy in them. Particularly difficult scenes had to be observed at the wells during the distribution of water: people then turned almost into animals, and only thanks to the officers was order established.

With the further movement of the detachment to the city of Kyatu, I received another appointment - to command the vanguard. Moving at the head of the Orenburg and Caucasian detachments, I, with the Cossacks on my heels, pursued the enemy hordes retreating towards my capital. The Khiva rearguard tried to spoil the road, destroyed and burned bridges across ditches, and generally hindered our movement with all their might. I literally had to jump on them several times and prevent them from burning bridges, spoiling the road ... With raised sabers, my Cossacks rushed at the Khivans, and the latter, quitting their work, hastily shot back, mounted their horses and fled at full speed.

We quickly repaired some breakdowns (one bridge, I remember, however, was fixed all night) and the detachment moved forward unhindered. On May 25, with the vanguard, I approached the city of Kot-Kupyr, which is located 30 versts from Khiva. Noticing that several Khiva people were setting fire to the bridge in order to prevent us from entering the city, I rushed to the bridge with the Cossacks. Khivans fled to the gardens and opened fire from there. Following that, we came almost to Khiva itself and stopped at the city walls about 5-6 versts.

This campaign brought Skobelev enormous benefits, serving as a preparation for future operations in the deserts of Central Asia.

The activities and exploits of Skobelev in Turkestan during the period of the Khiva expedition drew the attention of him not only to Russia, but also to England, which vigilantly followed our successes in Central Asia.

The name of Skobelev begins to become popular.

By the beginning of the war of 1877-1878, the appearance of Skobelev was finally determined - an impetuous, full of energy, but understanding military leader who understood the enormous moral responsibility, poured out of an ardent young man.

Here is how one of the foreigners describes Skobelev in 1878:

“Soldiers, townspeople, women - everyone was crazy about him. I now see his beautiful forehead, adorned with brown hair, his blue eyes, bright, with a penetrating gaze that looked at you so openly and directly, his straight and long nose, indicating determination, one of those noses that Napoleon I liked to see on the face of his generals, a perfectly defined mouth, endowed with extraordinary mobility and expressiveness; his round powerful chin with a dimple in the middle - in a word I clearly see before me his courageous, energetic face, bordered by a silky beard that fell on his heroic chest ...

This man at 33 saw everything, did everything, read everything. He made reconnaissance to the very steppes of the Pamirs, around Lake Victoria and to the Indu-Kush. He knew Balzac, Sheridan, Herbert-Spencer and Gemli by heart. He had his own opinion about the favorite at future races, about the cuisine of Cafe Anglais and the repertoire of Madame Selina Chaumont, just like about the English cavalry and about the fords of Oxus.

During the crossing at Zimnitsa, Skobelev appointed himself an orderly hunter under General Dragomirov. But Skobelev played this insignificant role in his own way. One has only to remember how he himself, having volunteered, due to the lack of orderlies, to convey Dragomirov's order to the troops. Calmly, slowly, under heavy fire from the Turks, he walked around the long ranks of shooters, talking to them and giving them orders.

Here Skobelev showed himself to be a deep connoisseur of the soldier. When Dragomirov, together with Skobelev, crossed the Danube on the morning of June 15 and looked around, everything seemed terribly stupid to him.

- You can’t make out anything, they climb, they climb, you can’t make out anything, he repeated.

Skobelev was next to him: both were on foot. In thought and silently looked M.I. Dragomirov. Suddenly the voice of Skobelev was heard:

- Well, Mikhail Ivanovich, congratulations!

- With what?

- With victory, your fellows won.

- Where, where do you see it?

- Where? On the face of a soldier. Look at this face! He has such a face only when he has overcome: how rushing - it's a pleasure to watch.

Here is another of the numerous examples that depict Skobelev as a deep connoisseur of the soldier's soul and his psychology: “He [Skobelev] used to go - towards the party of" young soldiers ".

- Hello guys!

- Health desire, your-stvo ...

- Eco, well done! Absolutely eagles... Just from Russia?

- Exactly so, yours.

- It's a pity that you're not here for me! .. What's your name?- he stops in front of some snub-nosed guy. He answers.

- In the first case, will you get George right? BUT? Will you get George?

- I'll get it, yours!

- Well, here ... Apparently, well done ... Do you want to come to me?

- Want!..

- Write down his last name ... I will join him in my detachment.

And the conversation continues ... He will talk to everyone, he will say something sincere, pleasant to everyone. « With Skobelev, it's fun to die! - the soldiers said ... - He sees and knows your every need.

Just as Suvorov knew how to make “miracle heroes” out of his soldiers, suggesting to them that they were miracle heroes, so every soldier in Skobelev’s detachment ceased to be a “gray cattle”, but performed miracles, striking everyone with his endurance and resourcefulness and exceptional courage. . He is a “Skobelevite”, the beloved leader believed in him, and this faith could not but work miracles: the Russian peasant became a warrior, the Russian soldier became a hero.

After crossing the Danube, they started talking about Skobelev. But only from the second half of July, Mikhail Dmitrievich began to gain the confidence of the Commander-in-Chief, and with it more responsible appointments.

By the difficult days of the third Plevna, Skobelev was already becoming popular not only among his subordinates and colleagues, but also in the army. The idea of ​​victory and glory is associated with his name. August 30 and 31, full of heroism, create for him the aura of his beloved leader, the idol of soldiers, more than a national hero. Fascinating is the image of Skobelev on the memorable day of August 30, depicted by two participants in the battle, completely different both in their position and in their personal properties. One of the authors is a civilian correspondent, an artist of the word Nemirovich-Danchenko. The other is Skobelev's closest assistant, his comrade-in-arms in this battle - A.N. Kuropatkin.

Here is a page from “Memoirs of Skobelev” by Nemirovich-Danchenko: “There is an assault on one of the Turkish redoubts near Plevna on August 30th.

From behind a hillock ridge someone rode out on a white horse; several officers and two or three Cossacks follow him at a trot. In the hands of one is a blue badge with a red eight-pointed cross ... Skobelev is on a white horse - all in white ... handsome, cheerful.

- Oh, well done! .. Oh, yes, heroes! Lovchinsky! he shouts from a distance in an excited, nervous voice.

- Exactly so, yours.

- Well, guys ... Go finish it. There the regiment was repulsed from the redoubt ... You are not like that, are you? BUT? After all, I have everything for my selection ... Look, what handsome men ... Where are you from, a sort of youth?

- Vytepsky province, yours.

- Yes, the Turks will scatter from you alone ...

- Exactly so, your-stvo - they will scatter.

- You look at me ... so that the day after tomorrow I won’t see you without George ... Do you hear? You just look - do not shoot uselessly ... Do you hear?

- Listen, yours.

- And you, cavalier, are not from Sevastopol? he turned to Parfenov. - Why do you have George?

- For Malakhov, your-stvo ...

- I bow down to you! And the general took off his hat.

“Show the young how a Russian soldier fights and dies. Captain, after the fight, introduce the old man to me. I will give you a personalized George if you live ...

- Glad to try, your-stvo ...

- What good fellows! I would go with you, but I need to support the newcomers ... You are already fired upon, fighting ... Farewell, guys ... See you in the redoubt. Will you wait for me later?

- Let's wait, yours.

“Well, look, they gave us our word, we must keep it…”

A.N. Kuropatkin in his book “Lovcha and Plevna” gives the following picture of the battle of the same August 30, full of colors and exciting interest: “The success of the battle finally wavered. Then General Skobelev decided to throw on the scales of military happiness the only reserve left at his disposal - himself. Motionless, without taking his eyes off the redoubts, he stood on horseback, descending from the third ridge halfway down the slope to the stream, surrounded by headquarters, with an escort and a badge. Hiding his excitement, General Skobelev tried to look impassively and calmly as regiment after regiment disappeared into the heat of battle. A hail of bullets carried away more and more victims from the convoy, but did not distract his attention for a second. Any thought of myself personally was far away at that moment. One major concern for the success of the battle entrusted to him completely absorbed him. If General Skobelev did not rush earlier with the forward troops, as his hot blood suggested, it was only because he looked at himself as a reserve, which he decided in advance to sacrifice without looking back, as soon as, in his opinion, the decisive moment came. This minute has come. General Skobelev sacrificed himself and only miraculously got out of the battle alive, into which he selflessly plunged. Giving spurs to his horse, General Skobelev quickly galloped to the ravine, went down, or rather, rolled down to the stream and began to climb the opposite slope to redoubt No. 1. The appearance of the general was noticed even in those minutes, so Skobelev was already popular among the troops. Those who retreated returned, those who lay down got up and followed him to his death. His loud - "Forward guys!" - gave new strength. The Turks, who occupied lodgements in front of redoubt No. 1, could not stand it, left them and retreated at a run into the redoubts and the trench between them.

The sight of the Turks retreating from their lodgements inspired even more than ours. "Hurrah" - picked up by thousands of breasts, menacingly poured down the line. Sliding, falling, rising again, losing hundreds of dead and wounded, out of breath, hoarse from screaming, our troops behind Skobelev all climbed and climbed forward. They moved in discordant but friendly groups of various units and single people. The fire of the Turks seemed to have weakened, and its effect, which captured everyone with the determination to reach the Turks and the ever-increasing confidence in success, became less noticeable. There seemed to be a wavering in the ranks of the Turks. A few more difficult moments - and our advanced broke into the trench with a frenzy and then, from 4 hours 25 minutes in the afternoon, into redoubt No. 1.

General Skobelev, having reached the redoubt, rolled down with his horse into the ditch, freed himself from under it, and burst into the redoubt among the first. A short hand-to-hand fight ensued inside and near the redoubt. The most stubborn Turks were killed, the rest retreated back to their camp, which lay 300 fathoms north of the line of redoubts. Others retreated to redoubt No. 2.

The following episode is interesting: “The fight was not yet over everywhere, as the officers and soldiers, who were going to the redoubt behind Skobelev, as if behind a banner, surrounded him and begged him to go back, begging him to take care of himself. The seriously wounded major of the Libavsky regiment dragged him by the leg from the saddle. The horse, on which Skobelev mounted, was turned and led out of the redoubt.

At these moments, everyone from the heart was ready to cover his boss with his chest, once he believed in him and saw his personal example, personal contempt for death ... "

The rich literature about the "White General" gives many such reminiscences.

Many in these stories of eyewitnesses scattered individual episodes, depicting the ebullient activity of Mikhail Dmitrievich, and his sometimes insane courage, and his warm spiritual feeling for soldiers and subordinates.

Skobelev's care was exceptional. His division was always dressed, shod and fed in the most impossible circumstances.

Every now and then, when meeting with soldiers, during the period of the Plevna sitting, Skobelev stopped them with questions:

Did you drink tea today?

- Exactly so, yours.

- Both in the morning and in the evening?

- Yes sir.

- And did they give you vodka? .. Did you get how much meat you need?

And woe was to the company commander if negative answers followed such questions. In such cases, Mikhail Dmitrievich did not know mercy, did not find excuses.

“Our camp is too boring. It would be desirable that bonfires burn more often, songs would be sung; appoint in turn before the evening dawn in the center of the position to play the chorus of music. It is allowed to sing late at night.

In all companies, to pay serious attention to the education of good cheerleaders; hike without peselnikov - sadness, melancholy.

And Skobelev's music was everywhere and always - they went into battle to the music, the music drowned out the moans of death, the music triumphed, the music, finally, fascinated the wild Tekins, when the solemn sounds of the evening dawn and prayer were heard under the walls of Geok-Tepe.

But along with caring for the soldier, there was a strict punishment for negligence and inattentive attitude to service, especially in battle.

Taking command of the troops operating in the Transcaspian region, Skobelev wrote in the order:
“... I consider it a sacred duty to remind the valiant troops, now entrusted to me, that the basis for the military fitness of the troops is strict service performance and discipline. Discipline, in the full meaning of the word, cannot exist where superiors allow themselves to be careless about the orders they receive. This should respond to the attitude of the lower ranks to the duty of service. Strict order in the camp, at bivouacs, strict fulfillment of all, even petty, requirements of the service serve as the best guarantee of the unit's combat readiness.

The legitimacy of relations is the first foundation of discipline: “... all the actions of military personnel should be governed by the law. By him, and not by personal arbitrariness, every leader should be guided, both in his actions in general and in the imposition of disciplinary sanctions in particular, so that the lower ranks know how they should be guided in their official activities, and would themselves acquire respect for the law.

Speaking about Mikhail Dmitrievich's relationship with the soldiers, one cannot fail to note with what perseverance he developed in them a sense of their own dignity. Once, in front of Skobelev, one of the commanders hit a soldier.

- I would ask you not to do this in my detachment ... Now I will limit myself to a severe reprimand - next time I will have to take other measures.

In response to the justification of the commander, who referred to discipline, to the stupidity of a soldier, to the need for poking, Skobelev remarked:
“Discipline must be ironclad. There is no doubt about this, but this is achieved by moral authority, and not by slaughter ... A soldier should be proud that he defends his homeland, and you beat this defender like a lackey ... Nasty ... Today they don’t beat lackeys either .. As for the stupidity of a soldier, you don't know them well... I owe a lot to the common sense of a soldier. You just need to listen to them.

The soldiers were proud of their belonging to the Skobelev detachment in the highest degree. “We are Skobelev’s,” they answered the question of which unit or division they were.

And in these two words there was a special meaning and pride, they sounded notes of confidence in future victories, in the coming glory.

The events after Plevna only further, if possible, raised the admiration of Skobelev both in the army and among the people.

The passage through the Balkans, Sheinovo with the capture of the army of Wessel Pasha, the command of the vanguard of the army, and even the camp under the walls of Constantinople, where Skobelev rushed with his whole being, are full of almost legendary stories about him. Here, real exploits are mixed with anecdotes and memories, often full of naive charm and popular belief in the idol he created.

The rumor of the people carried his glory far, and the feeling of the enthusiasm of Russia was at the feet of the "White General".

From Bulgaria, Skobelev returned to Russia with the 4th Corps and turned all his attention to the training of his troops.

In 1880, a new thunderstorm approached the Central Asian outskirts. A number of failures that befell us in the fight against the Tekins required decisive measures, skillful preparation of the entire operation and the placement of an experienced, talented and energetic person at the head of the expeditionary detachment. At that time, only Skobelev could be such, and he was entrusted with the conquest of the Akhal-Teke oasis.

In the first days of May 1880, Mikhail Dmitrievich arrived in Chikishlyar and immediately devoted himself to vigorous activity to prepare means for advancing the detachment deep into the oasis to the only fortress of the Tekins, Geok-Tepe.

While food was being collected, troops were being gathered and the rear was being established, Skobelev, with a detachment of 800 people with 10 guns, carried out reconnaissance, advancing 112 miles from Bami to Geok-Tepe. According to the Tekins, up to 25,000 people capable of holding weapons were gathered in Geok-Tepe. It is clear that the success of such a reconnaissance, where a handful of Russians boldly marched towards the goal of the entire operation, the goal is still inaccessible, should have made an irresistible impression on the Asian enemy, and on the entire Skobelev detachment.

Only Skobelev's talent and his deep knowledge of the properties of the enemy helped complete this reconnaissance with complete success. The impression was huge. 25,000 Tekins could not crush a handful of people who bravely penetrated the walls of their fortress. Despondency settled in Geok-Tepe - the future defeat of the Tekins was already foreseen.

Here is one of the scenes that explains to us how Skobelev achieved that moral strength in his troops, against which all obstacles, all the enemy crowds were smashed.

“During the reconnaissance to the fortress of Geok-Tepe on July 6, 1880, at the very beginning of the battle, our jigits managed to open an ambush of 400 Tekins under the command of Tykma Serdar in time, and to meet her rocket hundred moved into position. The first rocket fell in front of the machine, the servant hesitated, waiting for a close gap. Skobelev noticed the confusion and came to the battery. The same thing happened with the second rocket. The battery commander ordered the men to run away. But Skobelev, with the words "set aside," forced his horse to stand over the hissing rocket. The rocket was torn apart, Skobelev's horse was wounded in several places and one Cossack was killed.

“I do not undertake to describe the feeling of enthusiasm,” says an eyewitness, “that engulfed all those present. “Hurray” thundered, hats flew up ... everyone and everyone wanted to rush to this great man, they wanted to kiss him, hug him, touch only his dress.

Speaking about Skobelev's personal courage, one should recall the words of the artist V.V. Vereshchagin about Mikhail Dmitrievich:
“Whoever was not on fire with Skobelev cannot positively form an idea of ​​his calmness and composure amidst bullets and grenades — composure all the more remarkable because, as he confessed to me, he had no indifference to death. On the contrary, he was always, in every case, afraid that he would be slammed and, therefore, every minute he was waiting for death. What strength of will must have been, what incessant tension of nerves, in order to overcome fear and not show it.

Prudent people reproached Skobelev for his reckless courage. They said that he behaved like a boy, that he rushed forward like an ensign, and that, finally, by risking "unnecessarily", he exposed the soldiers to the danger of being left without high command, etc. It must be said that these are all the speeches of people who care primarily about saving their precious lives - and then what God will give. If a soldier goes forward without a command - well, if he doesn’t go - what can you do: it’s not for the same reason that a person rose to the rank of general’s epaulettes in order to sacrifice his life for cowards.

On January 12, 1881, the fortress of Geok-Tepe fell. The conquest of the oasis according to the plan proposed by Skobelev was planned within two years. Skobelev completed the entire operation in nine months. Russia received a whole country, the name of the Russian became a symbol of power and strength for all of Asia.

After the conquest of Akhal-Teke, Skobelev was promoted to general of infantry and received the Order of St. George II degree and St. Vladimir I degree.

This operation alone entitles Skobelev to become one of the most outstanding generals in the world. In it, Skobelev proved that a military leader was fully formed out of him, capable of becoming the head of the army and giving it victory.

And the whole Slavic world looked at Skobelev like that. He was the leader who was supposed to lead the Russian regiments, and with them the half-blooded Slavs, against the enemy and achieve victory, no matter how powerful this enemy was.

The last months of Skobelev's life are full of his work in the 4th building. The orders for the corps that remained after him should still serve as a reference book for any military man.

Life itself beats from the pages of these government documents and captivates the reader with its simplicity, clarity and deep meaning.

In the last years of his life, Mikhail Dmitrievich was promoted both as a statesman and as a politician.

The hour has struck, but different - not the star of Mikhail Dmitrievich's glory and his successes has set, but the hour of the end of all accounts of the earthly field was approaching.

Many hopes were associated with the name of Skobelev, many ardent dreams could come true with his talent, his inhuman energy, and all these dreams and hopes collapsed along with the unexpected death of the "White General".

On June 24, 1882, Mikhail Dmitrievich arrived in Moscow, taking advantage of a month's vacation after the Orange maneuvers.

During the day, Skobelev was cheerful, joked, talked a lot with the officers on military topics. At 11 pm he left the famous Slavophile I.S. Aksakov, and at 1 am in the hotel "England" he became ill. Called medical help was belated.

The heart, which had been beating intensely all its life, could not stand it, nor could the iron body, from youth thrown into the whirlpool of events full of risk, danger, brilliant deeds, enormous successes and even greater envy.

Skobelev was gone, and with him the person into whose hands the strength of the people could be entrusted - the army and its future successes.

The death of Skobelev caused a general grief among the people.

Crowds surrounded the ashes of the hero in Moscow, the same crowds saw off and met the funeral train all the way from Moscow to the Skobelev family estate - Spassky.

The tears of the peasant mingled with the deep grief of the army and all of Russia. Generals, merchants, philistines, eminent persons, clergy, soldiers, women, children - all went to say the last “forgive” to their great contemporary, their idol.

The coffin of the hero was strewn with flowers, and unfeigned tears flowed down the faces of the soldiers, who paid their last respects to their leader.

During the funeral service, Bishop Ambrose among other things said:
“Tears flow from our eyes, it is hard and bitter for us, the Fatherland is losing a dear son, and we are losing a great contemporary. Cry, Russian peasant woman - he was the father of your children, who took up arms against the enemies of the Fatherland. Cry, Russian people - in it you have lost an enlightened intercessor for your native land and a spokesman for your brilliant glory.

The feelings of the grateful people were reflected in a number of poems and legends associated with the name of Skobelev.

The memory of Skobelev is alive and will live for a long time - the mission of a person like Skobelev does not stop with death, the offspring must cherish the memory of him as a sacred jewel and draw new strength in his exploits in a time of trials.

On the death of a Russian hero Our hero Skobelev, our marvelous commander, The storm of the enemies of the Slavs both in the world and in war, Gone untimely in the midst of our peaceful life, Not in the abysses of the Balkans, not in combat fire. *** Among the thousand deaths hovering over you, By the will of God, you miraculously survived, And a halo of glory, crowning you with itself, About your exploits far thundered. *** The King who died in Bose, the Father Liberator, Wherever I sent you to solve a bloody dispute, Everywhere you struck, like a formidable avenging angel, In the steppes of Akhalka, in the snows of the Balkan mountains. *** And they fought joyfully to bring news from the battlefield All Russian hearts from your exploits, He endured hardships, only made efforts About brave warriors, about their warriors. *** You resented the fact that the Swabians, like wolves, Abandoned sheep - tyrannize krivoshan, And loudly condemned the Magyar rifles, Aimed at the chest of our kindred Slavs! *** You died, but you will live forever in our soul, At your name, the blood of Russians will boil. And proud of your impeccable valor, All the glory of your deeds our people will resurrect. *** Family of Slavs, mourn: your loss is heavy: Open and secret enemies do not sleep: To protect yourself from the machinations of the adversary, All precious things you vigilantly take care of. A.Shanin

Monument to General Skobelev - a monumental equestrian monument to the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, General of Infantry M. D. Skobelev, opened on June 24, 1912 and demolished on May 1, 1918. It was located on the site of the current monument to Yuri Dolgoruky on Tverskaya Square (simultaneously with the installation of the monument, the square was called Skobelevskaya Square, which it bore until 1918). The project of the monument was created by retired Lieutenant Colonel P. A. Samonov. Not preserved. On May 1, 1918, the monument was demolished in pursuance of the decree "On the removal of monuments to tsars and their servants."

MAIN DATES OF LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF M.D. SKOBELEVA

1843, September 17, in St. Petersburg, Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was born into a hereditary military family.

1855-1860 - studying in Paris at the boarding house Desiderio Girardet.

1860-1861 - classes at home under the guidance of Professor T.I Modzalevsky.

1861, August 1 - November - study at the mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University.

1864, February - was in the Kingdom of Poland as an orderly to Adjutant General Baranov.

1864, May - for the difference in the battle in the Radkovitsky Forest he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, IV degree.

1864 (end) - 1866 (beginning) - vacation, during which he visits the theater of war in the Danish campaign (observer).

1868, November - completed his studies at the academy and was assigned to Turke-stan. 1868, December - arrived in Tashkent.

1869 - took part in the actions of General Abramov on the Bukhara border.

1870, January-March - service in Tiflis, where on March 5 he submits a “Note on the capture of Khiva” to the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army.

1871, March 12 - appointed head of the cavalry in the Krasnovodsk detachment of the Transcaspian region to Colonel N.G. Stoletov, where he conducted a covert reconnaissance (410 versts) to Sarykamysh (lake).

1871, June 23 - annual leave and expulsion from the staff under the commander-in-chief of the Caucasian army for amateur performance (they wanted to take Khiva on their own with Stoletov). St. Petersburg, and then rest in Spassky.

1872, April - seconded to the General Staff (the highest body of military administration in 1815-1917, not to be confused with the General Staff).

1872, January - arrived in the Trans-Caspian Territory and enlisted in the Mangyshlak detachment of Colonel Lomakin as the commander of the vanguard.

1873, April 14 - May 25 - participated in the Khiva campaign as an officer of the General Staff (he learned how not to prepare campaigns).

1873, August 4 - reconnoitered the route of the Krasnovodsk detachment and was awarded the Order of St. George IV degree for the successful completion of the task.

1873-1874, winter - a well-deserved vacation.

1874, January-February - Southern France, and from there Spain - the study of partisan actions of the Carlists (vacation under bullets - he studied war in war). He witnessed the battles of Estel and Pepo di Murra.

1874, early January - wedding with the maid of honor of the Empress Princess Maria Nikolaevna Gagarina.

1874 - in the General Staff. Assignment: to put into effect a new military charter and to carry out recruiting in the Perm province.

1875, winter-spring - St. Petersburg.

1875, July 13-22 - in Kokand. With a small detachment, he led Khudoyar Khan out of the rebellious city and “for heroic behavior worthy of a Russian name” M.D. Skobelev was awarded a golden saber with the inscription "For Courage".

1875, October 18 - promoted to major general and included in the retinue of His Majesty. Appointed head of the Namangan department.

1875, February 4 - highest decision on the renaming of the former Kokand Khanate to the Fergana region and the appointment of Skobelev as its head. On February 18, he took up his duties.

For Kokand, Andijan, Namangan and other cases of 1875-1876. M.D. Skobelev was awarded a golden saber, a golden sword with diamonds and the inscription "For Bravery", the orders of St. George III degree and St. Vladimir III degree with swords.

1876, July 15 - August - "military-scientific-diplomatic" expedition to the Alai Valley and the Pamirs.

1876, early March - return to St. Petersburg after the "third Turkestan". Seeks appointment to the Danube army.

1877, June 14-16 - participated in the crossing of the Danube. Asked for General M.I. Dragomirov as an orderly (to learn at the same time). Received a reprimand.

1877, September 1 - promoted to lieutenant general, awarded the Order of Stanislav 1st degree. Appointed head of the 16th Infantry Division.

1877, November 20 - the fall of Plevna and the capture of Osman Pasha's army. Appointment of Skobelev as governor-general of Plevna.

1877, December 28 - Battle of Shipko-Sheinovskoye. Rewarding Skobelev with a golden saber with the inscription "For Courage".

December 29, 1877 - Skobelev is appointed head of the vanguard of the Russian troops. In less than two days, Skobelev made a swift, almost 100-kilometer march with battles and went to Tarnovo.

1878, January 19 - Skobelev's detachment leaves for Dede Akau, which is 12 kilometers from Constantinople. The signing of a truce with Turkey.

1878, February 19 - the signing of the San Stefano peace treaty (the collapse of Skobelev's plans).

1878, April - appointment of M.D. Skobelev as commander of the IV Corps. 1878, April-November - Skobelev prepared gymnastic societies in

Southern Bulgaria. Return to Russia.

1879, March - appointed chief of the Transcaspian troops (temporary commander of the Transcaspian department).

1881, January 14 - promoted to general of infantry and awarded the Order of St. George II degree.

AWARDS OF THE GENERAL FROM THE INFANTRY M.D. SKOBELEVA

Order of St. Anne IV degree for bravery - 1865

Order of St. George IV degree - 1873

Prussian Order of the Red Eagle II class - 1874

Golden sword with diamonds with the inscription "For bravery" - 1875

Gold saber with diamonds with the inscription "For bravery" - 1876

Order of St. George II degree - 1876

Order of St. Vladimir II degree - 1876

Order of St. Stanislaus 1st class - 1878

Gold sword with diamonds with the inscription "For bravery" - 1878

Prussian Order "Pour-le-Merit" ("Order of Merit") - 1878

Montenegrin gold medal"For the war with the Turks" - 1878

Serbian Grand Cross "Takova with swords" - 1878

Serbian Gold Medal "For Courage" - 1878

Romanian medal "For military valor" - 1878

Romanian Iron Cross "For crossing the Danube" - 1878

Macklenburg-Schwerin Cross of Merit - 1878

Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, 1st class - 1879

Order of St. Anne 1st class for bravery - 1879

Order of St. George II degree - 1881

Medal "For the suppression of the Polish rebellion" - 1864

Medal "For Service in the Caucasus"

Medal "For the Khiva Campaign" - 1873

Medal "For the Conquest of the Khanate of Kokand" - 1876

Medal "In memory of the liberation of the Slavs" - 1878

Medal "For participation in the Russian-Turkish war" - 1878

Medal "For the storming of Geok-Tepe - 1881"

Bibliography

1. Nemirovich-Danchenko V.I. Skobelev. - M., 1993. - p. 10-11, 51.

2. Kostin B.A. Skobelev. – M.: Patriot, 1990. – 175 p.

3. Mirovich V.G. Slavophiles and their teachings. – M.: 1915.

4. Polyansky M.A. – Bibliographic index of literature related to the biography of M.D. Skobelev. SPb., 1904.

5. Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich. "A bright symbol of the greatness of Russia." Collection of materials of the symposium dedicated to the 160th anniversary of the birth of M.D. Skobelev. September 26-27, 2003, Ryazan.

6. ALEXANDRO-NEVSKY - booklet. - M .: Publishing house "Paninter" 2004. - 20 p.

7. Skobelev M.D. I stand for the truth and for the Army! / Skobelev Mikhail. – M.: Eksmo, 2012. – 480 p.: ill.

8. Booklet “To the 170th anniversary of the birth of M.D. Skobelev” (Selection of material by O.Yu. Feoktistov). - M .: Young local historian, 2013 - 24 p.

Museum-estate “Memorial complex of M.D. SKOBELEVA

The village of 3aborovo. Manor M.D. Skobeleva

Modern s. 3aborovo of the Aleksandro-Nevsky district of the Mikhalkovsky rural district is located 4 km southeast of the center of the rural district, 21 km northeast of the urban-type settlement Aleksandro-Nevsky, in the upper reaches of the river. Vishnevka, left tributary of the river. Khupta (Ranovy river basin).

Before with. Zaborovo was called Spasskoye, then - Zaborovskie Gai. The first - from the name of the church, built in 1763, the second - by the name of the landowner Alexander Mikhailovich Zaborovsky. Guy - in the southern Russian dialect means a grove, an oak forest.

The village of 3aborovo with a unique wooden Church of the Savior was mentioned at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1763, the landowner Zaborovsky, who owned the village, built a stone church. In the 1830s, the village was acquired by I.N. Skobelev (grandfather of M.D. Skobelev) and became the favorite residence of the family.

Until the 1860s, the Skobelev family owned huge land plots, including several large villages (Mikhalkovo, Zaborovo, etc.). After the so-called "liberation of the peasants", the Skobelevs left an estate - a manor with a park, between the village of Zaborovo and the village of Mikhalkovo, on the river. Khupte, and 1500 acres of land. According to 1913 data, the estate included: the Church of the Savior, a large landowner's house, a small house, outbuildings (a workshop, a machine shed, a farm), a pond. There was a park around the estate. The estate was inherited from father to son, and in 1879 it already belonged to Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev. After his death, the owner of the estate became elder sister“White General” (such a respectful nickname was given to M.D. Skobelev after successful operations in Central Asia), Princess N.D. Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya.

Church of the Savior

The initial construction of the wooden Church of the Savior in the village. 3aboro refers to early XVIII centuries. In the 1830s, the village passed from General Zaborovsky to the Skobelev family. The church had a gilded silver altar cross and a chalice donated by Yevgeny Maximilianovich Leuchtenbergsky, infantry general, Prince Romanovsky, years of life: 1847-1901.

In 1869, Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev added two aisles to the church, the Skobelev family tombs. The right aisle is in honor of St. Dmitry of Rostov, the left aisle - in honor of Archangel Michael. The father and mother of Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev are buried in the right aisle, and M.D. himself is buried in the left aisle. Skobelev.

In the 1930s, the church was almost completely destroyed. In September 2003, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the birth of M.D. Skobelev Church of the Savior restored and painted with aisles.

School in Zaborovo

In 1881 M.D. Skobelev founded a zemstvo school on the estate, having built a spacious stone building covered with iron. Peasant children studied at the school not only from the village. 3aborovo, but also from many surrounding villages: Penki, Zeleno-Dmitrievka, Speshnevo, Epiphany Gai, Maly Mezenets, Satino-Gai, Bogoroditsky Gai and Eropkino. Skobelev visited the school more than once, attended classes, and talked with students. Thanks to an experienced teacher invited by Mikhail Dmitrievich, teaching at the Spasskaya School was very successful. The students were kept at the expense of the book. Nadezhda Dmitrievna Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya, sister of the White General.

disabled house

Fulfilling the wishes of M.D. Skobelev about the construction in the village. Zaborovo invalid home for veteran soldiers, in 1910 in the estate it was built by Skobelev's sister, Princess Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya. On Sundays, disabled grenadiers, St. George Knights came to church in full dress and stood on the carpet in front of the grave of M.D. Skobelev.

In 1993, a monument was laid. In 1995, as part of the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the city, a monument to Mikhail Skobelev was unveiled in Ryazan. The Skobelev Committee has been created and is operating, the president of which is the pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero Soviet Union, Aviation General Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov.