Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov

Knyaz Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ({{lang-ru|????? ??????? ????????????? ??????????-????????}}) (September 16, 1745 ? April 28, 1813 (n.s.), or 5th September 1745 - 16th April 1813 (o.s.)) was the Russian Field Marshal popularly credited with saving his country from Napoleon's invasion.

Memory

Early in 1813 Kutuzov fell ill and died on 28 April 1813 at Bunzlau. Memorials have been erected to him at that place, at the Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow and in front of the Kazan Cathedral, St Petersburg, where he is buried. As he had no male issue, his estates passed to the Tolstoy family. Among Russian generals Kutuzov has been held second only to his teacher Suvorov. Alexander Pushkin addressed the Field Marshal in the famous elegy on Kutuzov's sepulchre, and he also figures as a wise and popular leader in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) the Soviet government established the Order of Kutuzov which, among several other decorations, was preserved in Russia upon the dissolution of the USSR, thus remaining to be one of the highest military awards in the Russian Federation.

Related Topics:
1813 - 28 April - Bunzlau - Poklonnaya Hill - Kazan Cathedral - St Petersburg - Tolstoy - Suvorov - Alexander Pushkin - Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace - Great Patriotic War - Order of Kutuzov - Russian Federation

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