Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich
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Of Serbian extraction, Miloradovich saw service under Suvorov in the wars against Turkey and Poland, and in the campaign of Italy and Switzerland (1799) earned much distinction as a commander of advanced troops. In 1805, having attained the rank of lieutenant-general, he served under Mikhail Kutuzov in the campaign of Austerlitz, taking part in the actions of Enns and Krems and in the decisive battle of the 2nd of December, in which his column held the Pratzen Heights.
In the Turkish War he distinguished himself a number of times. He was awarded a diamond-decorated rapier with the inscription "For bravery and salvation of Bucharest" (1806); he defeated Turks at Obilesti (Romania, 1807); for the battle at Rassevat fortress (Bulgaria, 1809) he was made General of Infantry in 1810.
During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he commanded a corps at Borodino and subsequently inflicted the defeat at Tarutino on Murat, King of Naples (October 18, 1812). His corps was one of those most active in the pursuit of Napoleon's Grande Armee, and in 1813 he led the rear-guard of the Allies after their earlier defeats. At the victory of Kulm he was present in command of a Russian-Prussian corps, which he led in the Battle of Leipzig and in the campaign of 1814.
From 1818 to the time of his death he was military governor of St Petersburg. On the 26th (14th o.s.) of December 1825, he went to pacify the Decembrist officers at the Senate Square. Being popular with the army, he almost succeeded in his exhortations to the officers, when one of the more radical rebels, Pyotr Kakhovsky, shot him dead.
The modern Russian historian Vladimir Bryukhanov in his book The Conspiracy of Count Miloradovich speculates that Miloradovich was actually the chief orchestrator of the Decembrist conspiracy rather than its victim. He alleges that the Decembrists planned to make him a dictator in the case of success and to shoot him in the case of failure.
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