page_title: Mikhail Dragomirov
section_title: Active service
hierarchical_section_title: Mikhail Dragomirov / Army career / Active service
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Sophia Mikhailovna Dragomirova, general Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov's daughter Español: Retrato de Sofía Mijáilovna Dragomírova, hija del general Mijaíl Ivánovich Dragomírov Русский: Портрет Софьи Михайловны Драгомировой, дочери генерала Михаила Ивановича Драгомирова Українська: Портрет Софії Михайлівни Драгомирової, доньки генерала Михайла Івановича Драгомирова
context_page_description: Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov was a Russian general and military writer. His grandfather Ivan Antonovych Dragomirecki-Mockewicz after being granted a noble title in 1786, soon requested to change his name to a Russified one as Dragomirov.
context_section_description: In 1868, he was made a major general, and in the following year became chief of staff in the Kiev military circumscription. In 1873, Dragomirov was appointed to command the 4th division, and in this command he distinguished himself very greatly in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878. The 4th division led the way at the crossing of the Danube at Zimnitza; Dragomirov being in charge of the delicate and difficult operation of crossing and landing under fire, and fulfilling his mission with complete success. Later, after the reverses before Plevna, he, with the cesarevich and Generals Eduard Totleben and Dmitry Milyutin, strenuously opposed the suggestion of the Grand Duke Nicholas that the Russian army should retreat into Romania, and the demoralization of the greater part of the army was not permitted to spread to Dragomirov's division, which retained its discipline unimpaired and gave a splendid example to the rest.
  
  He was wounded at the Shipka Pass, and, though promoted lieutenant general soon after this, was not able to see further active service. He was also made adjutant general to the tsar and chief of the 53rd Volhynia regiment of his old division. For eleven years thereafter General Dragomirov was chief of the Nicholas Academy, and it was during this period that he collated and introduced into the Russian army all the best military literature of Europe, and in many other ways was active in improving the moral and technical efficiency of the Russian officer-corps, especially of the staff officer. In 1889, Dragomirov became commander-in-chief of the Kiev military district, and governor general of Kiev, Podolsk, and Volhynia, retaining this post until 1903. He was promoted to the rank of general of infantry in 1891. His advanced age and failing health prevented his employment at the front during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, but his advice was continually solicited by the general headquarters at St. Petersburg, and while he disagreed with General Kuropatkin in many important questions of strategy and military policy, they both recommended a repetition of the strategy of 1812, even though the total abandonment of Port Arthur was involved therein. Dragomirov died at Konotop on 28 October 1905. In addition to the orders which he already possessed, he received in 1901 the Order of St. Andrew.
caption: The portrait of Dragomirov's daughter Sofia, by Ilya Repin
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