Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov ( ) , or Ermolov ( - ) , was a Russian Imperial general of the 19th century who commanded Russian troops in the Caucasus War . Early life . Yermolov was born to a Russian noble family from the Orel gubernia . He graduated from the boarding school of the Moscow University and enlisted in the Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment on 16 January 1787 . Four years later , he was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the Nizhegorod Dragoon Regiment with the rank of captain . He briefly taught at the Artillery and Engineer Cadet Corps in 1793 before being sent to fight the Polish insurgents in the Polish campaign of 1794 . He participated in the assault on Praga and received the Order of St . George ( 4th class ) on 12 January 1795 . The next year , Yermolov took part in the Persian Campaign along the Caspian Sea . However , he was arrested on 7 January 1799 for alleged participation in conspiracy against the Tsar and spent two years in exile to Kostroma , where he taught himself Latin . After the assassination of Paul I in 1801 , the new emperor , Alexander I , pardoned Yermolov , who returned to the military and began studying the works of Alexander Suvorov , whose disciple he now considered himself . Yermolov was appointed to the 8th Artillery Regiment on 13 May 1801 ; he then transferred to the horse artillery company on 21 June 1801 . Napoleonic Wars . His own military genius blossomed during the Napoleonic Wars . During the 1805 Campaign , Yermolov served in the rear and advance guards and distinguished himself at Amstetten and Austerlitz . For his actions , he was promoted to colonel on 16 July 1806 . The following year , he participated in the campaign in Poland , serving in Prince Bagration ' s advance guard . He distinguished himself commanding an artillery company in numerous rearguard actions during the retreat to Landsberg as well as in the Battle of Eylau . In June 1807 , Yermolov commanded horse artillery company in the actions at Guttstadt , Deppen , Heilsberg and Friedland , being awarded the Order of St . George ( 3rd class , 7 September 1807 ) . He was promoted to major general on 28 March 1808 and was appointed inspector of horse artillery companies . In early 1809 , he inspected artillery companies of the Army of the Danube . Although his division took part in the 1809 campaign against Austria , Yermolov commanded the reserves in Volhynia and Podolsk gubernias , where he remained for the next two years . In 1811 , he took command of the guard artillery company and in 1812 , became the Chief of Staff of the 1st Western Army . During the 1812 Campaign , Yermolov took part in the retreat to Smolensk and played an important role in the quarrel between Generals Barclay de Tolly and Bagration . He opposed Barclay ' s strategy and appealed to Emperor Alexander I to replace him with Bagration . After the Russian armies united on 2 August , Yermolov fought at Smolensk and Lubino ( Valutina Gora ) for which he was promoted to lieutenant general on 12 November 1812 with seniority dating from 16 August 1812 . He distinguished himself at the Battle of Borodino , where he was lightly wounded leading a counterattack that recaptured the Great Redoubt . For his courage , Yermolov received the Order of St . Anna ( 1st class ) . During the rest of the campaign , he served as a duty officer in the headquarters of the main Russian army and fought at Maloyaroslavets . In October – November 1812 , Yermolov served in the advance guard under Miloradovich and fought at Vyazma and Krasnyi . In late November , he commanded one of the detachments in the advance guard under General Rosen taking part in the combats on the Berezina . On 3 December 1812 , he was recalled to the main headquarters where he became the Chief of Staff of the Russian army . Three weeks later , he was appointed commander of the artillery of the Russian armies . During the European campaigns of 1813 and 1814 , Yermolov was in charge of the artillery corps of the allies . His able command proved crucial to their success in the Battle of Kulm . In 1813 , Yermolov fought at Lützen , where he was accused of insubordination and transferred to command the 2nd Guard Division . He then fought at Bautzen , commanding the Russian rearguard during the retreat , and at Kulm where he was decorated with the Prussian Iron Cross . In 1814 , he distinguished himself in the battle around Paris and was awarded the Order of St . George on 7 April 1814 . Caucasus . Yermolov ' s main tasks were to secure Russia ' s hold over the Trans - Caucasus , only recently conquered in a hard war with both the Qajars ( 1805 – 1813 ) and the Ottomans ( 1807 – 1812 ) , to occupy the Caucasus range separating the new territories from the rest of the Empire and to subdue the ‘ savage ’ and hostile Muslim tribes inhabiting it . But first he had another , most urgent task : Yermolov had to travel on a mission to Tehran , to evade the execution of Alexander I ' s promise to restore to Fat ′ h - Ali Shah Qajar part of the territories acquired by Russia in the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813 During his tenure as commander - in - chief in the Caucasus , Yermolov ( by that time promoted to the rank of full artillery general ) was responsible for robust Russian military policies in Caucasus , where his name became a byword for brutality . In a reply to the outraged Alexander I , he wrote . " I desire that the terror of my name shall guard our frontiers more potently than chains or fortresses . " He was appointed commander - in - chief of the Russian forces in Georgia and commander of the Independent Georgian Corps on 21 April 1816 . His promotion to the position was seen as a personal insult by his superiors and earned him many enemies at home . He proved himself an able administrator and successfully negotiated with Persia in 1818 , receiving promotion to general of infantry on 4 March 1818 . In 1817 , he fortified a ford on the Sunzha river and founded the fortress of Grozny the following year . After repelling an attack by the highlanders , he undertook a punitive raid against them . His decisive measures did succeed in keeping many of the allied tribes loyal . For ten years he was both commander - in - chief of the Georgia n armies and the imperial ambassador to Persia . His independent character would often lead him to conflicts with the Ministry of War , exacerbated by the personal antagonism of many of its members . He was adored by his soldiers , often fraternising with them , and generally successful in combatting the highlanders of Dagestan , but failed to prevent multiple uprisings . When , in 1825 , Yermolov found out that Aleksandr Griboyedov was about to be arrested on charges relating to the Decembrist revolt , he warned him of it , enabling Griboyedov to destroy some compromising papers and avoid arrest . Yermolov ' s career came to an abrupt end in 1827 and he was replaced with Nicholas I ' s favorite Ivan Paskevich . The exact reasons are unclear , but he was disliked by Nicholas and was blamed for not keeping the tribes in check . Yermolov was discharged on 7 December 1827 with a full pension . However , four years later , Nicholas restored him in the rank ( 6 November 1831 ) and appointed him to the State Council ; Yermolov ' s rank of general of infantry was confirmed in 1833 . Retirement . During the last 30 years of his life , Yermolov lived in seclusion at his manor near Oryol . He was asked to lead a peasant militia during the Crimean War but declined on account of poor health . He died on ) in Moscow and was buried at the Trinity Church in Oryol . Yermolov left very interesting and valuable memoirs on his service in 1796 - 1816 . His " Zapiski " ( Memoirs ) are divided into three parts covering his early career , the Napoleonic Wars , and his service in the Caucasus . They were published posthumously in two volumes Awards . In addition to the decorations already mentioned , Yermolov was decorated with the Russian Orders of St . Andrew the First Called , of St . Vladimir ( 1st class ) , of St . Alexander Nevsky , of the White Eagle , and of St . Anna ( 1st class ) ; foreign orders received included the Prussian Orders of the Red Eagle ( 1st class ) and the Pour le Mérite , the Military Order of Maria Theresa ( 3rd class ) , the Baden Order of Karl Friedrich , the Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun , and two golden swords for courage ( including one with diamonds ) . Impact and trivia . Yermolov was one of the best artillery officers in the Russian army . He proved his abilities throughout the Napoleonic Wars and later in the Caucasus . However , he was also a shrewd and cunning courtier , who often intrigued against his superiors . Because of his enigmatic character , Yermolov was often described as the " Modern Sphinx " . He proved himself a ruthless and effective ruler in the Caucasus . He was a character in Leo Tolstoy ' s novel " War and Peace " , and in Prokofiev ' s opera of the same name , based on the novel . Legacy . Yermolov is a highly controversial historical figure . He is respected by Russian people for his military skills , and hated by many Caucasus nations for his brutality . In Russia , he was famous for military prowess , bravery and strategy . His charismatic leadership of imperial armies was romanticized in poems by Alexander Pushkin , Vasily Zhukovsky , and others . However , in the Caucasus ( with the exception of Ossetia ) , Yermolov is infamous for atrocities he had committed . As Caucasus " expert " Charles King puts it : " Ermolov was a quintessential frontier conqueror . He was the first to employ a comprehensive strategy for the subjugation of the Caucasus highlands , and his brutal methods would be used , in one form or another , by tsarists , Bolsheviks , and Russian generals into the twenty - first century . " " Ermolov was the most celebrated and , at the same time , the most hated of Russian commanders in the Caucasus theater . To St . Petersburg society he was the gallant , Latin - quoting senior officer . For generations of indigenous mountaineers he was the dreaded " Yarmul " who razed villages and slaughtered families . Although he gained the supreme confidence of one Tsar , Alexander I , he was treated with suspicion by another , Nicholas I . He was responsible for implementing a series of policies that were at the time hailed as vehicles for civilizing the benighted Caucasus frontier but today might very well be called state - sponsored terrorism . External links . ( 1st class )