13 Facts About Aleksandr Baryatinsky

Aleksandr Baryatinsky was born into the aristocratic Baryatinsky family, a scion of the Rurik dynasty, on 14 May 1815 in Ivanovsky village of Lgovsky district in Kursk Governorate.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky's mother was Countess Marie Wilhelmine von Keller, daughter of a Bavarian diplomat, Count Dorotheus Ludwig Christoph von Keller and his younger German wife, Countess Amalie Luise of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg, younger sister of the Russian field marshal Peter Wittgenstein.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky was the eldest son and received an excellent education at home.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky's father died in 1825, when Alexander was merely 10 years old.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky's mother took him along with his second son Vladimir to Moscow for "improvement in the sciences" in 1829.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky conquered many of the tribes of the western Caucasus dwelling between the rivers of Laba and Belaya.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky ended up challenging Davydov to a duel and then "induced" him to divorce Elizabeth so that he could marry her himself.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky criticized the military reforms carried out by Dmitry Milyutin.

Subsequently, Aleksandr Baryatinsky made several attempts to return to the service, but he was tactfully denied this.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky spent the last days of his life abroad and died of heart disease in Geneva, after forty-eight years of active service.

When, in 1866, Prussia unleashed the Austro-Prussian War, Aleksandr Baryatinsky offered the Russian government an alliance with Prussia in order to divide the Austrian Empire: the Slavic lands were to go to Russia, the German lands to Prussia, and Hungary to become independent.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky saw halting of British advance in Asia as a matter of urgency.

Aleksandr Baryatinsky is remembered for overseeing and advocating the expulsion and genocide of the Circassians.