62 Facts About Alexander Suvorov

Alexander Suvorov was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Prince of the Russian Empire and the last Generalissimo of the Russian Empire.

Alexander Suvorov was awarded numerous medals, titles, and honors by Russia, as well as by other countries.

Alexander Suvorov secured Russia's expanded borders and renewed military prestige and left a legacy of theories on warfare.

Alexander Suvorov was the author of several military manuals, the most famous being The Science of Victory, and was noted for several of his sayings.

When war broke out with the Bar Confederation in 1768, Alexander Suvorov, commanding a unit of the army of Ivan Ivanovich Weymarn, captured Krakow and defeated the Poles at Orzechowo, but having failed in the storming of the Tyniec Abbey and Lanckorona Castle.

Alexander Suvorov put down a Polish uprising in 1794, defeating them at the Battle of Brest and in Storming of Praga.

However, he was forced to reinstate Alexander Suvorov and make him a field marshal at the insistence of the coalition allies for the French Revolutionary Wars.

Alexander Suvorov was given command of the Austro-Russian army and the Italian campaign began.

Alexander Suvorov captured Milan, Turin, and drove the French out of Italy through his triumphs at Brescia, Cassano, San Giuliano, Trebbia, and Novi.

Alexander Suvorov was cut off by Andre Massena and later became surrounded in the Swiss Alps by the French after an allied Russo-Austrian armies under Alexander Korsakov and Friedrich von Hotze he was supposed to reinforce suffered defeat at Zurich.

Alexander Suvorov died in 1800 of illness in Saint Petersburg.

Alexander Suvorov was born into a noble family originating from Novgorod at the Moscow mansion of his maternal grandfather, Fedosey Manukov.

Alexander Suvorov's father, Vasiliy Suvorov, was a general-in-chief and a senator in the Governing Senate, and was credited with translating Vauban's works into Russian.

Alexander Suvorov himself narrated for the record the historical account of his family to his aide, colonel Anthing, telling particularly that his Swedish-born ancestor was of noble descent, having engaged under the Russian banner in the wars against the Tatars and Poles.

Alexander Suvorov tried to overcome his physical ailments through rigorous exercise and exposure to hardship.

Alexander Suvorov's father insisted that he was not fit for the military.

Alexander Suvorov entered the army in 1748 and served in the Semyonovsky Life Guard Regiment for six years.

Alexander Suvorov gained his first battle experience fighting against the Prussians during the Seven Years' War.

Alexander Suvorov's later earned victories against the Ottomans bolstered the morale of his soldiers who were usually outnumbered.

In 1774, Alexander Suvorov was dispatched to suppress Pugachev's Rebellion, whose leader claimed to be the assassinated Tsar Peter III.

Alexander Suvorov arrived at the scene only in time to conduct the first interrogation of the rebel leader, who had been betrayed by his fellow Cossacks and was eventually beheaded in Moscow.

From 1774 to 1786, Alexander Suvorov served in the Kuban, the Crimea, the Caucasus, Finland, and Russia itself.

Alexander Suvorov became General of the Infantry in 1786, upon completion of his tour of duty in the Caucasus.

Alexander Suvorov commanded the Russian troops in the Crimea from 1782 to 1784.

In both these battles an Austrian corps under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg participated, but at the battle of Rymnik, Alexander Suvorov was in command of the whole allied forces.

Alexander Suvorov announced the capture of Ismail in 1791 to the Empress Catherine in a doggerel couplet.

Immediately after signing the Treaty of Jassy with the Ottoman Empire, Alexander Suvorov was transferred to Poland where he assumed the command of one of the corps and took part in the Battle of Brest-Litovsk.

Alexander Suvorov remained a close confidant of Catherine, but he had a negative relationship with her son and heir apparent Paul.

Alexander Suvorov even had his own regiment of Russian soldiers whom he dressed up in Prussian-style uniforms and paraded around.

Alexander Suvorov was strongly opposed to these uniforms and had fought hard for Catherine to get rid of similar uniforms that were used by Russians up until 1784.

Alexander Suvorov was not happy with this and disregarded Paul's orders to train new soldiers in this Prussian manner, which he considered cruel and useless.

Paul was infuriated and dismissed Alexander Suvorov, exiling him to his estate Konchanskoye near Borovichi and kept under surveillance.

Alexander Suvorov was given command of the Austro-Russian army and sent to drive France's forces out of Italy.

However, Alexander Suvorov erased practically all of the gains Napoleon had made for France during 1796 and 1797, defeating some of the republic's top generals: Moreau at Cassano d'Adda, MacDonald at Trebbia, and Joubert at Novi.

Alexander Suvorov went on to capture Milan and became a hero to those opposed to the French Revolution.

Alexander Suvorov himself gained the rank of "Prince of the House of Savoy" from the King of Sardinia.

The Russian army under General Korsakov was defeated by Massena at Zurich before Alexander Suvorov could reach and unite with them.

Alexander Suvorov's host hoped to make its way over the Swiss passes to the Upper Rhine and arrive at Vorarlberg, where the army, much shattered and almost destitute of horses and artillery, went into winter quarters.

Alexander Suvorov refused to call it a retreat and commenced a trek through the deep snows of Panix Pass and into the 9,000-foot mountains of the Bundner Oberland, by then deep in snow.

Alexander Suvorov was officially promised a military triumph in Russia, but Emperor Paul cancelled the ceremony and recalled the Russian armies from Europe.

Alexander Suvorov was meant to receive the funeral honors of a Generalissimo, but was buried as an ordinary field marshal due to Paul's direct interference.

Alexander Suvorov was married to Varvara Ivanovna Prozorovskaya of the Golitsyn family and had a son and daughter, but his family life was not happy and he had an unpleasant relationship with his wife due to her infidelity.

Alexander Suvorov considered victory dependent on the morale, training, and initiative of the front-line soldier.

Alexander Suvorov abandoned traditional drills, and communicated with his troops in clear and understandable ways.

Alexander Suvorov took great care of his army's supplies and living conditions, reducing cases of illness among his soldiers dramatically, and earning their loyalty and affection.

Alexander Suvorov was seriously wounded six times in his military career.

Alexander Suvorov's guiding principle was to detect the weakest point of an enemy and focus an attack upon that area.

Alexander Suvorov would send forth his units in small groups as they arrived on the battlefield in order to sustain momentum.

Alexander Suvorov utilized aimed fire instead of repeated barrages from line infantry and applied light infantrymen as skirmishers and sharpshooters.

Alexander Suvorov used a variety of army sizes and types of formations against different foes: squares against the Turks, lines against Poles, and columns against the French.

Alexander Suvorov's writings are as different from the common run of classical prose as his tactics were from those of Frederick or Marlborough.

Alexander Suvorov is often compared to Napoleon, whom he was on opposing sides of during the late French Revolutionary Wars and desired to face in battle, but never did so because Napoleon was campaigning in Egypt while Alexander Suvorov was campaigning in Italy.

However, Alexander Suvorov had no interest in pursuing politics and made his disdain for the court lifestyle and tendencies of aristocrats well known: he lacked diplomacy in his dispatches, and his sarcasm triggered enmity among some courtiers.

Alexander Suvorov was famed for his military writings, the most well-known being The Science of Victory and Suzdal Regulations, and lesser-known works such as Rules for the Kuban and Crimean Corps, Rules for the Conduct of Military Actions in the Mountains, and Rules for the Medical Officers.

The Alexander Suvorov Museum opened in Saint Petersburg in 1900 to commemorate the centenary of the general's death.

Alexander Suvorov was the Tsarist military figure most often referred to by Joseph Stalin, who received the rank of Generalissimo that Alexander Suvorov had previously held.

The Order of Alexander Suvorov was established by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 29 July 1942 and is awarded to senior army personnel for exceptional leadership in combat operations against superior enemy forces.

Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu has proposed that Alexander Suvorov be made a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In December 2022 another street in Kyiv that was still named after Alexander Suvorov was renamed to Serhiy Kotenko Street.

Poet Alexander Shishkov devoted an epitaph to Suvorov, while Gavrila Derzhavin mentioned him in Snigir and other poems, calling Suvorov "an Alexander by military prowess, a stoic by valor".

In 1795 poet and soldier Irinarkh Zavalishin, who had fought under the command of Alexander Suvorov, wrote a heroic poem titled "Suvoriada", celebrating Suvorov's victories.

Alexander Suvorov is one of the characters in the drama "Antonio Gamba, Companion of Alexander Suvorov in the Alpine Mountains" by Sergey Glinka which commemorates the Swiss expedition of 1799.