Alexander Prozorovsky

Alexander Prozorovsky
Field Marshal Alexander A. Prozorovsky
Born	1733 Russian Empire
Died	21 August 1809 (aged 75–76)
Allegiance	Russian Empire
Service/branch	Imperial Russian Army
Years of service	1742–1784 1790–1809
Rank	Field Marshal
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War Bar Confederation Russo-Turkish War
Awards	Order of St. Andrew Order of St. George Order of St. Vladimir

Prince Alexander Alexandrovich Prozorovsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Прозоро́вский; 1733 – 21 August 1809) was the only Field Marshal from the Prozorovsky family.

Biography

Prozorovsky gained distinction in the Seven Years' War and the conquest of Crimea. Prozorovsky's career was furthered by his maternal Galitzine relatives, who helped him to get appointed to the office of Kursk's governor in 1780. He resigned two years later and spent the following years at his country estates.

In 1790 Prozorovsky returned to the active service as the Governor General of Moscow. Emperor Paul, however, couldn't get along with him and discharged Prozorovsky from his office. His ancient services were recalled in 1808, when the Russian army resumed its hostilities against Turkey, and Prozorovsky became its Commander-in-Chief.

Prozorovsky's reputation suffered a blow when his storm of Brailov ended in his army being repelled at enormous loss of life on Russian side. The old and ailing general asked Alexander I to dispatch a younger and more energetic Mikhail Kutuzov to his aid.

Two months later, when Prozorovsky's army was crossing the Danube, the Field-Marshal died. His body was transported to St Petersburg and interred in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.