Menshikov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich, Knyaz

Menshikov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich, Knyaz

▪ Russian military commander
born Aug. 26 [Aug. 15, old style], 1787
died May 1 [April 19, O.S.], 1867, St. Petersburg, Russia

      commander of the Russian forces in the first half of the Crimean War.

      He began his army career in 1809 and achieved the rank of major general in 1816. In 1853, during the conflict over the protection of Christians' privileges at the holy places in Palestine, Menshikov was sent on a special mission to Istanbul; his insistence that the Russian government be recognized as the protector of the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox subjects led to the breakdown of negotiations between Russia and Turkey and to the beginning of the Crimean War (1854–56). Subsequently appointed supreme commander of the Russian land and sea forces in the Crimea, he was defeated by the British and French in the Battle of the Alma on Sept. 20, 1854. His attempt to relieve Sevastopol failed when he suffered severe losses at the Battle of Inkerman on November 5. Relieved of his command in March 1855, he was later appointed military governor general of Kronshtadt.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Russia — /rush euh/, n. 1. Also called Russian Empire. Russian, Rossiya. a former empire in E Europe and N and W Asia: overthrown by the Russian Revolution 1917. Cap.: St. Petersburg (1703 1917). 2. See Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 3. See Russian… …   Universalium

  • Saint Petersburg — I City (pop., 2000: 248,232), west central Florida, U.S. It lies near the tip of Pinellas Peninsula, adjacent to Tampa Bay. Settled in 1876, it became in the late 1940s one of the first Florida cities to encourage tourists to spend their… …   Universalium

  • List of Russians — This is a list of people associated with Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russia of today. For a long time Russia has been a multinational country, and many people of different ethnicity contributed to its culture, to its glory, and to its… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”