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.

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