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Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace

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A full-life portrait of the man Tolstoy immortalized, Stalin lionized, and Russian history has manipulated and mythologized beyond recognition.

Every Russian knows him purely by his patronym. He was the general who triumphed over Napoleons Grande Armée during the Patriotic War of 1812, not merely restoring national pride but securing national identity. Many Russians consider Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Golenischev-Kutuzov the greatest figure of the 19th century, ahead of Pushkin, Tchaikovsky, even Tolstoy himself. Immediately after his death in 1813, Kutuzovs remains were hurried into the pantheon of heroes. Statues of him rose up across the Russian empire and later the Soviet Union. Over the course of decades and centuries he hardened into legend.

As award-winning author Alexander Mikaberidze shows in this fascinating, often startling, and wholly humanizing new biography, Kutuzovs story is far more compelling and complex than the myths that have encased him. An unabashed imperialist who rose in the ranks through his victories over the Turks and the Poles, Kutuzov was also a realist and a skeptic about military power. When the Russians and their allies were routed by the French at Austerlitz he was openly appalled by the incompetence of leadership and the sheer waste of life. Over his long careermarked equally by victory and defeat, embrace and ostracism—he grew to despise those whose concept of war had devolved to mindless attack.

Here, at last, is Kutuzov as he really was—a master and survivor of intrigue, moving in and out of royal favor, committed to the welfare of those under his command, and an innovative strategist. When, reluctantly and at the 11th hour, Czar Alexander I called upon him to lead the fight against Napoleons invading army, Kutuzov accomplished what needed to be done not by a heroic charge but by a strategic retreat. Across the generations, portraits of Kutuzov have ranged from hagiography to dismissal, with Tolstoys portrait of him in War and Peace perhaps the most indelible of all. This immersive biography returns a touchstone figure in Russian history to human scale.

Author: Mikaberidze Alexander
Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Pages: 816
ISBN: 9780197546734
Cover: Hardback
Edition Number: 1
Release Year: 2022

List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Prologue

PART I
Chapter 1 A Boy from Pskov Province, 1747- 1762
Chapter 2 The Masters and the Apprentice, 1763- 1771
Chapter 3 At Death's Door, 1772- 1785
Chapter 4 "An Eagle from the Lofty Flock," 1786- 1789
Chapter 5 "The Gutters Dyed with Blood," 1790
Chapter 6 "The Glorious Hero of Măcin," 1791- 1792

PART II
Chapter 7 The Envoy of Her Imperial Majesty, 1793
Chapter 8 At the Court of the Sultan, 1794
Chapter 9 Military Philosophe and Courtier, 1794- 1797
Chapter 10 The Wrathful Czar, 1796- 1801
Chapter 11 Walking the Tightrope, 1801- 1804 1

PART III
Chapter 12 Confronting Napoleon, 1805
Chapter 13 "The Glorious Retreat"
Chapter 14 The Tale of Two Ruses
Chapter 15 The Eclipse of Austerlitz

PART IV
Chapter 16 The Wilderness Years, 1806- 1808
Chapter 17 The Carnage on the Danube, 1809
Chapter 18 Call to Arms, 1810- 1811
Chapter 19 The Master of War, 1811
Chapter 20 Between War and Peace, January- June 1812

PART V
Chapter 21 The Fateful Year
Chapter 22 The Road to Borodino
Chapter 23 The Hollow Victory
Chapter 24 The Torrent and the Sponge
Chapter 25 "The Old Fox of the North"
Chapter 26 The Turning Point
Chapter 27 "The Golden Bridge"
Chapter 28 The Chase
Chapter 29 The Great Escape
Chapter 30 The Last Campaign

Epilogue
Notes
Select Bibliography

Alexander Mikaberidze is Associate Professor of European History at Louisiana State University at Shreveport. He is the author of several books, including The Burning of Moscow: Napoleon's Trial by Fire 1812 and The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon versus Kutuzov.

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