Prince Potemkin: biography, photo, the activities of Prince Potemkin-Taurian

Extremely bright personality, which was Prince Potemkin, a biography, a brief description and description of whose activities were preserved in the works of his contemporaries, is of great interest to today's historians. It is interesting that in Russia in the 18th century his title was the longest after the imperial one. It included the list of posts and awards received by the prince for the entire period of service to the Fatherland.

Childhood and Youth

Grigory Alexandrovich, the future famous prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, was born on September 13 (24), 1739 in the village of Chizhovo, located near Smolensk. His father, Alexander Vasilievich, was a Petrovsky staff officer, who subsequently rose to the rank of second major. When Potemkin senior turned 50, he fell in love with the young 20-year-old widow Darya Vasilievna Skuratov (in the nee Kondyrev), who gave birth to his son and five daughters.

I must say that Alexander Vasilyevich had a very difficult character, so it was decided to give a small Grisha to his cousin's father's cousin, Grigory Matveyevich Kislovsky, who lived in Moscow and was the president of the Chamber Chamber.

Education Potemkin began with a private school Litkin and continued in the gymnasium at Moscow University. During the years of study, the young man showed remarkable abilities to the sciences, and also demonstrated his literally phenomenal memory. In 1756, Grigory received a gold medal and along with a whole group of such successful students was sent to St. Petersburg, where they were introduced to the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

Carier start

Despite his excellent academic performance, the future prince Potemkin, whose biography is full of information about the sharp twists of fate, was expelled from the university for failing to attend classes. He had to enlist in the Guards Regiment, in which he took part in a coup d'état held in 1762. As a result, Emperor Peter III was removed from power, and his spouse Catherine II ascended to the Russian throne. For this Potemkin was granted four hundred serfs, 10 thousand rubles and the rank of lieutenant. Unquenchable energy and ambition all the time pushed him to change in destiny.

First, Grigory Alexandrovich served in the Horse Guards Regiment, and in 1763, by decree of Catherine II, was appointed a chamber-cadet in the Synod, where he became close to the brothers Orlovs. Five years later he was sent to the chamberlains and placed in the court of the empress.

The activities of Prince Potemkin

For almost two decades, Grigory Alexandrovich participated in many national affairs and was the chief adviser to the empress. In 1774 he was awarded the rank of Adjutant-General, and then Lieutenant-Colonel of the Life Guards. In addition, he was one of the members of the State Council, as well as a vice-president of the board dealing with military matters. During the outbreak of the uprising led by Emelian Pugachev, Potemkin took an active part in organizing his repression.

In 1775 he was given the title of Count and awarded the Order of St. George on the occasion of the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Peace with the Ottoman Empire. In the same year, he managed to achieve the abolition of the main source of unrest in Ukraine - Zaporizhzhya Sich.

The following year, the German Emperor Joseph II granted him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and Catherine II appointed Governor-General of the Astrakhan, Novorossiysk and Azov Gubernias. Thus, in fact, he became the ruler of all the South Russian lands without exception, from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. It was he who led the construction of such Ukrainian cities as Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) and Kherson. The Serene Prince Potemkin also put his hand to the development of the Kuban.

Travel to Crimea

It is possible to list his services to the Russian Empire indefinitely. But I want to say separately that Prince Potemkin (the biography of this man is direct evidence that his life was entirely devoted to the service of the Motherland), may have been unfairly stipulated. This is the opinion of many historians who scrupulously examined all documents relating to the so-called Potemkin villages. The fact is that in 1787, Grigory Alexandrovich himself organized for Catherine II a rather long journey to the Crimea in order to show her the full power of Russia and its great influence in this region. Departing on the road, the empress invited to visit the peninsula of the Austrian monarch Joseph II and several European diplomats.

Arriving in the Black Sea region, they saw that on the site of the once deserted steppes and rare Tatar settlements roads appeared, villages and cities grew up, and the sea was occupied by a merchant and a military fleet. It was rumored that the Empress was struck by false constructions and decorative settlements, which allegedly was ordered to make the Most Serene Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. By the way, this title he received after the Crimea joined the Russian Empire in 1783. So, it was these sham constructions that were called "Potemkin villages".

Myth or truth

As it turned out, for the first time this term appeared after the death of the prince and the Empress, namely in 1797-1800, when the biography of Potemkin was published in the Minerva magazine in several of its issues. It was written by a former Saxon diplomat in Petersburg, Georg Adolf von Gelbig, one of the main ill-wishers of Catherine II and Grigory Alexandrovich. Here all the activities of the prince were depicted exclusively on the negative side.

A little later, Gelbig's book was published, which was translated into several languages, including Russian. So Prince Potemkin, whose biography was deformed by a foreign diplomat, was a deceiver who built fake "Potemkin villages." Apparently, in this legend, real events could have been twisted fantastically with frank fiction and gossip, which then went on among representatives of European diplomatic circles and the Russian elite.

End of the road

Prince Potemkin, whose biography says that the life of the most serene was for the most part associated with military campaigns and other voyages, in 1771, being under Silistria, he picked up the so-called marsh fever. Then he could not completely recover, so the seizures further troubled him more than once. In September 1791, he began to negotiate with Turkish representatives - first in Galati, and then in Iasi. At that time he was already terminally ill.

On the way from Yass, the prince became ill, and he asked to stop the carriage. He was taken to the air, where he soon died. They say that before his death he looked into the pure Moldavian sky and crossed himself. This happened on October 5, and the news of his death reached Catherine II only on the 12th. According to her secretary, A. V. Khrapovitsky, the empress now and again came tears in her eyes. Her Majesty was shocked by her grief, for Prince Potemkin and Catherine II had very close ties: he was not only her adviser and lover, but also her best friend.