Portrait of Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov by George Doe.
Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, State Hermitage (St. Petersburg)
In the 19th century, epigrams were written on everyone: on each other, on kings, ballerinas and archimandrites. But by some irony of fate, Pushkin's biting quatrain - Alexander Sergeevich himself was not happy later that he wrote it - played a cruel joke on a man who was less worthy of it than others.
In the spring of 1801, the Russian ambassador to England, Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, sent his son Mikhail to his homeland, which he did not remember at all. He was just over a year old when his father, a diplomat, having received a new appointment, took his family away from St. Petersburg.
Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich
... Nineteen years ago, on May 19, 1782, the count took the first-born in his arms. A year later, the Vorontsovs had a daughter, Catherine, and a few months later, the count was widowed - his young wife, Catherine Alekseevna, died of fleeting consumption. And Vorontsov arrived in London with two small children. Count Semyon Romanovich never married again, devoting his whole life to Misha and Katya.
Vorontsova Ekaterina Alekseevna (1761-1784), daughter of Admiral A.N. Senyavin, wife of S.R. Vorontsova, Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky
From an early age, Semyon Romanovich instilled in his son: any person belongs primarily to the Fatherland, his primary duty is to love the land of his ancestors and valiantly serve it. Or perhaps it is only with a solid understanding of faith, honor and with a solid education ...
Mishenka and Katenka are children of S.R. Vorontsov. Etching from the original by R. Cosway
Count Vorontsov was no stranger to pedagogy before: at one time he even made programs for Russian youth in military and diplomatic education. He was motivated to do this by the conviction that the dominance of ignoramuses and foreigners in high positions is very harmful to the state. True, Vorontsov's ideas were not met, but in his son he could fully implement them ...
Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov with children Mikhail and Ekaterina
Semyon Romanovich himself selected teachers for him, he himself made programs in various subjects, he studied with him himself. This well-thought-out education system, coupled with Mikhail's brilliant abilities, allowed him to acquire the store of knowledge with which he would subsequently amaze his contemporaries throughout his life.
Vorontsov set himself the goal of raising a Russian from his son and not otherwise. Having lived half his life abroad and possessing all the outward signs of an Anglomaniac, Vorontsov liked to repeat: "I am Russian and only Russian."
This position determined everything for his son too. In addition to Russian history and literature, which, according to his father, were supposed to help his son in the main thing - to become Russian in spirit, Mikhail knew French and English perfectly, mastered Latin and Greek. His daily schedule included mathematics, science, painting, architecture, music, military affairs.
The father considered it necessary to give his son a hand in hand and craft. An ax, a saw and a plane became for Mikhail not only familiar objects: the future Most Serene Prince became so addicted to carpentry that he gave him all his free hours until the end of his life. This is how one of the richest nobles of Russia raised his children.
Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich, Richard Evans
And now Michael is nineteen. Seeing him off to serve in Russia, his father gives him complete freedom: let him choose a business to his liking. The son of the Russian ambassador arrived from London to St. Petersburg all alone: without servants and companions, which indescribably surprised Vorontsov's relatives. Moreover, Mikhail gave up the privilege that was due to the one who had the title of chamberlain, which had been conferred on him while he was living in London. This privilege gave a young man, who decided to devote himself to the army, the right to immediately have the rank of major general. Vorontsov also asked to give him the opportunity to start service with lower ranks and was enlisted as a lieutenant of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky regiment. And since the life of the capital of the young Vorontsov did not satisfy, in 1803 he went as a volunteer to the place where the war was going - in the Caucasus. He endured the harsh conditions stoically, and thus began Vorontsov's fifteen-year, almost uninterrupted military epic. All promotions and awards went to him in the gunpowder smoke of battles. The Patriotic War of 1812, Mikhail met with the rank of major general, commander of the combined grenadier division.
Jacobin general
In the battle of Borodino on August 26, Vorontsov with his grenadiers took the first and most powerful blow of the enemy on the Semyonov flushes. It was here that Napoleon planned to break through the defenses of the Russian army. Against 8 thousand Russians, with 50 guns, 43 thousand selected French troops were thrown, whose continuous attacks were supported by the fire of two hundred cannons. All the participants in the Borodino battle unanimously admitted: Semyonov's flushes were hell. The fierce battle lasted three hours - the grenadiers did not retreat, although they suffered huge losses. When later someone dropped that Vorontsov's division "disappeared from the field," Mikhail Semyonovich, who was present, sadly corrected: "She disappeared into the field."
Battle of Borodino. In the center of the picture is the wounded General Bagration, next to him on horseback is General Konovnitsyn.
In the distance, a square of life guards can be seen. Hood. P. Hess, 1843
Vorontsov himself was seriously wounded. He was bandaged right on the field and in a cart, one wheel of which was hit by a cannonball, was taken out from under bullets and cannonballs. When the count was brought home to Moscow, all the vacant buildings were filled with wounded, often deprived of any help whatsoever. On the carts from the Vorontsov estate, lordly goods were loaded for transportation to distant villages: paintings, bronze, boxes with porcelain and books, furniture. Vorontsov ordered to return everything to the house, and use the wagon train to transport the wounded to Andreevskoye, his estate near Vladimir. The wounded were picked up along the entire Vladimir road. A hospital was set up in Andreevsky, where up to 50 officer ranks and more than 300 privates were treated until he recovered on the full support of the count.
View of St. Andrew's Church with the Holy Gates, an almshouse and a school. Hood. Kondyrev. 1849 g.
After recovery, each private was supplied with linen, sheepskin coat and 10 rubles. Then in groups they were ferried by Vorontsov to the army. He himself arrived there, still limping, moving with a cane. Meanwhile, the Russian army was moving inexorably towards the West. In the battle of Craon, already near Paris, Lieutenant General Vorontsov independently acted against the troops led personally by Napoleon. He used all the elements of Russian combat tactics, developed and approved by A.V. Suvorov: a swift bayonet attack of the infantry deep into the enemy columns with the support of artillery, skillful deployment of reserves and, most importantly, the admissibility of private initiative in battle, based on the requirements of the moment. Against this, the French courageously fought, even with a two-fold superiority, were powerless.
Battle of Craon, Theodor Jung
"Such feats in the mind of everyone, covering our infantry with glory and eliminating the enemy, certify that nothing is impossible for us," Vorontsov wrote in the order after the battle, noting the merits of all: privates and generals. But both those and others witnessed with their own eyes the enormous personal courage of their commander: despite the wound that did not heal, Vorontsov was constantly in battle, taking command over the units, the chiefs of which had fallen. It is not without reason that the military historian M. Bogdanovsky, in his study dedicated to this one of the last bloody battles with Napoleon, especially noted Mikhail Semenovich: "The military career of Count Vorontsov was illuminated on the day of the Kraonskoye battle with a brilliance of glory, exalted modesty, usually a companion of true dignity."
Mikhail Vorontsov, 1812/1813, artist A. Molinari
In March 1814, Russian troops entered Paris. For four long years, very difficult for the regiments that had fought through Europe, Vorontsov became the commander of the Russian occupation corps. A host of problems fell upon him. The most urgent questions are how to preserve the fighting efficiency of the deadly tired army and ensure the conflict-free coexistence of the victorious troops and the civilian population. The most mundane: how to ensure a tolerable material existence for those soldiers who fell victim to charming Parisian women - some had wives, and besides, an addition to the family was expected. So now Vorontsov was no longer required combat experience, but rather tolerance, attention to people, diplomacy and administrative skill. But no matter how many worries there were, they all expected Vorontsov.
A certain set of rules was introduced in the corps, drawn up by its commander. They were based on a strict requirement for officers of all ranks to exclude from circulation by soldiers actions that humiliate human dignity, in other words, for the first time in the Russian army, Vorontsov, by his own will, prohibited corporal punishment. Any conflicts and violations of statutory discipline were to be dealt with and punished only according to the law, without the "vile custom" of using sticks and assault.
Progressive-minded officers welcomed the innovations introduced by Vorontsov in the corps, considering them a prototype of reforming the entire army, while others predicted possible complications with the Petersburg authorities. But Vorontsov stubbornly stood his ground.
Vorontsov M.S. 1818-1819. Rockstool. Historical Museum
Among other things, schools for soldiers and junior officers were organized in all divisions of the corps by order of the commander. Senior officers and priests became teachers. Vorontsov personally drew up curricula depending on situations: one of his subordinates studied the alphabet, someone mastered the rules of writing and counting.
And Vorontsov also adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the troops, wishing that people, torn from their homes for years, did not lose touch with their homeland.
R Ozen I.S. Guards crew in Paris in 1814 1911
It so happened that the government allocated money to the Russian occupation corps for two years of service. The heroes remembered about love, women and other joys of life. What this resulted in, one person knew for certain - Vorontsov. Before sending the corps to Russia, he ordered to collect information about all the debts made during this time by corps officers. In total, it turned out to be one and a half million in banknotes.
Believing that the winners should leave Paris in a dignified manner, Vorontsov paid off this debt by selling the Krugloye estate, which he inherited from his aunt, the notorious Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.
Gold medal presented to M.S. Vorontsov by residents of the Vusier district in 1818 (front and back sides)
The corps marched east, and in St. Petersburg rumors were already circulating with might and main that Vorontsov's liberalism indulged the Jacobin spirit, and the discipline and military training of the soldiers left much to be desired. After inspecting the Russian troops in Germany, Alexander I expressed dissatisfaction with their not fast enough, in his opinion, step. Vorontsov's answer was passed from mouth to mouth and became known to everyone: "Your Majesty, with this step we came to Paris." Returning to Russia and feeling a clear ill will towards himself, Vorontsov filed a letter of resignation. Alexander I refused to accept it. Say what you like, but it was impossible to do without the Vorontsovs ...
Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov (1782-1856), Thomas Lawrence
Governor of the South
... In February 1819, the 37-year-old general went to his father in London to ask permission to marry. His bride, Countess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Branitskaya, was already 27 years old when, during her trip abroad, she met Mikhail Vorontsov, who immediately proposed to her. Eliza, as they called Branitskaya in the world, was Polish by her father, Russian by her mother, and a relative of Potemkin, possessed an enormous fortune and that incredibly enchanting charm that made everyone see her as a beauty.
Unknown artist. Portrait of E.K. Vorontsova. 1810th. The Podstanitsky collection.
The Vorontsov couple returned to St. Petersburg, but for a very short time. Mikhail Semenovich did not stay in any of the Russian capitals - he served wherever the tsar sent. He was very pleased with the appointment to the south of Russia in 1823. The edge, to which the center still could not reach, was the focus of all possible problems: national, economic, cultural, military, and so on. But for a man of initiative, this huge half-asleep space with rare splashes of civilization was a real find, especially since the king was given unlimited powers.
The newly arrived Governor-General began off-road, an ineradicable Russian misfortune. A little more than 10 years later, having traveled from Simferopol to Sevastopol, A.V. Zhukovsky wrote in his diary: "Wonderful road - a monument to Vorontsov." This was followed by the first Black Sea commercial Russian shipping company in the south of Russia.
Today it seems that vineyards on the spurs of the Crimean mountains have come down to us almost from the times of antiquity. Meanwhile, it was Count Vorontsov, who appreciated all the advantages of the local climate, who contributed to the emergence and development of the Crimean viticulture. He ordered seedlings of all grape varieties from France, Germany, Spain and, having invited foreign specialists, set them the task of identifying those that would take root better and would be able to produce the necessary harvests. Painstaking selection work was carried out not for a year or two - winemakers knew firsthand how stony the local soil is and how it suffers from waterlessness.
Palace of Prince Vorontsov in Alupka, Carlo Bossoli
But Vorontsov continued his plans with unshakable persistence. First of all, he planted his own plots of land with vineyards, which he acquired in the Crimea. The fact that the famous palace complex in Alupka was largely built with the money raised by Vorontsov from the sale of his own wine speaks volumes about Mikhail Semyonovich's remarkable commercial acumen.
Palace of Prince Vorontsov in Alupka
In addition to winemaking, Vorontsov, looking closely at the occupations that had already been mastered by the local population, did his best to develop and improve the already existing local traditions. Elite sheep breeds were ordered from Spain and Saxony, and small wool processing enterprises were set up. This, in addition to employment of the population, gave money to both people and the region. Without relying on subsidies from the center, Vorontsov set out to put life in the region on the principles of self-sufficiency. Hence, Vorontsov's transformative activities, unprecedented in scale, were: tobacco plantations, nurseries, the establishment of the Odessa Agricultural Society for the exchange of experience, the purchase of new agricultural implements abroad, experimental farms, a botanical garden, exhibitions of livestock and fruit and vegetable crops.
Alupka
All this, in addition to the revitalization of life in Novorossia itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome land for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of Vorontsov's management was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more.
Alupka, Carlo Bossoli
The population of Novorossiya grew from year to year. A lot was done by Vorontsov for enlightenment and scientific and cultural upsurge in these places. Five years after his arrival, a school of oriental languages was opened, in 1834 a merchant shipping school appeared in Kherson for the training of skippers, navigators and shipbuilders.
Before Vorontsov, there were only 4 gymnasiums in the region. With the sagacity of a clever politician, the Russian governor-general opens a whole network of schools in the Bessarabian lands recently annexed to Russia: Chisinau, Izmail, Kiliya, Bendery, Balti. A Tatar branch began to operate at the Simferopol gymnasium, and a Jewish school in Odessa. For the upbringing and education of children of poor nobles and higher merchants in 1833, the Highest permission was received to open an institute for girls in Kerch.
His wife made her own contribution to the Count's endeavors. Under the patronage of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, the Orphanage House and a school for deaf and dumb girls were created in Odessa.
All practical activities of Vorontsov, his concern for the future of the region were combined in him with a personal interest in his historical past. After all, the legendary Tavrida has absorbed almost the entire history of mankind. The Governor-General regularly organizes expeditions to study Novorossia, describe the surviving monuments of antiquity, and excavations.
In 1839, in Odessa, Vorontsov established the Society of History and Antiquities, which was located in his house. The collection of vases and vessels from Pompeii became the personal contribution of the count to the Society's collection of antiquities, which began to grow.
Palace of Count Vorontsov in Odessa. 19th century lithograph
As a result of Vorontsov's ardent interest, according to experts, "the entire Novorossiysk Territory, Crimea and partly Bessarabia in a quarter of a century, and the inaccessible Caucasus in nine years, were explored, described, illustrated much more accurately and in more detail of many internal components of vast Russia."
Carlo Bossoli, Odessa
Everything related to research activities was done fundamentally: many books related to travel, descriptions of flora and fauna, with archaeological and ethnographic finds, were published, as people who knew Vorontsov well testified, "with the trouble-free assistance of an enlightened ruler."
Painting by M.N. Vorobyov. Vorontsov Palace in Odessa
The secret of Vorontsov's unusually productive activity was not only in his state mentality and extraordinary education. He was an impeccable master of what we now call the ability to "assemble a team." Connoisseurs, enthusiasts, craftsmen, eager to attract the attention of a high face to their ideas, did not hit the count's threshold. “He himself looked for them,” recalled one witness of the “Novorossiysk boom,” “got acquainted, brought them closer to him and, if possible, invited them to joint service to the Fatherland.” One hundred and fifty years ago, this word had a concrete, soul-elevating meaning that moved people to a lot ...
In his declining years, Vorontsov, dictating his notes in French, would classify his family union as a happy one. Apparently, he was right, not wanting to go into the details of the far from cloudless, especially at first, marriage of 36 years. Liza, as Vorontsov called his wife, more than once tested her husband's patience. “With an innate Polish frivolity and coquetry, she wanted to please her,” wrote F.F. Vigel - and no one better than her in that. " And now let's make a short excursion into the distant 1823.
Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov
Engraving by an unknown German artist, 1845-1852 (From the collection of Leonid Rabinovich, published for the first time)
Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, Pyotr Fedorovich Sokolov
... The initiative to transfer Pushkin from Chisinau to Odessa to the newly appointed Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory belonged to the friends of Alexander Sergeevich - Vyazemsky and Turgenev. They knew what they wanted for the disgraced poet, being sure that he would not be ignored by care and attention.
At first it was. At the very first meeting with the poet at the end of July, Vorontsov received the poet "very kindly." But in early September, his wife returned from the White Church. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was in the last months of her pregnancy. Not the best moment, of course, to get acquainted, but even that first meeting with her did not pass without leaving a trace for Pushkin. Under the stroke of the poet's pen, her image, albeit occasionally, but appears in the margins of the manuscripts. True, then somehow ... it disappears, because then the beautiful Amalia Riznich reigned in the poet's heart.
Pushkin in Odessa. Galushchenko Vladimir Viktorovich
Note that Vorontsov with complete benevolence opened the doors of his house to Pushkin. The poet comes here every day and dines, uses the books of the count's library. Undoubtedly, Vorontsov realized that in front of him was not a petty clerk, and even on a bad account with the government, but a great poet who was becoming famous.
Vorontsov Palace in Odessa
Old theater in Odessa
But month after month passes. Pushkin at the theater, at balls, masquerades sees the recently given birth to Vorontsova - lively, elegant. He is captivated. He is in love.
The true attitude of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna to Pushkin, apparently, will forever remain a mystery. But there is no reason to doubt one thing: she, as noted, was "nice to have her famous poet at her feet."
A.S. Pushkin, Konstantin Andreevich Somov
But what about the all-powerful governor? Even though he was accustomed to the fact that his wife is always surrounded by admirers, the poet's ardor, apparently, went beyond certain boundaries. And, as witnesses wrote, "it was impossible for the count not to notice his feelings." Vorontsov's irritation was intensified by the fact that Pushkin did not seem to care what the governor himself thought about them.
Let us turn to the testimony of an eyewitness to those events, F.F. Vigel: "Pushkin settled in his wife's living room and always greeted him with dry bows, to which, however, he never responded."
Did Vorontsov have the right, as a man, a family man, to get irritated and look for ways to stop the red tape of an overly emboldened admirer?
“He did not stoop to jealousy, but it seemed to him that the exiled clerical official dared to raise his eyes to the one that bears his name,” wrote F.F. Vigel.
And yet, apparently, it was jealousy that made Vorontsov send Pushkin, along with other minor officials, on an expedition to exterminate the locust, which had so insulted the poet. How hard Vorontsov experienced his wife's infidelity, we again know first-hand. When Vigel, like Pushkin, who served under the governor-general, tried to intercede for the poet, he answered him: "Dear F.F., if you want us to remain in friendly relations, never mention this scoundrel to me." It was said more than sharply!
Having returned from the locust, the irritated poet wrote a letter of resignation, hoping that, having received it, he would continue to live next to his beloved woman. His romance is in full swing.
The novel with Vorontsova was a feat of Pushkin to create a number of poetic masterpieces. They brought to Elizaveta Ksaveryevna the unabated interest of several generations of people who saw in her the Muse of genius, almost a deity.
And to Vorontsov himself, who for a long time, apparently, gained the dubious fame of the persecutor of the greatest Russian poet, in April 1825 charming Eliza gave birth to a girl whose real father was ... Pushkin.
"This is a hypothesis," wrote one of the most influential researchers of Pushkin's work, Tatiana Tsyavlovskaya, "but the hypothesis is strengthened when it is supported by facts of a different category."
These facts, in particular, include the testimony of Pushkin's great-granddaughter, Natalya Sergeevna Shepeleva, who claimed that the news that Alexander Sergeevich had a child from Vorontsova came from Natalya Nikolaevna, to whom the poet himself confessed.
The youngest daughter of the Vorontsovs outwardly differed sharply from the rest of the family. “Among the blond parents and other children, she was the only one with dark hair,” we read at Tsyavlovskaya. This is evidenced by the portrait of the young countess, which has survived safely to this day. An unknown artist captured Sonechka at a time of captivatingly flourishing femininity, full of purity and ignorance. Indirect confirmation of the fact that the chubby girl with plump lips is the poet's daughter was also found in the fact that in the “Memoirs of the book. M.S. Vorontsov for 1819 - 1833 "Mikhail Semenovich mentions all his children, except for Sophia. In the future, however, there was no hint of the count's lack of paternal feelings for his youngest daughter.
Nicholas I appointed him governor-general of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Caucasian troops, leaving behind him the Governor-General of Novorossiysk.
The next nine years of his life, almost until his death, Vorontsov - in military campaigns and in the work to strengthen Russian fortresses and the combat readiness of the army, and at the same time in not unsuccessful attempts to build a peaceful life for civilians. The handwriting of his ascetic activity is immediately recognizable - he has just arrived, his residence in Tiflis is extremely simple and unassuming, but the city's numismatic collection has already begun here, in 1850 the Transcaucasian Society of Agriculture was formed. The first ascent to Ararat was also organized by Vorontsov. And of course, again the efforts to open schools - in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Yerevan, Stavropol, with their subsequent unification into the system of a separate Caucasian educational district.
According to Vorontsov, the Russian presence in the Caucasus should not only not suppress the originality of the peoples inhabiting it, it simply must be reckoned with and adapt to the historically established traditions of the region, the needs, and the character of the inhabitants. That is why, in the very first years of his stay in the Caucasus, Vorontsov gave the go-ahead for the establishment of a Muslim school. He saw the path to peace in the Caucasus primarily in religious tolerance and wrote to Nicholas I: "The way Muslims think and treat us depends on our attitude to their faith ..." believed.
It was in the military policy of the Russian government in the Caucasus that Vorontsov saw considerable miscalculations. According to his correspondence with Yermolov, who had pacified the militant highlanders for so many years, it is clear that the fighting friends agree on one thing: the government, carried away by European affairs, paid little attention to the Caucasus. Hence the long-standing problems generated by inflexible politics, and besides, disregard for the opinion of people who knew this region and its laws well.
Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was inseparably with her husband at all duty stations, and sometimes even accompanied him on inspection trips. With noticeable pleasure, Vorontsov reported to Ermolov in the summer of 1849: “In Dagestan, she had the pleasure of going two or three times with infantry in martial law, but, to her great regret, the enemy did not show up. We were with her on the glorious Gilerinsky slope, from where you can see almost all of Dagestan and where, according to a common legend here, you spat on this terrible and accursed land and said that it was not worth the blood of one soldier; it is a pity that after you some bosses had completely opposite opinions. "
This letter shows that over the years, the couple became close. Young passions subsided, became a memory. Perhaps this rapprochement also happened because of their sad parental fate: of the Vorontsovs' six children, four died very early. But even those two, having become adults, gave the father and mother food for not very joyful reflections.
Daughter Sophia, having married, did not find family happiness - the spouses, having no children, lived separately. Son Semyon, about whom they said that “he was not distinguished by any talents and did not resemble his parent in any way,” was also childless. And subsequently, with his death, the Vorontsov family died out.
On the eve of his 70th birthday, Mikhail Semenovich asked for resignation. His request was granted. He felt very bad, although he carefully concealed it. He lived "idle" for less than a year. Five decades of service to Russia remained behind him, not out of fear, but out of conscience. In the highest military rank of Russia - Field Marshal - Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856.
For many years, stories about the simplicity and accessibility of the supreme governor have been preserved among the soldiers in the Russian troops in the Caucasus. After the death of the prince, a saying arose there: “ It is high up to God, far from the king, and Vorontsov died
Vorontsov's portrait is located in the first row of the famous "Military Gallery" of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the war of 1812. The bronze figure of the field marshal can be seen among the prominent figures placed on the Millennium of Russia monument in Novgorod. His name is also on the marble plaques of the St. George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin in the sacred list of the faithful sons of the Fatherland. But the grave of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was blown up together with the Odessa Cathedral in the first years of Soviet power ...
"Lead a life so that everyone laments your death." Such was the father's commandment for coming of age and the commandments of this future Most Serene Prince, Field Marshal, Adjutant General, and then simply Michel Vorontsov followed all his life.
Young Mikhail belonged to the family, whose elevation was due to Mikhail Illarionovich, who contributed to the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Appreciating Vorontsov's loyalty and honesty, the Empress gave for him her cousin, Countess Anna Karlovna Skavronskaya, daughter of Karl Samuilovich Skavronsky, brother of Empress Catherine I, and elevating Vorontsov to the rank of Lieutenant General 28 years old. Also, the merits of the old, but at the beginning imperceptible clan, which has been listed for almost a thousand years in Russia and rose in the 16th century, were also appreciated by the German Emperor Charles VII, who on March 27, 1744, who served as vice-chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov with his brothers, was elevated to the count's dignity. In 1744, he, Mikhail Vorontsov, was awarded the rank of actual privy councilor, made vice-chancellor, and in 1758 - chancellor, and until the accession to the throne of Emperor Peter III he enjoyed his high position. The motto on the family coat of arms of the Vorontsovs was: "Eternally unshakable fidelity."
The genus itself was such that, in fact, every fourth male representative is worthy of inclusion in the encyclopedia. Also, one person of the opposite sex rightfully got there.
Mikhail Semenovich's father, Count Semyon Romanovich, general-in-chief of infantry, served in the army under the command of Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, and later was the Russian ambassador to the English court for more than forty years. His uncle, Count Alexander Romanovich, is known as a remarkable statesman. Under Catherine II, he was a real privy councilor, senator and president of the commercial college, and under Emperor Alexander Pavlovich he served as state chancellor and minister of foreign affairs. The younger sister of Semyon Romanovich and Alexander Romanovich, Ekaterina Romanovna, was behind Prince Dashkov and, having become a widow, was president of two (!) Academies (sciences and the Russian), was distinguished by intelligence and erudition.
The future Most Serene Prince was born on May 18, 1782. Four years old he was registered in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment as a corporal, and in 1801 he entered the regiment as a second lieutenant. At the end of 1803 he was a volunteer in the Caucasus and fought with the mountaineers and Iranian troops. Here begins the countdown of his brilliant military track record.
For the distinction in the capture of Erivan on August 28, 1804, he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree. In 1805 he took part in the campaign to Hanover, in 1806-1807 he fought with the French in Poland and East Prussia and was promoted to colonel on January 10, 1807 for distinction at Pultusk.
In 1807, the young officer was appointed commander of the 1st battalion of the Preobrazhensky regiment, and in 1809 he left for the Danube army, where he participated in hostilities with the Turks, being the commander of the Narva musketeer regiment. On September 29, 1809, from the colonels of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, he was appointed chief of the Narva Musketeer Regiment, and for his courage during the assault on Bazardzhik he was awarded the rank of major general. For the capture of Viddin he was awarded the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree. In 1812, during Napoleon's campaign, he commanded the 2nd Combined Grenadier Division in the army of Peter Bagration and fought near Saltanovka, Smolensk and Borodino, where he was wounded by a bullet in the leg. Rising to his feet after being wounded and returning to duty, Mikhail commanded the vanguard of the 3rd Army and on February 8, 1813 was already (!) Granted a lieutenant general, and from August of the same year he was in the Northern Army near Gross-Beeren, Dennewitz, Leipzig and Kassel. In 1814 he distinguished himself at Craon and was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. After the war, he commanded the 12th Infantry Division, then with the rank of Adjutant General from 1815 to 1818 he headed the Russian occupation corps in France. After returning to Russia, he commanded the 12th Infantry Division, and on February 19, 1820 was appointed commander of the 3rd Infantry Corps.
The next place of service of a brilliant officer, on the award list of which 24 high awards, including the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with diamonds, St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds, St. George 2nd degree, St. Vladimir 1st degree, St. Anna 1st degree with diamonds, as well as twelve foreign awards - the French Order of St. Louis 1st degree, the English Order of the Bath 1st degree, the Austrian orders of St. Stephen and the Military Maria Theresa 3rd degree, the Swedish orders of the Seraphim and the Military Sword 1st degree, Prussian Orders of the Black Eagle and Red Eagle 1st Class, Order of the Guelphs of Hanover 1st Class, Hesse-Kassel Military Order of Merit 1st Class, Sardinian Order of Mauritius and Lazarus 1st Class, Greek Order of the Savior 1st Class, Turkish Order Glory with diamonds, a cross for Bazardzhik, as well as the right to wear a golden sword with diamonds "for the capture of Varna" and the insignia "for XXX years of impeccable service", became Odessa.
In May 1823, the outstanding military leader was appointed Governor-General of Novorossiysk and Bessarabia. An officer who dreamed of devoting himself to peaceful labor. Got a wide field for vigorous activity and had a lot of experience for this. At the factories belonging to him, for the first time in Russia, "English" steam machines were introduced, ordered from England, and the first "Dutch" cheeses in Russia were produced on his estates. By the way, having a reputation as a liberal, although he was a brilliant courtier and monarchist in civic consciousness, he was familiar with the pre-Decembrist movements and for the first time in the Russian army published a manual for teaching lower ranks to read and write, as well as a collection of poems and fables of Russian poets for soldier reading. By the way, there is a known case when Vorontsov, during the Caucasian campaign, ordered to throw out his property from the carts in order to load them for the wounded soldiers, and later, in France, in order to pay off the champagne and card debts of his officers, he paid all their debts personally, practically bankrupt , however, retaining the honor not only of his own as a commander, but also of Russia and her army.
In general, Odessa was lucky for the first people of the city, extraordinary people and in love with their brainchild. However, not everyone was happy that the city and the region were ruled by foreigners, and when Count Vorontsov took the post of Novorossiysk Governor-General, some breathed a sigh of relief, they say, "a Russian bridle will be put on Odessa, soaked through with foreignism." In particular, the famous memoirist Franz Wigel wrote about this: "They finally wanted New Russia to become Russified, and in 1823 they sent a Russian master and a Russian warrior to govern it."
Undoubtedly, Mikhail Semyonovich was both a Russian gentleman and a Russian warrior, but the origin did indicate his rejection of himself, which did not have Slavic roots. He received a European upbringing and such patriotism was alien to him. In addition, the count was not only an educated man, but also smart, which we have to admit, despite the unflattering reviews about him by Alexander Pushkin.
"Half-lord, half-merchant,
half-wise, half-ignorant,
half-scoundrel, but there is hope
which will be complete at last ”.
Undoubtedly, the genius star of Russian poetry had the right to her own opinion, and, in fact, for various reasons they did not like each other with Vorontsov. However, pretending to be objective, one should pay tribute to this outstanding statesman, whose years of rule are rightly called the “golden age of Odessa”. And Pushkin himself recognized Vorontsov's talents, "getting confused in the testimony." After all, the words “everything there breathes Odessa” is worth a lot.
Actually, in the post of governor, Mikhail Vorontsov did not justify the hopes of the guardians of the national idea, pursuing the same policy as his foreign predecessors and considering as true the expression "What is missing at home, will immediately land from foreign countries." By the way, in a speech on the grave of the Most Serene at his burial, Archbishop Innokenty of Kherson noted that “For many new enterprises there are not enough native workers - the deceased does not hesitate to call them from everywhere, using even his own means; and among those called for a time, many, being treated kindly, reassured and attached to the new country by their very successes, remain with us forever. "
Becoming Governor-General of Novorossiya, Mikhail Vorontsov raised the region's economy to an unattainable height, giving industry and agriculture a powerful impetus to development. The governor also paid close attention to the development of science, education and culture, having founded one of the first newspapers in the South of the Russian Empire - "Odessa Bulletin", which, by the way, is still published today. It was under him that the second in Russia after St. Petersburg City Public Library was opened in Odessa, book publishing was established, including in the Ukrainian language.
Separately, it is worth noting the social views of the prince and his concern for the "infidels": Tatars, Jews, Karaites. His position cannot but admire. An example of Vorontsov's activities in the field of interethnic relations is his attitude towards Jews. Dorothea Atlas in the book “Old Odessa. Her friends and foes "writes:" Wishing to revive the trade of the region, the prince took the Jews under his protection. He drew attention to raising the mental and moral level of Odessa Jews. Jewish public schools for children of both sexes, a main synagogue, houses of worship and a hospital were opened. "
The governor took "measures to raise funds", "drew a plan for the synagogue according to a high aesthetic taste" (by the way!), "Took special care of the hospital." Trying to raise the importance of the Jewish population in the eyes of Russian society, he made Empress Alexandra Feodorovna visit the synagogue and later, at his own suggestion, Emperor Nicholas and the heir to the throne "examined in detail" Jewish schools and a hospital.
As a result, Vorontsov's plans succeeded and the Austrian Jewish intelligentsia and large merchants with solid capital began to move to Odessa. They acquired real estate, opened trading houses. In the 1850s, there were Jewish firms in Odessa that made millions in turnover.
A separate page in the history of Odessa and an equally significant episode in the prince's biography, which clearly characterizes him, was 1843, when a project was created to divide all Jews living in Russia into two classes: useful and useless. It was supposed to be useful to call merchants of the third guild, guild artisans, farmers and those philistines who own real estate, bringing a certain amount of annual income, and all other Jews were to be recognized as useless and subject to repression in order to persuade them to choose the branch of "subsistence" in order to be recognized their "usefulness". It was also supposed to evict Jews from townships to big cities without the right to leave and impose a triple recruitment duty on them. In short, another manifestation of the "fierce love" of the Russian mentality for the Jews. However, the clever confrontation of Mikhail Semyonovich, who wrote that “the most common name of“ useless ”for several hundred thousand people, by the will of the Almighty living in the Empire since ancient times, is both cool and unfair; but if we accept this name for a certain number of Jews, then the division, it seems to me, should be different. " In his opinion, which the count did not hesitate to voice in the report, it is noted that in the draft ministry "the numerous class of rabbis and other spiritual teachers of the law and those who received a scientific degree, which were undoubtedly considered useful by the government itself, remain useless."
Also, “arguing impartially, one cannot help but be surprised that all these numerous merchants are considered useless and, consequently, harmful, while they, without any doubt, help with small trades, on the one hand, the rural industry, and on the other, trade, and then in the provinces of Poland, where there has never been a national small merchant class and now is not, "wrote the governor, politely pointing out the" tact "of the word useless in relation to the whole people and neatly emphasizing the stupidity of the project.
“I dare to think,” sums up the Governor General of the Novorossiysk Territory, “that bad consequences will be inevitable if this measure is taken in all severity; I dare to think that this measure, even in its state form, is harmful and cruel. On the one hand, hundreds of thousands of hands will be reclaimed, helping the small trade industry in the provinces, where they cannot be replaced and will not be possible for a long time; on the other hand, the cry and cries of such a huge number of unfortunate people who will suffer the sad actions of this measure will serve as a censure both in our country and outside Russia. "
As for Odessa itself, under Mikhail Semenovich it became the third city of the Russian Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 1840, the population of young Odessa in number exceeded by almost a third the population of ancient Kiev, and the revenues to the city budget were approximately equal to the total revenues of all other cities of that time on the territory of Ukraine of that era.
The year 1844 came and Vorontsov, by decree of Nicholas I, was appointed governor of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Russian Caucasian troops with the preservation of the Novorossiysk governorship-general. “Having proved himself as a skillful diplomat, Vorontsov achieved the voluntary annexation of a significant part of the then wild and feudal Caucasus to the Russian Empire,” historians write.
In 1845-1852, appointed commander-in-chief of all troops in the Caucasus and the governor of the Caucasus, he, fulfilling the will of the sovereign, takes the capital of the rebellious Shamil, aul Dargo, and forces the rebels to go over to the defensive. Then he receives the title of prince, and then of the Most Serene Prince.
At 70, Prince Vorontsov asks for resignation, which was accepted. In the highest military rank of Russia - field marshal, as well as in the status of a member of the State Council over the past 30 years, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856. After his death, on April 27, 1867, the 3rd Narva Infantry Regiment, and July 19, 1903, the 79th Kurinsky Infantry Regiments, in honor of the merits of the deceased, were bestowed his name, since Vorontsov was the chief of the Narva Jaeger Regiment from March 29, 1836, and the chief of the Kurinsky Jaeger regiment - from July 8, 1845.
“His activity for the benefit of Odessa is so great that the pages of the novel are not enough. Founds the newspaper "Odessa Bulletin" and today published in the city, the first in Odessa city public library, which donates hundreds of books. He opened the Institute for Noble Maidens. He created the City Museum and the "Society for the Development of Agriculture of Southern Russia", opened in Odessa a school for the deaf and dumb, a school of oriental languages and in Kherson - a merchant shipping school. Under Vorontsov, street lighting and water supply appeared in Odessa, streets were laid out with stones, steamers were built, viticulture and agriculture developed, hospitals and shelters for the poor were built. This is a small part of what Vorontsov did for the city, which he loved very much, ”local historians and historians speak of the great genius of Mikhail Semenovich. And he was paid in return. The life credo of Count Mikhail Vorontsov is convincingly expressed by the words he said, which he followed all his life: "People with power and wealth should live in such a way that others forgive them this power and wealth."
Above Vorontsov's tombstone there was an image of an angel who appeared to the myrrh-bearing wives at the tomb of Jesus Christ with the words "He is not here: he has risen!" This symbol was installed over his grave by Princess Elizabeth Ksaveryevna. She survived her husband for a long time and, having lived 88 years, died in 1889.
During the years of government of Novorossiya, this fragile woman helped her husband in his affairs and herself made a feasible contribution to the development of the city and its social sphere. Under her patronage, the House of Contempt and a school for deaf and dumb girls were created in Odessa, and the Odessa Imperial Society of History and Antiquities was located in the Vorontsovs' house itself. Unfortunately, the very straight line of the Vorontsov family practically faded away after the prince, since the parental fate of the Vorontsovs was not very happy. Four of their six children died at an early age, their son Semyon was childless, and only the son of Sofia's daughter Pavel, by special permission, was destined to continue the Vorontsov family name.
In general, speaking about the role of the prince in the formation of Odessa, one cannot but mention more extensively about this spouse. Princess Elizabeth Ksaveryevna, nee Voronova, devoted the best years of her life, worked a lot, long and fruitfully for the good of Odessa.
She was born into the family of the Polish crown hetman, general from infantry, Count Xavier Branitsky. Elizabeth's mother, nee Countess Engelhardt, beloved niece of Grigory Potemkin, enjoyed special attention of Empress Catherine P. maids of honor. During her first trip abroad, she met the military general, Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, and on April 20, 1819, in Paris, in an Orthodox church, their wedding took place. She was then twenty-seventh, he was thirty-seventh.
By the way, Catherine II, expressing her consent to the marriage, wrote to Mikhail Semyonovich's father: "The young countess unites all the qualities of an outstanding character, to which all the delights of beauty and intelligence will join: she was created to make a respected person happy, who unites his fate with her." ...
At the beginning of 1820, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna gave birth to a daughter, who died a few days later. In an effort to somehow soften the bitterness of loss, the young couple often change their place of residence: Moscow, the Vorontsovs 'estate in the village of Andreevskoye, several times visited the Branitskys' estate in Belaya Tserkov, visited Italy, Paris, England, and then went to St. Petersburg.
On May 7, 1823, Mikhail Semenovich was appointed Governor-General of Novorossiysk and Plenipotentiary Governor of the Bessarabian Region. A new, long Odessa period began in the life of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna. And all these long years she was at the center of Odessa society, and not only in connection with her husband's official position, but also in her personal qualities. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna left an indelible mark among her contemporaries. “Countess Vorontsova is full of lively and unconditional charm. She is very sweet ... ", writes Princess Smirnova, and Raevsky echoes her:" She is very pleasant, she has a well-aimed, although not very broad mind, and her character is the most charming that I know. "
Small in stature, with somewhat large and irregular features, Countess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova was, nevertheless, one of the most attractive women of her time. And she had enough fans. By the way. Here is the answer, where did Pushkin's "half-milord" come from.
More than half a century of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna's life in Odessa is a huge number of good deeds, well-known in the city and forever remaining in its history. First of all - her charitable work, in which she united with the idea of helping the suffering of the most worthy women of the city. The very first results of this activity were also appreciated by Emperor Nicholas I in the Highest Charter addressed to the inhabitants of Odessa for the care they rendered in supplying the army with everything necessary, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, for the arrangement of hospitals for the wounded and sick soldiers ...
The capital of the Charity and Charity Society created by her was constantly replenished both through commercial activity and private donations, primarily by Elizaveta Ksaveryevna herself, who, by the way, over the years in Odessa sent to charity a simply astronomical amount at that time - more than 3 million royal rubles ... The Women's Charitable Society has become a "hotbed of charitable institutions in Odessa." So, after the Crimean War, when many were devastated, and the city was in dire need, the Committee for the Care of the Poor, which existed for more than 28 years, was organized, which in the winter of 1856-1857 attracted more than 3 thousand people, including 1200 Christians and 260 Jews. families.
“You are human — that's enough. You are poor - more than enough. You are a child of my God ”- this is the truth that she has confessed all her life.
After the death of her husband in November 1856, having remained permanently in Odessa, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna retired from secular life, devoting time to the family archive. By the way. contemporaries claim that she destroyed part of the archive. She devoted herself entirely to charity, helping and supporting those who needed it most.
“She had only one service — service to God, one duty — the duty of her heart, and obeyed one voice — the voice of mercy. And wherever the poor man sighed, she appeared. Where the patient moaned - she helped. Where the widow's complaints were heard - she was a comforter. Where the orphan cried, she dried her tears. Where bashful poverty was embarrassedly hiding from the eyes of people - there a heavenly angel called Elizaveta Vorontsova came to her aid to help her ”- this is how the Odessa city rabbi Dr. Schwabacher described the charitable work of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna in a speech in memory of the deceased.
The multifaceted social activities of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna were crowned with the highest award of the Russian Empire, the Order of St. Catherine or the 1st Degree of Liberation. His motto "For Love and Fatherland" was written on the insignia of the order in silver letters on a red ribbon with a silver border and gold letters - on a silver eight-pointed star.
Her advanced age and painful condition forced Elizaveta Ksaverevna to resign from her duties as chairwoman of the women's charitable society, to which she devoted 43 years of her most useful and fruitful work. His Serene Highness Princess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova died on April 15, 1880.
On Friday, April 18, Mayor Grigory Marazli received a telegram addressed to the son of Elizabeth Ksaverevna, His Serene Highness Prince Semyon Vorontsov from the Minister of the Court of His Majesty Count Adlerberg, in which it was reported about the subsequent permission for the burial of the ashes of Elizabeth Ksaverevna Vorontsova in the Odessa Cathedral. her husband is buried.
This honor Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was awarded not by chance and not only because she was a radiant person. This rare case of the burial of a woman in the cathedral convincingly confirms the fact that Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova is an exalted Christian.
The ceremony of transferring the body of the deceased from the palace to the cathedral was attended by relatives and friends of the princess, senior military and civil leaders, members of the city council and public councils headed by the mayor, all the city clergy, pupils of the Mikhailo-Semyonovsky orphanage, numerous residents of Odessa.
In a number of sources, including those dedicated to the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa, descriptions of the burial there of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna have been preserved. It was located next to the grave of her husband, at the same altar wall inside the Refectory Church. The monument was a modest marble slab with the inscription: “Princess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova. She was born on September 8, 1792, and ended on April 15, 1880 "and in the words taken from the Gospel:" Blessed mercy, as these will be pardoned. "
A monument to him was erected next to the temple in the first five years after the death of Count Field Marshal Vorontsov. The emperor and the entire august family, military, naval and spiritual departments, 56 provinces from the western to the eastern borders of the state donated to it. Whoever could, from thousands of rubles to kopecks, but from the heart. On the base of the monument were placed the words "To the Most Serene Prince Vorontsov from grateful residents."
Alas, in Soviet times, the bulk of people judged Mikhail Vorontsov only by Pushkin's epigram, and in popular historical literature he was presented as a tsarist satrap, a reactionary, a strangler of freedom. However, it is worth noting one interesting thing, in my opinion. The 1951 "Stalinist" Great Soviet Encyclopedia states:
Vorontsov. Mikhail Semyonovich, Prince, (1782 - 1856) - Russian military and statesman, Field Marshal General; a monarchist who recognized the need for concessions to bourgeois development. In 1806 - 14 he participated and distinguished himself in the wars with Napoleonic France (his portrait is located in the first row of the famous gallery of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the war of 1812 - V.L.). In 1815-18 he commanded the Russian occupation corps in France. In 1823 - 44 he was the governor-general of Novorossiya and the governor of the Bessarabian region. He carried out a number of bourgeois measures that contributed to the development of agricultural and industrial activities in the south of Russia (multiplication of grain crops, improvement of winemaking, raising fine-wool sheep, improvement of transport, creation of the Agricultural Society of Southern Russia, etc.) ... ". Isn't it true that it does not at all breathe with contempt. Rather, recognition.
But that was later. And 30 years before that, there were four years of civil war in Odessa, victims, terror. The cathedral, in which the ashes of the Vorontsovs rested, was not robbed either under the Reds or under the Whites, and only under the established Soviet regime, the Cathedral began to arouse the hatred of the new owners, and Trotsky's notorious decree on the confiscation of church valuables laid the foundation for its plunder.
The Vorontsovs' burials were also looted, and the remains were thrown out of the church on Slobodka near the cemetery wall, which stretched to Krivoy Balka. According to one version, the old women buried everything that was left of the Vorontsovs. Already after the Great Patriotic War, some crane driver and truck driver, on their own initiative, brought a slab there, preserved on the territory of the Vorontsov Palace, later the Youth Palace named after the pioneer hero Yasha Gordienko. According to another version, the Vorontsovs were reburied by the driver Nikifor Yarovaya, for which he was shot and thrown into a common grave at the Second Christian cemetery. According to the third version, the remains of the Vorontsovs were buried by an associate professor at the Institute. Stalin Dmitriev and he also put crosses and fences on the graves.
And on the site of the cathedral they erected a monument to the “father of nations”. However, the monument to Generalissimo Stalin on Cathedral Square was demolished in 1961, and 40 years later the walls of the cathedral were raised there again, in the lower church of which the couple who had done so much for Odessa rested again.
In 2005, the Black Sea Orthodox Foundation, which is leading the revival of the church, decided to return the ashes of the Vorontsov couple to the restored cathedral for reburial.
At the session of the City Council, the deputies unanimously and standing supported their colleague - the chairman of the board of the Black Sea Orthodox Fund, Vasily Jeremiah. On October 20, 2005, the Vorontsovs' graves were exhumed, their ashes were sent for examination. Fragments of expensive coffins with gilding and elements of the coat of arms, fragments of a field marshal's uniform, metal parts of epaulettes, fragments of expensive clothes, shoes in which the princess was buried were found. The ashes of the prince were placed in a lead capsule. The remains of a rich burial at the poorest cemetery in Odessa gave reason to believe that the exhumed remains belong to the Vorontsovs. This was confirmed by an examination conducted under the leadership of the head of the Odessa Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine, Doctor of Medical Sciences Grigory Krivda. Anthropometric measurements coincided with the lifetime descriptions of Vorontsov, and the analysis of bone tissue made it possible to find out the age of the deceased. According to the lifetime portrait of Prince Vorontsov, an identification examination was carried out, and DNA was isolated from the bones of the thigh and ribs of Mikhail Vorontsov for comparative analyzes with DNA, which can be isolated from the remains of his son Semyon, who at one time was the mayor of Odessa, and was buried in St. Petersburg.
All the data coincided and now we know who is buried again and rightfully takes a place in the Odessa shrine.
By the way. One incident happened at the reburial ceremony. By an unspoken decision of the municipality, the procession was not supposed to have a single flag. However, one of the delegations from Crimea, in the development of which His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Vorontsov also played a serious role, without being notified of this, brought with him the St. Andrew's flag - the symbol and pride of the Russian fleet. And try to guess how the representative of the city authorities motivated the presence of this banner in the procession? According to him, the flag was appropriate and he was still allowed into the procession due to the fact that ... His Serene Highness was a knight of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with diamonds. But…
Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov
Vorontsov M.S. Lithograph by A. Münster
from a lithograph by F. Entzen after a drawing by Gensen
from the original by F. Kruger. 1850s St. Petersburg.
Vorontsov Mikhail Semenovich (1782-1856), a prominent military and statesman, governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory and Bessarabia (from 1823), governor of the Caucasus (from 1844), His Serene Highness Prince (from 1852), Field Marshal (from 1856). He spent his childhood and youth in England, where his father, Count S.R. Vorontsov (cat. No. 13), lived for over 40 years. Having received in England an upbringing and education worthy of a young English lord, Vorontsov returned to Russia in 1801 to enter the service. From 1802 he took part in the Russian-Turkish and Russian-French wars, in 1812 he commanded a division in the army of Bagration, was wounded in the Battle of Borodino. From 1815 to 1818 he commanded the occupation corps in France, where he met Countess E.K. Branicka, whose wedding took place on April 20, 1819 in Paris. After living for some time in France, the newlyweds went to England to visit Vorontsov's father and sister, Lady Pembroke. In 1823 M.S. Vorontsov, returning to Russia, with the energy and knowledge inherent in him, took up the duties of the governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory and the governor of Bessarabia. His skillful administrative activities contributed to the prosperity of the region, the development of foreign trade in the south of Russia and the beginning of shipping on the Black Sea.
Other biographical materials:
Danilov A.A. Warlord and statesman ( Danilov A.A. History of Russia IX - XIX centuries. Reference materials. M., 1997).
Zalessky K.A. Participant in the wars against Napoleon ( Zalessky K.A. Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815. Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary, Moscow, 2003).
L.A. Chereisky Half-my lord, half-merchant ( L.A. Chereisky. Pushkin's contemporaries. Documentary sketches. M., 1999).
Krasnobaev B.I. Intelligence, education, well-known liberalism distinguished him from the ranks of the tsarist administrators ( Soviet Historical Encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 3. WASHINGTON - VYACHKO. 1963).
Vorontsov and Pushkin ( Pushkin A.S. Works in 5 volumes, Moscow, ID Synergy, 1999).
Kovalevsky N.F. Pushkin was unfair ( Kovalevsky N.F. History of Russian Goverment. Biographies of famous military leaders of the 18th - early 20th centuries. M. 1997).
Nobleman and careerist ( Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes).
Serene Prince ( Great encyclopedia of the Russian people).
Vorontsov Palace. Fragment of the northern facade made in the English style (Alupka, Crimea)
Read on:
Vorontsov- noble family (genealogical table)
Vorontsov Alexander Romanovich(1741-1805), statesman, diplomat.
Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich(1714-1767), diplomat, count. state chancellor
Vorontsov Roman Illarionovich(1707-1783), Count, General-in-Chief.
Vorontsov Semyon Mikhailovich(1823-1882), His Serene Highness Prince, son of Mikhail Semyonovich.
Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich(1744 - 1832), Count.
Vorontsova Anna Karlovna(1722-1775), Countess.
Vorontsova Elizaveta Ksaveryevna(1792-1880), Countess, wife of Mikhail Semenovich.
Vorontsova Elizaveta Romanovna(1739-1792), countess, maid of honor.
Vorontsova Marya Artemievna(1725-1792), Countess.
Dashkova (nee Vorontsova) Ekaterina Romanovna(1743 or 1744 - 1810), social and cultural figure.
Russia in the 19th century(chronological table)
France in the 19th century(chronological table)
Vasily Ogarkov. "Ascending clan to Rurik","Roman newspaper" No. 17, 2005.
Vorontsov Palace. Fragment of the southern facade, made in the Moorish style (Alupka, Crimea)
Compositions:
Extracts from the diary from 1845 to 1854. St. Petersburg, 1902.
Literature:
Archive of Prince Vorontsov. -M. 1870- 1895. T. 1 - 40. Vorontsov M.S. Extracts from the diary of His Serene Highness Prince M.S. Vorontsov, 1845 - 1854 // Old and new. - SPb., 1902. - КН.5.-С.74-118.
The Cavaliers of St. George: Collection in 4 volumes.Vol. 1: 1769 - 1850 / Comp. A.V. Shishov. - M .: Patriot, 1993 .-- S. 219-224.
Glinka V.M. M.S. Vorontsov // Glinka V.M. Pushkin and the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. - L .: Lenizdat, 1988. -S. 136-147.
Dondukov-Korsakov A.M. Prince M.S. Vorontsov: Memories. - SPb .: type. M. Stasyulevich, 1902 .-- 36 p.
Opening of the monument in Tiflis to His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov March 25, 1867 - Tiflis, 1867. -51 p .: ill.
Generals, military leaders and military leaders of Russia in the "Military Encyclopedia" by Sytin. T. 1 / Auth.-comp. V.M. Lurie, V.V. Yashchenko. - SPb .: "Ecopolis and Culture", 1995. - S. 283- 286.
Ushakov S.I. Acts of Russian commanders and generals who marked themselves in the memorable war of 1812, 1813, 1814 and 1815. Part 4.-SPb .: type. K. Kraya, 1822. -S. 51-55.
Shcherbinin M.P. Biography of Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. - SPb .: type. E. Weimar, 1858. - 354 p .: ill „portr.
Today I will start talking about a man whom I respect and I can say, I just adore, about Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov.
I highly recommend visiting the magazine of the esteemed Katerina aka catherine_catty
, there by the tag, there is a lot of interesting things.
Katyusha, correct me if, that, otherwise I have not completely moved away from my steep dive and my brains are not cooked well enough: oh (
Count Mikhail Vorontsov was born on May 18 (29), 1782 in St. Petersburg, his parents were:
Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, (1744-1832) - Russian politician and diplomat. Brother of the famous princess E.R.Dashkova, Chancellor A.R. Vorontsov and E.R. Vorontsova, the favorite of Emperor Peter III. He was ambassador to Italy, general of infantry from November 10, 1796. In 1784 he was the Russian ambassador to London. 
Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich. Written by Veil Jean Louis. 1774.
And Ekaterina Alekseevna (1761 - August 25, 1784) - maid of honor, daughter of Admiral A.N. Senyavin. 
Artist D.G. Levitsky, 1783
Little Misha was the godson of Empress Catherine II. 
After all, fate twists, at that baptismal ceremony no one knew that in the future the fate of this baby would be closely connected with a city that had not yet existed. That his godmother will sign a decree on the founding of this city in 12 years. And not a boy, but a husband, will do so much for him!
The following year, the couple had a daughter, Catherine. Countess Ekaterina Alekseevna herself fed the children, which was set by her family as an example to others, but, absorbed in caring for children, she neglected her own health. Count Semyon Romanovich wrote to his father: "My wife, due to her fervor for her son, does not sleep all the nights, I am afraid that she too will not get sick, as during Mishinkina's smallpox ... She will not endure separation from her son, for since he has him, he cannot be separated from him for an hour, he does not go anywhere for this purpose, and when he is with his relatives, he drags him along with his nurse and nurse; he keeps him close to him, and like his room from ours through only peace, then wakes up repeatedly at night to see him. In a word, this child does all her happiness and all her joy ... "
Countess E.A. Vorontsova, modified copy from the original by Levitsky.
Appointed at the end of 1783 to the newly established place as an envoy to Venice, Count Semyon Romanovich left with his wife and children to Italy. The situation in which they had to live upon their arrival in Venice, where they settled in a house that had "only one walls, no double frames in the windows and pipes in the rooms", during severe cold in the winter of 1783-1784 ("so that the canals froze" ) and the complete lack of comfort could not but have a detrimental effect on the poor health of the Countess: here she felt the first attacks of a fatal illness - consumption. Life in Venice was expensive, there was not enough money, the unfavorable climate, the illness of his wife. All this forced Vorontsov to write letters to Petersburg with a request to recall him from Italy. Therefore, the Vorontsovs were happy to learn about the upcoming transfer of Count Semyon Romanovich as an envoy to England and began to prepare for the move to London. But Ekaterina Alekseevna's illness took rapid steps, and in June 1784 her situation was very serious. On August 25, 1784, Countess Vorontsova died. The body of Countess Vorontsova was placed in a lead coffin and buried in Venice, in the Greek Church of St. George, at the left choir.
Church of San Giorgio dei Greci. 
Interior decoration of San Giorgio dei Greci. 
At the last resting place of Countess Ekaterina Alekseevna, in Venice, Vorontsov invested in the eternal holding of the annual memorial service on the day of her death.
Semyon Romanovich was appointed Russian ambassador to Great Britain. Semyon Romanovich arrived in London on May 22 (June 2), 1785. Since that time, England has become for Misha the country of his childhood and youth, and for Katya - a new homeland. 
Vorontsov M.S. 1780s. Unknown artist.
Soon, at the request of the King and Queen of England, Misha and Katya were introduced to them. “Their Majesties,” wrote Semyon Romanovich, “were satisfied with my children and yesterday they spoke to me about them with great praise. They find that Katenka is prettier and more funny, but that Mishenka has a more meek and interesting expression on his face: this is absolutely true, because this child really has something in him that shows kindness and rationality, which makes him very interesting. "
Semyon Romanovich decided in the best way to prepare his son for serving for the good of the fatherland, and his daughter for the worthy performance of the duties of the mistress of the house. He himself directed their upbringing and education. First of all, he made sure that Misha and Katya knew their native language and knew Russian literature and history well. And unlike many of his peers who preferred to communicate in French, Misha spoke fluently not only French and English, but also Russian.
Vorontsov M.S. and Vorontsova E.S. (brother and sister) 1786. Engraving by Watson after Cosway's original.
Mikhail's curriculum included the study of classical languages - Greek and Latin. And many, many years later, on the slope of his life, Mikhail Semenovich loved to read Titus Livy, Tacitus, Julius Caesar in the original, he remembered the verses of Horace and Virgil by heart.
Mikhail's class schedule included mathematics, the study of which his father attached special importance to, natural sciences, architecture, and other forms of art. Mikhail learned to wield various weapons, became a good rider. To broaden the horizons of his son, Semyon Romanovich took him to parliamentary sessions and secular meetings, inspected industrial enterprises with him, they also visited Russian warships that anchored in English harbors.
Ludwig Guttenbrunn. Portrait of Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov with children. 1791.
Semyon Romanovich believed that Russia could not avoid a revolution similar to the one that took place in France. He wrote to Alexander Romanovich that it would be "a life-and-death war between those who have nothing and the owners of property, and since there are much fewer of the latter, in the end they will perish." We will not see the revolution, but Mikhail will see, “and therefore I decided to teach him some kind of craft, locksmith or carpentry, so that when his serfs tell him that they no longer want to know him, and the lands will be divided among themselves, he could earn your living by honest labor and have the opportunity to become one of the members of the future Penza or Dmitrovsky municipality. "
Like many boys, Mikhail was happy to be distracted from studying and reading books for horse riding and chess. He achieved considerable success in playing the viola. But he was delighted with walks on the sea on a small yacht. In any weather, he went sailing alone or in the company of ordinary fishermen.
The Russian ambassador was visited by famous political figures, scientists, representatives of the art world of England. Mikhail was present during his father's conversations with the guests and learned a lot of interesting things. Envoys from distant Russia were received with special cordiality in the house.
In 1790, a young Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin visited the house of Semyon Romanovich, 
The result of communication between Karamzin and eight-year-old Misha was the poem "Mishenka" composed by him. It ends with the following words:
The day you were born
Nature smiled:
Your soul is kind
Like this smile
Beautiful Nature,
Blossom, dear lad!
Love good with all your heart
You will be happy in life;
She will be like
The sweetest smile
Wonderful Nature.
According to the customs of that time, when Misha was not even four years old, he was enlisted in military service as a bombardier corporal in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky regiment. In 1786 he was already a warrant officer of this regiment. With the assistance of A. A. Bezborodko, sixteen-year-old Mikhail Vorontsov was transferred from warrant officer to chamberlain, bypassing the rank of chamber junker. Thus, instead of a military rank, the young man received a high court rank. At the same time, the performance of the chamberlain's duties at the court of the emperor was replaced by his service in the office of the embassy. And since by that time Semyon Romanovich's eyesight had deteriorated, Mikhail, who had read newspapers and books to him before, began to write letters and diplomatic reports under his dictation. The latter greatly broadened his horizons and contributed to his acquaintance with international politics.
It turned out a lot of words, therefore I will interrupt for today and to be continued.
When writing the post, the following books were used:
Vyacheslav Udovik "VORONTSOV".
Vorontsov. Their life and social activities - VV Ogarkov.
General-Field Marshal His Serene Highness Prince M.S. Vorontsov. Knight of the Russian Empire O.Yu. Zakharova.
In Odessa
Consolidated Grenadier Division of the 2nd Western Army (1812),
12th Infantry Division (1814-1815, 1818-1820),
Occupation Corps in France (1815-1818),
3rd Infantry Corps (1818-1823),
Chief of the Narva Jaeger Regiment (1836-1856),
Separate Caucasian Corps (1844-1854),
Chief of the Kura Jaeger Regiment (1845-1856)
Biography
Early years
Count Mikhail Vorontsov was born on May 19 (30) in St. Petersburg, spent his childhood and youth with his father, Semyon Romanovich, in London, where he received an excellent education. Even as an infant, he was registered in the bombardier corporals of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, he was already 4 years old promoted to ensign.
In 1803 he was assigned to the Caucasian troops, headed by Prince Tsitsianov. Served under the commander-in-chief. On January 3, 1804, he took part in the storming of Ganja. On January 15 of the same year, he almost died during the unsuccessful expedition of Gulyakov to the Zakatala Gorge.
In September 1805, as a brigade major, he was sent to Swedish Pomerania with the landing troops of Lieutenant General Tolstoy and was during the blockade of the Hameln fortress.
During the campaign of 1806 he was in the battle of Pultusk.
In the campaign of 1807, commanding the 1st battalion of the Preobrazhensky regiment, he took part in the battle of Friedland.
In 1809, Vorontsov, appointed commander of the Narva infantry regiment, went to Turkey, where he took part in the assault on Bazardzhik.
In 1810 he took part in the battle of Shumla, then he was sent with a special detachment to the Balkans, where he occupied the cities of Plevna, Lovech and Selvi.
In the campaign of 1811 Vorontsov took part in the battle at Ruschuk, in 4 cases at Kalafat and in a successful case at Vidin.
World War II and a trip abroad
Going to recover at his estate Andreevskoye in the Pokrovsky district of the Vladimir province, Vorontsov refused to evacuate property from his house on Nemetskaya Street in Moscow, ordering to take out the wounded by carts. About 50 wounded generals and officers and more than 300 lower ranks were stationed in Andreevsky. The count covered the costs of the wounded, which reached 800 rubles a day. After recovery, each soldier, before being sent to the active army, was supplied with clothes and 10 rubles.
Having barely recovered, Vorontsov returned to duty and was assigned to Chichagov's army, and he was entrusted with a separate flying detachment. During the truce (in the summer of 1813), he was transferred to the Northern Army; on the resumption of hostilities, he was in business at Dennewitz and in the battle of Leipzig.
In the campaign of 1814, Vorontsov at the city of Craon brilliantly withstood the battle against Napoleon himself. Awarded on February 23, 1814, the Order of St. George, 2nd class No. 64
Command of the occupation corps in France
In 1815-1818 Vorontsov commanded the occupation corps in France.
In the corps, a certain set of rules was introduced, drawn up personally by Vorontsov, limiting the use of corporal punishment for soldiers. His opinion on the limitation of corporal punishment is noteworthy:
Since a soldier, who has never been punished with sticks, is much more capable of feelings of ambition worthy of a real warrior and a son of the Fatherland, and one can rather expect him to serve him well and serve as an example to others ...
In all divisions of the corps, by order of Vorontsov, Lancaster schools for soldiers and junior officers were organized. Also, the count adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the corpus.
Before the withdrawal of the occupation corps, Vorontsov collected information about the debts of officers and soldiers to local residents and paid all debts, the amount of which was about 1.5 million rubles, from his own funds. To pay off the French creditors, he was forced to sell the Krugloye estate, inherited from his own aunt, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova.
International relations
In 1818 he represented Russia at the Aachen Congress.
Governor-General of Novorossiya
Returning to Russia, Vorontsov commanded the 3rd Infantry Corps, and on May 19, 1823, he was appointed Novorossiysk Governor-General and Plenipotentiary Governor of the Bessarabian Region. The half-virgin Novorossiysk Territory was waiting for only a skillful hand for the development of agricultural and industrial activities in it. Vorontsov owe: Odessa - an unprecedented hitherto expansion of its commercial importance and an increase in prosperity; Crimea - the development and improvement of winemaking, the construction of a magnificent palace in Alupka and an excellent highway bordering the southern coast of the peninsula, the cultivation and multiplication of various types of grain and other useful plants, as well as the first experiments in forestry. On his initiative, the Society of Agriculture of Southern Russia was established in Odessa, in the works of which Vorontsov himself took an active part. One of the most important branches of the Novorossiysk industry is also indebted to him - the breeding of fine-wool sheep. Under him, in 1828, a shipping company on the Black Sea was launched. On December 29, 1826, Vorontsov was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
On May 24, 1826, he was appointed a member of the State Council. In the same year he was a member of the Supreme Criminal Court in the case of the Decembrists.
In 1828, instead of the wounded Prince Menshikov, he took over command of the troops besieging the fortress of Varna. On August 17, Vorontsov arrived at his destination, and on September 28, the fortress surrendered. During the campaign of 1829, thanks to Vorontsov's assistance, the troops operating in Turkey were continuously receiving the necessary supplies. The plague, brought from Turkey, did not penetrate deep into the Russian Empire, largely due to the energetic measures of Vorontsov.
During the governorship of Count Vorontsov in Chisinau, and then before his eyes in Odessa, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was in exile (1820-1824). His relationship with Vorontsov did not go well right away; The governor considered the exiled poet primarily as an official, gave him instructions that seemed offensive to him, most importantly, his wife Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, nee Countess Branitskaya, struck up a superficial affair with Pushkin to cover up her real love relationship, which greatly spoiled Pushkin's life, since the count became the object of numerous caustic, although not in all fair epigrams of Pushkin: “Once they told the Tsar that at last…”, “Singer David, though small in stature…”, “I don’t know where, but not here…”; Pushkin makes fun of them pride, servility (from his point of view) and Anglomania of the governor.
Other writers of that time - A.S. Griboyedov, G.F. Olizar, P.P. Svinin and others - during their trips to the Crimea, visited Vorontsov's hospitable house in Gurzuf, by whom the count, who permanently lived in Odessa and was on the peninsula only errands, owned until 1834. The count warmly welcomed creative guests in his home in St. Petersburg on Malaya Morskaya; one of which is G.V. Gerakov, who characterized Vorontsov as “ friend of the rare"Died right there on June 2, 1838.
Vorontsov patronizes the architects F.K.Boffo and G.I. They built such masterpieces as the Potemkin Stairs (1837-1841) and the merchant exchange on Primorsky Boulevard in Odessa, the Stone Staircase in Taganrog, the Church of St. John Chrysostom in Yalta (1837), the Temple in the name of all Crimean Saints and the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratilat in Alushte 1842) and many other public buildings.
As a private person, he orders palaces in Odessa and in the Alupka estate. Having invited the gardener KA Kebakh to Alupka for 25 years and assisting the work of the botanist H. Kh. Steven in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, he laid the foundations of landscape gardening on the southern coast of Crimea.
Caucasus
In 1844, Vorontsov was appointed commander-in-chief of the troops in the Caucasus and the governor of the Caucasus, with unlimited powers and leaving in his previous posts. Arriving in Tiflis on March 25, 1845, he soon went to the left flank of the Caucasian line, to take command over the troops preparing for a campaign against Shamil. After the occupation of Andi, coupled with the greatest difficulties, the troops, under the personal leadership of Vorontsov, moved to the temporary residence of Shamil - the aul Dargo. The mastery of this point and especially the further movement through the impenetrable forests were accompanied by great dangers and huge losses. The "Darginsky" expedition, in fact, did not reach its goal, since Shamil safely left the aul, and the village itself was burned down before the approach of the Russian troops. The convoy, which was going to join Vorontsov's detachment, was attacked by the mountaineers and was partially captured ("Suharnaya" expedition). The retreat from Dargo was also accompanied by losses. Here is how the eyewitness writer Arnold Lvovich Zisserman responded about those events:
Anyone can imagine what impression the outcome of the entire great expedition of 1845 made on our troops, on the Christian population of Transcaucasia devoted to us and on the hostile Muslim population. There is nothing to say about the triumph of Shamil and the highlanders. Thus, I repeat, if it were not for Count Vorontsov, who enjoyed great trust and respect of Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich and stood above the influence of intrigues even the mighty Chernyshev, probably with the end of the expedition, his Caucasian career would also have ended ...
However, despite the failure, for the campaign to Dargo by the personalized Imperial decree, dated August 6, 1845, the governor of the Caucasus, adjutant general, Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was elevated, with his descending descendants, to the princely dignity of the Russian Empire.
In 1848, two strongholds of Dagestan, the villages of Gergebil and Salty, were taken. In the bloody battle of Salta, Vorontsov blocked and defeated a large detachment of the highlanders of Naib Idris. In the same year, through the efforts of Vorontsov and on his initiative:
By the imperial decree of March 30, 1852, the governor of the Caucasus, adjutant general, infantry general, Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was awarded, with descending offspring, the title of lordship.
Vorontsov - bibliophile
His father, Semyon Romanovich, and his father's brother, Alexander Romanovich, began collecting books. The compilation of book collections required a certain culture, freedom of means, the ability to move around the country and abroad. The Vorontsovs had all this in abundance: their fortune was one of the largest in Russia, Semyon Romanovich lived permanently in England, Alexander Romanovich also served in the diplomatic line. Their book collections were typical of the book collections of the 18th century, when the spiritual life of Europe was strongly influenced by the ideas of the French Enlightenment. The libraries were based on the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu; attention was paid to antiquities and manuscripts. Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov inherited a significant part of the collections of his relatives, including his aunt, Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova. Mikhail Semyonovich himself was engaged in collecting books from his youth and did not leave this occupation in the 1810s, when he was in Paris at the head of the expeditionary corps.
Mikhail Vorontsov had several book collections, both in Russia and abroad. The fate of the Tiflis library has not been finally clarified, the Odessa collection, by the will of the heirs, was transferred to the local university, the St. Petersburg collection passed to his son, Semyon Mikhailovich, after whose death it was sold through V.I. museum.
Last years
At the beginning of 1853, Vorontsov, feeling the approach of blindness and an extreme breakdown, asked the sovereign to dismiss him from his post, and on March 25 he left Tiflis. Monuments were erected to him in Tiflis (with funds collected from voluntary donations from the population of the city), Odessa and Berdyansk.
On the day of the coronation of Emperor Alexander II on August 26, 1856, Vorontsov was awarded the rank of Field Marshal.
Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856 in Odessa. For many years, stories about the simplicity and accessibility of the supreme governor have been preserved among the soldiers in the Russian troops in the Caucasus. After the death of the prince, a saying arose there: "It is high up to God, far from the king, but Vorontsov died."
He was buried in Odessa in the lower church of the Transfiguration Cathedral.
Memory
- In 1863, a monument to Mikhail Vorontsov was erected in Odessa.
- In 1867, a monument to Mikhail Vorontsov was unveiled in Tiflis. Demolished in 1922.
- In Leo Tolstoy's story "Hadji Murad," Count Vorontsov is shown as a crafty, experienced courtier.
- In August 1998, a bronze bust of M.S.Vorontsov was unveiled at the station square in Yeisk.
- On August 16, 2008, a bronze monument to Mikhail Vorontsov was unveiled near the city stadium in Yeisk.
- Recorded by the Bombardier Corporal of the Guard (1786)
- Ensign of the Guard (1786)
- Lieutenant of the Guard (10.1801)
- Captain of the Guard (1804)
- Colonel (10.01.1807)
- Major General (04/14/1810)
- Lieutenant General (02/08/1813)
- Adjutant General (08/30/1815)
- General of Infantry (05/29/1825)
- Field Marshal General (08/26/1856)
In 1849, the Eastern Embankment (the name "Vorontsovskaya Embankment" existed until 1924, now - Pushkinskaya) and the Azov Spusk (renamed in 1920, now - Komsomolsky) were named in honor of Mikhail Vorontsov in Taganrog.
Military ranks
Achievement list
Awards
Russian:
Foreign:
Grave of the Vorontsovs
Vorontsov and his wife, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, who died on April 15 (27), 1880, in recognition of their services to Odessa, due to their pious lifestyle and numerous deeds of mercy, were buried with honors in
