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Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev
(Mikhail Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Mikhail Kutusov,
Mikhail Kutosov, Prince Kutuzov) (1745–1813)
Russian general
Mikhail Kutuzov, also known as Golenishchev-Kutuzov,
was born in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, on 16 Sep-
tember 1745 (or 5 September 1745 [O.S.]), the son of
a noble family. His father, Illarion Matveevich Kutuzov,
had served in the Russian army under Peter the Great
and in the Russian Senate during the reign of the em-
press Elizabeth. Tutored privately, Kutuzov entered the
Dvoryanskaya Artillery School at the age of 12 in 1757.
He graduated as a corporal two years later, and in 1760
he became an instructor in mathematics at the institu-
tion. In 1762, advanced to the rank of captain, he was
posted to the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment, commanded
by Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov. However, after only a
year, he left to serve as the aide-de-camp to the military
governor of the province of Reval in Estonia.
Kutuzov stayed in Estonia for five years, less a
short period serving with the Russian army in Poland
(1764–65). In 1768, he left Estonia for good when he
again went to Poland to assist in the suppression of an
uprising. When Russia went to war against Turkey in
1770, Kutuzov, now a major, was assigned to a force
commanded by Count Petr Rumiantsev, which at-
tacked Turkish forces then occupying today’s Romania;
they took the city of Bucharest in 1773. Named as a
member of Rumiantsev’s staff, Kutuzov later had a fall-
ing out with the count and was sent to the Crimea to
serve under a General Dolgorukov. He saw service at
the battle of Alushta (1773), where he took a shot to the
head, and after a period of recuperation, he was again
sent back to the Crimea, where he was assigned to serve
under General Suvorov.
Because of his military skill, Kutuzov was pro-
moted several times, reaching the rank of major general
by 1784. While fighting in the second Russo-Turkish
war (1787–91) in the area of today’s Romania where
the Danube enters the Black Sea, Kutuzov showed his
military proficiency and bravery at the battles of Ocha-
kov (also Oshakov, 17–18 June 1788), Focsani (also
Fokshani, 21 July 1789), and Rimnik (also Rimnitz, 11
September 1789), among others. He led Russian forces
in the capture of the fortress at Izmail, (also Ismail, 10
December 1790), for which he was awarded the Order
of St. George and promoted to lieutenant general. When
another Polish insurrection occurred, he was ordered to
move his troops into Poland, where he put down the
rebellion. When his service in Poland ended in 1793,
Kutuzov was named as the Russian minister to Turkey.
After this service had ended, he returned to his military
career, serving as the commander of Russian forces that
invaded and then occupied Finland. In the succeeding
years, he served as the Russian minister to Germany and
the governor of St. Petersburg. In 1802, after a disagree-
ment with Czar Alexander I, Kutuzov retired to his pri-
vate estate.
In 1805, when the allies of Europe, known as
the Third Coalition, decided to fight naPoleon
bonaParte of France, Kutuzov was recalled to duty and
given command of the Russian First Army. He defeated
French forces at Ulm on 17 October 1805, but this was
before Napoleon’s main army could arrive, and Kutusov
realized that he had to withdraw to avoid being cut down
by the superior French forces. At Dürnstein, Austria on
11 November 1805, he gained an important victory over
the French marshal Édouard Mortier. Because of this tri-
umph, Czar Alexander I made him commander of all
coalition armies. At Hollabrünn (16 November 1805),
Russian forces under General Pyotr Ivanovich bagra-
tion fought the French under Marshal Jean lannes,
duc de Montebello, in an effort to allow the main Rus-
sian army under Kutuzov to continue its retreat back
to Russia. Bagration lost half his forces before he, too,
was forced to retreat. This plan of withdrawal to an area
where he could more easily confront the French led to
one of the most important battles in world history.
Austerlitz (now Slavkov, the Czech Republic) was
Napoleon’s greatest victory. On 2 December 1805, he
was able to lure the Russians under Kutuzov and the
Austrians under General Franz von Weyrother to bring
their 89,000 troops onto a field where he had onlykutuzov, mikhAil illARionovich goleniShchev