don: George Allen & Co., 1912); Gore, Montague, Char-
acter of Sir David Baird (London: James Ridgway, 1833);
Investigator, “Letters commenting upon Mr. Theodore
Hook’s Memoir of the Life of Sir David Baird,” The Asiatic
Journal (1834), 1–30; Bruce, George, “Seringapatam I” and
“Seringapatam II,” in Collins Dictionary of Wars (Glasgow,
Scotland: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), 225.
Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail Bogdanovich,
Prince (1761–1818) Russian general
Despite his Russian name, Mikhail Barclay de Tolly,
born in Luhde-Grosshof, Livonia, on 27 December
1761, was the scion of a Scottish family who had moved
to Russia sometime in the 17th century. In 1776, when
he was only 15, he enlisted in the Pskov regiment, earn-
ing an officer’s commission within two years and rising
to the rank of captain in 1788. That same year he fought
against the Turks in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–91),
in which he saw action at the siege of Ochakov (1788)
and at Kaushany, Akkerman, and Bendery (all 1789).
Transferred to Finland in 1790, he fought against Swed-
ish forces and took part in the attack on the Kerkinossky
fortress (19 April 1790). In 1792, he was sent to Po-
land, where he helped put down an insurrection at Vilno
(1794). For this service he was awarded the Order of St.
Vladimir and named a major general.
In the wars against naPoleon, Barclay de Tolly
fought for the Russian army against the French forces
that tried to subjugate Europe. Serving under the Rus-
sian commander Levin August Theophil Bennigsen, he
showed his military capabilities at the battle of Pultusk
(26 December 1806), when 60,000 Russians faced some
35,000 French under Marshal Jean lannes. Despite
their overwhelming advantage, the Russians lost the
struggle and left some 3,500 dead on the battlefield.
(Russian histories claim 8,000 French were killed, but
historians figure the number to be about 1,500.) At
Eylau on 8 February 1807, Barclay de Tolly once again
served with distinction, and he was promoted to the
rank of lieutenant general. In 1808, when Russia went to
war against Sweden, he took the lead in marching with
his fellow Russian general, Prince Pyotr bagration, to
capture Sweden’s Åland Islands. In 1810, he was made
minister of war.
When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Barclay
de Tolly joined with the rest of his countrymen in op-
posing the aggression, and he was given command of
one of the Russian armies. Russia was unprepared to
fight such a war, especially against an opponent as expe-
rienced and strong as Napoleon, and this was shown in
the massive Russian defeat at Smolensk (16–17 August
1812). Barclay de Tolly took the blame for the defeat
and resigned his command to General Mikhail kutu-
zoV. He then took to the field with the Russian army at
Borodino (7 September 1812), where Napoleon won a
tactical victory and Prince Bagration suffered a mortal
wound. Napoleon marched into Moscow, but Kutuzov
was able to evacuate some 90,000 Russian troops, saving
them from slaughter at the hands of the French. Again,
Barclay de Tolly took the blame for the defeat at Boro-
dino—despite the fact that many historians credit him
for actually cutting Russian losses—and resigned his
commission. He did not return to the battlefield until
the following year, when, in dire need of leadership,
Czar Nicholas I named him commander of the Russian
armies again. In 1813, Barclay de Tolly saw major action
at Dresden (26–27 August), Kulm (29–30 August), and
Leipzig (16–18 October). The 1813 campaign reversed
Napoleon’s victories and forced the French army west-
ward toward France, owing to decisive leadership from
generals such as Barclay de Tolly. He led Russian troops
in the two advances into France that ended Napoleon’s
reign of terror on the European continent, after which
he retired. He was made field marshal in 1814 and given
the title of prince in 1815.
Barclay de Tolly died in Insterburg (now in modern
Poland), on 26 May 1818 at the age of 56. Historians
John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcraft write: “Though
posterity denied him the status according Kutozov or
Suvorov, he deserved well of his country for his work as
minister and his rescue of the Russian army from decay
and inanition.”References: Josselson, Michael, The Commander: A Life of
Barclay de Tolly (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press,
1980); Keegan, John, and Andrew Wheatcroft, “Barclay
de Tolly, (Prince) Bogdanovich,” in Who’s Who in Military
History from 1453 to the Present Day (London: Routledge,
1996), 20–21.Basil II (Bulgaroctonus, “Slayer of the Bulgars”)
(ca. 958–1025) Byzantine emperor
The great-great-grandson of Basil I (for whom he was
named) and the son of Romanus II, both Byzantine em-bASil ii