Russian tsars used to invite a large number of foreign experts to serve
at the court. There were military  men
among them, ready to sell their swords and warfare skills. One of them
was the Russian Field-Marshal Count Peter Lacy, who was Irish by origin
and of whom “The History of Russian Army” said that “he was a noble soldier,
…a valiant and honourable warrior, always staying away from court intrigues
and living by the interests of the army and the needs of his soldiers…”
He gave the army fifty years of his life and as he was dying in 1751 he
could well say that he had put his entire life at the service of the army
in his second homeland.
Peter Lacy was born on September 26th, 1678 in Killedy, Limerick, and at
thirteen he was a lieutenant participating in battles for the liberation
of Limerick from the English. His circumstances forced him to leave Ireland
and join the Irish brigade within the French regular army in 1691.
Thanks to intercession from Duke Karl Eugene de Croix the young officer
was presented to the Russian Emperor Peter I and started his service in
the Russian army. Armed with innate fearlessness, Peter Lacy earned himself
an impeccable reputation during the Northern War, which Russia fought at
the beginning of the 18th century against Sweden for access to the Baltic
Sea. In 1705 he was promoted to a Major. In the 1709 Battle of Poltava,
which resulted in a crushing defeat for Charles XII of Sweden, Major Lacy
was seriously wounded. Emperor Peter I thought highly of the Irelander’s
valiance and his talent as a commander and assigned him to lead the most
difficult of military campaigns. In 1728 Peter Lacy was made General and
appointed Governor of Livonia, which then included Latvia and Estonia.
Some time later he was honoured with the title of Field-Marshal.
After the death of Emperor Peter I Russia was rocked by court upheavals.
The new rulers had other things on their minds and got to ignore the army.
In those difficult years Field-Marshal Lacy, oblivious to any court intrigues,
remained, in the words of a historian, truly dedicated to the army and
continued to look after it.
Peter Lacy served a truly meritorious service to Russia, a country that
became his second home.
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