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General Mikhail Miloradovich’s selfless service
to Russia won him profound respect and reverence both from his contemporaries
and new generations of Russians. His tragic death from the hands of Decembrists,
a group of noblemen who conspired against the Czar, is a bitter reproach
to the Russian nobility split by deep-running controversy over the country’s
political future. Miloradovich came of a Serbian family that moved to Russia
under Peter the Great. His father, who took part in the Russian-Turkish
campaigns in the middle of the 18th century, made a successful career and
was Lieutenant-General when he left military service to take over governorship
of Ukraine. Mikhail Miloradovich received brilliant education first at
home and then abroad where he attended courses at several universities
and military schools. The young officer took his baptism of fire during
the Russian-Swedish campaign of 1788-1790. At the age of 27 he was promoted
to Major-General. Miloradovich earned further distinction in the Italian
and Swiss campaigns of the legendary Alexander Suvorov in 1799. In Switzerland
his brave actions safeguarded the Russian army the approaches to the St.
Gotthard pass. 
Here is one episode from that campaign. It was in the Alps. As Miloradovich
led his troops down a steep mountain slope towards a French-occupied valley,
he could see doubt and hesitation in the faces of the soldiers. From his
previous experience he knew that nothing worked better than personal example.
“Will you watch your general being captured?!” he shouted and rolled over
down the slope. The soldiers, who worshipped their commander, followed
him down.
It was amazing how Miloradovich could retain his composure and keep cool
in the worst of circumstances. Always on the dandyish side, elegantly dressed,
he seemed to have no fear of danger and, in fact, to despise it. Standing
under fire with bullets whistling around, he would keep puffing on his
pipe and joking as if nothing was happening. During combat he seemed to
be everywhere at one and the same moment; he was the first to mount his
horse and the last one to dismount, always leading his troops by personal
example. At the age of 38, in 1810, Miloradovich was promoted to full infantry
General during a Russian-Turkish campaign. He distinguished himself during
the war of 1812 in the battle of Borodino commanding the right wing of
the Russian army that covered the road to Moscow. After that battle he
was put in command of a rear-guard corps. When the Russians were pulling
out of Moscow, General Miloradovich offered Marshal Murat, commander of
the advance corps of the French, to conclude a truce that would enable
the Russian troops to make an orderly retreat. “Should you refuse, I will
fight for every house and for every street, and leave you Moscow in ruins,”
he told Murat. The truce was accepted.
Miloradovich’s corps was one of the most active in pursuit of Napoleon’s
Grand Armee, for which he was decorated with the order of St. George studded
with diamonds. To this he added the title of Count after the “battle of
nations” near Leipzig in 1813, where he commanded an allied Russian-Prussian
corps. “My frankness is my support” – these are the words Miloradovich
chose to inscribe on his coat of arms. He secured permission from Emperor
Alexander I to wear a silver St. George cross given to soldiers. “It’s
your right to wear it, my friend, for you are a true soldier”, the Emperor
said.
Later, when Miloradovich was Governor General of St.Petersburg, he, skeptical
of his civil deeds, asked the czar not to bestow any awards upon him, as
he thought it improper to receive awards, “while just sitting by the fireplace”.
When, in December of 1825, a group of officers incited a mutiny against
the Emperor, Miloradovich galloped his horse off to Senate Square where
the rebellious regiments were lined up for a coup. “Are there any among
you who were with me at Kulm, Lutzen, Bauzen?” he addressed the mutineers.
Dead silence fell. “Thank God, there are no Russian soldiers here!” Miloradovich
exclaimed. There was some confusion among the rebels. At this moment lieutenant
Kakhovsky aimed his pistol at him and fired. Fatally wounded, the General
toppled over into the snow. When he was shown the bullet extracted from
his body, Miloradovich eased a sigh of relief: “Thank God, it’s a pistol
bullet, not a soldier’s one”. The next day he died. The hero General who
spent nearly three decades in marches and battles, who faced death so many
a time and yet managed to survive, he died from the hand of his compatriot.
His death became a reproach to Russia.
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