- Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy
Count Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy ( _ru. Пётр Александрович Толстой) (1769 –
28 September 1844 ) was aRussia n general and statesman.Pyotr Tolstoy came from the
Oryol branch of theTolstoy family, his father Alexander Tolstoy was a grandson of CountPyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy . In 1775 he was enrolled in theLeib Guard Preobrazhensky regiment and started the service on21 May 1785 as anaide-de-camp of the staff of PrinceNikolai Saltykov . In the same year he was promoted toLieutenant Colonel . In 1788-1790 he participated in theGustav III's Russian War .In 1794 he was prominent in the Siege of Warsaw and then promoted to
Colonel . On24 October 1794 he commanded two battalions in theBattle of Praga . On return, EmpressCatherine II awarded Tolsoy theOrder of St. George of the 3rd degree with her own hand and appointed his the chief of thePskov Dragoon regiment. On9 November 1797 he obtained the rank ofMajor General with appointment the chief of theNizhny Novgorod Dragoon regiment and in the next year received theOrder of St. Anna of the 1st degree.In the end of 1798 he was sent to
Archduke Charles of Austria for the communication withAlexander Suvorov . After the he was promoted toLieutenant General and became a member of theWar Collegium and of theGoverning Senate . In 1802 he was appointed the war governor ofVyborg and in the next year ofSt Petersburg . At this post Tolstoy became famous by his generosity, giving out money to poor and soldiers of guard regiments. In this time he also commanded the Preobrazhensky regiment.In September 1805 he departed with 20,000 landing corps intoPomerania and operated in the NorthGermany under the general command of KingGustav IV Adolf of Sweden . He capturedHanover and returned to Russia after thebattle of Austerlitz . In the beginning of theWar of the Fourth Coalition Emperor Alexander sent Tolstoy to reconcile Corps Commanders Bennigsen and Buxhoeveden and to report about their quarrel personally to himself. After the Bennigsen's appointment thecommander-in-chief , Tolstoy became on-duty General of the latter.From
14 October 1807 to1 October 1808 he was the ambassador inParis . His main objective was to watch observance of theTreaty of Tilsit , but Tolstoy wrote to Alexander that all friendly assurances ofNapoleon are mendacious, he entreated not to believe to them, but to prepare for the rebuff in advance, and predicted the forthcoming invasion of France into Russia. He recommended to the Russian government the system of measures for the protection of the interests of Russia against the possible aggression of Napoleon I: to maximally increase army, to move it to the Western borders, to conclude secret agreement withAustria , to finish the war withTurkey and Sweden, to conclude peace withEngland and to organize new anti-French coalition withPrussia and Austria. Because of the lack of diplomatic experience, his efforts were useless and after theCongress of Erfurt Tolstoy was recalled. However, Tolstoy nevertheless could attain worsening in the relations of Aleksander and Napoleon.From 1809 to 1812 he lived in his estate near
Tula . In 1812 he formed and then commanded the militia of Nizhny Novgorod,Simbirsk ,Kazan ,Vyatka andOrenburg governorates. In 1813 he participated in the taking ofDresden andMagdeburg .On
19 June 1814 he was promoted to Full General, on16 January 1816 appointed the chief of the 4th and then 5th infantry regiment. From30 August 1823 he was a member of the State Council. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I he received theOrder of St. Andrew and took a different military post.From 1839 he was in retirement. Pyotr Tolstoy died in
Moscow and was buried in theDonskoy Monastery .External links and references
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* [http://www.museum.ru/museum/1812/Persons/slovar/sl_t11.html Article in the Dictionary of the Russian generals]
* [http://www.gencircles.com/users/rozanov/1/data/553 Pedigree of Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy]
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