Alexander Suvorov

Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy, was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire and the Habsburg monarchy. He was Count of Rymnik (1789), Graf of the Holy Roman Empire (1789), Feldmarschall of the Holy Roman Empire (1799), Prince of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1799), Grand marshal of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1799), Prince or Knyaz of the Russian Empire (1799), Field marshal (1794) and the last Generalissimo (1799) of the Russian Empire. Suvorov is considered one of the greatest military commanders in Russian history and one of the great generals of the early modern period. He was awarded numerous medals, titles, and honors by Russia, as well as by other countries. Suvorov secured Russia's expanded borders and renewed military prestige and left a legacy of theories on warfare. He was the author of several military manuals, the most famous being The Science of Victory (or The Science of Winning; ), and was noted for several of his sayings. He never lost a single battle he commanded, and his military record is extensive; Suvorov won in a total of 63 battles without suffering a major defeat. He raised Russian military glory to a height to which it had never reached. Several military academies, monuments, villages, museums, and orders in Russia are dedicated to him. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian Army at the age of 17. Suvorov was promoted to colonel in 1762 for his numerous successes on the battlefield during the Seven Years' War. When war broke out with the Bar Confederation in 1768, Suvorov, commanding a detachment of Ivan Weymarn's army, captured the Polish capital Kraków, defeated the Poles of Casimir Pulaski at Orzechowo, routed general Dumouriez near Lanckorona, and then overthrew the Polish forces at Stołowicze. This marked the start of the partitions of Poland. He was promoted to general and next fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 under Saltykov's supervision, taking Turtukaya twice and winning a decisive victory at the battle of Kozludzha. In 1774 Suvorov interrogated the captured Yemelyan Pugachev and in the same year married into the well-connected Golitsyn family. Four years later, he averted a Russo-Turkish war. In 1783 suppressed the Nogai uprising.