Kammala jumla mai zuwa: An haifi Yermolov a ranar 4 ga Yuni 1777 a Moscow zuwa dangin masarautar Rasha daga Oryol gubernia. Ya kammala karatunsa daga makarantar kwana ta Jami'ar Moscow kuma ya shiga cikin Rundunar Preobrazhensky a ranar 16 ga Janairu 1787. Shekaru huɗu bayan haka, an ba shi mukamin Laftanar kuma an tura shi zuwa Nizhegorod Dragoon Regiment tare da mukamin kyaftin. Ya ɗan koyar a Artillery da Injiniya Cadet Corps a 1793 kafin a tura shi don yaƙi da 'yan tawayen Poland a cikin
Yakin Poland na shekara ta 1794. Ya shiga cikin harin da aka kai a Prague kuma ya sami lambar yabo ta St. George (aji na 4) a ranar 12 ga Janairu 1795. A shekara mai zuwa, Yermolov ya shiga cikin Kamfen na Farisa tare da Tekun Caspian. Koyaya, an kama shi a ranar 7 ga Janairu 1799 saboda zargin da ake yi na shiga cikin makirci a kan Tsar Paul I kuma ya kwashe shekaru biyu a gudun hijira zuwa Kostroma, inda ya koyar da kansa Latin.