Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (; ) was a Russian nobleman and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic Wars and most famous for his participation in the Caucasian War from 1844 to 1853. Early life Vorontsov was born on 30 May 1782, in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire. He was the only son of Ekaterina Alekseevna Seniavina and Count Semyon Vorontsov. Mikail and his sister, Catherine (who later became the wife of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke), spent their childhood and youth with his father in London, where his father was the Russian Ambassador to Great Britain. He was the nephew of Imperial Chancellor Alexander Vorontsov, Elizaveta Vorontsova and Princess Dashkova, a friend of Catherine the Great and a conspirator in the coup d'état that deposed Tsar Peter III and put his wife on the throne. Career From 1803 to 1804, he served in the Caucasus under Pavel Tsitsianov and Gulyakov. From 1805 to 1807, he served in the Napoleonic Wars, and was present at the battles of Pułtusk and Friedland. From 1809 to 1811 he participated in the Russo-Turkish War. He commanded the composite grenadiers division in Prince Petr Bagration's Second Western Army during Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. At the Battle of Borodino, his division was in the front line and was attacked by three French divisions under Marshal Davout. Of the 4,000 men in his division, only 300 survived the battle. Vorontsov was wounded but recovered to rejoin the army in 1813. He commanded a new grenadiers division and fought at the Battle of Dennewitz and the Battle of Leipzig. He was the commander of the corps of occupation in France from 1815 to 1818. On 7 May 1823 he was appointed governor-general of New Russia, as the southern provinces of the empire were then called, and namestnik of Bessarabia. In the year of the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Vorontsov succeeded the wounded Menshikov as commander of the forces besieging Varna, which he captured on 28 September 1828. It was through his energetic efforts that the plague, which had broken out in the Ottoman Empire, did not penetrate into Russia. In 1844, Vorontsov was appointed commander-in-chief and viceroy of the Caucasus (for military details see Murid War). At the Battle of Dargo (1845), he was nearly defeated and barely fought his way out of the Chechen forest. By 1848 he had captured two-thirds of Dagestan, and the situation of the Russians in the Caucasus, so long almost desperate, was steadily improving. For his campaign against Shamil, and for his difficult march through the dangerous forests of Ichkeria, he was raised to the dignity of prince, with the title of Serene Highness. In the beginning of 1853, Vorontsov was allowed to retire because of his increasing infirmities. He was made a field-marshal in 1856, and died the same year at Odessa. His archives were published, in 40 volumes, by Pyotr Bartenev between 1870 and 1897. Personal life Vorontsov was married to