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= Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov =

Life
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov (Russian: Михаи́л Семёнович Воронцо́в; 30 May [ O.S. 19 May] 1782 – 18 November [ O.S. 6 November] 1856) was a Russian prince 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.

The son of Count Semyon Vorontsov and nephew of the imperial chancellor Alexander Vorontsov, he was born on 17 May 1782, in Britain, where his father held the position of Russian diplomatic ambassador to the Court of St. James. He spent his childhood and youth with his father in London, where his father was ambassador. Vorontsov attended Cambridge University during his time in England. At the age of sixteen, he moved to Russia.

Military Career
During 1803–1804 he served in the Caucasus under Pavel Tsitsianov. 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.[citation needed]

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. His wife, née Countess Branicka, had a liaison with Alexander Pushkin during her stay in Odessa, which resulted in some of the finest poems in Russian language.

Vorontsov in the Caucasus
In 1844, Vorontsov was appointed commander-in-chief and viceroy of the Caucasus, where he was given the official title (transliterated) of “Glavnokomanduiushchii voisk na Kavkaze i Namestnik vo vsekh oblastiakh s Glavnokomanduiushchii polnomochiem” by Tsar Nicholas I. With this new title, Vorontsov essentially became Commander in chief of the Caucasus, with full control over its governing.

Vorontsov’s tenure in the Caucasus marked a shift in Tsarist attitudes towards governing in the region. Influenced by his experiences in bottom-up development in New Russia cities such as Odessa and Tatar, Vorontsov attempted to bring this same development to the Caucasus. Whereas prior administrators of the region utilized tighter control and coercive measures to obtain control over Caucasus inhabitants, Voronstrov was noted for having attempted to build stable civil administrations in the region. Unlike some of the leaders before him, Vorontsov attempted to push for development in many Caucasian cities. (For more information on previous Russian governing methods in the Caucasus, see Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov).

While in Tiflis (modern day Tbilisi, Georgia) Vorontsov prodivded aid in the development of political and economic institutions existent in the city. Vorontsov is responsible for having reorganized the khanates of Kartli and Kakheti, along with several others in modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan. During the process, Vorontsov removed the names of these khanates, replacing thema with new administrative units, such as he had in the provinces of Tiflis and Yerevan.

Administrative practices of Vorontsov in the Caucasus were aimed largely at the eventual creation of a Caucasian population more loyal to Russian, thus solidifying Russian power in the region. To do so, Vosontsov placed assemblies of wealthy Caucasian elites in positions of power within different cities. Notably, the creation of many museums, libraries, and schools were overseen by Vorontsov. He oversaw the opening of specialized secondary schools in both Tiflis and Kutaisi. By the 1850s, matriculation into Russian universities was not uncommon upon graduation from Russian-imperial educated schools created by Voronstov. By the early 1850s, the first drama theaters and opera house were established in Tiflis.

At the battle of Dargo (1845), he was nearly defeated and barely fought his way out of the Chechen forest. In this battle, Vorontsov attempted to claim lands held by the religious leader Imam Shamil. As a result of the battle, some three thousand men were killed or wounded. In the years following Vorontsov’s attack on Dargo, the commander in chief developed a strategy by which he would attempt to demerit the influential Shamil in the region. Vorontsov set out to discredit the Imam’s reputation, labeling him a despot and a bad Muslim figurehead, in an effort to shift the figure’s public image in the Caucasus, and diminish his influence in the region.

Throughout his campaign to diminish the influence of Shamil and silence rebellions on the Imam’s behalf, Vorontsov employed scorched-earth tactics as a means of obtaining advantage over his enemy. Under Vorontsov, many forests in the Caucasus were cut down in order to eliminate an enemy’s ability to initiate surprise guerrilla attacks on the commander in chief’s army. Villages within close proximity to Shamil’s strongholds were urged to migrate, and many experienced the destruction of crop fields and livestock at the hands of Vorontsov’s soldiers to expedite their emigration. These tactics, while limited in their successes, stemmed the extension of Shamil’s forces far passed their strongholds in Dagestan and Chechnya.

Late Life and Retirement
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.