The Russian Officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792-1815 [Kindle Edition]

With but a handful of exceptions, the Russian officer corps is the least known of those who served and led in the wars of the Napoleonic era. While careful readers and hobbyists might be able to name most of Napoleon's marshals, they might be hard-pressed to identify even a fraction of as many Russian generals. Georges Six's Dictionnaire of French officers or Mullié's Biographie of early nineteenth century military men, as well as any number of English-language reference tools on the Napoleonic era military have been available to students of history, but no comparable biographical work on the Russian military has been available to the non-Russophone reader. The Russian language, the Cyrillic alphabet and the relative unavailability of Russian sources has presented a barrier to those seeking more information on the Russians who fought Napoleon's armies.

Dr. Mikaberidze has written what will undoubtedly be the essential work of reference on the Russian officer corps. He begins with an overview of the Russian officer corps, giving a brief history from its beginnings under Peter the Great through to the Napoleonic era. We learn how Russia's military was trained, as well as the cultural milieu of the officer corps. Mikaberidze manages to pack a great deal of information into this introduction, supplementing the text with numerous tables and graphs. Included is a discussion of the ranks in the Russian military, with a number of tables marking their evolution over time. Finally Russian military orders are detailed with illustrations of their use.

Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze, an assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University, holds a law degree from the Republic of Georgia and a Ph.D. in history from Florida State University, where he was a member of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution. He serves as president of the Napoleonic Society of Georgia. Mikaberidze is also the author of the forthcoming Lion of the Russian Army: Life and Career of General Peter Bagration.

The Russian officer corps was made up almost exclusively of nobles (86.5 % in 1812), and many had entered the service at the age of sixteen or younger (nearly 500 of the officers serving in 1812 were sixteen or younger at their enlistment-13 had been five years of age or younger). Promotion for the nobility could be relatively quick if the officer had the right connections, while soldiers from the ranks might have to wait a quarter of a century to advance from the ranks of NCOs to commission officer status.

The meat of the books is the 800 biographies of Russian officers who fought against the French, Turks, Swedes, and Russia's other enemies during "our" era (naval officers are included as well). These biographies generally include dates of birth and death, family and educational history, military and civil service including notable battles and events, promotions and awards (including foreign orders) as well as other details of the subject's professional history. More than half the biographies are accompanied by black-and-white portraits. The biographies are arranged alphabetically, in an attractive double-column format. Individual entries run from a single paragraph to a couple of pages.

Dr. Mikaberidze has consulted a small library of archival, primary and secondary sources in compiling this unique and solid dictionary. These biographies will be a boon for historians wishing to distinguish, for instance, officers of the same surnames who are frequently identified by numbers (Mikaberidze points out that there were eighteen officers named Grekov, of whom six are detailed here). The volume also includes foreign-born officers serving in the Russian service, including British, Irish, German, Austrian, Polish, Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, Danish Dutch, Serb, and Armenian officers in the Russian military, demonstrating the cosmopolitan nature of war in the Napoleonic era.

Attractively produced, well-bound (though it will undoubtedly get heavy use), this work should be in libraries everyone with a keen interest in the Napoleonic wars and Russian history. The Russian Officer Corps is certain to be a standard reference source for years to come. Though I can't recommend this book more highly, I would have liked to have seen an index. An index, for example, would have allowed the reader the reader to locate all the officers who participated in a particular battle. A glossary of Russian military terms might also have been useful.

I just received my copy of "The Russian Officer Corps." First, let me say the outside has one of the most lovely dust jackets I have ever seen anywhere. Just brilliantly done. The inside layout is handsome, well-organized, and easy to read. There was a lot of care put into this book.

After reading more than 100 entries, I have found this to be a deep and rich reference source of some 800 meticulously researched biographies of the senior Russian officers (which includes many foreign officers who also served in the Tsar's army) during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. (Even some really minor officers are covered, which is quite a bonus.)

Each word portrait includes everything you could want: the subject's birth place, ancestoral history, educational background, service, promotions, awards (well covered) wounds, commands, and so on. Usually the date and place of death and burial is also given. Dr. Mikaberidze's study opens with a fascinating overview chapter that details the long and proud history and organization of the Russian army, how it was trained, how well educated these men were, etc. This chapter is almost worth the price of the book. This introduction is accompanied by 35 graphs, and supporting illustrations. I have learned more from perusing this book than I imagined I would. There is also a Foreword by Dr. Donald H. Horward of Florida State University, a long and carefully prepared annotated bibliography, and about half of the entries have a black and white portrait. If you are interested in European and Napoleonic history, or are a genealogist with a Eur-Asian interest, "The Russian Officer Corps" is for you. I got my signed copy direct from the publisher's website, which is an added bonus and worth the price (regular retail). If you don't care about getting it signed, just buy yours right now on Amazon.

With a few exceptions, Western books on the Napoleonic Wars tend to deal with the Russian officers who fought in those wars in a rather cavalier fashion (if at all). Inaccuracies abound, even in descriptions of such prominent figures as Kutuzov, Bagration and Barclay de Tolly, while the lesser-known members of the Russian officer corps are often dismissed as being of little account. There is the added factor that all too may English-speaking writers (and this includes some historians who ought to know better) are so in awe of Tolstoy that they forget that War and Peace, while based on extensive research, is a work of fiction, and take it literally as a source of information about the Russian army. While his account of events is accurate in many respects, Tolstoy frequently bent facts or omitted them altogether if they did not fit in with his view of events.

Aleko Mikaberidze's monumental work sets out to change this state of affairs. Based as far as possible on primary sources, it contains biographies of more than 800 officers, both junior and senior, who served in the Russian army during the period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. I was particularly pleased that it includes the enigmatic figure of Nadezhda Durova, who enlisted in an Uhlan regiment disguised as a man, and took part in several campaigns, reaching the rank of Staff Captain (Staff Rotmistr) in the cavalry. Wherever possible the biographies are illustrated by a portrait of the subject, making the accounts truly three-dimensional.

As well as the biographies themselves, the book includes much valuable information on the history, character and composition of the Russian officer corps. I am already familiar with Dr Mikaberidze's work through his Internet-published articles and his Ph.D. thesis on the most charismatic of the Russian generals, Petr Bagration. Like his previous writings, Dr Mikaberidze's book is meticulously researched and extremely well written, in a style that is informative yet very readable; it is handsomely produced and well laid out.

This will prove an extremely valuable source book for historians, war-gamers, historical researchers and novelists, as well as non-professionals like me who are simply fascinated by that period of history, especially as it pertains to Russia. Thoroughly recommended!