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Aleksey Arakcheyev

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

   Dawe's portrait of Arkacheev from the Military Gallery of the Winter
   Palace.
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   Dawe's portrait of Arkacheev from the Military Gallery of the Winter
   Palace.

   Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev (Russian: граф Алексей Андреевич
   Аракчеев; October 4, 1769- May 3, 1834) was a Russian general and
   statesman under the reign of Alexander I.

   As he grew up, he was Peter Ivanovich Melissino's pupil and rapidly
   started teaching arithmetic and geometry. His military career started
   when he was sought after by Paul I as an artillery officer.

   He served under Paul I and Alexander I as army leader and artillery
   inspector respectively. After the Tsar's death and Nicholas I's
   coronation, he lost all his powers and properties.

Early years

   Count Arakcheev was born on his father's estate in the Novgorod
   gubernia. His school formation consisted in studying arithmetic under a
   podyachiy (dyak), a knowledgeable and schooled man. Arakcheev's father
   moved with the family to Saint-Petersburg for his son to be educated in
   a military artillery school. Later Alexey had to continue his education
   at home since the military school was too expensive. Alexey's father
   brought Melissino as a teacher for Alexey. Later Melissino gave
   artillery and fortification lessons to Prince Nicholas Saltykov's sons
   and Alexey Arakcheyev earned some money assisting Melissino in teaching
   the sons arithmetic and geometry.

   When Pavel Petrovich, heir to the throne of Russia, was in search for
   an artillery officer, Saltykov recommended Arakcheev as a man that had
   learned military discipline. Arakcheyev was thereafter appointed
   officer to the commandant of Gatchina and later became the chief of the
   ground forces of the heir.

Paul I's reign

   From 1790 and onward Arakcheyev was rapidly promoted in the army and in
   September 1792, Melissino recommended him as a senior adjutant to the
   inspector of artillery under Pavel Petrovich. By 1794, he was
   Gatchina's artillery inspector and two years later, was also the
   infantry inspector under the Empress Catherine II. All his ascensions
   in the army were attributed to his ruthless manners and his
   zealousness.

   After Paul I's coronation, on November 7, 1796, Arakcheyev was
   appointed as the commandant of Saint-Petersburg's garrison and received
   other army functions during the months of November and December. In
   April 1797, he was promoted to general-quartermaster and thus leader of
   the army, and at the same time he received the title of baron from the
   Tsar. A year later, after some troops mutinied and an officer committed
   suicide, he was demoted to lieutenant-general. In 1799 he was brought
   back to his former Inspector of the Artillery position, reinstated to
   his general-quartermaster's functions and given the title of count. He
   finally would serve as the War Minister, the Head of the War Department
   of the State Council of Imperial Russia, and the head of the Imperial
   Chancellery. He was disgraceful in leading the army by hiding misdeeds
   that were done by his army officers and thus, was stripped of his army
   functions, later to be reinstated by the next emperor. His name became
   synonymous with military voluntarism and despotism, known in Russian as
   Arakcheyevshchina.

Alexander I's reign

   In May 1803, his services were asked by the new Tsar Alexander I,
   regaining his position as the Inspector of the Artillery. During the
   first years he reorganized the artillery units, improved the officer
   training and amended new regulations. During the campaign of 1805
   against France, Arakcheyev worked on supplying the army with enough
   artillery ammunition. Promoted in January 1808 to Defense Minister to
   the Tsar and the inspector-general of the entire infantry and
   artillery, he once more reorganized the army and the grading of the
   army staff. In 1808 he created a publication called the "artillery
   periodical". By 1810, Arakcheev resigned from his Defense Minister's
   post and was sitting on the board of the Council of State as chairman
   in military science.

   During the Patriotic War of 1812, he oversaw recruitment and management
   of army supplies. He introduced several useful military reforms, which
   proved themselves during the wars of 1812-1814. Throughout his service,
   Arakcheyev was known for his meticulous following of the will of the
   tsar.


   Aleksey Arakcheyev

   I am the friend of the tsar and complaints about me can be made only to
                                    God.


   Aleksey Arakcheyev

   Starting in 1816, he organized military-agricultural colonies, an idea
   initially conceived by Alexander I. At first Arakcheyev tried to oppose
   them, but when he agreed, he did so with unrelenting rigor. The
   hardships of military service combined with the hardships of peasant
   life created terrifying conditions in those settlements.

   The ruthlessness he exhibited in the military, extended to his home.
   The women peasants in Arakcheyev's own Gruzino estate near Novgorod
   were required to produce one child each year. Arakcheyev even ordered
   the hanging of all cats, on account of his fondness for nightingales.

   From 1815 to the Tsar's death, Arakcheyev continued to be present
   around the emperor as member of the state council and an influential
   voice in the leader's entourage. During Tsar Alexander I's journeys
   abroad, Arakcheev would follow and for every law passed, he was giving
   his accord to it.

Later years

   After the death of Tsar Alexander I on December 1, 1825 and the
   coronation of Nicholas I, Arakcheyev lost all his positions in the
   government such as member of the State Council, and inspector of the
   army artillery and infantry. This led to his removal from the court and
   the exile to his native town in Novgorod there he lived until his death
   in 1834 where he was interred in Andreevsky Cathedral. Furthermore,
   after Arakcheyev's death the Tsar requisitioned his land and property
   due to the inability to find Arakcheyev's legal heirs.
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