It sometimes happens that the real biographies of people surpass the plots of the most vivid adventurous novels. Sometimes this is the result of unpredictable life conflicts that a person falls into against his will, and sometimes he becomes the creator of his own unique destiny, not wanting to move along an established rut once and for all. It was to such people that the first female officer of the Russian army belonged to Nadezhda Andreevna Durova.
The childhood of the future hussar
The future "cavalry girl" was born on September 17, 1783 in Kiev. Clarification is immediately required here: in her Notes, she indicates the year 1789, but this is not true. The fact is that during the service in the Cossack regiment, Nadezhda specially reduced her age by six years in order to impersonate a very young youth and thus explain the lack of facial hair.
Fate was pleased that from the first days of her life, Nadezhda Durova would be in a seething military environment. Her father Andrei Vasilievich was a hussar captain, and the family led a wandering regimental life. Her mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna, was the daughter of a prosperous Poltava landowner and, distinguished by her eccentric and unbridled disposition, married against the will of her parents, or, as they said, "abducted."
This her temper played a very unsightly role in her daughter's life. Dreaming of the birth of a son, the mother hated her newborn girl and once, when she was barely a year old, annoyed by her crying, she threw the child out of the window of a racing carriage. Hussars rescued Nadia, following them and noticing a bloodied child in the road dust.
Young pupil of dashing warriors
To avoid a repeat of what happened, his father was forced to give his daughter up for education to an outsider, but infinitely kind and sympathetic person - Hussar Astakhov, in whom Nadia lived until the age of five. Subsequently, in her memoirs, Durova writes that in those years the hussar's saddle replaced her with a cradle, and horses and weapons and brave military music were toys and amusements. These first childhood impressions will have a decisive role in shaping the character of the future cavalry girl.
Homecoming
In 1789, Andrei Ivanovich resigned and obtained a place as a city officer in the city of Sarapul, Vyatka province. The girl again found herself in her family under the care of her mother, who, having taken up her upbringing, tried in vain to instill in her daughter a love of needlework and housekeeping. Nadia was absolutely alien to everything that occupied her peers in those years - the soul of a hussar lived in a little girl. When the daughter grew up, her father gave her a magnificent Cherkasy horse nicknamed Alcides, which over time became her fighting friend and saved more than once in a difficult moment.
Forced Marriage
Immediately upon reaching adulthood, Nadezhda Durova was married. It is difficult to say how her parents were guided to a greater extent: the desire to arrange the fate of her daughter or the desire to quickly get out of the hands of this "hussar in a skirt." She went down the aisle with a quiet and unremarkable man - Vasily Stepanovich Chernov, who served as a lay judge in the same city.
A year later, Nadezhda gave birth to a son, but did not feel any tender feelings for him, as, indeed, for her husband. In her dislike of the child, she showed herself to be a complete continuation of her own mother. Of course, this marriage was doomed from the very beginning, and soon Hope left her husband, leaving him only memories of unfulfilled love and a little son.
In the midst of life on a dashing horse
For a short time, Durova returns to her home, but there she meets only the anger of her mother, indignant at her breakup with her husband. She becomes unbearably stuffy in this gray and faceless life, which was led by the district inhabitants. But soon fate gives her a present in the person of the Cossack Yesaul, with whom Nadezhda will leave the disgusting house forever. Having changed into a man’s suit and cut her hair, she is carried away on her Alkida after a young lover, portraying a batman for those around him.
It was during this period that Nadezhda Durova, as mentioned above, deliberately underestimates her age: according to the charter, Cossacks were required to wear beards, and it was possible to evade this only for some time, referring to the young years. But in order to avoid exposure, he finally had to leave Yesaul and look for places in the cavalry Uhlansky regiment, where they did not wear beards. There she entered the service under the assumed name of Alexander Vasilyevich Sokolov - a nobleman and the son of a landowner.
The first battles and the St. George Cross for courage
It was 1806, and the Russian army participated in battles with Napoleon, which went down in history as the War of the Fourth Coalition. This was the eve of the upcoming World War II. Nadezhda Andreevna Durova participated along with men in a number of the largest battles of those times and everywhere showed exceptional heroism. For the salvation of a wounded officer, she was awarded the soldier George Cross and was soon promoted to non-commissioned officer. Throughout this period, none of those around suspected that a young and fragile woman was hiding behind the image of a dashing warrior.
Unexpected exposure
But, as you know, sewn in a bag does not hide. The secret so long kept by Nadezhda Andreevna soon became known to the command. Her own letter was issued, written to her father on the eve of one of the battles. Not knowing whether she was destined to stay alive, Nadezhda apologized to him for all the experiences he and his mother had suffered. Prior to this, Andrei Ivanovich did not know where his daughter was, but now, having accurate information, he turned to the army command with a request to return the fugitive home.
An order immediately followed from the headquarters, and the commander of the regiment, where Nadezhda Durova served, urgently sent her to St. Petersburg, depriving her of arms and attaching reliable security to her. One can only guess what was the reaction of the co-workers who found out who they really turned out to be, though a beardless, but dashing and brave non-commissioned officer ...
Emperor’s highest audience
Meanwhile, the rumor about an unusual warrior reached the Emperor Alexander I, and when Nadezhda Andreevna arrived in the capital, he immediately received her in the palace. Hearing the story of what a young woman who had participated along with men in the fighting, and most importantly, having realized that she was brought to the army not by a love affair, but by a desire to serve the Motherland, the emperor allowed Nadezhda Andreevna to remain in combat units and personal ordered him to the rank of second lieutenant.
Moreover, so that her relatives would not create a problem for her in the future, the emperor sent her to serve in the Mariupol hussar regiment under the assumed name of Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov. Moreover, she was given the right, if necessary, to petition directly to her highest name. At that time, only the most worthy people enjoyed such a privilege.
Regimental Vaudeville
Thus, Nadezhda Durova, a cavalry maiden and the first female officer in Russia, was among the Mariupol hussars. But soon a story happened with her, worthy of an exquisite vaudeville. The fact is that the daughter of the regimental commander fell in love with the newly made second lieutenant. Of course, she had no idea who her adored Alexander Andreevich really was. Father - a military colonel and noble man - sincerely approved the choice of his daughter and wholeheartedly wished her happiness with a young and such a pleasant officer.
The situation was very piquant. The girl was dry of love and shed tears, and dad was nervous, not understanding why the second lieutenant was not going to ask his daughter's hand. Nadezhda Andreevna had to leave the hussar regiment so warmly received and continue to serve in the ulansky squadron - also, of course, under a fictitious name invented for her personally by the emperor.
The beginning of World War II
In 1809, Durova went to Sarapul, where her father still served as a city mayor. She lived in his house for two years, and shortly before the start of the Napoleonic invasion, she again went to serve in the Lithuanian Lancers Regiment. A year later, Nadezhda Andreevna commanded a semi-squadron. At the head of her desperate lancers, she took part in most of the largest battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 . She fought at Smolensk and Kolotsky Monastery, and at Borodino she defended the famous Semyonov Flushes, a strategically important system consisting of three defensive structures. Here she happened to fight side by side with Bagration.
Commander-in-Chief's Orderly
Soon, Durova was wounded and left for treatment in Sarapul for treatment. After recovering, she returned to the army and served as Kutuzov's orderly, and Mikhail Illarionovich was one of the few who knew who she really was. When the Russian army continued military operations outside of Russia in 1813, Nadezhda Andreevna continued to be in the ranks, and distinguished herself in the battles for the liberation of Germany from the Napoleonic forces during the siege of Modlin Fortress and the capture of Hamburg.
Life after retirement
After the victorious end of the war, this amazing woman served the tsar and the Fatherland for several years, retired with the rank of captain of the captain. The rank of Nadezhda Durova allowed her to receive a life-long pension and ensured a completely comfortable existence. She settled in Sarapul with her father, but periodically lived in Yelabuga, where she had her own home. The years spent in the army left their mark on Nadezhda Andreevna, which probably explains many oddities that were noted by everyone who was next to her at that time.
From the memoirs of contemporaries it is known that until the end of her life she wore a man’s dress and signed all the documents exclusively in the name of Aleksandrov Alexander Andreevich. From those around, she demanded that she appeal to herself only in a masculine gender. It seemed that for her, the woman whom she had once been died of, and all that remained was the image she created herself with a made-up name.
Sometimes it came to extremes. For example, when one day her son, Ivan Vasilievich Chernov (the one whom she once left while leaving her husband), sent her a letter asking him to bless him for marriage, she, seeing “mother” addressing her, burned a letter without even reading. Only after the son wrote again, referring to her as to Alexander Andreevich, did he finally receive a maternal blessing.
Literary work
Having gone to rest after military labors, Nadezhda Andreevna was engaged in literary activity. In 1836, her memoirs appeared on the pages of Sovremennik, which later served as the basis for the illustrious Notes, which went out of print in the same year under the name Cavalry Maiden. A. Pushkin, whom Durova met through her sibling Vasily, who personally knew the great poet, praised her writing talent. In the final version, her memoirs saw the light of day in 1839 and were a resounding success, which prompted the author to continue her work.
The end of the life of a cavalry girl
But, in spite of everything, on the slope of her days, Durova was very lonely. The closest creatures to her in those years were numerous cats and dogs, which Nadezhda Andreevna picked up where she could. She died in 1866 in Yelabuga, having lived to eighty-two years. Feeling the approach of death, she did not change her habits and bequeathed herself to bury herself under a masculine name - the servant of God Alexander. However, the parish priest could not violate the church charter and refused to fulfill this last will. Nadezhda Andreevna was buried in the usual manner, but during the burial they gave her military honors.
Having been born during the time of Catherine II, she was a contemporary of the five rulers of the imperial throne of Russia and ended her journey to the reign of Alexander II, surviving to the abolition of serfdom. So Nadezhda Durova, whose biography spanned a whole era in the history of our Motherland, passed away - but not from popular memory.
The memory left for centuries
The grateful descendants of Nadezhda Durova tried to perpetuate her name. In 1901, an imperial decree of Nicholas II erected a monument on the grave of the famous cavalry girl. In the mourning epitaph, words were cut out that told about her military career, about the rank to which Nadezhda Durova had risen, and thanks were expressed to this heroic woman. In 1962, on one of the alleys of the city park, residents of the city also installed a bust of their famous compatriot.
Already in the post-Soviet era, in 1993, a monument to Nadezhda Durova was unveiled on Troitskaya Square Elabuga. Its authors were the sculptor F. F. Lyakh and architect S. L. Buritsky. Russian writers did not stand aside. In 2013, at the celebrations marking the 230th anniversary of her birth, poems dedicated to Nadezhda Durova, written by many famous poets of past years and our contemporaries, sounded in the walls of the Yelabuga State Museum-Reserve.