Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin lived in the years 1816-1912. He became a famous Russian military historian and minister. It was he who developed and introduced military reform in 1860. Since 1878 he became the bearer of the title of count. In addition, Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin went down in history as the last Russian person to have the rank of Field Marshal.
Beginning of life
The future leader was born in the Milyutin family, who became nobles in Peter's times due to the fact that they equipped a silk factory in Moscow. He studied at Dmitry Milyutin gymnasium, and after that - at a noble hostel in Moscow. There he spent 4 years, demonstrated the ability to exact sciences.
At the age of 16, the young man compiled the “Guide to Shooting Plans”. After leaving the university hostel, he received the right to the rank of 10th grade, was awarded a silver medal. Having entered the service in 1833, Dmitry Milyutin acquired the rank of ensign.
In 1835-1836 he studied at the Imperial Military Academy, and after that he received the rank of lieutenant. He was ranked among the General Staff, his name was marked on the marble plaque of the Academy. In 1837, Milyutin was already at the Guards General Staff.
In 1839, according to a brief biography, Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin graduated from the Imperial Military Academy, published several military articles for vocabulary. He was engaged in the translation of notes of Saint-Cyr. He authored the article “Suvorov as a commander” of 1839.
In the Caucasus
In the same year, the lieutenant went on a business trip to the Caucasus. Here, in brief, Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin participated in armed clashes with Shamil and his troops. They ended with the victory of the Russian troops after a 76-day siege of the rock of Akhulgo. It was the residence of Shamil, who subsequently escaped.
At this time, Dmitry Milyutin was wounded and awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 3 degrees, as well as the Order of St. Vladimir 4 degrees. He was promoted to captain. Dmitry stayed in the Caucasus district until 1844, participated in many armed conflicts.
In Academy
Since 1845, he began to conduct professorships at the Imperial Military Academy. While in the Caucasus region, he continued to write. At that time, Milyutin published the "Manual for the occupation, defense and attack of forests, buildings, villages and other local objects." In addition, he continued the scientific works of the military historian Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, who died before he could complete them. The emperor directly commissioned Dmitry Milyutin to continue them.
He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1854, he met N.G. Chernyshevsky in Peterhof. By that time, the biography of Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin was closely connected with the post on special assignments under the Minister of War Sukhozanet. Between them were quite tense relations.
Return to the Caucasus
In 1856, he became the chief of staff of the army in the Caucasus. Over the next few years, Milyutin leads many operations, including the capture of the Gunib aul, where Shamil was captured. After that, in 1859, he became an adjutant general, and soon - and the assistant minister of war.
Military reform
Since 1861, he became Minister of War. Dmitry stayed at this post for 20 years. From the very beginning, Dmitry Milyutin stood for military reforms, proclaiming the emancipatory innovations of Emperor Alexander II as an ideal. It is noteworthy that the minister remained fairly close to the scientific and literary circles. He closely interacted with K. D. Kavelin, E. F. Korsh and other famous personalities in this field. This communication and close acquaintance with the processes that took place in the public life of those times caused many features of his activity as a minister.
When he first took up the post, the most important task of the ministry was to reorganize the management of the military. Life in this area lagged far behind current conditions at that time. One of the first reforms of Dmitry Milyutin was to reduce the service of soldiers from 25 to 16. He also made life easier for soldiers: he laid the foundations for ordinary literacy, improved nutrition, housing conditions, and uniforms. He forbade to manually deal with subordinates, the use of rods became limited. In addition, Milyutin proved himself to be an enlightened supporter of the transformative movements of that era.
He strongly influenced the abolition of harsh criminal penalties with rods, stigmatization and lashes. Considering the judicial statutes, Count Dmitry Milyutin advocated that the proceedings were rational. With the opening of vowels, he developed a military-judicial charter, which proclaimed the same principles for the military sphere. In other words, during his trial in the military field became oral, vowels, built on an adversarial beginning.
The most important place among the measures introduced by him was conscription. It became universal, spreading to the upper classes. The latter did not welcome such an innovation cordially. Some of the merchants offered in exchange for exemption from duty to keep disabled at their own expense.
However, in 1874, general conscription was introduced. In this, according to the memoirs of Dmitry Milyutin, he was supported by Alexander II. And the emperor did issue the Highest Manifesto on this measure, and Milyutin sent a personal rescript with the message to introduce the law "in the same spirit in which it was drawn up."
Dmitry very actively provided privileges in the educational sphere, highlighting them to those who had a university diploma. To him, he defined a service lasting 3 months. The main opponent of the Minister of War was Minister of Education D.A. Tolstoy, who proposed for those with a diploma to increase their service life to 1 year, equating them with those who graduated from the 6th grade of the gymnasium.
Milyutin skillfully defended his ideas, and his project was adopted by the Council of State. Tolstoy failed to ensure that the service was timed to coincide with the time of the course at the university.
Education
Dmitry took many measures to ensure that education in the army was spread. He developed a three-year course, opened schools at companies. In 1875, he issued general rules for the educational process. Milyutin sought to rid schools of early specialization, expand the general educational program, and get rid of obsolete methods. He replaced the cadet corps at the gymnasium.
It is noteworthy that the officer classes introduced by Milyutin in 1866 later became the military law academy. Thanks to the vigorous activity of the Minister, the number of military educational institutions increased to a large extent. More scientific requirements began to be presented to officers. Thanks to him, women's medical courses were opened, which were extremely effective in the years 1877-1878 during the Russo-Turkish war. However, when Milyutin resigned, they were closed.
The Minister introduced many measures in order to maintain the health of the troops at the proper level. He reorganized the hospital unit in the troops. Dmitry, according to the surviving data, did not seek to hush up the mistakes of his subordinates. At the end of hostilities, he took many measures to expose the abuses that took place in the quartermaster. In 1881 he retired.
Retired
In 1878 he became a count, and in 1898 Dmitry Milyutin was appointed Field Marshal. He continued to sit on the Council of State. Milyutin spent the rest of his life in Crimea, where he had the seaside estate Simeiz. At that time, he worked on memoirs. In recent works, Milyutin paid particular attention to the technical equipment of the troops, the use of cars in military operations.
Dmitry took part in the ritual of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II in Moscow in 1896. He gave Metropolitan Palladium the imperial crown. Milyutin died at the age of 95. He was buried in Sevastopol, and buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Convent (next to other relatives). In Soviet times, the grave was destroyed, but it was restored in 2016.
In the will, the former minister instituted two scholarships - male and female - to the children of the poorest officers of 121 infantry regiments. He was the chief here in 1877.
A family
The wife of Dmitry Milyutin was Natalia Mikhailovna Ponsay (1821-1912). She was the daughter of Lieutenant General M.I. Ponset, who, in turn, was a descendant of the French Huguenots. Natalia met her future spouse while in Italy. As Dmitry recalled, the young daughter Ponsay was "an unprecedented impression in his life." They got married 2 years after that moment.
According to the recollections of those who knew their family, there was always a simple atmosphere in the Milyutins' house, which astounded many. Natalia was a kind woman, immersed in household chores. They had good-natured daughters (there were five of them), as well as a son. Elizabeth was a smart and focused girl who went to her mother, but her heart was not tender. Son Alex became a lieutenant general, governor of Kursk. He was not like his ancestor. There is information that numerous attempts were made to accustom him to serious studies, but Alexey was only interested in horses and no one could handle it.
Need for reform
Although the introduction of universal conscription evoked resistance from the upper strata of society, this reform was in keeping with the spirit of the times. It was no longer possible to maintain an outdated method of replenishing troops under reforms introduced then in other areas. The classes of society were equalized before the law.
In addition, it was necessary to bring the Russian military system in line with the European one. In the Western powers there was universal conscription. Military affairs became popular. Old armies could not be compared with new ones organized on this principle. The way the army was replenished influenced both mental development and the technical training of the armed forces. Russia should not lag behind neighboring countries.
Battle for reform
Resistance to the military reforms of Dmitry Milyutin was overcome with battle. So, in the memoirs of the naval minister Krabbe, information was preserved about how Dmitry fought for innovations: “he himself rushed at the enemy, so much so that it was terribly worse ... Just a lion. Our old men parted in fright. ”
A lot of people admitted that under him, the military forces of the Russian Empire were converted quite quickly. This reflected the general rise in the country noted in the country under Alexander II. As a result, Russia has overtaken many leading states in its development. Alexander II particularly noted the victory of Milyutin on the issue of introducing a new military reform.
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the timeliness of these innovations was confirmed. Dmitry spent 7 months at the front with the king, noting changes in the troops. If before soldiers could not do anything without officers, now they themselves knew where to rush.
Capture of Plevna
In 1877, due to the hardness of Milyutin, Pleven was taken. By that time she was stormed three times, but each time it ended in failure. Many military leaders offered a retreat, but Dmitry insisted on continuing the siege. And then Plevna fell, which became a turning point in the Balkan war. After that, Milyutin received the Order of St. George 2 degrees. When the hostilities ended, he was not afraid to lose the honor of his uniform. Milyutin independently opened a commission to investigate miscalculations made in the war, and took measures to curb abuses as soon as they were identified during the proceedings.
Impact on foreign policy
When the Berlin Congress of 1878 took place, Milyutin almost completely took over the leadership of the country's foreign policy. He advocated the unity of the empire, the expansion of its presence in Central Asia. In addition, throughout his service, he was very active in favor of a fairly liberal transformation at that time.