Suvóroff

Suvóroff, or SUWALLOW, ALEXANDER VASILIEVITCH, a Russian general, was born at Moscow on 24th November 1729, his father, of Swedish descent, being a general and senator. Small of stature and sickly in appearance, Alexander was a devoted student, and whilst still a boy acquired an excellent knowledge of languages; but his heart was fired with the passion of military glory, Cæsar and Charles XII. of Sweden being the heroes of his imagination. He entered the army as a private when seventeen, but advanced rapidly in rank after the Seven Years' War, in which he greatly distinguished himself at Kunersdorf (1759) and Reichenbach (1761), and after the Polish war of 1768-71, in which his impetuous bravery, and the boldness and celerity of his attack, brought him prominently forward. From this time to the end of his life he was almost constantly in the field. In 1773 he passed from Poland to the south of Russia to war against the Turks; in 1774 he put an end to the insurrection of Pugatcheff; and in 1780 he crushed the revolt of the Kuban Tartars and other Caucasian tribes. He covered himself with glory in the Second Turkish War, defeating the armies of the sultan at Fokshani (1789) and at the river Rymnik, and storming the strong fortress of Ismail. In the Polish war of 1794 Suvóroff captured Praga, and so compelled the surrender of Warsaw. On the accession of the Emperor Paul he was for a time sent into retirement; but shortly afterwards Paul recalled him and ordered him (1799) to Italy to assist the Austrians in opposing the French. As usual he won battles, defeating Moreau on the Adda, Macdonald at the Trebbia, and Joubert at Novi. Then he was directed to cross the Alps and unite his forces with Korsakoff for the purpose of sweeping the French out of Switzerland. After a terrible march, with fearful sufferings and heavy losses, he found, on descending towards the canton of Schwyz, that Masséna had defeated Korsakoff, and being himself too weak to attack he barely managed to escape over the mountains into Austria. On his return to Russia he was overtaken by death at St Petersburg on 18th May 1800. Suvóroff was a little man (5 feet 4 inches), with a wrinkled face and a stooping attitude; yet he was strong and healthy, and inured to hardship—he lived like a common soldier, and slept by preference on a truss of hay. Of great intelligence, he was a constant reader, even when on campaign, and a clever linguist. The idol of his soldiers, who loved to call him 'Father Suvóroff,' he was never defeated, and only once in his life acted on the defensive. He had a superb faith in his own star, and trusted to the inspiration of the moment, to rapidity of movement, and to boldness and dash in making the onset. Notwithstanding the terrible loss of life that attended his storm of Ismail (26,000 Turks were killed) and of Praga at Warsaw (where 15,000 Poles were massacred), he is stated to have been averse to shed blood, and to have been even humane and merciful. In his manners he was extravagantly eccentric, brusque and curt in speech, laconic in his despatches, and sarcastic to all who incurred the contempt of the soldier and man of action. Byron's description of him in Don Juan is as inaccurate as the biographies written by his enemies, the French. See Life by Lieut.-Col. Spalding (Lond. 1890).—The name of Suvarrow Islands belongs to a part of the Manihiki (q.v.) group.