Mikhail Gorchakov

Born 1793; died May 18 (30), 1861. Prince. General of the artillery (1844).

M. D. Gorchakov took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, the foreign campaigns of 1813–15, and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29. He was involved in crushing the Polish uprising of 1830–31. In 1849 he was field forces chief of staff in the crushing of the Hungarian revolution. During the Crimean War of 1853–56 he commanded the forces on the Danube (1853–54) and from Feb. 24. 1855, to the end of that year the forces in the Crimea, where he proved himself an inept and indecisive military leader. He was defeated at the Chernaia River on Aug. 4, 1855. On Sept. 8, 1855, he issued the order to vacate the south side of Sevastopol’. In 1856. Gorchakov was appointed vice-regent of the Polish kingdom.