Orlov, Aleksei

Born Oct. 8 (19), 1786, in Moscow; died May 9 (21), 1861, in St. Petersburg. Russian army officer and statesman; diplomat; prince (1856); general of the cavalry (1833). Nephew of A. G. Orlov and G. G. Orlov.

Orlov served in the campaigns of the Russian Army against Napoleon from 1805 to 1814. As commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, he participated in the suppression of the Decembrist uprising in Senate Square on Dec. 14, 1825, for which he received the title of count. In 1831 he directed the suppression of the Cholera Riot and of the uprisings in the military settlements. Orlov was a member of the State Council from 1836 and chief of the gendarmerie and commander in chief of the Third Department from 1844 to 1856. He was head of the Russian delegations at the peace conferences of Adrianople (1829), Paris (1856), and Unkiar Skelessi (1833). In 1856 he became chairman of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers. As chairman from 1856 of the Secret Committee (from 1858, Chief Committee) for Peasant Affairs, Orlov opposed the abolition of serfdom.