Perovskii, Vasilii

Born Feb. 9 (20), 1795, in the city of Pochep, now in Briansk Oblast; died Dec. 8 (20), 1857, in Alupka. Russian military figure, adjutant general (1833), general of the cavalry (1843), count (1855). Illegitimate son of A. K. Razumovskii.

Perovskii graduated from Moscow University and from a school for file leaders in 1811. He fought in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29. He was close to Emperor Nicholas I. Perovskii was military governor of Orenburg Province and commander of the Orenburg Detached Corps from 1832 to 1842 and from 1851 to 1857. He led the campaign of 1839–40 into Khiva, which ended in failure. In 1853, Russian troops under Perovskii’s command captured the fortress of Ak-Mechet’ (Fort Perovskii, later the city of Perovsk, now Kzyl-Orda) and built several fortifications on the Syr Darya River, which, along with the creation of the Aral Military Flotilla, later contributed to the conquest of the Kokand Khanate.