Indian campaign of Paul 1. Indian campaign of the Don army

This grandiose campaign was never destined to take place. Therefore, now a whole cloud of various myths and legends has gathered around him. And historians, who see only a tyrant in Paul I, confidently declare that all this is “madness.” Like, an amateur and an adventurer decided to play soldiers with living people. But the most interesting thing is that the Russian emperor did not take part in the development of the plan for a military campaign in India. Napoleon personally handled it.

He thought about this back in 1797, before the famous “trip” to Egypt. But then the Frenchman had a problem that he could not solve - Türkiye. The Sultan refused to allow anyone's armies to pass through his territory. So friendship with Pavel was just in time.

At the same time, Napoleon wanted the military expedition to be a Russian-French one. And Divisional General Andre Massena would have led the entire operation. In this case, a large role was assigned to the Russian fleet, which was supposed to approach India from Kamchatka and, of course, to the Cossacks.

Russian-French troops would hardly have been able to conquer India. But Massena hoped for help from the dissatisfied local population: Baluchis, Pashtuns, Turkmen, Indian Muslims. In general, everyone who was “offended” by the British. And “all” turned out to be more than a hundred thousand people. And therefore Massena set aside one year for the operation.

Napoleon and Pavel even managed to share the “skin of an unkilled bear.” They decided this: if there is victory, then northern India (along the border with Nepal) will become a protectorate of Russia. France will “steer” the remaining part.

Twist of history

And Paul I issued a decree sending a detachment of Cossacks to India. In the shortest possible time, more than twenty thousand people were mobilized, and Major General Platov stood at the head of the army. By the way, he was specifically released from the Peter and Paul Fortress for this purpose.

First, the Cossacks headed towards Orenburg. From there they had to move to Bukhara, and then to Khiva. There it was necessary to release Russian prisoners.

At the beginning of the 19th century, under the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte, who at that time maintained allied relations with Russia, the Russian Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) had a plan to march to India, the most important English colony, the source of income for Britain.

At the suggestion of the Russian Emperor, it was planned to strike at British interests in India with the forces of a joint Russian-French corps.

The plan was to cross the whole of Central Asia in two months, cross the Afghan mountains and fall on the British. At this time, Napoleon's ally was supposed to open a second front, land on the British Isles, and strike from Egypt, where French troops were then stationed.

Paul I entrusted the implementation of the secret operation to the ataman of the Don Army Vasily Orlov-Denisov. In support of the ataman, due to his advanced years, Paul I appointed officer Matvey Platov (1751-1818), the future ataman of the Don Army and hero of the War of 1812. Platov was mobilized directly from the cell of the Alekseevsky ravelin, where he was imprisoned as accused of harboring runaway serfs.

In a short time, 41 horse regiments and two companies of horse artillery were prepared for the Indian campaign. Matvey Platov commanded the largest column of thirteen regiments on the campaign.

In total, about 22 thousand Cossacks gathered. The treasury allocated more than 1.5 million rubles for the operation.

On February 20 (March 3, new style), Orlov reported to the sovereign that everything was ready for the performance. The vanguard under the command of Andrian Denisov, who walked with Suvorov through the Alps, moved east. Esaul Denezhnikov went to scout the route to Orenburg, Khiva, Bukhara and further to India.

On February 28 (March 11, new style), the emperor's approval came to the Don, and Platov with the main forces set out from the village of Kachalinskaya to the east. The direction was to Orenburg, where local authorities were hastily preparing camels and provisions for the journey through the desert.

The timing of the attack was calculated incorrectly. There was a muddy road, and the Cossack horses drowned in the mud of the Russian off-road, and the artillery almost stopped moving.

Because of the flooding of the rivers, the Cossack regiments had to change routes so that the food warehouses organized along the route of the troops remained far away. The commanders had to purchase everything they needed from their own funds or issue receipts, according to which the treasury had to pay the money.

To add to all the other troubles, it turned out that the local population, from whose food purchases the expeditionary force was supposed to be fed, had no food supplies. The previous year was dry and barren, so the troops began to starve along with the Volga peasants.

Having lost their way several times, the Cossacks reached the Mechetnaya settlement (now the city of Pugachev, Saratov region). Here, on March 23 (April 4, new style), the army was caught up by a courier from St. Petersburg with an order, in view of the sudden death of Paul I, to immediately return home. Emperor Alexander I did not support his father’s initiatives, and the campaign was never resumed.

Generally accepted information about the personality of the Emperor of Russia Paul I, as well as about the policies he pursued, is more likely to be a set of evil anecdotes of people offended by him than a real story. A number of reforms carried out by Paul I significantly limited the privileges of the nobility - the most educated and, therefore, writing part of society. For this reason, among the writers and historians of that time, the death of the emperor was perceived with relief, and all his deeds were ridiculed. The same fate befell the last military endeavor, the so-called “March to India.” But was this decision actually stupid?

Moreover, Russia’s actions in the direction of creating this path and annexing it to the empire were by no means the first. Gradually annexing the lands of the disintegrating khanates of the Golden Horde, Russia already stood firmly on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Peter I organized an expedition to search for the sources of the Amu Darya River. It was led by Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky. To help him, 6,000 military men, two engineers and several merchants were given. The tasks of the expedition directly included the construction of fortresses “where necessary” on the lands of Khiva, as well as inducing the Khiva and Bukhara khans to Russian citizenship. And one more thing: “Send from Khiva, under the guise of a merchant, Lieutenant Kozhin to Hindustan to build a trade route.” Bekovich's expedition was completely destroyed by the Khivans.

“Hindustan is ours!” and “a Russian soldier washing his boots in the Indian Ocean” - this could have become a reality back in 1801, when Paul I, together with Napoleon, attempted to conquer India.

Impenetrable Asia

As successful as Russia's exploration of the east was, it was just as unsuccessful in the south. In this direction, our state was constantly haunted by some kind of fate. The harsh steppes and ridges of the Pamirs always turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle for him. But it was probably not a matter of geographical obstacles, but a lack of clear goals.

By the end of the 18th century, Russia was firmly entrenched in the southern borders of the Ural range, but raids by nomads and intractable khanates hindered the empire’s advance to the south. Nevertheless, Russia looked not only at the still unconquered Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva, but also further - towards the unknown and mysterious India.

At the same time, Britain, whose American colony had fallen away like ripe fruit, concentrated its efforts on India, which occupied the most important strategic position in the Asian region. While Russia was stalling on its approach to Central Asia, England, moving further north, was seriously considering plans to conquer and populate the mountainous regions of India, favorable for farming. The interests of the two powers were about to collide.

"Napoleonic plans"

France also had its own plans for India. However, it was not so much interested in the territories as in the hated British, who were strengthening their rule there. The time was right to knock them out of India. Britain, torn by wars with the principalities of Hindustan, noticeably weakened its army in this region. Napoleon Bonaparte had only to find a suitable ally.

The First Consul turned his attention to Russia. “With your master, we will change the face of the world!” Napoleon flattered the Russian envoy. And he was right. Paul I, known for his grandiose plans to annex Malta to Russia or send a military expedition to Brazil, willingly agreed to a rapprochement with Bonaparte. The Russian Tsar was no less interested in French support. They had a common goal - to weaken England.

However, it was Paul I who first proposed the idea of ​​a joint campaign against India, and Napoleon only supported this initiative. Paul, according to historian A. Katsura, was well aware “that the keys to mastery of the world are hidden somewhere in the center of the Eurasian space.” The eastern dreams of the rulers of two strong powers had every chance of coming true.

Indian blitzkrieg

Preparations for the campaign were carried out in secret, all information was mostly transmitted orally through couriers. The joint push to India was allotted a record time of 50 days. The Allies relied on the support of the Maharaja of Punjab, Tipu Said, to speed up the expedition's progress. From the French side, a 35,000-strong corps was to march, led by the famous General Andre Massena, and from the Russian side, the same number of Cossacks led by the ataman of the Don Army, Vasily Orlov. In support of the already middle-aged ataman, Pavel ordered the appointment of officer Matvey Platov, the future ataman of the Don Army and a hero of the War of 1812. In a short time, 41 cavalry regiments and two companies of horse artillery were prepared for the campaign, which amounted to 27,500 people and 55,000 horses.

There were no signs of trouble, but the grandiose undertaking was still in jeopardy. The fault lies with the British officer John Malcolm, who, in the midst of preparations for the Russian-French campaign, first entered into an alliance with the Afghans, and then with the Persian Shah, who had recently sworn allegiance to France. Napoleon was clearly not happy with this turn of events and he temporarily “frozen” the project.

But the ambitious Pavel was accustomed to completing his undertakings and on February 28, 1801, he sent the Don Army to conquer India. He outlined his grandiose and bold plan to Orlov in a parting letter, noting that where you are assigned, the British have “their own trading establishments, acquired either with money or with weapons. You need to ruin all this, liberate the oppressed owners and bring the land into Russia into the same dependence as the British have it.”

Back home

It was clear from the outset that the expedition to India had not been properly planned. Orlov failed to collect the necessary information about the route through Central Asia; he had to lead the army using the maps of the traveler F. Efremov, compiled in the 1770s - 1780s. The ataman failed to gather an army of 35 thousand - at most 22 thousand people set out on the campaign.

Winter travel on horseback across the Kalmyk steppes was a severe test even for seasoned Cossacks. Their movement was hampered by burkas wet from melted snow, rivers that had just begun to become free of ice, and sandstorms. There was a shortage of bread and fodder. But the troops were ready to go further.

Everything changed with the assassination of Paul I on the night of March 11-12, 1801. “Where are the Cossacks?” was one of the first questions of the newly-crowned Emperor Alexander I to Count Lieven, who participated in the development of the route. The sent courier with the order personally written by Alexander to stop the campaign overtook Orlov’s expedition only on March 23 in the village of Machetny, Saratov province. The Cossacks were ordered to return to their homes.
It is curious that the story of five years ago repeated itself, when after the death of Catherine II the Dagestan expedition of Zubov-Tsitsianov, sent to the Caspian lands, was returned.

English trace

Back on October 24, 1800, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Napoleon's life, in which the British were involved. Most likely, this is how English officials reacted to Bonaparte’s plans, afraid of losing their millions that the East India Company brought them. But with the refusal to participate in Napoleon’s campaign, the activities of English agents were redirected to the Russian emperor. Many researchers, in particular the historian Kirill Serebrenitsky, see precisely English reasons in the death of Paul.

This is indirectly confirmed by facts. For example, one of the developers of the Indian campaign and the main conspirator, Count Palen, was noticed in connections with the British. In addition, the British Isles generously supplied money to the St. Petersburg mistress of the English ambassador Charles Whitward so that, according to researchers, she would prepare the ground for a conspiracy against Paul I. It is also interesting that Paul’s correspondence with Napoleon in 1800-1801 was bought in 1816 by a private individual from Great Britain and was subsequently burned.

New perspectives

After the death of Paul, Alexander I, to the surprise of many, continued to improve relations with Napoleon, but tried to build them from positions more advantageous for Russia. The young king was disgusted by the arrogance and gluttony of the French ruler.
In 1807, during a meeting in Tilsit, Napoleon tried to persuade Alexander to sign an agreement on the division of the Ottoman Empire and a new campaign against India. Later, on February 2, 1808, in a letter to him, Bonaparte outlined his plans as follows: “If an army of 50 thousand Russians, French, and perhaps even a few Austrians headed through Constantinople to Asia and appeared on the Euphrates, it would make England and would have brought the continent to its feet.”

It is not known for certain how the Russian emperor reacted to this idea, but he preferred that any initiative come not from France, but from Russia. In subsequent years, already without France, Russia begins to actively explore Central Asia and establish trade relations with India, eliminating any adventures in this matter.

Indian campaign of the Don army

The reign of Paul I remained in the memory of posterity as some kind of bad joke. Like, in a semi-delirium, he tried to reshape the whole of Russian life in the Prussian manner, introduced shift parades, elevated Arakcheev and humiliated Suvorov, exiled a whole regiment to Siberia, and sent the Cossacks to conquer India... And thank God they killed him!

Paul I wearing the crown of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. Artist S. S. Shchukin

Count von der Palen was at the head of the conspiracy, and the version of the sovereign’s madness was, of course, very beneficial to him. But Pavel, who was called the “Russian Hamlet” during his lifetime, is a dramatic figure in the full sense of the word. Therefore, let's turn to more reliable sources. For example, to the “History of the 19th Century” by French professors Lavisse and Rambaud, published in France in the 1920s, and soon translated into Russian. In it you can read something completely unexpected: “Since both rulers (Napoleon and Paul I) had the same irreconcilable enemy, then, naturally, the idea of ​​a closer rapprochement between them for the sake of a joint fight against this enemy in order to finally crush the Indian the power of England is the main source of its wealth and power. Thus arose that great plan (highlighted in the text), the first thought of which, without a doubt, belonged to Bonaparte, and the means for execution were studied and proposed by the king.”

It turns out that the plan for the Indian campaign is not at all a figment of the sick imagination of the insane Russian Tsar, and in general it belonged to the brilliant commander Bonaparte. Is this acceptable?! Undoubtedly. This version does not even require special evidence - it, as they say, lies on the surface.

Let’s open the “Essays on the History of France”: “On May 19, 1798, the army under the command of Bonaparte (300 ships, 10 thousand people and a 35 thousand-strong expeditionary force) left Toulon... and on June 30 began landing in Alexandria.”

When asked what exactly the French needed in Egypt, the same publication answers this way: “After the collapse of the first (anti-French) coalition, England alone continued the war against France. The Directory intended to organize a landing of troops on the British Isles, but this had to be abandoned due to the lack of necessary forces and means. Then a plan emerged to strike at the communications connecting England with India, a plan to seize Egypt.”

By the way, the idea of ​​a French landing in Egypt in its original version belonged to the Duke of Choiseul, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of King Louis XV, who ruled until 1774.

Thus, a logical chain of “Napoleonic” (literally and figuratively) plans begins to line up: first cut communications, then move troops along these roads to the “pearl of the English crown,” as India has long been called.

And indeed, the same Dmitry Merezhkovsky writes about these plans in his biography novel “Napoleon”: “Through Egypt to India in order to deliver a mortal blow to the world dominion of England there - such is Bonaparte’s gigantic plan, a crazy chimera emerging from a diseased brain.”

Confirming this version, the modern French historian Jean Tulard, the author of the most famous monograph in foreign Napoleonic studies - the book “Napoleon, or the Myth of the Savior,” which our reader became acquainted with in the publication of the ZhZL series, is much less expressive: “The occupation of Egypt made it possible to decide immediately three strategic objectives: to capture the Isthmus of Suez, thereby blocking one of the routes connecting India with England, to acquire a new colony... to take possession of an important bridgehead that would open access to the main source of prosperity for England - India, where Tippo Sahib fought a war of liberation with the British colonialists.”

January 12, 1801. Rescript from Paul I to the ataman of the Don Army, cavalry general V.P. Orlov, on the preparation of the Cossack army for the campaign in India.

St. Petersburg

The British are preparing to launch an attack with fleet and army on me and on my allies the Swedes and Danes; I am ready to accept them, but we need to attack them themselves and where their blow may be more sensitive and where they are less expected. Establishing them in India is the best thing for this. From us to India from Orenburg it takes three months, and from you there is a month, but only four months. I entrust this entire expedition to you and your army, Vasily Petrovich. Get together with him and set out on a campaign to Orenburg, from where, using any of the three roads or all of them, go with artillery straight through Bukharia and Khiva to the Indus River and at the Anglinsky establishment along it, the troops of that region are of the same kind as yours, and so having artillery you have complete avantage; get everything ready for the trip. Send your spies to prepare or inspect the roads, all the wealth of India will be our reward for this expedition. Gather an army to the rear villages and then notify me; wait for the command to go to Orenburg, where, having arrived, wait for another to go further. Such an undertaking will crown you all with glory, will earn my special favor according to merit, will acquire wealth and trade, and will strike the enemy in his heart. Here I am attaching cards, how many of them I have. God bless you.

I am your favor

My maps only go as far as Khiva and the Amur Darya River, and then it’s your job to get information to the Aglin institutions and to the Indian peoples subject to them.

RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 323, l. 1–1 vol. Copy.

So, the plan to invade India seems to be an objective reality. But did Russia need all this?

The war in Europe lasted for a good ten years and showed the approximate equality of the parties - France and England. This confrontation with variable success could have continued for quite a long time if there had not been a third great state on the continent - our Fatherland. The Russian Tsar, no matter how he was portrayed during his lifetime and subsequently, understood that, firstly, one must be friends with the winner and, secondly, that it was Russia that should determine the winner.

The famous Soviet scientist A. Z. Manfred assessed the situation this way: “Russia at that time was economically and politically significantly behind England and France. But it far surpassed them in its vast territory, population, and military power. Russia's strength was based on its military might."

The British in India during the war of 1752–1804. 19th century engraving

Let us add that this was the case until the 1990s, and therefore our power has always been taken into account in the world. But let’s return to Manfred’s book “Napoleon”: “In 1799–1800, the decisive role of Russia on the stage of European politics was shown with complete clarity. Didn’t Suvorov’s Italian campaign in three months erase all the victories and conquests of the famous French commanders? Didn't he bring France to the brink of defeat? And then, when Russia left the coalition, didn’t the scales tip again in favor of France?”

One can discuss in detail why the Russian Tsar preferred the resurgent French monarchy to the selfish England, which in every matter strives to achieve its own benefit to the detriment of others. One may recall that close Russian-French relations existed during certain periods of the reigns of both Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II...

However, those who believe that the Indian campaign was launched solely to please the new French friends are mistaken.

“A little later there will be talk about the insanity of Paul, who sent the Cossacks on a campaign against India,” writes historian A. N. Arkhangelsky in the book “Alexander I”.

The fact that the plan was developed jointly with Napoleon, as well as Catherine’s long-standing plans to fight along the banks of the Ganges and Peter’s Persian campaign, was somehow forgotten.”

So what caused the sharply negative assessments of the majority of Russians, and after them the Soviet historians of the “Indian Plan” of Emperor Pavel Petrovich?

Here, for example, is what the famous Russian historian Lieutenant General Nikolai Karlovich Schilder, author of the books “Emperor Paul I”, “Emperor Alexander I” and “Emperor Nicholas I”, reports: “Paul did not do without the usual fantastic hobbies: a campaign to India was planned . Although the first consul also dreamed of the joint action of Russian troops with the French in this direction, plotting the final defeat of England, and for this purpose developed a project for a campaign in India, Emperor Paul intended to solve this difficult problem on his own, with the help of the Cossacks alone.”

Yes, the role of the “court historian” is difficult, for he must not only look into the past, but also constantly look back at the present. Writing about the emperor, killed with the tacit consent of his son, is possible only in the strictest accordance with the highest approved version... And this version says: “a madman who ruined Russia.” And there is no need that the parricide heir later concluded with the same Napoleon the Peace of Tilsit, which was shameful for Russia, and the other son of the murdered emperor again shamefully lost the Eastern War to the same French and English... I wonder what level Russia would have risen to in an alliance with Napoleonic France and what place would England have had in that world divided into two spheres of influence if not for the regicide?

Let's try to impartially reconstruct the events of more than two hundred years ago. So, on January 12 (24), 1801, Emperor Paul sent several rescripts to the ataman of the Don Army, cavalry general V.P. Orlov 1st, instructing him to move “straight through Bukharia and Khiva to the Indus River and to the English establishments along it.” .

Twenty thousand Cossacks -

To India, on a hike! -

Paul I ordered

In my last year.

The Cossacks - 22,507 sabers with 12 unicorns and the same number of cannons, forty-one regiments and two horse companies - went, covering 30–40 miles a day. Their journey turned out to be very difficult due to insufficient preparation, bad roads and weather conditions, including unexpectedly early opening of the rivers. “If... the detachment had to overcome incredible difficulties when moving across its own land, then it is easy to imagine the deplorable fate of the Donets during their further movement, especially beyond Orenburg!” - General Schilder literally exclaims in his book.

They didn’t complain, they did it

The king's will.

The Cossacks, of course, knew

That all this is in vain.

If you believe him and other “traditional” historians, then the campaign turned out to be incredible stupidity, and nothing more. But it’s better not to believe it and take the book “The Edge of Ages” by Nathan Yakovlevich Eidelman, published in 1982. Based on previously unknown documents, it truly shocked readers. From it you can learn about the existence of the following plan: “35 thousand French infantry with artillery, led by one of the best French generals, Massena, should move along the Danube, through the Black Sea, Taganrog, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan... At the mouth of the Volga, the French should unite with 35 -a thousand-strong Russian army (of course, not counting the Cossack army that goes “its own way” through Bukharin). The combined Russian-French corps will then cross the Caspian Sea and land at Astrabad."

Napoleon in Egypt. Artist J.-L. Jerome

Russia withdrew from the Second Anti-French Coalition due to contradictions with its allies. The failure of a joint British invasion of the Netherlands marked the beginning of a rift, and the British occupation of Malta angered Paul I, the Russian Emperor, who at the time held the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He hastily broke the alliance with Britain and entered into an alliance with Napoleon, who proposed a plan for a joint expedition to capture India.

February 15, 1801. Report from cavalry general V.P. Orlov to Pavel I on the need to second translators of oriental languages ​​and medical personnel to the Cossack army.

Kochetovskaya village.

Most Gracious Sovereign.

I was honored to receive Your Imperial Majesty’s all-eminent rescript dated the 3rd of this month, and I most submissively inform Your Imperial Majesty that from the gathering places of the troops, after a review has been carried out, I will hasten to set out on a campaign from the first day of next March. I dare Your Imperial Majesty to most submissively ask whether it would be kind to you to most graciously order that those who know the national translations of those places be seconded to me, if such can be found. That’s why the All-Merciful Sovereign considers it necessary to have them, so that you can rely on their loyalty, rather than someone who has been found in places and is obliged to live. And also, most submissively of Your Imperial Majesty, I ask for medical ranks, which the army will need just in case.

I submit myself to the most sacred feet of Your Imperial Majesty, Your Imperial Majesty, the Most Gracious Sovereign, most submissive Vasily Orlov.

(marks on the document) Write to the Prosecutor General and send twelve doctors with one staff doctor to the Don Army. Wrote a letter to the prince. Gagarin from himself. Received on February 23, 1801 from Field Huntsman Zimnyakov.

RGVIA, f. 26, op. 1/152, d. 104, l. 683. Original.

The secret plan for the expedition called for joint operations of two infantry corps - one French (with artillery support) and one Russian. Each infantry corps consisted of 35 thousand people, the total number of people was supposed to reach 70 thousand, not counting artillery and Cossack cavalry. Napoleon insisted that the command of the French corps be entrusted to General Massena. According to the plan, the French army was supposed to cross the Danube and the Black Sea, pass through Southern Russia, stopping in Taganrog, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan.

The French were supposed to unite with the Russian army at the mouth of the Volga. After this, both corps crossed the Caspian Sea and landed in the Persian port of Astrabad. The entire movement from France to Astrabad was estimated to take eighty days. The next fifty days were spent marching through Kandahar and Herat, and it was planned to reach India by September of that year.

According to the plans, the Indian campaign was supposed to be similar to Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign - engineers, artists, and scientists went along with the soldiers.

Portrait of the Cossack chieftain V.P. Orlov. Unknown artist

You can laugh at the attempt to capture India by a twenty-thousand-strong Cossack horde, but if you add to it 70 thousand regular Russian and French infantry, representing the two best armies in the world, then no one will even want to smile. But in Egypt there were still forces of the army that Napoleon led to the pyramids in 1798! And from Kamchatka, three Russian frigates were supposed to approach the Indian Ocean, which could compete with the English ships located there...

By the way, with the notorious Cossack campaign, the situation is also far from being as simple as it seems at first glance. After all, things were very restless on the Don at that time. The only thing is that in the fall of 1800 in Cherkassk, Colonel of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment Evgraf Gruzinov, one of the former Gatchina residents, that is, one of the most faithful, devoted who served under Paul when he was still the Grand Duke, was executed “for rebellious plans” - and Evgraf’s brother, retired lieutenant colonel Pyotr Gruzinov, testifies to many things. The Emperor more than once expressed a desire to “shake up the Cossacks,” so he sent them “their way” - for the purpose of “military education.” It is no coincidence that General Platov and other officers who were released from the fortress before the campaign returned to their regiments.

More than two decades will pass, and after the “Semyonov Story”, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich intends to “ventilate the guard.”

One of the best French generals A. Massena

Since there was no war, the king sent her on a campaign to the western provinces. It seems that staying in undeveloped places caused no less inconvenience for the guards aristocracy than a trek through the winter steppe for the hardened Cossacks.

Where are the Indian diamonds?

Spices, carpets?

Where are the luxurious gifts:

Cargo from Bukhara? -

asks the poet.

March 12, 1801. Rescript from Alexander I to cavalry general V.P. Orlov about ending the campaign in India and returning the Cossacks to the Don.

Petersburg.

Mr. General of the Cavalry Orlov 1st Upon receipt of this, I command you with all the Cossack regiments now following with you on the secret expedition to return to the Don and disband them to their homes.

Foreign policy of Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Documents of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. T. 1. M., 1960. P. 11.

In general, as it turns out, everything in the actions of the Russian Tsar had its own clear, deep meaning. And suddenly things became uncomfortable in the British Isles, and the English government became worried, and even more money flowed into Russia through secret channels, which... However, this already applies to other sad events.

There is no doubt that from the point of view of French interests, a military invasion of Asia with the ultimate goal of conquering Hindustan would be a strategically important step. This would lead to the complete collapse of Great Britain and change the geopolitical balance of power in the world. The idea of ​​an Indian campaign was first expressed by Bonaparte in 1797, even before his expedition to Egypt. Later, having come to power, he persistently instilled the idea of ​​​​a joint campaign in India to Emperor Paul I. And he managed to achieve certain successes. True, the Russian sovereign, without even concluding an alliance with the first consul of France, wanted to solve this problem on his own and gave the order to send Cossack regiments to find ways to a country that was then unfamiliar to the Russians. Units of the Don Army had to carry it out. His 41st regiment and two companies of artillery (22 thousand people) in February 1801 set out - through the deserted Orenburg steppe - to conquer Central Asia. From this bridgehead it was easier for them to reach India - the main jewel in the crown of the British Empire. But, having covered 700 versts in three weeks, the Cossacks received from St. Petersburg one of the first orders of the young Alexander I, who ascended the throne, to return to the Don.

The Russian expedition to Central Asia then seriously worried the British, and not without their help, Russian Emperor Paul I was killed by the conspirators.

...The chronicle of Pavlovsk's reign turned out to be so hidden or distorted during the more than half-century reign of the two Pavlovichs that they simply got used to it in this form. Meanwhile, these times are still awaiting their researchers, who must not only resurrect forgotten events of the past, but also understand how and why legends are created, and who benefits from replacing the true pages of our national history with them.

There was a Civil War in Russia. At a time when the fall of the German Reich in the November Revolution and the hasty flight of the German occupiers did not bring the Bolsheviks control over the South of Russia, when the Volunteer Army marched to Moscow through Kiev and Kharkov, the commander of the Turkestan Front M. V. Frunze began the formation of a cavalry corps for "March on India" to "deal a blow to British imperialism, which is the most powerful enemy of Soviet Russia." The corps was supposed to have 40 thousand horsemen. The corps of General Matvey Platov under Emperor Pavel Petrovich, who was “thrown to India” in 1800, had approximately the same number of “sabers” of Don Cossacks. But even in 1919, things did not go further than the project.

Commander of the Turkestan Front M. V. Frunze

(Based on materials from A. Bondarenko.)