Cavalry maiden
Literary activity
Offspring
(also known as Alexandra Andreevich Alexandrov; September 17, 1783 - March 21 (April 2), 1866) - the first female officer in the Russian army (known as cavalry maiden) and writer.
It is believed that Nadezhda Durova served as the prototype for Shurochka Azarova, the heroine of Alexander Gladkov’s play “A Long Time Ago” and Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Hussar Ballad”. However, the author himself refutes this (see "A long time ago")
Biography
She was born on September 17, 1783 (and not in 1789 or 1790, which is usually indicated by her biographers, based on her “Notes”) in Kiev from the marriage of the hussar captain Durov with the daughter of the Little Russian landowner Alexandrovich, who married him against the will of her parents.
From the first days, the Durovs had to lead a wandering regimental life. The mother, who passionately wanted to have a son, hated her daughter, and the latter’s upbringing was almost entirely entrusted to Hussar Astakhov. "Saddle,- says Durova, - was my first cradle; horse, weapons and regimental music were the first children's toys and amusements". In such an environment, the child grew up to the age of 5 and acquired the habits and inclinations of a playful boy.
In 1789, my father entered the city of Sarapul, Vyatka province, as mayor. Her mother began to teach her to do needlework and housekeeping, but her daughter did not like either one or the other, and she secretly continued to do “military things.” When she grew up, her father gave her a Circassian horse, Alcis, riding which soon became her favorite pastime.
At the age of eighteen she was married off, and a year later her son was born (this is not mentioned in Durova’s “Notes”). Thus, by the time of her military service, she was not a “maid,” but a wife and mother. The silence about this is perhaps due to the desire to stylize oneself as the archetype of a warrior maiden (such as Pallas Athena or Joan of Arc).
Cavalry maiden
She became close to the captain of the Cossack detachment stationed in Sarapul; family troubles arose, and she decided to fulfill her long-standing dream - to enroll in military service.
Taking advantage of the departure of the detachment on a campaign in 1806, she changed into a Cossack dress and rode on her Alkida behind the detachment. Having caught up with him, she identified herself as Alexander Sokolov, the son of a landowner, received permission to follow the Cossacks and entered the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment in Grodno.
She took part in the battles of Gutshadt, Heilsberg, Friedland, and showed courage everywhere. For saving a wounded officer in the midst of a battle, she was awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross and promoted to officer with transfer to the Mariupol Hussar Regiment.
What gave her away was her letter to her father, written before the battle, in which she asked for forgiveness for the pain she had caused. An uncle who lived in the capital showed this letter to a general he knew, and soon rumors about the cavalry girl reached Alexander I. She was deprived of weapons and freedom of movement and sent with an escort to St. Petersburg.
The emperor, struck by the woman’s selfless desire to serve her homeland in the military field, allowed her to remain in the army with the rank of cornet of the hussar regiment under the name of Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov, derived from his own, and also to contact him with requests.
Soon after this, Durova went to Sarapul to visit her father, lived there for more than two years, and at the beginning of 1811 she again reported to the regiment (Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment).
During the Patriotic War, she took part in the battles of Smolensk, the Kolotsky Monastery, and Borodino, where she was shell-shocked in the leg by a cannonball, and went to Sarapul for treatment. Later she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and served as an orderly under Kutuzov.
In May 1813, she again appeared in the active army and took part in the war for the liberation of Germany, distinguishing herself during the blockade of the Modlin fortress and the cities of Hamburg and Harburg.
Only in 1816, yielding to her father’s requests, she retired with the rank of headquarters captain and a pension and lived either in Sarapul or in Yelabuga. She always went to men's suit, signed all letters with the surname Alexandrov, got angry when people addressed her as a woman, and in general was distinguished, from the point of view of her time, by great oddities.
Addresses
- Elabuga - The only museum-estate in Russia of the cavalry maiden Nadezhda Durova.
- 1836 - St. Petersburg, hotel "Demut" - embankment of the Moika River, 40.
Literary activity
Her memoirs were published in Sovremennik (1836, No. 2) (later included in her Notes). Pushkin became deeply interested in Durova’s personality, wrote laudatory, enthusiastic reviews about her on the pages of his magazine and encouraged her to become a writer. In the same year (1836) they appeared in 2 parts of “Notes” under the title “Cavalryman-Maiden”. An addition to them (“Notes”) was published in 1839. They were a great success, prompting Durova to write stories and novels. Since 1840, she began to publish her works in Sovremennik, Library for Reading, Otechestvennye Zapiski and other magazines; then they appeared separately (“Gudishki”, “Tales and Stories”, “Angle”, “Treasure”). In 1840, a collection of works was published in four volumes.
One of the main themes of her works is the emancipation of women, overcoming the difference between the social status of women and men. All of them were read at one time, even aroused praise from critics, but they have no literary significance and attract attention only with their simple and expressive language.
Durova spent the rest of her life in a small house in the city of Elabuga, surrounded only by her numerous dogs and cats she had once picked up. Nadezhda Andreevna died on March 21 (April 2), 1866 in Yelabuga, Vyatka province, at the age of 82, and was buried at the Trinity Cemetery. At burial she was given military honors.
Offspring
Entries in the metric books of the Ascension Cathedral in the city of Sarapul preserved evidence of her wedding and the baptism of her son. Employees of the Museum-Estate N.A. Durova established connections with the direct descendants of her brother Vasily living in France. Durova's son, Ivan Chernov, was assigned to study at the Imperial Military Orphanage, from where he was released with the rank of 14th grade at the age of 16 due to health reasons. Later, he sent his mother a letter asking for her blessing for the marriage. Collegiate adviser Ivan Vasilyevich Chernov was buried at the Mitrofanyevskoe cemetery in 1856 - he died 10 years earlier than his mother at the age of 53. His wife was probably Anna Mikhailovna, née Belskaya, who died in 1848 at the age of 37.
Editions
- Nadezhda Durova. Notes from a cavalry maiden. Preparation of text and notes. B.V. Smirensky, Kazan: Tatar Book Publishing House, 1966.
- N. A. Durova. Selected works of a cavalry maiden. Comp., will join. Art. and note. Vl. Muravyova, Moscow: Moscow Worker, 1983.
- N. A. Durova. Selected works of a cavalry maiden. Comp., will join. Art. and note. Vl. B. Muravyova, Moscow: Moscow Worker, 1988 (Moscow Worker Library).
- Nadezhda Durova. Cavalry Maiden. Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars. Translated by Mary Fleming Zirin. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988.
- Nadeschda Durowa. : Die Offizierin. Das ungewöhnliche Leben der Kavalleristin Nadeschda Durowa, erzählt von ihr selbst. Aus dem Russischen von Rainer Schwarz. Mit einer biographischen Notiz von Viktor Afanasjew, übersetzt von Hannelore Umbreit. Leipzig: Gustav Kiepenheuer-Verlag, 1994.
Reading time: 2 minutes. Published 09/07/2018
The TV game called Field of Miracles on September 7, 2018 has already been broadcast in the eastern regions of our vast country, so many TV viewers already know the correct answer to the game’s question.
Introduces readers to the correct answer to one of the interesting questions and our website Teleresponse. Let's find out what answer to the question Leonid Arkadyevich Yakubovich prepared for us. We'll talk today about extremely important event in the history of Russia. It was on September 7 that the Battle of Borodino began.
What rank was the cavalry maiden Nadezhda Durova in the Uhlan regiment?
You all probably know the name of cavalry lady Nadezhda Durova, who was in the rank of... what rank in the Uhlan regiment? (7 letter word)
In 1806, a Cossack regiment stopped 50 versts from Sarapul. On her name day, Durova put on a men's Cossack dress, cut off her braids and rode to the regiment on Alcida, where she introduced herself as Alexander Durov, the son of a landowner. None of the Cossacks even suspected a girl in the lively young man, who deftly wielded a saber and sat firmly in the saddle.
Having somehow reached the location of the nearest cavalry regiment - it turned out to be the Konnopolsky Uhlan - she came to the captain, called herself Alexander Vasilyevich Sokolov and asked to serve. “Are you a nobleman? How did it happen that you wear a Cossack uniform?” - the captain was surprised (there were no nobles among the ordinary Cossacks). “My father did not want to send me to military service, I left quietly and joined the Cossack regiment.” They believed her, enlisted her as a comrade in the regiment (a private rank of noble origin) and gave her a uniform with woolen epaulettes, a shako with a plume, a white belt with a pouch and boots with huge spurs. “It’s all very clean, very beautiful and very heavy!” - Durova wrote down.
Answer: Comrade.
Report Nadezhda Durova will briefly talk about the Russian cavalrywoman, officer of the Russian imperial army, participant Patriotic War 1812 and the writer. The report on Nadezhda Durova will tell you what Nadezhda Durova is famous for.
Message about Nadezhda Durova
Durova Nadezhda Andreevna was born in Kyiv 1783 years in the family of a Russian army officer. The heroine's mother fell madly in love with Durov at the age of 16 and secretly, without the consent of her parents, married him. Anastasia dreamed of having a son and even came up with a name for him - Modest. However, a girl was born, which greatly disappointed her. The daughter was named Nadezhda. Since childhood, she was fond of toys and games for boys: her first toy was a pistol, she became addicted to the saber and loved archery and climbing trees with boys. The mother was horrified by her daughter’s hobbies and tried to raise Nadya as a noblewoman, teaching her to read and write and handicrafts.
To escape from excessive maternal care, Durova, at the age of 18, marries Vasily Chernov and moves away from her parents. But family life failed and soon she and her son Ivan return to their parents. At home she was greeted with great reproaches and lectures.
In 1806, Nadezhda Andreevna ran away from her parents' house. Dressed in a Cossack uniform, the woman reached the Cossack unit. She introduced herself to the commander as Alexander Durov. She was not accepted into the regiment, but they promised to take her to Grodno, where an army was being actively formed for a campaign against the French emperor, Napoleon. Alexander Durov was enrolled in the Polish cavalry regiment. The service was difficult: cursing of commanders, difficult exercises, soldier’s life. However, Nadya was glad that she was an active soldier in the Russian army.
Soon the Polish Horse Regiment was sent to fight the French. Nadezhda Andreevna took part in the battle of Fridlan and the battle of Heilsberg. In May 1807, a skirmish occurred between French and Russian troops near the city of Gutstadt. Durova showed courage and bravery, saving officer Panin from death. It is worth noting that for some time the woman successfully hid her gender. She was given away by a letter that the woman sent to her father, asking him to bless her for the service. Soon Emperor Alexander I learned about her. The soldier was taken to the capital Russian Empire. The ruler personally wished to meet with the courageous woman. Their meeting took place on a December day in 1807. Alexander I presented her with the Cross of St. George, marveling at her courage and bravery. The emperor ordered that Nadezhda Andreevna be transferred to the Mariupol regiment and even allowed her to introduce herself by her last name in honor of the emperor - Alexandrov.
With the outbreak of the Patriotic War in 1812, she was given the rank of second lieutenant of the Uhlan regiment. She took part in the battles of Mir, Smolensk, Dashkovka, and on the Borodino field. During the Battle of Borodino she was wounded, but the soldier did not leave the line. In September 1812, Nadezhda Durova was reassigned to Kutuzov’s headquarters. The woman was constantly worried about her injuries, and she has been undergoing treatment for six months in home. At the end of her vacation, she and her regiment participate in campaigns of the Russian army abroad.
Nadezhda Andreevna Durova retired in 1816. In subsequent years, she was engaged in literary creativity. Her main literary work is “Notes of a Cavalry Maiden.” The woman never married again, meeting old age alone. In 1841, the former soldier moved to Elabug, where she led a modest life. She was gone March 21, 1866 at the age of 83 years.
Nadezhda Durova interesting facts
- She doused herself with water every morning and loved to play cards.
- During the service, ladies fell in love with the woman. One day she was forced to transfer to another regiment because the daughter of the regimental commander fell in love with her.
- For the first time, A. Pushkin revealed Durova’s secret. In 1836, in the Sovremennik magazine he called her by her real name. Pushkin also gave her the nickname Cavalry Maiden.
- In retirement, she never abandoned her army habits, continuing to ride horses and smoke a pipe.
- According to legend, her son Ivan, trying to get his mother’s blessing for marriage, addressed her as officer Alexandrov.
We hope that the message about Nadezhda Durova helped you learn a lot useful information about the daughter of a Ukrainian landowner, who devoted her life to military campaigns. A short story You can add information about Nadezhda Durova through the comment form below.
There are many examples in Russian history when women, on an equal footing with men, defended Russia from enemy hordes with weapons in their hands.
We will talk about a simple Russian woman - Nadezhda Andreevna Durova, who dedicated her life to serving the Motherland.
The name of Nadezhda Durova is also reflected in art. In the film “The Hussar Ballad” there is a heroine Shura Azarova, who with the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 went to fight the French. The image of Shura was copied from Durova.
Nadezhda Andreevna was born in 1783 in Kyiv. Her father, Andrei Durov, was an officer in the Russian army.
Mother Anastasia Alexandrovna was the daughter of a Ukrainian landowner. When she was 16, she fell madly in love with Durov, and without her parents' permission she married the officer.
She really wanted a child, spent long evenings dreaming about a son, and even came up with a name for the unborn child - Modest. Soon Anastasia became pregnant and gave birth to a girl within the prescribed period.
The mother was very disappointed, and the birth was very difficult for her. The girl born was named Nadya.
The girl was born strong, and as they say, already in childhood she roared in a deep voice. Her first toy was a pistol, then she became addicted to a saber.
As a child, Nadezhda Andreevna loved to shoot a bow, climb trees with the boys, ride a horse and, waving a saber, shout out various army commands.
Soon the mother took over raising her daughter; she was horrified by her hobbies. Anastasia wanted to raise her daughter as a noblewoman and tried to teach her handicrafts and literacy.
IN educational process mothers had big excesses. Nadezhda was not interested in her mother’s efforts, and her supervision oppressed her more and more. At the age of 18, Nadezhda Andreevna married Vasily Chernov in order to move out of her parents’ house. The marriage was unsuccessful, and soon she returned to her parents, receiving even more reproaches and teachings.
In the fall of 1806, Durova runs away from home. She put on a Cossack uniform and soon reached the Cossack unit. To the unit commander, Nadezhda identified herself as a nobleman, Alexander Durov, who had fled home to go to war.
They didn’t take her into the Cossack regiment, but they promised to take her to the city of Grodno, where full swing An army was being formed for a campaign against Napoleon. Once in Grodno, Nadezhda Durova was enrolled in the Polish cavalry regiment. Her joy knew no bounds.
The service was not easy: difficult training, scolding of commanders, but, despite all the difficulties, Durova was glad that she was a soldier in the active Russian army.
Soon the Polish Horse Regiment went to fight the French. Before going on a hike, she wrote a letter home to her father, asking her to forgive and bless her for her actions. Nadezhda Durova took part in the battles of Friedlan and the battle of Heilsberg.
In May 1807, a battle took place between Russian and French troops near the city of Gutstadt. During this battle, she showed fantastic courage and saved officer Panin from death.
Nadezhda Durova, until a certain point, successfully managed to hide her gender. But the letter she wrote to her father gave her away. The uncle told a general he knew about his niece, and soon Emperor Alexander I himself learned about the soldier. She was taken to the capital of the Russian Empire.
Alexander I wished to meet the courageous woman in person. Their meeting took place in December 1807. The Emperor presented Durova with the St. George Cross, and everyone was amazed at the bravery and courage of her interlocutor.
Alexander I intended to send her to parents' house, but she snapped - “I want to be a warrior!” The emperor was amazed, and left the brave woman in the Russian army, transferred her to the Mariupol regiment and allowed her to introduce herself by her last name - Alexandrova, in honor of the emperor.
Meanwhile, the foreign campaigns of the Russian army came to an end. Nadezhda Andreevna took the opportunity and visited her parents’ house. At home she learned about her mother's death. This event was a shock for her. After staying at home for a short time, she went to the active army, to her new regiment.
Soon the thunder of the Patriotic War of 1812 struck. Nadezhda Durova began the war with the rank of second lieutenant of the Uhlan regiment. Durova took part in many battles of that war. There was Nadezhda near Smolensk, Mir, Dashkovka, and she was also on the Borodino field.
During the Battle of Borodino, Durova was on the front line, was wounded, but remained in service.
In September 1812, Durova was sent to serve at Kutuzov’s headquarters. Mikhail Illarionovich would later say that he had never had such an intelligent orderly.
The wounds of the Battle of Borodino constantly worried Nadezhda and prevented her from serving. Durova takes six months off for treatment and spends it at her home. After the end of her vacation, she and her regiment participate in foreign campaigns of the Russian army.
In 1816, Nadezhda Andreevna retired. In the subsequent years of her life, she tried to engage in literary creativity, and quite successfully. I talked with Pushkin. Her main literary work was “Notes of a Cavalry Maiden.”
Nadezhda Durova was dearly loved by Russian society; many knew and respected her. She was lonely until the end of her life. In 1841 she moved to Elabuga. Here she will spend the next years of her life. She lived modestly, ate ordinary food, and bathed herself in the mornings. ice water, loved to play cards.
Nadezhda Andreevna died on March 21, 1866, she was 83 years old. The “cavalry maiden” was buried with full military honors.
Contrary to the title of Ryazanov’s film – “The Hussar Ballad”, the prototype of Shurochka Azarova is a “cavalry maiden.” Nadezhda Durova did not serve in the hussars for long, mainly in the lancers. Because as a hussar it was difficult for her to fight off ladies in love...
In the early 1830s, on the streets of Yelabuga it was easy to meet an inconspicuous gentleman of about fifty wearing trousers, a military-style cap and a blue Cossack caftan, with the St. George Cross on his chest. This man was short, frail, had a pockmarked and wrinkled face, mouse-colored hair and eyes - in a word, the most unattractive appearance. But as soon as the little gentleman, somewhere at a party, in good company, sat comfortably in the smoking room, resting one hand on his knee, and holding a long-stemmed pipe in the other, and started talking about past battles, about life on the march, about dashing comrades - how his small, expressionless eyes lit up with the fire of enthusiasm, his face became animated, and it became clear to everyone that this was a man who had experienced a lot, had sniffed plenty of gunpowder, was a glorious grunt, a hero, and generally a good fellow. And if at the same time some stray stranger suddenly turned up in the smoking room, then one of the locals did not deny himself the pleasure of whispering in his ear: “But retired captain Alexandrov is a woman!” What followed was a silent scene...
When the book “Cavalry Maiden” was published in 1836. An Incident in Russia,” the curtain lifted on the mystery of this strange masquerade.
Yelabuga in the 19th centuryPUSHKIN LAUGHS
But the world might not know about Nadezhda Durova. Her memoirs were published thanks to a coincidence of circumstances and hilarity. In 1829, in the Caucasus, he met a certain Vasily Andreevich Durov and was delighted with this man’s special kind of naive cynicism. Pushkin could not part with him for several days, and laughed all the time. “He was being treated for some amazing disease, like catalepsy, and played cards from morning to night,” the poet recalled. “Finally he lost the game, and I took him to Moscow in my carriage.” Durov was obsessed with one thing: he absolutely wanted to have a hundred thousand rubles.” Durov thought and changed his mind about all possible ways to get them. It happened that he woke up Pushkin at night: “Alexander Sergeevich! So how can I get a hundred thousand?” Pushkin answered the first thing he came across, for example: “Steal!” “I thought about it,” Durov answered, not at all surprised, “but not everyone can find a hundred thousand in their pocket, and I don’t want to kill or rob a person for a trifle: I have a conscience.” “Steal the regimental treasury,” Pushkin advised another time. It turned out that Durov had already considered this option, but found many difficulties in it. “Ask the sovereign for money,” Pushkin again advised. Durov, it turns out, had already thought about this, and not only thought, but even wrote to the Tsar! "How?! Without any right to do so?” - Pushkin laughed. “Well, yes, that’s how I started my letter: so, so, so, your Majesty! I have no right to ask you for anything that would make my life happy; but there is no example at mercy.” - “And what did the sovereign answer you?” - “Alas, nothing!” Pushkin continued to invent more and more fantastic options: “Ask Rothschild!” - “I thought about this too. But the only way To lure Rothschild out of a hundred thousand is to amuse him. Tell a joke that would cost a hundred thousand. But how many difficulties! So many difficulties!..” Pushkin was amazed: it was impossible to name such a wild absurdity that Durov would no longer think about... They parted on the fact that Vasily Andreevich would ask the English for money, writing them a letter: “Gentlemen, English! I bet 10,000 rubles that you would not refuse to lend me 100,000. Gentlemen, Englishmen! Spare me the loss that I forced myself into in the hope of your world-famous generosity.” For several years then the poet did not hear anything about Durov, and then he received a letter: “My story is short: I got married, but still no money.” Pushkin replied: “I regret that out of 100,000 ways to get 100,000 rubles, apparently you haven’t succeeded in one yet.” The next time Durov wrote to him about his sister, who wanted to publish her memoirs. Having familiarized himself with them, Alexander Sergeevich was amazed at the quirkiness of the entire family. But the memoirs were good, really good. For the first time a woman wrote about the war - and this was felt in every paragraph. The disposition, the course of the battle, the cunning maneuvers - Durova did not stop at anything like that. But she described in detail what it was like to wear uncomfortable boots, how cold she was, how her leg hurt, how she wanted to sleep and how scared she was that one day she would still be exposed. Pushkin appreciated the charm and originality of these notes and undertook to publish them in his Sovremennik.
For 10 years of her life, Nadezhda Durova looked something like this. Just without the mustache
MUSTACHED NANNY
This, perhaps the strangest woman of the early 19th century, described her birth in amazing detail, as if she realized herself from the first minutes on earth and even earlier. Durova's mother was a beauty, and also the heiress of one of the richest gentlemen of Little Russia. And she chose no match for her groom - a hussar captain, neither a stake nor a yard, and even, to her father’s displeasure, a Muscovite. Without obtaining consent from her parents, the headstrong girl, one beautiful Ukrainian night, sneaking out of the house, holding her shoes in her hands. Captain Durov's carriage was waiting for her outside the gate. The fugitives got married in the first rural church that came their way. Over time, the bride's parents forgave them. But, alas, the inheritance was still cut.
Durov brought his young wife to his regiment, and they lived on his meager officer's allowance. Soon the newlywed discovered that she was pregnant. This news did not bring her great joy: life without money, without clothes, without servants is not easy, and then there is also a child. Besides, for some reason she was sure that a boy would be born, she came up with beautiful name- Modest, but a girl was born. “The regimental ladies told her that a mother who breastfeeds her child begins to love him through this very thing,” Durova narrates in her book. “They brought me in, my mother took me from the woman’s arms and put me to her chest. But, apparently, I felt that it was not motherly love that gave me food, and therefore, despite all the efforts to force me to take the breast, I did not take it. Bored that I didn’t take it for a long time, my mother stopped looking at me and started talking to the lady who was visiting her. At this time, I suddenly grabbed my mother’s breast and squeezed it with all my strength with my gums. My mother screamed shrilly, pulled me away from her breast and, throwing me into the woman’s arms, fell face down into the pillows. “Take it away, take the worthless child out of my sight and never show it,” said the mother, waving her hand and covering her head with a pillow.”
Nadenka Durova at 14 years old
Further more. Once we were riding in a carriage, and one-year-old Nadya kept screaming and wouldn’t stop. And then the mother, in annoyance, snatched it from the nanny’s hands and threw it out the window. The bloody bundle was picked up by the hussars. To everyone's amazement, the child was alive. The father, having learned about what had happened, gave Nadya to the care of private hussar Astakhov - away from his mother. The hussar raised the girl until she was five years old. Nadya's first toys were a pistol and a saber. And she learned to ride on horseback before she could walk. And then life changed dramatically - my father resigned and received a position as mayor in the city of Sarapul, Vyatka province. The girl was separated from the hussar Astakhov and again entered the care of her hard-hearted mother, who, having discovered too much boyishness in her daughter, began to hastily retrain her according to the model appropriate to the female sex. Nadya was sat down to do needlework, for which she turned out to be amazingly incapable, and her mother shouted: “Others boast about the work of their daughters, but I am ashamed, I run quickly to close your disgusting lace! Magpies couldn’t make such a mess!” And the girl was drawn to run around the meadow, ride on horseback, sing, scream, and even cause explosions by throwing gunpowder into the stove. But all this was forbidden to Nadenka. It turned out that women's World, destined for her from birth, is a world of boredom, lack of freedom and meager affairs, and the male world, which she managed to fall in love with, is a world of freedom, freedom and activity. In addition, she was not pretty, with pockmarks all over her face, and she was dark, which in those days was considered a big disadvantage. Even the maid reproached her: “You should at least wash your face with something, young lady, horseradish or sour milk" But most offensive of all are the words of the father: “If instead of Nadezhda I had a son, I would not worry about what would happen to me in my old age.” However, he also had a son (Nadya’s younger brother and Pushkin’s future acquaintance), and his father openly preferred him over his daughter...
She's 20 years old
How many tears were shed from all these grievances! Sometimes it seemed to Nadenka that she had no place among people at all. Well! She became attached to the horse - her father's stallion Alcides, considered evil and indomitable, was obedient to her, like a dog. At night, when the house fell silent, the girl sneaked into the stable, took Alcides out and indulged in a mad race. One day, returning home in the morning, she could not find the strength to undress and fell asleep right in her riding clothes - this is how her night walks began. The mother, once again complaining that she could not cope with such a terrible daughter, sent her out of sight - to her relatives in Ukraine. An event happened there that almost reconciled the pupil of the hussar Astakhov with the female lot. A romantic neighbor's young man, the son of a wealthy landowner Kiriyakova, fell in love with her, despite all her ugliness. Every morning they ran on dates - to church, to early liturgy. In the vestibule they sat on a bench and talked in a half-whisper, holding hands. But sudden piety young man His mother alerted him, she found out about everything - and forbade her son to even dream of marrying the dowry Durova. “I missed young Kiriyak for a long time. This was my first inclination, and I think that if they had given me away for him then, I would have said goodbye to warlike plans forever,” writes Durova. But there is something she doesn’t mention a word about in her book. That at the age of 18, by the will of her parents, she was married to an insignificant and boring man - assessor Vasily Stepanovich Chernov. And that a year later a son, Ivan, was born, to whom Nadezhda remained as callously indifferent as she was to her husband (and as her own mother treated her). And that in the end, having fallen in love with a visiting Cossack esaul, she rode off on the faithful Alkida after his regiment, changing into a Cossack dress. For some time, Durova lived with her esaul under the guise of an orderly, but this union also turned out to be fragile: somewhere near the western border of the empire, Nadezhda left her lover. None of this is mentioned in her “Notes...”. The six years during which all these events took place were erased by Durova from her own biography using a simple technique: it follows from the book that she was born in 1789, while in fact - in 1783.
It must be said that it was not so rare for the mistresses and wives of officers to dress up as orderlies in order to accompany their lovers on military campaigns. But sooner or later the ladies returned home - in female guise, of course. But Nadezhda Durova did not return. For her, with her penchant for weapons, horse riding, wide open spaces and nomadic life, the army environment suited her like water suited a fish. But it was absolutely impossible to stay with the Cossacks. The fact is that Cossacks were supposed to wear a beard, but Nadezhda Andreevna did not have a beard. When she joined the regiment, the question of beardlessness did not arise: Durova was mistaken for a 14-year-old boy. But it’s clear that even after a year or two, the “young man” still won’t show any signs of maturation on his face - and then what? And then another sharp-eyed Cossack woman whispered, grinning: “Young lady, listen to what I tell you...” Nadenka did not show that she was scared. But I realized: it was time to join the regular army, where beards were not required.
Having somehow reached the location of the nearest cavalry regiment - it turned out to be the Konnopolsky Uhlan - she came to the captain, called herself Alexander Vasilyevich Sokolov and asked to serve. “Are you a nobleman? How did it happen that you wear a Cossack uniform?” - the captain was surprised (there were no nobles among the ordinary Cossacks). “My father did not want to send me to military service, I left quietly and joined the Cossack regiment.” They believed her, enlisted her as a comrade in the regiment (a private rank of noble origin) and gave her a uniform with woolen epaulettes, a shako with a plume, a white belt with a pouch and boots with huge spurs. “It’s all very clean, very beautiful and very heavy!” - Durova wrote down.
“CORNET, ARE YOU A WOMAN?”
Every morning for her now began with learning military techniques. “I must, however, admit that I get mortally tired, waving a heavy pike - especially twirling it over my head; and I've already hit myself on the head several times. I’m not quite calm with my saber; It still seems to me that I will cut myself with it; however, I would rather hurt myself than show the slightest timidity.” Less than six months later, she had the opportunity to test her courage in battle for the first time - in the great European war, which Russia, in alliance with England, Sweden and Prussia, led against Napoleon. “Our regiment went on the attack several times, but not together, but in squadrons. I was scolded for going on the attack with each squadron; but this, really, was not from excessive courage, but simply from ignorance; I thought it was necessary, and was very surprised that the sergeant of another squadron, next to which I was rushing, shouted at me: “Get out of here! Why are you jumping here?”
In the very first battle, she managed to accomplish a feat and almost lost her faithful Alcides. It happened like this: Durova saw how the enemy dragoons knocked some Russian officer off his horse and were already raising their sabers to kill him. She hurried to the rescue with a pike at the ready. Amazingly, her appearance turned out to be menacing enough for the French to flee, and the wounded officer was saved. I had to put him on my horse. Durova entrusted the running up private infantryman with the reins to lead Alkid with his half-dead luggage away from the battle, stipulating the condition that the horse would be sent to her to the Konnopolsky regiment. And she herself remained on foot amidst the general jumping and shooting. Less than a few hours later she met a familiar lieutenant riding on Alcide. Durova gasped and rushed across. “Is this horse yours? - the lieutenant was surprised. “Some swindler just sold it to me for two ducats.” Alcides later saved her life several times. Then Durova will fall asleep at a halt, and in the meantime they are ordered to retreat, and the horse, snorting, will wake her up, and then by some miracle take her straight to the new location of the regiment. Then, without any coercion, he will jump far to the side when he is under legs will fall enemy grenade - one could only be amazed that the fragments did not hit either the horse or the rider. Later, when Alcides died (after stagnating in the stall, he broke out to frolic, began jumping over the peasant fences, and a sharpened stake was sticking out of one, which pierced the horse’s belly), it became a terrible shock for Nadezhda Andreevna. She seriously grieved that she had not been able to die with her Alcides. Actually, besides this horse and the war, she had nothing good in her life.
Her only love is Emperor Alexander I
It’s amazing, but, having been in battles over and over again, waving either a saber or a pike, Nadezhda did not shed anyone else’s blood at all (this would still be beyond her feminine strength!). The only creature she killed was a goose, which she caught and beheaded for Christmas dinner for her starving troop. Meanwhile, the position of the army was getting worse. At the end of May 1807, the French drove the Russians into a trap. The left bank of the Alle River was least suitable for defense, and the disposition was so unfortunate that Napoleon did not believe his eyes and suspected some kind of military trick, but alas! There was no trick. Durova's regiment found itself in a living hell - a narrow place between the river and the ravine, along which the enemy was firing cannonballs. Night, crush, panic - the scream was terrible. Those who managed to get out fell under French bayonets. Ten thousand Russians died in that battle, and the war was lost. The matter ended with the Tsar and Napoleon meeting and concluding the Peace of Tilsit. This event turned out to be fateful in Durova’s life! After all, in Tilsit she saw the sovereign for the first time and... fell in love. However, this was not surprising. Everyone was captivated by the sovereign: privates, non-commissioned officers, young officers and gray-haired generals... Despite all its troubles, the army roared with delight and devoured with its eyes the one to whom, in essence, it owed its defeat. “Our sovereign is handsome,” explains Durova. - Meekness and mercy are depicted in his big blue eyes, the greatness of his soul in his noble features and extraordinary pleasantness on his rosy lips! Along with the expression of goodness, a kind of girlish shyness is depicted on the pretty face of our young king.” Compared to Alexander, she didn’t like Napoleon at all: fat, short, round eyes, anxious gaze - what kind of hero is this, even with all his immense glory? Since then, the loving Ulan Sokolov - aka Nadenka - began to secretly dream of seeing the adored sovereign again. The dream came true quite quickly - and in a completely unexpected way.
It all started with a strange call to the commander-in-chief. Lancer Sokolov was not such a person that they would be interested in him so much high level- even taking into account the fact that in less than a year he rose to the rank of non-commissioned officer. But the commander-in-chief said: “I have heard a lot about your bravery. And now the sovereign wants to see you, I must send you to him.” What all this meant was absolutely not clear. Durova's weapons were taken away and she was led to the sleigh under guard. After several days of anxiety and fortune-telling, she ended up in St. Petersburg, and was immediately received by the sovereign. Actually, almost exactly the same scene took place as shown in Ryazanov’s film. The only difference is that it was not Kutuzov, but Emperor Alexander, who, after circling around the bush a bit, gained determination and asked a direct question: “I heard that you are not a man, is this true?” It turned out that Nadenka was given away by a letter written to her father after escaping from home - Durova asked for blessings to join the regiment. Her father, using all his connections in the army, managed to find her. And having found her, he demanded that the fugitive be brought home.
Happy rival - Marya Antonovna Naryshkina
“Yes, Your Majesty, it is true!” - Nadezhda looked down. They looked at each other - and both blushed. The Emperor was sensitive and shy, Durova was in love. She told him everything she could about the reasons that prompted her to decide on such an extravagant act, and about the hardships that she had to endure in the war. The king just sighed and gasped. “Your superiors speak of you with great praise,” he concluded. “You are entitled to a reward, after which I will return you home with honor.” At these words, Nadezhda Andreevna screamed in horror and fell at his feet, hugging the royal knees: “Don’t send me home, Your Majesty! Don't send it! I'll die there! Don’t take away my life, which I voluntarily wanted to sacrifice for you!” - “What do you want?” - Alexander asked embarrassedly. “Be a warrior! Wear a uniform and a weapon! This is the only reward you can give me!” That's what they decided on. The Tsar also came up with the idea of transferring Durova to some other regiment and giving her a new name so that her relatives would not be able to find her again. So the non-commissioned officer of the Konnopol Uhlan Regiment, Alexander Vasilyevich Sokolov, became an officer of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment, Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov. The choice of such a surname hinted at the great favor and patronage of Tsar Alexander.
That evening Durova wrote in her diary: “I saw him! I spoke to him! My heart is too full and so inexplicably happy that I cannot find expressions to describe my feelings!” Before leaving for the regiment, she was once again called to the palace and introduced to the tsar’s favorite, the incomparable Maria Antonovna Naryshkina. A contemporary wrote about this woman: “Who in Russia does not know the name of Maria Antonovna? I remember how, with my mouth open, I stood in front of her box (in the theater) and stupidly marveled at her beauty, so perfect that it seemed impossible.” Even from the outside it was clear that the Tsar adored Naryshkin. Durova was surprised at herself: no jealousy, no bitterness, no envy for this brilliant, elegant beauty, who held in her lovely hands the heart of the one with whom Durova was so desperately in love. Naryshkina is simply the most beautiful of women, and Durova, in her own opinion, surpassed her, earning the right to be a man from the Tsar! “I have always loved looking at ladies’ outfits, although I wouldn’t put them on myself for any price; although their cambric, satin, velvet, flowers, feathers and diamonds are seductively beautiful, but my Ulan tunic is better! At least it suits me better, but this, they say, is a condition of good taste: dressing to suit your face.”
People constantly fell in love with her... alas, women
And how fitting the thin, beardless second lieutenant Aleksandrov was in a smart hussar uniform! A gold-embroidered mentik, a shako on one side, all these laces, fringes, tassels... And in the provincial provinces, where after the conclusion of peace the regiments stood idle, ladies and young ladies, as you know, breathed unevenly towards the hussars! Under their gaze, now constantly turned to her, Durova felt terrible: “It’s enough for a woman to look at me intently to make me confused: it seems to me that she will understand my secret.” But nothing like that! The beauties saw in Nadezhda Andreevna only a man, and a very attractive one. In the end, Second Lieutenant Aleksandrov had to transfer from the Hussars back to the Lancers because of one young lady, the colonel’s daughter, - she cried all night long, and her father expressed more and more obvious irritation: why, they say, Second Lieutenant Aleksandrov turns up his nose at his girl and does not deign Make proposal?
Meanwhile, some vague rumors were circulating in the army about a female cavalryman: either a freak, or, on the contrary, a beauty, or an old woman, or a very young girl. It was also known that the king himself patronized her. Sometimes these stories reached her ears. However, Second Lieutenant Alexandrov learned to listen to such conversations almost without embarrassment. As well as jokes from fellow soldiers about his lack of mustache, thin figure, too small and weak hands, modesty and timidity with ladies. “Alexandrov blushes every time you mention a woman’s leg in front of him,” his colleagues laughed. - And you know, gentlemen, why? Yes, because he... (followed by a dramatic pause) is a virgin, gentlemen! They clearly had no idea about anything. And yet, just in case, Durova went to consult the regimental doctor: how could she get rid of the blush on her cheeks? “Drink more wine, spend your nights playing cards and in red tape. After two months of this commendable lifestyle, you will get the most interesting pallor of your face,” advised the doctor.
She felt that she seemed exposed only after meeting Kutuzov. Whether he himself examined the obvious with his only eye, or learned something from the king is unknown. But only after meeting Durova near Smolensk in 1812, at the beginning of the Patriotic War, the old commander addressed her with exaggerated affection: “So it’s you? I've heard about you. Very glad, very glad! Remain as my orderly if you wish.” From then on, she began to notice that even in the regiment they looked at her differently. For example, they try once again Do not use strong swear words in front of her. “Do they know or not?” - Durova wondered. Judging by one letter from hussar, partisan and poet Denis Davydov, they knew! “It was rumored that Alexandrov was a woman, but only slightly,” Davydov wrote. “She was very secluded and avoided society as much as you can avoid it in bivouacs. One day, at a rest stop, I happened to enter a hut together with an officer of the regiment in which Alexandrov served. There we found a young Uhlan officer, who had just seen me, stood up, bowed, took his shako and went out. Volkov told me: “This is Alexandrov, who, they say, is a woman.” I rushed to the porch, but he was already galloping far away. Subsequently I saw her at the front.”
During World War II she already commanded a half-squadron. On the day of the Battle of Borodino, she defended the Semenov flushes with her regiment. She was shell-shocked in the leg by a cannonball fragment. Having recovered, she returned to the front line again, drove the French throughout Europe, distinguished herself during the blockade of the Modlin fortress and the capture of the city of Hamburg... In 1816, Nadezhda Andreevna finally calmed down and retired with the rank of captain. Durova was 33 years old, of which she served in the army for ten years.
Durova took part in the Battle of Borodino and was wounded. But again she did not shed a drop of blood even in this “meat grinder” MORE CAVALRY GIRLS
There was a time when Nadezhda Andreevna’s civic boredom was brightened up by a new affection - a tiny dog named Amur. “And how could you not love him! Meekness has an irresistible power over our hearts. Poor thing! How he hovered around my feet. One day at dawn she let him out of the room; but a quarter of an hour passed, he was gone. I went looking for it - it was nowhere to be found! I called - no! Finally my dog came and sat outside the gate. Hearing her barking, I looked out the window and couldn’t help but laugh: she, like a big one, raised her muzzle up and howled. But I paid dearly for that laughter!” It turned out that the dog was mortally wounded. Cupid died in the mistress's arms. “From that time on, I happened to dance all night and laugh a lot, but true joy was never in my soul: it lay in the grave of my Cupid. Many will find this strange; maybe worse than strange.” Actually, she had three such shocks in her life: the death of Alcides, Cupid, and a few years after that - Alexander I. Hardly anyone mourned the Tsar more bitterly than Nadezhda Andreevna, not counting the Empress...
Late portrait of Durova
WITH ordinary people Things were still not going well for Durova. There was no point in even thinking about returning to my husband and son! However, she was sheltered by her younger brother - the same Vasily Andreevich Durov, Pushkin’s acquaintance. While living with him, Nadezhda Andreevna began to write out of melancholy, not at all expecting that this empty activity would bring her together with Pushkin himself. But the incredible happened, and Alexander Sergeevich invited her - as a writer - to St. Petersburg. The first meeting with Pushkin turned out to be awkward: the gallant poet complimented Nadezhda Andreevna and kissed her hand - Durova blushed and became confused: “Oh, my God! I’ve been out of the habit of this for so long!” She could write about herself in the feminine gender (this is how her memoirs were written), but she could no longer speak. I forgot how... The novel “Cavalry Maiden. Incident in Russia”, when published, instantly became a sensation. Everyone definitely wanted to meet Durova - she had become fashionable. She published four more volumes of novels and stories: “Elena, T-skaya’s beauty”, “Count Mavritsky”, “Yarchuk the dog-spirit-seer”. But interest in her creations faded away as soon as the fickle St. Petersburg society found some new fashionable toy. Now, if they remembered Durova at all, it was something like this: “Fi! She’s ugly, and besides, she expresses herself like a soldier on the parade ground.” “No one needs me, and everyone is decisively cooling towards me, completely and forever,” Durova stated and quietly returned to her brother in Elabuga, where by that time he had received the position of mayor. In the capital, no one noticed her departure...
Francesca Scanagatta
One day in Yelabuga she received a letter from Ivan Vasilyevich Chernov. Her son! He asked for blessings for the wedding. Seeing the address “mama,” Durova, without reading, threw the letter into the fire. The son waited and waited and then sent another - this time turning to his mother, as befits: Alexander Andreevich. She answered briefly and formally. Like, bless you.
Durova even bequeathed her funeral service as God's servant Alexander. However, when at the age of 82 she left this world that was not very kind to her, the priest considered it an empty whim and to violate church rules didn't...
Irina STRELNIKOVA #a completely different city excursions around Moscow
P.S. Amazingly, Durova was not unique in her fate. At the same time, a certain Alexandra Tikhomirova fought with her under the name of her own brother - the secret was revealed only after her heroic death. Around the same time, an Italian woman, Francesca Scanagatta, served in the Austrian army, who was exposed and sent into retirement with a scandal (however, she was awarded an officer’s pension). They say that there were similar cases in both Prussian and French armies. It’s probably all his fault: it was his loud military glory, his dizzying rise that drove his contemporaries crazy, giving rise to a real cult of a military career! Here it was difficult for women to stay away. Especially those whom nature has endowed with an energetic and enterprising character, but social norms did not allow them to show all this. And yet, even among other Amazons, Durova is the most unusual. A participant in the Napoleonic Wars, who served the longest, who advanced the furthest up the career ladder, she also immortalized her story in a book that became famous. And all this - instead of the life of a provincial assessor. Perhaps her choice is not stupid at all...
The same human type...