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Birthday anniversary of Count Alexey A. Arakcheyev
September 23 (October 4), 1769 was born Count Alexei A. Arakcheyev, a statesman and military leader, Secretary of War of the Russian Empire, reformer and reorganizer of the army, head of military settlements, general of artillery.
The old Novgorod noble family of Arakcheyevs derived from Ivan S. Arakcheyev, who was granted land in Bezhetskaya pyatina for his service in late 16th century. Alexei's father, Andrei, retired in the rank of lieutenant of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment and settled in a small family estate. The first mentor of the future count was a rural clerk, who taught him the basics of literacy and exact sciences.
Aged 14, Arakcheyev became a cadet of the Gentry artillery and engineering cadet corps. Due to his advances in the study, he was successively promoted to corporal, furir and sergeant. In 1787, Arakcheyev received the first officer rank of lieutenant, and stayed in the corps as a tutor and lecturer in mathematics and artillery. At that time he was actively engaged in theoretical questions of use of artillery in the fighting, wrote the "Brief artillery notes: Questions and Answers," which had not gone unnoticed during Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. In 1789, Arakcheyev was transferred from the corps to the army and appointed commander of a special Grenadier crew of one of the artillery units.
In the summer of 1791, Alexei received the rank of captain and became the senior aide to the headquarters of General of Artillery P. I. Melissino. A year later, at the request of the latter, the educated young officer was seconded troops, created in Gatchina, of the Crown Prince Paul Petrovich - the future Emperor Paul I. Diligence, knowledge and eagerness of Arakcheev soon enabled him to become the chief of all the Gatchina artillery, to which he brought the perfect order. Pavel Petrovich favored the young officer, and Arakcheyev quickly moved up the corporate ladder: in 1793 he was promoted to the rank of Major, a year later, he became head of the economic sector of the Gatchina troops, and in 1796, in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel became inspector of the Pavlovskaya artillery and infantry, at the same time being the head of the Gatchina garrison.
Immediately after the death of Empress Catherine II and the accession of Paul I, Arakcheyev was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed commandant of the city, promoted to major general and awarded the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree. After the solemn coronation of the new emperor in Moscow, Alexei became the Quartermaster General of the entire Russian army, and some time later began to combine the post with the command of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Arakcheyev initiated military reforms, efficiently spreading the order of the Gatchina garrison in the entire army.
Ruthless struggle against bribery, the introduction of strict discipline, putting in order the material and educational sectors, introduction of uniform service in all units and divisions, indiscriminate dismissal of the officers who did not accept the new reform - all this caused strong discontent and murmuring, especially in Guard units where servicemen were accustomed to free life and easy service. Arakcheyev introduced new regulations, developed earlier on the basis of the Gatchina troops, set up strict discipline and significantly improved conditions of service of the lower ranks, which Alexei considered the pledge of the strong armed forces.
Soon, however, he suddenly fell out of favor with Paul, and in the spring of 1798 was dismissed. The disgrace did not last long, and six months later, Alexei was readmitted to the service already in the rank of lieutenant general. In May 1799, Arakcheyev was granted the title of count, and on the re-approved coat of arms of the Arakcheyevs, Paul I personally put the famous slogan "Faithful without flattery." The count, who was actively fighting the abuse, soon ran into trouble himself: trying to shield his brother Andrew, whose battalion soldiers were involved in the abduction of wealth, he unfairly maligned General I. I. Wilde. The emperor, having learned about it, demonstrated his perseverance and, despite his genuine benevolence toward Alexei, dismissed him from military service.
In 1803, during the reign of the new Emperor Alexander I, Arakcheyev resumed the service and was appointed to the position of inspector of all the artillery and the commander of the Life Guards Artillery Battalion. In a few years, Alexei managed to radically reform this branch of service, making the Russian artillery one of the strongest in the world. Under his leadership, the organizational and staff structure of the military units was changed, new units were formed, the work was carried out on the radical upgrading and improving the quality of maintenance supply of units, primary and secondary military schools for lower ranks and officers were set up. In addition, new guidelines and instructions on fighting were published and implemented, training of personnel was improved, numerous practical trainings were organized.
In 1807, Arakcheyev was promoted to general of artillery, and a year later was appointed Minister of War and Inspector-General of all the infantry and artillery. Arakcheyev’s tireless energy in the reorganization of the entire military structure of the country, the introduction of new advanced orders in combat and daily operation of the troops soon brought results and were not slow to affect the course of the hostilities in the Patriotic War and the overseas campaigns, which ended with a triumph of the Russian army. After the victorious end of the war, Alexander’s credibility to Arakcheyev was unwavering, and Alexei was more and more often instructed to implement the ideas not only on military matters, but also on civil ones.
One of the major transformations related to the name of Arakcheyev, was the establishment of military settlements, due to which his name had been firmly established in the national history. It was a special system of troops’ organization, implemented with a view to train a reserve. The main idea of the military settlements was a combination of combat training with different economic functions - organization of construction and land-reclamation works, transport, industry and agriculture of the area where a unit was quartered. The expected benefits, such as reducing government’s maintenance costs of the army, elimination of recruitments in peacetime, borders protection security and simplifying of troops’ re-deployment during the hostilities, and finally, creation of a prosperous military and agricultural estate, were leveled by extremely rigid methods of implementing the reform.
In 1815-1825, Arakcheyev’s impact on the life of the Russian Empire was enormous. Tireless work of the count that concerned almost all aspects of Russian society, as well as the boundless trust and favor of the Emperor that he enjoyed, caused obvious displeasure and anger in different circles. It is no accident that the time was called "arakcheyevshchina" – the name that firmly settled in the minds of his contemporaries and historians. After the death of Alexander I, Arakcheyev almost immediately withdrew from public affairs, and retired. However, Nicholas I, who inherited the throne, let him to keep the rank of a member of the State Council. One of the reasons for the dislike of Alexei Andreyevich by the new emperor was the actual disengagement of the latter from participation in suppressing the Decembrist revolt.
The last years of his life Arakcheyev spent in his estate Gruzino, Novgorod province. Alexei Arakcheyev died on April 21 (May 3), 1834 at the age of 64.
Lit.: Гейнце Н. Э. Аракчеев. М., 1994; Коваленко А. Ю. Эпоха Александра I в контексте государственной деятельности А. А. Аракчеева. Комс. н./Амуре, 1999; Кузнецов В. Н. Судьба и наследие графа Аракчеева // Клио. 1998, № 2 (5); Кункль А. А. Аракчеевщина. М., 1929; Томсинов В. А. Временщик: А. А. Аракчеев. М., 1996; Фёдоров В. А. М. М. Сперанский и А. А. Аракчеев. М., 1997; Ячменихин К. М. Алексей Андреевич Аракчеев // Российские консерваторы. М., 1997.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Аракчеев и военные поселения: Воспоминания современников. М., 1908;
Богословский Н. Г. Рассказы о былом: времена военных поселений. Новгород, 1865;
Доу Дж. Портрет Алексея Андреевича Аракчеева (1769-1834): Изоматериал. 1824;
Кайгородов В. Аракчеевщина. М., 1912;
Петров А. Н. Граф Аракчеев и военные поселения. 1809-1831. СПб., 1871;
Ратч В. Ф. Сведения о графе Алексее Андреевиче Аракчееве. Ч. 1. СПб., 1864;