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Historical site Bagheera - secrets of history, mysteries of the universe. Secrets of great empires and ancient civilizations, the fate of disappeared treasures and biographies of people who changed the world, secrets of intelligence agencies. Chronicle of the war, description of battles and battles, reconnaissance operations of the past and present. World traditions, modern life Russia, unknown to the USSR, the main directions of culture and other related topics - everything that official science is silent about.

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It is generally accepted that the last Russian emperor was Nicholas II. But that's not true. The reign of the Romanov dynasty ended with the reign younger brother Nikolai Alexandrovich - Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, it was just record-breakingly short: just one day - from March 2 to 3, 1917.

History has many secrets and mysteries, but, as a rule, time is the best assistant in solving them. Well, for example, quite recently, not only in school textbooks, but even in serious books, it was stated that Knight armour They were so heavy that the warrior wearing them, having fallen, could no longer get up on his own. But today, when you visit the Arms Museum in the English city of Leeds, you can see how those dressed in metal armor In the Tudor era, knights not only fight each other with swords, but also jump with them, which seems completely incredible. However, there were even more advanced knightly armor that belonged to kings, and in particular to King Henry VIII.

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“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.

TO end of the XVIII century, Russia was firmly entrenched in southern borders Ural ridge, however, 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 for the most part 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 short term the following were prepared for the campaign: 41 cavalry regiment and two companies horse artillery, 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 path 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 that were wet from the melted snow, and rivers that had just begun to free themselves from 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 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 a partition agreement. 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.

– Twenty thousand Cossacks –
To India, on a hike! –
Paul the First ordered
In my last year.
A.I. Mordovina - “Poems about the Don Cossacks”

The first attempts to reach India through Central Asia arose in 1700 under Peter I, when the Khan of Khiva Shaniaz declared to the Tsar his desire to receive Russian citizenship. Such an increase in the number of subjects brought absolutely nothing to Peter I due to the remoteness of the territory of Khiva from Russia, and had only symbolic significance, raising the prestige of the power. However, at the beginning of 1714, news reached St. Petersburg that the Khivans had rich reserves of gold-bearing sands, which they were diligently hiding from the Russians. In the same 1714, to confirm this information and search for routes to India and Central Asia, the king sent an expedition from Siberia under the leadership of the guard of Lieutenant Buchholz. In 1716, Buchholz built a fortress near Lake Yamysh for the winter, but, finding himself under siege by the local Kalmyk tribe, he did not tempt fate, agreed to the terms of the Kalmyk Khan, destroyed the fortress and sailed home. The second expedition, led by Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky, was assembled with complete seriousness and care. However, this campaign was also expected to fail. The Khivans captured and sent Bekovich-Cherkassky and his companions to prison; the prince was later executed. However, the king did not give up attempts to explore the route to India. He sent the Tatar Murza Tevtelev there through the territory of the Persians. But Murza was captured in Persia. After the death of Peter I, Catherine II also made attempts to explore Central Asia.

V. Borovikovsky. "Paul I wearing the crown, dalmatic and insignia of the Order of Malta." 1820

At the end of the 18th century, there was a confrontation between two great powers - France and England, which had been going on for many years with varying success. Russia, together with Great Britain, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of Naples, was part of the anti-French coalition. A number of brilliant victories of Suvorov in Italy, active actions Black Sea Fleet Ushakov forced other countries to respect the interests of our Motherland. But the failure of the joint invasion of Holland with England gave rise to disagreements among the allies, and the capture by British troops of Malta, which Paul I took under the protection of the Order of Malta in 1798, led to Russia's withdrawal from the coalition. Russian-British relations virtually ceased, and Paul I entered into an alliance with France in 1800.

India was lost to the French in the Seven Years' War and always attracted Napoleon. Most of all, he wanted to bring Great Britain to its knees, and the main wealth of the English land was its huge, fertile, forested valuable trees India. It was from there that they were taken gems, silk fabrics and bread. Without supplies of Indian raw materials, England's industry would face inevitable collapse, and the exploitation of China would become impossible due to the lack of opium. The British military forces in Bengal consisted of only two thousand English soldiers and thirty thousand Indians, trained in European methods of warfare. But their loyalty to the British crown was always in question. IN early XIX century, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Russian Emperor Paul I came up with a plan for the Indian Campaign. It provided for a combined operation of the French (with artillery support) and Russian infantry corps. Each corps included 35,000 people, not counting the Cossack cavalry and artillery. According to the plan, the French army was supposed to cross the Danube and the Black Sea, pass through all of Southern Russia, uniting with the Russian army at the mouth of the Volga. Then both corps, having crossed the Caspian Sea, landed in the Persian port of Astrabad and then went through Kandahar and Herat to India. An agreement was reached with Turkish Sultan for the passage of French ships with landing forces through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. IN Indian Ocean Three Russian frigates should have arrived from Kamchatka, which perhaps could compete with the English ships located there.

The adventurous nature of these actions was due to a number of circumstances, the main one of which was the extremely scarce information about the Asian region. Of course, Napoleon Bonaparte talked about the East with French scientists, diplomats, and intelligence officers and was aware that there would be many unforeseen difficulties in the way of his plan, but this did not bother him much.

Napoleon asked Paul I the question: “How will the Russian-French army penetrate into India through almost wild, barren countries, making a campaign of three hundred leagues from Astrabad to the borders of Hindustan?” The Russian Tsar dispelled his fears, expressing confidence in the success of the operation.

Paul I and Napoleon believed that the two of them were no worse than Alexander the Great. And if the hated British were able to conquer India alone, then why shouldn’t they be able to do it together? According to general calculations, no more than five months should have passed from the time the French regiments were sent from the Rhine to the complete conquest of India.

So that the ally would not doubt the loyalty of the Russians, Paul I in January 1801 gave the order to the Cossack troops to go on a campaign. The tsar entrusted the implementation of this operation to the ataman of the Don troops, Vasily Orlov. Due to the ataman’s advanced years, Paul I appointed officer Matvey Platov to support him, who, by the way, was released directly from the cell of the Alekseevsky ravelin for this purpose. The operation was completely secret. In St. Petersburg they only had information that the Cossacks were setting off on a campaign somewhere. Only five senior Cossack officers knew that they had to walk thousands of kilometers across the deserted steppe, and then through the sandy desert, cross the mountains, passing through all of Central Asia and the Pamirs. On the way, they were ordered to occupy Bukhara, and in Khiva to release all Russian prisoners. At the same time, Paul ordered “not to offend the peoples they meet along the route of the detachment, and kindly bring them into Russian citizenship.” As a reward to the Cossacks, he promised all the wealth of India.

The Emperor wrote to Orlov: “In India, the British have their own trading establishments, acquired either with money or. 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.”

In a short time, 41 cavalry regiments with two companies of horse artillery were prepared for the campaign. In total, about twenty-two thousand Cossacks gathered. The state treasury allocated a fabulous sum of 1.5 million rubles for the operation.

This is how General of the Imperial Army Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov depicts the events that took place on the Don: “Where and why the campaign was planned - no one knew about it. Everyone, down to the last one, had to be ready to set out in six days with one and a half months' provisions. Cossacks were required to carry guns and darts. There were 800 sick people in the army, but they were also ordered to appear for inspection. They walked sick, swollen from wounds, crippled. Orphans and helpless poor people were preparing for the campaign; Many Cossacks did not have uniform jackets and checkmen; they were dressed in old robes and homespun clothing. Nobody was respected. Even though the house burned down, even though everything was burned, go anyway, at the expense of the village. The regiments that had just arrived from the Caucasian line, from Italian campaign, re-enlisted. Churches were left without sextons, village boards were left without clerks, they all were taken away. The militia was complete!”

On February 20, 1801, Orlov informed the sovereign that everything was ready for the journey. On February 28, the approval of the emperor arrived on the Don, and Matvey Platov, at the head of the main forces, set out from the village of Kachalinskaya to Orenburg, where the local administration was hastily preparing provisions for the campaign in the desert. The timing of the performance was calculated incorrectly, and from the first steps along the Trans-Don steppe the Cossacks had to overcome terrible difficulties. The roads were covered with snow, the artillerymen were exhausted, pulling guns out of deep snowdrifts. There were no apartments for heating anywhere; people and horses were freezing in the steppe. There was not enough food, there was no fuel, hay, or oats. At the beginning of March, when they reached the Volga near the Saratov province, a thaw set in. Streams began to flow, the steppe became wet, the roads became impassable, but only because of the mud. Many Cossacks fell ill and scurvy developed. Due to flooded rivers, the regiments had to change their routes so that food warehouses, organized along the route of the troops, remained far away. The commanders had to buy from their own funds everything necessary for the army or issue receipts that the treasury had to cash. Only in the Saratov province were such receipts issued for a huge sum at that time - ten thousand rubles. On top of everything else, it turned out that local residents, from whom the Cossack army was supposed to exist due to purchases of food and feed for horses, there were no food supplies. The previous year was lean and dry, so the Cossacks starved along with the Volga peasants. A new problem has appeared in Orenburg. Food and fodder prepared for the entire long expedition of the expedition did not have the required quantity Vehicle to carry him after the army. On March 23, on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ, the Cossacks were in the village of Mechetnoye (now the city of Pugachev, Saratov region). Here they were found by a courier from St. Petersburg with the death of Paul I and an order to return home. On the day of the Annunciation, the Cossacks set out on the return journey, which was much easier. Ataman Vasily Orlov died of a stroke on the way, and Matvey Platov took his place. On April 17, the Cossack regiments returned to their homeland.

Emperor Paul I obviously seriously believed that his Cossack army would go all the way from Orenburg to India without reconnaissance of the area, without preliminary agreements with the Central Asian khans, without wheeled carts. We can safely say that with this act he sent the Cossacks, who were not prepared for such a journey, to certain death. In addition to Suvorov's crossing of the Alps, the Cossacks' campaign in India was one of the most difficult in their history, which showed how excellent their discipline was and how great their devotion to the Tsar was.

Napoleon was sure that palace coup and the murder of Paul I was the result of the British defending their interests in India with the hands of Russian conspirators.

Enraged, Bonaparte declared: “The British missed me in Paris, but they did not miss me in St. Petersburg.”

Baron Jean-Leon Jerome. "Bonaparte before the Sphinx." 1867-1868

The plan for the conquest of India, drawn up by the kings, fell apart before it even began. However, Napoleon did not give up his attempts to capture this country. There is an opinion that the Patriotic War of 1812 was just preparation for Napoleon’s invasion of India. Even before the start of the war in March 1812, the heir to the Swedish throne, the former French Marshal Bernadotte, who had personal channels of information in Paris, conveyed to Alexander I the emperor’s words: “Russia will join my army either voluntarily, or as a result of the laws of victory and will be drawn into the great movement, which should change the face of the world." By the “great movement,” Bonaparte meant the invasion of the united Russian-French army, first into Turkey, then into Iran, and subsequently into India.

– Twenty thousand Cossacks –
To India, on a hike! –
Paul the First ordered
In my last year.
- O-two-horse to gather the Donets,
Without getting into the essence.
Send messengers to Orenburg,
To pave the way.
- There's no point in arguing. Order.
The king said - go on a campaign.
- We fought more than once,
- It's a pity we don't know the move.
The blizzard is howling,
February is heartbreaking.
How will fate decide now?
There is no fortune teller... It's a pity.
The horses get stuck... Rough snow,
The Cossacks are getting cold...
Success is unlikely to come
The Donetsk people are grumbling.
Don was left without husbands,
We took everyone on a hike:
The poor, the wounded, the sick,
Even old people.
Clerks and teenagers were taken
And sextons...
A.I. Mordovina - “Poems about the Don Cossacks”

Why do huge masses of people suddenly rise from their homes and, driven by some idea, move forward, despite any difficulties and obstacles, perform feats, go to martyrdom...?

The answer can be found in the research of Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov (1912-1992), the son of glorious Russian citizens - poets Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova.

Lev Gumilev explained this by introducing the concept of “passionarity” from the Latin “passion”. Passionarity according to Gumilyov “... is a characterological dominant, it is an irresistible internal desire (conscious or, most often, unconscious) for activity aimed at achieving some goal (often illusory). This goal seems more valuable to the passionate individual even own life, and even more so the life and happiness of contemporaries and fellow tribesmen...”

King Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), to achieve his personal unsurpassed glory, reached India with his soldiers and conquered it in 326 BC.

Why did you remember Alexander the Great and his campaign in India?

In 1796, Pavel Petrovich Romanov, Pavel I (1754-1801), ascended the throne, replacing his mother, Empress Catherine II.
At the end of his reign, Paul I sharply changed the guidelines of Russian foreign policy and began joint actions with Napoleon against England, for which in January 1801 he sent 23,000 Cossacks to conquer India, trying to strike the British in an unexpected place, and at the same time subjugate to Russia not only India, but also everything that lies between India and Russia - This is what was said in the order given on January 12, 1801 to the ataman of the Don Army, cavalry general V.P. Orlov for the Cossack army... to move "... straight through Bukharia and Khiva to the Indus River and to the English establishments along it...". Having received the imperial rescript, the ataman ordered the army so that “before the last, in six days, everyone should set out with a month and a half of provisions.”
The Ural Cossacks were also supposed to join these forces.

How did this Cossack campaign go? Let us turn to the essays on the history of the Don Army, written by an expert on the history of the Cossacks, a classic of Russian military prose, ataman of the All-Great Don Army, cavalry general of the Imperial Army Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov (1869-1947).
This is how he describes these events: “On January 12, 1801, Emperor Paul I deigned to command: to gather the entire Don army. Where and why the campaign was planned - no one knew. The military ataman Vasily Petrovich Orlov ordered all officers, non-commissioned officers and Cossacks to prepare. Everyone, down to the last one, had to be ready to set out in six days with one and a half months' provisions. Cossacks were required to carry guns and darts... Where will it go the Don army - no one knew this. There were 800 sick people in the army, but they were also ordered to appear for inspection. They walked sick, swollen from wounds, crippled. Orphans and helpless poor people were preparing for the campaign; Many Cossacks did not have uniform jackets and checkmen; they were dressed in old robes and homespun clothing. Nobody was respected. Although the house burned down, although everything was burned, go anyway, at the expense of the village. Rich Cossacks equipped the poor... The ataman ordered them to be taken without a queue, and the last owner went, although his two brothers were already serving in the regiments. The regiments that had just arrived from the Caucasian line, from the Italian campaign, were again enlisted in service. Churches were left without sextons, village boards were left without clerks, they all were taken away. The militia was complete!
They also demanded Kalmyks to serve. The landowner officers were not allowed to go to their farms. Wives did not say goodbye to their husbands, children did not say goodbye to their fathers. Hastily, according to the royal decree, an army was assembled.
The following villages were designated as gathering places: Buzulutskaya, Medveditskaya, Ust-Medveditskaya and Kachalinskaya. In the winter cold, at the end of February, the Cossacks gathered to review the ataman. In total, the troops recruited 510 officers, 20,947 Cossack cavalry regiments, 500 artillerymen and 500 Kalmyks. These people made up the 41st cavalry regiment.
Orlov divided them into 4 parts. 1, out of 13 regiments, was led by Major General Platov; 2, from 8 regiments, Major General Buzin; 3rd, from 10 regiments, Major General Bokov and 4th, from 10 regiments, Major General Denisov, who had just returned from Italy. Ataman Orlov and with him two companies of Don horse artillery and military engineers walked with General Platov’s detachment. The artillery was commanded by Colonel Karpov.
On February 27 and 28, the regiments set out on an unknown campaign. Their path lay towards the Orenburg side.
No one else, except the ataman and the commanders of the columns, knew anything.
What happened and why was such a terrible effort demanded from the Donskoy army?
Emperor Paul I suddenly quarreled with his allies, the British, and, in alliance with the French Emperor Napoleon, decided to declare war on England. The main wealth of the English land was its huge, fertile, forested rare trees India. Semi-precious stones are also mined from Indian soil, and precious silk fabrics are also prepared there. England trades in the products of India, its grain and materials, and it is rich in it. Emperor Paul decided to take India from England and entrusted the Don Cossacks with doing this. They had to travel thousands of miles across the deserted steppe, then across the sandy desert, cross the mountains and invade Indian lands.
“India,” the Emperor wrote to Orlov, “where you are appointed, is governed by one main owner and many small ones. The British have their own trading establishments, purchased 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. Trade her to turn to us.
Ataman was also sent a map of India. Along the way, the Don Cossacks were to occupy Bukhara and free our prisoners in Khiva. All the wealth of India was promised to the Cossacks as a reward.
If Ataman Orlov and the Don Cossacks had time to fulfill this order, they would have glorified themselves more than Ermak, the conqueror of Siberia... But the Lord did not decree that the sovereign’s great plan should be accomplished!
From the very first steps in the Trans-Don steppe, the Cossacks encountered terrible difficulties. The roads were covered with snow, and the artillery was exhausted, pulling guns out of deep snowdrifts. There were no apartments for heating anywhere, and people and horses were cold and frozen in the cold wind in the steppe. There was no fuel, there was not enough food, there was no hay and oats. Unfed horses barely trudged towards the brutal cold snowstorms.
At the beginning of March there was a sudden thaw. The streams began to play, the steppe became wet, the mud became impassable. Each beam became a terrible obstacle. Military foreman Papuzin barely crossed the usually empty Talovka River. He walked forty miles in knee-deep mud, crossing Talovka itself on a bridge he had built from brushwood, farm fences, gates and roofs.
Finally we approached the Volga. The ice swelled and turned brown. The horses fell through it. In some places it has already started moving. Denisov and his column approached him and saw that the crossing was dangerous. Across the entire river, he placed men with ropes and gave them several Cossacks to provide assistance. They began to lead the horses, but they fell through and went to the bottom. However, Denisov knew that big rivers the ice in the middle is always thicker, and so he ordered his tall and well-fed horses to be led forward. At first they failed, but then they moved on. The Cossacks followed them. Up to 700 horses failed, but the Cossacks pulled them all out. The crossing lasted five hours.
And they went again, first along the Volga, then along the Irgaz River. The steppe became more and more deserted. Commissioner Terenin, who undertook to deliver bread and fodder, did not fulfill his obligation; On the Volga this summer was lean, and he could not collect food. When we arrived for the night, we didn’t find any oats, and the hay was mixed with garbage. The horses were dying from lack of food, and the path traversed by the Cossacks was marked by a long line of swollen horse corpses and black flocks of crows.
The Don people were drawn into the boundless steppes in a huge crowd and became lost in them, like a grain of sand. The distant songs fell silent. The Cossacks froze at night, and during the day they suffered in the mud and puddles into which the spring sun turned the steppe. There were already many sick Cossacks. Scurvy appeared.
And ahead was the same steppe, and there was no end to it. And the sun rose there in a golden fog, and the plain stretched on all day, today, as it was yesterday, as it will be tomorrow.
It was hard for the Cossacks, but silently, without grumbling, they went to fight an unknown enemy, to conquer distant India for Russia.
From the Don we walked almost seven hundred miles through the desert. On March 23, on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ, a Cossack detachment located in the village of Mechetnoye, Volsky district, Saratov province, was caught up by a courier from St. Petersburg. On the night of March 11-12, Emperor Paul I died and Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich ascended the throne. He ordered to return home. Now the order was to assemble the shelves. Ataman Orlov came out to them and said in an inspired voice trembling with joyful excitement:
- God and the Emperor favor you guys with parental homes!
On the first day of Easter, the ataman and some regiments listened to mass in Old Believer Monastery not far from Mechetny. It was fun that day in the Cossack camp. Cannons were fired, guns were fired, songs were sung.
On the day of the Annunciation we set off on the return journey. The way back was easier. Spring was coming. It was getting warmer, but in some places the mud was still impassable. Between 9 and 17 April the regiments returned home. The Khoper, Medveditsky, Buzulutsky, Verkhnedonsky and Donetsk Cossacks were released straight from the border, the rest with the officers on the left side of the Don went to Cherkassk.
On May 2, the ataman arrived in Cherkassk,
After Suvorov's crossing of the Alps, the Orenburg campaign of the Don Cossacks was the most difficult marching movements. 1564 versts were made by a 20,000-strong cavalry detachment in two months across the deserted steppe during the spring thaw. Done without loss of people and without stragglers. And the horses endured this trip, despite the lack of food, well. The regiment had from 62 (in the Ataman regiment) to 12 (in the Mironov regiment) fallen horses.
Many years have passed since then, none of the participants in this campaign are alive, but the old people still remember the stories of their fathers about the mysterious campaign towards Orenburg, about the time when the Cossacks were swept away on the Don - there was no one left, and the women were all working work. Remember this terrible hard times eternal hikes.
And young people, talking about this campaign against India, often ask the question: “Could the Cossacks have reached India, could they have ruined it?”
The Cossacks performed many great feats. With only peaks, on foot, they took the Izmail strongholds, crossed the Black Sea in light boats, fought on their own, took Azov at their own peril, with Suvorov they crossed the sky-high heights of the Alpine mountains, but this command - to conquer distant India - was impossible to fulfill. Those who sent them did not know how far and difficult this path was and how many obstacles the Cossacks encountered on it. It was impossible to reach India through a deserted desert, without food and fodder. But the Don army set out to carry out the will of the sovereign without reasoning - all the Cossacks would have died in it. The campaign against India is remarkable because in it the Cossacks showed how great and excellent their discipline and devotion to the sovereign were, how hardened they were in the adversities of the campaign.
Our grandfathers, with all their valiant service, taught us to perform feats, and the campaign against India is an example of high courage, desperate determination, holy submission to the sovereign’s will!..”

By the way, with this 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, was executed “for rebellious intentions.” one of the most faithful, devoted, who served under Paul even when he was the Grand Duke - 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.”

The order of Paul I of January 12, 1801 is often interpreted as some absolutely senseless and insane act that sent Cossacks unprepared for such a campaign to certain death. Meanwhile, this is not entirely true. The fact is that in addition to the Cossacks, two more armies were supposed to go to India: the Russian one with 45-50 thousand soldiers and the French one of the same size. And this circumstance makes a trip to India not so crazy.

The author of the idea of ​​the “Indian campaign” was Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Back in 1800, he suggested that Russia organize a military expedition to India in order to take away a rich colony from the British. According to Napoleon's plan, the Russian corps was supposed to set out from Astrakhan, cross the Caspian Sea and land in the Persian city of Astrabad. The French corps from the Rhine Army of Marshal Moreau was supposed to go down to the mouth of the Danube, cross to Taganrog, and then move through Tsaritsyn to Astrabad. Napoleon considered the possibility of going to India personally at the head of an expeditionary force.

A joint campaign against India was planned from Persia. Three Russian frigates were supposed to approach the Indian Ocean from Kamchatka, which could compete with the English ships stationed there...

As Paul I and Napoleon believed, the two of them were no worse than Alexander the Great alone. If the British were able to conquer India alone, then why couldn’t the Russians and French do it together? Finally, if the Indian project really was a pure utopia, it would not have caused such a commotion in England...!!!

The military forces in Bengal then consisted of only 2 thousand British soldiers and 30 thousand sepoys - Indians trained in European methods of warfare. In addition, the sepoys' loyalty to London was always in question. So, in 1857, it was the sepoys who led the uprising against the British colonialists.

In the study “History of the 19th Century” by French professors Lavisse and Rambaud, published in France in the 1920s, one can read: “Since both rulers (Napoleon and Paul I) had the same irreconcilable enemy, it naturally suggested itself 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 power of England - main source her 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.”

The weakening of the power of England made France the absolute master of Europe.
The war in Europe had been going on 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 - Russia. Paul the 1st, 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, military power. Russia's strength was based on its military might."

The concept of infringed knightly honor was also important for Paul I. The capture by the British of Malta, which Paul took under his protection, accepting the title of Grand Master of the Order of St. in 1798. John of Jerusalem, quarreled him with England. The main goal The entire Russian foreign policy of that time was the liberation of Malta from the British. Paul, who at that time stood at the head of the Catholic (!) Order of Malta, was deeply offended by the fact that London did not want to return “their island” to the Knights of Malta.
And the Orthodox Cossacks went, led by the Old Believer ataman M.I. Platov, the future Hero Patriotic War 1812, to fight against the Protestant English for the interests of the Catholic French. Interesting twist to the story!
It is noteworthy that Major General Matvey Platov was specially released from Peter and Paul Fortress. Platov later recalled: “The operator asks: “Ataman, do you know the way to the Ganga?” This is the first time I've heard it, apparently. But who wants to sit in prison for nothing? I say: “Yes, ask any girl on the Don about the Ganges, she’ll show you the way right away...” Here I have a Maltese cross on my shirt - bam! My lice were really stunned. They were ordered to go to India and grab the English by the cheeks...”

Historian A.N. Arkhangelsky in his book “Alexander I” writes: “A little later there will be talk about the insanity of Paul, who sent the Cossacks on a campaign against India. 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, does this mean that the Russian tsars came up with the idea of ​​leading the Russians in a campaign against India long before Paul? It’s not difficult to verify this - the author “ Caucasian War“Lieutenant General V.A. Potto testifies: “Peter transferred his favorite thoughts to the Caspian coast and decided to undertake an exploration of the eastern shores of this sea, from where he proposed to look for a trade route to India. He chose Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky as the executor of this powerful thought. In 1716, Bekovich sailed from Astrakhan and began to concentrate strong squad near the very mouth of the Yaik. A five hundred horse regiment of Grebenskys and part of the Terek Cossacks were assigned to this campaign from the Caucasus...” But the detachment of Prince Cherkassy died in battles with the Khivans.

On the night of March 11-12, 1801, Paul I was killed as a result of a conspiracy led by his son Alexander Pavlovich Romanov - Alexander I (1777-1825).

For Napoleon, the participation of the British in the murder of the Russian emperor did not raise the slightest doubt. It is known that Napoleon, having learned about the murder of Paul, became incredibly furious and exclaimed: “The British missed me in Paris, but they did not miss me in St. Petersburg.” Napoleon was referring to an assassination attempt that had been committed shortly before: he himself miraculously escaped death as a result of the explosion " hellish machine».

One can only guess how the fate of Russia would have developed in an alliance with Napoleonic France if not for the regicide?

Alexander I, the parricide heir, concluded the Peace of Tilsit, shameful for Russia, with the same Napoleon in 1807, and another son of the murdered Paul I, Nicholas I (1796-1855), again shamefully lost the Eastern (Crimean) War in 1855 same for the French and English...

References:
Bondarenko A. The Legend of the Mad Emperor. – M. – “Red Star”. – 01/24/2001.

Glushchenko V.V. Cossacks of Eurasia. – M.: University Book, 2005.

Gumilyov L.N. The end and the beginning again. – M.: Iris Press, 2007. – P.48-56

Krasnov P.N. History of the Don Cossacks. Essays on the history of the Don Army. – M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2007. - P.296-304.

Ryzhov K.V. All monarchs of Russia. – M.: Veche, 2003. – P.431-442.

Romanov P. What do Paul I, Frunze and Zhirinovsky have in common? – M. – “RIA Novosti” – 07/06/2006.

Kashan O. How the Cossacks went to India.
In its history, Russia has never fought with India. – M. – “Asia and Africa today” - 01/28/2003.