Matvei Platov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Count Matvei Ivanovich Platov (August 6, 1757 - January 3, 1818) was a Russian general who commanded the Don Cossacks in the Napoleonic wars.
Platov fought against the Crimean Tatars in 1774 and in 1782 under Alexander Suvorov in the Kuban Valley. He was awarded the Order of St George (3rd Class) for his participation of the capture of Izmail in 1790. Disgraced by emperor Paul, he was confined to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Upon Alexander I's ascension to the throne, he was appointed ataman of the Don Cossacks. In 1805, he ordered the Cossack capital to be moved from Starocherkassk to a new location, known as Novocherkassk.
During the campaign of 1806-1807, Platov fought against the French at Eylau and Friedland. In 1808-1809, he was active against the Turks in the Danube valley. In 1812, he supported general Bagration's 2nd Western Army with a Cossack corps at Mir and Romanovo and at the Borodino. He scourged the French during their retreat from Moscow in 1812, and again after their defeat at the Battle of Leipzig 1813. He commanded at the victory of Altenburg 1813, and for his services obtained the title of count.
Later Platov accompanied emperor Alexander to London, where he was awarded a golden sword and a honorary degree by the University of Oxford. A full-length portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence for the Waterloo Chamber created at Windsor Castle by George IV, then Prince Regent. Platov then settled in the Cossack capital of Novocherkassk, where he established a school and was head of the local administration.
There are equestrian monuments to him in Novocherkassk and Starocherkassk. Gavrila Derzhavin dedicated the last of his odes to Platov's exploits. In Leskov's Levsha (1881), Don Cossack Platov is a prominent figure, even though his portrayal in that folk-styled tale is full of anachronisms.
