Davydov, Denis Vasilievich (born July 16 (27), 1784 - death April 22 (May 4) 1839) - partisan, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, Lieutenant General (1831), poet, military historian and theorist. Commanding a detachment of partisans from hussars and cossacks, he successfully operated in the rear of the Napoleonic army. He was close with the Decembrists and A. S. Pushkin.
Origin. early years
Descended from the nobility of the Moscow province. Born into the family of a colonel, commander of the Poltava light-horse regiment Vasily Denisovich Davydov (1747-1808). Mother - Elena Evdokimovna Davydova, nee Shcherbinina (daughter of the Kharkiv Governor-General). From an early age, Denis joined the military, learned to ride well. Received home education.
Military career
He entered the cavalry regiment, but soon for his satirical poetry he was transferred to the army, to the Belarusian Hussar Regiment (1804), from there he transferred to the Life Guards Hussars (1806) and took part in campaigns against Napoleon (1807).), Swedish (1808), Turkish (1809)
He was able to achieve wide popularity in 1812 as the head of a partisan detachment, organized on his personal initiative. At first, the top leadership reacted to Davydov's idea with some skepticism, but the partisan movement turned out to be very useful and did a lot of harm to the French. Davydov's imitators began to appear - Figner, Seslavin and others.
Promotional video:
On the big Smolensk road, Davydov repeatedly fought off military supplies and food from the enemy, intercepted correspondence, which instilled fear in the French and raised the spirit of the Russian troops and society. Davydov used his experience for the wonderful book "Experience of the theory of partisan action."
1814 - Davydov is promoted to general; was the chief of staff of the 7th and 8th army corps (1818 - 1819); 1823 - retired, returned to service in 1826, took part in the Persian campaign (1826 - 1827) and in the suppression of the Polish uprising (1831) 1832 - finally left the service with the rank of lieutenant general and settled in his Simbirsk estate.
Personal life
In the life of Denis Vasilyevich there were several women whom he loved. The first love was Aglaya de Gramont. However, she preferred his cousin to the brave hussar. Then there was Tanya Ivanova, a successful ballerina who captivated the heart of a hussar. However, this time too, the hussar was disappointed - the girl chose not a brave warrior at all, but a ballet master as her companion. Then there was Lizaveta Zlotnitskaya. The family of a young lady of marriageable age demanded that Denis Vasilyevich make efforts to obtain the state estate. Davydov complied with this request, however, this time another love disappointment came - the girl preferred Prince Golitsyn to him.
Poetic Woman
What is she? - Impulse, confusion, And coldness and delight, And resistance, and passion, Laughter and tears, devil and God, The heat of a midday summer
Hurricane beauty, Of the frenzied poet
Restless dream!
Friendship with her is a rapture …
But save, Creator, with her
From lovemaking
And mysterious connections!
Fiery, popular, I guarantee that she
Unobtrusive, jealous, As a legal wife!
- 1816
The meeting with another darling, Sonya Chirikova, was able to happen thanks to Denis's friends. 1819 - they got married, and after the child appeared Denis Davydov completely stopped thinking about military battles. In a marriage with Chirikova, the hussar had nine children. 1831 - family life is under threat. The reason for this was Denis Vasilyevich's new hobby - Evgeny Zolotareva, the niece of one of his colleagues. A decent age difference (the girl was 27 years younger than Denis Davydov) did not prevent this couple from being together for three long years. Then Evgenia married another, and the hussar decided to restore relations with his family.
After parting
When I met my beauty, That I loved, that I love
Whose power to escape have I flattered myself with deception, I was stunned! So, by an unexpected occasion, The daring man walking in the wild -
A fugitive soldier meets
With your godless captain.
- 1834
Creation
The most lasting mark left by Denis Vasilyevich in literature is his lyrics.
Davydov's poetic talent was revered by everyone: both recognized writers and ordinary people. Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Baratynsky, Yazykov and many others have poems dedicated to the brave partisan. Pushkin, who personally met the hussar poet in the winter of 1818-1819 in St. Petersburg, carried his enthusiastic passion for “Denis the Brave” throughout his life. And he even quite seriously argued that it was Denis Vasilyevich who owed the fact that in his youth he did not succumb to the influence of fashionable poets (Zhukovsky and Batyushkov) and “felt the opportunity to be original”.
Davydov - created the so-called genre of "hussar lyrics", a kind of lyrical diary of a Russian patriotic officer, a free-thinking warrior and poet who loves merry revelry and hussar courage ("Hussar feast", "Borodino field", etc.). His Modern Song (1836) is directed against the pseudo-liberals of his time.
Borodino field
Elegy
Silent hills, once bloody dol, Give me your day, day of everlasting glory, And the noise of weapons, and slaughter, and struggle!
My sword fell from my hands. My destiny
Trampled by the strong. The lucky ones are proud
As an involuntary plowman, they drag me to the fields …
Oh, rush me into battle, you experienced in battles
You, with your voice giving birth in the shelves
Foreboding clicks perished of enemies, Homeric leader, Bagration the great?
Stretch out your hand to me, Raevsky, my hero?
Ermolov! I am flying - lead me, I am yours:
Doomed to be victorious beloved son
Cover me, cover your peruns with smoke!
But where are you?.. I'm listening … No response! From the fields
The smoke rushed away, the clatter of swords is not heard, And I, your pet, bowing with my head at the plow, I envy the bones of an ally or a friend.
- 1829.
In his later works, the hussar sharply criticized and condemned the Arakcheevism and its legacy, the unsuitable military system of tsarism, which was established under Nicholas I. And of course, these works suffered greatly from the interference of censorship or did not get into print at all.
Last years. Death
The last years of his life Denis Vasilyevich spent in the estate in the village of Verkhnyaya Maza. There he was also engaged in creative work, compiled military-historical notes, raised his 9 children, and did housework.
1839, April 22 - D. V. Davydov died quietly from a stroke at the fifty-fifth year of his life in his village. The poet-partisan was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. A granite bust of the legendary hussar is installed on the grave.
Decisive evening
I'll see you tonight
Tonight my lot will be decided
Today I will get what I want -
4 Il abshid * to rest!
And tomorrow - damn it! - how I will stretch myself, On the troika I will fly like an ugly arrow;
Having woken up to Tver, I'll get drunk in Tver again, 8 And drunk I will ride to Petersburg for drunkenness!
But if happiness is destined
To someone who has been unfamiliar with happiness for a whole century, Then … oh, and then I'll get drunk with a pig
12 And with joy I will drink runs with a purse!
* Abshid - resignation
- 1818.
Interesting Facts
• Davydov was a little afraid of the first meeting with PI Bagration. The poet in one of his poems made fun of Bagration's long nose, which was the reason for such fear. But at the meeting, the hussar, without bewilderment, explained that he was joking because he was jealous - since he himself has practically no nose.
• Denis did not like his appearance. The poet has always been embarrassed by his nondescript appearance, namely the snub nose with a "button" and small stature.
• Lieutenant Rzhevsky is a character who appeared in 1941 and is directly related to Davydov. As the author A. Gladkov himself said, this character "all came out" from the poem "Decisive Evening".
• There is an opinion that Davydov became the prototype of Vasily Denisov from "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy. It is possible to find a connection between a poet and a literary hero even in their names: the name of the poet is Denis Vasilievich, and the name of the character is Vasily Denisov.