Stepan Fedorovich belonged to a noble Russian family, he was the son of the steward of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Having lost his father early, he was raised by his relative, Count P.M. Apraksin (brother of the famous Admiral General Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin).
Apraksin Stepan Fedorovich (1702-1758) Field Marshal. The biography of S. Apraksin is an example of successful military career Russian nobleman, however, until the moment when he had to face the intricacies of politics and experience a difficult twist of fate. Stepan Fedorovich belonged to a noble Russian family, he was the son of the steward of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Having lost his father early, he was raised by his relative, Count P.M. Apraksin (brother of the famous Admiral General Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin). He entered military service as a private in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment and during the reign of Peter II he was already a captain. Then he transferred to the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, under Anna Ioannovna he received the rank of second major.
When did it start Russian-Turkish war 1735 - 1739, Apraksin and his regiment became part of the army of Field Marshal Minich, participated in battles with the Turks, and was awarded the rank of prime major for his distinction in the capture of Ochakov (1737). In 1739 he took part in the Battle of Stavuchany and the capture of Khotyn. On September 10, when he brought Anna Ioannovna to St. Petersburg the news of the capture of Khotin, the Empress granted him the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. He finished the war with the rank of major general.
Since 1740, Stepan Fedorovich held various military-administrative positions, was the chief of troops on the Persian border, an envoy to Persia, served as the Krieg Commissioner General, and served as vice-president of the Military Collegium. From 1742 - lieutenant general, in 1746 he became general-in-chief and colonel of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, in 1751 awarded the order Saint Andrew the First-Called. His military career V Peaceful time Apraksin owed much to the favorable attitude towards him of the new empress, Elizaveta Petrovna, and influential friends in her circle.
Growing since the early 50s. contradictions in international politics the presenters quarreled among themselves European countries. In August 1756, an attack Prussian army Frederick II's invasion of Saxony began Seven Years' War, in which Russia allied with Austria, France, Saxony, Italy and Sweden in the fight against Prussia, England and Portugal. Apraksin, promoted to field marshal general on September 6, 1756, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. This appointment caused an ambiguous assessment among the public; some explained the next rise in Stepan Fedorovich’s military career not by his military merits, but by his friendship with Chancellor A. Bestuzhev, Count A. Razumovsky and the Shuvalov brothers.
As for Apraksin himself, he accepted the appointment to the post of commander-in-chief without much joy, obeying the will of the highest court. At the same time, he counted on the help and sensible advice of his influential friends. The first of them, Bestuzhev, believing that the enmity with Prussia was temporary, warned Apraksin from the very beginning against excessive zeal in military affairs. At the suggestion of the Chancellor, the Empress entrusted the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief and the Russian troops to a specially created military-political council - the “Higher Military Conference”, consisting of Bestuzhev, the Shuvalov brothers, Field Marshal Buturlin, princes Trubetskoy and Vorontsov.
The troops flocked to Riga, where the Field Marshal moved on a huge train, the Empress sent gifts after him - sable fur to hide from the cold in a tent, and a silver table service weighing 80 pounds: Apraksin loved to eat sumptuously and treat generously. He did not forget to order himself a dozen new caftans. The wits said that the field marshal intended to open a campaign not against the Prussians, but against the ladies of Riga.
Arriving in Riga, Apraksin began to concentrate the Russian army at the Neman and immediately encountered many problems. The shortage in the regiments was great, reaching twenty percent, the horse composition was in poor condition, the release of money for the needs of the troops is insufficient. In addition, all decisions of the commander-in-chief required the approval of the “Conference” meeting in St. Petersburg, which also took upon itself the development of the campaign plan. Her instructions on this matter were very detailed (contained 47 points), but ultimately boiled down to the recommendation “to march straight to Prussia or to the left through Poland and Silesia.” The organization of a headquarters under the commander-in-chief was not provided for, and Apraksin had to manage the army through a constantly assembled military council.
Before the start of the campaign, Apraksin did a lot to staff the army and improve its supplies, but due to the weak assistance of St. Petersburg, many issues of military administration and logistics were never resolved. In the summer of 1857, Russian troops (55 thousand people, 79 guns) finally moved to East Prussia and occupied a number of cities - Memel (Klaipeda), Tilsit, Gumbinnen, Insterburg. Meanwhile, the “Conference” continued to send conflicting instructions to Apraksin, according to which he should at the same time attack, stand still, move forward, and not move away from the border. People around the commander-in-chief joked that he was strictly given only one thing: to report everything to the “Conference” and wait for further instructions from it.
The main forces of the Prussian army at this time were busy fighting French troops, and Frederick II sent the corps of Field Marshal Lewald against Apraksin. When the Russian army moved from Insterburg to Konigsberg, the Prussian corps, taking a position at Velua, blocked its road. Deciding to bypass this position, Apraksin transported his troops to the left bank of the Pregel River and placed them to rest near the village of Groß-Jägersdorf. Not intending to enter into battle, on the morning of August 19 Apraksin gave the order to continue the marching movement, but as soon as the march began, the Russian army was attacked by the enemy. Unexpected offensive actions The Prussians put the Russians in a difficult position at the battle of Groß-Jägersdorf.
In the first minutes, the Narva and 2nd Grenadier regiments lost up to half of their strength from enemy fire. The Russian commander-in-chief, showing composure, took measures to deploy troops into battle formation. Stubborn bayonet fighting ensued in the center, while the right flank of the Russian army was exposed. At this critical moment, the commander of the infantry brigade, General P. Rumyantsev, passing through a swampy forest, delivered a strong and unexpected blow to the flank of the Prussian infantry. This successful attack changed the situation. Having leveled the line of troops, Apraksin brought the battle to victory. Having lost up to 5 thousand people and 29 guns, the Prussian corps retreated in disarray.
Apraksin sent the vanguard of General Sibilsky to pursue the enemy, but he acted sluggishly and could not prevent Levald from leaving for the right bank of the Pregel. During the battle near Apraksin, several people were killed and wounded, which did not affect his desire to remain in sight of the troops. Like the Prussians, the Russians lost up to 5 thousand people, a third of the generals and brigadiers were out of action.
After the flight of the Prussian corps, Velua was cleared of the enemy, which opened the way for the Russian army to Koenigsberg, but Apraksin remained in place. On August 27, at the military council, it was decided to retreat to Tilsit due to a lack of provisions and diseases that had developed in the army. In the future, despite Elizabeth’s demands to conduct active fighting, the commander-in-chief withdrew the troops outside East Prussia, returning to their territory.
Apraksin’s indecision and passivity were explained not only by the difficulties in managing the army and its supply. At this time, Elizabeth was ill, and Chancellor Bestuzhev, awaiting the accession to the throne of Peter III, a supporter of Prussia, did not want to continue the war. He set up Apraksin accordingly. But the empress recovered, and her anger fell on both the chancellor and the commander-in-chief. Both were investigated and charged with treason. The field marshal was imprisoned in a small palace in a village near St. Petersburg, where he spent about three years awaiting the results of the trial. His health and morale were deteriorating.
The investigation did not reveal evidence of Apraksin’s betrayal, but before the charges against him were dropped, Stepan Fedorovich died of cardiac paralysis right during a meeting of the investigative commission. He was buried in St. Petersburg at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Over time, descendants reacted more favorably to the memory of the commander than his contemporaries.
Apraksin was married to Agrafena Leontievna Soimonova, with whom he had a son, Stepan, and two daughters: Elena (Princess Kurakina) and Sophia (Princess Shcherbatova). The son, Stepan Stepanovich, while still an infant, on the occasion of his father’s victory at Groß-Jägersdorf, was enlisted by Elizabeth as an ensign in the Semenovsky regiment. Almost all my life I was on military service, participated in the wars with Turkey, rose to the rank of cavalry general. He spent his last years in Moscow, where he was known for the splendor of his receptions and hospitality, upholding the traditions of the family name.
Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin(July 30, 1702 - August 6, 1758, St. Petersburg) - Russian field marshal general during the Seven Years' War, who commanded the Russian army at Gross-Jägersdorf.
Biography
The son of steward Fyodor Karpovich Apraksin and Elena Leontyevna Kokoshkina. When Stepan Fedorovich was five years old, his father died; the mother, having become a widow, remarried the head of the Secret Chancellery A.I. Ushakov. Stepan Fedorovich was brought up in the house of his relative, Count Pyotr Matveevich, where he received good upbringing, speaking excellent German.
In 1718 he entered service as a soldier in Preobrazhensky Regiment and during the reign of Peter II he was already a captain. The patronage of his stepfather helped Stepan Fedorovich make a fast career. He transferred to the Semenovsky regiment, where Ushakov was a lieutenant colonel, and received the rank of second major from Empress Anna Ioannovna in 1732.
Participated in the capture of Ochakov in 1738 under the command of Minich. Wanting to curry favor with Ushakov, Minikh took Apraksin into his army as a general on duty, and, despite his mediocre abilities, combined with laziness, he kept him in this position for all four years of the war, each time mentioning him in his letters to the empress as a very capable staff officer . Apraksin was awarded the rank of prime major and villages by the empress.
In 1739 he was promoted to major general. On September 10, 1739, when he brought news of the capture of Khotin to St. Petersburg, he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
In 1741, Stepan Fedorovich met the embassy of Tahmas-Kuda-Khan, consisting of 2,200 people, at the border. In 1742 he was sent as ambassador to Persia. In his absence, a coup took place and Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the throne. Apraksin, who knew how to find strong friends for his well-being, became a friend of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Minikh’s sworn enemy. Apraksin's career advancement went even faster: in 1742 he was a lieutenant colonel of the guard and lieutenant general, in 1746 he became chief general, and, having no talent for management, he became president of the Military Collegium. In 1751 he was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
Seven Years' War
When Russia concluded an anti-Prussian alliance with Austria, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna promoted Apraksin to field marshal and appointed him commander-in-chief of the army.
In May 1757, Apraksin's army, numbering up to 100 thousand people, of which 20 thousand were irregular troops, set out from Livonia in the direction of the Neman River. A 20 thousand detachment under the command of General-in-Chief Fermor, with the support of the Russian fleet, besieged Memel, the capture of which on June 25 (old style) 1757 became the signal for the start of the campaign.
Apraksin with the main forces moved in the direction of Verzhbolovo and Gumbinen. The enemy of the Russian army in East Prussia was the corps left to guard it under the command of Field Marshal Lewald, numbering 30.5 thousand soldiers and 10 thousand militia. Having learned about the encircling movement of the Russian army, Lewald set out to meet it with the intention of attacking the Russian troops. The general battle between the Prussian and Russian armies took place on August 19 (30), 1757 near the village of Gross-Jägersdorf and ended in victory for the Russian troops. In five hours of battle, the losses of the Prussian side exceeded 4.5 thousand people, Russian troops - 5.7 thousand, of which 1,487 were killed. The news of the victory was received with delight in St. Petersburg, and Apraksin received two cannons placed crosswise in his coat of arms.
Unsuccessful intrigues
However, having won the battle, Apraksin did not try to develop his success by pursuing the enemy, he stopped in camp and remained in complete inaction for a week. Only on August 25 (September 5) did he attempt to bypass the right flank of Lewald, who had retreated to Velau. He does not accept the fight and retreats. On August 27 (September 7) Apraksin suddenly moved to the other side of the Pregel and began a hasty retreat to the Neman. The recovered Prussians, having learned about the Russian withdrawal a week late, from that moment followed the Russian army on its heels all the way to the Prussian border.
Apraksin, Stepan Fedorovich
18th Field Marshal. Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin [The Apraksins come from Solokkhmir, who left the Great Horde at the end of the 14th century to the Grand Duke of Ryazan Oleg, in the Holy Baptism of John. Oleg gave him his own sister Anastasia in marriage and granted him several estates. Solohmir's great-grandson was Andrei Ivanovich Apraksa], the son of a steward, born on July 30, 1702 and, having lost his father in infancy, was brought up by his relative, Count Pyotr Matveevich Apraksin, who bequeathed the estate to him.
According to the custom of that time, he entered service as a soldier of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was a captain in the reign of Emperor Peter II; then he transferred to the Semenovsky regiment, granted second major by Empress Anna Ioannovna; served under the banner of Field Marshal Minich: he was present during the capture of Ochakov by storm (1737), for which he was awarded the rank of prime major and villages; promoted (1739) to major general with orders to remain on duty under the field marshal; brought news of the capture of Khotin to St. Petersburg on September 10; give the crown princess Elisaveta Petrovna for him; expressed his consent to introduce the Christian faith in his state. [Ten years before, Takhmas-Kuly-Khan recognized the daughter of the former Shah Hussein as his wife. It began to be called Nadyr in 1736; killed in 1747. He was succeeded by his nephew Ali-Kuly-Khan or Adil-Shah.]
This proposal was not completed desired success: the Persian ambassador soon saw Elizabeth on the throne and, generously gifted by her [Given to the Persian embassy: 29,969 rubles in money; gifts worth 44,315 rubles], left Russia at the end of 1742. Following this, Stepan Fedorovich was sent as an envoy to Persia; continued to serve as General-Kriegskommissar, Vice-President of the Military College; awarded general-in-chief (1746) and lieutenant colonel of the Semenovsky Guard Regiment; Knight of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called (1751); Field Marshal General on September 5, 1756.
Empress Elisaveta Petrovna entrusted him with the army when Russia, on the basis of an alliance with Austria, took up arms against Frederick the Great. Apraksin, having entered Prussia (1757), separated part of the troops under the leadership of General Fermor to occupy Memel and gathered all his forces on the right bank of the Russa River, at the place where it flows into the Kurishgavi Bay. His army consisted of eighty thousand regular troops, in addition to irregulars. Field Marshal Lewald, who had turned gray in battle, had only twenty-two thousand men under arms [Apraksin, in his report to the Empress, extends the Prussian army to forty thousand men], with whom the king instructed him to attack the Russians and drive them out of Prussia.
Our cavalry and artillery were inferior to the enemy; but the warriors were animated by the same courage. Apraksin, leaving Pregel behind him, stopped in the forest on the bank of the Aksina; at that same time the Prussians, having crossed this river, also located their camp behind a dense forest. Lewald decided to attack our army near the village of Gros-Egersdorf, and ordered General Schorlemmer to inspect the Russian camp. A false alarm set the Prussian army in motion: it emerged from the forest and prepared for battle; but Lewald considered it necessary to postpone the battle until another day and occupied the former camp. Then Field Marshal Apraksin changed the position of the army entrusted to him, which completely destroyed the plan of his enemy, who decided to attack our left wing: on August 19, the Prussians opened the battle when the Russians had not yet had time to line up. The victory hesitated for a long time; In the midst of the battle, the second Prussian line fired at its first, but they could not recognize this due to the smoking of two villages that the Russians had set on fire. In vain the enemy tried to break into our ranks, hoping to grab our wings: the second line, led by Rumyantsev, met the Prussians with fixed bayonets in the forest, on the left flank, and put them to flight. This decided the victory - according to Apraksin. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and taken prisoner extended to ten thousand people. Twenty-nine guns increased the trophies Russian commander.
Eight hundred and sixty-two of our people were killed, including the brave General-in-Chief Vasily Avraamovich Lopukhin, the nephew of Tsarina Evdokia Feodorovna [First wife of Peter the Great], a student of Minich and Lassi. He commanded the left wing, was suddenly wounded by three bullets and, having collected last strength, wanted to know: “Are they chasing the enemy?” Confident of victory, he said: “Now I die calmly, having repaid my debt to the All-Merciful Empress!”
They expected Apraksin to conquer the entire kingdom and, instead, he crossed back beyond the Pregel (August 27) with incredible haste, in such disorder, as if he had suffered a complete defeat. In different ways explain this unexpected coup: the field marshal blamed the lack of food; some writers say that the chancellor, Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin, ordered him to retreat to please Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich; but Bishing’s story is more thorough: Bestuzhev, hated by the Grand Duke, decided to elevate his son, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, to the throne under the guardianship of Catherine. The serious illness of the Empress presented him with an opportunity to fulfill a brave intention: believing that Elizabeth was on her deathbed, he recalled his friend, Field Marshal Apraksin, to the borders of Russia in order to have his army at his disposal.
The Empress freed herself from illness and removed the Chancellor to the village, where he remained during the reign of Emperor Peter III. The executor of the will of the first minister, having lost the fruits of his victory, was also demanded to answer: he was imprisoned in a small palace near St. Petersburg at a place called Three Hands; He languished on trial for about three years and died suddenly on August 26, 1760.
Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin was a kind husband, a gentle father and a faithful friend; loved to do good to the poor, wounded and decrepit soldiers; had quick thinking on the battlefield; but, unfortunately, he eclipsed his glory with the biased trial of Lestocq. [Lestok Herman, a Frenchman by birth, was first a doctor under Empress Catherine I; then, from 1725, under Tsarevna Elisaveta Petrovna; contributed to her accession to the throne (1741); granted a full-time Privy Councilor, life physician, president of the Medical College and a portrait of the Empress, showered with diamonds; received (1744) the dignity of count of the Roman Empire; began to interfere in diplomatic affairs; alienated Bestuzhev, whom he had previously patronized; denigrated by him and Apraksin in the opinion of the Empress (1748); enclosed in Peter and Paul Fortress; put on trial; deprived of ranks, estate; exiled to Ustyug (1753); released from exile (1761) by Emperor Peter III, who restored his ranks and count's dignity; awarded by Empress Catherine II a pension and villages in Livonia; died in 1767. His former estate was all plundered; a beautiful house in St. Petersburg was given by Elisaveta to Apraksin and everyone precious things and the silver found in it.]
They say that he sent from Prussia, through one sutler, several barrels of chervonets, ordering an inscription that they contained wine. The field marshal, notified by her husband, put the barrels with her in the cellar and, having sent out the people, uncorked one; but, to her extreme surprise, wine poured out instead of ducats. So the sutler knew how to take advantage of Apraksin’s fall!
For the victory at Groß-Egersdorf, he was ordered to add two cannons to his family coat of arms. Empress Catherine II granted the title of lady of state to Field Marshal Agrafena Leontyevna Apraksin. Count Minich speaks of her that she was gifted with exalted and noble feelings. The son of Stepan Fedorovich, Stepan Stepanovich Apraksin, on the occasion of his victory as a field marshal at Groß-Egersdorf, while still in his cradle, was enlisted by Empress Elisaveta Petrovna (1757) as an ensign of the Life Guards in the Semenovsky regiment, of which he was already captain in 1765, in his ninth year from birth [See Poroshin's Notes]; then promoted to colonel and adjutant (1777); commanded (1781) the Kyiv infantry regiment; received the Order of St. Anne (1786) with the rank of major general; granted lieutenant general (1793); chief of the Astrakhan Dragoon Regiment, renamed lieutenant general (1797); general of cavalry (1798); cavalry inspector of the Moscow and Smolensk inspections (1801); Smolensk military governor (1803); Knight of the Order of St. George, 4th class for 25 years (1803) and St. Alexander Nevsky (1804).
He spent the last time of his life in Moscow, where he distinguished himself with pomp and hospitality, maintaining throughout the entire space of this word the dignity of a Russian nobleman.
The son of steward Fyodor Karpovich Apraksin and Elena Leontyevna Kokoshkina. When Stepan Fedorovich was five years old, his father died; the mother, having become a widow, remarried the head of the Secret Chancellery A.I. Ushakov. Stepan Fedorovich was brought up in the house of his relative, Count Pyotr Matveevich, where he received a good upbringing, speaking excellent German.
In 1718 he entered service as a soldier in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and during the reign of Peter II he was already a captain. The patronage of his stepfather helped Stepan Fedorovich make a fast career. He transferred to the Semenovsky regiment, where Ushakov was a lieutenant colonel, and received the rank of second major from Empress Anna Ioannovna in 1732.
Participated in the capture of Ochakov in 1737 under the command of Minich. Wanting to curry favor with Ushakov, Minikh took Apraksin into his army as a general on duty, and, despite his mediocre abilities, combined with laziness, he kept him in this position for all four years of the war, each time mentioning him in his letters to the empress as a very capable staff officer . Apraksin was awarded the rank of prime major and villages by the empress.
In 1739 he was promoted to major general. On September 10, 1739, when he brought news of the capture of Khotin to St. Petersburg, he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
In 1741, Stepan Fedorovich met the embassy of Tahmas-Kuda-Khan, consisting of 2,200 people, at the border. In 1742 he was sent as ambassador to Persia. In his absence, a coup took place and Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the throne. Apraksin, who knew how to find strong friends for his well-being, became a friend of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Minikh’s sworn enemy. Apraksin's career advancement went even faster: in 1742 he was a lieutenant colonel of the guard and lieutenant general, in 1746 he became chief general, and, having no talent for management, he became president of the Military Collegium. In 1751 he was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
Seven Years' War
When Russia concluded an anti-Prussian alliance with Austria, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna promoted Apraksin to field marshal and appointed him commander-in-chief of the army.
In May 1757, Apraksin's army, numbering up to 100 thousand people, of which 20 thousand were irregular troops, set out from Livonia in the direction of the Neman River. A 20 thousand detachment under the command of General-in-Chief Fermor, with the support of the Russian fleet, besieged Memel, the capture of which on June 25 (old style) 1757 became the signal for the start of the campaign.
Apraksin with the main forces moved in the direction of Verzhbolovo and Gumbinen. The enemy of the Russian army in East Prussia was the corps left to guard it under the command of Field Marshal Lewald, numbering 30.5 thousand soldiers and 10 thousand militia. Having learned about the encircling movement of the Russian army, Lewald set out to meet it with the intention of attacking the Russian troops. The general battle between the Prussian and Russian armies took place on August 19 (30), 1757 near the village of Gross-Jägersdorf and ended in victory for the Russian troops. In five hours of battle, the losses of the Prussian side exceeded 4.5 thousand people, Russian troops - 5.7 thousand, of which 1,487 were killed. The news of the victory was received with delight in St. Petersburg, and Apraksin received two cannons placed crosswise in his coat of arms.
Unsuccessful intrigues
However, having won the battle, Apraksin did not try to develop his success by pursuing the enemy, he stopped in camp and remained in complete inaction for a week. Only on August 25 (September 5) did he attempt to bypass the right flank of Lewald, who had retreated to Velau. He does not accept the fight and retreats. On August 27 (September 7) Apraksin suddenly moved to the other side of the Pregel and began a hasty retreat to the Neman. The recovered Prussians, having learned about the Russian withdrawal a week late, from that moment followed the Russian army on its heels all the way to the Prussian border.
The reasons for such a sudden, flight-like retreat of Apraksin, which deprived the Russian troops of all the strategic advantages that they could have derived from the victory at Gross-Jägersdorf, are not fully understood today. Some explain this action by the lack of food and hunger in the army, others argue that Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, to please Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, who gravitated towards Frederick the Great, ordered Apraksin to retreat.
There is another version. Here is what K. M. Borozdin writes about this in 1841:
Apraksin, entangled in political and court intrigues, arrested in Narva and interrogated by Count A.I. Shuvalov, head of the Secret Chancellery after Ushakov, died suddenly on August 6, 1758, and was buried in the Lazarev cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Personality characteristics
According to the stories of contemporaries, Apraksin was tall, extremely fat, strong and looked like a colossus. He was a great lover of pomp, in which he was not inferior to the well-known dandy in Europe, the Saxon minister Count Bruhl. In the heat of preparations for the campaign, he did not forget to send an adjutant from Riga to St. Petersburg to order himself a dozen new caftans. The wits said that the field marshal intended in 1757 to open a campaign not against the Prussians, but against the ladies of Riga. He was always richly dressed and covered in diamonds. Prince M.M. Shcherbatov spoke about Apraksin:
Arrogant and arrogant with his subordinates, Apraksin did everything to maintain his influence at court, to gain the favor and support of Count P.I. Shuvalov, he contributed to his love affair with his daughter Elena Kurakina.
For Apraksin it was business as usual taking bribes and betraying friends, few could compare with him in deceit and malice, but in fact he was a coward. One day, during lunch, he, already a field marshal, cheated at cards and responded with threats to curses uttered by Count K.G. Razumovsky, then Razumovsky slapped him in the face and showered him with a hail of blows and kicks. Apraksin was afraid not to demand satisfaction from Empress Elizabeth.
Family
He was married to Agrippina Leontievna Soimonova (06/04/1719-10/28/1771), the daughter of Lieutenant General Leonty Yakovlevich Soimonov and his wife, born Kokoshkina. When Apraksin was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in Prussia in 1756, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna granted Agrippina Leontyevna a full lady of state. E.P. Yankova recalled that due to Apraksin’s constant absences and campaigns, his wife “was in charge of everything and was stingy; as soon as money is needed, he will come to her: “Come on, Leontyevna, loosen up, part with your treasured possessions, give me some money.”
According to the historian P.F. Karabanov, Agrippina Leontyevna was gifted with sublime and noble feelings. She managed things carefully, but at the same time did a lot of good. After the fall of her husband, she left the Court and retired to her Olgovo estate near Moscow, which she received as a dowry. Upon the accession of Peter III to the throne, Apraksina received permission to return to St. Petersburg and took up her former prominent position at the Court. She died on October 28, 1771 and was buried next to her husband at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In marriage she had two daughters and a son.
- Elena Stepanovna (1735-1769), one of the first beauties of her time, from 1751 was the wife of the chamberlain and senator Prince B.A. Kurakin (1733-1764); favorite of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich.
- Maria Stepanovna (1742-1796), maid of honor, was married from 1763 to Lieutenant A.F. Talyzin (1734-1787), a participant in the enthronement of Catherine II, later chamberlain and senator. Their sons are Lieutenant General Peter (1767-1801) and Major General Stepan Talyzin (1768-1815).
- Stepan Stepanovich (1757-1827), cavalry general, Smolensk military governor. He was married to Princess Ekaterina Vladimirovna Golitsyna (1770-1854), daughter of the famous " Queen of Spades»N.P. Golitsyna, maid of honor, later cavalry lady of the Order of St. Catherine and the Chamberlain.
- Agrippina Leontievna, wife
- Elena Stepanovna,
daughter - Maria Stepanovna,
daughter - Stepan Stepanovich,
son
According to the custom of that time, he entered service as a soldier of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was a captain in the reign of Emperor Peter II; then he transferred to the Semenovsky regiment, granted second major by Empress Anna Ioannovna; served under the banner of Field Marshal Minich: he was present during the capture of Ochakov by storm (1737), for which he was awarded the rank of prime major and villages; promoted (1739) to major general with orders to remain on duty under the field marshal; brought to St. Petersburg, September 10, news of the capture of Khotin; received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky; met (1741) at the border the embassy of Takhmas-Kuly-Khan, the conqueror of the Mogul. It consisted of two thousand two hundred and twenty-five people; in addition to precious gifts, the Shah sent 14 elephants and, wanting to expel the Turks from the Persian regions, tried to enter into a close alliance with Russia to receive auxiliary troops; asked the ruler to marry Tsarevna Elisaveta Petrovna to him; expressed his consent to introduce the Christian faith in his state. This proposal was not crowned with the desired success: the Persian ambassador soon saw Elizabeth on the throne and, generously gifted by her, left Russia at the end of 1742.
Following this, Stepan Fedorovich was sent as an envoy to Persia; continued to serve as General-Kriegs-Commissar, Vice-President of the Military Collegium; awarded general-in-chief (1746) and lieutenant colonel of the Semenovsky Guard Regiment; Knight of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called (1751); Field Marshal General on September 5, 1756. Empress Elisaveta Petrovna entrusted him with the army when Russia, on the basis of an alliance with Austria, took up arms against Frederick the Great.
Apraksin, having entered Prussia (1757), separated part of the troops under the leadership of General Fermor to occupy Memel and gathered all his forces on the right bank of the Russa River, at the place where it flows into the Kurishgavi Bay. His army consisted of eighty thousand regular troops, in addition to irregulars. Field Marshal Lewald, who had turned gray in battle, had only twenty-two thousand men under arms, with whom the king instructed him to attack the Russians and drive them out of Prussia. Our cavalry and artillery were inferior to the enemy; but the warriors were animated by the same courage. Apraksin, leaving Pregel behind him, stopped in the forest on the bank of the Aksina; at that same time the Prussians, having crossed this river, also located their camp behind a dense forest. Lewald decided to attack our army near the village of Groß-Egersdorf, and ordered General Schorlemmer to inspect the Russian camp. A false alarm set the Prussian army in motion: it emerged from the forest; prepared for battle; but Lewald considered it necessary to postpone the battle until another day and occupied the former camp. Then Field Marshal Apraksin changed the position of the army entrusted to him, which completely destroyed the plan of his enemy, who decided to attack our left wing: on August 19, the Prussians opened the battle when the Russians had not yet had time to line up. The victory hesitated for a long time; In the midst of the battle, the second Prussian line fired at its first, but they could not recognize this due to the smoking of two villages that the Russians had set on fire. In vain the enemy tried to break into our ranks, hoping to grab our wings: the second line, led by Rumyantsev, met the Prussians with fixed bayonets in the forest, on the left flank, and put them to flight. This decided the victory - according to Apraksin. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and taken prisoner extended to ten thousand people. Twenty-nine guns increased the trophies of the Russian commander. Eight hundred and sixty-two of our people were killed, including the brave general-in-chief Vasily Avraamovich Lopukhin, the nephew of Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna, a student of Minich and Lassi. He commanded the left wing, was suddenly wounded by three bullets and, gathering his last strength, wanted to know: "Are they chasing the enemy?" Confident of victory, he said: “Now I die calmly, having repaid my debt to the Most Gracious Empress!”
They expected Apraksin to conquer the entire kingdom and, instead, he crossed back beyond the Pregel (August 27) with incredible haste, in such disorder, as if he had suffered a complete defeat. This unexpected coup is explained in various ways: the field marshal blamed the lack of food; some writers say that the chancellor, Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin, ordered him to retreat to please Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich; but Bishing’s story is more thorough: Bestuzhev, hated by the Grand Duke, decided to elevate his son, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, to the throne under the guardianship of Catherine. The serious illness of the Empress presented him with an opportunity to fulfill a brave intention: believing that Elizabeth was on her deathbed, he recalled his friend, Field Marshal Apraksin, to the borders of Russia in order to have his army at his disposal. The Empress freed herself from illness and removed the Chancellor to the village, where he remained during the reign of Emperor Peter III. The executor of the will of the first minister, having lost the fruits of his victory, was also demanded to answer: he was imprisoned in a small palace near St. Petersburg at a place called Three-Arms; He languished on trial for about three years and died suddenly on August 26, 1760.
Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin was a kind husband, a gentle father and a faithful friend; loved to do good to the poor, wounded and decrepit soldiers; had quick thinking on the battlefield; but, unfortunately, he eclipsed his glory with the biased trial of Lestocq. They say that he sent from Prussia, through one sutler, several barrels of ducats, ordering it to be inscribed that they were with wine. The field marshal, notified by her husband, put the barrels with her in the cellar and, having sent out the people, uncorked one; but, to her extreme surprise, instead of ducats, wine poured out. So the sutler knew how to take advantage of Apraksin’s fall!
For the victory at Groß-Egersdorf, he was ordered to add two cannons to his family coat of arms. Empress Catherine II granted the title of lady of state to Field Marshal Agrafena Leontyevna Apraksin. Count Minich speaks of her that she was gifted with sublime and noble feelings.
The son of Stepan Fedorovich, Stepan Stepanovich Apraksin, on the occasion of the victory won as a field marshal at Groß-Egersdorf, while still in the cradle, was recorded by Empress Elisaveta Petrovna (1757) as an ensign of the Life Guards in the Semenovsky regiment, of which he was already captain in 1765, on the ninth from birth ; then promoted to colonel and adjutant (1777); commanded (1781) the Kyiv infantry regiment; received the Order of St. Anne (1786) with the rank of major general; granted lieutenant general (1793); chief of the Astrakhan Dragoon Regiment, renamed lieutenant general (1797); general of cavalry (1798); cavalry inspector of the Moscow and Smolensk inspections (1801); Smolensk military governor (1803); Knight of the Order of St. George, 4th class for 25 years (1803) and St. Alexander Nevsky (1804). He spent the last time of his life in Moscow, where he distinguished himself with pomp and hospitality, maintaining throughout the entire space of this word the dignity of a Russian nobleman.
Notes
1 The Apraksins descend from those who left the Great Horde at the end of the 14th century to join the Grand Duke of Ryazan Oleg Solokhmira, in the Holy Baptism of John. Oleg gave him his own sister Anastasia in marriage, and granted him several estates. Solokhmir's great-grandson was Andrei Ivanovich Apraxa. 9 Contemporaries claim that the daughter of S. F. Apraksin, Princess Elena Stepanovna Kurakina, gifted with amazing beauty, saved her father from severe punishment, through Count Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov. She died in 1768, at the age of 34.
10 Lestok, Herman, a Frenchman by birth, was first a doctor under Empress Catherine I; then, from 1725, under Tsarevna Elisaveta Petrovna; contributed to her accession to the throne (1741); granted a full-time Privy Councilor, life physician, president of the Medical College and a portrait of the Empress, showered with diamonds; received (1744) the dignity of count of the Roman Empire; began to interfere in diplomatic affairs; antagonized Bestuzhev, whom he had previously patronized; denigrated by him and Apraksin in the opinion of the Empress (1748); imprisoned in the Petropalovskaya fortress; put on trial; deprived of ranks, estate; exiled to Ustyug (1753); released from exile (1761) by Emperor Peter III, who restored his ranks and count's dignity; awarded by Empress Catherine II a pension and villages in Livonia; died in 1767. His former estate was all plundered; a beautiful house in St. Petersburg was given by Elisaveta to Apraksin with all the precious things and silver found in it.
11 See Poroshin’s Notes.