From the Presidential Library collections: the writer and hero of the war of 1812 Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky

July 23, 2018 marks the 226th birth anniversary of one of Pushkin's closest friends, Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (1792-1878), whom we know more than a literary critic, historian, translator, first chairman of the Russian Historical Society, and to a lesser degree - as a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. With this side of his life, as well as with other rare facets of his personality, the reader is introduced to the electronic copies of unique editions from the Presidential Library collections, such as, for example, "Letters from N. M. Karamzin to Prince P. A. Vyazemsky. 1810-1826", "Letters from Prince P. A. Vyazemsky: from the papers of P. Y. Chaadaev", as well as the prince's lifetime memories of participating in the Battle of Borodino and other sources.

The noble and old family of princes Vyazemsky is covered in the digitized book of P. Petrov "Prince Pavel Petrovich Vyazemsky" (1881), dedicated to the son of Pyotr Vyazemsky - a famous diplomat, a government man, the founder of the Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature. "Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky, - Petrov writes in his book describing Pyotr Vyazemsky’s father and the grandfather Paul, - was one of the remarkable figures during the reign of Catherine II. Born in 1754, he was already a lieutenant-general in 1788, and then a secret adviser. His "Military Note" of 1774 concludes the contemporaries' view of the organization of our troops. Ideas by prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky have behind him, apart from news, a lot of practicality, proving in the author the ability to look at things ... without closing his eyes before the reverse side of the medal, which expresses a far from comforting state of affairs".

Being a son of a military officer of such a level, Pyotr Vyazemsky did not consider it possible to evade participation in a grappling war with Napoleon, although he soberly evaluated his fighting qualities in the memoirs left by the descendants of "The Wake of the Battle of Borodino and Memories of 1812" (1869): "I already once said that I have never been ready for military service. Neither my health, nor my upbringing, nor my inclinations had me at that rank. I was a mediocre rider on a horse, I never took a firearm in my arms. In the hostel he studied fencing, but after that I got familiar with the rapier. In short, nothing was militant in me. In my youth I was rather old-fashioned, and the Cossack uniform and military bearing were probably not very good for me".

Being polar opposite of his valiant father, however, by the time of the Battle of Borodino, he was in the thick of events, having joined the Cossack regiment of M. Dmitriev-Mamonov and becoming the adjutant of General Miloradovich (later he will devote his poem to the fateful outcome of the war battle). "I was so inexperienced in military affairs and such a peaceful military barich", - he continues his memoirs, "that I took the whistle of the first bullet flying over me just for whistling. Turned back and, seeing that no one was following me, I guessed the true meaning of this whistle. Soon later the nucleus fell to the feet of Miloradovich's horse. He said: "My God! Look, the enemy gives us a salute". I cannot help but notice that the habit of speaking in French did not prevent our generals from fighting completely in Russian".

The inexperience of the prince and his inability to fully appreciate the danger led him to the number of the first brave men: during the Battle of Borodino, one horse was wounded under him and another horse was killed; he saved on the battlefield the bleeding General Bakhmetev and left the flame of war with the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree. According to some historians of literature, Vyazemsky's stories about the realities of the battle of Borodino were used by Leo Tolstoy when writing the novel "War and Peace", and the image of Pierre Bezukhov, who was in the center of the theater of war, received certain features of Prince Vyazemsky's personality. That did not prevent the latter in future, being a well-known writer, criticizing the great writer for inaccuracies in depicting what was happening on the battlefields.

The study of the epistolary collection of Prince Vyazemsky feeds for a deeper understanding of the personality of both Pyotr Andreevich himself and his contemporaries, among whom were the first intellectuals of the time: A. S. Pushkin, P. Y. Chaadaev, N. M. Karamzin, publisher of "Russian Archives" P. I. Bartenev and others. Of particular value are the Letters of N. M. Karamzin to Prince P. A. Vyazemsky. 1810-1826 (1897). Correspondents were in a distant relationship; in letters the historiographer dropped sometimes brief but exhaustive assessments of what was happening: "But about my life I cannot say anything pleasant or brilliant. Alas, we do not see the yard either! I see only the printing house, where they build me traps and do all kinds of annoyances for it, I think that the Sovereign ordered me to publish my poor History in it on all terms, what I propose. Here is the bitter fruit of twelve years of sweet work for me! I do not want to go anywhere ... We mostly spend evenings at home, alone, in reading proofs with my wife. Be careful that I do not make you correct if you come to us in the winter!"

Later, Pushkin's literary companion in the society “Arzamas”, and later - an employee of the “Literary Newspaper” Delvig and Pushkin and Pushkin's “Sovremennik”, Pyotr Vyazemsky left us an epistolary communication with the poet that did not cease during his lifetime. "Their correspondence, according to the literary critic D. P. Mirsky, - is a treasure trove of wit, fine criticism and a good Russian language". The mutual influences of friends in the field of literature are reflected in an electronic copy of V. Vinogradov's book “Pushkin's Language: Pushkin and the History of the Russian Literary Language” (1935).

Pyotr Yakovlevich Chaadaev wrote to Pyotr Andreevich from abroad: "I would very much like to come to you and stay with you, look at your mental movement, listen to your disputes: there's nothing here". "Letters from Prince P. A. Vyazemsky: from the papers of P. Y. Chaadaev" (1897) are available on the Presidential Library portal.

Since 1863 Vyazemsky mostly lived abroad and died in Baden-Baden on November 22, 1878. He was buried in St. Petersburg, in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery.