Of all the foreigners in my service, he is the best at undertaking and producing great things. Help him in everything! Peter the Great Minich Burchard Christoph (Christopher Antonovich) (1683-1767), Russian field Marshal, associate of Peter the Great In the Russian service since 1721 as an engineer-general. Since 1728 - Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Governor of Karelia and Finland. Since 1732 - President of the Military College. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739, he commanded troops in the Crimea and Bessarabia. In 1742-1762, he was exiled, then returned to the court with all ranks and awards preserved. In the last years of his life, he was the Chief Director of the Revel and Narva Harbors. The Kronstadt and Ladoga canals. Among the many names that made the Russian Empire famous in the XVIII century, the name of Field Marshal Minich occupies a well-deserved place. It is not easy to recreate the historical portrait of this figure, a portrait that has been hidden from posterity for many years. The fate of Minich before his appearance in Russia did not differ much from the fate of young foreign officers at the turn of the XVII - XVIII centuries, for whom almost the whole of Europe became a continuous theater of military operations. Minich Burchard Christoph (later known in Russia as Christoph Antonovich) was born in Germany, in the county of Oldenburg in 1683. His father, a lieutenant colonel in the Danish service, a hydraulic engineer, was raised to the nobility only at the end of his life. Young Minich begins serving as a military engineer in 1700. He, of course, gets information about Russia, Peter I. Burchard was full of ambition at the time. At the beginning of the Northern War, could a novice officer have expected such a successful appearance in Russia before the Emperor Peter? He served in the French, Polish-Saxon armies, and was listed in the troops of small German states... One of these references to the appearance of Minich in Russia belongs ... Читать далее