Bible Encyclopedias
Alexander Sergeievich, Prince Menshikov

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Alexander Selkirk

Next Entry
Alexander Sergeivich Dargomijsky

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Prince (1787-1869), great-grandson of the preceding, was born on the 11th of September 1787, and entered the Russian service as attache to the embassy at Vienna. He accompanied the emperor Alexander throughout his campaigns against Napoleon, and retired from army service in 1823. He then devoted himself 1 The Solov'evs were three brothers ostensibly employed by the Russian government to ship corn from Russia and sell it at Amsterdam. As a matter of fact they were at the head of a combination for selling Menshikov's corn in preference to the corn of the Russian government and the bulk of the proceeds went into Menshikov's pockets. From 1709 to 1711 they had exported almost as much of Menshikov's corn as of that of the government, though the export of any corn from Russia, except in account of the Treasury, was a capital offence. The affair dragged on from 1713 to 1716, when the examination of the Solov'evs' books, and the subsequent application of torture, revealed the fact that the Solov'evs had systematically robbed the Treasury of 675,000 roubles (1 rouble then = 5s.) and had accumulated a fortune of half a million. For full details see Nisbet Bain, The First Romanovs, pp. 327-329.

to naval matters, became an admiral in 1834, and put the Russian navy, which had fallen into decay during the reign of Alexander, on an efficient footing. At the time of the dispute as to the Holy Places he was sent on a special mission to Constantinople, and when the Crimean war broke out he was appointed commander-in-chief by land and sea. He commanded the Russian army at the Alma and in the field operations round Sevastopol. In March 1855 he was recalled, ostensibly and perhaps really, on account of failing health. He died on the 2nd of May 1869 at St Petersburg.