Mikhail Kutuzov

Field Marshal of the Russian Empire (1745–1813)

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Lived 1747–1813, aged 66

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Wikipedia
61 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1747–1813
Aged 66
Awards
14
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

The Russian field marshal who took two bullets to the head fighting the Turks — decades apart — and lived to bleed Napoleon dry in 1812. Kutuzov won by refusing to win: he retreated, burned, waited, and let winter finish what attrition started.

Biography

About

Born in 1745, Mikhail Golenishchev-Kutuzov served three Romanov rulers as both soldier and diplomat. He was shot in the head in 1774 fighting the Ottomans, then again in 1788 — both times he survived wounds that should have killed him. By 1812, now a field marshal, he commanded Russia's defense against Napoleon's Grande Armée. He chose attrition over pitched battle: falling back, scorching earth, stretching supply lines until the invaders crumbled. At Krasnoi he crushed the retreat, earning the victory title "Smolensky" appended to his name. Alexander I called him one of Europe's greatest comm…

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