Prince Pyotr Bagration
Prince Pyotr Bagration
Russian general
Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration (1765 – 1812) was a Russian general and prince of Georgian origin, prominent during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
We first meet Bagration in Book 1 Part 2 Chapter 13, where Kutuzov gives him instructions to delay the French advance.
BOOK ONE
Book 1, Part 2
8 Feb: Chapter 14
Before battle, Bagration wonders whether Andrei is “one of the ordinary little staff-dandies sent to earn a medal” or “a brave officer”.
11 Feb: Chapter 17
The general rides across the battlefield with his sleepy eyes and slow mannerisms, receiving information and telling everyone: “Very good!” Things are not very good, and he gives no order to make them better. And yet, everyone leaves him feeling calmer and more cheerful.
12 Feb: Chapter 18
Bagration receives news of terrible losses and gives the order to cease and re-form.
Prince Andrei was struck by the changed expression on Prince Bagration’s face at this moment. It expressed the concentrated and happy resolution you see on the face of a man who on a hot day takes a final run before plunging into the water. The dull sleepy expression was no longer there, not the affectation of profound thought. The round, steady, hawk’s eyes looked before him eagerly and rather disdainfully, not resting on anything although his movements were still slow and measured.
15 Feb: Chapter 21
After the battle, he is busy inquiring about the battle and tells the officers that “all arms have behaved heroically”. However, he investigates the matter of the abandoned guns. Tushin is brought in, and Andrei defends him, even crediting him with the success of the entire regiment. Bagration lets Tushin go, wanting neither to reject nor fully honour Andrei’s opinion on the matter.
Book 1, Part 3
28 Feb: Chapter 13
Bagration is unconvinced by Dolgorukov’s belief that the French are retreating. “Wait till tomorrow morning,” he says. He sends Rostov as a scout and later lets him stay with him in the battle.
2 Mar: Chapter 17
We should probably not forget that Bagration sent little Rostov to see Kutuzov, knowing full well that he would either die in the attempt or not get back before evening.
BOOK TWO
Book 2, Part 1
Chapter 3
Bagration attends a banquet in his honour at the English Club in Moscow.
BOOK THREE
Book 3, Part 2
Chapter 1
Bagration complains to the emperor that the ‘headquarters are so full of Germans and a Russian cannot exist and there is no sense in anything.’
Chapter 5
Bagration writes to the Minister of War demanding that the army be better led under one commander.