Novels, Tales, Journeys

6. the campaign of 1829: Paskevich’s campaign on the Caucasian front, which ended in September 1829 with the defeat of the Turkish army and the Treaty of Adrianople. It is the background subject of Pushkin’s Journey to Arzrum, in addition to which, despite his disclaimer, he also wrote a number of poems based on his experiences during the campaign.

7. Ermolov: Alexei Petrovich Ermolov (1777–1861) began his military career in the Preobrazhensky regiment (see note 14 to The Moor of Peter the Great), advanced rapidly during the Napoleonic Wars, became chief of staff of the First Western Army in 1812 and then chief of staff of the entire army in the same year. After the defeat of the French, he was made commander in chief of the Caucasus. But his stubborn temperament brought him into conflict with his superiors, and in 1827 Nicholas I abruptly replaced him with Paskevich. He spent the last thirty years of his life on his estate near Orel.

8. Dawe: The British painter George Dawe (1781–1829) moved to Petersburg in 1819, where he was commissioned to paint 329 portraits of Russian generals who participated in the Napoleonic Wars, to be hung in the military gallery of the Winter Palace.

9. the count of Jericho: For Paskevich see note 4 above. Ermolov plays on the similarity of the Russian words Erevansky (“of Erevan”) and Erikhonsky (“of Jericho”).

10. Count Tolstoy: Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (1782–1846), known as “Tolstoy the American” because he had spent time in the Aleutian Islands during a two-year cruise around the world (1803–1805). He was a high-society bon vivant, duelist, gambler, and at various times Pushkin’s friend and enemy.

11. Karamzin’s History: See note 4 to Roslavlev.

12. Prince Kurbsky: Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky (1528–1583) was a close friend and advisor to Ivan the Terrible, but then became his enemy and defected to Lithuania. He is best remembered for his bitter and erudite exchange of letters with the tsar; he also wrote a History of the Grand Prince of Moscow on the life of Ivan the Terrible.

13. Griboedov: See note 7 to “The Blizzard.”

14. Count Pushkin: That is, Count Vladimir Alexeevich Musin-Pushkin (1798–1854), a distant relation of Pushkin’s. He had been involved in the Decembrist uprising, but was punished only by demotion.

15. Indomitable mares…: The quotation is from the poem “Peter the Great in Ostrogozhsk” (1823), by the young poet and officer Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleev (1795–1826), one of the five Decembrists who were hanged for inciting the rebellion.

16. Orlovsky: Alexander Osipovich Orlovsky (1777–1832) was a Russian artist of Polish origin. He was most noted for his lively drawings, for which he was invited to Petersburg by Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, brother of the emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. Pushkin greatly admired his work.

17. Hot Springs: Also known as the Caucasian Mineral Waters, now the town of Pyatigorsk. Pushkin had visited the place some years earlier (see the fragment “A Romance at the Caucasian Waters”).

18. A. Raevsky: Alexander Nikolaevich Raevsky (1795–1868), the eldest son of General Nikolai Raevsky (see note 4 above), was a close friend of Pushkin’s and the model for his poem “The Demon” (1823).

19. Count Gudovich: Field Marshal Ivan Vasilyevich Gudovich (1741–1820) took part in the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768–1774, 1787–1791, and 1806–1812, in which his many victories gained him great distinction.

20. the peaceful Circassians: The Circassians, the last native people of the Caucasus to be subdued by the Russians (only in 1868), had been largely driven out of their territories in what amounted to a genocide. Those who remained were “peaceful” in name only.

21. Mansur…Solovki monastery: “Mansur” means “the victorious one.” His name was Ushurma. His birthdate is variously given as 1732, 1750, and 1760; he died in 1794. A Chechen sheikh and imam, he led a revolt against the Russian invasion of the Caucasus, was finally defeated in 1791, and was imprisoned for life in the Schlüsselburg Fortress near Petersburg. Some say he died in the monastery of Solovki, in the north of Russia.

22. …like a warrior…around him: Pushkin quotes in English from the poem “The Burial of John Moore” (1817), by the Irish poet and clergyman Charles Wolfe (1791–1823), which was much admired by Byron.

23. Stjernvall…North: The Finnish baron Carl Emil Knut Stjernvall-Walleen (1806–1890) was the brother-in-law of Count Musin-Pushkin (see note 14 above). The quotation is from Derzhavin’s poem “The Waterfall” (see note 10 to The Moor of Peter the Great and note 1 to “The Coffin-Maker”).