From Pushkin to Gaidar: Russian classics who took part in military conflicts

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

"You may not be a poet, but you must be a citizen" - these words of Nikolai Nekrasov characterize Russian literary figures in the best possible way. In a difficult time for the fatherland, our best writers and poets considered it their duty to defend the interests of their people with arms in hand.

How Pushkin ended up in the Caucasus and why he did not have time to show off courage in the battle at the top of Soganlug

The true motives for which Alexander Sergeevich ended up on the battlefields of the Russian-Turkish war of 1829 are not exactly known. It is possible that the reason for his appearance in the army, commanded by Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich, was the events of his personal life. Namely - the proposal of the hand and heart to Natalia Goncharova, which remained without a definite answer.

The poet himself spoke of his desire to see the war with his own eyes, to survey the "little-known country" and to see his younger brother Lev, who participated in the campaign. Pushkin quickly adapted to the bivouac life on the top of the Soganluga mountain range and was simply eager to fight the Turks. Therefore, during a sudden attack of enemy detachments, he jumped on his horse and, with a saber bald, rushed to where the shots were heard. From a direct skirmish with the Turkish riders, Pushkin was saved by the lancers who came to the rescue. The command felt a huge responsibility for the life of the outstanding poet and, for security reasons, decided to withdraw him from the combat zone. Having received a trophy saber as a gift from Paskevich, Alexander Sergeevich set off from the front line to Tiflis.

For what merits Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anna

Count Leo Tolstoy also had a chance to sniff gunpowder. Following the example of his elder brother Nicholas, he went to the army and together with him got to the Caucasus, where he repeatedly participated in clashes with the highlanders.

With the outbreak of the Crimean War, Lev Nikolayevich moved to the Danube Front, and soon began to apply for a transfer to Sevastopol. The request was granted in November 1854. For 10 months of participation in the Crimean campaign, the writer had to command an artillery battery, take part in the storming of the Malakhov Kurgan, survive the siege of the city. The bravery and courage of Leo Tolstoy were rewarded: he was awarded several medals and the Order of St. Anna IV degree with the inscription "For Courage." The cycle "Sevastopol Stories" about the harsh everyday life of the war, published at the height of the hostilities, was highly appreciated by the Emperor Alexander II.

Military career of Nikolai Gumilyov

The outstanding Russian poet of the Silver Age considered his main merits to be poetry, travel (expeditions to Africa) and the First World War, for which he volunteered in August 1914. Despite being released from service due to vision problems, Nikolai Stepanovich achieved enrollment in the Life Guards Ulansky Regiment and went from a volunteer to a non-commissioned officer. He fought in Poland, in Volyn. For exceptional courage he was awarded the St. George's Crosses three times.

Illness twice put Gumilyov out of action, but, having healed, he again returned to the trenches. Front-line impressions poured into verse, and the documentary story "Notes of a cavalryman" was regularly published in the St. Petersburg newspaper "Birzhevye vedomosti". In August 1921, the talented poet was accused of conspiracy, arrested and soon shot.

The participation of the satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko in the First and Second World War

Mikhail Mikhailovich had a chance to take part in three wars. In World War I, he earned a shrapnel wound in the leg, a heart defect (the result of gas poisoning) and an award - 5 orders. Having received an exemption from military service in 1919, he volunteered for the active unit of the Red Army. He took part in the battles, but after a heart attack he was discharged. After leaving military service, he devoted himself to literature.

In the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, Zoshchenko submitted to the military registration and enlistment office an application for sending to the front, justifying his request with the presence of combat experience. After being refused, he became a member of the fire defense group, which is engaged in defusing incendiary bombs. He contributed to the approach of victory as a writer, writing anti-fascist feuilletons for newspapers and radio. The activity of Mikhail Zoshchenko was awarded in 1946 with the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

Children's writer and part-time machine gunner of the spacecraft, or the tragic fate of Arkady Gaidar

For the first time, Arkady Petrovich Golikov (later - Gaidar) became a participant in hostilities in 1919, at the age of 15, barely having time to finish the Kiev command courses. Then, together with the rest of the graduates, he was thrown into the defense of the city from Petliura. Then he commanded a company, then a battalion. At the age of 17, he became the commander of a separate regiment to combat banditry. Contrary to the plans, it was not possible to permanently connect his life with the army: the previously received concussion turned into a traumatic neurosis, which even the best specialists could not overcome. Having retired to the reserve, Gaidar found himself as a children's writer.

When the Great Patriotic War began, Arkady Petrovich made a lot of efforts to get to the front, and went there as a military commander of Komsomolskaya Pravda. Having got out of the encirclement, he got to the partisans. He served as a machine gunner, kept a detachment's diary. He died in October 1941, after falling into a German ambush.

The exploits of the front-line writer Daniil Granin

The Great Patriotic War found Daniil Alexandrovich in Leningrad, where, after graduating from the Polytechnic Institute, he worked at the Kirov plant. From there, when he was 22, he joined the people's militia. To do this, I had to work hard to remove the reservation. For 4 years he experienced all the hardships of the war - tank attacks, retreat, encirclement, wounds and concussions. The blockade winter passed in the trenches near Pushkino. Then, after graduating from a tank school, Granin went to the front as a tank officer. The writer fought on the Leningrad and Baltic fronts, and ended the war in East Prussia as a heavy tank company commander.

Daniil Granin created a number of works on the military theme. He considered the main one of them the documentary work "The Blockade Book", which was co-authored by the Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich.

But not only writers went to defend the country. Also at the call of the Motherland the actors also responded.