RUSSIAN HEROES OF THE 1812 PATRIOTIC WAR IN THE ABKHAZIAN HISTORY OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

The article analyzes an appealing historical plot connected with the local biographical characteristics of individual participants of the 1812 Patriotic War, who achieved a high military and administrative status and played an active role in the Abkhazian history of the first half of the 19th century. The analysis shows social and mental evolution of selected characters having passed the complex path of young and ambitious officers of the brilliant epoch of Napoleonic wars to the highest commanders who managed large military formations and civilians during a specific period of the imperial incorporation of the Caucasus. Complex characteristics of the figures are explored in the socio-cultural context, determined by the systemic interaction of local mountain communities and administrative structures of the Russian Empire. Particular attention is paid to complex reconstruction of the characters that were formed during a long historical period and included special features of the officer mentality of the XIX century and individual characteristics that became the natural result of a military career. The chosen context serves the background for comparative description of the military leaders formed in the long struggle with Napoleon. They complemented their own image in a protracted confrontation with the mountain communities that fought and concluded peace treaties on absolutely different rules.