Editing Pyotr Bagration (section)

==Life==
Pyotr was born in 1765 to a [[batonishvili|prince]] of the [[House of Mukhrani|Mukhrani branch]] of the [[Bagrationi dynasty]],<ref name="Georgian Dynasty Official">{{citation |title=The Royal House of Georgia |url=http://www.royalhouseofgeorgia.ge/home |contribution=Dynasty |contribution-url=http://www.royalhouseofgeorgia.ge/royal-house/dynasty |access-date=9 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921155244/http://www.royalhouseofgeorgia.ge/home |archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref> Colonel Prince [[Ivan Aleksandrovich Bagration|Ivane Bagrationi]], who was the eldest son of [[Prince Alexander of Kartli (died 1773)|Prince Alexander]], an illegitimate son of [[Jesse of Kartli|King Jesse]] of [[Kingdom of Kartli|Kartli]],{{sfnp|Dumin|1996|pp=44 ff}} which is now central [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. He studied Russian and German{{sfnp|Mikaberidze|2009|p=8}} and was taught Persian, Turkish, Armenian, and Georgian by his father.{{sfnp|Mikaberidze|2009|p=7}} However, unlike many other Russian aristocrats, he did not know French.

Pyotr joined the [[Imperial Russian Army]] in 1782,{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} enlisting as a sergeant in the Kavsansk Rifles of the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment. His younger brother [[Roman Bagration|Roman]] joined the Chuguev Cossack regiment as a ''uryadnik'' (a [[Cossack]] [[Non-commissioned officer|NCO]]) at the age of thirteen in 1791. Both would go on to become generals of the [[Imperial Russian Army]].

Bagration served for some years in the [[Russian-Circassian War]]. He participated in the [[Siege of Ochakov (1788)]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} In 1792 he was commissioned as a captain and transferred to the Kiev Cavalry Regiment that year as a second Major, transferring as a full first Major to the Sofiiskii Carabineers on 15 May 1794. He served in the military campaign to suppress the [[Poland–Lithuania|Polish]] [[Kościuszko Uprising]] of 1794.

He received successive promotions to lieutenant-colonel (26 October 1794), to colonel (1798) and to major-general (1799).{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} His merits were recognized by [[Alexander Suvorov|Suvorov]], whom he accompanied in the [[Italian and Swiss expedition of 1799|Italian and Swiss campaigns]] of 1799,{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} winning particular distinction{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} by the capture of the towns of [[Capture of Brescia|Brescia]] and [[Capture of Bergamo|Bergamo]] and having fought well [[Battle of Cassano (1799)|along the Adda River]] and [[Battle of Klöntal|in the Klön Valley]]. From 1798 to 1799, he commanded the 6th Chasseurs; from 1801 to 1802, he commanded the Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard; then from 1802 to 1805, he served as GOC Jager Brigade.{{clarify|date=December 2015}}

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| image2 = Katharina Bagration.jpg
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| footer = [[Catherine Pavlovna of Russia]] (left), a daughter of Emperor [[Paul I of Russia]], was passionately in love with Prince Bagration. That worried the Russian royal family, and to avoid future relations between the two, the emperor Paul forced Bagration to marry Princess [[Catherine Bagration|Catherine Skavronskaya]] (right) in 1800.
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He was the alleged lover of [[Paul I of Russia|Emperor Paul]]'s daughter [[Catherine Pavlovna of Russia|Catherine]]. In 1800 Paul recognized the title of "Prince (''[[Knyaz#Russia|Knyaz]]'') Bagration" for Pyotr in Russia,{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} and unexpectedly married him off to [[Catherine Bagration|Countess Catherine Pavlovna Skavronskaya]], the favourite niece of [[Grigory Potemkin]] and one of the Empress [[Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)|Maria]]'s ladies-in-waiting. Bagration and Catherine had been casually involved, but the marriage was a failure. The young and lovely Catherine soon preferred travelling and, in 1805, fled to [[Vienna]], where her salon and running affair with [[Klemens von Metternich|Prince Clemens von Metternich]]—who called her "the Naked Angel"—permitted her to serve as an important agent of Russian intelligence and diplomacy. Bagration was obliged by the emperor to claim their daughter, [[Marie-Clementine Bagration|Marie-Clementine]],{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} as his own and to subsidize thousands of rubles of Catherine's debts. He had a reputation as a heavy gambler, as well, and was forced to sell estates to cover losses that rose as high as 80,000 roubles.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

In the wars of 1805 Bagration's achievements appeared even more brilliant.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} When [[Napoleon]] ordered [[Joachim Murat|Murat]] to break an armistice he had just signed with Bagration, the general was able to successfully resist the repeated attacks of forces five times his own numbers{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} under Murat and [[Jean Lannes|Lannes]] at [[Battle of Schöngrabern|Schöngrabern]] (16 November) near [[Hollabrunn]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} Though Bagration lost half of the men under his command, their stand protected the retreat of the main army under [[Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov|Kutuzov]] to [[Olomouc|Olmütz]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} When Kutuzov was overruled and forced into battle at [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]] (2 December), Bagration commanded the advance guard of the [[Johann I Josef, Prince of Liechtenstein|Prince Liechtenstein]]'s column{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} and defended the allied right against Lannes{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} while the left attacked Napoleon's deliberately undefended right flank.  He was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1805, and in 1807 fought bravely and obstinately at the battles of [[Battle of Eylau|Eylau]] (7 February),{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} [[Battle of Heilsberg|Heilsberg]] (11 June),{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} and [[Battle of Friedland|Friedland]] (14 June).{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}}

He was successful as commander of both Russia's [[Finnish War|Finnish Campaign]] in 1808 and [[Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812|Turkish Campaign]] in 1809.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} In the former, he captured the [[Åland|Åland Islands]] by a daring march across the frozen [[Gulf of Finland]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} His rapid transfer to the distant [[Moldavia]]n front against the [[Ottoman Empire]] has been seen as a reprimand for an alleged affair with the [[Catherine Pavlovna of Russia|tsarevna Catherine]], who was married off shortly thereafter.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} While there, he led the Russian army at [[Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812|Rassowa and Tataritza]]{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} and was promoted to full general of infantry.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

In 1812, Bagration commanded the 2nd Army of the West. A few days before Napoleon's invasion on 24 June, he suggested to [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] a pre-emptive strike into the Duchy of Warsaw. Defeated at [[Mogilev]] (23 July), Bagration led his forces to join the 1st Army at Smolensk under [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly|Barclay de Tolly]], to whom he ceded overall command of both armies on 2 August. Bagration led the left wing at the [[Battle of Borodino]] (7 September) where he constructed many [[Bagration flèches|flèches]] which, due to a shortage of engineer officers, were poorly built. During the battle, he received a mortal wound and later died from [[gangrene]] on 24 September, in the village of Simi, where his aunt resided.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

It is said that, while wounded, Bagration kept giving orders to the troops without knowing that the Russian army was abandoning [[Moscow]]. When he finally heard the truth, Bagration was so shocked that he rapidly stood up, totally forgetting about his grave wound. Such an act was too much for his severely wounded body and it quickly cost Bagration his life.<ref name="lv">{{citation |last=Lê |first=Vinh Quốc |author-mask=Lê Vinh Quốc |author2-last=Nguyễn |author2-first=Thị Thư |author3-last=Lê |author3-first=Phụng Hoàng |title=Các nhân vật Lịch sử Cận đại, Tập II: Nga. ''[''Modern History of Russia'']'' |date=1997 |location=Ho Chi Minh City |publisher=NXB Giáo Dục |language=vi}}</ref>