Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky

Born in Russia in 1789, after the death of his father, Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky used his inheritance to study in Göttingen from 1808-11, on returning to Russia he became a civil servant. During the War of 1812, he joined the militia and participated in the Battle of Borodino, after which he served in the Quartermasters Department and was present at many battles from 1813-14. From 1815-20, he was head of the General Staff library but returned to military service until 1832, when he was commissioned to write Russia’s official military histories. He died in 1848 during a cholera epidemic in St. Petersburg.