Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly

5 min readMay 19, 2021

Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly[nb 1] (German: Fürst Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly; 27 December [O.S. 16 December] 1761–26 May [O.S. 14 May] 1818) was a Baltic German field marshal and Minister of War of the Russian Empire during Napoleon’s invasion in 1812 and the War of the Sixth Coalition. Barclay implemented a number of reforms during this time that improved supply system in the army, doubled the number of army troops, and implemented new combat training principles. He was also the Governor-General of Finland.

He was born into a German-speaking noble family from Livonia who were members of the Scottish Clan Barclay. His father was the first of his family to be accepted into the Russian nobility. Barclay joined the Imperial Russian Army at a young age in 1776, enlisting in the Pskov Carabineer Regiment. For his role in the capture of Ochakov in 1788 from the Ottomans, he was personally decorated by Grigory Potemkin. Afterwards he participated in Catherine the Great’s Swedish War. In 1794, he took part in putting down the Kościuszko Uprising in Poland and was again decorated for role in the capture of Vilnius.

In 1806, Barclay began commanding in the Napoleonic Wars, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Pułtusk that same year. He was wounded at the Battle of Eylau in 1807 while his troops were covering the retreat of the Russian army. Because of his wounds, he was forced to leave command. The following year, he carried out successful operations in the Finnish War against Sweden. Barclay led a large number of Russian troops approximately 100 km across the frozen Gulf of Bothnia in winter during a snowstorm. For his accomplishments, Barclay de Tolly was appointed Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Finland. From 20 January 1810 to September 1812 he was the Minister of War of the Russian Empire.

When the French invasion of Russia began in 1812, Barclay de Tolly was commander of the 1st Army of the West, the largest Army to face Napoleon. Barclay was appointed Commander-in-Chief and initiated a scorched earth policy from the beginning of the campaign, though this made him unpopular among Russians. After the Battle of Smolensk failed to halt the French and discontent among Russians continued to grow, Alexander I appointed Mikhail Kutuzov as Commander-in-Chief, though Barclay remained in charge of the 1st Army. However, Kutuzov continued the same scorched earth retreat up to Moscow where the Battle of Borodino took place nearby. Barclay commanded the right wing and center of the Russian army for the battle. After Napoleon’s retreat, the eventual success of Barclay’s tactics made him a hero among Russians. He became Commander-in-Chief once again in 1813 after the death of Kutuzov and led the taking of Paris, for which he was made a Field Marshal. His health later declined and he died on a visit to Germany in 1818.

Early life and family[edit]

Barclay de Tolly was a descendant of the Scottish Clan Barclay, with roots in Towie (Towy or Tolly; Scottish Gaelic: Tollaigh) in Aberdeenshire.[2] He was born in Pomautsch [lt],[3][4] Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (present-day Pamūšis, Šiauliai County, Lithuania) and raised in Beckhof, Livonia, Russian Empire (now Jõgeveste, Estonia). The commonly accepted birth date of 27 December 1761 is actually the day of his baptism in the Lutheran church of the town Zaumel.[5] He was a German-speaking descendant of a Scottish family, as his ancestor Peter Barclay had settled in Livonia in the 17th century.

From 1765, the young Barclay de Tolly grew up in St. Petersburg and was raised by his aunt. Gregory Fremont-Barnes and Todd Fisher, who are amongst the world’s leading Napoleonic-era scholars,[citation needed] state that this was a common occurrence amongst the German Protestants, and it gave the young man an exposure to higher society unavailable in the Baltic provinces.[6] His grandfather Wilhelm Barclay de Tolly served as the mayor of Riga, while his father Bogdan Barclay de Tolly (1734–1781) served in the Russian army before being admitted into the ranks of the Russian nobility by the Tsar.[6]

The future field marshal started his active service in the Imperial Russian Army in 1776, and he would spend the rest of his life with the military.[6][dead link] He had two brothers who also served in the Russian army, Axel Heinrich Barclay de Tolly, a Major General of Engineers, and Erich Johann Barclay de Tolly, a Major of Artillery.

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly

Contents

Early life and family[edit]

Written by Dedecab