Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy

Who was Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy?

Count Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy was a Russian general and statesman.

Pyotr Tolstoy came from the Oryol branch of the Tolstoy family, his father Alexander Tolstoy was a grandson of Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy. In 1775 he was enrolled in the Leib Guard Preobrazhensky regiment and started the service on 21 May 1785 as an aide-de-camp of the staff of Prince Nikolai Saltykov. In the same year he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. In 1788–1790 he participated in the Gustav III's Russian War.

In 1794 he was prominent in the Siege of Warsaw and then promoted to Colonel. On 24 October 1794 he commanded two battalions in the Battle of Praga. On return, Empress Catherine II awarded Tolstoy the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree with her own hand and appointed his the chief of the Pskov Dragoon regiment. On 9 November 1797 he obtained the rank of Major General with appointment the chief of the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon regiment and in the next year received the Order of St. Anna of the 1st degree.

In the end of 1798 he was sent to Archduke Charles of Austria for the communication with Alexander Suvorov. After the Campaigns of 1799 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and became a member of the War Collegium and of the Governing Senate. In 1802 he was appointed the war governor of Vyborg and in the next year of St Petersburg. At this post Tolstoy became famous by his generosity, giving out money to poor and soldiers of guard regiments. In this time he also commanded the Preobrazhensky regiment.