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🎂 Today is Nadezhda Durova's birthday. She was a Russian cavalry soldier and writer who participated in the Napoleonic Wars, one of the first known female officers in the Russian military. Born a woman on September 28, 1783 in Kherson, Russian Empire, Nadezhda (her name means Hope) ran away from home and dressed as a man while participating in the war under the name Alexander Sokolov. The rumor of an amazon in the army reached Tsar Alexander I, who took a personal interest. Durova's chain of command reported that her courage was peerless. Summoned to the palace at St. Petersburg, she impressed the Tsar so much that he awarded Durova the Cross of St. George and promoted her to lieutenant in a hussar unit (Mariupol Hussar Regiment). The story that there was the heroine in the army with the name Alexander Sokolov had become well-known by that time. So the Tsar awarded her a new pseudonym, Alexandrov, based on his own name. During the Patriotic War of 1812, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and commanded a half-squadron. She took part in the battles of Smolensk, the Kolotsky Monastery, and at Borodino she defended the Semyonov flashes, where she was shell-shocked in the leg by a cannonball. After the army moved to Tarutino, Durova came to Kutuzov with a request to take her as an adjutant. Kutuzov knew about the cavalry girl Alexandrov and she served as his adjutant-messenger. In May 1813, she appeared in the active army and took part in the War of German Liberation, distinguishing herself during the siege of the Modlin fortress and the capture of the city of Hamburg. This video is from a very popular Soviet romantic comedy "Hussar Ballad" where the main character has a prototype of Nadezhda Durova.

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