Repnin, Nikolai Vasilevich

Repnin, Nikolai Vasil’evich 

Born Mar. 11 (22), 1734; died May 12 (24), 1801, in Moscow. Prince; Russian military commander and diplomat, field marshal (1796).

Repnin was promoted to the rank of ensign in 1749 and fought in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–63. In 1762–63 he served as ambassador to Prussia and from 1763 to 1769 as ambassador to Poland, where he actively interfered in the country’s domestic affairs and secured the conclusion of the Warsaw Treaty of 1768. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74, Repnin commanded a division in the battles of the Larga and the Kagul and helped draw up the provisions of the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji of 1774. He was ambassador to Turkey in 1775–76. He mediated the Treaty of Cieszyn of 1779 between Austria and Prussia.

In the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–91, Repnin commanded a division and successfully carried out the duties of acting commander in chief in G. A. Potemkin’s absence. After the victory at Măcin, Repnin forced the Turks to sign, in Galaƫi, preliminary terms for a treaty, which became the basis of the Treaty of Iaşi of 1791. In the 1770’s through the 1790’s he held the post of governor-general of several provinces. After the failure of Repnin’s diplomatic mission to Prussia and Austria in 1798 to form an anti-French coalition, he was dismissed and placed in retirement.