Mikhail Chernyaev was born in 1828 in
Bender, in the
Bessarabia Governorate of the
Russian Empire. He belonged to a Russian noble family descended from Novgorodian boyars. His father was Grigory Nikitich Chernyaev (1787 – 1868), an officer, a participant of the
Battle on Borodino. His father was a commandant of a number of French towns after the defeat of
Napoleon. During 1841, he was appointed the city governor of
Berdiansk. He was educated at the
Nicholas Staff College, enlisted in the army in 1847, and distinguished himself in the
Crimean War and in the
Caucasus Mountains region. After serving as divisional Chief of Staff in
Poland, he went to
Orenburg in 1858 as assistant to the commander of the line of the
Syr-Darya, and the next year commanded an expedition to assist the
Kazakh tribes on the borders of the
Aral Sea against the
Khanate of Khiva. He did duty on the staff of the Army of the Caucasus for a time, and returned to Orenburg as Chief of Staff. During 1864, having gained the rank of
Major-General, Chernyaev made his famous march with 1000 men across the steppes of
Turkestan to
Chimkent (Shymkent) in the
Khanate of Kokand, to meet another Russian column from
Semipalatinsk (Semey), in
Siberia, in conjunction with which he successfully captured Chimkent, and then unsuccessfully attacked
Tashkent, 130 km farther south. Wintering at Chimkent, he captured Tashkent the next year. This was contrary to his instructions, and although he was received in
St. Petersburg with enthusiasm, and presented with a sword of honor by the emperor, he was not again employed by the Russian military service, and retired from it in July 1874. He bought, and edited with great success, the publication
Russkiy Mir, devoting himself to
Pan-Slavism. During the summer of 1876 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Serbian army, but on entering
Turkey in Europe was driven back by
Osman Pasha, who followed him into Serbia, defeating him at
Zaječar and
Javor in July, and the campaign in Serbia proved disastrous. He rashly proclaimed
Milan Obrenović IV as King Milan I of Serbia during September's (
Deligrad Event), and in October
Aleksinac and
Deligrad were occupied by the Turks, and the road to
Belgrade little defended. An armistice was concluded, and Chernyaev resigned his command. In 1877 he visited
Austria-Hungary in relation to his propaganda, but was expelled, and lived for a time in France. In 1879 he organized a
Bulgarian rebellion, but was arrested at
Adrianople (Edirne) and sent back to Russia. He succeeded to
von Kaufmann as Governor of
Turkestan in 1882, but his bellicose plans for the
Great Game with the
British Empire resulted in his replacement two years later, when he was appointed a member of the council of war at St. Petersburg. In 1886 his opposition to the
Central Asian Military railway caused him to be dismissed from the council. Chernyaev died in 1898 at his country estate in
Mogilev Governorate. Chernyaev was awarded the highest Serbian order of the time,
Order of the Cross of Takovo. == References ==