War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [830]
Paul I (1754–1801): Pavel Petrovich Romanov, son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Joined the second coalition against Napoleon, sent Suvorov to Switzerland and Italy and Admiral Uvarov to help Nelson in the Mediterranean, but in 1801 pulled out of the coalition, revealing an instability and uncertainty of policy that contributed to his downfall. His assassination was plotted by Pahlen with a number of other courtiers, and carried out by Bennigsen and a band of dismissed army officers.
Paulucci, Marquis Filippo, or Filipp Osipovich (1779–1849): An Austro-Italian nobleman (not a native of Sardinia as Tolstoy asserts), who joined the Russian army in 1807. In 1811 he became governor of Georgia. Promoted to adjutant general in 1812, he fought against the Grande Armée, and later became civil governor of the Baltic provinces. In 1830 he returned to Italy, where he died governor of Genoa.
Pernety, Joseph Marie de (1766–1856): Captain of artillery in the French revolutionary army in 1791, he took part in the Italian campaign, served under Ney in Switzerland, was made brigadier general in the Austrian campaign, major general and baron of the Empire after Wagram. In 1812 he started the battle of Borodino with an artillery barrage on the Raevsky redoubt. Brought the reserve artillery almost intact to the Berezina and fought afterwards in the European campaign.
Peter I, the Great (1672–1725): Pyotr Alexeevich Romanov, tsar and then self-proclaimed emperor of Russia from 1682 to 1725. Carried out sweeping reforms in political and social life which made Russia a major European power, and gave Russia a western seaport by building the new capital of St. Petersburg on the Baltic.
Peter III (1728–62): Son of Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. Married to the princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Catherine the Great. Reigned for only six months before his assassination by the Orlovs, which brought Catherine to the throne.
Pfuel, Ernst Heinrich Adolf von (1779–1866): Prussian general and military theoretician, later governor of Berlin, minister of war, and prime minister (1848).
Photius (d. 1838): Archimandrite of the monastery in Novgorod, who in 1820 initiated the persecution of possible heretical elements within the Masons, the Biblical Society, and other groups.
Platov, Matvei Ivanovich (1757–1818): Russian general and hetman of the Don Cossacks during the 1812 war. He began service under Suvorov in the Turkish wars of 1774–82 and took part in the capture of Izmail in 1790. Fought at Eylau and Friedland in the Austrian campaign. In the 1812 war his Cossacks supported Bagration’s army, fought at Borodino, and harried the French during the retreat.
Poniatowski, Jozef Antoni (1763–1813): Nephew of the last king of Poland, Stanislaw Poniatowski, he entered the Austrian military service in 1780, fought for Poland against the Russians in 1792, and joined Kosciuszko’s insurrection in 1794, which ended in failure. In Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, he commanded a 100, 000-man Polish contingent which made up the fifth corps of the Grande Armée. Fought at Borodino, where his men stormed the Utitsa barrow. Made a marshal of the empire, he was killed defending the French rear at the battle of Leipzig.
Potemkin, Prince Grigori Alexandrovich (1739–91): Russian field marshal and statesman, the most important of Catherine the Great’s lovers. Under his virtual leadership the boundaries of Russia were enlarged in the Ukraine and the Crimea, for the latter of which Catherine awarded him the title of Prince of Tauride (the old name for the Crimea).
Pratzen heights: A key strategic high point on the battlefield of Austerlitz. Originally occupied by the French, who abandoned it in a simulation of fear, it was