Imperial Russia The medal order "For the capture of Paris on March 19, 1814" A4

Imperial Russia The medal order "For the capture of Paris on March 19, 1814"

The medal "For the capture of Paris on March 19, 1814" was established on August 18 (30), 1814 by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I in honor of the capture of Paris by Russian troops on March 19 (31), 1814 .

On the front side of the medal there is a bust, right-facing, image of Alexander I in a laurel wreath and in the radiance of the radiant “ all-seeing eye ” located above it. On the reverse side, along the entire outline of the medal, in a laurel wreath, a direct five-line inscription: "FOR - CAPTURE - PARIS - MARCH 19 - 1814.". [one]

The medal was intended to reward all participants in the capture of the French capital - from a soldier to a general. But it was not awarded to them: with the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, the Russian emperor considered it undiplomatic to issue this medal, which would remind France of the former collapse of its capital. And only 12 years later, the medal was distributed to the participants in the campaign of 1814 at the behest of the new Emperor Nicholas I , who "... on the eve of the anniversary of the entry of the Russians into Paris , on March 18, 1826, ordered this medal to be consecrated on the tomb of his brother (Alexander I)."

The issuance of awards to participants began on March 19, 1826 and dragged on until May 1, 1832. In total, more than 160 thousand medals were issued. Naturally, on the portraits of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, which were painted before 1826, this medal is absent among other awards.

The medal was made of silver. There were basically three varieties of it in size: combined arms - with a diameter of 28 and 25 mm and for rewarding cavalrymen - 22 mm. There was a transverse eye with a ring threaded into it for hanging the award on a ribbon. A similar medal, owned by the famous 1812 partisan Denis Davydov , is kept in the St. Petersburg Military History Museum .

There are also many varieties of this medal in reduced sizes - 12, 15, 18 mm. These are tail-coat medals for wearing on civilian clothes.

They wore a medal on their chest on the combined Andreevsky-George Ribbon, which was introduced for the first time. It was of the usual width, but consisted, as it were, of two narrow ribbons: Andreevskaya - blue and Georgievskaya - orange with three black stripes.

A fantastic part of military history not to be missed at this low listing price. It would be extremely hard to find a much better example than these medals, medals weight a bit.