Nadezhda Durova. The Woman Who Became an Officer and a Legend of the War Against Napoleon

In the spring of 1807, a young cavalry officer named Alexander Andreyevich Alexandrov served in the Russian army. Brave, reserved, perfectly disciplined — his comrades admired him, especially after he rescued a wounded commander under heavy fire near Guttstadt. No one knew that beneath the uniform there was no man. “Alexander” was in fact Nadezhda Durova — a woman who had traded her name, her past, and her identity for the freedom of a soldier.

Nadezhda Durova’s story is not just an episode of disguise. It is a rare act of defiance against the order of an entire century. Born in 1783 into a military family, she grew up among horses, weapons, and soldiers. Her father, a hussar officer, adored her; her mother despised her for being a girl. Once, in a fit of rage, her mother even threw her out of a moving carriage — a soldier saved her life. That soldier became her first teacher in courage.

As she grew older, Durova refused to accept the fate society prescribed for women: marriage, obedience, silence. At the age of twenty, she ran away from home, disguised herself in a man’s uniform, forged documents under the name Alexander Sokolov, and joined a Uhlan regiment. From that day on, she lived as a man.

The war with Napoleon turned her into a hero. In the battles of Guttstadt and Friedland, she fought with unmatched courage, rescuing the wounded and defending her unit’s flag. Her commanders praised her bravery: “Lieutenant Alexandrov conducts himself with a valor worthy of a veteran.” But her secret was discovered after a wound — and what should have been her ruin became her glory.

When Emperor Alexander I heard her story, he ordered her to appear before him in St. Petersburg. Impressed by her bravery, he granted her the rank of cornet and allowed her to continue serving under the name Alexander Alexandrov. Thus, Nadezhda Durova became the first female officer in the history of the Russian Empire.

After the war of 1812, she retired and settled in the town of Yelabuga, where she wrote her memoirs — The Cavalry Maiden — one of the most extraordinary documents of the 19th century. Her recollections showed the war through a woman’s eyes: without glory, without romance, only blood, mud, and endurance. “I never wanted to be a woman,” she wrote, “I wanted to be free.”

Durova lived a long life, dying in 1866 — having seen railroads and the telegraph appear in the country she once defended on horseback. Her tombstone reads simply:“Alexander Alexandrov, Cornet of the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment.”No mention of her true name, or of the life she lived in secret.

And yet, that silence is her final victory. In an age when a woman could only be someone’s daughter or wife, she chose to be a soldier. Nadezhda Durova’s story is not one of disguise — it is a story of identity, courage, and the right to live by one’s own truth.