Aleksandr Aleksandrov

Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov (born Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova; 17 September 1783 – 21 March 1866) was a Russian cavalry soldier and writer who participated in the Napoleonic Wars. Alexandrov was assigned female at birth, but solely presented as a man in adulthood. He served from 1806 to 1816, and received the Cross of St. George for bravery. To his outrage, publishers disregarded the chosen name and title, re-titling it "Notes of N.A. Durova", and eventually The Cavalry Maiden.

Historians have traditionally regarded him as a female wartime cross-dresser, while several modern scholars describe him as a transgender man.

Early life

Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov (named Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova), was born on 17 September 1783, an army camp in Kyiv, or Kherson. His mother came from a family of wealthy landowners from Poltava, and married his father against the will of his own father. According to Alexandrov, his mother "passionately wanted to have a son" and was dismayed to apparently have a daughter instead; he describes an incident in which she—furious at her infant for crying all night—threw him from the window of a moving carriage, nearly killing him.

After his father retired from service, he continued playing with broken sabers and frightened his family by secretly taming a stallion that they considered unbreakable.

In 1801, he married a Sarapul judge, Vasily Stefanovich Chernov, a man seven years his senior. He gave birth to Chernov's son on 4 January 1803. On 17 September 1806, and enlisted in the Polish Uhlan Regiment, presenting himself as a nobleman named Alexander Sokolov.

In an era when Russian officers were expected to grow a mustache, Alexandrov's youthful appearance harmed his chances for promotion. He transferred away from the hussars to the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment in order to avoid the colonel's daughter, who had fallen in love with him. He saw action again during Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. He fought in the Battle of Smolensk. During the Battle of Borodino, a cannonball wounded him in the leg, yet he continued serving full duty for several days afterwards until ordered away to recuperate. He retired from the army in 1816 with the rank of stabs-rotmistr ("staff riding master"), the equivalent of captain lieutenant.

Later life

Alexandrov continued to wear male clothing for the rest of his life, continued to use his male name, and spoke using masculine grammar.

He died in Yelabuga on 21 March 1866, and was buried with full military honors.

Gender identity Alexandrov's gender identity has been the subject of debate. Many historians and feminist scholars have described him as a cross-dressing woman, while some modern scholars say Alexandrov is better understood as transgender. In "Notes", he describes himself with terms of androgyny, describing himself both as a bogatyr and as an Amazon warrior. One of his prose stories, Nurmeka, revolves around a male-to-female cross-dresser, leading to speculation that this was an expression of a trans identity.

In his personal life, Alexandrov rejected femininity, and behaved as a man.

Artistic works Nadezhda Durova, an opera by Anatoly Bogatyrev. A Long Time Ago, a play by Alexander Gladkov. Hussar Ballad, an operetta by Tikhon Khrennikov Hussar Ballad, a film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire, a novel by Linda Lafferty