Faddei Bulgarin

Faddey Venediktovich Bulgarin (Russian: Фаддей Венедиктович Булгарин; Polish Jan Tadeusz Krzysztof Bulharyn, July 5 [O.S. June 24] 1789 – September 13 [O.S. September 1] 1859), was a Russian writer and journalist of Polish, Bulgarian and Albanian ancestry whose self-imposed mission was to popularize the authoritarian policies of Alexander I and Nicholas I.

Bulgarin was born into a noble Polish family near Minsk, Belarus (then Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). His father, one of Kosciuszko's associates, was exiled to Siberia for having assassinated a Russian general. Bulgarin was educated in a St. Petersburg military school, took part in the Battle of Friedland but was arrested for theft soon afterwards. While his regiment was stationed in Finland, Bulgarin deserted to Warsaw, but on the way was drafted to the Grande Armée. He fought under Napoleon's banners in the Peninsular War and the 1812 Lithuanian campaign. In 1812 Bulgarin was taken prisoner in Battle of Berezina and transported to Prussia. There is a 6-year lapse in his biography after that.

In 1820, Bulgarin travelled from Warsaw to St. Petersburg, where he published a critical review of Polish literature and started editing The Northern Archive. He also made friends with the playwright Alexander Griboyedov and the philologist Nicholas Gretsch. The latter helped him to edit the newspaper Northern Bee (1825–39), the literary journal Fatherland's Son (1825–59), and other reactionary periodicals.

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