Russia has always been in awe of epic heroes, whose victories are achieved not so much through training and military labor, but through valor and God's help. Thank God, there were enough of these in Russia: Alexander Nevsky, Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, Fedor Fedorovich Ushakov. And - Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev (1843-1882), - perhaps the last of those who deserve to be called a “people's commander.” The epicness of Skobelev is not only in his constant victories: of the more than 60 battles in which he took part, not a single one lost. It lies in the people's love for Skobelev, in the sincere reverence of him by ordinary soldiers, who had to endure a lot from other commanders. And they simply idolized Skobelev - because they were never cannon fodder for him, because the commander always spared their lives. In popular memory Skobelev remained a semi-mythical hero, an “equal to Suvorov”, a “white general”, who is the first to rush into battle, smashes enemies right and left, and at the same time neither saber nor bullets can take him. The battle ended in victory, there were wounded and killed all around - and he didn’t have a single scratch... And suddenly, at the age of 38, death was a mystery. Both contemporaries and historians can only put forward versions - either he was killed by the enemies of Russia as a potential threat to their anti-Slavic policy, or by his own people - as an extremely popular and therefore dangerous person. Capable of raising an army in an instant, openly dissatisfied with the policies of the new tsar, who was curtailing reforms, and besides, having a real opportunity to become, if not the prince of Bulgaria, then its minister of war. But could everything be simpler - and worse? The heart that was dealt could not stand it so many blows. It is not for nothing that Mikhail Dmitrievich, after the last assault on Plevna, where he asked for support for 30 hours and did not receive it, said: “Before the third Plevna I was young, but I came out of it an old man.” But then there was the shameful Berlin Congress, and the difficult Akhal-Teke expedition, and the death of the father, and the murder of the mother, and the madness of the godfather, and the disappearance of the million collected by Skobelev for some important cause... The funeral of the white general became the quintessence of people's love and grief from loss , which cannot be replenished. They say that the correspondent of the British Times, Charles Marvin, was so amazed by what he saw that, unable to contain his emotions, he exclaimed: “This would be impossible for us!” “It would be impossible even here,” one of the Russians answered. “But this is Skobelev... And so it happened... This is the highest form the greatness of the commander, which is impossible to explain... One can only bow one’s head before it... Electronic publication of materials on the life and work of M. D. Skobelev includes the full text of the paper book and a selected part of illustrative documentary material. And for true connoisseurs of gift editions, we offer a classic book. Like all publications in the “Great Commanders” series, the book is provided with detailed historical and biographical comments; The text is accompanied by hundreds of illustrations from Russian and foreign periodicals of the described time, many of which the modern reader will become familiar with for the first time. Excellent printing, original design, the best offset paper - all this makes the books of the “Great Commanders” gift series the best gift for a man for all occasions life.