All of us in history school studied a topic that was dedicated to the military order for military distinctions - the Order of St. George. It was the only military order that was awarded to people solely for services to their homeland in terms of military operations.
The Order of St. George has four degrees. The awards were given inconsistently. That is, if a person received the Order of St. George of the fourth degree, then it is not a fact that next time he will receive an order of the third degree. It is likely that he will be awarded the second or first degree. The fact is that Catherine II awarded for the quality of military service to the motherland, and not for the quantity.
As already mentioned, the Order of St. George does not imply a consistent rewarding of a person. But it must be taken into account that it was very difficult to get any degree of recognition. The statute states that in order to receive the third or fourth degree of merit, you first need to collect all the evidence of a heroic deed, as well as describe in detail the whole process. After that, the application was submitted to the monarch for consideration, and he already decided whether the person was worthy of such an award or not.
It should also be saidthat the Order of St. George has the highest degrees of awarding - this is the first and second. The statute clearly states what orders are given for, as well as for what merits. I would like to note that the monarch personally congratulated with this recognition, and the order was awarded at his personal discretion.
In order to receive the first and second degree of the award, a person had to win a war, or an important battle, respectively. That is why the Order of St. George no longer has so many people who have the highest degree of award.
I would definitely like to note that the statute of the order says that the number of people who can be awarded is not limited. Thus, any military man, of any rank, could receive an order of any degree according to his military and military merits.
The Order of St. George was absolutely free. That is, the Cavaliers did not make any monetary contributions. But, nevertheless, they received a monetary reward in the form of an annual pension. That is, the country helped its heroes, and also took care of them. It is also noteworthy that the holder of the order was granted the right to hereditary nobility. Of course, this is only if the person did not have it before.
In the end, I would like to say that there are not so many full holders of the order. In total, there are four of them in the Russian Empire. For those who do not know, the full holders of the Order of St. George are those people who received the order of all fourdegrees. It is very prestigious, and these people are real heroes. Among them, Prince Smolensky, as well as Kutuzov. Just remember the merits of these people to our country, and you will understand that they really deserve this award, as well as its highest degree. Therefore, we should all respect these people and be grateful for their merits, because who knows what would happen to us now if it were not for them.
