ABSTRACT
A war of conquest could be seen as a series of journeys with a nationalist objective – to seize land from another social group to expand your own territory. Starting from this premise, this chapter centres on the historical figure of General Aleksandr Suvorov and the influence of his campaigns of conquest on the socio-political life of ethnic Russians in today’s Transnistria (Moldova) and Odessa Oblast (Ukraine). The first section focuses on the consolidation of Suvorov’s career during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92, when the commander, after defeating the Turks, gained an almost mythological status within the lands of Catherine II. He became a subject of popular culture and was seen to exemplify the virtues of the Russian state and people. The second section examines his cult after death, for instance, in Lord Byron’s Don Juan. The final part of the chapter addresses the image of Suvorov among ethnic Russians who inhabit the lands that he conquered. Even today this historical figure still has the power to unite Russians around a common symbol that reminds them of their past and binds them to their distant motherland.
