RUSSIAN GENERAL AND COMRADE OF PETER THE GREAT (d. 1782)
History contains few figures more extraordinary than Abraham Hannibal. Stolen from his parents in Africa and sold into slavery, he became general-in-chief of one of the leading white empires of his day. His great-grandson became one of the world's greatest poets, while other of his descendants became members of the leading royal families of Europe.
Still a child, Hannibal was sold as a slave to Sultan Selim IV at Constantinople, where he attracted the attention of Count Raguinsky, the Russian ambassador.
The ten-year-old boy captivated Peter the Great, who adopted him immediately.
Hannibal showed special talent for mathematics and engineering and Peter sent him to Paris to study.
While Hannibal was pursuing his studies war broke out between France and Spain. He accepted a commission in the French army, serving with valour until he was wounded in the head. Soon afterward he returned to Russia where he became an officer in the engineers' corps, winning rapid promotion on his own merits.
Peter appointed him tutor in mathematics to the crown prince, later Peter II. But fortune was to turn against him after the death of Peter the Great for the next sixteen years.
Prince Menshikov wanted to marry the daughter to the young Peter. He tried to bribe Hannibal. He refused, and Menshikov, to stop his influence with the prince, sent him on a military mission to Siberia. Menshikov hoped that Hannibal would not survive the hardships of this undertaking.
Hannibal remained in Siberia until the death of Catherine in 1737. Learning that young Peter had ascended the throne, that Menshikov had been exiled, and that Dolgouriki, a former favourite of Peter the Great, was in control, he decided to return. But at Tomsk he was arrested. Dolgouriki feared his influence with Peter no less than Menshikov-and he was held there until Peter's death two years later.
Peter was succeeded by Anna the Bloody, a niece of Peter the Great. Once more Hannibal started for St Petersburg, but when he reached it he was compelled to go into hiding, as he was suspected of belonging to the faction that wanted to put Elisabeth, daughter of Peter the Great and rightful heir, on the throne. Hannibal escaped.
On Anna's death, Elisabeth came to the throne, and grateful to Hannibal for his unswerving loyalty to the family of Peter the Great, she showered honours on him.
Black History Home Page
Back to Community Channel Homepage
