COUNT

See also:

• ALEXIS
• ALEXIS, WILLIBALD

ALEXIS GRIGORIEVICH

See also:

• ORLOV

ORLOV (1737-1808)  , brother of the above, was by far the ablest member of the Orlov countly family, and was also remarkable for his athletic strength and dexterity . In the revolution of 1762 he played an even moreimportant part than his brother Gregory . It was he who conveyed Peter III. to the chateau of Ropsha and murdered him there with his own hands . In 1770 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the fleet sent against the Turks, whose far superior navy he annihilated at Cheshme (July 5th 1770), a victory which led to the conquest of the Greek archipelago . For this exploit he received, in 1774, the honorific epithet Chesmensky, and the privilege of quartering the imperial arms in his shield . The same year he went into retirement and settled at Moscow . He devoted himself to horse-breeding, and produced the finest race of horses then known by crossing Arab and Frisian, and Arab and English studs . In the war with Napoleon during 1806–07 Orlov commanded the militia of the fifth district, which was placed on a war footing almost entirely at his own expense . He left an estate worth five millions of roubles and 30,000 serfs . See article, " The Associates of Catherine II.," No . 2, in Russkaya Starina (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1873) .