Ivan Semyonovich Zhevakhov or Ivane Javakhishvili (1762 – July 24, 1837) was a Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 general of Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 noble descent and a participant of the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

.

Zhevakhov was born in the émigré Georgian family of Prince Javakhishvili

Javakhishvili

Javakhishvili is a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Toreli , known from the 10th century.The surname Javakhishvili, literally "son of Javakh", derives from the 14th-century nobleman Javakh , a participant of Georgia’s resistance to Timur’s attacks...

 who had an estate in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. He joined the military service as a cadet of the Ukrainian hussar regiment in 1775 and received his first major military experience in fighting with the Trans-Kuban

Kuban

Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus...

ian Circassians in 1777. He then fought in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) and was wounded when storming Ochakov

Siege of Ochakov (1789)

The Second Siege of Özü was one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War . It was known as "Özü Kuşatması" in Turkish....

 in 1789. Having fought in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 in 1792, Zhevakhov was promoted to colonel in 1800 and then participated in the wars against Napoleonic France from 1805 to 1807. During the 1812 French invasion of Russia

French invasion of Russia

The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...

, he commanded the Serpukhov

Serpukhov

Serpukhov is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which is situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers. It is located south from Moscow on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tula railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...

 dragoon regiment within the 3rd Army of the West and contributed to the Russian success in the July 1812 battles of Kobryn

Kobryn

Kobryn or Kobrin is a city in the Brest voblast of Belarus and the center of the Kobryn Raion. The city is located in the southwestern corner of Belarus where the Mukhavets River and Dnepr-Bug Canal meet. The city lies about 52 km east of the city of Brest. Kobryn is located at Latitude...

 and Gorodechna, which halted the French advance toward Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. He then led cavalry regiments in Osten-Sacken’s corps and participated in the 1813-14 campaign against Napoleon. On April 8, 1813, he was promoted to the rank of major-general. Zhevakhov resigned due to health problems in 1817 and henceforth lived in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

where he died in 1837.