22 April] 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented the genre of hussar poetry, characterised by hedonism and bravado.

[3] After gaining celebrity as a guerrilla leader in the French invasion of Russia he became one of the most popular men in the country.

[4] Young men of Alexander Pushkin's circle viewed him as a model romantic hero and the Decembrists prized his company as well.

The diction in some is rather unconventional, and occasionally his words have to be replaced by dots, but it is always full of spirit and great rhythmical go.

During the French invasion of the Russian Empire Lieutenant-Colonel Davydov suggested to his general, Pyotr Bagration, the strategy of using a small force of at least 3,000 horsemen to attack the supply trains of Napoleon's invading Grande Armée.

They gave captured food and French weapons to the peasants and taught them how to fight a people's war.