Review of a monograph by Associate Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Candidate of Historical Sciences A. A. Andreev “I remain your faithful servant, my Sovereign, Prince Alexander Cherkassky.” [“Prebyvaju vernym slugoju Vam, moemu Gosudarju, knjaz’ Aleksandr Cherkasskij”] The book is dedicated to one of the least studied associates of Peter the Great, Prince Alexander Bekovich Cherkassky (?-1717). Born into a noble Circassian family, he went through a difficult life path from a hostage (amanat) at a Russian citadel to captain of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Being a contemporary of the great era of the Petrine reforms, he not only managed to show his talents in the affairs of state, but also successfully established himself among the old boyar nobility in Moscow. Based on a wide range of documentary and ethnographic sources, the book presents in detail the significant stages of the prince’s life from Northern Caucasus to Khorezm. According to the author of the review, Cherkassky’s Khiva campaign became a harbinger of the future, already in the 19th century, the military offensive of the then already mature Russian Empire in Central Asia. The experience of the Kabardian prince, despite the tragic end, formed an idea of the goals and ways of such an advancement into the region, and created the trauma that reinforced the idea of revenge and emotionally colored the new victories of the Russian arms after more than a hundred years.