Orenburg Cossack ataman who severed Soviet Russia from Turkestan, opening a front between the Volga and the Urals
Russia is dying. We are witnessing her last breath.
Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks and a lieutenant general of the White movement. In November 1917 he became the first military leader to repudiate Soviet power, severing the Orenburg-Tashkent railway and cutting off Soviet Russia from Central Asia for twenty months. He commanded the Orenburg Independent Army under Kolchak, and after defeat led his men through the 'Hunger March' into China, where Cheka agents assassinated him in 1921.
Career Timeline
- 1899Graduated Nicholas Cavalry School; cornet, 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment
- 1908Graduated General Staff Academy
- 1914–1917WWI; commanded 1st Orenburg Cossack Regiment
- 1917.09Elected ataman, Orenburg Cossack Host
- 1917.11Repudiated Bolshevik authority; led armed revolt
- 1918–1919Commander, Orenburg Independent Army under Kolchak
- 1919–1920Defeated at Aktobe; Hunger March retreat into China