Tsarist artillery general at Kronstadt whom the Bolsheviks falsely named as ringleader of the 1921 rebellion
"The Communists used my name to present the Kronstadt uprising as a White Guard conspiracy, simply because I was the only general in the fortress."
A career artillery officer who served the Imperial Russian Army for three decades, commanding a Siberian artillery brigade in the First World War. After the February Revolution he went into reserve, then in 1918 joined the Red Army as a military specialist; in December 1920 he was appointed chief of artillery of Kronstadt Fortress. When the Kronstadt rebellion broke out in March 1921, he organized the rebels' defence, but the Bolsheviks' March 2 decree branded the rising "the mutiny of ex-General Kozlovsky," declared him an outlaw, and seized his wife, four sons, and 22 others as hostages. After the revolt was crushed he fled to Finland with some eight thousand Kronstadt sailors and lived out his years in exile as a teacher and mechanic, dying in Helsinki in 1940.
Career Timeline
- 1882Entered service at Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps
- 1884Graduated Mikhailovsky Artillery School
- 1890Graduated Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy, 1st class
- 1905–1912Commander, 2nd Battalion, 33rd Artillery Brigade
- 1912Promoted Major-General; Cmdr., 11th Siberian Artillery Brigade
- 1914–1917WWI service; Inspector of Artillery, 34th Army Corps
- 1918–1920Served in Red Army as military specialist (voenspets)
- 1920.12–1921.03Chief of Artillery, Kronstadt Fortress; led defence during rebellion
- 1921–1940Exile in Finland: teacher, road worker, mechanic
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionKronstadt artillery commander accused as ringleaderHe served as artillery commander at Kronstadt fortress during the March 1921 uprising, but the Bolsheviks falsely named him the ringleader in their March 2 decree; he later fled to Finland.
- 1921.03The Kronstadt Rebellionartillery commander branded the 'ringleader' by the governmentA former Tsarist general and artillery specialist appointed by the Bolsheviks themselves. The 2 March Lenin–Trotsky order branded him the revolt's ringleader, yet the Revolutionary Committee ignored his every military recommendation.