Vladimir Viktorovich Sakharov
Владимир Викторович Сахаров
1853–1920
✕ Captured and shot by Green partisans
Cavalry general who led the 11th Army in the Brusilov Offensive and joined the White movement
In his 2 March 1917 telegram to Nicholas II, he denounced the State Duma as a 'criminal band' and ended: 'I, an unshakeably loyal subject of Your Majesty, sobbing, am compelled to say that perhaps the most painless way out is to meet the conditions already stated.'
Vladimir Viktorovich Sakharov was an Imperial Russian general of the cavalry whose fifty-year career spanned the Russo-Turkish War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, and the First World War. Appointed commander of the 11th Army in 1915, he led the secondary axis of the Brusilov Offensive, capturing Brody and taking tens of thousands of prisoners. Sent to Romania in late 1916 as commander of the Danube Army, he became de facto commander of the Romanian Front as assistant to King Ferdinand I. His telegram to Nicholas II during the February Revolution, denouncing the Duma while tearfully advising abdication, captured the fractured loyalties of the imperial officer corps. Removed after the revolution, he joined the White movement in Crimea and was shot by Green partisans in 1920.
Career Timeline
- 1869–1878Entered army, graduated Pavlovsk Military School and General Staff Academy
- 1877–1878Fought in the Russo-Turkish War
- 1880–1897Military school instructor, staff posts, cavalry regiment commander
- 1900–1901Commander of forces in northern Manchuria during Boxer Rebellion
- 1904–1905Russo-Japanese War: field chief of staff Manchurian Army, chief of staff to C-in-C
- 1906–1914Commander VII Corps, XI Corps; promoted general of cavalry (1908)
- 1914–1915Led XI Corps in Battle of Galicia and Gorlice-Tarnów
- 1915–1916Commander 11th Army; captured Brody in the Brusilov Offensive
- 1916–1917Commander Danube Army; assistant to C-in-C Romanian Front (de facto commander)
- 1917Removed by Guchkov after the February Revolution
- 1918–1920Joined White movement; captured by Green partisans in Crimea and shot