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Lavr Kornilov | |
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 Kornilov in 1916 | |
| Born | (1870-08-30)30 August 1870 |
| Died | 13 April 1918(1918-04-13) (aged 47) |
| Allegiance |  Russian Empire (1892–1917)White Movement (1917–1918) |
| Branch | Imperial Russian ArmyWhite Army |
| Service years | 1892–1918 |
| Rank | General of the Infantry |
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| Conflicts | |
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Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (Russian:Лавр Гео́ргиевич Корни́лов,IPA:[ˈlavrɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕkɐrˈnʲiləf]; 30 August [O.S. 18 August] 1870 – 13 April 1918) was a Russianmilitary intelligence officer, explorer, and general in theImperial Russian Army duringWorld War I. He served asSupreme Commander of theRussian Army and as the military leader of theWhites in theRussian Civil War. He is particularly remembered for theKornilov affair, an unsuccessfulcoup d’etat against theProvisional Government led byAlexander Kerensky. The event became a significant turning point in theRussian Revolution, strengthening theBolsheviks' position and influence.[1][2]
Born inUst-Kamenogorsk, Kornilov began his military career after graduating from theMikhailovsky Artillery School and theGeneral Staff Academy. He distinguished himself during theRusso-Japanese War and later served as amilitary attaché inQing China. During World War I, Kornilov commanded the48th Infantry Division and gained recognition for his daring escape from Austrian captivity in 1915. His successes on theEastern Front elevated him to prominence, leading to his appointment as Supreme Commander during the revolutionary upheaval of 1917.
After theBolshevik seizure of power in November 1917, Kornilov emerged as a key figure in the White movement. Following his escape from detention after the Kornilov Affair, he co-founded theVolunteer Army and led its forces insouthern Russia during the early stages of the Russian Civil War. Kornilov was killed in 1918 during the siege ofYekaterinodar. His legacy remains deeply contested, viewed by some as a patriot fighting for Russia's unity and by others as a reactionary figure whose actions exacerbated the nation’s descent into chaos.[3][4]
One story relates how Kornilov was originally born as a Don CossackKalmyk named Lavga Deldinov and adopted inUst-Kamenogorsk,Russian Turkestan (nowKazakhstan) by the family of his mother's brother, theRussianCossackKhorunzhiy Georgy Nikolayevich Kornilov, whose wife was ofKazakh origin.[5][6] But his sister wrote that he had not been adopted, had not been a Don Cossack, and that their mother hadPolish andAltai Oirot descent. (Though their language was not a Kalmyk/Mongolian one, but because of their Asian race and their history in the Jungar Oirot (Kalmyk) state, Altai Oirots were called Altai Kalmyks by Russians. They were not Muslims or Kazakhs.) ButBoris Shaposhnikov, who served with Pyotr Kornilov, the brother of Lavr, in 1903, mentioned the "Kyrgyz" ancestry of their mother—this name was usually used in reference to Kazakhs in 1903.[7] Kornilov'sSiberian Cossack father was a friend ofPotanin (1835–1920), a prominent figure in the Siberian autonomy movement.[8]
Kornilov entered military school inOmsk in 1885 and went on to study at theMikhailovsky Artillery School inSt. Petersburg in 1889. In August 1892 he was assigned as a lieutenant to theTurkestan Military District, where he led several exploration missions inEastern Turkestan,Afghanistan andPersia, learned several Central Asian languages, and wrote detailed reports about his observations.
Kornilov returned to St. Petersburg to attend theNikolayev General Staff Academy and graduated as a captain in 1897. Again refusing a posting at St. Peterburg, he returned to the Turkestan Military District, where he resumed his duties as a military intelligence officer. Among his missions at this post was an attempt at traveling incognito toBritish India in 1904, though he was quickly discovered and subsequently kept under close surveillance.[9]
During theRusso-Japanese War of 1904–1905 Kornilov became thechief of staff of the 1st Infantry Brigade, and was heavily involved in theBattle of Sandepu (January 1905) and theBattle of Mukden (February/March 1905). He was awarded theOrder of St. George (4th class) for bravery and promoted to the rank ofcolonel.
Following the end of the war, Kornilov served asmilitary attache inChina from 1907 to 1911. He studied theChinese language, travelled extensively (researching data on the history, traditions and customs of the Chinese, which he intended to use as material for a book about life in contemporary China), and regularly sent detailed reports to the General Staff and Foreign Ministry. Kornilov paid much attention to the prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in the Far East and met with the future president of China,Chiang Kai-shek. In 1910 Kornilov was recalled from Beijing but remained in St. Petersburg for only five months before departing for western Mongolia andKashgar to examine the military situation alongChina's border with Russia. On 2 February 1911 he became Commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment ofEstonia and was later appointed commander of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed inVladivostok.
In 1914, at the start ofWorld War I, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which saw combat inGalicia and theCarpathians. In 1915, he was promoted to the rank ofmajor general. During heavy fighting, he was captured by the Austrians in April 1915, when his division became isolated from the rest of the Russian forces. After his capture,Field MarshalConrad von Hötzendorf, the commander of theAustro-Hungarian Army, made a point of meeting him in person. As a major general, he was a high-value prisoner of war, but in July 1916 Kornilov managed to escape back to Russia and return to duty.
After the abdication ofTsar Nicholas II, he was given command of thePetrograd Military District in March 1917.[10] On 8 March, Kornilov placed the EmpressAlexandra and her children under house arrest at theAlexander Palace (Nicholas was still held atStavka), replacing theTsar's Escort and Combined Regiments of theImperial Guard with 300 revolutionary troops.[11] On 21 April, when theProvisional Government declined to give him the authority he sought to deal with protestors in Petrograd, he resigned as commander of the Petrograd district[12] and was transferred at his request to command the Russian Eighth Army. During theKerensky Offensive, his army inflicted a spectacular defeat on the Austrians, taking 10,000 prisoners—Russia's only notable military success in the year 1917—though after five days, was forced to retreat. On 24 July, he was appointed commander of the southern front. A week later, he replacedAleksei Brusilov as SupremeCommander-in-Chief of the Provisional Government's armed forces.
In the mass discontent following theJuly Days, the Russian populace grew highly skeptical about the Provisional Government's abilities to alleviate the economic distress and social resentment among the lower classes.Pavel Milyukov, the Kadet leader, describes the situation in Russia in late July as,
"Chaos in the army, chaos in foreign policy, chaos in industry and chaos in the nationalist questions".[2]
Kornilov, appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army in July 1917, considered the Petrograd Soviet responsible for the breakdown in the military in recent times and believed that the Provisional Government lacked the power and confidence to dissolve the Petrograd Soviet. Following several ambiguous correspondences between Kornilov andAlexander Kerensky, Kornilov commanded an assault on the Petrograd Soviet.[2]
Because the Petrograd Soviet was able to quickly gather a powerful army of workers and soldiers in defence of the Revolution, Kornilov's coup was an abysmal failure, and he was placed under arrest. The Kornilov Affair resulted in significantly increased distrust among Russians towards the Provisional Government.[13]
After the coup collapsed as his troops disintegrated, Kornilov and his fellow conspirators were placed under arrest in theBykhov jail. On 19 November, a few weeks after the proclamation of Soviet power in Petrograd, they escaped from their confinement (eased by the fact that the jail was guarded by Kornilov's supporters) and made their way to theDon region, which was controlled by theDon Cossacks. Here they linked up with GeneralMikhail Alekseev. Kornilov became the military commander of the anti-BolshevikVolunteer Army with Alekseev as the political chief.[14]
The Kornilov Shock Detachment of the8th Army was the most famous and longest-lived volunteer unit in the Russian Imperial Army. It was also the last regiment of the Russian Imperial Army and the first of the Volunteer Army.[15] In late 1917, theKornilov Shock Regiment, one of the crack units of the Volunteer Army, was named after him, as well as many other autonomous White Army formations, such as theKuban Cossack Kornilov Horse Regiment. Kornilov's forces became recognizable for theirTotenkopf insignia, which appeared on the regiment's flags, pennants, and soldiers' sleeve patches.
Even before the Red Army was formed, Kornilov promised, "the greater the terror, the greater our victories."[16] He vowed that the goals of his forces must be fulfilled even if it was needed "to set fire to half the country and shed the blood of three-quarters of all Russians."[17] In the Don region village of Lezhanka alone, bands of Kornilov's officers killed more than 500 people.[18] On the other hand, Kornilov's adjutant recalled that the general "loved only the [Russia] itself" and served it for all his life, having no time to think about political systems. The Bolsheviks for him were dangerous traitors, who ruined Russia's unity and had to be stopped.[16]
On 24 February 1918, asRostov and the Don Cossack capital ofNovocherkassk fell to the Bolsheviks, Kornilov led the Volunteer Army on the 'Ice March' into the empty steppe towards theKuban. Although badly outnumbered, he escaped destruction from the pursuing Bolshevik forces and laid siege toEkaterinodar, the capital of theKuban Soviet Republic, on 10 April. However, in the early morning of 13 April, a Soviet shell landed on his farmhouse headquarters and killed him. He was quietly buried in nearby Gnadau (modern dayDolinovskoe [ru]).[19]
A few days later, when the Bolsheviks gained control of the village, theyunearthed Kornilov's coffin, dragged his corpse to the main square andburnt his remains on the local rubbish dump.[20]
On 13 April 2013, a monument to Kornilov was erected in Krasnodar.[21] Commemoration ceremonies took place with local cossacks, along with Cossacks fromDon,Stavropol andTaman.[22]
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