Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (, ; – 13 April 1918) was a Russian

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

officer, explorer, and general in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He served as Supreme Commander of the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

and as the military leader of the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. He is particularly remembered for the Kornilov affair, an unsuccessful coup d’etat against the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

led by

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 ( N.S.). After th ...

. The event became a significant turning point in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, strengthening the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

' position and influence. Born in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kornilov began his military career after graduating from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School and the General Staff Academy. He distinguished himself during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

and later served as a

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

. During

, Kornilov commanded the 48th Infantry Division and gained recognition for his daring escape from Austrian captivity in 1915. His successes on the Eastern Front elevated him to prominence, leading to his appointment as Supreme Commander during the revolutionary upheaval of 1917. After the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1917, Kornilov emerged as a key figure in the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

. Following his escape from detention after the Kornilov Affair, he co-founded the

Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (; ), abbreviated to (), also known as the Southern White Army was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. The Volunteer Army fought against Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists on the ...

and led its forces in

southern Russia Southern Russia or the South of Russia ( rus, Юг России, p=juk rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a Colloquialism, colloquial term for the southernmost geographic portion of European Russia. The term is generally used to refer to the region of Russia's So ...

during the early stages of the Russian Civil War. Kornilov was killed in 1918 during the siege of Yekaterinodar. 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.

Pre-revolutionary career

One story relates how Kornilov was originally born as a Don Cossack Kalmyk named Lavga Deldinov and adopted in Ust-Kamenogorsk,

Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan () was a colony of the Russian Empire, located in the western portion of the Central Asian region of Turkestan. Administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship, it comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, b ...

(now

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

) by the family of his mother's brother, the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

Khorunzhiy Georgy Nikolayevich Kornilov, whose wife was of Kazakh origin. But his sister wrote that he had not been adopted, had not been a Don Cossack, and that their mother had Polish and Altai 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.) But

Boris Shaposhnikov Boris Mikhaylovich Shaposhnikov () ( – 26 March 1945) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military officer, Military theory, theoretician and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as the Chief of the General Staff (Russia), Chief of the General St ...

, 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. Kornilov's Siberian Cossack father was a friend of Potanin (1835–1920), a prominent figure in the Siberian autonomy movement. Kornilov entered military school in

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

in 1885 and went on to study at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg in 1889. In August 1892 he was assigned as a lieutenant to the Turkestan Military District, where he led several exploration missions in Eastern Turkestan,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, learned several Central Asian languages, and wrote detailed reports about his observations. Kornilov returned to St. Petersburg to attend the Nikolayev 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 to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

in 1904, though he was quickly discovered and subsequently kept under close surveillance. During the

of 1904-1905 Kornilov became the

Chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

of the 1st Infantry Brigade, and was heavily involved in the Battle of Sandepu (January 1905) and the Battle of Mukden (February/March 1905). He was awarded the

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

(4th class) for bravery and promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

. Following the end of the war, Kornilov served as military attache in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

from 1907 to 1911. He studied the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

, 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 and

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

to examine the military situation along China's border with Russia. On 2 February 1911 he became Commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment of

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and was later appointed commander of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

. In 1914, at the start of

, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which saw combat in Galicia and the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

. In 1915, he was promoted to the rank of major 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 Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Conrad von Hötzendorf, the commander of the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

, 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 of Tsar Nicholas II, he was given command of the

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Military District in March 1917. On 8 March, Kornilov placed the Empress

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

and her children under house arrest at the Alexander Palace (Nicholas was still held at

Stavka The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...

), replacing the Tsar's Escort and Combined Regiments of the

Imperial Guard An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the emperor and/or empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial force ...

with 300 revolutionary troops. On 21 April, when the

declined to give him the authority he sought to deal with protestors in Petrograd, he resigned as commander of the Petrograd district and was transferred at his request to command the Russian Eighth Army. During the Kerensky 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 replaced Aleksei Brusilov as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Provisional Government's armed forces.

Kornilov Affair

In the mass discontent following the July 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 Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov ( rus, Па́вел Никола́евич Милюко́в, p=mʲɪlʲʊˈkof; 31 March 1943) was a Russian historian and liberal politician. Milyukov was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the C ...

, 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".

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 and

, Kornilov commanded an assault on the Petrograd Soviet. 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.

Russian Civil War

After the coup collapsed as his troops disintegrated, Kornilov and his fellow conspirators were placed under arrest in the

Bykhov Bykhaw or Bykhov (, ; ; ; ; ) is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It is located south of Mogilev, and serves as the administrative center of Bykhaw District. In 2009, its population was 17,031. As of 2024, it has a population of 16,349. Histo ...

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 the Don region, which was controlled by the

Don Cossacks Don Cossacks (, ) or Donians (, ), are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don River (Russia), Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (, ), which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic rep ...

. Here they linked up with General Mikhail Alekseev. Kornilov became the military commander of the anti-Bolshevik

with Alekseev as the political chief. The Kornilov Shock Detachment of the 8th 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. In late 1917, the Kornilov Shock Regiment, one of the crack units of the

, was named after him, as well as many other autonomous White Army formations, such as the Kuban Cossack Kornilov Horse Regiment. Kornilov's forces became recognizable for their Totenkopf insignia, which appeared on the regiment's flags, pennants, and soldiers' sleeve patches. Even before the Red Army was formed, Lavr Kornilov promised, "the greater the terror, the greater our victories." 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." In the Don region village of Lezhanka alone, bands of Kornilov's officers killed more than 500 people. On the other hand, Kornilov's adjutant recalled that the general "loved only the ussiaitself" 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. On 24 February 1918, as Rostov and the Don Cossack capital of

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

fell to the Bolsheviks, Kornilov led the Volunteer Army on the epic '

Ice March The Ice March (Russian: Ледяной поход), also called the First Kuban Campaign (Russian: Первый кубанский поход), a withdrawal (military), military withdrawal lasting from February to May 1918, was one of the defi ...

' into the empty steppe towards the

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

. Although badly outnumbered, he escaped destruction from the pursuing Bolshevik forces and laid siege to Ekaterinodar, the capital of the Kuban 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 day Dolinovskoe). A few days later, when the Bolsheviks gained control of the village, they unearthed Kornilov's coffin, dragged his corpse to the main square and burnt his remains on the local rubbish dump.

Memorials

On 13 April 2013, a monument to the late General was erected in Krasnodar. Commemoration ceremonies took place with local cossacks, along with Cossacks from Don,

Stavropol Stavropol (, ), known as Voroshilovsk from 1935 until 1943, is a city and the administrative centre of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 547,820, making it one of Russia's fastest growing cities. E ...

and Taman.

Honours and awards

* Order of St. Stanislaus, third degree (1901), 2nd degree (1904 and 1906 with swords) * Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree (1903) and 2nd degree (6 December 1909) *

, 4th degree (9 August 1905) and 3rd degree (28 April 1915) *

Gold Sword for Bravery The Gold Sword for Bravery () was a Russian award for bravery. It was set up with two grades on 27 July 1720 by Peter the Great, reclassified as a public order in 1807 and abolished in 1917. From 1913 to 1917 it was renamed the Saint George ...

(9 May 1907) * Badge of the 1st Kuban (Ice) campaign (3 October 1918), issued posthumously, No.1 out of 3,689

References

Bibliography

*Asher, Harvey. "The Kornilov Affair: A Reinterpretation." ''Russian Review'' (1970) 29#3 pp: 286–300
in JSTOR
* Grebenkin, I. N. "General L.G. Kornilov: A Rough Sketch for a Character Portrait." ''Russian Studies in History'' 56.3 (2017): 188–211. *Katkov, George. ''Russia 1917, the Kornilov Affair: Kerensky and the Break-up of the Russian Army'' (Longman, 1980) *Mawdsley, Evan. ''The Russian Civil War'' (2008) *Moncure, James A. ed. ''Research Guide to European Historical Biography: 1450-Present'' (4 vol 1992) 3:1082-90 *White, James D. "The Kornilov affair—a study in counter‐revolution," ''Europe‐Asia Studies'' (1968) 20#2 pp 187–205. * Yang, Ho-Hwan. "Different Ways of Interpreting the Kornilov Affair: A Review of George Katkov's The Kornilov Affair: Kerensky and the Break-up of the Russian Army, London and New York: Longman, 1980" ''The SNU Journal of Education Research'' (1993) pp 17–28
online

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kornilov, Lavr Georgevich 1870 births 1918 deaths Commanders-in-chief of the Russian Army Escapees from Russian detention Cossacks from the Russian Empire People of the Russian Civil War People from Oskemen People from Semipalatinsk Oblast Recipients of the Gold Sword for Bravery Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Russian Provisional Government generals Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Imperial Russian Army generals 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian explorers Russian military personnel killed in action Russian military personnel of World War I World War I prisoners of war held by Austria-Hungary Prisoners of war from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire who escaped White movement generals Kalmyk people Military attachés of the Russian Empire Posthumous executions Perpetrators of the White Terror (Russia) Imperial Nikolayev Military Academy alumni