Maciej (Suleyman bey) Sulkiewicz (, , ; 20 June 1865 – 15 July 1920) was an Imperial Russian

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, Prime Minister of

Crimean Regional Government The Crimean Regional Government ( ') refers to two successive short-lived regimes in the Crimean Peninsula during 1918 and 1919. History Following Russia's 1917 October Revolution, an ethnic Tatar government proclaimed the Crimean People's Rep ...

(1918), and

Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan Republic () is the Staff (military), military staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. It is the central organ of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational management of the armed fo ...

in 1918–20. Born to parents of

Lipka Tatar The Lipka Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group and minority in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of the 14th century. The first Tatar settlers tried to preserve their Pagan tradi ...

origin, he changed his name to Mohammad after settling in

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...

, but in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

he is still known as Suleyman bey Sulkiewicz and Mammad bey Sulkiewicz. He joined 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 ...

in 1883 and became an officer in 1886. He was promoted to major general in 1910 and to lieutenant general in 1915. Sulkiewicz participated in the Chinese expedition against the Boxers, in 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

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 ...

. Before the Russo–Japanese War he served in the

Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...

in 1894–1905 and served as a chief of staff at the Ochakov Fortress. During the Russo–Japanese War, Sulkiewicz fought at the

Battle of Mukden The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...

as a member of the 8th Army Corps of the 2nd Manchurian Army, commanding the 57th Modlin Infantry Regiment. During his tour at the Far East, Sulkiewicz was honored with several orders of Imperial Russia such as the Order of Saint Anna, the Order of Saint Vladimir, and the

Golden Weapon 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 S ...

. After the Russo–Japanese War, he remained in the Asian portion of Russia serving in the Irkutsk Military District. During the

, he fought at the

Romanian Front The Romanian Front (, FR) was a moderate fascist party created in Romania in 1935. Led by former Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, it originated as a right-wing splinter group from the mainstream National Peasants' ...

. In the late 1917 Sulkiewicz was involved in creation of the 1st Muslim Army Corps, yet remained at the service of the Russian Romanian Front administration. Upon signing of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

between the

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and the Central powers, Sulkiewicz came to Crimea with the

Central powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

occupational forces which forced Bolshevik irregular formations out of Crimea and formed the

as interim government in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

under the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupying forces. As a provisional governor of Crimea, Sulkiewicz negotiated with the Ukrainian government a federative relations between mainland Ukraine and Crimea. After the end of

and withdrawal of the

troops out of Crimea in late 1918, Sulkiewicz moved to Azerbaijan and became Chief of Staff of

Azerbaijani Armed Forces The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were ...

of ADR on 26 March 1919. He was executed by 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, ...

, after the Bolshevik invasion of Azerbaijan in 1920.

Gallery

File:Maçey Süleyman Sulkeviçin Varşava şəhərinin Praqa rayonunda ucaldılmış abidəsi.jpg, Bust of General Sulkiewicz was installed in 2017 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

which emphasizes that he is "Polak" (Pole)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulkiewicz, Maciej 1865 births 1920 deaths People from Voranava district People from Lidsky Uyezd Lipka Tatars People from the Russian Empire of Lipka Tatar descent Generals of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic Russian military personnel of World War I Azerbaijani military personnel of the Armenian–Azerbaijani War (1918–1920) Chiefs of General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces Azerbaijan Democratic Republic politicians History of Crimea Imperial Russian Army generals Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov) Anti-communists from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Azerbaijani generals of Imperial Russian Army Azerbaijani generals Muslims from the Russian Empire Belarusian Muslims Imperial Nikolayev Military Academy alumni