Pierre-Thiébaut-Charles-Maurice Janin (19 October 1862 – 28 April 1946) was a French general (from April 20, 1916) and military commander who was the chief of the Allied military mission in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

during 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 known for his betrayal of the Russian Supreme Leader Alexander Kolchak by giving him to the Soviet revolutionary committee to be executed in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Biography

Pierre Thiébaut Charles Maurice Janin was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on the 19 October 1862. studied at Special Military School at Saint-Cyr, which he graduated in 1882. In 1912, He briefly worked as an instructor at the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

military academy. He then served in the 31st and 123rd Infantry Regiments before and during the first world war. He fought in the

Battle of the Yser The Battle of the Yser (, ) was a battle of the First World War that took place in October 1914 between the towns of Nieuwpoort, Belgium, Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, along a stretch of the Yser River and the Yperlee Canal, in Belgium. The front ...

in 1914 and was victorious. Shortly after the battle he was made deputy chief of staff at the French army headquarters. In April 1916, the French president Poincáre sent him to Russia as the commander of the French military mission. The aims of the mission were to help

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

join the war on the

Entente Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

's side and to improve the tactical training of the Russian army. Janin met Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

and found him to not know much about the state of his own army saying that "He was very poorly informed about current events. He had no opportunity to form his own judgment of the facts. He did not read newspapers, but only excerpts from newspapers. We can compare it to how daily light penetrates a dark cellar through a small window." In March 1917, a

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

broke out in Russia, the Tsar abdicated and the monarchy was abolished. The

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

was established and the government decided to continue to fight in the war on the Entente's side. On 7 November,

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

under the leadership of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

launched a coup by occupying government buildings in Saint Petersburg and on the 8th they took the

Winter Palace The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square ...

(the seat of the government) beginning a

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Janin left Russia the same day. At the beginning of 1918, Janin was made the minister of war for the

Czechoslovak national council The Czechoslovak National Council (or Czecho-Slovak National Council) was an organization founded by Czech and Slovak émigrés during World War I to liberate their homeland from Austria-Hungary. During the closing weeks of the war, the Czechoslov ...

(based in Paris). By July, he was appointed chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia as part of the intervention in the Russian Civil War and moved back to Russia. In November there was a

bloodless coup A nonviolent revolution is a revolution conducted primarily by unarmed civilians using tactics of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian ...

against the All-Russian Directory (the Allied supported Russian government), several Social-Revolutionary members of the Directory were arrested and the remaining ministers voted to make Admiral Alexander Kolchak (The minster of War and Navy) the

supreme leader A supreme leader or supreme ruler typically refers to powerful figures with an unchallenged authority, such as autocrats, dictators to spiritual and revolutionary leaders. Historic examples are Adolf Hitler () of Nazi Germany, Francisco ...

. By November 1919, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

began to push the white army into a rapid retreat across Siberia known as the

Great Siberian Ice March The Great Siberian Ice March () was the name given to the winter retreat of Admiral Kolchak's Siberian Army from Omsk to Chita, in the course of the Russian Civil War between 14 November 1919 and March 1920. General Vladimir Kappel, who w ...

. During this long march, Janin detained Supreme Leader Kolchak because Kolchak had refused to give him control of the main gold reserve of the army. In January of 1920, they arrived in the city of

and Janin handed Kolchak over to the local Social-Revolutionary committee along with a disputed number of wagons of gold to ensure his own safety. Janin said that "Psychologically, we cannot accept responsibility for the safety of the admiral's journey... After I suggested that he transfer the gold reserve under my personal responsibility and he refused to trust me, I can no longer do anything". In February 1920, Kolchak was executed by firing squad. General Janin and his siberian staff

Janin returned home to France shortly after this and defended the accusations that he had personally betrayed Kolchak and the anti-Bolshevik movement by saying that it was "fairy tales" and that people couldn't "imagine the real state of affairs in its true light". He died on 28 April 1946 in France.

Awards

Janin was a recipient of the Latvian military

Order of Lāčplēsis The Order of Lāčplēsis (also Lāčplēsis Military Order, ), the first and the highest Latvian military award, was established in 1919 on the initiative of Jānis Balodis, the Commander of the Latvian Army during the Latvian War of Independ ...

, 2nd class. He was also awarded the Czechoslovak Military variant of

Order of the White Lion The Order of the White Lion () is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners (Czechoslovakia having no civilian decoration for its citizens in the 192 ...

in 1923.

Legacy

Among the White Russian émigrés he became widely known as the "General without honour".

In fiction

In the 2008 Russian biopic '' The Admiral'', Janin is played by

Richard Bohringer Richard Bohringer () is a French actor, singer, writer, and film director. He is the father of actresses Romane Bohringer and . Early life Bohringer was born in Moulins, Allier, France, to a French mother, Huguette Foucault and a German fathe ...

References

External links

General Maurice Janin – saved the legionnaires in Siberia, but died in oblivion – part one
1862 births 1946 deaths French generals French Army generals of World War I People of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) French expatriates in Russia Czechoslovak Legion 19th-century French military personnel {{France-mil-bio-stub