Mikhail Nikolaevich Lyapunov
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Mikhail Nikolaevich Lyapunov (; 1 March 1848 — 4 March 1909) was Russian statesman and military leader and a participant 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 ...
.


Biography

Lyapunov was born into a family of hereditary nobles of
Saint Petersburg Governorate Saint Petersburg Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Saint Petersburg. The governorate was composed of of area and 2,112,033 inhabitants. It was bordered by Governorate of Estonia, Estonian and G ...
. He received his secondary education at the Saint Petersburg military gymnasium and at the age of 16 he was enrolled as a cadet at the Pavel Military School . At the age of 20 he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
. The command noticed Lyapunov's legal abilities and he was sent to
Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
to the Military Law Academy. Lyapunov was promoted to staff-captain on 6 November 1872, captain from 21 October 1875, major on 20 February 1876, captain of the military judicial department from 1 April 1877, assistant military prosecutor and lieutenant colonel from 17 April 1879 and finally promoted to colonel on 30 August 1882. In December 1884 he received the post of military judge. From 27 June 1887 to 17 October 1893 he was the military prosecutor of the
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
military district court. In August 1892, for his good service, Emperor Alexander III promoted him to major general. From 17 October 1893 to 8 May 1898 he was the military prosecutor of the
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
Military District Court. He was considered a highly educated and well-trained official and was distinguished by "strict performance of official duties", an energetic character and had moral impeccability. In 1898, by order of Emperor
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 ...
, Lyapunov was appointed military governor and chief of the local troops on
Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
. The order was signed on 8 May, but Lyapunov was in no hurry to go. He lived in
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 ...
, resolved issues with the appointment and transfer of affairs, looked for employees for his staff, despite the fact that the Governor-General of the
Amur Region Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrat ...
was constantly urging him to take up his post, because Sakhalin had been without a military commander for almost a year. Lyapunov arrived on the island on 19 August and took up his post on 20 August. He brought with him the new head of the chancellery, Lieutenant V. Marchenko, the former governor of affairs of the Kazan district of communications. As the governor, Lyapunov made frequent visits with audits to Korsakovsky and Rykovsky (Modern-Day Tymovsky) districts. Unlike his predecessors, he constantly asked for an audience with the Governor-General of the Amur Region, and tried to make reports, if not to Saint Petersburg, then at least to
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
. He managed to visit
European Russia European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...
and decide on the introduction of the post of vice-governor of Sakhalin. In 1902, Friedrich Fedorovich von Bunge was appointed to this position. On 27 January 1904, 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 ...
began. The
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
command began hostilities on Sakhalin by cutting off the only route connecting the island with the mainland, thus Japanese forces were able to cut off and encircle the Russian troops. On 17 July 1905, the military governor and chief of the forces of Sakhalin Island, Lieutenant General Lyapunov, through a representative, sent a message to the commander of the Japanese expeditionary forces, Lieutenant General Haraguchi Kensai: "Your Excellency! The lack of medicines and dressings and, as a result, the lack of the possibility of rendering assistance to the wounded, forced me to propose to Your Excellency to cease hostilities for purely humane reasons." In response, General Haraguchi demanded that General Lyapunov surrender all weapons and all movable and immovable state property that were intact, as well as the surrender of all maps, documents, papers related to the military department and administration. On 19 July 1905, Lyapunov, who was at his headquarters in the village of , gave the order: "The lack of food and firearms, as well as entrenching tools, the lack of sanitary facilities, the enormous numerical superiority of the Japanese army and the absence of a prepared path of retreat put us in such a situation when which further resistance would be useless bloodshed. In view of this, having received an offer from the commander of the Japanese army, which landed on the island, to surrender, I convened a military council, at which, to discuss the general situation...". Official records suggest that the total surrendered forces consisted of the garrison of 3,200 lower ranks, 79 officers and one general, Lyapunov himself, who became the only Russian governor to surrender during that war. In fact, there were more prisoners: in addition to those who surrendered in Onor, in other parts of
Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
the Japanese captured at least 1,260 soldiers and officers. A significant amount of weapons, ammunition, food and fodder passed into the hands of the Japanese. On 31 January 1906, Lyapunov was dismissed by the emperor from the post of military governor and was assigned to the General Staff for the military-judicial department, then in the same year he was dismissed. After retirement he lived in Saint Petersburg in the building of the Evangelical Hospital, and then settled in the house number 11 on the street. He died on 4 March 1909.


Family

*Wife - Elena Ivanovna Lyapunova


Awards

*
Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...
, 3rd class (1873) *
Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...
, 3rd class (1881) *Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd class (1883) *Order of Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class (1887) *
Order of Saint Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of ...
, 3rd class (1894) *Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st class (1897) *Order of Order of Saint Anna, 1st class (1905) *Silver


References


Bibliography

*
Имена в истории Сахалина. Михаил Николаевич Ляпунов

«Совершенно секретно», No.27/356

Аркадий Векслер, Тамара Крашенинникова «Такая удивительная Лиговка»
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyapunov Nikolaevich, Mikhail 1848 births 1909 deaths Imperial Russian Army generals Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Military personnel from Saint Petersburg Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 1st class History of Sakhalin