Pavel Ivanovich Mishchenko (; Pavlo Ivanovych Mishchenko; 22 January 1853 – 1918) was an

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

career military officer and statesman of 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 ...

Biography

Mishchenko was born in 1853 in the Russian fortress settlement of Temir-Khan-Shura in the

Dagestan Oblast The Dagestan ''Oblast'' was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day southeastern Dagestan within the Russian Federation. The Dagestan ''oblast'' was created in 186 ...

of the Caucasus Viceroyalty. He graduated in 1871 from Pavlovsk Military School as an officer in the artillery, and was assigned to the 38th Artillery Brigade. He participated in the

Russian conquest of Central Asia In the 16th century, the Tsardom of Russia embarked on a campaign to Territorial evolution of Russia, expand the Russian frontier to the east. This effort continued until the 19th century under the Russian Empire, when the Imperial Russian Army ...

in 1873. He subsequently participated in the

Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

and the conquest of

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 ...

under General

Mikhail Skobelev Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev (; 29 September 1843 – 7 July 1882), a Russian general, became famous for his conquest of Central Asia and for his heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Dressed in a white uniform and mounted on ...

. From 1899, Mischchenko was assigned to Russian-occupied

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

as assistant chief of security for the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...

. He fought during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

, and afterwards was promoted to major general and decorated with 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 degree). General Mishenko

From 1903, Mischchenko was commander of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Brigade. 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 ...

of 1904-1905 he commanded a separate East-Baikal Cossack Brigade, which was active in many of the battles of that war. Initially, his forces were in Korea, with instructions to obstruct the landing of the

Japanese First Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was raised and demobilized on three occasions. History The Japanese 1st Army was initially raised during the First Sino-Japanese War from 1 September 1894 – 28 May 1895 under the command of ...

and its march towards

. However, after several minor skirmishes, Mischchenko retreated across the

Yalu River The Yalu River () or Amnok River () is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between China and North Korea. Its valle ...

.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 223-224. He played a minor role on the flanks of the Battle of the Yalu River, and was also part of the Russian defenses at the

Battle of Hsimucheng The Battle of Hsimucheng (; ) was a minor land engagement of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought on 31 July 1904 near Hsimucheng, a hamlet in today's Ximu Town (析木镇) about southeast of the strategic junction town of Haicheng, on the ...

, and

Battle of Te-li-Ssu The Battle of Te-li-ssu ( '), also called Battle of Wafangou () after the nearby railway station, was a land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. The battle was fought on 14–15 June 1904 between the Japanese Second Army under General Oku Yasu ...

. At the

Battle of Liaoyang The () was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, on the outskirts of the city of Liaoyang in present-day Liaoning Province, China. The city was of great strategic importance as the major Russian military center for southern Manchuria ...

and at the

Battle of Shaho The Battle of Shaho ( (''Saka no kaisen''), ) was the second large-scale land battle of the Russo-Japanese War fought along a front centered at the Shaho River along the Mukden– Port Arthur spur of the China Far East Railway north of Liaoyang ...

, he commanded the Russian cavalry formations covering the rear guard of the Russian retreat. He was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1904, and appointed commander of the new Cavalier Corps in December 1904 and led a major raid south on 6 January 1905 with 6000 horsemen on a mission to destroy Japanese supplies stockpiled at

Niuzhuang Yingkou ( zh, s=, t=, p=Yíngkǒu) is a coastal prefecture-level city of central southern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, on the northeastern shore of Liaodong Bay. It is the third-smallest city in Liaoning with a total area of , a ...

. The mission was a disaster, and the force returned twelve days later with massive casualties. He was wounded in the leg during the

Battle of Sandepu The Battle of Sandepu (also known as the Battle of Heikoutai) ( (''Kokkōdai no kaisen''), ) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought within a group of villages about southwest of Mukden, Manchuria.Kowner, '' Historic ...

and although reinstated as commander of the Cavalier Corps in March 1905, was not in 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 ...

After the war, from 2 May 1908 to 17 March 1909, Mischchenko was commander of the

Turkestan Military District The Turkestan Military District (, ''Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)'') was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with its headquarters at Tashkent. The District was first created during the 1874 R ...

and Governor-General of Turkestan. He also was chieftain of the Semirechye Cossack Host. He was promoted to General of Artillery in 1910, and from 1911 to 1912 was acting ''

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

'' of 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 ...

. With the start of

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 ...

, Mischchenko was appointed commander of the 2nd Caucasian Army Corps, and from 1915, the Russian 31st Army Corps on the Southwestern Front. However, after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, he was dismissed from his posts by the new

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

as part of a purge by the new government of known pro-monarchists, and retired from military service. He returned to his hometown of Temir-Khan-Shura, where he continued to wear his uniform and insignia. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, local

Bolshevik 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, ...

authorities demanded that he surrender his decorations and epaulets, and when he resisted, he was manhandled and either committed suicide or murdered by the

s at his home.

Honors

Order of St. Anne 3rd degree with sword and bow, 1873 *

Order of St Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'. Grades The order had four ...

, 4th degree with sword and bow, 1881 *

Order of St 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 Kingdom of Poland between 1765 a ...

, 2nd degree, 1887 * Order of Saint Anna ribbon bar

Order of St. Anne 2nd degree, 1893 * RUS Order of Saint George 4th class ribbon 2000

, 4th class, 1901 *

, 3rd degree, 1901 *

, 1st degree, 1904 * Golden Sword of St. George, 1905 * Order of St. Anne 1st degree with sword and bow, 1905 *

, 2nd degree, 1908 *,

Order of the White Eagle (Russia) The Imperial Order of the White Eagle () was an Imperial Russian Order based on the Polish honor. Emperor Nicholas I of Russia established the award in 1831 as the ''Imperial and Royal Order of the White Eagle''. A recipient of the Order was gr ...

, with swords, 1911, 1915 with swords * Band to Order St Alexander Nevsky

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...

, with swords, 1914

References

* Connaughton, Richard (2003). ''Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear''. Cassell. *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishchenko, Pavel Ivanovich 1855 births 1918 deaths People from the Russian Empire of Ukrainian descent Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Gold Sword for Bravery Russian military personnel of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) People of the Boxer Rebellion Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian military personnel of World War I Victims of the Red Terror in Soviet Russia Executed people from Dagestan Executed military personnel Extrajudicial killings People from Buynaksk Governors-general of Turkestan