The city where Kolchak was captured. Supreme ruler of the Russian state

One of the most interesting and controversial figures in the history of Russia in the twentieth century is A. V. Kolchak. Admiral, naval commander, traveler, oceanographer and writer. Until now, this historical figure is of interest to historians, writers and directors. Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is shrouded in interesting facts and events, is of great interest to contemporaries. Based on his biographical data, books are created, scripts are written for the theater stage. Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich - the hero of documentaries and feature films. It is impossible to fully appreciate the significance of this person in the history of the Russian people.

The first steps of a young cadet

A. V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian Empire, was born on November 4, 1874 in St. Petersburg. The Kolchak family comes from an ancient noble family. Father - Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, Major General of Naval Artillery, mother - Olga Ilyinichna Posokhova, Don Cossack. The family of the future admiral of the Russian Empire was deeply religious. In his childhood memoirs, Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich noted: "I am Orthodox, until the time I entered elementary school, I received under the guidance of my parents." After studying for three years (1885-1888) at the St. Petersburg Classical Men's Gymnasium, young Alexander Kolchak enters the Naval School. It was there that A. V. Kolchak, admiral of the Russian fleet, first learned naval sciences, which would later become his life's work. Studying at the Naval School revealed A.V. Kolchak's outstanding abilities and talent for maritime affairs.

The future Admiral Kolchak, whose brief biography shows that travel and sea adventures became his main passion. It was in 1890 that, as a sixteen-year-old teenager, a young cadet first went to sea. It happened on board the armored frigate "Prince Pozharsky". Training swimming lasted about three months. During this time, junior cadet Alexander Kolchak received the first skills and practical knowledge of maritime affairs. Later, during his studies at the Naval Cadet Corps, A. V. Kolchak repeatedly went on campaigns. His training ships were Rurik and Cruiser. Thanks to study trips, A.V. Kolchak began to study oceanography and hydrology, as well as navigational charts of underwater currents off the coast of Korea.

polar research

After graduating from the Naval School, young lieutenant Alexander Kolchak submits a report to the naval service in the Pacific Ocean. The request was approved, and he was sent to one of the naval garrisons of the Pacific Fleet. In 1900, Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is closely connected with the scientific research of the Arctic Ocean, sets off on the first polar expedition. On October 10, 1900, at the invitation of the famous traveler Baron Eduard Toll, the scientific group set off. The purpose of the expedition was to establish the geographical coordinates of the mysterious island of Sannikov Land. In February 1901, Kolchak made a big report about the Great Northern Expedition.

In 1902, on the wooden whaling schooner Zarya, Kolchak and Toll again set off for the northern voyage. In the summer of the same year, four polar explorers, led by the head of the expedition, Eduard Toll, left the schooner and set off on dog sleds to explore the coast of the Arctic. Nobody came back. A long search for the missing expedition did not bring any results. The entire crew of the Zarya schooner was forced to return to the mainland. After some time, A.V. Kolchak submits a petition to the Russian Academy of Sciences for a second expedition to the Northern Islands. The main goal of the campaign was to find the members of E. Toll's team. As a result of the search, traces of the missing group were found. However, the living members of the team were no longer there. For participation in the rescue expedition, A. V. Kolchak was awarded the Imperial Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, 4th degree. According to the results of the work of the research polar group, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was elected a full member of the Russian Geographical Society.

Military conflict with Japan (1904-1905)

With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, A.V. Kolchak asks to be transferred from the scientific academy to the Naval War Department. Having received approval, he goes to serve in Port Arthur to Admiral S. O. Makarov, A. V. Kolchak is appointed commander of the destroyer "Angry". For six months, the future admiral fought valiantly for Port Arthur. However, despite the heroic confrontation, the fortress fell. The soldiers of the Russian army capitulated. In one of the battles, Kolchak is wounded and ends up in a Japanese hospital. Thanks to American military intermediaries, Alexander Kolchak and other officers of the Russian army were returned to their homeland. For his heroism and courage, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was awarded a nominal gold saber and a silver medal "In memory of the Russian-Japanese war."

Continuation of scientific activity

After a six-month vacation, Kolchak again starts research work. The main theme of his scientific works was the processing of materials from polar expeditions. Scientific works on oceanology and the history of polar research helped the young scientist to win honor and respect in the scientific community. In 1907, his translation of Martin Knudsen's "Tables of Freezing Points of Sea Water" was published. In 1909, the author's monograph "The Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas" was published. The significance of the works of A. V. Kolchak was that he was the first to lay the foundation for the doctrine of sea ice. The Russian Geographical Society highly appreciated the scientific activity of the scientist, presenting him with the highest award "Gold Konstantinovsky Medal". A. V. Kolchak became the youngest of the polar explorers who were awarded this high award. All predecessors were foreigners, and only he became the first Russian owner of a high distinction.

Revival of the Russian fleet

The loss in the Russo-Japanese War was very hard for the Russian officers. A.V. was no exception. Kolchak, an admiral in spirit and a researcher by vocation. Continuing to study the reasons for the defeat of the Russian army, Kolchak is developing a plan to create a Naval General Staff. In his scientific report, he expresses his thoughts about the reasons for the military defeat in the war, about what kind of fleet Russia needs, and also points out shortcomings in the defensive ability of naval vessels. The speech of the speaker in the State Duma does not find due approval, and A. V. Kolchak (admiral) leaves the service in the Naval General Staff. Biography and photos of that time confirm his transition to teaching at the Naval Academy. Despite the lack of an academic education, the leadership of the academy invited him to lecture on the joint actions of the army and navy. In April 1908, A. V. Kolchak was awarded the military rank of captain of the 2nd rank. Five years later, in 1913, he was promoted to the rank of captain of the 1st rank.

Participation of A. V. Kolchak in the First World War

Since September 1915, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak has been in charge of the Mine Division of the Baltic Fleet. The place of deployment was the port of the city of Revel (now Tallinn). The main task of the division was the development of minefields and their installation. In addition, the commander personally conducted sea raids to eliminate enemy ships. This caused admiration among ordinary sailors, as well as among the officers of the division. The courage and resourcefulness of the commander received wide appreciation in the fleet, and this reached the capital. April 10, 1916 A.V. Kolchak was promoted to the rank of rear admiral of the Russian fleet. And in June 1916, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, Kolchak was awarded the rank of vice admiral, and he was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Thus, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, admiral of the Russian fleet, becomes the youngest of the naval commanders.

The arrival of an energetic and competent commander was received with great respect. From the first days of work, Kolchak established strict discipline and changed the command leadership of the fleet. The main strategic task is to clear the sea of ​​enemy warships. To accomplish this task, it was proposed to block the ports of Bulgaria and the waters of the Bosphorus Strait. An operation began to mine enemy coastlines. Admiral Kolchak's ship could often be seen performing combat and tactical missions. The commander of the fleet personally controlled the situation at sea. The special operation to mine the Bosphorus Strait with a swift blow to Constantinople was approved by Nicholas II. However, a daring military operation did not happen, all plans were violated by the February Revolution.

Revolutionary uprising of 1917

The events of the February coup of 1917 found Kolchak in Batumi. It was in this Georgian city that the admiral held a meeting with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, commander of the Caucasian Front. The agenda was to discuss the schedule of shipping and the construction of a seaport in Trabzon (Turkey). Having received a secret dispatch from the General Staff about a military coup in Petrograd, the admiral urgently returns to Sevastopol. Upon returning to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V. Kolchak orders the termination of the telegraph and postal communications of the Crimea with other regions of the Russian Empire. This prevents the spread of rumors and panic in the fleet. All telegrams were sent only to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

Unlike the situation in the Baltic Fleet, the situation in the Black Sea was under the control of the admiral. A. V. Kolchak kept the Black Sea flotilla from revolutionary collapse for a long time. However, political events did not pass by. In June 1917, by decision of the Sevastopol Soviet, Admiral Kolchak was removed from the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. During the disarmament, Kolchak, before the formation of his subordinates, breaks the award golden saber and says: “The sea rewarded me, I return the award to the sea.”

Russian admiral

Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak (Omirova), the wife of the great naval commander, was a hereditary noblewoman. Sophia was born in 1876 in Kamenetz-Podolsk. Father - Fedor Vasilyevich Omirov, Privy Councilor of His Imperial Majesty, mother - Daria Fedorovna Kamenskaya, came from the family of Major General V.F. Kamensky. Sofya Fedorovna was educated at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. A beautiful, strong-willed woman who knew several foreign languages, she was very independent in character.

The wedding with Alexander Vasilievich took place in the St. Kharlampievskaya Church in Irkutsk on March 5, 1904. After the wedding, the young spouse leaves his wife and goes to the army to defend Port Arthur. S.F. Kolchak, together with his father-in-law, goes to St. Petersburg. All her life, Sofya Fedorovna kept loyalty and devotion to her lawful spouse. She invariably began her letters to him with the words: "My dear and beloved, Sashenka." And she finished: “Sonia, who loves you.” Admiral Kolchak kept the touching letters of his wife until the last days. Constant separation did not allow the spouses to see each other often. Military service required the fulfillment of duty.

And yet, rare moments of joyful meetings did not bypass loving spouses. Sofia Fedorovna gave birth to three children. The first daughter, Tatyana, was born in 1908, however, without having lived even a month, the child died. Son Rostislav was born on March 9, 1910 (died in 1965). The third child in the family was Margarita (1912-1914). When escaping from the Germans from Libava (Liepaja, Latvia), the girl caught a cold and soon died. Kolchak's wife lived for some time in Gatchina, then in Libau. During the shelling of the city, the Kolchak family was forced to leave their refuge. Having collected her things, Sophia moves to her husband in Helsingfors, where at that time the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet was located.

It was in this city that Sophia met Anna Timireva, the last love of the admiral. Then there was a move to Sevastopol. Throughout the Civil War, she waited for her husband. In 1919, Sophia Kolchak emigrated with her son. British allies help them get to Constanta, then there was Bucharest and Paris. Experiencing a difficult financial situation in exile, Sofya Kolchak was able to give a decent education to her son. Rostislav Aleksandrovich Kolchak graduated from the Higher Diplomatic School and worked for some time in the Algerian banking system. In 1939, Kolchak's son entered the service of the French army and soon fell into German captivity.

Sofia Kolchak will survive the German occupation of Paris. The death of the admiral's wife will occur in the Lunjumo hospital (France) in 1956. S.F. Kolchak was buried at the cemetery of Russian emigrants in Paris. In 1965, Rostislav Alexandrovich Kolchak died. The last refuge of the wife and son of the admiral will be the French tomb in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

The last love of the Russian admiral

Anna Vasilievna Timireva is the daughter of the outstanding Russian conductor and musician V. I. Safonov. Anna was born in Kislovodsk in 1893. Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timireva met in 1915 in Helsingfors. Her first husband is Sergey Nikolaevich Timirev. The love story with Admiral Kolchak still inspires admiration and respect for this Russian woman. Love and devotion made her go to a voluntary arrest after her lover. Endless arrests and exile could not destroy tender feelings, she loved her admiral until the end of her life. Having survived the execution of Admiral Kolchak in 1920, Anna Timireva was in exile for many years. Only in 1960 she was rehabilitated and lived in the capital. Anna Vasilievna died on January 31, 1975.

Foreign trips

Upon his return to Petrograd in 1917, Admiral Kolchak (his photo is presented in our article) receives an official invitation from the American diplomatic mission. Foreign partners, knowing his extensive experience in the mine business, ask the Provisional Government to send A. V. Kolchak as a military expert in the fight against submarines. A.F. Kerensky gives his consent to his departure. Soon, Admiral Kolchak went to England, and then to America. There he held military consultations and also took an active part in training maneuvers for the US Navy.

Nevertheless, Kolchak believed that his foreign voyage had failed, and a decision was made to return to Russia. While in San Francisco, the admiral receives a government telegram proposing to run for the Constituent Assembly. It burst out and violated all Kolchak's plans. The news of a revolutionary uprising finds him in the Japanese port of Yokohama. The temporary stop lasted until the autumn of 1918.

Events of the Civil War in the fate of A. V. Kolchak

After long wanderings abroad, A.V. Kolchak on September 20, 1918 returns to Russian soil in Vladivostok. In this city, Kolchak studied the state of military affairs and the revolutionary mood of the inhabitants of the eastern outskirts of the country. At this time, the Russian public more than once turned to him with a proposal to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks. October 13, 1918 Kolchak arrives in Omsk to establish a common command of the volunteer armies in the east of the country. After some time, a military seizure of power takes place in the city. A. V. Kolchak - Admiral, Supreme Ruler of Russia. It was this position that the Russian officers entrusted to Alexander Vasilyevich.

Kolchak's army numbered more than 150 thousand people. The coming to power of Admiral Kolchak inspired the entire eastern region of the country, hoping for the establishment of a tough dictatorship and order. A strong administrative vertical and the correct organization of the state were established. The main goal of the new military formation was to unite with the army of A.I. Denikin and march on Moscow. During the reign of Kolchak, a number of orders, decrees and appointments were issued. A. V. Kolchak was one of the first in Russia to begin an investigation into the death of the royal family. The award system of tsarist Russia was restored. At the disposal of Kolchak's army was a huge gold reserve of the country, which was taken from Moscow to Kazan with the aim of further moving to England and Canada. With this money, Admiral Kolchak (whose photo can be seen above) provided his army with weapons and uniforms.

Battle path and the arrest of the admiral

During the entire existence of the eastern front, Kolchak and his comrades-in-arms carried out several successful military attacks (Perm, Kazan and Simbirsk operations). However, the numerical superiority of the Red Army prevented a grandiose capture of the western borders of Russia. An important factor was the betrayal of the allies.

On January 15, 1920, Kolchak was arrested and sent to the Irkutsk prison. A few days later, the Extraordinary Commission began the procedure for investigative measures to interrogate the admiral. A. V. Kolchak, admiral (the protocols of interrogation testify to this), during the conduct of investigative measures, he behaved very worthily. Cheka investigators noted that the admiral answered all questions willingly and clearly, while not giving out a single name of his colleagues. The arrest of Kolchak lasted until February 6, until the remnants of his army came close to Irkutsk. In 1920, on the banks of the Ushakovka River, the admiral was shot and thrown into the hole. This is how the great son of his Motherland ended his journey.

Based on the events of hostilities in eastern Russia from the autumn of 1918 to the end of 1919, the book “Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak” was written, the author is S. V. Volkov.

Truth and fiction

To this day, the fate of this man is not fully understood. A. V. Kolchak is an admiral, unknown facts from whose life and death are still of interest to historians and people who are not indifferent to this person. One thing can be said quite definitely: the life of the admiral is a vivid example of courage, heroism and high responsibility to their homeland.

On November 18, 1918, in Omsk, a group of Cossacks arrested the Socialist-Revolutionary ministers of the All-Russian Provisional Government, which had raised an uprising against Soviet power a few months earlier. After that, Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak, the former military and naval minister of this government, was proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia. Kolchak's power extended over vast territories, many times larger than in the European part of Russia, where the Bolsheviks had power. However, these vast expanses were sparsely populated, and their industry and infrastructure were not as developed as in the western and central regions.

For more than a year, Kolchak remained the Supreme Ruler, recognized in this role by most of the leaders of the White movement. However, the unsuccessful outcome of the military confrontation with the Bolsheviks, intrigues and disorder in the rear sealed the fate of Kolchak. Nevertheless, he forever went down in history as one of the most significant political and military figures of the Civil War period. What was Admiral Kolchak, whose personality, even a hundred years after his death, arouses admiration from some and indignation from others.

polar explorer

It is unlikely that anyone could have imagined that the young watch officer Alexander Kolchak, who had barely entered the service, would become a famous polar explorer in a few years. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries between the leading world powers began the race for the North and South Pole. All countries equipped their expeditions both for the purpose of glory (to be the first to reach the Pole) and for scientific purposes. Young Kolchak became seriously interested in hydrology and, of course, dreamed of being on one of the polar expeditions.

Having learned about the campaign of the icebreaker "Ermak" in the Arctic Ocean, he immediately applied with a report about his enrollment in the team. However, Kolchak was late: the team was already completed and he did not get a place.

Nevertheless, he managed to get acquainted with Baron Toll, who was planning an expedition along the Northern Sea Route in search of the legendary Sannikov Land. This land was popularized by a merchant named Sannikov a hundred years before. The merchant knew the northern regions well, saw the mountains in the north, and was convinced that there was land uncovered with snow with a normal climate. Some circumstantial facts spoke in favor of Sannikov's statements: northern birds flew even further north every spring, and returned in autumn. This made me think, because birds cannot live in permafrost, and if they fly north to breed, then there is land suitable for this.

Baron Toll was sincerely convinced of the existence of this land and he managed to organize an expedition. Kolchak enlisted in the group as a specialist in hydrology and was engaged in research in this direction on the expedition.

The expedition lasted two years. The researchers made a thorough map of the northern coasts of Russia, explored Taimyr and Bennett Island, discovered several small islands, one of which was named after Kolchak, but the main problem was not solved - Sannikov's land was not found. In addition, the leader of the expedition, Baron Toll, along with several companions, died. They went to Bennett Island, and the schooner Zarya, on which Kolchak also remained, had to wait for them until a certain moment. Toll issued strict instructions to the sailors: to leave the parking lot when the coal was running out, even if Toll himself did not return by that time.

As a result, the schooner left without waiting for Toll. All attempts by sailors to approach Bennett Island ended in failure due to too strong ice; it was also not possible to walk to the island on foot.

Nevertheless, after returning home, Kolchak immediately organized a search expedition, for which he even postponed his own wedding. The expedition, which he became the leader of, was incredibly risky, since it was supposed to get to the island in boats. Everyone considered this expedition madness, doomed to death. Incredibly, they managed to complete it without loss. Once Kolchak himself fell into the icy water, but Begichev pulled him out already in an unconscious state. After this incident, Kolchak suffered from rheumatism until the end of his life.

The expedition discovered Toll's diaries and notes, their campsites, but the group itself, despite intensive searches, could not be found. Kolchak returned home as a celebrity, the Russian Geographical Society awarded him with its highest award - the Konstantinovsky medal.

Almost a decade later, Kolchak again went north. He was the developer of the hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean. Kolchak himself commanded one of the icebreaking ships involved in the expedition.

This expedition made one of the last significant geographical discoveries in history, discovering the Land of Nicholas II (now Severnaya Zemlya). True, Kolchak himself had already been recalled to the Naval General Staff by the time of the opening.

Military service

First of all, Kolchak was a military man, and polar exploration was more of a hobby. In the Navy, he was considered a mine specialist. Participated in the Russo-Japanese War, engaged in mining waters. On the mines he set, one of the Japanese cruisers was blown up.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Kolchak served in the headquarters, but then transferred to the mine division, which he led. Developed mining operations. Serious battles in the Baltic Sea during the war were rare. In 1916 Kolchak was in for a pleasant surprise. First, he is promoted to rear admiral, and then a few months later to vice admiral and is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet.

This appointment came as a surprise to everyone, including Kolchak. With all his undoubted talents, he had not yet had the opportunity to command even a battleship, not to mention such large formations.

As commander of the fleet, Kolchak was to carry out an incredibly daring operation to capture Constantinople by means of an amphibious landing. The war with the Turks was developing successfully, the Russian troops were advancing from the Caucasus in a westerly direction and had great successes, especially by the standards of positional warfare in the west.

The plan was to create a special Black Sea Naval Division, into which the Cavaliers of St. George and other experienced soldiers who had distinguished themselves on the battlefield were brought together. This division, on the special training of which huge efforts were spent, was supposed to land on the coast and create a bridgehead for the subsequent landing of troops. After that, it was planned to capture Constantinople with one blow and withdraw the Ottoman Empire from the war.

This daring and ambitious operation was supposed to begin in the spring of 1917, but the February Revolution that took place a little earlier thwarted the plans and the operation was never implemented.

Political views

Like the vast majority of pre-revolutionary officers, Kolchak had no formed political views. The pre-revolutionary army, unlike the Soviet one, was not subjected to massive political indoctrination, and politicized officers who had clear views could be counted on the fingers of one hand. More or less, you can find out Kolchak's political position from interrogations on the eve of the execution: under the monarchy, he was a monarchist, under the republic - a republican. There was no political program that would have evoked sympathy from him. And those officers did not think in such categories.

Kolchak supported the February coup, although he was not an active participant in it. He retained his position as commander of the fleet, but in a matter of months after the revolution, the army and navy began to disintegrate, Kolchak found it increasingly difficult to keep his sailors in obedience, and in the end in the summer of 1917 he left the fleet.

By that time, the centrists and the right had already begun to prepare public thought for the need for a strong military power in order to save the country. The press wrote about this especially often in the summer of 1917, when the Provisional Government moved significantly to the left, and chaos and disorder in the country only intensified. Kolchak was one of two candidates "from the public" for the role of dictator, along with the commander-in-chief of the army, Lavr Kornilov. Kolchak was famous, had an unblemished reputation, but that was where all his virtues ended, since, unlike Kornilov, he did not have military power. All his popularity was limited to the fact that the Cadets nominated him as their candidate in the future elections to the Constituent Assembly.

Nevertheless, Kerensky, who feared a military coup, under a far-fetched pretext, sent Kolchak to the United States for several months. In the fall, Kolchak went home, but while he was returning, a new revolution took place in Russia. To serve the Bolsheviks, who were going to conclude an "obscene" (by their own definition) peace with the Germans, Kolchak did not want to and wrote a petition for enrollment in the British fleet to continue the war.

Rise to power

However, while he was getting to his place of duty (in Mesopotamia), circumstances changed. In Russia, anti-Bolshevik movements began to emerge in the south and east, and the British strongly recommended Kolchak not to go to the front, but to Manchuria. There was a large Russian colony serving the strategically important CER, and besides, there was no Bolshevik power, which could make it one of the centers for uniting anti-Bolshevik forces. Kolchak, who had a good reputation, was to become one of the centers of attraction for the opponents of the Reds. After the death of Generals Alekseev and Kornilov, Kolchak became the main candidate for military dictators and saviors of Russia.

While Kolchak was in Asia, anti-Soviet uprisings took place in the Volga region and Siberia. In the Volga region - by the forces of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The Czechoslovak legion revolted in Siberia. White governments appeared here and there, however, they can rather be called pink, since the main driving force in both the Volga Komuch and the Siberian Provisional Government was played by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who in their views were leftist, but slightly more moderate than the Bolsheviks.

In September 1918, both governments merged into the Directory, which became the unification of all anti-Bolshevik forces: from the left Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries to the right-wing Cadets and almost monarchists. However, a coalition with such a complex composition experienced understandable problems: the left did not trust the right, the right did not trust the left. In this situation, Kolchak arrived in Omsk, where the capital of the Directory was located, and became the military and naval minister of the government.

After a series of military setbacks, the coalition finally disintegrated and turned to open hostility. The leftists made an attempt to create their own armed detachments, which the rightists assessed as an attempted coup. On the night of November 18, 1918, a group of Cossacks arrested all the left ministers of the Directory. According to the results of a secret ballot of the remaining ministers, a new position was established - the Supreme Ruler of Russia, which was transferred to Kolchak, who on this occasion was promoted from vice admirals to admirals.

Supreme ruler

At first, Kolchak was successful. The establishment of a sole government instead of a coalition torn apart by contradictions had a favorable effect on the situation in Siberia. The army was strengthened and became more organized. Some economic measures were taken to stabilize the economic situation (in particular, the introduction of living wages in Siberia). The pre-revolutionary awards and charters were restored in the army.

The spring offensive of Kolchak made it possible to occupy vast territories, the Russian army of Kolchak stopped on the outskirts of Kazan. Kolchak's successes inspired the rest of the white commanders operating in other regions. A significant part of them swore allegiance to Kolchak and recognized him as the Supreme Ruler.

In the hands of the admiral was a gold reserve, which was spent only on the purchase of uniforms and weapons for the army. The help of foreign allies to Kolchak is in fact extremely exaggerated by the military propaganda of the Bolsheviks. In fact, he really did not receive any help, with the exception of the occasional supply of weapons for gold. The Allies did not even recognize the state of Kolchak, the only country that did this was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Moreover, relations with the allies were extremely strained, and at times openly hostile. So, the head of the French military mission, Janin, frankly despised both the Russians in general and Kolchak in particular, which he frankly told in his memoirs. Janen saw his main task as helping the Czechoslovaks, who, in his opinion, should have left Russia as soon as possible.

Slightly better was the attitude of the British, who, however, vigilantly followed those who are stronger in order to focus on him. At the turn of 1918-1919, Kolchak looked like a promising figure, but by the middle of 1919 it became obvious that the Bolsheviks were winning and any, even purely nominal, support for the Whites had ceased, and the British government refocused on establishing trade relations with the Reds.

Defeat

The initial successes of Kolchak were due to the fact that the main front at the time of his offensive was the southern one, where the Bolsheviks fought with Denikin. However, Kolchak's performance created a threat for them also from the east. In early 1919, they significantly strengthened the eastern front, achieving a significant numerical superiority. Kolchak initially controlled vast, but sparsely populated territories with poorly developed transport communications. Even taking into account the mobilizations, with all his desire, he could not recruit an army that was at least twice as numerically inferior to the Bolsheviks, who controlled the most densely populated regions of the country. In addition, transport communications were much better developed in the European part of Russia, which allowed the Bolsheviks to easily and quickly transfer huge reserves to strengthen one or another front.

Another important factor that contributed to the final defeat of Kolchak was the Czechs. At the end of 1918, the First World War ended, Czechoslovakia gained independence from Austria-Hungary, and the Czechoslovak Legion, which was a very significant militarily force, hurried home. The Czechs did not want to think about anything else but returning home. Numerous echelons of fleeing Czechs completely paralyzed the main transport artery of Siberia - the Trans-Siberian Railway and brought chaos and disorganization to the rear of Kolchak's army, which began a strategic retreat after the offensive of the significantly superior Red forces.

In fact, the Czechs simply broke Kolchak's entire organization. His relations with the Czechs were not ideal before, but now it has come to open hostility. Small skirmishes between whites and Czechs began, the parties threatened each other with arrests, etc. The British withdrew, handing over all the affairs of the French mission under the command of Janin, who became the commander of all allied forces in Russia. He considered the main task to be comprehensive support for the "noble Czechs" in flight from Russia (in any case, this is how he explained his actions in his memoirs).

In the end, it came to a revolution. Kolchak, to whom his own business of fighting the Bolsheviks was much more important than the dreams of the Czechs to get home as soon as possible, tried by command methods to somehow resist the transport collapse created by the Czechs. They, in agreement with Janin, made a quiet coup in one day, putting the admiral under escort and taking possession of the gold reserves.

The Czechs and the French mission made an alliance with the Bolsheviks. In Irkutsk, it was supposed to transfer Kolchak to the Political Center (SR organization), after which no one would have prevented the Czechs from quietly leaving Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In January 1920, Kolchak was transferred to the Political Center in Irkutsk. At that time, not far from the city, there was a detachment of Skipetrov, who planned to attack Irkutsk and suppress the uprising of the Political Center, but the Czechs by that time had already gone over to the side of the Reds, the detachment of Skipetrov was disarmed and taken prisoner. In addition, Zhanen announced that anyone who tried to suppress the uprising of the Political Center and capture Irkutsk would have to deal with the allies.

The admiral was interrogated for several days, after which he was shot without trial, by order of the military revolutionary committee.

Who was Kolchak?

The military propaganda of the Bolsheviks painted Kolchak as a puppet of the allies, but this, of course, was not so. If he were a puppet, his fate would have been much better. He would have been calmly taken out with the Czechs, they would have allocated a house in Cornwall, where he would write memoirs about the dashing past. However, Kolchak tried to insist on his rights, allowed himself to yell at his allies, argue with them, and was generally extremely intractable (which is why his government never received official international recognition). He considered the intervention deeply offensive: “It offended me. I could not treat it kindly. The very purpose and nature of the intervention was deeply offensive: it was not Russia’s help, this made everything deeply offensive and deeply painful for the Russians.

Was Kolchak a bloody dictator? Undoubtedly, he was a dictator and never denied it. His reign is the only case in Russian history of the establishment of a military dictatorship.

Was Kolchak bloody? There is no doubt that repressions against the Bolsheviks were carried out under him (though most often they ended in arrests), but it is also certain that he is by no means the most bloody figure in the Civil War. Both the Reds and the Whites had figures much more cruel and bloody. By the way, Kolchak himself in everyday life was generally a rather impressionable and even sentimental person. Perhaps that is why in perestroika times, Kolchak was even credited with the authorship of the famous romance "Burn, burn, my star", but this is nothing more than a popular myth. The song was written before the birth of the admiral.

It should also be taken into account that in Siberia at that time there were detachments of all kinds of autonomous and not subordinate to anyone Batek-atamans of the Kalmykov type. They robbed whomever they wanted, they were their own power, they obeyed only the chieftains, and they, in turn, wanted to spit on Kolchak and his orders. Despite the fact that most often they acted on their own, they formally belonged to the whites, as they fought against the reds, and all their atrocities in the framework of the propaganda war were recorded on all the whites in general and Kolchak in particular.

As for the "whipping of Siberia", this is nothing more than military propaganda from the time of the Civil War. At the interrogation before the execution, he was asked only about one such incident (probably, the other interrogators were not aware of) - about flogging during the suppression of the uprising in the village of Kulomzino. However, Kolchak stubbornly denied that he had ever given such orders, since he is a staunch opponent of corporal punishment. The admiral had no particular reason to lie on the eve of his death, which in the preface to the published protocols of interrogation was also reported by the members of the military revolutionary committee who interrogated him, who agreed that Kolchak's testimony was true. If something like this happened, then most likely it was the result of arbitrariness on the ground, which was almost impossible to avoid in such a war.

Kolchak was a typical product of his time, that is, the Civil War. And all the claims that can be made against him can be addressed in the same way to all other participants in this war, and this will be fair.

Kolchak persecuted his political opponents? But all the other forces were doing the same: from green to red. Kolchak collaborated with foreigners? But everyone else did the same. Lenin arrived in a sealed carriage with the assistance of the German government and calmly answered all questions that he did not know why the Germans helped him and he was not even interested in it, he was only interested in his political program. Kolchak, purely theoretically, could well answer in much the same way.

White Czechs fought on the side of Kolchak? It's true. But even the Bolsheviks in the Red Army had about 200 thousand Germans, Hungarians and Austrians who were captured during the First World War and released from prisoner of war camps in exchange for agreeing to fight in the Red Army.

Kolchak did not have a well-thought-out political and economic program? But no one had it, not even the Bolsheviks. Lenin, a few days before the revolution, remembered that the party "instead of an economic program - an empty place," and, having taken power, the Bolsheviks had to improvise on the go.

Kolchak lost his main war and accepted defeat with dignity. The members of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee who interrogated him even imbued the admiral with some respect, which was reported in the preface to the published interrogation materials. Kolchak was not a monster, but he was not a saint either. You can’t call him a genius, but you can’t call him mediocrity or mediocrity either. He did not strive for power, but he was able to easily get it, but he did not have enough political experience and political arrogance so as not to lose it.

Midshipman Kolchak

During interrogation before being shot, Kolchak said about himself: “I grew up in a purely military family. My father, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, served in the naval artillery, was the receiver of the Naval Department at the Obukhov plant. When he retired with the rank of major general, he remained at this plant as an engineer ... I was born there.” This event took place on November 4 (16), 1874.

The Kolchak family owed its unusual surname to the Turk of South Slavic origin, Ilias Kolchak Pasha, commandant of the Khotyn fortress, captured by Russian troops in 1739.

Many men from the Kolchak family chose the military path for themselves, and Alexander was no exception. He graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps and was promoted to midshipman. His classmate wrote: “Kolchak, by the seriousness of his thoughts and actions, inspired us boys with deep respect for himself. We sensed in him a moral force which it was impossible to disobey; felt that this is the person who must be unquestioningly followed. Not a single educator officer, not a single corps teacher instilled in us such a sense of superiority as midshipman Kolchak.

At the end of the corps, Kolchak went on voyages on the cruisers "Rurik" and "Cruiser", while, in addition to the service, he was engaged in research in the field of oceanography and hydrology.

In December 1898, Kolchak was promoted to lieutenant. He established himself as a brilliant officer and a thoughtful scientist, and in 1900 he received an invitation from the Academy of Sciences from Baron E. V. Toll to take part in his expedition.

On July 21, 1900, the schooner "Zarya" set off along the Baltic, North and Norwegian seas to the shores of the Taimyr Peninsula. Kolchak patiently endured all the hardships of a difficult expedition, wintering in harsh conditions. Baron Toll wrote: “Our hydrographer Kolchak is not only the best officer, but he is also lovingly devoted to his hydrology. This scientific work was carried out by him with great energy, despite the difficulty of combining the duties of a naval officer with the activities of a scientist. In honor of Kolchak, the island and cape discovered by Toll were named.

But the Zarya was crushed by ice. It was decided to split up - Toll and the magnetologist Zeberg went on foot north of the New Siberian Islands, and the rest of the participants of the polar expedition followed to the mouth of the Lena and returned to St. Petersburg through Yakutsk and Irkutsk.

Upon arrival in the capital, Kolchak reported on Toll's decision and his disappearance. In 1903, an expedition was organized led by Kolchak to rescue the polar explorer, during which it turned out that the baron and his companions were killed ...

Supreme ruler

When Kolchak was returning from a tragic polar expedition, the Russo-Japanese War began. He was assigned to the destroyer "Angry", took part in the siege of Port Arthur. Kolchak was wounded and spent 4 months in captivity.

After the war, Kolchak actively served in the Naval General Staff, and also designed the Taimyr and Vaygach icebreakers. Kolchak commanded the last during a cartographic expedition to the Bering Strait and Cape Dezhnev.

When the First World War began, Kolchak developed and took part in brilliant operations that brought him fame, orders and the rank of admiral.

The February revolution made its own adjustments to the admiral's career, and in 1917 Kolchak was removed from command. He received an invitation from the American mission, and, as a military adviser, went first to England, and then to the USA.

In 1918, he arrived in Russia, where the council of ministers of the "Directory" - the united anti-Bolshevik government, insisted on his proclamation as the Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander of the armed forces. He became the leader of the White movement, fought against Bolshevism, launched an offensive throughout the Urals, but failed - due to many reasons that historians still argue about. But, one way or another, the reality is that Kolchak lost and paid for it with his life - his own and many people - both the Bolsheviks and the White Guards ...

Kolchak transferred power to Denikin and found himself under the protection of the Czech allies. But they betrayed the admiral and handed him over to the Bolsheviks - in exchange for free passage through the territory of Russia ...

January 15, 1920 Kolchak was arrested in Irkutsk. Interrogations of the admiral were carried out until February 6, and on February 7 Kolchak was shot on the banks of the Ushakovka River, and his body was thrown into the hole ...

In Soviet times, Kolchak became a purely negative figure, all his services to the fatherland were forgotten.
Today, the name of Kolchak is being actively rehabilitated. The Duma of the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug decided to return the name of Kolchak to an island in the Kara Sea, a memorial plaque was opened on the building of the Naval Corps in St. Petersburg, and a monument to the admiral in Irkutsk.

"My dear dove"...

For many people, Kolchak's difficult personal life is of particular interest. In 1904, after a polar expedition, Alexander Vasilyevich got married in Irkutsk with Sofia Fedorovna Omirova. The wedding was postponed several times due to Kolchak's expeditions, but Sophia patiently waited for the groom, whom she loved very much. They had two daughters, who died in infancy, and a son, Rostislav. Sofya Vladimirovna meekly endured all the hardships of life, moving, constant separation from her husband.

But fate dealt her a heavy blow - in 1915, Kolchak met Anna Timireva, whom he fell in love with with deep love. After the revolution, Sophia and her son ended up in Paris, and Anna Timireva spent the last months of his life with Kolchak and voluntarily went under arrest with him. And it was to her that the last lines of the admiral were addressed: “My dear dove, I received your note, thank you for your kindness and care for me ... Do not worry about me. I only think about you and your fate... I don't worry about myself - everything is known in advance. My every step is being watched, and it is very difficult for me to write... Write to me. Your notes are the only joy I can have. I pray for you and bow before your self-sacrifice. My dear, my adored, do not worry about me and save yourself ... Goodbye, I kiss your hands.

After the death of Kolchak, Anna Timireva cruelly paid for her love. She spent many years in prisons and exile. In the short intervals between the conclusion she was interrupted by odd jobs - she was a librarian, painter, draftswoman. She was rehabilitated in 1960. Advised Sergei Bondarchuk during the filming of the film War and Peace.

She died in 1975. And all these years she continued to love Alexander Kolchak and wrote poetry to him:

And every year on the seventh of February
One with my stubborn memory
I celebrate your anniversary again.
And those who knew you are long gone,
And those who are alive - everyone has long forgotten.
And this, for me, the most difficult day -
For them, the same as everyone else, -
Torn off calendar sheet.

Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich (November 4 (16), 1874, St. Petersburg province - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian politician, Vice Admiral of the Russian Imperial Fleet (1916) and Admiral of the Siberian Flotilla (1918). Polar explorer and oceanographer, member of the expeditions of 1900-1903 (awarded the Grand Konstantinovsky medal by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society). Member of the Russian-Japanese, World War I and Civil Wars. Leader and leader of the White movement in the East of Russia. The Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918-1920) was recognized in this post by the leadership of all white regions, "de jure" - by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "de facto" - by the Entente states.

Alexander Vasilievich was born into the family of a representative of this family, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak (1837-1913), a staff captain of naval artillery, later a major general in the Admiralty. V. I. Kolchak served his first officer rank with a severe wound during the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1853-1856: he turned out to be one of the seven surviving defenders of the Stone Tower on Malakhov Kurgan, whom the French found among the corpses after the assault. After the war, he graduated from the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg and, until his retirement, served as an acceptance officer for the Naval Ministry at the Obukhov Plant, having a reputation as a straightforward and extremely scrupulous person.

Mother Olga Ilyinichna Kolchak, nee Kamenskaya, was the daughter of Major General, Director of the Forestry Institute F. A. Kamensky, sister of the sculptor F. F. Kamensky. Among the distant ancestors were Baron Minich (brother of the field marshal, an Elizabethan nobleman) and general-general M. V. Berg (who defeated Frederick the Great in the Seven Years' War).

The future admiral received his primary education at home, and then studied at the 6th St. Petersburg classical gymnasium.

In 1894, Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps, and on August 6, 1894 he was assigned to the cruiser of the 1st rank "Rurik" as an assistant to the chief of the watch, and on November 15, 1894 he was promoted to the rank of midshipman. On this cruiser he departed for the Far East. At the end of 1896, Kolchak was assigned to the cruiser of the 2nd rank "Cruiser" to the position of watch commander. On this ship, for several years he went on campaigns in the Pacific Ocean, in 1899 he returned to Kronstadt. On December 6, 1898, he was promoted to lieutenant. In the campaigns, Kolchak not only performed his official duties, but also actively engaged in self-education. He also became interested in oceanography and hydrology. In 1899, he published an article "Observations on surface temperatures and specific gravity of sea water, made on the cruisers" Rurik "and" Cruiser "from May 1897 to March 1898."

Upon arrival in Kronstadt, Kolchak went to Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov, who was preparing to sail on the Ermak icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean. Alexander Vasilievich asked to be accepted into the expedition, but was refused "due to official circumstances." After that, for some time entering the personnel of the vessel "Prince Pozharsky", Kolchak in September 1899 switched to the squadron battleship "Petropavlovsk" and went to the Far East on it. However, while staying in the Greek port of Piraeus, he received an invitation from the Academy of Sciences from Baron E. V. Toll to take part in the mentioned expedition.

In the spring of 1902, Toll decided to go on foot north of the New Siberian Islands, together with the magnetologist F. G. Seberg and two mushers. The rest of the expedition, due to a lack of food supplies, had to go from Bennett Island to the south, to the mainland, and later return to St. Petersburg. Kolchak and his companions went to the mouth of the Lena and arrived in the capital through Yakutsk and Irkutsk.

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Alexander Vasilievich reported to the Academy on the work done, and also informed about the enterprise of Baron Toll, from whom no news had been received either by that time or later. In January 1903, it was decided to organize an expedition, the purpose of which was to clarify the fate of Toll's expedition. The expedition took place from May 5 to December 7, 1903. It consisted of 17 people on 12 sledges harnessed by 160 dogs. The journey to Bennett Island took three months and was extremely difficult. On August 4, 1903, having reached Bennett Island, the expedition discovered traces of Toll and his companions: expedition documents, collections, geodetic instruments and a diary were found. It turned out that Toll arrived on the island in the summer of 1902 and headed south with only 2-3 weeks of provisions. It became clear that Toll's expedition had perished.

In December 1903, the 29-year-old Lieutenant Kolchak, exhausted by the polar expedition, set off on his way back to St. Petersburg, where he was going to marry his bride Sofya Omirova. Not far from Irkutsk, he was caught by the news of the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. He summoned his father and bride by telegram to Siberia, and immediately after the wedding he left for Port Arthur.

The commander of the Pacific squadron, Admiral S. O. Makarov, offered him to serve on the battleship Petropavlovsk, which was the flagship of the squadron from January to April 1904. Kolchak refused and asked for an assignment to the fast cruiser Askold, which soon saved his life. A few days later, Petropavlovsk hit a mine and sank rapidly, taking to the bottom more than 600 sailors and officers, including Makarov himself and the famous battle painter V.V. Vereshchagin. Shortly thereafter, Kolchak achieved a transfer to the destroyer "Angry". Commanded a destroyer. By the end of the siege of Port Arthur, he had to command a coastal artillery battery, as severe rheumatism - a consequence of two polar expeditions - forced him to leave the warship. This was followed by a wound, the surrender of Port Arthur and Japanese captivity, in which Kolchak spent 4 months. Upon his return, he was awarded the St. George weapon - the Golden Saber with the inscription "For Courage".

Freed from captivity, Kolchak received the rank of captain of the second rank. The main task of the group of naval officers and admirals, which included Kolchak, was to develop plans for the further development of the Russian navy.

In 1906, the Naval General Staff was created (including on the initiative of Kolchak), which took over the direct combat training of the fleet. Alexander Vasilyevich was the head of his department, was engaged in developments on the reorganization of the navy, spoke in the State Duma as an expert on naval issues. Then the shipbuilding program was drawn up. To receive additional appropriations, officers and admirals actively lobbied for their program in the Duma. The construction of new ships progressed slowly - 6 (out of 8) battleships, about 10 cruisers and several dozen destroyers and submarines entered service only in 1915-1916, at the height of the First World War, and some of the ships laid down at that time were already being completed in the 1930s.

Taking into account the significant numerical superiority of the potential enemy, the Naval General Staff developed a new plan for the defense of St. Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland - in case of a threat of attack, all ships of the Baltic Fleet, at the agreed signal, were to go to sea and put up 8 lines of minefields at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, covered by coastal batteries.

Captain Kolchak took part in the design of the special icebreakers "Taimyr" and "Vaigach", launched in 1909. In the spring of 1910, these ships arrived in Vladivostok, then went on a cartographic expedition to the Bering Strait and Cape Dezhnev, returning to autumn back to Vladivostok. Kolchak in this expedition commanded the icebreaker "Vaigach". In 1908 he went to work at the Naval Academy. In 1909, Kolchak published his largest study - a monograph summarizing his glaciological research in the Arctic - "The Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas" (Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Ser. 8. Phys.-Math. Department. St. Petersburg, 1909. T.26, No. 1.).

Participated in the development of an expedition project to explore the Northern Sea Route. In 1909-1910. the expedition, in which Kolchak commanded the ship, made the transition from the Baltic Sea to Vladivostok, and then sailed towards Cape Dezhnev.

Since 1910, at the Naval General Staff, he was involved in the development of a shipbuilding program in Russia.

In 1912, Kolchak transferred to serve in the Baltic Fleet as a flag captain for the operational part of the headquarters of the fleet commander. In December 1913 he was promoted to captain of the 1st rank.

To protect the capital from a possible attack by the German fleet, the Mine Division, on the personal order of Admiral Essen, on the night of July 18, 1914, set up minefields in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, without waiting for the permission of the Minister of the Navy and Nicholas II.

In the autumn of 1914, with the personal participation of Kolchak, an operation was developed to mine the blockade of German naval bases. In 1914-1915. destroyers and cruisers, including those under the command of Kolchak, laid mines near Kiel, Danzig (Gdansk), Pillau (modern Baltiysk), Vindava, and even near the island of Bornholm. As a result, 4 German cruisers were blown up in these minefields (2 of them sank - Friedrich Karl and Bremen, 8 destroyers and 11 transports.

In addition to the successful setting of mines, he organized attacks on the caravans of German merchant ships. From September 1915 he commanded a mine division, then naval forces in the Gulf of Riga.

In April 1916 he was promoted to Rear Admiral.

In July 1916, by order of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Alexander Vasilyevich was promoted to vice admiral and appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet.

After the February Revolution of 1917 in the spring of 1917, the Stavka began preparing a landing operation to capture Constantinople, but due to the disintegration of the army and navy, this idea had to be abandoned (largely due to active Bolshevik agitation). He received gratitude from the Minister of War Guchkov for his quick reasonable actions, with which he contributed to the preservation of order in the Black Sea Fleet.

In June 1917, the Sevastopol Council decided to disarm the officers suspected of counter-revolution, including taking away his St. George weapon from Kolchak - the golden saber handed to him for Port Arthur. The admiral chose to throw the blade overboard with the words: "The newspapers do not want us to have weapons, so let him go to sea." On the same day, Alexander Vasilievich handed over the case to Rear Admiral V.K. Lukin. Three weeks later, the divers raised the saber from the bottom and handed it to Kolchak, engraving the inscription on the blade: "To the Knight of Honor Admiral Kolchak from the Union of Army and Navy Officers." At this time, Kolchak, along with the General Staff General of Infantry L. G. Kornilov, was considered as a potential candidate for military dictators.

It was for this reason that in August A.F. Kerensky summoned the admiral to Petrograd, where he forced him to resign, after which, at the invitation of the command of the American fleet, he went to the United States and at the request of the Provisional Government to advise American specialists on the experience of using mine weapons by Russian sailors in the Baltic and Black Seas during the First World War.

In San Francisco, Kolchak was offered to stay in the United States, promising him a minecraft department at the best naval college and a rich life in a cottage on the ocean. Kolchak refused and went back to Russia.

Arriving in Japan, Kolchak learned about the October Revolution, the liquidation of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the negotiations begun by the Bolsheviks with the Germans

On October 13, 1918, he arrived in Omsk, where a political crisis broke out at that time. On November 4, 1918, Kolchak, as a figure popular among officers, was invited to the post of military and naval minister to the Council of Ministers of the so-called "Directory" - the united anti-Bolshevik government located in Omsk, where the majority were Socialist-Revolutionaries. On the night of November 18, 1918, a coup took place in Omsk - Cossack officers arrested four Social Revolutionary leaders of the Directory, headed by its chairman N. D. Avksentiev. In the current situation, the Council of Ministers - the executive body of the Directory - announced the assumption of all the fullness of the supreme power and then decided to hand it over to one person, conferring on him the title of the Supreme Ruler of the Russian state. By secret ballot of members of the Council of Ministers, Kolchak was elected to this post. The admiral announced his consent to the election and, with his very first order in the army, announced that he had assumed the title of Supreme Commander.

In January 1919, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon blessed the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak to fight the theomachists-Bolsheviks. Earlier, Patriarch Tikhon refused to bless the command of the "democratic" Volunteer Army of the South of Russia, organized by Generals Alekseev and Kornilov, the perpetrators of the abdication and subsequent arrest of Tsar Nicholas II. Admiral Kolchak was not involved in these tragic events. That is why at the beginning of January 1919 (crossing the front line) a priest sent by Patriarch Tikhon came to Admiral Kolchak. The priest brought the admiral a personal letter from the Patriarch with a blessing and a photograph of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the Nikolsky Gates of the Moscow Kremlin, which were sewn into the lining of a peasant scroll.

MESSAGE FROM PATRIARCH TIKHON TO ADMIRAL KOLCHAK

“As is well known to all Russians and, of course, to Your Excellency, before this image revered by all of Russia, annually on December 6, on the day of winter St. Nicholas, a prayer was offered up, which ended with the nationwide singing “Save, Lord, Thy people” by all those praying on their knees. And on December 6, 1918, faithful to the Faith and tradition, the people of Moscow, at the end of the prayer service, knelt down and sang: "Save the Lord!" The arriving troops dispersed the worshipers, firing at the Image from rifles and guns. The saint on this icon of the Kremlin wall was depicted with a cross in his left hand and a sword in his right. The bullets of the savages fell all around the Saint, nowhere touching the Saint of God. The shells, or rather, fragments from explosions, broke off the plaster on the left side of the Wonderworker, which destroyed almost the entire left side of the Saint with the hand in which there was a cross on the Icon.

On the same day, by order of the authorities of the Antichrist, this Holy Icon was hung with a large red flag with a satanic emblem. An inscription was made on the wall of the Kremlin: "Death to faith - the opium of the people." The next day, December 7, 1918, many people gathered for a prayer service, which, undisturbed by anyone, was coming to an end! But when the people, on their knees, began to sing "God save!" - the flag fell from the Image of the Wonderworker. The atmosphere of prayerful ecstasy is indescribable! It had to be seen, and who saw it, he remembers and feels today. Singing, sobbing, screaming and raising hands, shooting from rifles, many wounded, were killed, and the place was cleared.

The next early morning, with my Blessing, the Image was photographed by a very good photographer. The Lord showed the Perfect Miracle through His Saint to the Russian people in Moscow. I am sending a photographic copy of this Miraculous Image, as Mine to you, Your Excellency, Alexander Vasilievich - Blessing - to fight against the atheistic temporary power over the suffering people of Russia. I beg you, consider, venerable Alexander Vasilyevich, that the Bolsheviks managed to beat off the left hand of the Ugodnik with a cross, which is, as it were, an indicator of the temporary trampling of the Orthodox Faith. But the punishing sword in the right hand of the Wonderworker remained to help and Bless Your Excellency, and Your Christian struggle to save the Orthodox Church and Russia.

Admiral Kolchak, after reading the Patriarch's letter, said: “I know that there is a sword of the state, a surgeon's lancet. I feel that the strongest: the spiritual sword, which will be an invincible force in the crusade - against the monster of violence!

On the initiative of the Siberian bishops, a Provisional Higher Church Administration was created in Ufa, headed by Archbishop Sylvester of Omsk. In April 1919, the Omsk Council of the Clergy of Siberia unanimously approved Admiral Kolchak as the temporary head of the Orthodox Church in the Siberian territories liberated from the Bolsheviks - until the time of the liberation of Moscow, when His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon will be able (not hampered by the theomachists) to fully begin his duties. At the same time, the Omsk Cathedral decided to mention the name of Kolchak during official church services.

Admiral Kolchak actually declared a crusade against the theomachists. He gathered more than 3.5 thousand Orthodox clergy, including 1.5 thousand military clergy. On the initiative of Kolchak, separate combat units were even formed, consisting only of clergy and believers (including the Old Believers), which Kornilov, Denikin and Yudenich did not have. These are the Orthodox squad of the "Holy Cross", the "333rd Regiment named after Mary Magdalene", the "Holy Brigade", three regiments of "Jesus Christ", "Theotokos" and "Nicholas the Wonderworker". On the personal instructions of Kolchak, the investigator for especially important cases, Sokolov, organized an investigation into the villainous murder of the Royal Family in Yekaterinburg.

In March 1919, Kolchak's troops launched an offensive against Samara and Kazan, in April they occupied the entire Urals and approached the Volga. However, due to the incompetence of Kolchak in matters of organizing and managing the land army (as well as his assistants), the militarily favorable situation soon gave way to a catastrophic one. The dispersal and stretching of forces, the lack of logistics support and the general inconsistency of actions led to the fact that the Red Army was able to first stop Kolchak's troops, and then go on the counteroffensive.

In May, the retreat of Kolchak's troops began, and by August they were forced to leave Ufa, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.

In June 1919, the Supreme Ruler of Russia rejected the proposal of K. G. Mannerheim to move a 100,000-strong army to Petrograd in exchange for recognition of the independence of Finland, stating that he would never give up “the idea of ​​a great indivisible Russia” for any minimal benefit.

On January 4, 1920, in Nizhneudinsk, Admiral A. V. Kolchak signed his last Decree, in which he announced his intention to transfer the powers of the “Supreme All-Russian Power” to A. I. Denikin. Until the receipt of instructions from A.I. Denikin, "the fullness of military and civil power throughout the entire territory of the Russian Eastern Outskirts" was provided to Lieutenant General G.M. Semyonov.

On January 5, 1920, a coup took place in Irkutsk, the city was captured by the SR-Menshevik Political Center. On January 15, A. V. Kolchak, who left Nizhneudinsk in the Czechoslovak echelon, in a carriage flying the flags of Great Britain, France, the USA, Japan and Czechoslovakia, arrived in the suburbs of Irkutsk. The Czechoslovak command, at the request of the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center, with the sanction of the French General Janin, handed over Kolchak to his representatives. On January 21, the Political Center transferred power in Irkutsk to the Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee. From January 21 to February 6, 1920, Kolchak was interrogated by the Extraordinary Investigative Commission.

On the night of February 6-7, 1920, Admiral A.V. Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian government V.N. Pepelyaev were shot on the banks of the Ushakovka River without trial, by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. The resolution of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee on the execution of the Supreme Ruler Admiral Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pepelyaev was signed by A. Shiryamov, the chairman of the committee and its members A. Snoskarev, M. Levenson and the committee manager Oborin. The text of the decree on the execution of A. V. Kolchak and V. N. Pepelyaev was first published in an article by the former chairman of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee A. Shiryamov

At the end of the Civil War in the Far East and in subsequent years in emigration, February 7 - the day of the execution of the admiral - was celebrated with memorial services in memory of the "killed warrior Alexander" and served as a day of remembrance for all the fallen members of the White movement in the east of the country, primarily those who died during the retreat of Kolchak's army winter 1919-1920 (the so-called "Siberian Ice Campaign"). Kolchak's name is carved on the monument to the heroes of the White movement ("Gallipoli obelisk") at the Parisian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois.

In the post-Soviet "democratic" Russian Federation, Irkutsk and other patriotic organizations have repeatedly tried to achieve the rehabilitation of A.V. Kolchak. In 1999, this issue was considered by the military court of the Trans-Baikal Military District in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions." By a court ruling, Kolchak was declared not subject to rehabilitation. This ruling was appealed to the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which concluded that there were no grounds for canceling the court decision rendered in the case. The last time the prosecutor's office of the Omsk region refused rehabilitation was in January 2007.

Biography and episodes of life Alexander Kolchak. When born and died Alexander Kolchak, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Admiral and politician quotes, Photo and video.

The years of life of Alexander Kolchak:

born November 4, 1874, died February 7, 1920

Epitaph

And every year on the seventh of February
One with my stubborn memory
I celebrate your anniversary again.
And those who knew you are long gone,
And those who are alive have long forgotten everything.
And this, for me, the most difficult day -
For them, the same as everyone else, -
A torn-off sheet of a calendar.
From a poem by Anna Timiryova, beloved of Kolchak, "Seventh of February"

Biography

A man with a difficult and tragic fate, one of the best admirals in the history of the fleet, according to contemporaries, Kolchak was distinguished by nobility and directness. He embodied the concept of the honor of a Russian officer. A fearless polar explorer, devoted to the sea and his homeland with all his heart, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak earned great prestige among his compatriots and respect even from his enemies during his lifetime. Alas, the fate of this outstanding person ended tragically, like hundreds of other destinies at that fateful time when he happened to live ...

Alexander was born into a noble family of hereditary military personnel. In the gymnasium, the boy studied very badly, was almost left for the second year, and at the end of three classes, his father decided to transfer him to the Naval School. It was there that the true calling of the future admiral was revealed. He became the best student and mentor for his classmates. And once he saw the sea, Kolchak forever gave him his heart.

The character of the future admiral has always been ardent and passionate. Kolchak was disgusted by the routine, as the staff service later annoyed him. He was eager to fight, to work, and in the end was sent on a polar expedition. In the Far North, Kolchak proved himself to be an enthusiastic and competent scientist and a fearless commander, and his scientific work made a significant contribution to the development of domestic science.

Alexander Kolchak - Commander of the Black Sea Fleet (1917)

Having received command of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak again proved himself: many did not like the commander’s tough temper, but at the same time he was respected by both sailors and officers. Thanks to Kolchak, in the troubled years of the war and revolution, the Black Sea Fleet did not experience the horrors that happened in the Baltic. The news of the abdication and death of the king was a blow to the admiral. But his primary goal, he considered serving Russia, saving her from the maelstrom of troubled times. Kolchak accepted the title of commander in chief and led the white movement, becoming its symbol and banner.

But the movement was doomed. Internal strife, duplicity of foreign allies, general confusion in the fight against their own people - many historical works describe those terrible years. Kolchak was not a politician; he was a soldier, and the need to manage was not easy for him. First, his own people, and then the allies, on whose word Kolchak relied, betrayed him. After a short imprisonment, the admiral was shot without trial. His body was thrown into a river hole, and today only a symbolic cross on the banks of the Angara marks the place of death of a worthy son of Russia.

life line

November 4, 1874 Date of birth of Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak.
1885-1888 Education in the Sixth St. Petersburg classical gymnasium.
1888 Admission to the Naval School.
1890 The first exit to the sea.
1892 Obtaining the rank of junior non-commissioned officer.
1895 Navigation training.
1897-1898 Sailing to Korea and Japan.
1898 Obtaining the rank of lieutenant.
1899 Publication of the first scientific article.
1900-1901 Participation in the Russian polar expedition led by Toll.
1903 Kolchak becomes a member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.
1903-1904 Command of the rescue expedition and the search for Toll on Bennett Island.
1904 Marriage to S. Omirova.
1904-1905 Participation in the Russo-Japanese War. Receiving the Order of St. Anne 4th degree.
1906 Receipt of the Konstantinovsky medal of the Geographical Society.
1908 Obtaining the rank of captain of the second rank.
1909 Publication of Kolchak's largest scientific work on glaciology.
1909-1910 Participation in the Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean.
1913 Obtaining the rank of captain of the first rank and appointment as an acting department of the Baltic Fleet Command Headquarters.
1915 Appointment as commander of the Mine Division of the Baltic Fleet. Acquaintance with Anna Timiryova.
1916 Obtaining the rank of rear admiral, then - vice admiral and commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
1917 Departure as part of the Russian naval mission to England and the USA.
1918 Trip to Singapore, China and Japan. Appointment as military and naval minister of the Provisional All-Russian Government.
1918 Assigning Kolchak the title of Admiral and Supreme Ruler of Russia.
1919 Great Siberian Ice Campaign.
1920 The betrayal of the allies and the extradition of Kolchak.
February 7, 1920 Date of death of Alexander Kolchak.

Memorable places

1. Trinity Church "Kulich and Easter" (Obukhovskaya Oborona Avenue, 235), where Alexander Kolchak was baptized.
2. Naval Cadet Corps (formerly Naval College), where Kolchak studied (St. Petersburg, Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, 17).
3. Nagasaki, where Kolchak spent the winter of 1897-1898. on the Cruiser.
4. Taimyr, where Kolchak visited during the Russian polar expedition in 1900
5. Bennett Island, where Kolchak went with a rescue expedition in 1903
6. Luishunkou (formerly Port Arthur), in the defense of which Kolchak participated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904
7. Liepaja (formerly Libava), where Kolchak lived during his pre-war service in the Baltic Fleet.
8. Helsinki (early - Helsingfors), where Kolchak met Anna Vasilievna Timiryova.
9. Sevastopol, where Kolchak lived in 1916-1917. while in command of the Black Sea Fleet.
10. Washington, where in 1917 Kolchak met with US President Woodrow Wilson.
11. Beijing, where Kolchak arrived in 1918
12. Omsk, where Kolchak's headquarters were located since 1918
13. Irkutsk prison (St. Barrikad, 63), where Kolchak was kept before being shot. Now the prison houses a historical museum with an exposition in the admiral's cell.
14. Cross at the resting place of Kolchak on the banks of the Angara.

Episodes of life

All-Russian fame came to Kolchak during his command of the Black Sea Fleet. Kolchak was considered a recognized master of mine warfare, and he managed to practically clear the Black Sea of ​​enemy ships from Germany and Turkey.

The love story of A. Kolchak and A. Timiryova remains one of the most heartbreaking episodes in the admiral's life. Anna Vasilievna was the wife of a naval officer, but in the last years before the death of Kolchak they did not part: Timiryazeva followed her lover and was arrested.

At the end of the Civil War and then in exile for several years on the day of the execution of Kolchak, memorial services were served in memory of him and all those who died in the Siberian Ice Campaign of 1919-1920.

Testaments

“It’s not for me to evaluate and it’s not for me to talk about what I did and what I didn’t do. But I know one thing, that I dealt Bolshevism and all those who betrayed and sold our Motherland heavy and, probably, mortal blows. Whether God will bless me to bring this matter to an end, I don’t know, but the beginning of the end of the Bolsheviks was still laid by me.

“The fathers of socialism, I think, have long since turned over in their graves at the sight of the practical application of their teachings in our lives. On the basis of savagery and semi-literacy, the fruits turned out to be truly amazing.

"Many people do them unconsciously and then regret what they did, I usually do stupid things completely consciously and almost never regret it."

Nikita Mikhalkov's broadcast from the Russian Choice series dedicated to A. Kolchak

condolences

“The best son of Russia died a terrible, violent death ... Will the place where these stern and suffering eyes, with their eyes of a mortally wounded eagle, have forever mingled with them, be sacred to us?<...>Someday, waking up, Russia will erect a monument to him, worthy of his holy love for the Motherland.
Alexander Kuprin, Russian writer

"Admiral Kolchak was one of the most competent admirals of the Russian fleet and was very popular among both officers and sailors ..."
Alexander Kerensky, Military and Naval Minister of the Provisional Government

“He was an unusually capable and talented officer, had a rare memory, was fluent in three European languages, knew the sailing directions of all seas well, knew the history of all almost European fleets and naval battles.”
Heinrich Tsyvinsky, commander of the cruiser "Cruiser", where Kolchak served in the rank of midshipman