Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich role in the civil war. Admiral A.V

Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich - a prominent military leader and statesman of Russia, a polar explorer. During the civil war, he entered the historical chronicles as the leader white movement. Kolchak's personality assessment is one of the most controversial and tragic pages Russian history 20th century.

Obzorfoto

Alexander Kolchak was born on November 16, 1874 in the village of Aleksandrovskoe in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, in a family of hereditary nobles. Rod Kolchakov gained fame in the military field, serving Russian Empire for many centuries. His father was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean campaign.

Education

Until the age of 11 he was educated at home. In 1885-88. Alexander studied at the 6th gymnasium of St. Petersburg, where he graduated from three classes. Then he entered the Naval Cadet Corps, where he showed excellent success in all subjects. As the best student in scientific knowledge and behavior, he was enrolled in the class of midshipmen and appointed sergeant major. He graduated from the Cadet Corps in 1894 with the rank of midshipman.

Carier start

From 1895 to 1899, Kolchak served in the military Baltic and Pacific fleets, made three trips around the world. He was engaged in independent research of the Pacific Ocean, most of all interested in its northern territories. In 1900, a capable young lieutenant was transferred to the Academy of Sciences. At this time, the first scientific works began to appear, in particular, an article was published on his observations of sea currents. But the goal of the young officer is not only theoretical, but also practical research - he dreams of going on one of the polar expeditions.

Blogger

Interested in his publications, the well-known Arctic explorer Baron E. V. Toll invites Kolchak to take part in the search for the legendary Sannikov Land. Having set off in search of the missing Toll, he makes a risky journey on a whaleboat from the schooner Zarya, and then on a dog sled and finds the remains of the lost expedition. During this dangerous campaign, Kolchak caught a bad cold and miraculously survived after severe pneumonia.

Russo-Japanese War

In March 1904, immediately after the outbreak of the war, not having fully recovered from his illness, Kolchak was sent to the besieged Port Arthur. The destroyer "Angry" under his command took part in the installation of barrage mines dangerously close to the Japanese raid. Thanks to these hostilities, several enemy ships were blown up.

Letanovosti

AT recent months During the siege, he commanded coastal artillery, which inflicted significant damage on the enemy. During the fighting he was wounded, after the capture of the fortress he was taken prisoner. In recognition of his fighting spirit, the command Japanese army left Kolchak weapons and released from captivity. For his heroism, he was awarded:

St. George's weapons;
Orders of St. Anna and St. Stanislav.

The struggle to recreate the fleet

After treatment in the hospital, Kolchak receives a six-month vacation. Sincerely experiencing the almost complete loss of his native fleet in the war with Japan, he is actively involved in the work of its revival.

Gossip

In June 1906, Kolchak headed a commission at the Naval General Staff to find out the reasons that led to the defeat near Tsushima. As a military expert, he often spoke at State Duma hearings with justification for allocating the necessary funding.

His project, dedicated to the realities of the Russian fleet, became the theoretical basis for the entire Russian military shipbuilding in prewar period. As part of its implementation, Kolchak in 1906-1908. personally supervises the construction of four battleships and two icebreakers.

For his invaluable contribution to the study of the Russian North, Lieutenant Kolchak was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society. The nickname "Kolchak-Polar" stuck behind him.

At the same time, Kolchak continues to work on systematizing the materials of past expeditions. His work on the ice cover of the Kara and Siberian Seas, published by him in 1909, was recognized as a new step in the development of polar oceanography in the study of ice cover.

World War I

The Kaiser command was preparing for the blitzkrieg of St. Petersburg. Henry of Prussia, the commander of the German fleet, expected already in the first days of the war to pass through the Gulf of Finland to the capital and subject it to hurricane fire from powerful guns.

Having destroyed important objects, he intended to land troops, capture St. Petersburg and put an end to the military claims of Russia. The implementation of Napoleonic projects was hindered by the strategic experience and brilliant actions of Russian naval officers.

Gossip

Given the significant superiority of the number of German ships, the tactics of mine warfare was recognized as the initial strategy for fighting the enemy. During the first days of the war, the Kolchak division laid 6,000 mines in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. Skillfully placed mines became a reliable shield for the defense of the capital and thwarted plans German Navy take over Russia.

In the future, Kolchak persistently defended plans for the transition to more aggressive actions. Already at the end of 1914, a brave operation was undertaken to mine the Danzig Bay directly off the coast of the enemy. As a result of this operation, 35 enemy warships were blown up. Successful Actions naval commander determined his subsequent promotion.

Sanmati

In September 1915, he was appointed commander of the Mine Division. In early October, he undertook a bold maneuver to land troops on the coast of the Gulf of Riga to help the armies of the Northern Front. The operation was carried out so successfully that the enemy did not even guess about the presence of the Russians.

In June 1916, A. V. Kolchak was promoted by the Sovereign to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea Fleet. In the photo, a talented naval commander is captured in dress uniform with all battle regalia.

revolutionary time

After the February Revolution, Kolchak was faithful to the emperor to the end. Hearing the proposal of the revolutionary sailors to hand over their weapons, he threw the award saber overboard, arguing his act with the words: “Even the Japanese did not take away my weapon, I will not give it to you either!”

Arriving in Petrograd, Kolchak laid the blame on the ministers of the Provisional Government for the collapse of his own army and country. After that, the dangerous admiral was actually removed into political exile at the head of an allied military mission to America.

In December 1917, he asked the British government to enlist in the military. However, certain circles are already counting on Kolchak as an authoritative leader capable of rallying liberation struggle against Bolshevism.

The Volunteer Army operated in the South of Russia, in Siberia and in the East there were many disparate governments. Having united in September 1918, they created the Directory, the inconsistency of which inspired distrust in broad officer and business circles. They needed a "strong hand" and, having made a white coup, invited Kolchak to take the title supreme ruler Russia.

Goals of the Kolchak government

Kolchak's policy was to restore the foundations of the Russian Empire. All extremist parties were banned by his decrees. The government of Siberia wanted to achieve reconciliation of all groups of the population and parties, without the participation of left and right radicals. was prepared economic reform, involving the creation of an industrial base in Siberia.

The highest victories of Kolchak's army were achieved in the spring of 1919, when it occupied the territory of the Urals. However, following the successes, a series of failures began, caused by a number of miscalculations:

Kolchak's incompetence in the problems of state administration;
refusal to settle the agrarian question;
partisan and socialist-revolutionary resistance;
political disagreements with allies.

In November 1919, Kolchak was forced to leave Omsk; in January 1920, he gave his powers to Denikin. As a result of the betrayal of the allied Czech Corps, he was handed over to the revolutionary committee of the Bolsheviks, who seized power in Irkutsk.

Death of Admiral Kolchak

The fate of the legendary personality ended tragically. The cause of death, some historians call a personal secret instruction, who feared his release by the troops of Kappel rushing to the rescue. A. V. Kolchak was shot on February 7, 1920 in Irkutsk.

In the 21st century, the negative assessment of Kolchak's personality has been revised. His name is immortalized on memorial plaques, monuments, in feature films.

Personal life

Kolchak's wife, Sophia Omirova, hereditary noblewoman. Due to the protracted expedition, she waited for her fiancé for several years. Their wedding took place in March 1904 in the Irkutsk church.

Three children were born in the marriage:

The first daughter, born in 1905, died in infancy.
Son Rostislav, born March 9, 1910
Daughter Margarita, born in 1912, died at the age of two.

Sofia Omirova in 1919, with the help of the British allies, emigrated with her son to Constanta, and later to Paris. She died in 1956 and was buried in the cemetery of Russian Parisians.

Son Rostislav - an employee of the Algiers Bank, participated in battles with the Germans on the side of the French army. Died in 1965. Kolchak's grandson - Alexander, born in 1933, lives in Paris.

The last years of his life, Kolchak's actual wife was his last love. Acquaintance with the admiral took place in 1915 in Helsingfors, where she arrived with her husband, a naval officer. After a divorce in 1918, she followed the admiral. She was arrested along with Kolchak, and after his execution she spent almost 30 years in various exiles and prisons. She was rehabilitated and died in 1975 in Moscow.

Alexander Kolchak was baptized in the Trinity Church, which is known today as Kulich and Easter.
During one of the polar campaigns, Kolchak named the island after the name of his bride, who was waiting for him in the capital. Cape Sofya retains the name given by him to our time.
A. V. Kolchak became the fourth polar navigator in history to receive the highest award of the Geographical Society - the Konstantinovsky Medal. Before him, this honor was awarded to the great F. Nansen, N. Nordenskiöld, N. Jurgens.
The maps compiled by Kolchak were used by Soviet sailors until the end of the 1950s.
Before his death, Kolchak did not accept the offer to blindfold. He presented his cigarette case to the commander of the execution, an employee of the Cheka.

The sensational film directed by A. Kravchuk "Admiral" in 2008 contains an apologetic interpretation of the image of the famous leader of the White movement, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, while historians far from canonizing this historical character, insist that this is a pseudo-historical melodrama, and the on-screen hero is too far from the real one. What is the share of truth and fiction in the film version of historical events?

Frame from the film *Admiral*, 2008

Estimates of the film "Admiral" range from "a shift in emphasis" to "rape of history in a sophisticated form", but critics unanimously agree on one thing - there are too many deviations from historical truth, omissions and outright lies.

This can be seen both at the level of details (inaccuracies in officer uniforms, in the image of ships - a destroyer instead of a destroyer), and in larger forms (the filmmakers "forgot" that Anna Timireva had a son from her lawful husband, whom she abandoned from -for the love of Kolchak).

Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timireva

Anna Timireva really divorced her husband in order to become Kolchak's common-law wife, and when he was arrested, she voluntarily went to prison after him. After the death of the admiral, she spent 30 years in prisons, camps and exile.

But excessive attention to the love storyline - the story of Kolchak's relationship with Anna Timireva - led to the fact that significant facts of his biography were not paid attention at all.

So, for example, there is no mention of how the admiral proved himself in Russo-Japanese War, or about his participation in polar expeditions.

Kolchak's civil wife Anna Timireva

It also remained behind the scenes that Kolchak was a rather cruel military leader and became famous for merciless terror - his troops burned entire settlements, tens of thousands of them were killed.

Only in the Yekaterinburg province, Kolchak soldiers shot over 25,000 people. His personality receives extremely ambiguous assessments of historians, he was too controversial for such a flat and "cardboard" image on the screen.

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak

Admiral Kolchak

Historian Andrei Sinelnikov claims that the events of 1916-1917. in the film are completely fictional: no German armored cruiser in April 1916 was lured by Kolchak to mines and did not shoot at him from a cannon.

The Friedrich Karl cruiser did exist, but it exploded on Russian minefields back in 1914, without Kolchak's participation.

Alexander Kolchak in life and in cinema. In the role of admiral - Konstantin Khabensky

When in the film Kolchak is presented as the commander of the Slava cruiser, this is also an obvious inconsistency: the admiral never commanded warships over 750 tons with a displacement, usually they were destroyers, but not cruisers and battleships.

Sofya Fedorovna Omirova-Kolchak, the legal wife of the admiral, in life and in cinema

Many legends and conjectures about the life of Kolchak were born from interrogations of the admiral in Irkutsk, during which, according to historians, the naval commander exaggerated his merits.

In addition, in less than a year of Kolchak's command of the Black Sea Fleet, the Russians naval forces suffered the heaviest losses of the entire war.

During the year of his reign, the admiral, with mass executions, raised against himself the peasants of Siberia, who joined the partisans. He was called a puppet in the hands of the Entente.

Anna Kovalchuk as Sofia Kolchak and Elizaveta Boyarskaya as Anna Timireva

In November 1918, Kolchak was elected the Supreme Ruler of Russia, by the spring of 1919 he managed to assemble an army of 400 thousand people.

But already in the autumn of 1919, his troops were suffering one defeat after another. In January 1920 he was arrested, and on February 7 he was shot without trial or investigation. Because of severe frosts his body was not interred - he was thrown into the hole on the Angara.

Admiral Kolchak

Feature films are often too loose with historical facts.

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born in 1874. His father was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. At the age of 18, the young man entered the Naval Cadet Corps, where he studied for six years.

Kolchak got into the Cadet Corps from an ordinary St. Petersburg gymnasium. He was fond of the exact sciences, he loved to make something. At the end of the cadet corps in 1894, he was promoted to midshipman.

Between 1895 and 1899 he visited three times world travel, in which he was engaged in scientific work, studied oceanography, maps of the currents and coasts of Korea, hydrology, tried to teach Chinese and preparing for a south polar expedition.

In 1900 he took part in the expedition of Baron E. Toll. In 1902, he went in search of the baron's expedition that remained to winter in the north. Having examined the proposed route of the expedition on the wooden whaler "Zarya", he managed to find the last parking lot of the baron and determine that the expedition was lost. For participation in the search expedition, Kolchak received the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree.

Soon the Russo-Japanese War began. Alexander asked to be sent to the war zone. While the issue of transfer to the front was being decided, Kolchak managed to marry Sofya Fedorovna Omirova. Soon he was sent to the front, to Port Arthur, under the command.

In Port Arthur, he served on the Askold cruiser, then switched to the Amur minelayer, and eventually began to command the Angry destroyer. Blown up on a mine set by Kolchak japanese cruiser. Soon he became seriously ill and switched to land service. Alexander Vasilievich commanded a battery of naval guns. After the surrender of the fortress, he was captured by the Japanese, returned to his homeland through America.

For courage and bravery shown during the defense of the fortress, was awarded the order St. Anne and the Order of St. Stanislaus. After returning to St. Petersburg, Kolchak was recorded as disabled and sent to be treated in the Caucasus. Until the middle of 1906, he worked on his expeditionary materials, supplemented them, edited, and put them in order. Compiled the book Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas, published in 1909. For his work he was awarded the highest award of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society - a large gold medal.

In January 1906, Kolchak became one of the founders of the officers' Naval Circle of St. Petersburg. The circle developed a program for the creation of the Naval General Staff. This body was supposed to prepare the fleet for war. As a result, such a body was created in April 1906. Kolchak became one of its members.

Alexander Vasilievich showed himself excellently in the first years. Protected St. Petersburg from naval shelling and German landings by placing 6,000 mines in the Gulf of Finland. In 1915, he personally developed an operation to mine enemy naval bases. Thanks to him, the losses of the German fleet were many times higher than ours. In 1916, he received the rank of Admiral, and became the youngest naval commander in the entire history of the Russian fleet. On June 26, Alexander Vasilievich is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet, conducts a number of successful military operations against Turkey, completely dominates the Black Sea. He is developing a plan to take Constantinople, everything is ready for execution, but a revolution has broken out ...

Kolchak, like all officers, is dissatisfied with the order to "democratize the army" and actively expresses his opinion. The admiral is removed from command and he returns to Petrograd. He travels to the United States as a mine expert, where he greatly helped the Americans, and they offered him to stay. Before Alexander Vasilievich stands difficult question, personal happiness or self-sacrifice and suffering in the name of Russia.

The Russian public has repeatedly approached him with a proposal to lead the fight against the Bolsheviks, he makes a difficult choice in favor. The admiral arrives in Omsk, where the fate of the Minister of War is prepared for him in the Socialist-Revolutionary government. Some time later, the officers make a coup, and Alexander Kolchak is proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Kolchak's army numbered about 150 thousand people. The admiral restored laws in Siberia. To date, there are no documents confirming the fact white terror” in relation to the workers and peasants, about which Soviet historians and propagandists are so fond of talking. Things were going well at the front. The front was advancing, and even a joint campaign against Moscow was planned. However, Kolchak, like the last Emperor of Russia, faced human vice and baseness. All around were betrayal, cowardice and deceit.

Alexander Vasilyevich was not a puppet of the Entente, and the allies eventually betrayed the Admiral. He was offered help “from outside” more than once, the Finns wanted to bring a 100,000th army into Russia in exchange for part of Karelia, but he said that “he does not trade in Russia” and refused the deal. The position of the White armies in Siberia was deteriorating, the rear was falling apart, the Reds pulled up about 500 thousand people to the front. In addition to all this, a general epidemic of typhus began, and the white army became harder and harder.

The only hope for salvation was, but due to certain circumstances, Vladimir Oskarovich did not perform a miracle. Soon the Reds were already not far from Omsk, the headquarters was evacuated to Irkutsk. The admiral was stopped at one of the stations, he was betrayed by the Czechoslovak corps, which, in exchange for free passage to Vladivostok, gave the admiral to the Bolsheviks. Kolchak was arrested and on February 7, 1920, he was shot along with his minister Pepelyaev.

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak - worthy son of his Fatherland. His fate is as tragic as the fate of other leaders of the white movement. He died for an idea, for the Russian people. The main tragedy of life is love. Kolchak was a family man, but he met Anna Vasilievna Timeryaeva, to whom he burned big love and who was with him until the very end. He divorced his first wife. Kolchak's son from his first marriage fought during the Second World War in the French Navy.

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. So far this historical figure is of interest to historians, writers and directors. Admiral Kolchak, whose biography is shrouded in interesting facts and events, presents great interest for contemporaries. Based on his biographical data, books are created, scripts are written for the theater stage. Admiral Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich - the hero of documentary films 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 Vasilievich noted: "I am Orthodox, until the time I entered elementary school, I received family education 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.

Future Admiral Kolchak, short biography which indicates that his main passion was travel and sea adventures. 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. In the future, during my studies at the Marine 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 navigation charts undercurrents off the coast of Korea.

polar research

At the end Maritime School young lieutenant Alexander Kolchak submits a report to the naval service in 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 scientific research Northern Arctic Ocean, goes 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 schooner Zarya was forced to return to big land. 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 scientific academy to the Naval War Office. Having received approval, he goes to serve in Port Arthur to Admiral S. O. Makarov, commander Pacific Fleet. 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 Russian army were returned to their homeland. For the heroism and courage shown, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was awarded a nominal golden saber and silver medal"In memory of the Russo-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 in oceanology and the history of polar research helped the young scientist 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 scientific activity 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. speaker's speech in State Duma does not find due approval, and leaves the service in the Naval General Staff A. V. Kolchak (admiral). Biography and photos of that time confirm his transition to teaching at the Naval Academy. Despite the absence academic education, the leadership of the academy invited him to lecture on the topic joint action army and navy. In April 1908, A. V. Kolchak was awarded military rank 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 was admired by ordinary sailors, as well as by officers divisions. 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 was begun to mine the 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, daring military operation did not happen, all plans were broken 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 held for a long time Black Sea flotilla from revolutionary collapse. However political events did not pass. 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.”

Family life of the 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 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 by nature. 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.” touching letters Admiral Kolchak's wife shore up last days. Constant separation did not allow the spouses to see each other often. Military service obligated to fulfill the debt. 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 Alexandrovich 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 in French army and soon falls 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 Captain 1st Rank Sergei 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 returning 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 received Active participation in training maneuvers navy USA. 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. burst out October Revolution and violated all the plans of Kolchak. The news of a revolutionary uprising finds him in Japanese port 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 is this position Russian officers entrusted to Alexander Vasilyevich. Kolchak's army numbered more than 150 thousand people.

The coming to power of Admiral Kolchak inspired the whole eastern region country, hoping to establish a rigid 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 royal family. The reward system has been restored tsarist Russia. 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. Quite a few 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. On February 7, 1920, on the banks of the Ushakovka River, the admiral was shot and thrown into an ice hole. So ended my journey great son of his Fatherland. 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 is certain: the life of an admiral is a prime example courage, heroism and high responsibility to their Motherland.

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, a former military and maritime 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 to 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. It 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. Researchers have carefully mapped northern shores 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, walking to the island was also not possible.

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 mine division which he headed. 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 landing amphibious assault. 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 St. George Knights and other experienced soldiers who distinguished themselves on the battlefield. 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 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 did not have a well-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. Serve the Bolsheviks, who were going to conclude a "obscene" (according to their own own definition) peace with the Germans, Kolchak did not want to and wrote a request for enrollment in british navy 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 in addition, there was no Bolshevik power, which could make it one of the centers of unification 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, in the Volga region and Siberia there were anti-Soviet uprisings. 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.

The attitude of the British was slightly better, who, however, vigilantly followed whoever was 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 Eastern front, achieving 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, 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 strategic retreat after the advance of the vastly 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. The main task he considered all-round 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. During 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 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 has 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.