Kolchak is a white army. Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak and the White Movement

The supreme ruler of Russia Kolchak ...

  Do you undertake to do arch-reliable? Where is Tukhachevsky? How are you doing on Kav.front? In Crimea?"

(handwritten by comrade Lenin)

January 1920

(From the archive of Comrade Sklyansky)

In the preparation of the report were used:

Plotnikov I.F. “Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak. Life and activity. ” Rostov N / A: Phoenix Publishing House, 1998

Internet Resources

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (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 expeditions of 1900-1903 (awarded by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society the Grand Konstantinovsky Medal). Member of the Russian-Japanese, First World War and Civil War. The leader and leader of the White movement in Siberia. A number of leaders of the White movement and Entente states was recognized as the Supreme Ruler of Russia (although he did not have real power over the entire territory of the country).

The first well-known representative of the Kolchakov clan was the Turkish military leader of Crimean Tatar origin, Ilias Kolchak Pasha, the commandant of the Khotin fortress, taken prisoner by Field Marshal H. A. Minikh. After the war, Kolchak Pasha settled in Poland, and in 1794 his descendants moved to Russia.

One of the representatives of this kind was Vasily Kolchak (1837-1913), naval artillery officer, major general for the Admiralty. His first officer rank, V. I. Kolchak, was seriously wounded during the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1853-1856: he was 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 the receiver of the Marine Ministry at the Obukhov plant, having a reputation as a direct and extremely scrupulous man.

The future admiral received primary education at home, and then studied at the 6th St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium.

On August 6, 1894, Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak was appointed to the 1st rank cruiser "Rurik" as an assistant watch commander and on November 15, 1894 was promoted to midshipman. On this cruiser he departed for the Far East. At the end of 1896, Kolchak was appointed to the cruiser of the 2nd rank "Cruiser" to the post of commander. On this ship for several years he went camping in the Pacific Ocean, in 1899 he returned to Kronstadt. December 6, 1898 he was promoted to lieutenant. In campaigns, Kolchak not only fulfilled his official duties, but also actively engaged in self-education. He also became interested in oceanography and hydrology. In 1899, he published the article "Observations of surface temperatures and specific gravities 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 ice-breaker Ermak in the Arctic Ocean. Kolchak requested to be included in the expedition, but was refused "for official reasons." After that, for some time entering the personnel of the ship “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 said expedition. From Greece through Odessa in January 1900, Kolchak arrived in St. Petersburg. The head of the expedition suggested that Alexander Vasilievich supervise the hydrological work, and besides being the second magnetologist. Throughout the winter and spring of 1900, Kolchak was preparing for the expedition.

On July 21, 1901, the expedition on the schooner Zarya moved along the Baltic, Northern and Norwegian seas to the shores of the Taimyr Peninsula, where the first winter was to be. In October 1900, Kolchak participated in Toll’s trip to the Gafner Fjord, and in April-May 1901 they traveled together in Taimyr. Throughout the expedition, the future admiral conducted active scientific work. In 1901, E.V. Toll immortalized the name of A.V. Kolchak, calling it the island and cape discovered by the expedition.

In the spring of 1902, Toll decided to walk north of the Novosibirsk Islands along with magnetologist F.G. Zeberg and two mushers. The remaining members of the expedition due to lack of food supplies had to go from Bennett Island to the south, to the mainland, and then return to St. Petersburg. Kolchak and his companions reached the mouth of the Lena and through Yakutsk and Irkutsk arrived in the capital.

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Alexander Vasilievich reported to the Academy about 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 pulled by 160 dogs. The journey to Bennett Island took three months, and was extremely difficult. On August 4, 1903, reaching the island of Bennett, the expedition discovered traces of Toll and his companions: documents of the expedition, collections, geodetic tools and a diary were found. It turned out that Toll arrived on the island in the summer of 1902, and headed south, having a supply of provisions for only 2-3 weeks. It became clear that the Toll expedition had perished.

Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak (1876 - 1956) - the wife of Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak. Sofya Fedorovna was born in 1876 in Kamenetz-Podolsk, Podolsk province of the Russian Empire (now Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine). By agreement with Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak, they were to be married after his first expedition. In honor of Sophia (at that time the bride), a small island in the Litke archipelago and a cape on the island of Bennet were named. The wait lasted for several years. They were married on March 5, 1904 in the church of the Znamensky Monastery in Irkutsk.

Sofya Fedorovna gave birth to three children from Kolchak. The first girl (c. 1905) did not live a month. The second was the son of Rostislav (03/09/1910 - 06/28/1965). The last daughter Margarita (1912-1914) caught a cold during an escape from the Germans from Libava and died.

During the Civil War, Sofia Fedorovna was waiting for her husband until the last in Sevastopol. She managed to emigrate from there in 1919: the British allies who respected her husband supplied money and took Her Majesty from Sevastopol to Constanta by ship. Then she moved to Bucharest and went to Paris. Rostislav was brought there too.

Despite the difficult financial situation, Sofya Fedorovna managed to give her son a good education. Rostislav Aleksandrovich Kolchak graduated from the higher school of diplomatic and commercial sciences in Paris, served in an Algerian bank. He married Ekaterina Razvozova, the daughter of Admiral A.V. Razvozov, who was killed by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd.

Sofya Fedorovna survived the German occupation of Paris, the captivity of her son - an officer in the French army.Sofya Fedorovna died at the Lunjumo hospital in Italy in 1956. She was buried in the main cemetery of the Russian foreign countries - Saint-Genevieve de Bois.

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

Commander of the Pacific Squadron, Admiral S.O. Makarov invited him to serve on the battleship Petropavlovsk, which from January to April 1904 was the flagship of the squadron. Kolchak refused and asked for an appointment for the Askold fast cruiser, which soon saved his life. A few days later, “Petropavlovsk” was blown up by 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. Soon after, Kolchak got the transfer to the destroyer Angry, and by the end of the siege of Port Arthur he had to command a battery on the land front, as the most severe rheumatism - the result 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 "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 the development of plans for the further development of the Russian Navy.

First of all, the Naval General Staff was created, taking on the direct combat training of the fleet. Then a shipbuilding program was drawn up. To obtain additional appropriations, officers and admirals actively lobbied their program in the Duma. The construction of new ships was progressing slowly - 6 (out of 8) battleships, about 10 cruisers and several dozen destroyers and submarines were commissioned 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.

Given 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 - if there was a threat of attack, all the ships of the Baltic Fleet should go to sea at the agreed signal and put 8 lines of minefields covered by coastal batteries at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland.

Captain Kolchak took part in the design of special icebreaking ships 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 back in the fall to Vladivostok. Kolchak commanded the icebreaker Vaigach on this expedition. In 1909, Kolchak published a monograph summarizing his glaciological research in the Arctic, “Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas” (Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Ser. 8. Phys.-Math. Department. St. Petersburg, 1909. V.26, No. 1.).

In 1912, Kolchak transferred to serve in the Baltic Fleet as a flag captain in the operational part of the fleet headquarters.

To protect the capital from a possible attack by the German fleet, the Mine Division put up minefields in the waters of the Gulf of Finland on the orders of Essen on the night of July 18, without waiting for permission from the Minister of the Sea and Nicholas II.

In the fall of 1914, with the personal participation of Kolchak, a mine blockade operation of German naval bases was developed. In the years 1914-1915. destroyers and cruisers, including those under the command of Kolchak, put mines at Kiel, Danzig (Gdansk), Pillau (modern Baltiysk), Vindava and even at the island of Bornholm. As a result, 4 German cruisers were blown up on these minefields (2 of them sank - “Friedrich Karl” and “Bremen” (according to other sources, the submarines E-9 were sunk), 8 destroyers and 11 transports.

At the same time, an attempt to intercept a German convoy transporting ore from Sweden, in which Kolchak was directly involved, failed.

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

After the February Revolution of 1917, Kolchak was the first in the Black Sea Fleet to swear allegiance to the Provisional Government. In the spring of 1917, the Stavka began preparations for the landing operation to capture Constantinople, but this idea had to be abandoned due to the decomposition of the army and navy.

In June 1917, the Sevastopol Council decided to disarm officers suspected of counter-revolution, including taking away its St. George weapons from Kolchak - the golden sword handed to him for Port Arthur. The admiral chose to throw the blade overboard. Three weeks later, divers lifted it 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 from the infantry general L.G. Kornilov, was considered as a potential candidate for military dictators. It was for this reason that in August A.F. Kerensky called the admiral to Petrograd, where he forced him to resign, after which he, at the invitation of the command of the American fleet, went to the United States to advise American experts on the experience of using Russian mines in the Baltic and Black Seas in the first world war.

In San Francisco, Kolchak was offered to stay in the United States, promising him the department of mine affairs 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 found out about the October Revolution, the liquidation of the Supreme Headquarters of the Supreme Command and the negotiations with the Germans begun by the Bolsheviks. After that, the admiral went to Tokyo. There he handed the British ambassador a request for admission to the "British at least" to the British army. The Ambassador, after consultations with London, handed Kolchak direction to the Mesopotamian Front. On the way there, in Singapore, he was overtaken by the telegram of the Russian envoy to China, Kudashev, who invited him to Manchuria to form Russian military units. Kolchak went to Beijing, after which he set about organizing the Russian armed forces to protect the CER.

However, due to disagreements with Ataman Semenov and the head of the CER Railways, General Horvat, Admiral Kolchak left Manchuria and went to Russia, intending to join General Denikin's Volunteer Army. In Sevastopol, he left his wife and son.

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

Addressing the population, Kolchak said: “Having accepted the cross of this power under the extremely difficult conditions of the civil war and the complete upset of state life, I declare that I will not go either along the path of reaction or along the disastrous path of partisanship.” Further, the Supreme Ruler proclaimed the goals and objectives of the new government. The first and most urgent task was to strengthen and increase the combat effectiveness of the army. The second, inextricably linked with the first, is “victory over Bolshevism”. The third task, the solution of which was recognized to be possible only on condition of victory, proclaimed "the revival and resurrection of the perishing state." All the activities of the new government were declared aimed at ensuring that "the temporary supreme power of the Supreme Ruler and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief could transfer the fate of the state into the hands of the people, leaving him to arrange state administration of his own free will."

Kolchak hoped that under the banner of the fight against the Reds he would succeed in uniting the most diverse political forces and creating a new state power. At first, the situation on the fronts favored these plans. In December 1918, the Siberian Army occupied Perm, which had important strategic importance and substantial reserves of military equipment.

In March 1919, Kolchak’s troops launched an offensive on Samara and Kazan, in April they occupied the entire Urals and approached the Volga. However, due to Kolchak’s incompetence in the organization and management of the ground army (as well as his assistants), the militarily favorable situation soon gave way to catastrophic. The dispersal and stretching of forces, the lack of rear support and the general lack of coordination of actions led to the fact that the Red Army was able to first stop Kolchak’s troops, and then go on a counterattack. Its result was more than a six-month retreat of the Kolchak armies to the east, culminating in the fall of the Omsk regime.

It must be said that Kolchak himself was well aware of the fact of a desperate cadre famine, which ultimately led to the tragedy of his army in 1919. In particular, in a conversation with General Foreigners, Kolchak openly stated this sad circumstance: "You will soon see for yourself how poor we are, why we have to endure even in high posts, not excluding the posts of ministers, people far from corresponding to the places they occupy but - it’s because there is no one to replace them ... "

The same opinions prevailed in the army. For example, General Shchepikhin said: “It is incomprehensible to the mind, it is similar to surprise, to what long have our patient sufferer an ordinary officer and soldier. What kind of experiments have not been made with him, which, with his passive participation, the kunshtyuki did not throw out our“ strategic boys ”, - Kostya (Sakharov ) and Mitka (Lebedev) - and the cup of patience is still not overfilled ... "

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

After the defeat in the fall of 1918, the Bolshevik detachments fled to the taiga, settled there, mainly north of Krasnoyarsk and in the Minusinsk region, and, replenished with deserters, began to attack the communications of the White Army. In the spring of 1919 they were surrounded and partly destroyed, partly driven out even deeper into the taiga, partly fled to China.

The peasantry of Siberia, as well as throughout Russia, who did not want to fight in either the Red or White armies, avoiding mobilization, fled into the forests, organizing "green" gangs. This picture was also observed in the rear of Kolchak’s army. But until September - October 1919, these detachments were few in number and did not present a particular problem for the authorities.

But when the front collapsed in the fall of 1919, the collapse of the army and mass desertion began. The deserters in droves began to join the intensified Bolshevik detachments, which made their number grow to tens of thousands of people. From here came the Soviet legend about the 150,000 partisan army, supposedly operating in the rear of Kolchak’s army, although in reality such an army did not exist.

In 1914-1917, about a third of Russia's gold reserves were sent for temporary storage to England and Canada, and about half were exported to Kazan. The part of the gold reserve of the Russian Empire stored in Kazan (over 500 tons) was seized on August 7, 1918 by the troops of the People’s Army under the command of the General Staff of Colonel V.O. Kappel and sent to Samara, where the KOMUCH government was approved. Gold was transported from Samara to Ufa for some time, and at the end of November 1918 the gold reserve of the Russian Empire was transferred to Omsk and was placed at the disposal of the Kolchak government. Gold was deposited at a local branch of the State Bank. In May 1919, it was established that all in Omsk there was gold worth 650 million rubles (505 tons).

Having at his disposal most of Russia's gold reserves, Kolchak did not allow his government to spend gold, even to stabilize the financial system and fight inflation (which was facilitated by the unrestrained emission of “cherenok” and tsarist rubles by the Bolsheviks). Kolchak spent 68 million rubles to purchase weapons and uniforms for his army. On the security of 128 million rubles, loans were received from foreign banks: the proceeds from the placement were returned to Russia.

On October 31, 1919, the gold reserve under heavy guard was loaded into 40 wagons, and another 12 wagons contained accompanying personnel. The Trans-Siberian Railway from Novo-Nikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk) to Irkutsk was controlled by the Czechs, whose main task was their own evacuation from Russia. Only on December 27, 1919 did the head train and the train with gold arrive at the station Nizhneudinsk, where representatives of the Entente forced Admiral Kolchak to sign an order to renounce the rights of the Supreme Ruler of Russia and transfer the train with gold reserves to the control of the Czechoslovak corps. On January 15, 1920, the Czech command extradited Kolchak to the Socialist-Revolutionary Political Center, which a few days later transferred the admiral to the Bolsheviks. On February 7, Czechoslovakians transferred 409 million rubles in gold to the Bolsheviks in exchange for guarantees of the unimpeded evacuation of the corps from Russia. The People's Commissariat of Finance of the RSFSR in June 1921 drew up a certificate from which it follows that during the reign of Admiral Kolchak, Russia's gold reserves decreased by 235.6 million rubles, or 182 tons. Another 35 million rubles from the gold reserve disappeared after its transfer to the Bolsheviks, when transported from Irkutsk to Kazan.

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

On January 5, 1920, a coup took place in Irkutsk, the city was captured by the Socialist Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center. On January 15, A.V. Kolchak, who left Nizhneudinsk in the Czechoslovak echelon, in a car under the flags of Great Britain, France, the United States, 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, transferred Kolchak to its 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 Commission of Inquiry.

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 by decree of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. The resolution of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee on the execution of the Supreme Ruler Admiral Kolchak and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pepelyaev was signed by Shiryamov, the chairman of the committee and its members A. Svoskarev, M. Levenson and Otradny.

According to the official version, this was done out of fear that parts of General Kappel breaking through to Irkutsk had the goal of freeing Kolchak. According to the most common version, the execution took place on the banks of the Ushakovka River near the Znamensky Nunnery. According to legend, sitting on ice awaiting execution, the admiral sang the song "Burn, burn, my star ...". There is a version that Kolchak himself commanded his execution. After the execution, the bodies of the dead were thrown into the hole.

Recently, previously unknown documents were discovered in the Irkutsk Region regarding the execution and subsequent burial of Admiral Kolchak. Documents labeled "secret" were found during work on the performance of the Admiral’s Star Theater in the Irkutsk City Theater based on a play by former state security official Sergei Ostroumov. According to the documents found, in the spring of 1920 near the Innokentyevskaya station (on the Angara coast, 20 km below Irkutsk), local residents discovered a corpse in admiral form, carried by the current to the Angara coast. Arriving representatives of the investigating authorities conducted an inquiry and identified the body of the executed admiral Kolchak. Subsequently, investigators and local residents secretly buried the admiral according to Christian custom. Investigators compiled a map on which Kolchak’s grave was marked with a cross. Currently, all documents found are under examination.

Based on these documents, the Irkutsk historian I.I. Kozlov established the alleged location of the grave of Kolchak. According to other sources, Kolchak’s grave is located in the Irkutsk Znamensky Monastery.

I.A. Bunin, 1921, Paris, from a speech at the funeral service according to A.V. Kolchak.

  “The day will come when our children, mentally contemplating the shame and horror of our days, will forgive Russia a lot for the fact that not only Cain reigned in the darkness of these days, but Abel was among her sons. The time will come when His name in the Annals of the Russian Land will be inscribed in gold letters on eternal glory and memory ”

Kolchak A.V., as a leader of the white movement

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 3

1. Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak, biography ……………………………………… ..4

2. The leader of the white movement ……………………………………………………………… ..10

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………… ..

List of used literature …………………………………………… .... 19

Introduction

The supreme ruler of Russia Kolchak ... No need to be afraid of this name. The man who wore it is not so scary. He was completely different from what our propaganda portrayed him for three quarters of a century.

Kolchak is a Russian admiral, scientist, researcher, traveler, the world's largest specialist in minefields. Even on Soviet maps until the mid-30s, the island of Kolchak was listed in the Kara Sea. He discovered it, researched, described. He is Russian to the core. He loved Russia very much. More than anything else.

It cannot be said that he accidentally, by mistake, fell into the camp of the enemies of the Soviet regime. Not. He was a staunch and ardent opponent of this power. And he fought against Bolshevism until the end of his days relentlessly. It seems that he did not foresee the result that the communist party brought to our country. But the fact that Bolshevism is an anti-people phenomenon - he did not doubt it. Therefore, he had no more implacable enemy than the Bolsheviks. He always emphasized this.

For decades, this phrase “Admiral Kolchak” was perceived, on the one hand, by the defeated in the civil war, participants in the “white cause” with deep respect, in any case with understanding; on the other hand, by the Bolsheviks, the Reds, and many Soviet people who were brought up on the Marxist-Leninist principles of class intolerance with hatred or with a sharp hostility. The White movement aimed at restoring a “single and indivisible” Russia. Russian nationalism of the whites coincided with the uncontrollably growing local nationalism on the outskirts of the Russian state, where it turned out to be the center of the struggle against the power of the Bolsheviks. The white movement did not have a leader whose authority would be recognized by all, did not have a leader who understood the political nature of the civil war. Nevertheless, Kolchak is the leader of the white movement, and this is undoubted. The tragic fate of this great man, whose merits before the Motherland were erased in the long history of the Soviet period. Kolchak’s personality is so multifaceted that one cannot look at his image on one side only, therefore chapter 1 of the work is devoted to the biography of Kolchak as a traveler and researcher until 1918, before his appointment as Supreme Ruler of Russia.

1. Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak, biography

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak is the Supreme Ruler of Russia, an outstanding personality with multifaceted talent and contradictory character. Russian admiral, participant in the Russo-Japanese, World War I and Civil Wars, commander of the Black Sea Fleet (1916-1917), organizer of the white movement in Siberia, Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918-1920). Member of expeditions in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic, full member of the Russian Geographical Society, author of articles on hydrology and compiler of maps of the sea and coast. He was awarded the orders of St. George 4th (1916) and 3rd (1919) degrees and other orders, a large Konstantinovsky gold medal from the Russian Hydrographic Society.

Born November 4, 1874 in the family of a naval artillery officer in St. Petersburg, in a noble family. His father, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, was a native and hereditary nobleman of Odessa, the Orthodox faith, although his male ancestors were of Turkish origin. His father, at that time the staff captain, and later major general, was a hereditary military man. The great-grandfather of the future commander Luka Kolchak became the centurion of the Bug Cossack army, and father Vasily Ivanovich served as a naval gunner and resigned as Major General. Male uncles had high ranks in the Navy. The noble family of his mother, Olga Ilyinichna Posokhova, whose grandfather became the last Odessa city governor, was also known.

As a child, Kolchak received a good home education. Sasha studied at the gymnasium for only three years and at the age of 14 he entered the Naval Cadet Corps, which he graduated from the second in performance. In fact, he was the best, but he gave the championship to another midshipman at the final certification. His success in training was marked by the prize of Admiral P.I. Rikord, a famous navigator and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. And the young midshipman himself was very gravitated to scientific research. His track record consists of two parts: military actions and scientific expeditions. He left the naval corps in 1894 with the rank of midshipman. The following year, Kolchak was appointed assistant to the commander-in-chief of the Rurik battleship and sailed from Petersburg to Vladivostok. In 1896 he was transferred by the commander of the watch to the clipper “Cruiser”, on which he returned to St. Petersburg. Kolchak later recalled his service at the Rurik and the Cruiser: “This was my first voyage ... The main task was purely drill on the ship, but, in addition, I specially worked in oceanography and hydrology. From that time I began to engage in scientific work ... I had a dream to find the South Pole; but I never got to sail on the southern ocean ”1. Admiral Tsyvinsky, who commanded the “Cruiser”, later recalled Midshipman Kolchak: “He was an unusually capable and talented officer, he had a rare memory, had excellent knowledge of three European languages, he knew well the navigations of all the seas, he knew the history of all almost European fleets and sea battles. "

In 1898, Kolchak was promoted to lieutenant. In 1899, arriving in Peterburg, he tried to go to Admiral Makarov to the icebreaker Ermak, which was to leave for the Arctic Ocean a few days later, but did not have time with the transfer and got into the voyage to the Prince Pozharsky ". However, he did not lose hope of eventually participating in polar research. Upon learning that Baron Toll was preparing a high-latitude expedition on the Zarya whale-yacht (his main goal was to search for the legendary Sannikov Land), Kolchak turned to Academician Schmidt with a request to accept him on an e-page. He was offered the position of a second magnetologist with classes in hydrology. To prepare for his duties, Kolchak asked to appoint him to work at the Main Physical Observatory in St. Petersburg and the Pavlovsky Magnetic Observatory. Then he went to Norway to Nansen to study new methods of magnetic measurements and to practice hydrology.

The expedition began in the summer of 1900 and lasted three years. She was very heavy. Toll spent his first wintering off the island of Taimyr. Here Kol-chak made observations of temperatures and specific gravities of the surface layer of sea water, investigated the shape, condition and thickness of ice, participated in the collection of fossil remains of mammals. In the fall of 1901, Zarya approached Cape Chelyuskin. Toll and Kolchak made an expedition to the semi-island. For 41 days, they traveled 500 miles in a strong blizzard, with Kolchak constantly surveying the route and magnetic observation. Then the yacht sailed for clear water to Bennett Island and began searching for Sannikov Land east of the Novosibirsk archipelago. For the second winter, the expedition embarked on the western shore of Kotelny Island in the Zarya Strait. In the summer of 1902, Toll, with his companions, with dog teams and kayaks, went to explore Bennett Island. From this expedition, he intended to return on his own. Meanwhile, "Dawn", unable to break through the ice to the north, reached the mouth of Lena. From here Kolchak with a part of the crew came to St. Petersburg through Yakutsk and Irkutsk.

Since Baron Toll did not return within the prescribed period, the Academy of Sciences began to equip detachments for his search. Kolchak led one of them. In the spring of 1903, by land he reached the mouth of Lena, where the abandoned Zarya stood, and took one of the good whaling whaleboats from it. Together with 16 companions, on dogs dragging a whaleboat on sledges, he moved from the mouth of Yana to Kotelny Island, and in the summer went on a whaleboat to Bennett Island. Here Kolchak found Toll’s abandoned winter hut and a letter testifying to the death of the entire detachment. This expedition took place in extremely difficult conditions. Kolchak himself was many times on the verge of death. Once he nearly drowned, falling into wormwood. But still he managed to get to the mainland and delivered to the capital documents and geological collections of Toll. For the courage shown in this expedition, Kolchak in 1903 was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir. In 1905, the Russian Geographical Society awarded him a large Konstantinovsky gold medal, and in February 1906 he was elected a member of this society. One of the islands of the Kara Sea was named after Kolchak (at the end of the 30s it was renamed the island of Rastor-gueva; however, to this day a small island in the Litka archipelago bears the name of Kolchak's bride - Sophia).

The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War found Kolchak in Yakutsk. In an urgent telegram to the Academy of Sciences in January 1904, he asked for permission to leave for the Pacific Squadron and received consent. In March, he married Sofya Omirova, handed over his affairs to his assistant Olenin, and went to Port Arthur. Vice-Admiral Makarov first appointed Kolchak as commander-in-chief on the Askold cruiser, then transferred to the Amur mine transport and, finally, made the captain of the Angry destroyer. During the siege of Port Arthur, this destroyer made several bold attacks on the Japanese squadron. The kol-chak was awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription "For Courage", a gold saber with the inscription "For Courage" and the order of St. Stanislav with swords for distinction. In November 1904, he was appointed commander of two batteries on the northeast wing of Port Arthur's defense. After the surrender of the fortress, wounded, with a severe form of articular rheumatism, Kolchak was captured by the Japanese, who, however, treated him very gently. Together with other wounded, Kolchak was allowed to return to Russia through the United States. In April 1905, he was already in St. Petersburg.

After a long treatment and rest on the waters, Kolchak returned to the disposal of the Academy of Sciences. Until January 1906, he processed materials from the polar expedition and compiled a brief description of the sailing of the Zarya yacht. When the Office of the Naval General Staff was formed, Kolchak took up the post of head of the statistical department, and then the department for developing strategic ideas for protecting the Baltic. At the same time, he lectured at the Naval Academy and was engaged in scientific activities. In 1909 he saw the light of his most important work, “Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas,” which for many years thereafter was considered an important tool for any polar explorer. Kolchak dreamed of making another polar expedition. In 1909, with his direct participation, the Taimyr and Vaigach icebreaking transports were built, which were tasked with navigating the northern sea route from Vladivostok to Murmansk. Kolchak was appointed captain of Vaigach. In autumn, the ships sailed from St. Petersburg around Europe and Asia to the Pacific Ocean. However, this time Kolchak did not have a chance to take part in the polar swimming. In the summer of 1910, when the ships arrived in Vladivostok, he was urgently recalled to the capital to develop a shipbuilding program. Until the spring of 1912, he worked at the General Staff on its detailing.

In 1912, Kolchak returned to the current fleet. In April, he was appointed commander of the destroyer Ussuriets, and a year later he was transferred to the destroyer Border Guard. In December 1913, Kolchak was promoted to captain of the 1st Rank. After the outbreak of World War I, he again managed to excel. In February 1915, four destroyers subordinate to him mined the sea near Danzig. On these mines 23 German ships were blown up, including 4 cruisers and 8 destroyers. For this and other operations Kolchak was awarded the Order of St. George. His career was developing rapidly. In June 1916, Mr .. In was promoted to rear admirals, and a few months later was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet with the production of vice admirals. Having arrived in Sevastopol, Kolchak immediately proved himself an energetic commander. He immediately went to sea and attacked the German cruiser Breslau, which was forced to flee. After that, work began on mining coastal waters. A month later, Kolchak reported on the results of his tenure as commander: “From the first days ... I set about putting things in order on mine barriers, having in mind the setting up of a fence near the Bosphorus ... Apparently, they did not attach this to the Black Sea of serious importance ... 10 days of training and sorting of mines established this matter, and the new destroyers completed the task of setting up a fence and the immediate vicinity of the Bosphorus fortifications ”1.

Kolchak took the news of the February Revolution with restraint. For some time, despite the corrupting influence of revolutionary propaganda, they managed to maintain discipline in the navy. The Central Executive Committee of the Council of Deputies of the Fleet, soon formed, began to report directly to Kolchak. But this situation could not last long. The first serious clash between the admiral and the Council occurred in May 1917, when one of the destroyers refused to go to sea to set mines. In June, sailors who did not trust the officers demanded that they surrender their weapons. (Kolchak handed over his dagger along with everyone. When they tried to return his weapon to him, he threw it into the sea.) At that time, the mission of US Senator Ruth was in Sevastopol. Having met Kolchak, he invited him to take part in the military operations of the American fleet at the Dardanelles. Kolchak agreed. He saw that the Russian fleet was rapidly losing combat capability and was no longer capable of serious operations. “If I have no place here during the great war,” he wrote, “then I want to serve my Motherland as I can, that is, taking part in the war, and not in the vulgar chatter that everyone is engaged in.” 1 In June, he transferred the authority of the fleet commander to Rear Admiral Lukin and left for Petrograd, and in early August at the head of a mission of six officers traveled to Norway through England and England. In Washington, he soon realized that there was no talk of any military operations of the American fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. In San Francisco, he learned about the October Revolution and hurried back to his homeland.

When Kolchak sailed to Japan in November, he received news of the Soviet Government's intention to conclude a separate peace with Germany. This news shocked him, and he decided not to return so far to the Russia engulfed by the revolution. In his autobiography, he later wrote: “I could not recognize either the Bolshevik government or the Brest Peace.” 2 Kolchak turned to the English ambassador with a request to accept him in the English service. At the end of December, consent and an order came from London to appoint Kolchak as commander on the Mesopotamian front. However, he managed to get only to Singapore. Here he was handed the new appointment of the English government, which wanted to use Kolchak to work in Manchuria and Siberia. Kolchak came to Beijing and was elected a member of the new board of the CER. But this work did not satisfy him. In the summer, he decided to go to Vladivostok and then through Siberia to make his way to the south of Russia to join the flaring white movement there.

2. The leader of the white movement.

E then, in May 1918, the Czechoslovak rebellion broke out, as a result of which Soviet power was overthrown throughout the Siberian Railway - from Vladivostok to the Volga region. Several local governments of various kinds formed here. In Samara, there was a Committee of members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch). The Ural government arose in Yekaterinburg. However, the government in Omsk became the most influential body, headed by the famous Siberian lawyer Pyotr Vologodsky. It was it that claimed to become the governing body throughout Siberia, the Far East, the Urals and the Volga region. On September 23, with the active participation of Omsk politicians in Ufa, the Provisional All-Russian Government was proclaimed - the Ufa Directory (which soon moved to Omsk). In addition to Vologda, she was led by the right-wing Social Revolutionary Avksentiev, Cadet Astrov, and General Boldyrev. At the same time, the Omsk government was reorganized into the Council of Ministers.

With the creation of the Directory, the white movement in eastern Russia still remained fragmented. A democratic form of the Directory did not have support in the army. There was a widespread belief among officers and generals that only “solid,” one-man power could save Russia. However, for a long time there was no suitable candidate for the role of dictator. When Kolchak stopped in Omsk in October on the way to the south, all eyes turned to him at once. He was a major personality on a national scale, and his participation in the government was to immediately raise the prestige of the latter. General Bol-Dyrev invited Kolchak to take the post of military and naval minister. After some hesitation, he agreed. His military experience came in handy for the white movement.

Omsk directors hoped to find in the person of Kolchak a reliable general who would strengthen the prestige of civil power in the troops. However, like their Paris counterparts a hundred years before, hoping to find support in the General Bonaparte, they miscalculated greatly. In fact, immediately after the appearance of Kolchak in Omsk, preparations began for a military coup in his favor. Kolchak did not officially participate in it, although he knew about the conspiracy. “About this coup,” he said later, “rumors circulated; privately, naval officers told me, but no one could fix the day and time. ”1

On the night of November 17-18, 1918, a group of conspirators from among the officers of the Cossack troops stationed in Omsk arrested the socialist leaders of the Directory and handed over all power to Admiral A.V. Kolchak. A. Kolchak later claimed that he did not know about the preparation of the coup and did not take part in it. But it was him who, as the most authoritative figure, was offered to head the new government. He agreed and accepted from the right members of the Directorate the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Kolchak took dictatorial powers calmly, realizing the enormous burden of responsibility associated with them. He stated the following about his political program: “I will not follow either the path of reaction or the disastrous path of partisanship. My main goal is the creation of a combat-ready army, the victory over Bolshevism and the establishment of law and order, so that the people can freely choose their own form of government, and implement the great ideas of freedom now proclaimed around the world. ”2 And only after the liquidation of the Bolshevik power should the National Assembly be convened. He undertook to transfer power only to the hands of the Constituent Assembly, believed that only it should decide the future structure of the state. In his opinion, only the Constituent Assembly will have to solve all the problems of Russia, both internal and external. Kolchak believed that Russia should only be a democratic state. I was ready to recognize the Finnish government and provide it with complete independence in the internal structure and administration of Finland. He stated that his government recognized all classes and classes as equal before the law, regardless of religion.

In the very first days of his reign, he developed a vigorous activity to calm society in relation to the coup. And it should be noted that he was able to overcome the resistance only by December 1918. But he made a fatal mistake, practically rejecting all the socialist parties, after which he had to fight them.
With the coming to power of Kolchak, white forces are consolidated throughout the eastern region. He was recognized by everyone except the Cossack chieftains Semenov and Kalmykov. Kolchak also came into contact with the government of the Great Don Cossack Army, and on June 17, together with Denikin's accession to Kolchak, he became Supreme Ruler of all white Russia. At the same time, he appointed Denikin as his deputy.
The main goal of Kolchak was the destruction of the Bolsheviks. But it should be noted that during his government there was a significant improvement in the economic and economic field, the tax system. Reorganization of banks was also carried out. The Kolchak government, which claimed the role of the all-Russian, and then recognized as such, was carried away by state building, the formation of staff of ministries and other institutions without any measure. The state structure was formed as a nationwide, to serve the whole country. Its states were overly bloated. Moreover, numerous institutions were filled with unskilled people. The bulky device became ineffective.
In relation to the peasants, a policy was taken into account that took into account their interests, opening up the prospect of a private farming development path. The peasants were especially worried about the land issue. A. Kol-chak urged to wait for decisions of the future "National Assembly", such a slogan could not inspire the peasants, who were afraid of the return of the landowners. On the contrary, this slogan provoked their hostility. In addition, the army took away their bread and cattle. In response to this, peasant uprisings began to break out in the rear of Kolchak. The troops suppressed them with extreme severity, which further exacerbated the peasants.

The generals, the army and the Ural Cossacks immediately recognized the power of the new Supreme Ruler. On the contrary, the governments in Yekaterinburg and Ufa protested the fact of the coup and were therefore dispersed. The ataman of the Transbaikal Cossack army Semenov and the ataman of the Ussuri Cossacks Kalmyks also for a long time refused to recognize the power of Kolchak and obeyed him only nominally. Their large military formations never appeared in the Volga region and in the Urals.

History provided Kolchak with a rare opportunity to influence the course of historical events in a vast country. For a short period, under his rule, a large part of the former Russian Empire was united. From the first steps of existence, the Kolchak government embarked on the path of dictatorial measures and exceptional laws. The death penalty, martial law, and governor generals were introduced. Not only the Social Revolutionaries and members of the Constituent Assembly opposed the military dictatorship, but also the peasants, whom they flogged, robbed, insulted punitive expeditions.

Total army mobilization, generous financial and military assistance from the interventionists contributed to the success of Kolchak’s army, which he even hoped to take Moscow on his own, without joining Denikin’s armies ... In addition to the military, he had to solve many difficult political and economic issues. However, considering the activities of the Supreme Ruler from this perspective, it must be remembered that it proceeded under the conditions of a fierce Civil War, which did not leave room for social maneuvers. All promised democratic transformations were left “to victory”. “Only the annihilation of Bolshevism can create the conditions for a quiet life, which the Russian land suffered so much about,” Kolchak wrote, “only after this difficult task has been completed, will we all be able to think again about the proper structure of our entire sovereign statehood.” From the first days of his power to the very end, Kolchak ruled as a tough dictator. The commanders of the military districts were given the right to declare places under siege, to close opposition newspapers and to impose the death penalty. Factories and plants nationalized under Soviet rule were returned to their former owners. Likewise, land illegally taken from farmers and chippers was subject to return. Only the landlord estates did not return back to their former owners (there were relatively few such in Siberia). They passed at the disposal of the state and were subsequently subject to sale through a land bank.

Concrete government measures and laws of a socio-economic nature did not allow Kolchak to create a stable, strong rear and concentrate entirely on fighting the Reds at the front. Thus, the legislation of the Kolchak government did not provide for a radical resolution of the agrarian question in favor of the peasantry and postponed it until the end of the Civil War. The decrees of the Soviet regime, which were well-known in Siberia, the cross-yans of which were not experienced by the subsequent "socialist" experiments of the Bolsheviks, were declared illegal. The redistribution of property over the years of the revolution was not legally assigned to farmers, who were called “self-equal users” in official documents. Therefore, the majority of the peasantry was hostile to the whites, which was expressed in the wide scope of the partisan movement that swept many parts of Siberia. By the summer of 1919, according to some sources, up to 40 thousand people were fighting in the partisan detachments against Kolchak. To fight the rebels in the rear, an internal front was created in the Yenisei, Irkutsk, Trans-Baikal and other provinces, constantly diverting significant white forces who used whole villages to set fire to the local population.

Kolchak also had at his disposal the gold reserves of Russia exported during the war to the east - over 65 million gold rubles. About a third of this amount he had to spend on weapons and equipment of his army. The admiral sought to set an example of selflessness and asceticism. During trips to the front, he was in the most dangerous places. He refused to wear a warm coat “until the army is dressed”, and put on a simple overcoat. Because of this, he even became seriously ill with pneumonia, who put him to bed for a month and a half at the height of the battles ... A.Kolchak was negative towards flattery, and when an elderly worker knelt in delight in front of him, Hall to him, "Stand up, I am the same person as you" 1.

In the political field, the supreme ruler also unshakably followed his principles. In no way did he bother to “try them on circumstances”. For example, categorically refused military assistance from Finland in exchange for recognition of its independence. The admiral stated that he would not give up “the idea of \u200b\u200ba great indivisible Russia” “never for any minute benefits” 2.

The period of military successes of the Siberian armies, which fell in the spring of 1919, put A. Kolchak in first place among other leaders of the White movement. As the Supreme Ruler, he was recognized by other leaders of the anti-Bolshevik struggle: A. Denikin in the South, E. Miller in the North, N. Yudenich in the North-West. Kolchak was close to diplomatic recognition by foreign states that actively helped the Omsk regime, but stipulated their help under conditions that actually meant the dismemberment of former Russia. For Siberia, in comparison with other regions occupied by whites, significantly more allies' funds were allocated. Thus, Great Britain provided the White governments with about £ 100 million, more than half of which was transferred to Kolchak. French investments in Siberia in the course of 1919 reached 700 million francs. By the summer of 1919, he received from the Western Allies about 600 thousand rifles and millions of cartridges for them, hundreds of guns, thousands of machine guns, a large number of ammunition, equipment and uniforms. For all this I had to pay in gold. In many ways, this generosity of the West was explained by the fact that Kolchak had at his disposal a part of the gold reserve of the Russian Empire. But there was a purely political interest in supporting the Supreme Ruler, who controlled the vast territory of the country and had good chances of a final victory over the Reds.

Assistance to England, France and the United States Kolchak was far from free. But it was impossible to do without it. For his part, the Russian admiral was well aware that the intervention offended the national dignity of the people, and the assistance provided to him was far from selfless. In relations with the Allies, Kolchak tried to prevent any unreasoned actions that could harm the state interests of the country, or cast doubt on its integrity and unity. In the summer of 1919, when the Finnish military commander Mannerheim proposed to the Supreme Ruler 100 thousand soldiers to support Yudenich’s attack on Petrograd in exchange for recognition of Finland’s independence, Kolchak rejected the offer of this former tsarist general. From mid-1919, military success turned its back on the admiral, and there came a time of bitter defeats and betrayals, which ended in the winter of 1919-1920. the rapid fall of Kolchak and his personal tragedy.

By the spring of 1919. the strength of Kolchak’s troops amounted to 400 thousand people. In addition to them, up to 35 thousand Czechoslovakians, 80 thousand Japanese, more than 6 thousand British and Canadians, more than 8 thousand American and more than one thousand French were in Siberia and the Far East. But all of them were stationed in the rear and did not take an active part in the hostilities.

The troops were reorganized into four armies: the Siberian General Haida, the Western General Khanzhin, the Orenburg Ataman Dutov, and the Ural General Tolstov. The total length of the Kolchak front was 1,400 km.

Kolchak began military operations against the Soviet government immediately after the coup. In winter, his troops went on the offensive on Perm, Vyatka and Vologda, with the aim of establishing contact with the northern White Guard front of Miller. In December, Perm came under the control of Kolchakites. But success on the right flank was not reinforced in other sectors of the front. In January 1919 the Reds seized the initiative, took Ufa, Uralsk and Orenburg. After this, the situation at the front stabilized.

In March, a new offensive began. This time, Kolchak struck the main blow in the central direction near Ufa - towards Denikin, who pressed the Reds from the west. The right flank of the Kolchak army was advancing on Kotlas, and the center was moving towards the Volga, to join near Saratov with the right wing of Denikin’s troops. In late March, Kolchak regained Ufa. On April 6, Kolchakites took Belebey, April 15 - Buguruslan, and in May they approached Samara and Kazan. The victories of the Supreme Ruler seemed so palpable that in May, the rest of the White Guard generals recognized him: Denikin, Yudenich and Miller.

But the success of the Kolchakites was very short. On May 1, under the influence of the Bolsheviks, the newly arrived Ukrainian regiment revolted south of the Saray-Gir station. The soldiers of four more regiments and the jaeger battalion immediately joined him. Several thousand soldiers with weapons, artillery and convoys sided with the Reds and strengthened their strike force. This unexpected rebellion demoralized the soldiers of neighboring divisions. When the Reds went on the offensive, two Kolchak divisions, having thrown a position, began to randomly retreat. In the battle order of the whites, there was a huge gap in which the red cavalry rushed, followed by the infantry. Kolchak, who did not expect such a turn of events, did not have at hand sufficiently large reserves. Failed to close the gap. I had to urgently stop the offensive and withdraw the entire Western army in order to secure ourselves at a new frontier. Hyde's Siberian army was also forced to start a retreat, so as not to be isolated from the West. In early June, white left Ufa.

Thus, in May-June, the two strongest armies of Kolchak - the Western and Siberian - were defeated and driven back from Kama for 300-400 km. The rapid collapse of the armed forces began; the number of deserters and defectors increased. A powerful partisan movement unfolded in the rear. In July 1919 the Reds took Yekaterinburg, in August - Chelyabinsk. In October, the Kolch-Kovtsy lost a big battle near Tobolsk. White business in Siberia was dealt a fatal blow. Since that time, the White Guards retreated without any resistance. On November 15, the Reds took Omsk, from where Kolchak left three days before. December 27, he hardly reached Nizhne-Udinsk. The entire Siberian railway was clogged with retreating trains. The army no longer existed by this time. There were severe frosts. Soldiers and officers, distraught from frostbite, typhoid, hunger and hopelessness, turned into an uncontrollable herd.

Aware of this, Kolchak on January 4, 1920 signed a decree on the appointment of Ataman Semenov commander in chief of the Far East. Two days later, he resigned as Supreme Ruler and transferred it to Denikin. After that, he actually turned into a private individual who did not have any influence. The Czechs took over the admiral's train, who from the very beginning plotted treason. On January 15, they transferred Kolchak to the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center, which had seized power in Irkutsk by this time. Kolchak and the last head of his government Pepelyaev were imprisoned in the provincial Irkutsk prison, which became their last refuge. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were going to arrange an official trial over Kolchak and began thorough interrogations. But on January 21, the situation changed - the Political Center was to transfer power in the city to the Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee. From the point of view of the Bolsheviks, no judicial process was required to decide the fate of the former Supreme Ruler, because long before that it had been outlawed by the Soviet government. On February 6, the Military Revolutionary Committee decided to shoot him. On the next day, on the bank of the Ushakovka River, when it fell into the Angara, the sentence was carried out. Kolchak steadfastly accepted death. The corpse of Kolchak and General Pepeliaev, who was shot along with him, was thrown into the hole. The grave of the admiral, as befits a sailor, became water. The Bolsheviks destroyed the enemy of the revolution. They tried not to remember the merits of the admiral before old Russia.

Conclusion

The image of this man continues to attract the attention of several generations of compatriots. For decades in our country, Admiral Kolchak’s complex tragic personality was either kept silent or mentioned only in a negative context, sometimes turning him into a character of obscene ditties. The Red Army men, who were bawling the daring ditty about the “Omsk ruler,” had no idea what the White Guard Supreme Ruler of Russia A. V. Kolchak was. For them, he became the enemy of the revolution, and that means - “Everything to fight Kolch-kom!”. And they won this fight. Alexander Vasilievich lived only 46 years, but his life was so full of events that, not knowing the dates of birth and death, it can be decided that he lived three times as much. The image of Kolchak reflected many of the tragic aspects of the Civil War. His activity as the Supreme Ruler was notable for inconsistency and inconsistency. Being, like the other leaders of the White Movement, a purely military man, the admiral did not manage to become a statesman or political figure. Intrigues constantly laced in his environment, various groups fought for influence on him. The personal courage, disinterestedness and honesty of many supporters of the White Cause were not sufficient to lead the people along. Trying to preserve the existing relations, the white leaders turned out to be unable to offer society new guidelines, saying that the main issues of Russian life were “unsolved” 1. Their propaganda of national ideas and the revival of great statehood under the conditions of foreign intervention and dependence on allies was largely declarative in nature and did not find a response among the multimillion population of Russia, craving social changes and updating the country.

It was only at the final stage of the Civil War that White was able to put forward a truly large figure of a statesman and military leader who tried to correct the mistakes of his predecessors and decided to implement the reform course. Kolchak, as the leader of the white movement, imagined that he was destined to save Russia. It is unlikely that Kolchak, striving for fame, suggested that the end of life would be a crushing fall. And his figure will continue to arouse interest not only among professional historians, but also among ordinary people.

List of references

1. Bogdanov K.A. Admiral Kolchak: Biographical Chronicle. - SPb .: Shipbuilding, 1993. - 304p.

2. Wagman I.Ya. 100 famous commanders. - Kharkov: Folio, 2004 .-- 511s.

3. Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich - the last days of life. - Barnaul: Alt. Prince Publishing House, 1991 .-- 304p.

4. Kakurin N.E. How the revolution fought. T. 1. - M .: Politizdat, 1990 .-- 272s.

Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich (1874-1920), Russian admiral (1916), one of the leaders of the White movement.

Born November 16, 1874 in St. Petersburg in the family of an engineer, a retired major general of naval artillery.

In 1894, Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps; in 1900-1902 participated in the polar expedition of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 commanded a destroyer, a mine-layer, and then a battery in Port Arthur; was captured.

After the war, Kolchak and a group of naval officers prepared proposals for the reform of the Russian navy. In 1914 he was appointed head of the operational department of the Baltic Fleet, and in July 1916 - commander of the Black Sea Fleet with the rank of rear admiral. On June 9, 1917, in response to the request of the ship’s committee to surrender personal weapons, Kolchak, with the words “You don’t handed it to me, you won’t take it!” Threw a golden saber with the inscription “For courage” into the sea. The next day, he was recalled to Petrograd and sent to the United States as a mine specialist.

At the end of 1917, Kolchak arrived in the Far East. Heading to the Volunteer Army, he stayed in Omsk and on November 4, 1918 was appointed Minister of Defense of the newly formed All-Russian Provisional Government.

November 18, after a military coup in Omsk, the admiral, thanks to his great authority, was proclaimed the "supreme ruler of the Russian state." In this capacity, the governments of the Entente and the USA recognized him, but relations with the allies did not develop. The main goal of Kolchak was the armed struggle with the Bolsheviks, but he also had to curb the allies in their attacks on the sovereign rights of Russia.

After the defeat of the Eastern White Army, the admiral on January 4, 1920 transferred his authority to A.I. Denikin. The troops of the Czechoslovak Corps, commanded by the chief officer of the allied forces in Siberia, French General Janen, transferred Kolchak to the temporary Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center in Irkutsk in exchange for free travel to Vladivostok.

A little later, the admiral was in the hands of the Bolsheviks.

Thank you, this is the best I found on request. Handsome men, quickly!

One of the leaders of the white movement in Siberia is Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak. Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak was born on November 4, 1874. In 1888-1894 he studied at the Naval Cadet Corps, where he transferred from the 6th St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium. He was promoted to midshipman. In addition to military affairs, he was fond of exact sciences and factory affairs.

In 1895-1899, Kolchak traveled to the Rurik and Cruiser cruisers on distant overseas voyages, where he began to study oceanography, hydrology, and maps of currents off the coast of Korea, tried to study the Chinese language on his own, prepared for the south polar expedition, dreaming of continuing F.'s work. F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev, walk to the South Pole. By this time, he was fluent in three European languages. In 1900, Alexander Vasilievich was promoted to lieutenant. In 1900-1902 he traveled along the Arctic Seas with Zorya (with two wintering centers - eleven months each). During the wintering he made long trips — up to 500 versts — on dog sledges and skiing. He served as a hydrologist and a second magnetologist. During the voyage, under the direction of Lieutenant Kolchak, studies of western Taimyr and neighboring islands were carried out. After navigating in 1902, the Zarya, which reached Tiksi Bay, was crushed by ice and the expedition, shot by the Lena steamboat, arrived in Yakutsk in December in the capital. One of the leaders, E. Toll, who went with three satellites to Bennett’s island on sea ice, did not return, and Kolchak, arriving in St. Petersburg, invited the Imperial Academy of Sciences to organize a rescue expedition to boats on Bennett’s island. When Kolchak expressed his readiness to head the enterprise, the Academy gave him funds and complete freedom of action.

Kolchak went to the polar expedition as a groom, then, during the preparation of the rescue expedition, it was not before the wedding, and Sofya Omirova again remained waiting for her groom. At the end of January, a search expedition on dogs and deer arrived in Yakutsk, where news of the Japanese attack on Port Arthur was immediately received. Kolchak telegraphed the Academy with a request to be expelled to the Naval Department and to send them to the war zone. While the question of his transfer was being decided, Kolchak and his bride moved to Irkutsk, where he made a report on the current situation of the Russian polar expedition in the local geographical society. In the context of the outbreak of war, they decided not to postpone the wedding anymore and on March 5, 1904, Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak and Sofya Fedorovna Omirova got married in Irkutsk, from where they left a few days later. For participation in the Russian polar expedition, Kolchak received the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree.

In Port Arthur, Kolchak served as watchman on the Askold cruiser, as an artillery officer on the Amur mine layer, and as the commander of the Angry destroyer destroyer. On the mine bank set by him south of Port Arthur, the Japanese cruiser Takasago was blown up and killed. In November, after severe pneumonia, he moved to the land front. He commanded a battery of naval guns in the armed sector of the Rocky Mountains. He was awarded the Order of St. Anne IV degree with the inscription "For courage." On December 20, at the time the fortress was commissioned, due to articular rheumatism in a very serious form (a consequence of the expedition to the North), he ended up in the hospital. Captured. Starting to recover, he was transported to Japan. The Japanese government proposed that Russian prisoners of war either stay or "return to their homeland without any conditions." In April-June 1905 Kolchak made his way through America to St. Petersburg. For distinction near Port Arthur, he was bestowed with a golden saber with the inscription "For Courage" and the Order of St. Stanislav II degree with swords. Doctors recognized him as a perfect invalid and sent him to be treated in the water; only six months later, he was able to return to the disposal of the IAN.

Until May 1906, Kolchak put in order and processed expeditionary materials; a book entitled “The Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas” was prepared, printed in 1909. On January 10, 1906, at a joint meeting of two departments of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, Kolchak made a statement about the expedition to Bennett Island, and 30 January, the IRGO Council awarded him "for an extraordinary and important geographical feat, the performance of which is fraught with labor and danger", the highest award of the IRGO - the Great Gold Medal of Konstantinov.

After the events of 1905, the officers of the fleet fell into a state of decline and demoralization. Kolchak was among a small number of those naval officers who took on the task of reconstructing and scientifically reorganizing the Russian navy. In January 1906 he became one of the four founders and chairman of the semi-official officer St. Petersburg Naval Circle. Together with its other members, he developed a note on the creation of the Naval General Staff (MGS) as the body in charge of the special preparation of the fleet for war. MGSH was created in April 1906. Kolchak, who was among the first twelve officers selected from the entire Russian fleet, was appointed to head the Department of Russian Statistics at MGSH. Based on the assumption of a probable German attack in 1915, a military shipbuilding program was developed at the Moscow State School, one of the main drafters of which was Kolchak.

In 1907, the Main Hydrographic Directorate of the Marine Department began preparations for the Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean. Kolchak developed one of the projects of this expedition, with his active participation there was a choice of the type of vessels for her and supervision of the construction of icebreaking long-range icebreakers Vaigach and Taimyr, built at the Nevsky Shipyard in 1908-1909. In May 1908, with the rank of captain of the 2nd rank, Kolchak became the commander of the Vaigach launched, equipped specifically for cartographic work. The entire crew of the expedition consisted of volunteer military sailors, scientific duties were assigned to all officers. In October 1909, ships left St. Petersburg, and in July 1910 arrived in Vladivostok. At the end of 1910 Kolchak left for Petersburg.

In 1912, Kolchak was appointed head of the First Operational Department of the Moscow State School, in his charge - all the preparation of the fleet for the anticipated war. During this period, Kolchak took part in the Baltic Fleet’s maneuvers, became a specialist in the field of combat shooting and, especially, mine action: since the spring of 1912 he had been in the Baltic Fleet with Essen, then he served in Libava, where the base of the Mine Division was. Before Libya, his family remained in Libau: wife, son, daughter. Since December 1913, Kolchak - captain of the 1st rank; after the outbreak of war - the flag captain for the operational part. He developed the first combat mission for the fleet - to close the entrance to the Gulf of Finland with a strong minefield. Having taken a group of four destroyers in the interim command, at the end of February 1915 Kolchak closes Danzig Bay with two hundred mines. It was the most difficult operation - not only for military reasons, but also for the conditions of navigation of ships with a weak hull in the ice: here Kolchak’s polar experience was again useful. In September 1915, Kolchak assumed command, at first temporary, of the Mine Division; at the same time, all naval forces in the Gulf of Riga are subordinate to him. In November 1915 Kolchak received the highest Russian military award - the Order of St. George IV degree. On Easter 1916, in April, Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak was assigned the first admiral's rank.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Sevastopol Soviet removed Kolchak from command, and the admiral returned to Petrograd. Kolchak receives an invitation from an American mission that formally approached the Provisional Government with a request to send Admiral Kolchak to the United States to report information on the mine business and the fight against submarines. July 4 A.F. Kerensky gave permission to carry out Kolchak’s mission, and as a military adviser he leaves for England and then for the United States. Having agreed to the proposal of the cadet party to run for the Constituent Assembly, Kolchak returned to Russia, but the October coup delayed him in Japan until September 1918.