16 Facts About Lavr Kornilov

1.

Lavr Kornilov escaped from jail in November 1917 and subsequently became the military commander of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army which took the charge of anti-Bolshevik opposition in the south of Russia.

2.

Lavr Kornilov's Siberian Cossack father was a friend of Potanin, a prominent figure in the Siberian autonomy movement.

3.

Lavr Kornilov entered military school in Omsk in 1885 and went on to study at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St Petersburg in 1889.

4.

Lavr Kornilov returned to St Petersburg to attend the Nikolayev General Staff Academy and graduated as a captain in 1897.

5.

Lavr Kornilov was awarded the Order of St George for bravery and promoted to the rank of colonel.

6.

Lavr Kornilov studied the Chinese language, travelled extensively, and regularly sent detailed reports to the General Staff and Foreign Ministry.

7.

Lavr Kornilov paid much attention to the prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in the Far East and met with the future president of China, Chiang Kai-shek.

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8.

In 1910 Lavr Kornilov was recalled from Beijing but remained in St Petersburg for only five months before departing for western Mongolia and Kashgar to examine the military situation along China's border with Russia.

9.

In 1914, at the start of World War I, Lavr Kornilov was appointed commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which saw combat in Galicia and the Carpathians.

10.

Lavr Kornilov's army inflicted a spectacular defeat on the Austrians, taking ten thousand prisoners - Russia's only notable military success in the year 1917 - though after five days, was forced to retreat.

11.

Lavr Kornilov, appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army in July 1917, considered the Petrograd Soviet responsible for the breakdown in the military in recent times and believed that the Provisional Government lacked the power and confidence to dissolve the Petrograd Soviet.

12.

The Lavr Kornilov Affair resulted in significantly increased distrust among Russians towards the Provisional Government.

13.

Lavr Kornilov became the military commander of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army with Alekseev as the political chief.

14.

Lavr Kornilov's forces became recognizable for their Totenkopf insignia, which appeared on the regiment's flags, pennants, and soldiers' sleeve patches.

15.

On 24 February 1918, as Rostov and the Don Cossack capital of Novocherkassk fell to the Bolsheviks, Lavr Kornilov led the Volunteer Army on the epic 'Ice March' into the empty steppe towards the Kuban.

16.

Lavr Kornilov was quietly buried in nearby Gnadau.