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50-818: The Volunteer Army began forming in November/December 1917 under the leadership of General Mikhail Alekseyev and General Lavr Kornilov in Novocherkassk , shortly after the Russian Civil War began following the October Revolution . It organized to fight against the Bolsheviks in South Russia. Alekseyev and Kornilov enlisted supporters, which initially included volunteering officers , cadets , students, and Cossacks . Of

100-583: A certain risk - time worked in favor of the reds, they could mobilize larger reserves. On 9 July, Lenin issued a circular "Everyone to Fight Denikin!", calling for a reorganization of forces and effective resistance to further white actions on the southern front. A dispute arose in the command of the Red Army over what the response to the capture of Tsaritsyn by the whites and further actions against Denikin's army in Kuban should look like. The commander-in-chief of

150-507: A form of government suitable for Russia. This turned out to be not enough. Officers before the revolution were out of politics, so after 1917 they were simply not able to correctly assess the political struggle and organize the ideological support of volunteer units and the propaganda struggle against the Soviet government. For example, the head of the OSVAG, whose task was to promote the policy of

200-612: A large scale. Kamenev's plan, assuming a smooth transition to strike the areas in South Russia that constituted the center of the White movement, failed, because Selivachyov's group had not managed to reach further than Kupiansk , leaving the Ukrainian Soviet capital of Kharkiv in the hands of the Whites. According to Mawdsley, it was Selivachyov's defeat that resulted in the failure of Kamenev's entire strategy. In September,

250-607: A more adaptable and flexible commander than his predecessor. He was, however, incapable of changing a political system that allowed the promotion of incompetent commanders through nepotism, patronage and the use of court intrigue. Alekseyev remained committed to the Allied cause of the Entente, which is proved by the undertaking of the summer offensive in 1916. However, the Russian Army did not manage to exploit strategic benefits of

300-539: A separate group of 3-5 thousand soldiers led the battle for the Red-held Astrakhan. Denikin made the mistake of not shortening the front, temporarily stepping back from the farthest positions in the face of the Insurgent Army's threat against him. His staff was overly optimistic and believed that the Whites, who had already overcome many great difficulties, would also be victorious this time, despite

350-802: The 11th Soviet Army and captured the North Caucasus region. In January 1919, the Caucasus Volunteer Army was divided into the Caucasus Army and the Volunteer Army , which would later be joined by the Don Army , created from the remnants of Krasnov's Cossack Army. After capturing Donbas , Tsaritsyn , and Kharkov in June 1919, Denikin began advancing towards Moscow on June 20 (July 3). According to his plan,

400-617: The Army of Wrangel under General Pyotr Wrangel . The term "Volunteer Army" is often used as a shorthand description for all the White Russian forces in the South Russia area, the actual names of the formation are: The army was unable to put forward a political idea that was understandable to the majority of the population. A struggle against the Bolsheviks was proclaimed, after which the Constituent Assembly would choose

450-638: The Kiev military district and promoted to lieutenant general . In 1912 Alekseyev was given command of the 13th Army Corps. The beginning of World War I saw Alekseyev appointed Chief of Staff to N. I. Ivanov , Commander of the Southwestern Front (which held the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Armies), where he planned the Russian offensive into Galicia with the rank of General-of-Infantry. He

500-652: The Red Army together with units of General Alexey Kaledin 's forces. In late February, the Red Army's advance forced the Volunteer Army to retreat from Rostov-on-Don to Kuban in order to unite with the Kuban Cossack formations, a retreat known as the Ice March . However, most Kuban Cossacks did not support the Volunteer Army, and only a small unit (3,000 men) led by General Viktor Pokrovsky joined

550-553: The Southern Front . Another significant reorganization was carried out in the Red Army. On 27 September, impressed by the successes of the Whites, the Southeastern Front was formed from the 9th and 10th Armies, operating on the section from Tsaritsyn to Bobrov under the command of Shorin. Stretched between Bobrov and Zhytomyr was the Southern Front , consisting of the 8th, 12th, 13th and 14th Armies, under

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600-1117: The Stavka , and after the February Revolution , was its commander-in-chief under the Russian Provisional Government from March to May 1917. He later played a principal role in founding the Volunteer Army in the Russian Civil War and died in 1918 of heart failure while fighting the Bolsheviks in the Volga region. Alekseyev was born in Vyazma , in the Smolensk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Smolensk Oblast , Russia ). His father, Vasili Alekseyev,

650-647: The Volunteer Army , while Alekseyev took responsibility for civil authority, foreign affairs and finances. Kaledin had responsibility for the government of the Don district. After the death of Kornilov, Alexeyev appointed Denikin commander of the Volunteer Army, successfully completing the Ice March . In June, Alekseyev set up a political office in Novocherkassk . However, Alekseyev, sick for some time, died of heart failure in Ekaterinodar in September 1918. He

700-400: The 1st Division , and General Sergey Markov as commander of 1st Officers regiment . They also created the so-called "Special Council" at the headquarters, which included prominent civilian politicians such as Peter Struve , Pavel Milyukov , Mikhail Rodzianko , Sergey Sazonov and Boris Savinkov . In early February 1918, the Volunteer Army numbered more than 3,600 men. It fought against

750-574: The Alekseev Organization, which would become the core of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army . On 19 December, he was joined by Lavr Kornilov . According to Peter Kenez , "As Denikin remarks, it was obvious from the first moment that cooperation between Alekseev and Kornilov would not be easy. Their backgrounds, personalities, and followers were very different, their past associations had left bitter memories, and they disliked each other." On 31 December, Kornilov took military command of

800-559: The Armed Forces of South Russia. In May and early June, the whites were finally claimed victory in the fierce battle of Donbas . Then on 27 June 1919, the White units of Vladimir May-Mayevsky successfully completed an operation to capture the Ukrainian Soviet capital of Kharkiv , and on 29-30 June 1919, forces commanded by Andrei Shkuro captured Katerynoslav. In the northern part of the Don region , Cossacks led an uprising against

850-561: The British, captured the strategic southern city of Tsaritsyn . There, on 3 July, at the parade of Wrangel's troops, Denikin announced that the next goal of the White movement would be to capture the capital of Soviet Russia. Denikin's Moscow directive (order No. 08878 ) determined the following directions of action: Denikin intended to use railroads to carry out all tasks ashore. He also ordered to start recruiting volunteers and to carry out large-scale propaganda campaign. Denikin's plan

900-733: The General Headquarters, arrested General Lavr Kornilov and his men and sent them to prison in Bykhov (a town in Mogilev oblast in Belarus ), from which they would "break away" with the help of General Nikolai Dukhonin . On 13 November, after the October Revolution , Alekseyev fled Petrograd, arriving Novocherkassk on 15 Nov. With the support of the Don Cossacks Ataman , General Alexey Kaledin , he formed

950-516: The Red Army's counteroffensive in October 1919, the Volunteer Army suffered a decisive defeat and retreated south. In early 1920, it retreated to the areas beyond the Don region and was reduced to a corps of 5,000 men under the command of General Alexander Kutepov . On March 26 and March 27, 1920, the Volunteer Army's remnants were evacuated from Novorossiysk to the Crimea , where they merged with

1000-414: The Red Army, Jukums Vācietis , supported by the commissioner for military and maritime affairs, Leon Trotsky , suggested that an offensive should be led through Donbas, where, as Trotsky argued, the soldiers could count on the support of the workers. However, Vācietis was removed from his post and replaced by Sergei Kamenev , who developed a plan to attack Tsaritsyn, then Novocherkassk and Rostov . Then

1050-643: The Southern Front, which in the first months of the year was much better for the Reds, changed in favor of the Armed Forces of South Russia commanded by Anton Denikin . At the end of April 1919, Nikolai Vsevolodov  [ ru ] , who commanded the 9th Red Army , turned over to the White movement , and in the weeks leading up to his escape he was passing on information to the Whites from his post. At

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1100-512: The Volunteer Army on March 26, 1918, increasing its number to 6,000 troops. The Volunteer Army's attempt to capture Yekaterinodar between April 9–13 was a disaster, with Kornilov being killed in battle when he was hit by an artillery shell. Denikin took over command of the remnants of the Volunteer Army and left for the remote stanitsas beyond the Don River region. In June 1918, 3,000 men under Colonel Mikhail Drozdovsky 's command joined

1150-633: The Volunteer Army, strengthening it to between 8,000 to 9,000 men. On June 23, the Volunteer Army began the Kuban Offensive , with General Pyotr Krasnov 's support. By September 1918, the Volunteer Army was up to 30,000 to 35,000 men thanks to the mobilization of the Kuban Cossacks and what the Bolsheviks classified as "counterrevolutionary elements" gathered in the North Caucasus , taking the name of Caucasus Volunteer Army . In

1200-497: The Volunteer Army, was appointed biologist S. Chakhotin, who was unable to wage an ideological struggle. Mikhail Alekseyev Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev ( Russian : Михаил Васильевич Алексеев ) (15 November [ O.S. 3 November] 1857 – 8 October [ O.S. 25 September] 1918) was an Imperial Russian Army general during World War I and the Russian Civil War . Between 1915 and 1917 he served as Tsar Nicholas II 's Chief of Staff of

1250-467: The Whites achieved further successes: on 20 September 1919, units under the command of Alexander Kutepov captured Kursk , destroying two red rifle divisions, and on 30 September, the cavalry under Shkuro's command surprised the enemy by crossing the Don and capturing Voronezh. On 14 October, the Armed Forces of South Russia entered Oryol . Never before has such a large area been under their control nor had they ever managed to get closer to Moscow. But

1300-400: The Whites departed in an orderly manner to Kursk. At the same time, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Army, Semyon Budyonny , against the orders of the front commander, attacked Voronezh, because he wanted to face the famous White cavalry in a direct battle. He achieved a spectacular victory over the forces of Mamontov and Shkuro, entering the city on 24 October. The next operation to capture

1350-588: The autumn of 1918, Great Britain , France and the United States increased their material and technical assistance to the Volunteer Army. With the Entente's support, the forces of the South Russian Whites combined to form the so-called Armed Forces of South Russia ( Вооружённые силы Юга России , Vooruzhenniye sily Yuga Rossii ) led by Denikin. In late 1918 to early 1919, Denikin defeated

1400-536: The beginning of May, Nykyfor Hryhoriv , who had led the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army in an operation to capture Kherson Governorate from the Allies , revolted against his Bolshevik commanders. Hryhoriv came to control the area from Mykolaiv and Kherson in the west to Katerynoslav in the east. This area had so far been a source of replenishment and supplies for the Red Army units fighting against

1450-526: The city of Oryol at only 360 kilometres (220 mi) from Moscow was taken, Denikin's overextended Army was decisively defeated in a series of battles in October and November 1919. The Moscow campaign of the AFSR can be divided into two phases: the offensive of the AFSR (3 July–10 October) and the counteroffensive of the Red Southern Front (11 October–November 18). In mid-1919, the situation on

1500-424: The command of Alexander Yegorov . Sergey Kamenev was to be personally responsible for coordinating their activities. Moreover, the first large cavalry unit on this side of the conflict was created - the 1st Cavalry Army - and ineffective commanders were replaced. On the White side, the division into four groups planned by Denikin continued. Wrangel's forces defended Tsaritsyn, a Sidorin's Don Cossacks operated to

1550-414: The first 3,000 recruits, only twelve were ordinary soldiers; the rest were officers, some of whom resented having to serve as privates . On December 27, 1917 (January 9, 1918), the creation of the Volunteer Army was officially announced, with Alekseyev becoming its overall leader, Kornilov as its Commander-in-chief , General Alexander Lukomsky as its Chief of Staff , General Anton Denikin commander of

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1600-561: The gap between the 8th and 9th Armies, was not included in the original plan of the march to Moscow and may have been undertaken without the consent of Denikin. Numbering 7-8 thousand cavalry, the group destroyed the communication infrastructure of the Reds, blew up railway tracks and bridges, destroyed a number of ammunition warehouses and dispersed some of the newly created Red Army units. On 18 August 1919, Mamontov's forces captured Tambov , and for two days (11 and 12 September) they captured Voronezh . In these cities, they committed looting on

1650-725: The lack of support from the population in the occupied areas, diseases plaguing White soldiers and bad organization. At the end of October 1919, the Red Army's counteroffensive began simultaneously in two sections. On 20 October, a strike group composed of the Latvian infantry division, the Ukrainian Cavalry Brigade under the command of Vitaliy Primakov , the 13th Rifle Division and the Estonian Rifle Division forced May-Mayevsky to leave Oryol and to retreat further south. Threatened with encirclement,

1700-586: The local Bolshevik authorities, in response to their repressive policy and persecution of the Orthodox Church . In June, the White troops under the command of Vladimir Sidorin managed to join the Cossack insurgents and oust the Bolsheviks from the entire Don region . Finally, in the last days of the same month, the Kuban Cossacks under the command of Pyotr Wrangel , using tanks supplied by

1750-523: The main blow to Moscow was to be inflicted by the Volunteer Army (40,000 men) under the command of General Vladimir May-Mayevsky . Some of the Volunteer Army's units and formations possessed good military skills and fighting strength due to large numbers of officers in its ranks, who hated and despised the Bolsheviks. However, the Volunteer Army's fighting efficiency decreased in the summer of 1919 in light of significant losses and conscription of mobilized peasants and even captured Red Army soldiers. During

1800-510: The offensive would be entrusted to the 9th and 10th Red Armies , not the much weaker 13th and 14th Red Armies . Although the actions planned by Denikin in Ukraine were to be only of a protective nature, it was in this area that the whites achieved their first important successes in the course of the launched offensive. On 29 July 1919 they seized Poltava , on 18 August they captured Mykolaiv , and on 23 August they landed at Odesa . On

1850-595: The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War , in October 1904 Alekseyev was appointed Quartermaster General of the Russian 3rd Manchurian Army . During the war he was awarded a gold sword , the Order of St. Stanislav , and the Order of St. Anne . After the war, he returned to the General Staff Academy as a Professor of the history of military science. In 1908 he was made Chief of Staff of

1900-485: The same day, they entered Kyiv , forcing the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic to leave the city, which also reached it in the course of a separate offensive on 23 August. According to Evan Mawdsley, Denikin's Ukrainian offensive was a strategic mistake, as the forces that led it, consequently, could not engage in combat on the key central section of the front, and its line was stretched too thin. At

1950-421: The same time, the Red Army started to implement Kamenev's planned counteroffensive . On 14 August, a strike group under the command of Vasily Shorin (8th and 9th Army) began the march on Tsaritsyn, while the group under the command of Vladimir Selivachyov (parts of the 8th and 14th Armies and the 13th Army) was directed to Kharkiv. Shorin's group attacked Wrangel's Caucasian Army, which left Tsaritsyn north and

2000-499: The seizure of subsequent provinces, contrary to the expectations of the Whites, weakened them. The administration created by Denikin did not function efficiently, recruits drafted into the army did not want to fight, and the front line was dangerously lengthening. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik government more successfully mobilized new volunteers to fight Denikin. Between September and 15 November 1919, 100,000 new red soldiers were sent to

2050-499: The successful offensive and the situation at the front did not improve significantly. During the February Revolution of 1917, Alexeyev forwarded telegrams to the Tsar from the generals commanding the front, advising him to abdicate the throne. These telegrams led to the Tsar's decision to abdicate on the 15 March 1917 in favour of his brother Grand Duke Michael . From March to May 1917, Alekseyev's position remained ambiguous. While he

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2100-425: The west, Kyiv was defended by Abram Dragomirov 's troops, while the central part of the front was held by Vladimir May-Mayevsky. Denikin had practically no reserves, because those troops that were not involved in the march to Moscow were facing engagements with Nestor Makhno 's Revolutionary Insurgent Army , which had captured most of eastern Ukraine and were approaching the White headquarters of Taganrog , while

2150-714: Was a military campaign of the White Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), launched against the RSFSR in July 1919 during the Russian Civil War . The goal of the campaign was the capture of Moscow, which, according to the chief of the White Army Anton Denikin , would play a decisive role in the outcome of the Civil War and bring the Whites closer to the final victory. After initial successes, in which

2200-622: Was an army captain in the 64th Kazan Regiment from a modest background. In 1873 Alekseyev entered as a volunteer in the 2nd Grenadiers Regiment in Rostov . He graduated from the Moscow Infantry School in 1876 and was commissioned an ensign in the same 64th Kazan Regiment. He served as an orderly to General Mikhail Skobelev during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) , and was wounded in combat near Pleven , Bulgaria . He

2250-567: Was approaching Saratov, but its march was halted due to lack of food and supplies. Wrangel had to withdraw from Kamyshin and take up a defensive position in Tsaritsyn, where he successfully defended himself; after six weeks of fighting, Shorin's group lost the ability to engage in any offensive actions, especially after it was attacked by cavalry under the command of Konstantin Mamontov . The Mamontov raid  [ pl ] , exploiting

2300-519: Was first buried in the crypt of the Cossack host cathedral, but his family moved his remains to the New Cemetery, Belgrade , where they remain to this day. Advance on Moscow (1919) White strategic failure Bolshevik victory [REDACTED] Armed Forces of South Russia [REDACTED] Southern Front [REDACTED] Southeastern Front The Advance on Moscow

2350-406: Was optimistic, overestimating the capabilities of his forces after being impressed by the recent successes. For this reason Denikin ignored Wrangel's suggestions to postpone a major offensive on Moscow, allow troops to rest, and focus temporarily on defense along the Katerynoslav-Tsaritsyn line and only launch an attack  [ pl ] against Astrakhan . This solution, however, also carried

2400-405: Was promoted to lieutenant in January 1881, and captain in May 1883. In 1893, Alekseyev entered the Nicholas General Staff Academy , and in 1896 became a lecturer. In 1890 with the rank of lieutenant colonel , he was posted as a senior adjutant in the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps in the St. Petersburg Military District. In March 1904, he was promoted to the rank of major general. With

2450-581: Was subsequently awarded the Order of St. George (4th class). In March 1915 Alekseyev became the overall commander of the Russian Northwestern Front . On 5 September 1915, when Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich of Russia stepped down as Russian supreme Commander-in-chief in August 1915 to be replaced by Tsar Nicholas II, Alekseyev was appointed as Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters ( Stavka ) and placed in charge of all military operations. He served in this capacity from August 1915 to March 1917. In his capacity as Chief of Staff, Alekseyev proved to be

2500-400: Was the Commander-in-chief and later adviser to the Provisional Government , he spoke out against the Soviets and the democratization of the army. On 30 August 1917 Alekseyev became Chief of Staff of the Stavka under Commander-in-Chief Alexander Kerensky . His goal was to prevent the Kornilov movement (see Kornilov Affair ) from developing into civil war. That same day, Alekseyev arrived at

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