BMKMUN’20HISTORICAL COMMITTEE -

WHITE ARMY

STUDY GUIDE

CHAIR & DEPUTY CHAIR:

Eftelya Rana Topan & Salim Babashov

Esteemed delegates,

Welcome to Historical Committee of BMKMUN’20! As the Historical Chairing

Team, we are all thrilled to work with you during these four days. We hope this

conference will be an unforgettable experience, both for you and the team. We expect

each delegate to come to the conference well prepared and with an understanding of

his/her position. We are looking forward to seeing you all very soon!

May the strength of the Tsar be with you.

Historical Chairing Team

OVERVIEW OF THE PRE-CIVIL WAR RUSSIA

Until March 1917, Russia was ruled by monarchies. Demoralization and disorganization were

pervasive in the imperial government. Ethnic minorities were impatient and ready to evade Russian

domination. An uprising, which took place in 1905, would also be a base for the upcoming

revolutions. The Russian Empire fought in World War I alongside France and the United Kingdom

with the Allies, which was called the Triple Entente, against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the

Ottoman Empire, which was called the Central Powers.

Russia’s performance during World War I was one of the main causes of the February and October

Revolutions. As an outcome of the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government took

over and the tsar was forced to abdicate. In September, a republic was formed. During the October

Revolution, the government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks of the Russian Social Democratic

Labour Party. Initial Anti-Bolshevik uprisings were put down by the Red Guard, the volunteer-based

main military force of the Bolsheviks.

The Russian Civil War (7 November 1917- 25

October 1922) was a multi-party civil war. Two

main groups were the Red Army fighting for

the Bolsheviks and the White Army opposing

them, formed by diverse ideologies. The Treaty

of Brest-Litovsk was signed in 1918, Russia

gave in vast fractions of its territory to

Germany. After the treaty, Anti-Bolshevik

troops that were formed inside and outside

Russia took greater action.

WHITE SIDE

IDEOLOGY

The White armies were counter-revolutionary groups that participated in the Russian Civil War.

The White Army was made up of some allied forces that shared diverse interests and political views.

After the overthrow of the Provisional government, Bolsheviks took control. By January 1918,

General Kornilov had organised a volunteer army; and after some months, other groups who

opposed the Bolsheviks joined along, forming the Whites.

Those who joined included the Cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, landowners who had

lost their estates/had their property nationalized, members of the Russian Orthodox Church etc.

As stated above, the Whites had various ideologies. These ideologies were mainly:

i. Anti-Bolshevism

ii. Anti-Communism

iii. Anti-Sovietism

iv. Russian Nationalism

v. Partly, Monarchism

vi. Partly, Liberalism

vii. Conservatism

The White Army arrived as an opponent of the Red Army. They intended to keep law and order in

Russia in a way that the Tsar’s army did in “pre-civil war Russia”. They worked to abolish Soviet

organizations and functionaries in White controlled territories.

Whites were nationalistic, they rejected ethnic particularism and separatism, and would rather a

multinational union of Russia than separate nation states.

The White Army did succeed, at first, in Ukraine where the Bolsheviks were mostly unpopular. By

February, 1918, the Whites held no major areas in Russia.

The White generals never mastered administration. The White Army was led by conservative

generals with diverse plans and approaches, with little coordination. They often had "pre-

revolutionary functionaries" or "military officers with monarchististic inclinations" for administering

White-controlled regions.

IMPORTANT WHITE ARMY RELATED FIGURES

Note: Extended versions are at the end of the report.

A. Aleksandr Vasilyevich Kolchak

Russian Naval Officer

Admiral Alexander Kolchak (1874-1920) commanded the Russian Black Sea fleet from 1916, and

succeeded in harrying the Turkish navy in the sector until the advent of the Russian revolution

brought about his recall and subsequent career fighting with anti-Bolshevik White forces.

B. Anton Ivanovich Denikin

Russian General

Anton Ivanovich Denikin, (born December 1872, died August 1947), general who led the anti-

Bolshevik (“White”) forces on the southern front during the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

C. Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov

Russian General

Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov, (born August 1870—died April 1918), Imperial Russian general,

who was accused of attempting to overthrow the provisional government established in Russia after

the February Revolution of 1917 and to replace it with a military dictatorship.

D. Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov

Russian Officer

Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov, (born September 1869—died January 1947), imperial Russian army

officer and a commander of anti-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War. During World War

II he helped organize anti-Soviet Cossack units for the Germans and urged the creation of a Cossack

state under German protection.

E. Pyotr Nikolayevich Baron Wrangel

Russian General

Pyotr Nikolayevich, Baron Wrangel, (born August 1878—died April 1928), general who led the

“White” (anti-Bolshevik) forces in the final phase of the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

F. Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev

Russian General

Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev, Alekseyev also spelled Alekseev, (born November 1857—died

October 1918), commander in chief of the Russian Army for two months in World War I and a

military and political leader of the White (anti-Bolshevik) forces in the Russian Civil War that

followed the Russian Revolution of October 1917.

G. Nikolay Yudenich

Russian General

Nikolay Nikolayevich Yudenich, (born July 1862—died October 1933), commander of the White

forces in the northwest during the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

H. Carl Gustaf Mannerheim

President of Finland

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, (born June 1867—died January 1951), Finnish military leader and

conservative statesman who successfully defended Finland against greatly superior Soviet forces

during World War II and served as the country’s president (1944–46).

I. Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov

Russian Historian & Statesman

Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov, (born January 1859—died March 1943), Russian statesman and

historian who played an important role in the events leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and

served as foreign minister (March–May 1917) in Prince Lvov’s provisional government. He remains

one of the greatest of Russia’s liberal historians.

J. Alfred Knox

British Military Officer

Major-General Sir Alfred William Fortescue Knox (30 October 1870 – 9 March 1964) was a

career British military officer and later a Conservative Party politician.

1.White propaganda poster "For united Russia" representing the Bolsheviks as a fallen

communist dragon and the White Cause as a crusading knight.

MAJOR PARTIES INVOLVED

RED ARMY: Volunteer-based main military force of the Bolsheviks, was established after the

October Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations of

their rivals during the Russian Civil War.

WHITE ARMY: A confederation of the various anti-communist force groups --collectively known

as the White Army-- that fought the Communist Bolsheviks (Red Army), in the Russian Civil War.

GREEN ARMY: Semi-organized local militias that opposed the Reds, Whites and foreign

interventions and aimed to protects their community from demands carried out by third parties.

BLACK ARMY: The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, Makhnovshchina, was an

anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian peasants and workers during the Russian Civil War of

1917–1922.

LEFT SR: The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries was a revolutionary socialist political party

formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917 it split between those who supported the Russian

Provisional Government; and those who supported the Bolsheviks, who favoured a communist

insurrection (Left Socialist-Revolutionaries or Left SRs).

FAR EASTERN REP.: The Far Eastern Republic was established in the aftermath of the Russian

Civil War. During the Civil War local authorities generally controlled the towns and cities of the

Russian Far East, cooperating to a greater or lesser extent with the White Siberian government of

Alexander Kolchak and with the succeeding invading forces of the Japanese Army.

GERMANY, FRANCE, UK, UKRAINE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA

EXPLANATION OF IMPORTANT TERMS

BOLSHEVIK:

A member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in the

October Revolution of 1917. A person who supports the political system and ideas that Lenin

introduced after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

COMMUNISM:

Advocacy of a classless society in which private ownership has been abolished and the means of

production and subsistence belong to the community.

MONARCHY:

A form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually a hereditary

figure and whose powers can vary from those of an absolute despot to those of a figurehead.

CIVIL WAR:

A war fought between geographical sections or political factions of the same nation.

FOREIGN INTERVENTION:

Any interference in the affairs of others, by one government in the affairs of another.

LIBERALISM:

Political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the central

problem of politics.

CONSERVATISM:

Opposition to rapid changes, and promoting keeping traditions in society.

THE ALLIES:

The Allies in World War I was: Serbia, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and the

United States of America.

THE CENTRAL POWERS:

The Central Powers in World War I was: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman

Empire.

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT:

The tsarist empire that extended across Eurasia and North America from 1721 until overthrown by

the Provisional Government after February Revolution of 1917.

THE RUSSIAN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT:

Internationally recognized government of Russia from February 1917 to October 1917 when

Bolsheviks placed power on the Soviets which had given their support to the Bolsheviks.

RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS

THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK:

Useful link: The Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, which ended Russia’s participation in WW1, between the

Bolshevik Government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers. The treaty was signed at Brest-

Litovsk after two months of negotiations and was forced on the Bolshevik government by the threat

of further advances by German and Austrian forces. According to the treaty, Soviet Russia defaulted

on all of Imperial Russia’s commitments to the Triple Entente alliance.

WARNING: Historical committees work starts from March 3, 1918, the Treaty of

Brest-Litovsk, and moves on forward.

DETAILED BACKGROUND OF THE ISSUE:

Everything started in 1894, after the Tsar Nicholas II’s coronation as the new Emperor of Russia. As

the leader of the government, he had the final say on any authoritative statement concerning Russia.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Russia was under the effect of sudden industrial growth and

new ideologies, such as communism. People like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels quickly caught

the public eye.

One of the purposes of the communist action was to abolish religious leaders and monarchy,

alongside of forming a central government which controls the economy and any other affair

regarding the commonwealth of the public. Meanwhile, the imperial government was incompetent.

The country was low on agricultural growth. Agricultural inadequacy, along with rapid

industrialization, caused new economic problems. The government’s tardiness also caused foreign

policy problems. Some of these misleading policies sowed the seeds of a war between the Russian

Empire and the Empire of Japan, the Russo-Japanese War. The Russian Army was defeated.

After the defeat, the imperial government failed to receive public support, and a few reforms were

arranged. An event called the Bloody Sunday, where some people were hurt and shot, took place and

caused several riots in the country. These riots led to some reforms in the government. Although

national assembly, Duma, ran a voting procedure, the tsar did not allow it to be entertained.

After the election, Pyotr Stolypin was elected prime minister. Stolypin started production focused

renovations for agricultural growth. He was assassinated in 1911. In 1914, St. Petersburg, the

capital, was renamed as Pertograd.

Russia taking part in World War I was one of the main events, tsar’s expectation was that the empire

would be able to intimidate other countries and achieve more authority. The emperor selected

himself as the head-commander. He left Empress Alexandra and her advisor Grigory Rasputin in

charge of Petrograd. After the army’s defeat, the public held Rasputin responsible for the corruption

and accused him of misguiding the royal family.

He was assassinated by tsarist aristocrats in 1916, blamed for failure by misleading the army.

Russia’s loss was a major issue. The government was malfunctioning and food shortages led to

protests. Tsar tried interfering with manpower to put these protests to an end, yet, the army

supported his opponents. Tsar Nicholas II was abdicated. This matter is named as the February

Revolution.

300 year Romanov rule ended. After the abdication, new names appeared. Vladimir Lenin became a

very distinct figure. Firstly, he gathered the bolsheviks. For his plans of overthrowing the

government, he convinced the public, promising land, food and peace. Protests were a lot more

intense and difficult to control now. The imperial government was struggling and different

ideologies were spreading quickly.

The Petrograd Soviet and the national assembly, Duma, decided to collaborate. However, the

Marxist Mensheviks approved the Petrograd Soviet better. The government and mensheviks had no

intention to end the war sooner. Bolsheviks, who followed Lenin’s policies, received more sympathy

from the public. The communist ideology expanded even further.

The slogans like: “Bread, Peace and Land” were echoing around the capital and the country. In June

18th 1917, the June Offensive occurred and the army fell, with 400.000 casualties. After the

collision most of the revolutionary leaders were arrested such as Leon Trotsky. Stalin helped Lenin

to get away to Finland with fake documents, as a caution for a possible case of assassination or

exile. During this period, Alexander Kerensky became the prime minister. Kerensky was thought to

be the one to save Russia from anarchy.

The general of the army Lavr Kornilov accused Lenin of spying for the Germans, and a traitor to his

land. Kornilov claimed Lenin was a threat, and held him responsible of the war loss. He commanded

nearly half of the army to march back to Petrograd to set order, an event now referred to as the

Kornilov Affair. Meanwhile the Bolshevik leader Trotsky was released from prison, and he gathered

a militias the “Red Guards”. They fighted, and he sent troops to the key parts of the city to defend

the important spots.

Bolsheviks started a movement in order to stop Kornilov from taking over Petrograd, by breaking

railroads. Some soldiers started to change routes and the others chose to keep on moving.

Lenin returned back from Finland, thus Bolsheviks gained some authority in the Petrograd Soviet.

The majority were the Bolshevik. After Lenin’s return, Bolsheviks started a movement and invaded

the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government took place. It was referred to as the Bolshevik

Revolution, it was successful.

The Bolshevik Propaganda has officially started. Kerensky saved the city from being conquered

with struggle. At the second all-Russian congress, Lenin announced that the Provisional

Government was officially overthrown. After the congress, Lenin brought in accessible public

education, health care and improved rights of women along with accepting Finland’s Declaration of

Independence.

After this, Bolsheviks called for a true election. The election did not go as Lenin planned, thus he

used manpower to have himself elected. Moscow became the new capital of Russia, the Julian

calendar was switched to the Gregorian calendar. In March, 1918, after the invasion of specific part

of Russia in Europe, Trotsky and his men ended up demanding peace in between the central powers.

On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk was signed.

USEFUL RESOURCES

The Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution, Youtube Attachment

The Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution, Youtube Attachment II

Russian Civil War Russian Civil War, Britannica Article

White Army White Army Article, Spartacus Ed

The Russian Revolution Russian Revolution, Britannica Article

The White Army White Army Article, Alpha History

The Red Army Britannica, The Red Army Article

Russian Civil War Wikipedia Article for Russian Civil War

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ten Minute History- The Russian Revolution. (2016, December 31). Retrieved December

14, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ55ZvBe07U.

The Russian Revolution 1917. (2016, August 4). Retrieved December 14, 2019, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9G1QUIm7w.

Russian Civil War & The Red Army- Britannica Russian History. (n.d.). Retrieved December

14, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War.&

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Red-Army

Spartacus Educatianol, J. S. (1997, September 0). The White Army. Retrieved December

14, 2019, from https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSwhite.htm.

Britannica, M. R. (1998, November). Russian Revolution. Retrieved December 14, 2019,

from https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Revolution.

Alpha History, J. L. (2019, June 15). White Armies. Retrieved December 14, 2019, from

https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/white-armies/.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Russian Civil War. Retrieved December 14, 2019, from

https://www.wikizeroo.org/index.php?

q=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvUnVzc2lhbl9DaXZpbF9XYXI.

____________________________________________________

Extended Biographies for Related Figures

Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov, (born August 1870—died April 1918), Imperial Russian general,

who was accused of attempting to overthrow the provisional government established in Russia after

the February Revolution of 1917 and to replace it with a military dictatorship.

An intelligence officer for the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05)

and a military attaché in Beijing (1907–11), Kornilov became a divisional commander during World

War I. Captured by the Austrians at Przemysl (March 1915), he escaped in 1916 and was placed in

command of an army corps.

After the February Revolution Kornilov was put in charge of the vital military district of Petrograd

(St. Petersburg) by the provisional government. His determination to restore discipline and

efficiency in the disintegrating Russian Army made him unpopular in revolutionary Petrograd. He

soon resigned, returned to the front, and participated in the abortive Russian offensive in June

against the Germans in Galicia.

On August 1, Prime Minister Aleksandr Kerensky appointed him commander in chief, but conflicts

developed between Kornilov and Kerensky, owing to their opposing views on politics and on the

role and nature of the army.

At the end of August, Kornilov sent troops toward Petrograd; Kerensky, interpreting this as an

attempted military coup d’état, dismissed Kornilov and ordered him to come to Petrograd (August

27). Kornilov refused, and railroad workers prevented his troops from reaching their destination; on

September 1 he surrendered and was imprisoned at Bykhov.

Kornilov later escaped, and, after the Bolsheviks seized power (October 1917), he assumed military

command of the anti-Bolshevik (“White”) volunteer army in the Don region. Several months later he

was killed during a battle for Ekaterinodar.

Anton Ivanovich Denikin, (born December 1872, died August 1947), general who led the anti-

Bolshevik (“White”) forces on the southern front during the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

A professional in the Imperial Russian Army, Denikin served in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05)

and in World War I (1914–16). After the February Revolution of 1917, he became chief of staff to

the provisional government’s commander in chief, Mikhail V. Alekseyev, but was quickly

disillusioned by that government’s inability to maintain discipline in the army. He was dismissed

from his post in July for political reasons.

Placed in command of the western front, Denikin came into close contact with General Lavr G.

Kornilov, then the Russian supreme military commander, and in August 1917 the two were arrested

for conspiring to overthrow the provisional government and establish a military dictatorship.

A month after the Bolsheviks’ October (Old Style) coup d’état, however, they escaped from prison

and fled southward to the Don River region, where Kornilov assumed command of the White Army

recently formed by Alekseyev. Kornilov was killed in April 1918, and Denikin became commander

of the White forces in southern Russia.

By the beginning of 1919 he controlled the northern Caucasus; in May he launched a major

offensive, advancing through Ukraine toward Moscow. In October, however, the Red Army

defeated him at Oryol and forced him to retreat with his disintegrating army to Novorossiysk; the

remainder of his army was then evacuated to Crimea (March 1920).

In April Denikin turned over his command to General Pyotr N. Wrangel and settled in France, where

he wrote his memoirs. He immigrated to the United States in 1945.

Aleksandr Vasilyevich Kolchak, (born November 1874—died February 1920), Arctic explorer

and naval officer, who was recognized in 1919–20 by the “Whites” as supreme ruler of Russia; after

his overthrow he was put to death by the Bolsheviks.

At the outbreak of World War I, Kolchak was flag captain of the Baltic fleet. By August 1916, as a

vice admiral, he was commanding the fleet in the Black Sea.

In June 1917, after the February revolution, he resigned under pressure and went to the United

States. Next he tried, unsuccessfully, to coordinate White Russian forces in Manchuria.

In October 1918 he went to Omsk, where he became war minister in the non-Bolshevik government.

On Nov. 18, 1918, a military coup d’état at Omsk brought him absolute power there.

His armies, though at first successful, eventually were routed. When Omsk fell to the Red Army on

Nov. 14, 1919, Kolchak transferred his headquarters to Irkutsk, but on Jan. 4, 1920, he was forced to

resign when a Socialist Revolutionary–Menshevik group seized power in that city.

He placed himself under Allied protection, but the Czechs handed him over to the Irkutsk

authorities, from whom he was taken by the Bolsheviks. He was summarily executed and his body

thrown into the Angara River.

Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov, (born September 1869—died January 1947), imperial Russian

army officer and a commander of anti-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War. During World

War II he helped organize anti-Soviet Cossack units for the Germans and urged the creation of a

Cossack state under German protection.

The son of a Cossack general, Krasnov rose to divisional commander during World War I and was

appointed head of a cavalry corps in August 1917 under the Provisional Government. At the time of

the October Revolution, he was ordered to lead loyal troops from the front to Petrograd in what

proved to be a failed attempt to defeat the Bolsheviks. Taken prisoner, he was released after

promising not to oppose the new Soviet government.

Krasnov was nevertheless soon active in anti-Soviet efforts in the Don River region. Selected as

commander of the so-called White forces, he organized a Cossack army and enjoyed initial military

successes against the Soviets with the aid of German arms. After the Armistice (Nov. 11, 1918),

however, the situation deteriorated, and in January 1919 Krasnov’s forces suffered a major defeat.

Resigning his command, Krasnov left Russia, later working with anti-Bolshevik Cossack groups in

Europe and eventually becoming allied with the Nazis.

In 1944 the Germans established a Cossack puppet state in the Italian Alps, which Krasnov joined in

1945. Surrendering to the British in May, he was returned to the Soviet Union in accord with an

agreement made at the Yalta Conference. In 1947 he was hanged by order of a Soviet military court.

Pyotr Nikolayevich, Baron Wrangel, (born August 1878—died April 1928), general who led

the “White” (anti-Bolshevik) forces in the final phase of the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

A member of an old German baronial family, he served in the Russian imperial guards and became

commander of a Cossack division during World War I. He continued to serve in the army after the

February Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the Romanov dynasty.

However, when General Lavr G. Kornilov, whom he supported, was arrested for attempting to

overthrow the provisional government (August 1917), Wrangel resigned his commission and went to

Crimea.

After the Bolshevik coup d’état (October 1917), he joined the White forces of General Anton I.

Denikin and was given command of an army. During Denikin’s offensive (summer 1919), Wrangel

captured Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd; July 2); he succeeded Denikin as commander of the White

armies in April 1920, after the Whites had been forced back into the Crimea and Denikin had

resigned.

Wrangel tried to rally the support of the peasants, Cossacks, and western allies for the Whites, then

launched a new offensive in the Ukraine (June 1920). By early November, however, the Red Army

had defeated the Whites, who retreated into the Crimea and were evacuated to Constantinople

(November 8–16, 1920).

After leaving Russia, Wrangel lived in exile in western Europe and wrote his memoirs, which

appeared in English translation in 1929.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev, Alekseyev also spelled Alekseev, (born November 1857—died

October 1918), commander in chief of the Russian Army for two months in World War I and a

military and political leader of the White (anti-Bolshevik) forces in the Russian Civil War that

followed the Russian Revolution of October 1917.

The son of a private soldier, Alekseyev entered the Russian Army in 1876 and graduated in 1890

from the staff college. He became a general in 1904. Early in World War I, he planned the

successful Russian offensive into Galicia. After a period of command on the northwestern front, he

became chief of the general staff (August 1915) and assumed control of all Russian armies in the

European theatre.

Alekseyev was handicapped by the growing divergence of Russian public opinion and the wishes of

the imperial court. In the fall of 1916 his intention to present the emperor Nicholas II with a

peremptory demand for reform became known, and Alekseyev was suspended from duty.

In March 1917 when Nicholas abdicated, Alekseyev was appointed commander in chief. He

resigned, however, on May 21 in protest against the provisional government’s failure to suppress

defeatism and anarchy in the army.

Subsequently, Alekseyev tried to arrange a compromise between the conservative Gen. L.G.

Kornilov and Aleksandr F. Kerensky, who became prime minister in the Provisional Government

(July–October 1917). After the revolution, Alekseyev organized the anti-Bolshevik force (the White

Army) in the region of the Don.

Nikolay Nikolayevich Yudenich, (born July 1862—died October 1933), commander of the

White forces in the northwest during the Russian Civil War (1918–20).

Having entered the Imperial Army in 1879, Yudenich graduated from the General Staff Academy in

1887, served on the General Staff from 1887 until 1902, and then became a regimental commander.

After participating in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), he was promoted to general (1905) and in

1913 was appointed chief of staff of the Caucasian military district. During World War I he

commanded Russian troops in the Caucasus (1914–15 and February–October, 1917).

After the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917, Yudenich retired to Finland but later went to

Tallinn, in Estonia. In May 1919 he launched an offensive toward Petrograd (St. Petersburg), but his

volunteer army was driven back to Estonia. In July, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak (head of the White,

or anti-Bolshevik, government in Siberia) recognized him as commander in chief of the

northwestern White armies.

Yudenich organized the scattered White forces in the Baltic region into an army. His lack of

sympathy for the nationalism of the local Estonian government and his quarrels with his British

advisers, however, brought about a decline in his political effectiveness.

When he renewed his offensive in October 1919, in coordination with a White attack on Moscow

from the south, the Red Army stopped him at Pulkovo, on the outskirts of Petrograd, and forced his

army to retreat to Estonia and to disband (January 1920). Yudenich fled to France and died in exile.

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, (born June 1867—died January 1951), Finnish military leader

and conservative statesman who successfully defended Finland against greatly superior Soviet forces

during World War II and served as the country’s president (1944–46).

Mannerheim was of Swedish ancestry. He entered the Russian army in 1889 as a lieutenant in the

cavalry. Finland was then a part of the Russian Empire, and Mannerheim distinguished himself

during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) and World War I, rising to the rank of lieutenant general

and corps commander in the Russian army.

After the outbreak of the October (November) Russian Revolution in 1917, he returned to Finland,

which had declared its independence from Russia. A conservative aristocrat and monarchist,

Mannerheim assumed command of the “White” (anti-Bolshevik) forces in January 1918 during the

Finnish Civil War and, with German assistance, defeated the Finnish Bolsheviks and expelled

Russian forces in a bloody four-month campaign.

He became regent of Finland in December 1918, holding this post for seven months until a republic

was declared in 1919. From 1919 to 1931 he lived in semiretirement, concerning himself with

volunteer health and social welfare causes in Finland. He continued his political career, on and off.

Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov, (born January 1859—died March 1943), Russian statesman and

historian who played an important role in the events leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and

served as foreign minister (March–May 1917) in Prince Lvov’s provisional government. He remains

one of the greatest of Russia’s liberal historians.

When Tsar Nicholas II abdicated under this pressure on March 15, 1917, Milyukov wanted to

preserve the monarchy as a stabilizing force but found little support.

In the liberal provisional government under Prince Georgy Lvov, which Milyukov helped to

constitute, he towered intellectually over his colleagues but was soon out-maneuvered by the

Socialist leader Aleksandr Kerensky, who favoured a policy of concessions to popular demands,

notably on the question of taking immediate steps toward a negotiated peace.

As foreign minister, Milyukov clung to Russia’s wartime alliances. He resisted heavy pressure from

inside and outside the government to send a note to the Allies redefining his country’s war aims, and

when he yielded on May 1 the note was phrased ambiguously. Disturbances broke out in the streets

of Petrograd (St. Petersburg), and Milyukov was obliged to resign (May 15).

Thereafter Milyukov endeavoured to counter the new coalition government’s leftward swing by

rallying the moderates, but with little success. The Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1917

forced him to leave Petrograd for southern Russia, where he became political counselor to the

leaders of the White Volunteer Army. Subsequently he emigrated to Paris. Milyukov held fast to his

liberal principles and remained active in politics and scholarship until his death.

Major-General Sir Alfred William Fortescue Knox (30 October 1870 – 9 March 1964) was a

career British military officer and later a Conservative Party politician.

In 1911 General Knox was appointed the British Military Attaché in Russia. A fluent speaker of

Russian, he became a liaison officer to the Imperial Russian Army during First World War. During

the October Revolution in Russia he observed the Bolsheviks taking the Winter Palace on 25

October 1917.

During the Russian Civil War, he was the head of the British Mission (Britmis) and notional Chef

d'Arrière of the White Army in Siberia under Admiral Kolchak. He barely intervened in the combat

operations, as Kolchak was unwilling to listen to his advice and to accept demands about a Russian

Constituent Assembly after the war.

In 1921 Knox published his memoirs, With the Russian Army: 1914-1917.At the 1924 general

election, he was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Wycombe. He held his

seat during the 1929 general election and through subsequent general elections, serving in the House

of Commons until the 1945 general election. In 1934, Knox argued against Indian Independence.

His parliamentary questions mainly concerned the Soviet Union and the threat of Hitler as well as

the rearmament of Britain during the inter-war period. Knox remained a strong opponent of

Communism throughout his career and following the Soviet invasion of Finland, campaigned to give

military support to the Finns.