Every Russian knows that in the Civil War of 1917-1922, two movements opposed - "red" and "white". But among historians there is still no consensus on how it began. Someone believes that the reason was Krasnov's March on the Russian capital (October 25); others believe that the war began when, in the near future, the commander of the Volunteer Army, Alekseev, arrived on the Don (November 2); there is also an opinion that the war began with the fact that Milyukov proclaimed the “Declaration of the Volunteer Army, delivering a speech at the ceremony, called the Don (December 27). Another popular opinion, which is far from unfounded, is the opinion that the Civil War began immediately after the February Revolution, when the whole society split into supporters and opponents of the Romanov monarchy.

"White" movement in Russia

Everyone knows that "whites" are adherents of the monarchy and the old order. Its beginnings were visible as early as February 1917, when the monarchy was overthrown in Russia and a total restructuring of society began. The development of the "white" movement was during the period when the Bolsheviks came to power, the formation of Soviet power. They represented a circle of dissatisfied with the Soviet government, disagreeing with its policy and principles of its conduct.
The "whites" were fans of the old monarchical system, refused to accept the new socialist order, adhered to the principles of traditional society. It is important to note that the "whites" were very often radicals, they did not believe that it was possible to agree on something with the "reds", on the contrary, they had the opinion that no negotiations and concessions were allowed.
The "Whites" chose the tricolor of the Romanovs as their banner. Admiral Denikin and Kolchak commanded the white movement, one in the South, the other in the harsh regions of Siberia.
The historical event that became the impetus for the activation of the “whites” and the transition to their side of most of the former army of the Romanov Empire was the rebellion of General Kornilov, which, although it was suppressed, helped the “whites” strengthen their ranks, especially in the southern regions, where, under the command of the general Alekseev began to gather huge resources and a powerful disciplined army. Every day the army was replenished due to newcomers, it grew rapidly, developed, tempered, trained.
Separately, it must be said about the commanders of the White Guards (this was the name of the army created by the "white" movement). They were unusually talented commanders, prudent politicians, strategists, tacticians, subtle psychologists, and skillful speakers. The most famous were Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin, Alexander Kolchak, Pyotr Krasnov, Pyotr Wrangel, Nikolai Yudenich, Mikhail Alekseev. You can talk about each of them for a long time, their talent and merits for the "white" movement can hardly be overestimated.
In the war, the White Guards won for a long time, and even brought their troops to Moscow. But the Bolshevik army was growing stronger, besides, they were supported by a significant part of the population of Russia, especially the poorest and most numerous sections - workers and peasants. In the end, the forces of the White Guards were smashed to smithereens. For some time they continued to operate abroad, but without success, the "white" movement ceased.

"Red" movement

Like the "whites", in the ranks of the "reds" there were many talented commanders and politicians. Among them, it is important to note the most famous, namely: Leon Trotsky, Brusilov, Novitsky, Frunze. These commanders showed themselves excellently in battles against the White Guards. Trotsky was the main founder of the Red Army, which was the decisive force in the confrontation between the "whites" and the "reds" in the Civil War. The ideological leader of the "red" movement was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, known to every person. Lenin and his government were actively supported by the most massive sections of the population of the Russian State, namely, the proletariat, the poor, landless and landless peasants, and the working intelligentsia. It was these classes who quickly believed the tempting promises of the Bolsheviks, supported them and brought the "Reds" to power.
The main party in the country was the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of the Bolsheviks, which was later turned into a communist party. In fact, it was an association of intelligentsia, adherents of the socialist revolution, whose social base was the working classes.
It was not easy for the Bolsheviks to win the Civil War - they had not yet completely strengthened their power throughout the country, the forces of their fans were dispersed throughout the vast country, plus the national outskirts began a national liberation struggle. A lot of strength went into the war with the Ukrainian People's Republic, so the Red Army during the Civil War had to fight on several fronts.
The attacks of the White Guards could come from any side of the horizon, because the White Guards surrounded the Red Army soldiers from all sides with four separate military formations. And despite all the difficulties, it was the “Reds” who won the war, mainly due to the broad social base of the Communist Party.
All representatives of the national outskirts united against the White Guards, and therefore they also became forced allies of the Red Army in the Civil War. To win over the inhabitants of the national outskirts, the Bolsheviks used loud slogans, such as the idea of ​​"one and indivisible Russia."
The Bolsheviks won the war with the support of the masses. The Soviet government played on the sense of duty and patriotism of Russian citizens. The White Guards themselves also added fuel to the fire, since their invasions were most often accompanied by mass robbery, looting, violence in its other manifestations, which could not in any way encourage people to support the "white" movement.

Results of the Civil War

As has been said several times, the victory in this fratricidal war went to the "Reds". The fratricidal civil war became a real tragedy for the Russian people. The material damage caused to the country by the war, according to estimates, amounted to about 50 billion rubles - unimaginable money at that time, several times higher than the amount of Russia's external debt. Because of this, the level of industry decreased by 14%, and agriculture - by 50%. Human losses, according to various sources, ranged from 12 to 15 million. Most of these people died from starvation, repression, and disease. During the hostilities, more than 800 thousand soldiers from both sides gave their lives. Also, during the Civil War, the balance of migration dropped sharply - about 2 million Russians left the country and went abroad.

On January 26, 1920, at the Utai junction in the Irkutsk province, one of the closest associates of the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, the commander-in-chief of the White troops in Siberia, died of bilateral pneumonia from bilateral pneumonia. 36-year-old Lieutenant General Vladimir Kappel. Most of his contemporaries remember his name from the scene of the fearless "psychic" attack of the Kappel officers from the film "Chapaev". Remember the admiring exclamation of the cinematic red machine gunner: “They go beautifully. Intelligentsia!".

However, few people know that Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel remained in history not only as an implacable fighter against the Bolsheviks. He was one of the heroes of the First World War. For example, in 1916, at the headquarters of the Southwestern Front, Kappel participated in the development of the plan for the famous "Brusilov breakthrough" - the biggest success of the Russian troops in those hostilities.

The convinced monarchist Kappel did not accept either the February or October revolution. On October 2, 1917, he left the service and went to his family in Perm. But already in the summer of 1918 he ended up in the White Army. In August of the same year, officer volunteer detachments under his command in Kazan seized wagons with the gold reserves of the Russian Empire. In Soviet newspapers, Kappel began to be called "little Napoleon".

From November 1918, the general fought in the Urals and Siberia alongside the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak. He commanded a corps, an army, a front. In the months-long retreat of the White Guards to the Pacific Ocean, called the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, he fell seriously ill. Frostbitten Kappel had to amputate his left foot and right toes. And - without anesthesia, because there were no medicines. But just a few days after the operation, the general continued to command the troops.

After the death of Kappel, the retreating White Guards, in order to avoid reproach, did not bury the body of their beloved general in the territory that the enemy had to leave. Vladimir Oskarovich rested only in the Chinese city of Harbin. In 2006, he was reburied at the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow next to General Anton Denikin.

However, many other leaders of the White Guard, before the collapse of the empire, also managed to fight gloriously on the fronts of the Russian-Japanese and World War I. We decided to recall the combat exploits of the most heroic of them.

1. Infantry General Nikolai Yudenich

He commanded a regiment in the Russo-Japanese War, was awarded the Golden Weapon for bravery. Since the beginning of the First World War - the commander of the Caucasian army. The troops under his command were successfully advancing through the territory of Turkey with battles. On February 13-16, 1916, Yudenich won a major battle near Erzurum, and on April 15 of the same year, his soldiers captured Trebizond.

After the February Revolution, he was dismissed by Alexander Kerensky as an ardent opponent of innovations in the army.

Since January 1919 - the leader of the White movement in the North-West of Russia with dictatorial powers. On June 5, 1919, the Supreme Ruler Admiral Kolchak notified Yudenich by telegram of his appointment as "Commander-in-Chief of all Russian land and sea armed forces against the Bolsheviks on the North-Western Front."

In September-October 1919, he organized a campaign against Petrograd. He reached the Pulkovo Heights, but betrayed by the leadership of Finland and Estonia, who feared the great-power views of the Russian general, he was left without reserves and supplies. Therefore, he was forced to retreat. Yudenich's troops were interned by the Estonians.

2. General of Infantry Lavr Kornilov

From 1898 to 1904 he was engaged in military intelligence in Turkestan. He made a number of reconnaissance expeditions to Afghanistan and Persia. As a military agent, he worked against the British in India and China.

During the Russo-Japanese War he commanded a brigade. In the battle near Mukden, it was the Kornilovites who were instructed in the rearguard to cover the withdrawal of our troops.

He met the First World War as the commander of an infantry division in the Carpathians. He personally led his soldiers in attacks. In November 1914, in the night battle at Takoshan, a group of volunteers under the command of General Kornilov broke through the enemy positions and captured 1,200 Austrian soldiers.

For his steadfastness, his unit soon received the official name "Steel Division".

In April 1915, in the Carpathians, General Kornilov led one of his battalions in a bayonet charge. He was wounded in the arm and leg and ended up in Austrian captivity. He was sent to a camp near Vienna. Made two unsuccessful escape attempts. Only the third ended in success - in July 1916.

In early 1917 he became commander in chief of the Petrograd Military District. But at the end of April, he resigned from this position, "not considering it possible for himself to be an unwitting witness and participant in the destruction of the army." He went to the front to command the 8th shock army.

On July 19, 1917, he was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief. To restore order in the troops introduced the death penalty. Many saw in the general the last hope for the salvation of Russia. And therefore, in August, they supported his attempt to get out of submission to the Provisional Government, which went down in history as the "Kornilov rebellion." Alas, the attempt failed and Kornilov was arrested.

After the October Revolution, the general made his way to the Don and began to organize the Volunteer Army. On March 31, 1918, he was killed during the storming of Yekaterinodar.

3. Admiral Alexander Kolchak

Major explorer of the Arctic. For participation in polar expeditions, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree and the Konstantinovsky medal.

In the Russo-Japanese War - commander of the destroyer "Angry". On May 1, 1904, Kolchak's ship took part in laying a minefield near Port Arthur. Soon, the Japanese battleships Hatsuse and Yashima were blown up on Russian mines, which was the biggest success of the Pacific squadron in that war. Then, according to Kolchak's calculations, "Angry" independently set up a mine can. Three months later, it received a hole and sank the Japanese cruiser Takasago.

For exploits in that war, Alexander Vasilyevich was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 4th degree, with the inscription "For Courage" and the St. George's weapon.

He met the First World War as a flag-captain for the operational unit under the commander of the Baltic Fleet. Again he proved himself a master of mine warfare. In February 1915, a detachment of ships under the command of Kolchak set up 200 mines on the approaches to the Danzig Bay. Soon, four cruisers, eight destroyers and 23 German transports were blown up one after another.

In the autumn of 1915, as commander of the Mine Division, he led the landing on the southern coast of the Gulf of Riga occupied by the Germans.

On May 31, 1916, with a detachment of destroyers Novik, Oleg and Rurik, Alexander Vasilyevich defeated a large German convoy coming from Sweden in half an hour. As a result, enemy transportation on this route was stopped until the end of the war.

From September 1916 - Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. The Russians on the Black Sea were greatly annoyed by the German battlecruisers Goeben and Breslau based in Turkey. According to the methods worked out in the Baltic, Kolchak carried out mining of the Bosphorus. On this barrier, the Goeben was blown up first, and then six enemy submarines. The raids on our coast have ceased.

After the February Revolution, he was forced to leave the service.

Since 1918 - the Supreme Ruler of Russia. On January 15, 1920, in Irkutsk, he was betrayed by the Allies and handed over to the local SR-Menshevik leadership. According to historians, this happened because, along with the admiral's carriage, a train with Russia's gold reserves followed. And Kolchak has repeatedly stated that he will not allow the export of valuables belonging to the people abroad.

4. Major General Mikhail Drozdovsky

During the Russo-Japanese War, as part of the 34th East Siberian Regiment, he distinguished himself in battles near the villages of Heigoutai and Semapu, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 4th degree, with the inscription "For Courage". Near the village, Semapu was wounded in the thigh.

In 1913 he graduated from the Sevastopol Aviation School, where he mastered flying an airplane and a hot air balloon. More than once personally participated in the adjustment of artillery fire from the air.

Since May 1915 - Chief of Staff of the 64th Infantry Division. One of the combat documents about Drozdovsky says: “By order of the commander of the 10th Army on November 2, 1915, No. 1270, he was awarded the St. fire reconnaissance of the crossing over the Mesechanka, leading its forcing, and then, assessing the possibility of capturing the northern outskirts of the town of Ohany, personally led the attack of the Perekop regiment units and skillfully selected the position contributed to the actions of our infantry, which fought off the advancing units of superior enemy forces for five days.

From April 6, 1917 - commander of the 60th Zamosc Infantry Regiment. For a heavy battle on July 11, 1917, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, to break through German positions.

I met the October Revolution on the Romanian front. From the first day he was engaged in the formation of volunteer officer detachments. A detachment of 2,500 volunteers from Yass fought to the Don and joined Denikin's White Army. He died of his wounds on January 8, 1919.

Who devoted his whole life to the army and Russia. He did not accept the October Revolution and until the end of his days fought the Bolsheviks with all the means that the honor of an officer could allow him.
Kaledin was born in 1861 in the village of Ust-Khoperskaya, in the family of a Cossack colonel, a participant in the heroic defense of Sevastopol. From childhood, he was taught to love his Fatherland and protect it. Therefore, the future general received education, first at the Voronezh military gymnasium, and later at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School.
He began his military service in the Far East in the horse artillery battery of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army. The young officer was distinguished by seriousness and concentration. He constantly strived to master military science to perfection and entered the Academy at the General Staff.
Kaledin's further service takes place in the posts of staff officers in the Warsaw Military District, and then, in his native Don. Since 1910, he has occupied only command posts and gained considerable experience in leading combat formations.

Semenov Grigory Mikhailovich (09/13/1890 - 08/30/1946) - the most prominent representative in the Far East.

Born in an officer Cossack family in Transbaikalia. In 1911 In the rank of cornet, he graduated from the Cossack military school in Orenburg, after which he was assigned to serve on the border with Mongolia.

He was fluent in local languages: Buryat, Mongolian, Kalmyk, thanks to which he quickly became friends with prominent Mongolian figures.

During the separation of Mongolia from China, in December 1911. took under the protection of the Chinese resident, delivering him to the Russian consulate, located in Urga.

In order not to cause unrest between the Chinese and the Mongols, with a platoon of Cossacks, he personally neutralized the Chinese garrison of Urga.

Lukomsky Alexander Sergeevich was born on July 10, 1868 in the Poltava region. In Poltava he graduated from the cadet corps named after, and by 1897 he completed his studies with honors at the Nikolaev Engineering School and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff in. A military career began for Alexander Sergeyevich from the 11th sapper regiment, from where he was transferred a year later as an adjutant to the headquarters of the 12th Infantry Division, and from 1902 his service proceeded in the Kiev military district, where he was appointed to the headquarters as a senior adjutant. For the excellent performance of his duties, Lukomsky was awarded the rank of colonel, and in 1907 he took the post of chief of staff in the 42nd infantry division. Since January 1909, Alexander Sergeevich dealt with mobilization issues in case of war. He participated in all changes in the Charter related to mobilization, personally supervised the draft laws on the recruitment of personnel, being the head of the mobilization department of the Main Directorate of the General Staff.
In 1913, Lukomsky was appointed assistant head of the chancellery of the Military Ministry and, already serving in the ministry, received the next military rank of major general, and as a reward for what he had - the ribbon of the Holy Great Martyr and George the Victorious.

Markov Sergey Leonidovich was born on July 7, 1878 in the family of an officer. After graduating with honors from the 1st Moscow Cadet Corps and the Artillery School in St. Petersburg, with the rank of second lieutenant, he was sent to serve in the 2nd Artillery Brigade. Then he graduated from the Nikolaev Military Academy and went to where he showed himself to be an excellent officer and was awarded with awards: Vladimir 4th degree with swords and a bow. The further career of Sergei Leonidovich continued in the 1st Siberian Corps, where he served as an adjutant of the headquarters, and then at the headquarters of the Warsaw Military District, and as a result, in 1908, Markov was in the service of the General Staff. Just while serving in the General Staff, Sergei Leonidovich created a happy family with Marianna Putyatina.
Markov Sergey Leonidovich was engaged in teaching work in various St. Petersburg schools. He knew military affairs very well and tried to fully convey all his knowledge of strategy, maneuvering to students and at the same time sought to use non-standard thinking during the conduct of hostilities.
At the beginning, Sergei Leonidovich was appointed chief of staff of the "iron" rifle brigade, which was sent to the most difficult areas of the front, and very often Markov had to put into practice his non-template strategic moves.

Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg is perhaps the most extraordinary person in everything. He belonged to an ancient militant family of knights, mystics and pirates, dating back to the days of the Crusades. However, family legends say that the roots of this family go back much further, to the time of the Nibegungs and Attila.
His parents often traveled around Europe, something constantly beckoned them to their historical homeland. During one of these trips, in 1885, in the city of Graz, Austria, the future irreconcilable fighter against the revolution was born. The contradictory nature of the boy did not allow him to become a good schoolboy. For countless misdeeds, he was expelled from the gymnasium. The mother, desperate to get normal behavior from her son, sends him to the Naval Cadet Corps in. He was only one year away from graduation, when he began. Baron von Ungern-Sternberg drops out of training and joins an infantry regiment as a private. However, he did not get into the active army, he was forced to return to St. Petersburg and enter the elite Pavlovsk Infantry School. Upon completion, von Ungern-Sternber is credited to the Cossack estate and begins serving as an officer of the Transbaikal Cossack army. He again finds himself in the Far East. There are legends about this period in the life of a desperate baron. His perseverance, cruelty and flair surrounded his name with a mystical halo. A dashing rider, a desperate duelist, he did not have faithful comrades.

The leaders of the White movement had a tragic fate. People who suddenly lost their homeland, to which they swore allegiance, their ideals, could not come to terms with this until the end of their lives.
Mikhail Konstantinovich Diterichs, an outstanding lieutenant general, was born on April 5, 1874 in a family of hereditary officers. The knightly family of the Diterichs from Czech Moravia settled in Russia in 1735. Due to his origin, the future general received an excellent education in the Corps of Pages, which he then continued at the Academy of the General Staff. In the rank of captain, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War, where he distinguished himself as a brave officer. For the heroism shown in battles he was awarded the III and II degrees, IV degrees. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served further at the army headquarters in Odessa and Kyiv.
World War I found Dieterichs in the position of chief of staff in the mobilization department, but he was soon appointed quartermaster general. It was he who led the development of all military operations of the Southwestern Front. For successful developments that bring victory to the Russian army, Mikhail Konstantinovich was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav with swords of the 1st degree.
Diterichs continues to serve in the Russian Expeditionary Force in the Balkans, participated in the battles for the liberation of Serbia.

Romanovsky Ivan Pavlovich was born into the family of an artillery academy graduate on April 16, 1877 in the Luhansk region. He began his military career at the age of ten, enrolling in the cadet corps. With brilliant results he finished it in 1894. Following in the footsteps of his father, he began to study at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, but finished his studies at Konstantinovsky for religious reasons. And already after graduating with honors from the next stage of education - the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, Ivan Pavlovich was appointed company commander of the Finnish regiment.
In 1903, he started a family, taking as his wife Elena Bakeeva, the daughter of a landowner, who subsequently gave birth to three children. Ivan Pavlovich was a devoted family man, a caring father, always helping friends and relatives. But she broke the idyll of family life. Romanovsky left to fulfill his duty as a Russian officer in the East Siberian Artillery Brigade.

An outstanding, active participant in the White movement, was born in 1881 in Kyiv. Being the son of a general, Mikhail never thought about choosing a profession. Fate made this choice for him. He graduated from the Vladimir Cadet Corps, and then the Pavlovsk Military School. Having received the rank of second lieutenant, he began serving in the Life Guards Volynsky regiment. After three years of service, Drozdovsky decided to enter the Nikolaev Military Academy. Sitting at a desk turned out to be too much for him, it began, and he went to the front. A brave officer in the unsuccessful Manchurian campaign was wounded. For his courage he was awarded several orders. He graduated from the Academy after the war.
After the academy, Drozdovsky's service was held first at the headquarters of the Zaamursky military district, and then - the Warsaw one. Mikhail Gordeevich constantly showed interest in everything new that appeared in the army, studied everything new in military affairs. He even completed courses for pilot-observers at the Sevastopol Aviation School.
and enters the cadet school, after which, having received the rank of second lieutenant, he begins service in the 85th Vyborg Infantry Regiment.
It begins by participating in battles, the young officer showed himself so well that he was awarded a rare honor: with the rank of lieutenant, he was transferred to the Preobrazhensky Life Guards, in which it was very honorable to serve.
When Kutepov began, he was already a staff captain. He participates in many battles, shows himself to be a brave and determined officer. He was wounded three times and was awarded several orders. Alexander Pavlovich was especially proud of the 4th degree.
1917 begins - the most tragic year in the life of a thirty-five-year-old officer. Despite his young age, Kutepov is already a colonel and commander of the second battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.
Petersburg, where he graduated from high school. After graduating from the Nikolaev Engineering School, with the rank of second lieutenant, he begins his military career in the 18th sapper battalion. Every two years, Marushevsky receives another military rank for excellent service. In the same years he graduated from the Nikolaev Academy at the General Staff.
By the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, he was already a captain and chief officer for especially important assignments. He served at the headquarters of the IV Siberian Army Corps. During the hostilities, Marushevsky is quickly promoted for his courage.

In the post-Soviet period, a reassessment of the events and results of the Civil War began in Russia. The attitude towards the leaders of the White movement began to change to the exact opposite - now they are being filmed about them, in which they appear as fearless knights without fear and reproach.

At the same time, many people know very little about how the fate of the most famous leaders of the White Army developed. Not all of them managed to maintain honor and dignity after the defeat in the Civil War. Some were destined for an inglorious end and indelible shame.

Alexander Kolchak

On November 5, 1918, Admiral Kolchak was appointed military and naval minister of the so-called Ufa Directory, one of the anti-Bolshevik governments created during the Civil War.

On November 18, 1918, a coup took place, as a result of which the Directory was abolished, and Kolchak himself was endowed with the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia.

From the autumn of 1918 to the summer of 1919, Kolchak managed to successfully conduct military operations against the Bolsheviks. At the same time, in the territory controlled by his troops, methods of terror were practiced against political opponents.

A series of military setbacks in the second half of 1919 led to the loss of all previously captured territories. The repressive methods of Kolchak provoked a wave of uprisings in the rear of the White Army, and often at the head of these speeches were not the Bolsheviks, but the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.

Kolchak planned to get to Irkutsk, where he was going to continue the resistance, but on December 27, 1919, power in the city passed to the Political Center, which included the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.

On January 4, 1920, Kolchak signed his last decree - on the transfer of supreme power to General Denikin. Under the guarantees of the representatives of the Entente, who promised to take Kolchak to a safe place, the former Supreme Ruler arrived in Irkutsk on January 15.

Here he was handed over to the Political Center and placed in a local prison. On January 21, interrogations of Kolchak began by the Extraordinary Investigative Commission. After the final transfer of power in Irkutsk into the hands of the Bolsheviks, the fate of the admiral was sealed.

On the night of February 6 to February 7, 1920, 45-year-old Kolchak was shot by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee of the Bolsheviks.

General Staff Lieutenant General V.O. Kappel. Winter 1919 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Vladimir Kappel

General Kappel gained fame thanks to the popular in the USSR film "Chapaev", where the so-called "psychic attack" was captured - when the chains of the Kappelites moved towards the enemy without firing a shot.

The “psychic attack” had rather mundane reasons - parts of the White Guards were seriously suffering from a shortage of ammunition, and such tactics were a forced decision.

In June 1918, General Kappel organized a detachment of volunteers, which was later deployed into the Separate Rifle Brigade of the Komuch People's Army. The Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly (Komuch) became the first anti-Bolshevik government in Russia, and Kappel's unit became one of the most reliable in his army.

An interesting fact - the symbol of Komuch was a red banner, and the Internationale was used as the anthem. So the general, who became one of the symbols of the White movement, began the Civil War under the red banner.

After the anti-Bolshevik forces in the east of Rossi were united under the general command of Admiral Kolchak, General Kappel led the 1st Volga Corps, later called the "Kappelevsky".

Kappel remained loyal to Kolchak to the end. After the arrest of the latter, the general, who by that time had received the entire crumbling Eastern Front under his command, made a desperate attempt to save Kolchak.

In conditions of severe frosts, Kappel led his troops to Irkutsk. Moving along the channel of the Kan River, the general fell into a hole. Kappel received frostbite, which developed into gangrene. After the amputation of the foot, he continued to lead the troops.

On January 21, 1920, Kappel transferred command of the troops to General Wojciechowski. Severe inflammation of the lungs was added to gangrene. The already dying Kappel insisted on continuing the march to Irkutsk.

36-year-old Vladimir Kappel died on January 26, 1920 at the Utai junction, near the Tulun station near the city of Nizhneudinsk. His troops were defeated by the Reds on the outskirts of Irkutsk.

Lavr Kornilov in 1917. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Lavr Kornilov

After the failure of his speech, Kornilov was arrested, and the period from September 1 to November 1917, the general and his associates spent under arrest in Mogilev and Bykhov.

The October Revolution in Petrograd led to the fact that the opponents of the Bolsheviks decided to release the previously arrested generals.

Once free, Kornilov went to the Don, where he set about creating a Volunteer Army for the war against the Bolsheviks. In fact, Kornilov became not only one of the organizers of the White movement, but one of those who unleashed the Civil War in Russia.

Kornilov acted with extremely harsh methods. Participants of the so-called First Kuban "Ice" campaign recalled: "All the Bolsheviks captured by us with weapons in their hands were shot on the spot: alone, in tens, hundreds. It was a war of extermination.

The Kornilovites used tactics of intimidation against the civilian population: in the appeal of Lavr Kornilov, the inhabitants were warned that any "hostile action" against the volunteers and the Cossack detachments acting together with them would be punished by executions and burning of villages.

Kornilov's participation in the Civil War turned out to be short - on March 31, 1918, the 47-year-old general was killed during the storming of Yekaterinodar.

General Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich. 1910s Photo from Alexander Pogost's photo album. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Nikolai Yudenich

General Yudenich, who during the First World War successfully operated in the Caucasian theater of operations, returned to Petrograd in the summer of 1917. He remained in the city after the October Revolution, going into an illegal position.

Only at the beginning of 1919 did he leave for Helsingfors (now Helsinki), where, at the end of 1918, the Russian Committee, another anti-Bolshevik government, was organized.

Yudenich was proclaimed the head of the White movement in the North-West of Russia with dictatorial powers.

By the summer of 1919, Yudenich, having received funding and confirmation of her authority from Kolchak, created the so-called North-Western Army, which was tasked with capturing Petrograd.

In the autumn of 1919, the Northwestern Army undertook a campaign against Petrograd. By mid-October, Yudenich's troops reached the Pulkovo Heights, where they were stopped by the Red Army reserves.

The White front was broken through, and a rapid retreat began. The fate of Yudenich's army was tragic - the units pressed to the border with Estonia were forced to move to the territory of this state, where they were interned and placed in camps. Thousands of soldiers and civilians died in these camps.

Yudenich himself, announcing the dissolution of the army, left for London via Stockholm and Copenhagen. Then the general moved to France, where he settled.

Unlike many associates, Yudenich retired from political life in exile.

Living in Nice, he headed the Society of Zealots of Russian History.

Denikin in Paris, 1938 Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Anton Denikin

General Anton Denikin, who was one of General Kornilov's associates in the summer 1917 coup attempt, was among those who were arrested and then released after the Bolsheviks came to power.

Together with Kornilov, he went to the Don, where he became one of the founders of the Volunteer Army.

By the time of Kornilov's death during the storming of Yekaterinodar, Denikin was his deputy and assumed command of the Volunteer Army.

In January 1919, during the reorganization of the White forces, Denikin became the commander of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia - recognized by the Western Allies as "number two" in the White movement after General Kolchak.

Denikin's greatest successes came in the summer of 1919. After a series of victories in July, he signed the "Moscow directive" - ​​a plan to take the capital of Russia.

Having captured large territories of southern and central Russia, as well as Ukraine, Denikin's troops in October 1919 approached Tula. The Bolsheviks seriously considered plans to leave Moscow.

However, the defeat in the Oryol-Kromsky battle, where Budyonny's cavalry loudly declared itself, led to an equally rapid retreat of the Whites.

In January 1920, Denikin received from Kolchak the rights of the Supreme Ruler of Russia. At the same time, things were going disastrously at the front. The offensive launched in February 1920 ended in failure, the Whites were driven back to the Crimea.

The allies and the generals demanded that Denikin transfer power to the successor, for whom he was chosen Pyotr Wrangel.

On April 4, 1920, Denikin transferred all powers to Wrangel, and on the same day left Russia forever on an English destroyer.

In exile, Denikin withdrew from active politics, taking up literature. He wrote books on the history of the Russian army in pre-revolutionary times, as well as on the history of the Civil War.

In the 1930s, Denikin, unlike many other leaders of the white emigration, advocated the need to support the Red Army against any foreign aggressor, with the subsequent awakening of the Russian spirit in the ranks of this army, which, according to the general, should overthrow Bolshevism in Russia.

The Second World War found Denikin in France. After the German attack on the USSR, he received several offers of cooperation from the Nazis, but invariably refused. Former like-minded people who entered into an alliance with Hitler, the general called "obscurantists" and "Hitler's fans."

After the end of the war, Denikin left for the United States, fearing that he might be extradited to the Soviet Union. However, the government of the USSR, knowing about Denikin's position during the war years, did not put forward any demands for his extradition to the allies.

Anton Denikin died on August 7, 1947 in the USA at the age of 74. In October 2005, on the initiative Russian President Vladimir Putin the remains of Denikin and his wife were reburied in the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow.

Pyotr Wrangel. Photo: Public Domain

Pyotr Wrangel

Baron Pyotr Wrangel, known as the “black baron” for wearing a black Cossack Circassian coat with gazyrs, became the last leader of the White movement in Russia during the Civil War.

At the end of 1917, Wrangel, who left, lived in Yalta, where he was arrested by the Bolsheviks. Soon the baron was released, as the Bolsheviks did not find any corpus delicti in his actions. After the occupation of the Crimea by the German army, Wrangel left for Kyiv, where he collaborated with the government of Hetman Skoropadsky. Only after that did the baron decide to join the Volunteer Army, which he joined in August 1918.

Successfully commanding the white cavalry, Wrangel became one of the most influential military leaders, and came into conflict with Denikin, not agreeing with him on plans for further action.

The conflict ended with the fact that Wrangel was removed from command and dismissed, after which he left for Constantinople. But in the spring of 1920, the allies, dissatisfied with the course of hostilities, succeeded in Denikin's resignation and his replacement with Wrangel.

The baron's plans were extensive. He was going to create an "alternative Russia" in the Crimea, which was supposed to win the competitive struggle against the Bolsheviks. But neither militarily nor economically, these projects were not viable. In November 1920, together with the remnants of the defeated White Army, Wrangel left Russia.

The "Black Baron" counted on the continuation of the armed struggle. In 1924, he created the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), which united most of the participants in the White movement in exile. Numbering tens of thousands of members, the ROVS was a serious force.

Wrangel failed to carry out plans to continue the Civil War - on April 25, 1928 in Brussels, he suddenly died of tuberculosis.

Ataman of the VVD, cavalry general P.N. Krasnov. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Petr Krasnov

After the October Revolution, Peter Krasnov, who was the commander of the 3rd cavalry corps, on the orders of Alexander Kerensky, moved troops not to Petrograd. On the outskirts of the capital, the corps was stopped, and Krasnov himself was arrested. But then the Bolsheviks not only released Krasnov, but also left him at the head of the corps.

After the demobilization of the corps, he left for the Don, where he continued the anti-Bolshevik struggle, agreeing to lead the uprising of the Cossacks after they captured and retained Novocherkassk. May 16, 1918 Krasnov was elected Ataman of the Don Cossacks. Having entered into cooperation with the Germans, Krasnov proclaimed the Great Don Army as an independent state.

However, after the final defeat of Germany in the First World War, Krasnov had to urgently change his political line. Krasnov agreed to the joining of the Don Army to the Volunteer Army, and recognized the supremacy of Denikin.

Denikin, however, remained distrustful of Krasnov, and forced him to resign in February 1919. After that, Krasnov went to Yudenich, and after the defeat of the latter he moved into exile.

In exile, Krasnov collaborated with the ROVS, was one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Russian Truth, an organization that was engaged in underground work in Soviet Russia.

On June 22, 1941, Pyotr Krasnov issued an appeal stating: “I ask you to convey to all Cossacks that this war is not against Russia, but against communists, Jews and their henchmen who sell Russian blood. God help the German weapons and Hitler! Let them do what the Russians and Emperor Alexander I did for Prussia in 1813.”

In 1943, Krasnov became the head of the Main Directorate of the Cossack Troops of the Imperial Ministry of the Eastern Occupied Territories of Germany.

In May 1945, Krasnov, along with other collaborators, was captured by the British and extradited to the Soviet Union.

The military board of the Supreme Court of the USSR Peter Krasnov was sentenced to death. Together with his accomplices, the 77-year-old Nazi henchman was hanged in Lefortovo prison on January 16, 1947.

Photo by A. G. Shkuro, taken by the USSR Ministry of State Security after his arrest. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Andrey Shkuro

At birth, General Shkuro had a less euphonious surname - Shkura.

Oddly enough, Shkuro earned notoriety back in the years of the First World War, when he commanded the Kuban cavalry detachment. His raids were sometimes not coordinated with the command, and the fighters were seen in unseemly acts. Here is what Baron Wrangel recalled about that period: “The detachment of Colonel Shkuro, led by his chief, operating in the area of ​​​​the XVIII Corps, which included my Ussuri division, mostly hung out in the rear, drank and robbed, until, finally, at the insistence corps commander Krymov, was not recalled from the corps section.

During the years of the Civil War, Shkuro began with a partisan detachment in the Kislovodsk region, which grew into a large unit that joined Denikin's army in the summer of 1918.

Shkuro's habits have not changed: successfully operating in raids, his so-called "wolf hundred" also became famous for total robberies and unmotivated reprisals, before which the exploits of the Makhnovists and Petliurists pale.

The sunset of Shkuro began in October 1919, when his cavalry was defeated by Budyonny. A wholesale desertion began, because of which only a few hundred people remained under the command of Shkuro.

After Wrangel came to power, Shkuro was dismissed from the army, and already in May 1920 he found himself in exile.

Abroad, Shkuro worked odd jobs, was a rider in a circus, an extra in silent films.

After the German attack on the USSR, Shkuro, together with Krasnov, advocated cooperation with Hitler. In 1944, by a special decree of Himmler, Shkuro was appointed head of the Reserve of Cossack troops at the Main Headquarters of the SS troops, enrolled in the service as an SS gruppenfuehrer and lieutenant general of the SS troops with the right to wear a German general's uniform and receive maintenance for this rank.

Shkuro was engaged in the preparation of reserves for the Cossack corps, which carried out punitive actions against the Yugoslav partisans.

In May 1945, Shkuro, along with other collaborating Cossacks, was arrested by the British and handed over to the Soviet Union.

Passing on the same case with Pyotr Krasnov, a 60-year-old veteran of raids and robberies shared his fate - Andrei Shkuro was hanged in Lefortovo prison on January 16, 1947.