Pyotr Krasnov
Encyclopedia
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
), 1869 – January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n army when the revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
broke out in 1917, and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary
Counterrevolutionary
A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part...
White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
afterward.
Russian Army
Pyotr Krasnov was born in 1869 in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, son to lieutenant-general Nikolay Krasnov
Nikolay Krasnov
Nikolay Ivanovich Krasnov was a major-general of the Imperial Russian Army.Nikolay Krasnov was born in the stanitsa Veshenskaya of the Don Voisko Province into the family of the Ataman of Don Cossack Voisko, lieutenant-general Ivan Krasnov...
and grandson to general Ivan Krasnov
Ivan Krasnov
Ivan Ivanovich Krasnov was a Russian general and author.-Military career:He was born in 1802, son to the general Ivan Kuzmich Krasnov , fellow-fighter of Alexander Suvorov and Matvey Platov. Ivan Ivanovich Krasnov was educated at the boarding-school by Kharkov University. He began military...
. In 1888, Krasnov graduated from Pavlovsk Military School and later served in the Ataman
Ataman
Ataman was a commander title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders, who were in essence the Cossacks...
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of the Life Guards. During World War I, he commanded a Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
and a division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, in August–October 1917, of the 3rd Cavalry Corps. During the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
appointed Krasnov commander of the army, which was sent to Petrograd from the front to suppress the Bolshevik revolution (see Kerensky-Krasnov uprising
Kerensky-Krasnov uprising
Kerensky–Krasnov uprising was an attempt by Alexander Kerensky to regain power after the Bolsheviks overthrew his Provisional Government in Petrograd....
). However, Krasnov was defeated and taken prisoner
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. He was released by the Soviet authorities on the condition that he would not continue his struggle against the revolution. He agreed to this but reneged on his promise to do so.
Russian Civil war
Krasnov fled to the Don region and in May 1918, in NovocherkasskNovocherkassk
Novocherkassk is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Tuzlov River and on the Aksay River. Population: 169,039 ; 170,822 ; 178,000 ; 123,000 ; 81,000 ; 52,000 ....
, was elected Ataman of the Don Cossack Host. With support from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, he equipped the army, which would oust the Soviets from the Don region in May–June 1918. By the middle of June, a Don Army
Don Army
The Don Army was part of the White movement of the Russian Civil War, operating from 1917 to 1919, in the Don region and centered in the town of Novocherkassk.- History :...
was in the field with 40,000 men, 56 guns and 179 machine-guns. In the second half of 1918, Krasnov advanced towards Povorino
Povorino
Povorino is a town and the administrative center of Povorinsky District in the eastern part of Voronezh Oblast, Russia. Population: It emerged as a settlement around the eponymous railway station in 1870 and was granted town status in 1954. A junction of railroads and motorways, it is situated...
-Kamyshin
Kamyshin
Kamyshin is a city in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volgograd Reservoir of the Volga River, in the estuary of the Kamyshinka River. Population: 101,000 ; 24,000 ....
-Tsaritsyn, intending to march on Moscow, but was defeated. After Germany's defeat in World War I, he set his sights on the Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
powers in his search for allies. In January 1919, Krasnov was forced to acknowledge General Denikin's authority over the White movement, despite animosity towards him.
Exile in Germany
On February 19, 1919, Krasnov retired from the military and went to GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
due to his frictions with the command of the Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
. In Germany, he continued his anti-Soviet activities. Krasnov was one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Russian Truth
Brotherhood of Russian Truth
The Brotherhood of Russian Truth was a Russian patriotic organization established by Pyotr Krasnov and other former members of the White movement, including Prince Anatoly Lieven, to overthrowBolshevism in Soviet Russia. The term "Russian Truth" is the word used to describe the Russian code of...
, an anti-communist organization with an underground network in Russia.
In exile Krasnov had written memoirs and several novels. His famous trilogy From Double Eagle To the Red Flag, in addition to the main plot, with its hero, General Sablin, has several sub-plots which encompass many places, events, and personages. It presents a vast panorama of the Revolution and the Civil War throughout the country. Events are revealed through the fates of many characters, who, in turn, give their own interpretations of the events. Even the revolutionaries have an opportunity to express their views, although, in general, their political expositions seem to be the weakest parts of the novel. The ideology of the book is thus presented polyphonically. The author, although he tends to align himself with his conservative characters, offers no personal opinion of his own. All major themes, such as authority vs. anarchy, respect for human dignity vs. violence, creative work vs. destruction, as well as cruelty and terror, are treated in this polyphonic manner.
Krasnov's novels were translated to English, German, French, Serbian and other European languages.
During World War II, Krasnov continued his "German orientation" by seeking an alliance with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in overthrowing the Soviet regime (which was same thing as Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
defeatist
Defeatism
Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22...
relations with the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1917) He agreed to organize and head Cossack units out of White emigre
White Emigre
A white émigré was a Russian who emigrated from Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, and who was in opposition to the contemporary Russian political climate....
s and Soviet (mostly Cossack) prisoners of war, to be armed by the Nazis. The Nazis, in turn, expected Krasnov to follow their political line and keep to a separatist Cossack orientation. In November 1944, Krasnov refused the appeal of General Andrei Vlasov to join the latter's Russian Liberation Army
Russian Liberation Army
Russian Liberation Army was a group of predominantly Russian forces subordinated to the Nazi German high command during World War II....
. At the end of the war, Krasnov and his men voluntarily surrendered to British forces in Austria. All of them were promised upon surrender by Major Davis that they, as White Russian emigres, would not be repatriated to the Soviets.
Repatriation and death
On May 28, 1945, Pyotr Krasnov was handed over to the Soviets by the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
authorities in Operation Keelhaul
Operation Keelhaul
Operation Keelhaul was carried out in Northern Italy by British and American forces to repatriate Soviet Armed Forces POWs of the Nazis to the Soviet Union between August 14, 1946 and May 9, 1947...
. He was sentenced to death by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR
Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR
Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was created in 1924 to the Supreme Court of the USSR as a court for the higher military and political personnel of Red Army and Fleet...
, together with General Andrei Shkuro
Andrei Shkuro
Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro was a Lieutenant General of the White Army.-Biography:...
, Timofey Domanov and Helmuth von Pannwitz
Helmuth von Pannwitz
Helmuth von Pannwitz was a German general who distinguished himself as a cavalry officer during the First and the Second World Wars. Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht and Supreme Ataman of the XV...
. On January 17, 1947, he was executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
Personal
On January 17, 2008, Victor Vodolatsky, AtamanAtaman
Ataman was a commander title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders, who were in essence the Cossacks...
of Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
and a deputy of the United Russia
United Russia
United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...
party in the Russian Duma signed a controversial decree regarding creation of a workgroup for rehabilitation of Pyotr Krasnov.
Krasnov is the granduncle of Miguel Krassnoff, an Austrian-born Chilean military who has been convicted of numerous crimes against humanity committed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
.
Writings
- From Double Eagle To Red Flag. New York, Duffield and Company, 1926. 2 vols.
- The Unforgiven. New York, Duffield and Company, 1928. 444 p.
- The Amazon of the Desert. Trans. by Olga Vitali and Vera Brooke. New York, Duffield, 1929. 272 p.
- Napoleon And The Cossacks. 1931.
- Largo: A Novel. New York, Duffield and Green, 1932. 599 p.