Background
KOLCHAK, Aleksandr was born in 1873 in Saint St. Petersburg. Son of a major-general.
KOLCHAK, Aleksandr was born in 1873 in Saint St. Petersburg. Son of a major-general.
1894 graduate Naval Corps.
From 1891 in Russian Navy. 1894-1899 officer on various warships in Baltic and Pacific Fleets. Took part in several extended voyages.
1900-1902 hydrologist and magnetologist, Baron Tol’s polar expedition organized by Academy of Sciences. 1903-1904 headed expedition to the New Siberian Islands in search of Baron Tol's expedition. 1904 officer, cruiser Askol’d-, commander, destroyer Serdityy-, fought in RussoJapanese War.
Laid minefields on approaches to Portuguese Arthur, leading to destruction of the Japanese cruiser ’’Takosado”. 1904-1905 in Japanese captivity. 1905-1906 worked for Academy of Sciences and for Geographic Social.
1906 founded at Naval Academy a Naval Circle which worked on modernization of the Navy. April 1906 recommendations of this circle led to establishment of Naval General Staff. 1906-1907 naval expert in military commissions, State Duma.
1906-1908 head, Baltic Theater of Operations, Naval General Staff. 1908 helped plan exploration of Northern Sea Route from Pacific to Atlantic. 1908-1909 directed construction of icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach which were to take part in this expedition.
1909 10 commanded icebreaker Vaygach in expedition. 1910-1912 again head, Baltic Theater of Operations, Naval General Staff. 1912-1913 commander, destroyer Ussuriyets.
1913-1915 flag-officer for operations, Baltic Fleet Staff. With the start of World War 1 directed laying of minefields in the Gulf of Finland and later in German waters. 1915-1916 commander, Destroyer Division, Baltic Fleet.
From 28 June 1916 commander, Black Sea Fleet. Commanded a number of operations which secured Black Sea waters from attacks of fast German cruisers ’’Gocben” and ’’Breslau” and paralyzed activities of German submarines. March 1917, after the abdication of Nicholas II, swore allegiance to Provisional Government.
June 1917, in protest against Sebastopol Soviet’s order to disarm the officers of the Fleet, relinquished command of Black Sea Fleet. August 1917, on invitation of the American Navy Department, left for United States of America with consent of the Provisional Government to work as adviser on minefields and scheduled Dardanelles operations. November 1917 left United States of America for Russia, learning of the October Revol cn route.
Volunteered to continue fighting against Germany with the English Army. Sent to Mesopotamian Front but cn route ordered to the Far East. From April 1918 in Harbin consolidated anti-Soviet military formations in Transbaykal Region.
July 1918 went to Tokyo to improve liaison with Japanese Command. October 1918 arrived in Omsk as a civilian. 4 November 1918 accepted the post of Minister of War and Navy, Directory coalition government.
18 November 1918, as a result of a coup staged by the Directory’s Council of Minister and Cossack officers, became Supreme Ruler and commander in chief of Russian anti-Bolshevik forces. Himself a democrat, tolerated development of pre-revol bureaucratism in government organs and abuse of power by individual officials and officers in the rear. As a result of these abuses his troops, after several major victories in March-April 1919, which look them to the Volga, were left without supplies and late 1919 were incapable of further action.
14 November 1919 Omsk was ceded. 27 December 1919 Kolchak was arrested by officers of the Czechoslovak Corps in Nizhncudinsk. 4 January 1920 relinquished supreme power and command.
5 January 1920 entered train of Entente reps who guaranteed his safe conduct to the Far East. 15 January 1920 at Innokent’yevskaya railroad station turned over to opposition Polit Center, which had seized power in Irkutsk. Scheduled for trial by Polit Center’s Investigation Commission.
25 January 1920 fell into hands of Irkutsk Soviet of Workers and Soldiers’ Dcp, which had in turn seized power.
Religious leaders contribute to secular and religious wars by endorsing or supporting the violence.
The emphasis on peaceful coexistence doesn’t mean that the Soviet Union accepted a static world with clear lines. Socialism is inevitable and the "correlations of forces" were moving towards socialism.