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Kolchak was born in Saint Petersburg on November 16, 1874 to a family of minor Russian nobility (Moldovan origin). His father was a retired major-general of the Marine Artillery and a veteran of the 1854 siege of Sevastopol, who after retirement worked as an engineer in ordnance works near St. Petersburg.
Kolchak was educated for a naval career, graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1894 and joining the 7th Naval Battalion.
Between 1900 and 1902 Kolchak participated prominently in two Arctic expeditions sponsored by the Russian Academy of Sciences. His work with the academy was interrupted by the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), but he returned and assisted in the preparation of a third expedition, whose purpose was to establish a northern sea route to the Far East. The academy awarded him its gold medal for his work.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Kolchak served as a destroyer commander and later directed a battery in besieged Port Arthur, where his heroism earned him the Sword of St. George. Stung by the Russian navy's humiliating defeat at the hands of Japan, he and a group of his fellow naval officers banded together to promote the reform and reorganization of their service.
When World War I broke out, Kolchak, then a flag captain, was made chief of the Bureau of Operations of the Baltic Fleet. He demonstrated his tactical skill by constructing an effective coastal defense system from the inadequate force at his disposal. This achievement won him the command of the entire Baltic destroyer force, and he added to his distinction in a series of brilliant encounters in the Gulf of Riga. He was promoted to rear admiral, the youngest Russian naval officer to attain that rank, and in the summer of 1916 was named commander in chief of the Black Sea Fleet.
When the February Revolution occurred in 1917, Kolchak assured the provisional government of his loyalty and expressed his willingness to continue at his post. But the disorganization spreading throughout the services began to undermine his command, and Kolchak's personal efforts to restore order by a series of short patriotic speeches succeeded only temporarily. In June 1917, under the threat of mutiny, he submitted his resignation and proceeded to St. Petersburg to inform the government of the causes of the disorder. There he was peremptorily ordered by Aleksandr Kerensky to depart for the United States, ostensibly to study the American navy. The real reason may have been the growing clamor for a dictatorship, with Kolchak, now hailed as a possible savior of Russia, at its head.
Kolchak did not linger in San Francisco. In November 1917 he was in Japan, offering his services to the British. They gladly accepted. He was first assigned to the Mesopotamian army but, upon arriving in Singapore, received a telegram ordering him to Siberia. There he accepted an appointment as minister of war and navy in the anti-Bolshevik, Socialist government in Omsk. On November 18 a coup d'etat overthrew that government's ruling directorate and placed Kolchak in supreme control.
Kolchak promised a democratic order once the Bolsheviks had been overthrown, but the dictatorial manner in which he exercised his authority angered the liberal elements within his circle. He alienated the peasants by equivocating on land reform, and the non-Russian minorities by refusing to recognize their autonomy. A corrupt and repressive administration further vitiated his popularity, and V. M. Chernov's Socialist Revolutionaries, adopting the motto "Neither Kolchak nor Lenin, " capitalized on his blunders. The Allies, who had recognized his government, became increasingly dissatisfied, while the Czech Legion, a major component of his military force and the holders of the vital Trans-Siberian Railroad, moved toward neutrality.
After initial successes (which deluded the Allies), Kolchak's forces became increasingly less effective and suffered a series of defeats in the summer of 1919. Their tactical retreat soon degenerated into a rout. On Jan. 4, 1920, Kolchak relinquished supreme command of the anti-Bolshevik forces to Gen. A. I. Denikin. He placed himself under Allied protection, but the Czech soldiers assigned to guard him turned him over to the Socialist Revolutionary-Menshevik government at Irkutsk. That government soon gave way to a Bolshevik administration, and Kolchak, after a lengthy interrogation, was executed by a firing squad on February 7, 1920. His body was thrown into the Angara River.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak entered the history as the leader of the White movement during the Civil War in Russia and the Supreme Ruler of Russia and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army (November 1918 - January 1920).
After decades of being vilified by the Soviet government, Kolchak is now a controversial historic figure in post-Soviet Russia. The "For Faith and Fatherland" movement has attempted to rehabilitate his reputation. However, two rehabilitation requests have been denied, by a regional military court in 1999 and by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2001. In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Russia returned the Kolchak case to the military court for another hearing.
Monuments dedicated to Kolchak were built in Saint Petersburg in 2002 and in Irkutsk in 2004, despite objections from some former Communist and left-wing politicians, as well as former Soviet army veterans. There is also a Kolchak Island. The modern Russian Navy considered naming the third ship of the new Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, Admiral Kolchak to commemorate the Admiral but declined to do so in the end.
Among his awards are the Saint George Gold Sword for Bravery, given for his actions in the battle of Port Arthur and the Great Gold Constantine Medal from the Russian Geographic Society.
His memorial in St. Petersburg is a frequent target of vandalism.
He was baptized as boy in the local Trinity Church.
From the memoirs of A. V. Kolchak about his early childhood:
"I'm Orthodox, before the time I got to school, I got a family education under the guidance of my father and mother. "
His effort to unite the anti-Bolshevik elements mostly failed; Kolchak refused to consider autonomy for ethnic minorities and refused to cooperate with non-Bolshevik leftists, and also heavily relied on outside aid. As his White forces fell apart, he was betrayed and captured by independent units who handed him over to local Bolsheviks.
Admiral Kolchak's government was not successful from the time of his taking the position of Supreme Ruler until his death. As a military commander he was unable to make successful strategic plans or to coordinate with other White Army generals such as Yudenich or Denikin.
Kolchak also failed to convince potentially friendly Finland to join with him against the Bolsheviks. He was unable to win diplomatic recognition from any nation in the world, even Great Britain (though the British did support him to some degree). In addition he alienated the Czechoslovak Legion, which for a time was a powerful organised military force in the region and very strongly anti-Bolshevik. As was mentioned above, the American commander, General Graves, disliked Kolchak and refused to lend him any military aid at all.
Quotations:
He issued the following manifesto to the population:
"The Provisional All-Russian Government has come to an end. The Council of Ministers, having all the power in its hands, has invested me, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, with this power. I have accepted this responsibility in the exceptionally difficult circumstances of civil war and complete disorganisation of the country, and I now make it known that I shall follow neither the reactionary path nor the deadly path of party strife. My chief aims are the organisation of a fighting force, the overthrow of Bolshevism, and the establishment of law and order, so that the Russian people may be able to choose a form of government in accordance with its desire and to realise the high ideas of liberty and freedom. I call upon you, citizens, to unite and to sacrifice your all, if necessary, in the struggle with Bolshevism. "
Kolchak was a member of the Russian Geographical Society.
One who knew him wrote:
"The character and soul of the Admiral are so transparent that one needs no more than one week of contact to know all there is to know about him. He is a big, sick child, a pure idealist, a convinced slave of duty and service to an idea and to Russia. An indubitable neurotic who quickly flares up, exceedingly impetuous and uncontrolled in expressions of displeasure and anger; in this respect he has assimilated the highly unattractive traditions of the naval service, which permit in high naval ranks behavior that in our army has long since passed into the realm of legend. He is utterly absorbed by the idea of serving Russia, of saving her from Red oppression, and restoring her to full power and to the inviolability of her territory. For the sake of this he can be persuaded and moved to do anything whatever. He has no personal interests, no amour propre: in this respect he is crystal pure. He passionately despises all lawlessness and arbitrariness, but because he is so uncontrolled and impulsive, he himself often unintentionally transgresses against the law, and this mainly when seeking to uphold the same law, and always under the influence of some outsider. He does not know life in its severe, practical reality, and lives in a world of mirages and borrowed ideas. He has no plans, no system, no will: in this respect he is soft wax from which advisers and intimates can fashion whatever they want, exploiting the fact that it is enough to disguise something as necessary for the welfare of Russia and the good of the cause to be certain of his approval".
Another who knew him wrote of Kolchak:
"He is kind and at the same time severe, responsive and at the same time embarrassed to show human feelings, concealing his gentleness behind make-believe severity. He is impatient and stubborn, loses his temper, threatens and then calms down, making concessions, spreads his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He is bursting to be with the people, with the troops, but when he faces them, has no idea of what to say"
Quotes from others about the person
British Marxist historian Edward Hallett Carr wrote:
"It is no longer possible for any sane man to regard the campaigns of Kolchak, Yudenich, Denikin and Wrangel otherwise than as tragic blunders of colossal dimensions. "
Kolchak’s wife, Sophia Fedorovna Kolchak, was born in 1876 in Kamenetz-Podolsk province. Her father was privy councilor Fedor Omirov. Her mother Daria Fyodorovna was the daughter of Major-General, Director of the Forest Institute F. A. Kamensky, sister of sculptor F. F. Kamensky. Sophia and Alexander got married on March 5, 1904 in Irkutsk. Sophia gave birth to three children: the first girl was born in October 1905 and lived for a month, son Rostislav was born on March 9, 1910, daughter Margarita (1912-1914) caught a cold while fleeing from the Germans and died.
Sophia Fyodorovna lived in Gatchina, and then in Libava, which she left on August 2, 1914, at the beginning of the war. From Helsingfors she moved to Sebastopol. In 1919, she was able to emigrate from Sevastopol to Constanta. Then she moved to Bucharest, and then went to Paris. She died in 1956 in Paris and was buried in the main cemetery of the Russian diaspora – Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
In 1939, Rostislav Kolchak was drafted into the French army and fought in the Belgian border. In 1940 he was captured by the Germans and after the war he returned to Paris. He died on June 28, 1965 and was buried next to his mother.
(1837, Odessa - April 4, 1913, St. Petersburg)
(1855 -1894)
( born in 1876 in Kamenetz-Podolsk province)
(1912-1914)
(born on March 9, 1910- June 28, 1965)
