Leon Trotsky, demon of the revolution. Trotsky Lev Davidovich Trotsky Lev Davidovich personal life
Leiba Bronstein was born in 1879 in the family of a very rich Kherson grain merchant and landowner. Mother, Anna Lvovna, came from a family of large businessmen and bankers Zhivotovsky.
From the age of seven, the boy studied at the cheder at the synagogue, and then at the Odessa real school. After he entered the Odessa University, but took up the revolution and abandoned his studies. It is worth noting that at first, Lev Davidovich showed contempt for all the beautiful-hearted revolutionary impulses of those around him. Being extremely ambitious, he built far-reaching plans, knowing full well that it was impossible to extract any practical benefit from utopian dreams. And yet, gradually, the revolution interested the young Lyova Bronstein.
In 1898 he was arrested and received four years of exile. In the Butyrka transit prison, Lev Davidovich married the revolutionary Alexandra Sokolovskaya. They went to Siberia husband and wife. In 1902, an escape was arranged for Trotsky. The escape was brilliantly organized: clothes, documents, money, the route - everything was done to the highest standard. It was from this time that Leiba Bronstein became Leon Trotsky - he got a passport from the deceased Colonel Nikolai Trotsky. Lev Davidovich went to Austria-Hungary, to Vienna. And here he was taken under control and guardianship by Victor Adler.
Leiba Bronstein, 1888 (aif.ru)
Adler supplied Trotsky with money and the necessary documents, and Lev Davidovich went to London, to Lenin, went to work in the Iskra newspaper. Trotsky became friends with the future leader of the world proletariat very quickly. Vladimir Ilyich could not get enough of the new employee, who fully shared his views. He handed out laudatory recommendations to Trotsky, his faithful disciple, and patronized him. And Lev Davidovich, in turn, supported his leader in everything. This went on until Trotsky decided that he had already become quite a famous person. He immediately declared his disagreement with the general line of the party, for which he earned from Lenin two characteristics that have since been firmly stuck to him - "Judas" and "political prostitute."
In 1903, the Second Congress of the RSDLP was convened in Europe, at which it was supposed to unite disparate groups of social democrats. However, at the congress, the revolutionaries quarreled and split into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. Trotsky, without joining either one or the other, once again quarreled with Lenin and was left completely alone. The abandonment of Lev Davidovich did not last long - after some time he received an invitation from the ideologist of the "permanent revolution" Israel Lazarevich Parvus and went to him in Munich.
Revolutionary Leon Trotsky
In 1905, immediately after the so-called "Bloody Sunday", Parvus and Trotsky headed for Russia. Having set up the production of three newspapers - Russkaya Gazeta, Nachala and Izvestia, filling up Moscow and St. Petersburg with their circulations, Israel Lazarevich began to "unwind" Lev Davidovich. To begin with, he, still an unknown politician, was pushed to the post of deputy chairman of the Petrosoviet. The Chairman of the Council was Georgy Stepanovich Khrustalev-Nosar, a purely decorative figure. In reality, Parvus was in charge of everything. Using controlled publications, Israel Lazarevich made a real "financial storm" in Russia (the reason for this was the published "Financial Manifesto"), for which, together with Trotsky, he was arrested and sent into exile. However, neither one nor the other reached the place of detention. Money and documents were handed over to them on the way. Both fled first to Finland and then moved to Switzerland.
Trotsky at a rally, 1919 (kykyryzo.ru)
For a long time Lev Davidovich worked in Vienna (as a publicist), often visited Viktor Adler and Sigmund Freud. Then he moved to France, where he not only participated in the production of socialist newspapers, but also engaged in active subversive anti-Russian activities (in particular, he was one of the organizers of uprisings in Russian regiments that fought on the Western Front), for which he was arrested, but thanks to high patrons in released by the French government and deported to Spain. From Spain, Trotsky, together with his family (in 1903, he began to cohabit with Natalia Sedova), on a steamer, in a first-class cabin, departed for the United States. In New York, Lev Davidovich, together with Volodarsky, Bukharin, Kollontai and other revolutionary figures, worked in the Novy Mir newspaper.
Trotsky in power
Immediately after the February Revolution, Trotsky went to Russia with a group of his associates. However, on the way, in the Canadian port of Halifax, he was removed from the ship and placed in an internment camp. The Provisional Government immediately demanded the release of the honored fighter against tsarism. As a result of this demand, or for other reasons, the British, having kept Lev Davidovich at home for two months and having several conversations with them, let him go.
In Petrograd, Trotsky was given a solemn welcome. Having settled in the apartment of the director of factories, Nobel Serebrovsky, Lev Davidovich immediately got involved in the work, with the assistance of Yakov Sverdlov, he began to look for ways to reconcile with Lenin. Trotsky's activity yielded results exactly two months after his arrival: in early July 1917, anti-government demonstrations by workers and soldiers began in Petrograd. The provisional government suppressed the unrest, Lenin and Trotsky were accused of espionage. Vladimir Ilyich managed to escape in advance, but Lev Davidovich landed in the "Crosses", from where soon (after the Kornilov revolt) he was safely released by the same Provisional Government.
October 1917 was Trotsky's finest hour: he, the head of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, finally managed to take power into his own hands. After the coup, Lev Davidovich took over as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. A striking episode of Trotsky's activity on the international field was the signing of the shameful Brest Peace. After that, he went to the people's commissars for military affairs, where he again distinguished himself - now in the formation of the Red Army.
In the early 1920s, Lev Davidovich headed the People's Commissariat for Communications. An extremely controversial and unpleasant episode is connected with this period of his career: having ordered Sweden a thousand steam locomotives for 200 million gold rubles, he spent a quarter of the country's gold reserves.
A few words should also be said about Trotsky's role in the genocide of the Cossacks. According to his famous order No. 100 of May 25, 1919, the soldiers, commanders and commissars of the punitive troops were ordered to completely exterminate "the nests of countless traitors and traitors." There was no mercy from the People's Commissariat of Defense.
Trotsky and Stalin
Until 1922, there was no sharp struggle for power in the Soviet government. However, Lenin's illness sharply raised the question of who would be his successor. Trotsky tried to take the first roles, but he was not allowed to do this.
Trotsky in Mexico, 1940 (twitter.com)
A fatal role in the fate of Lev Davidovich was played by the fact that at the end of his life Lenin elevated Stalin to the political Olympus. And Joseph Vissarionovich knew how to deal with real opponents. In February 1929, Trotsky was expelled from the USSR. Abroad, he tried to organize an anti-Stalinist opposition, but he did not succeed in achieving his goal - to overthrow Stalin.
Trotsky rushed around the world. From France, where he arrived in 1933 in order to find shelter, he was sent to Norway, from Norway to Mexico. It was here, in the country of cowboys, cacti and tequila, that Lev Davidovich spent the last years of his life. In August 1940, the Soviet agent Ramon Mercader killed him with an ice pick.
Lev Davidovich
Battles and victories
A prominent figure in the communist movement, a Soviet military-political figure, people's commissar for military affairs.
Trotsky, not being a military specialist, managed to organize the Red Army from scratch, turning it into an effective and powerful armed force and becoming one of the organizers of the Red Army's victory in the Civil War. "Red Bonaparte".
Trotsky (Bronstein) Lev Davidovich was born in the Kherson province in a family of wealthy Jewish colonists. He graduated from St. Paul's College in Odessa. He had a broad outlook, developed intellect. From his youth, he participated in revolutionary activities, collaborated with the Social Democrats (although he repeatedly came into conflict with V.I. Lenin). Repeatedly arrested, exiled and escaped. He spent many years in exile in France, Austria-Hungary, and visited the North American United States.
As a war correspondent, Trotsky participated in the First and Second Balkan Wars, gaining the first insights into the war and the army. Even at that time, he proved to be a serious organizer and specialist. Although he demanded for himself as a correspondent a salary that exceeded the monthly salary of a Serbian minister, with this money he paid a secretary who performed technical work and compiled certificates, and he himself supplied customers with extremely accurate and verified information. It included not only a presentation of events, but also attempts to analyze and synthesize the material, deeply comprehend the life of the Balkan region and fairly accurate forecasting, which is fully confirmed by the studies of modern domestic and foreign Balkan researchers. There is no reason to believe that, being at the head of the Soviet military department, Trotsky showed less thoroughness in his work.
During the First World War, again as a war correspondent, Trotsky became acquainted with the French army. He independently studied the issues of militarism.
In 1917, Trotsky arrived in Russia, actively participated in revolutionary propaganda among the troops of the Petrograd garrison. In September 1917, he took the post of chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, in October he created the Military Revolutionary Committee, which led the work on preparing an armed seizure of power in the capital. Through the efforts of Trotsky, the Petrograd garrison did not support the Provisional Government, and the Bolsheviks seized power. Trotsky organized the defense of Petrograd from the offensive of the troops of General P.N. Krasnov, personally checked the weapons and was at the forefront.
At the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918. Trotsky served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. He supported the unsuccessful policy of "neither peace nor war", as a result of which he left the post of people's commissar.
In the middle of March 1918, L.D. Trotsky, by decision of the Central Committee of the party, became People's Commissar for Military Affairs (he held this post until 1925) and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council. Trotsky was the military leader of the Red Army during the Civil War era, concentrating immense power in his hands. In the autumn of 1918 he headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
Not being a military specialist, he showed outstanding organizational skills and managed to organize the Red Army from scratch on a regular basis, turning it into a massive, efficient and powerful armed force based on the principles of universal military service and strict discipline. In the highest military posts in Soviet Russia, Trotsky demonstrated his character - iron will and determination, colossal energy, a fanatical commitment to achieving the intended result in the presence of undoubted ambition.
Under the leadership of Trotsky, the military-administrative apparatus of Soviet Russia took shape, military districts, armies and fronts were created, mass mobilizations were carried out in a country decomposed by revolutionary ferment. The Red Army won its victories over the internal counter-revolution.
Trotsky became the main ideologist and conductor of the policy of recruiting former officers of the old army, who were called military specialists, into the Red Army. This policy ran into fierce resistance both in the party and among the masses of soldiers who ended up in the Red Army. One of Trotsky's ardent opponents on this issue was a member of the Central Committee I.V. Stalin, who sabotaged this course. IN AND. Lenin also doubted the correctness of Trotsky's course. However, the correctness of this policy was confirmed by successes at the fronts, and in 1919 it was declared the official party course.
During the Civil War, Trotsky showed himself to be a talented organizer who understood the nature of war and the methods of control in its conditions, as well as a person who knew how to find a common language with military experts. Trotsky's strength as the leader of the Red Army was a clear understanding of the strategy of the Civil War. In this matter, he far surpassed even the old military specialists with an academic education, who poorly understood the social nature of the Civil War.
This was especially evident during the discussion about the Soviet strategy on the Southern Front in the summer - autumn of 1919. Commander-in-Chief S.S. Kamenev planned the main thrust of the offensive through the Cossack areas, where the Reds faced fierce resistance from the local population. Trotsky sharply criticized the direction of the main attack proposed by Kamenev. He was against the offensive through the Don region, as he reasonably believed that the Reds would meet the greatest resistance in the Cossack territories. Meanwhile, the Whites achieved significant success in their main Kursk direction, which threatened the very existence of Soviet Russia. Trotsky's idea was to separate the Cossacks from the volunteers by delivering the main blow precisely in the Kursk-Voronezh direction. In the end, the Red Army moved to implement Trotsky's plan, but this happened only after several months of fruitless attempts to implement Kamenev's plan.
Trotsky spent the hottest time of the Civil War traveling around the fronts in his famous train (“flying control apparatus,” as Trotsky called it), organizing troops on the ground. Repeatedly traveled to the most threatened fronts and established work there. He made an outstanding contribution to the strengthening of the front near Kazan in August 1918, when the Red Army was demoralized. Trotsky was able to strengthen the morale of the troops by punitive measures, propaganda and strengthening the grouping of Soviet troops in the Kazan region.
He later recalled his trips to the fronts:Looking back over the three years of the civil war and looking through the journal of my continuous trips along the front, I see that I hardly had to accompany the victorious army, participate in the offensive, directly share its successes with the army. My trips were not of a festive nature. I only traveled to disadvantaged areas when the enemy broke through the front and drove our regiments in front of him. I retreated with the troops, but never advanced with them. As soon as the defeated divisions were put in order, and the command gave the signal to attack, I said goodbye to the army for another unfavorable sector or returned to Moscow for several days to resolve the accumulated problems in the center.
“Of course, this method cannot be called correct,” Trotsky noted in another work. - The pedant will say that in supply, as in all military affairs in general, the most important thing is the system. It is right. I myself tend to sin rather in the direction of pedantry. But the fact is that we did not want to die before we managed to create a coherent system. That is why we were forced, especially in the first period, to replace the system with improvisations, so that we could rely on the system in the future.
For example, what did Trotsky do during the defense of Petrograd in the autumn of 1919? Documents testify that with his authority he ensured the supply of everything necessary for the 7th Army, which was defending the Cradle of the Revolution. He dealt with the problems of supplying the army, solved personnel issues. He carried out strategic planning: he put forward very sensible proposals for turning Petrograd into an impregnable fortress, raised in advance the question of the prospects for relations with Estonians in the event of the defeat of Yudenich's army and its withdrawal to Estonia. He carried out the general supreme administration, and also instructed the military and political leadership and, as Trotsky himself noted, gave "an impetus to the initiative of the front and the immediate rear." In addition, with his characteristic seething energy, he held rallies, made speeches, and wrote articles. The benefits of his presence in Petrograd were undeniable.
Trotsky wrote about the achievements of the first days near Petrograd: “The command staff, drawn into failures, had to be shaken up, refreshed, renewed. Even greater changes were made in the composition of the commissars. All parts were strengthened from within by the communists. Some fresh parts also arrived. Military schools were thrown into the front lines. In two or three days, they managed to pull up the completely lowered supply apparatus. The Red Army soldier ate more densely, changed his underwear, changed his shoes, listened to the speech, shook himself, pulled himself up and became different.
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Already at this time, Trotsky worked out a universal formula for victories in the Civil War. On October 16, 1919, he wrote to former General Dmitry Nikolaevich Nadezhny, who was entrusted with the command of the 7th Army: "As always in such cases, this time we will achieve the necessary turning point with the help of organizational, agitational and punitive measures."
According to Trotsky, “it is impossible to create a strong army on the fly. Plugging and darning holes at the front will not help the cause. The transfer of individual communists and communist detachments to the most dangerous places can only temporarily improve the situation. There is only one salvation: to transform, reorganize, educate the army through persistent, persistent work, starting from the main cell, from the company, and, rising higher through the battalion, regiment, division; establish the correct supply, the correct distribution of communist forces, the correct relationship between commanding staff and commissars, ensure strict diligence and unconditional conscientiousness in reports (highlighted in the document. - A.G.)". Thus, the secret of Trotsky's success lay far beyond the number of bayonets.
Trotsky described the reasons for the defeats of the Whites as follows:As long as they, Dutov, Kolchak, Denikin, had partisan detachments of the most qualified officer and cadet elements, as long as they developed a large strike force in relation to their number, because, I repeat, this is an element of great experience, high military qualification. But when the heavy mass of our regiments, brigades, divisions, and armies built on mobilization forced them themselves to go over to the mobilization of the peasants in order to oppose the masses to the masses, then the laws of class struggle came into play. And their mobilization turned into internal disorganization, called forth the work of the forces of internal destruction. In order to show this, to reveal it in practice, only blows from our side were needed.
The chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the republic tried to find a common language with elements disloyal to the Bolsheviks. Thus, in the spring of 1919, Trotsky proposed to integrate the anarchists Nestor Makhno into the Red Army by sending detachments of party workers, Chekists, sailors and workers to the “anarchist gangs” of the Makhnovists.
Trotsky was an excellent speaker, his speeches at the fronts played a role in raising the morale of the soldiers of the Red Army. He showed concern for ordinary Red Army soldiers. In the autumn of 1919, he wrote to the Central Committee about the need for warm clothes for the army, because. “You cannot demand more from the human body than it can bear.”
Trotsky in every way contributed to the dissemination of military knowledge in the Red Army, the development of military science. So, under his patronage, a serious military-scientific journal "Military Affairs" was published in Moscow by a group of former officers.
Taking care of the training of commanders, the leaders of the Red Army did not forget about ordinary soldiers. Their training since 1918 was carried out through Vsevobuch (Universal military training). In a short time, training and formation departments appeared in all work centers. As conceived by Trotsky, Vsevobuch was to create large military units up to and including armies. As part of the Vsevobuch, pre-conscription training was carried out in labor schools, which was completed by 60,000 people, or 10% of all those registered.
Trotsky attached great disciplinary importance to the factor of repression in the army. The secret “Instructions to responsible workers of the 14th Army”, signed by Trotsky on August 9, 1919, spoke about the principles of the punitive policy: “All the leading institutions of the army - the Revolutionary Military Council, the Political Department, the Special Department, the Revolutionary Tribunal must firmly establish and enforce the rule that no crime in the army goes unpunished. Of course, punishment must be strictly consistent with the actual nature of the crime or misdemeanor. Sentences must be such that every Red Army soldier, reading about them in his newspaper, clearly understands their justice and necessity for maintaining the combat capability of the army. Punishments should follow as soon as possible after the crime."
Not only the rank and file, but also the command staff and even commissars needed to strengthen discipline. The leader of the Red Army, Trotsky, was ready to go to the end in this regard, up to the execution of party workers. It was on his orders that a tribunal was appointed that sentenced to death the commander of the 2nd Petrograd regiment Gneushev, the commissar of the regiment Panteleev and every tenth Red Army soldier, who, with part of the regiment, abandoned their positions and fled on a steamboat from near Kazan in the summer of 1918. This case caused a discussion in the party about the permissibility of executions of party workers and a wave of criticism against Trotsky. The resonant case gives reason to believe that the executions of party members were still an exceptional and isolated phenomenon.
Another means of intimidation, which, however, did not actually find real use in the Red Army, was orders to take hostage the families of defectors from among the military experts.
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A few years after the Civil War, Trotsky commented on the meaning of such harsh orders (primarily orders to shoot commissars): “It was not an order to shoot, it was the usual pressure that was then practiced. Here I have dozens of the same kind of telegrams from Vladimir Ilyich ... It was a common form of military pressure at that time. Thus, it was, first of all, about threats. Trotsky is often accused of some kind of excessive cruelty, which is not true.
Of course, Trotsky also made mistakes that corresponded to the scale of his activities. So, by his actions to disarm the Czechoslovaks, he provoked an armed uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. His hopes for a world revolution, as well as the specific plans and calculations associated with these hopes, did not come true either.
Having lost in the inner-party political struggle, Trotsky went into exile, and in 1929 he was expelled from the USSR and subsequently deprived of Soviet citizenship. In exile, he was the founder of the Fourth International, created a number of historical works, memoirs. Mortally wounded by an NKVD agent in 1940 in Mexico.
During the Soviet period, researchers and memoirists sought to belittle the role of L.D. Trotsky in the creation of the Red Army, since his figure was actually excluded from the historical process in the Stalinist interpretation of the history of the Civil War and was mentioned only in extremely negative terms. However, in the post-Soviet period, it became possible to speak with an open mind about Trotsky's prominent role in the creation of the Soviet armed forces. Of course, Trotsky was not a commander, but he was an outstanding military administrator and organizer.
GANIN A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Literature
My life. M., 2001
Stalin. T. 2. M., 1990
Kirshin Yu.Ya. Trotsky is a military theorist. Klintsy, 2003
Krasnov V., Daines V. Unknown Trotsky. Red Bonaparte. M., 2000
Felshtinsky Yu., Chernyavsky G. Leon Trotsky is a Bolshevik. Book. 2. 1917-1924. M., 2012
Shemyakin A.L. L.D. Trotsky about Serbia and the Serbs (military impressions of 1912-1913). V.A. Tesemnikov. Research and materials dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of V.A. Tesemnikov. M., 2013. S. 51-76
Internet
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Perhaps the only bright spot against the background of the Soviet commanders of the armored forces. A tanker who went through the entire war, starting from the border. The commander, whose tanks always showed their superiority to the enemy. His tank brigades were the only (!) in the first period of the war that were not defeated by the Germans and even inflicted significant damage on them.
His First Guards Tank Army remained combat-ready, although it defended from the very first days of the fighting on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge, while exactly the same Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army was practically destroyed on the very first day it entered the battle (June 12)
This is one of the few of our commanders who took care of his troops and fought not by numbers, but by skill.
General Ermolov
Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Sheremetev Boris Petrovich
Makarov Stepan Osipovich
Russian oceanographer, polar explorer, shipbuilder, vice admiral. Developed the Russian semaphore alphabet. A worthy person, on the list of worthy ones!
Wrangel Pyotr Nikolaevich
Member of the Russo-Japanese and World War I, one of the main leaders (1918−1920) of the White movement during the Civil War. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in the Crimea and Poland (1920). General Staff Lieutenant General (1918). Georgievsky Cavalier.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
The Soviet people, as the most talented, have a large number of outstanding military leaders, but the main one is Stalin. Without him, many of them might not have been in the military.
Antonov Alexey Innokentievich
He became famous as a talented staff officer. Participated in the development of almost all significant operations of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War since December 1942.
The only one of all the awarded Soviet military leaders with the Order of Victory in the rank of army general, and the only Soviet holder of the order who was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Baklanov Yakov Petrovich
The Cossack general, the "thunderstorm of the Caucasus", Yakov Petrovich Baklanov, one of the most colorful heroes of the endless Caucasian war of the century before last, fits perfectly into the image of Russia familiar to the West. A gloomy two-meter hero, a tireless persecutor of mountaineers and Poles, an enemy of political correctness and democracy in all their manifestations. But it was precisely such people who obtained the most difficult victory for the empire in a long-term confrontation with the inhabitants of the North Caucasus and the unkind local nature.
Rurik Svyatoslav Igorevich
Year of birth 942 date of death 972 Expansion of the borders of the state. 965 the conquest of the Khazars, 963 the campaign to the south to the Kuban region the capture of Tmutarakan, 969 the conquest of the Volga Bulgars, 971 the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom, 968 the foundation of Pereyaslavets on the Danube (the new capital of Russia), 969 the defeat of the Pechenegs in the defense of Kyiv.
Markov Sergey Leonidovich
One of the main characters of the early stage of the Russian-Soviet war.
Veteran of Russian-Japanese, World War I and Civil War. Cavalier of the Order of St. George 4th class, Orders of St. Vladimir 3rd class and 4th class with swords and bow, Orders of St. Anne 2nd, 3rd and 4th class, Orders of St. Stanislaus 2nd and 3rd th degrees. The owner of the St. George's weapon. Outstanding military theorist. Member of the Ice Campaign. Son of an officer. Hereditary nobleman of the Moscow province. He graduated from the Academy of the General Staff, served in the Life Guards of the 2nd Artillery Brigade. One of the commanders of the Volunteer Army at the first stage. Died a heroic death.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He personally took part in the planning and implementation of ALL offensive and defensive operations of the Red Army in the period 1941-1945.
Golovanov Alexander Evgenievich
He is the creator of the Soviet long-range aviation (ADD).
Units under the command of Golovanov bombed Berlin, Koenigsberg, Danzig and other cities in Germany, attacked important strategic targets behind enemy lines.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
The largest figure in world history, whose life and state activity left the deepest mark not only in the fate of the Soviet people, but also of all mankind, will be the subject of careful study of historians for more than one century. The historical and biographical feature of this personality is that it will never be forgotten.
During Stalin's tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Chairman of the State Defense Committee, our country was marked by victory in the Great Patriotic War, massive labor and front-line heroism, the transformation of the USSR into a superpower with significant scientific, military and industrial potential, and the strengthening of our country's geopolitical influence in the world.
Ten Stalinist strikes - the common name for a number of major offensive strategic operations in the Great Patriotic War, carried out in 1944 by the armed forces of the USSR. Along with other offensive operations, they made a decisive contribution to the victory of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II.
Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich
I beg the military-historical society to correct the extreme historical injustice and add to the list of 100 best commanders, the leader of the northern militia who did not lose a single battle, who played an outstanding role in liberating Russia from the Polish yoke and unrest. And apparently poisoned for his talent and skill.
Minikh Khristofor Antonovich
Due to the ambiguous attitude to the period of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the largely underestimated commander, who was the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops throughout her reign.
Commander of the Russian troops during the War of the Polish Succession and architect of the victory of Russian arms in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739.
Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky Pyotr Alexandrovich
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Under his leadership, the Red Army crushed fascism.
Platov Matvei Ivanovich
Ataman of the Great Don Army (since 1801), cavalry general (1809), who took part in all the wars of the Russian Empire in the late 18th - early 19th centuries.
In 1771 he distinguished himself in the attack and capture of the Perekop line and Kinburn. From 1772 he began to command a Cossack regiment. During the 2nd Turkish war, he distinguished himself during the assault on Ochakov and Ishmael. Participated in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, he first commanded all the Cossack regiments on the border, and then, covering the retreat of the army, defeated the enemy near the town of Mir and Romanovo. In the battle near the village of Semlevo, Platov's army defeated the French and captured a colonel from the army of Marshal Murat. During the retreat of the French army, Platov, pursuing her, defeated her at Gorodnya, the Kolotsk Monastery, Gzhatsk, Tsarevo-Zaimishcha, near Dukhovshchina and while crossing the Vop River. For merit he was elevated to the dignity of a count. In November, Platov occupied Smolensk from battle and defeated the troops of Marshal Ney near Dubrovna. At the beginning of January 1813 he entered the borders of Prussia and overlaid Danzig; in September, he received command of a special corps, with which he participated in the battle of Leipzig and, pursuing the enemy, captured about 15 thousand people. In 1814 he fought at the head of his regiments in the capture of Nemur, at Arcy-sur-Aube, Cezanne, Villeneuve. He was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Soldier, several wars (including World War I and World War II). passed the way to Marshal of the USSR and Poland. Military intellectual. not resorting to "obscene leadership." he knew tactics in military affairs to the subtleties. practice, strategy and operational art.
Golenishchev-Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
(1745-1813).
1. GREAT Russian commander, he was an example for his soldiers. Appreciated every soldier. "M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov is not only the liberator of the Fatherland, he is the only one who outplayed the hitherto invincible French emperor, turning the "great army" into a crowd of ragamuffins, saving, thanks to his military genius, the lives of many Russian soldiers."
2. Mikhail Illarionovich, being a highly educated person who knew several foreign languages, dexterous, refined, able to inspire society with the gift of words, an entertaining story, served Russia as an excellent diplomat - ambassador to Turkey.
3. M. I. Kutuzov - the first to become a full cavalier of the highest military order of St. George the Victorious of four degrees.
The life of Mikhail Illarionovich is an example of service to the fatherland, attitude towards soldiers, spiritual strength for the Russian military leaders of our time and, of course, for the younger generation - the future military.
Oktyabrsky Philip Sergeevich
Admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet. One of the leaders of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1941 - 1942, as well as the Crimean operation of 1944. During the Great Patriotic War, Vice Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky was one of the leaders of the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Being the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, at the same time in 1941-1942 he was the commander of the Sevastopol Defense Region.
Three orders of Lenin
three orders of the Red Banner
two orders of Ushakov 1st degree
Order of Nakhimov 1st class
Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Order of the Red Star
medals
Rurikovich (Grozny) Ivan Vasilyevich
In the variety of perceptions of Ivan the Terrible, they often forget about his unconditional talent and achievements as a commander. He personally led the capture of Kazan and organized military reform, leading the country, which simultaneously waged 2-3 wars on different fronts.
Blucher, Tukhachevsky
Blucher, Tukhachevsky and the whole galaxy of heroes of the Civil War. Don't forget Budyonny!
Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich
A man whose faith, courage, and patriotism defended our state
Olsufiev Zakhar Dmitrievich
One of the most famous commanders of Bagrationov's 2nd Western Army. He always fought with exemplary courage. He was awarded the Order of St. George 3rd degree for heroic participation in the Battle of Borodino. He distinguished himself in the battle on the Chernishna (or Tarutinsky) River. The award to him for participating in the defeat of the vanguard of Napoleon's army was the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree. He was called "general with talents". When Olsufiev was captured and was delivered to Napoleon, he said to his entourage the famous words in history: "Only Russians know how to fight like that!"
Dubynin Viktor Petrovich
From April 30, 1986 to June 1, 1987 - Commander of the 40th Combined Arms Army of the Turkestan Military District. The troops of this army made up the bulk of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. During the year of his command of the army, the number of irretrievable losses decreased by 2 times in comparison with 1984-1985.
On June 10, 1992, Colonel-General V.P. Dubynin was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation
His merits include keeping the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin from a number of ill-conceived decisions in the military sphere, primarily in the field of nuclear forces.
Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
After Zhukov, who took Berlin, the brilliant strategist Kutuzov, who drove the French out of Russia, should be second.
Kolovrat Evpaty Lvovich
Ryazan boyar and governor. During the Batu invasion of Ryazan, he was in Chernigov. Having learned about the invasion of the Mongols, he hastily moved to the city. Having caught Ryazan all incinerated, Evpaty Kolovrat with a detachment of 1700 people began to catch up with Batu's army. Having overtaken them, he destroyed their rearguard. He also killed the strong heroes of the Batyevs. He died on January 11, 1238.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He led the armed struggle of the Soviet people in the war against Germany and its allies and satellites, as well as in the war against Japan.
He led the Red Army to Berlin and Port Arthur.
Shein Mikhail Borisovich
He led the Smolensk defense against the Polish-Lithuanian troops, which lasted 20 months. Under the command of Shein, repeated attacks were repulsed, despite the explosion and a breach in the wall. He held and bled the main forces of the Poles at the decisive moment of the Time of Troubles, preventing them from moving to Moscow to support their garrison, creating an opportunity to assemble an all-Russian militia to liberate the capital. Only with the help of a defector, the troops of the Commonwealth managed to take Smolensk on June 3, 1611. The wounded Shein was taken prisoner and was taken away with his family for 8 years in Poland. After returning to Russia, he commanded an army that tried to return Smolensk in 1632-1634. Executed on boyar slander. Undeservedly forgotten.
Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich
Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of losses of Russian and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress is 1:10.
Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich
Linevich Nikolai Petrovich
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich (December 24, 1838 - April 10, 1908) - a prominent Russian military leader, infantry general (1903), adjutant general (1905); general who stormed Beijing.
Loris-Melikov Mikhail Tarielovich
Known mainly as one of the secondary characters in the story "Hadji Murad" by L.N. Tolstoy, Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov went through all the Caucasian and Turkish campaigns of the second half of the middle of the 19th century.
Having shown himself excellently during the Caucasian War, during the Kars campaign of the Crimean War, Loris-Melikov led intelligence, and then successfully served as commander-in-chief during the difficult Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, having won a number of important victories over the united Turkish troops and in the third once captured Kars, by that time considered impregnable.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich
981 - the conquest of Cherven and Przemysl. 983 - the conquest of the Yatvags. 984 - the conquest of the natives. 985 - successful campaigns against the Bulgars, the taxation of the Khazar Khaganate. 988 - the conquest of the Taman Peninsula. 991 - the subjugation of the White Croats. 992 - successfully defended Cherven Rus in the war against Poland. in addition, the saint is equal to the apostles.
Dokhturov Dmitry Sergeevich
Defense of Smolensk.
Command of the left flank on the Borodino field after the wounding of Bagration.
Tarutino battle.
Gagen Nikolai Alexandrovich
On June 22, trains with units of the 153rd Infantry Division arrived in Vitebsk. Covering the city from the west, the Hagen division (together with the heavy artillery regiment attached to the division) occupied a 40 km long defense zone, it was opposed by the 39th German motorized corps.
After 7 days of fierce fighting, the battle formations of the division were not broken through. The Germans no longer contacted the division, bypassed it and continued the offensive. The division flashed in the message of the German radio as destroyed. Meanwhile, the 153rd Rifle Division, without ammunition and fuel, began to break through the ring. Hagen led the division out of the encirclement with heavy weapons.
For the steadfastness and heroism shown during the Yelninskaya operation on September 18, 1941, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 308, the division received the honorary name "Guards".
From 01/31/1942 to 09/12/1942 and from 10/21/1942 to 04/25/1943 - commander of the 4th Guards Rifle Corps,
from May 1943 to October 1944 - commander of the 57th Army,
from January 1945 - the 26th Army.
The troops under the leadership of N. A. Hagen participated in the Sinyavino operation (moreover, the general managed to break out of the encirclement for the second time with weapons in his hands), the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, battles in the Left-Bank and Right-Bank Ukraine, in the liberation of Bulgaria, in Iasi-Kishinev, Belgrade, Budapest, Balaton and Vienna operations. Member of the Victory Parade.
Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich
General Kotlyarevsky, son of a priest in the village of Olkhovatka, Kharkov province. He went from private to general in the tsarist army. He can be called the great-grandfather of the Russian special forces. He carried out truly unique operations ... His name is worthy of being included in the list of the greatest commanders of Russia
Batitsky
I served in the air defense and therefore I know this surname - Batitsky. Do you know? By the way, the father of air defense!
Bennigsen Leonty Leontievich
Surprisingly, a Russian general who did not speak Russian, who made up the glory of Russian weapons at the beginning of the 19th century.
He made a significant contribution to the suppression of the Polish uprising.
Commander-in-Chief in the Battle of Tarutino.
He made a significant contribution to the campaign of 1813 (Dresden and Leipzig).
Dolgorukov Yury Alekseevich
An outstanding statesman and military leader of the era of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, prince. Commanding the Russian army in Lithuania, in 1658 he defeated hetman V. Gonsevsky in the battle of Verki, taking him prisoner. This was the first time after 1500 when a Russian governor captured the hetman. In 1660, at the head of an army sent under Mogilev, besieged by the Polish-Lithuanian troops, he won a strategic victory over the enemy on the Basya River near the village of Gubarevo, forcing hetmans P. Sapieha and S. Czarnetsky to retreat from the city. Thanks to the actions of Dolgorukov, the "front line" in Belarus along the Dnieper was preserved until the end of the war of 1654-1667. In 1670, he led an army sent to fight against the Cossacks of Stenka Razin, in the shortest possible time suppressed the Cossack rebellion, which later led to the Don Cossacks swearing allegiance to the tsar and the transformation of the Cossacks from robbers into "sovereign servants".
Duke of Württemberg Eugene
Infantry general, cousin of the Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. Served in the Russian Army since 1797 (enlisted as a colonel in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment by the Decree of Emperor Paul I). Participated in military campaigns against Napoleon in 1806-1807. For participation in the battle near Pultusk in 1806 he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious 4th degree, for the campaign of 1807 he received a golden weapon "For Courage", distinguished himself in the campaign of 1812 (personally led the 4th Jaeger Regiment into battle in the battle of Smolensk), for participation in the Battle of Borodino he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious, 3rd degree. Since November 1812, the commander of the 2nd infantry corps in the army of Kutuzov. He took an active part in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814, the units under his command especially distinguished themselves in the battle of Kulm in August 1813, and in the "battle of the peoples" at Leipzig. For courage at Leipzig, Duke Eugene was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. Parts of his corps were the first to enter the defeated Paris on April 30, 1814, for which Eugene of Württemberg received the rank of general of infantry. From 1818 to 1821 was the commander of the 1st Army Infantry Corps. Contemporaries considered Prince Eugene of Württemberg one of the best Russian infantry commanders during the Napoleonic Wars. On December 21, 1825, Nicholas I was appointed chief of the Tauride Grenadier Regiment, which became known as the Grenadier Regiment of His Royal Highness Prince Eugene of Württemberg. On August 22, 1826, he was awarded the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1827-1828. as commander of the 7th Infantry Corps. On October 3, he defeated a large Turkish detachment on the Kamchik River.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Stalin during the Patriotic War led all the armed forces of our country and coordinated their combat operations. It is impossible not to note his merits in the competent planning and organization of military operations, in the skillful selection of military leaders and their assistants. Joseph Stalin proved himself not only as an outstanding commander who skillfully led all fronts, but also as an excellent organizer who did a great job of increasing the country's defense capability both in the pre-war and war years.
A short list of military awards I.V. Stalin received during the Second World War:
Order of Suvorov, 1st class
Medal "For the Defense of Moscow"
Order "Victory"
Medal "Gold Star" Hero of the Soviet Union
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
Medal "For the Victory over Japan"
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like a prequel to "300 Spartans" (20,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet charges, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). A golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of madness with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian impudence
Chichagov Vasily Yakovlevich
He excellently commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Eland (15/07/1789), in Revel (02/05/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.
Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich
Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945).
From 1942 to 1946 he was commander of the 62nd Army (8th Guards Army), which distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad. He took part in defensive battles on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From September 12, 1942 he commanded the 62nd Army. IN AND. Chuikov received the task of defending Stalingrad at any cost. The front command believed that Lieutenant General Chuikov was characterized by such positive qualities as determination and firmness, courage and a broad operational outlook, a high sense of responsibility and consciousness of his duty. The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street battles in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads, on the banks of the wide Volga.
For unparalleled mass heroism and steadfastness of personnel, in April 1943, the 62nd Army received the guards honorary title of Guards and became known as the 8th Guards Army.
Minich Burchard-Christopher
One of the best Russian generals and military engineers. The first commander who entered the Crimea. Winner at Stavucany.
Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich
Hero of the Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813
"General Meteor" and "Caucasian Suvorov".
He fought not in numbers, but in skill - first, 450 Russian soldiers attacked 1,200 Persian sardars in the Migri fortress and took it, then 500 of our soldiers and Cossacks attacked 5,000 askers at the crossing over the Araks. More than 700 enemies were exterminated, only 2,500 Persian fighters managed to escape from ours.
In both cases, our losses are less than 50 killed and up to 100 wounded.
Further, in the war against the Turks, with a swift attack, 1000 Russian soldiers defeated the 2000th garrison of the Akhalkalaki fortress.
Then, again in the Persian direction, he cleared Karabakh of the enemy, and then, with 2,200 soldiers, defeated Abbas-Mirza with a 30,000-strong army near Aslanduz, a village near the Araks River. In two battles, he destroyed more than 10,000 enemies, including English advisers and artillerymen.
As usual, Russian losses were 30 killed and 100 wounded.
Kotlyarevsky won most of his victories in night assaults on fortresses and enemy camps, preventing the enemies from coming to their senses.
The last campaign - 2000 Russians against 7000 Persians to the fortress of Lankaran, where Kotlyarevsky almost died during the assault, lost consciousness at times from blood loss and pain from wounds, but still, until the final victory, he commanded the troops as soon as he regained consciousness, and after that he was forced to be treated for a long time and move away from military affairs.
His feats for the glory of Russia are much cooler than the "300 Spartans" - for our generals and warriors have repeatedly beaten a 10-fold superior enemy, and suffered minimal losses, saving Russian lives.
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Ivan III Vasilyevich Shein Mikhail Borisovich
Governor Shein - the hero and leader of the unprecedented defense of Smolensk in 1609-16011. This fortress decided a lot in the fate of Russia!
Romodanovsky Grigory Grigorievich
An outstanding military leader of the 17th century, prince and governor. In 1655, he won his first victory over the Polish hetman S. Pototsky near Gorodok in Galicia. Later, being the commander of the army of the Belgorod category (military administrative district), he played a major role in organizing the defense of the southern border of Russia. In 1662, he won the biggest victory in the Russian-Polish war for Ukraine in the battle of Kanev, defeating the hetman-traitor Y. Khmelnitsky and the Poles who helped him. In 1664, near Voronezh, he forced the famous Polish commander Stefan Czarnecki to flee, forcing the army of King Jan Casimir to retreat. Repeatedly beat the Crimean Tatars. In 1677 he defeated the 100,000th Turkish army of Ibrahim Pasha near Buzhin, in 1678 he defeated the Turkish corps of Kaplan Pasha near Chigirin. Thanks to his military talents, Ukraine did not become another Ottoman province and the Turks did not take Kyiv.
Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
Certainly worthy, explanations and proofs, in my opinion, are not required. It's amazing that his name isn't on the list. was the list prepared by representatives of the USE generation?
Paskevich Ivan Fyodorovich
The armies under his command defeated Persia in the war of 1826-1828 and completely defeated the Turkish troops in Transcaucasia in the war of 1828-1829.
Awarded all 4 degrees of the Order of St. George and the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called with diamonds.
Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich
The greatest commander of the Second World War. Two people in history were awarded the Order of Victory twice: Vasilevsky and Zhukov, but after the Second World War, it was Vasilevsky who became the Minister of Defense of the USSR. His military genius is unsurpassed by ANY military leader in the world.
Kornilov Vladimir Alekseevich
During the outbreak of the war with England and France, he actually commanded the Black Sea Fleet, until his heroic death he was the immediate superior of P.S. Nakhimov and V.I. Istomin. After the landing of the Anglo-French troops in Evpatoria and the defeat of the Russian troops on the Alma, Kornilov received an order from the commander-in-chief in the Crimea, Prince Menshikov, to flood the ships of the fleet in the roadstead in order to use sailors to defend Sevastopol from land.
Stalin (Dzhugashvili) Joseph Vissarionovich
Comrade Stalin, in addition to the atomic and missile projects, together with General of the Army Antonov Alexei Innokentievich, participated in the development and implementation of almost all significant operations of the Soviet troops in the Second World War, brilliantly organized the work of the rear, even in the first difficult years of the war.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 and the Russian-Swedish war of 1788-90. He distinguished himself during the war with France in 1806-07 at Preussisch-Eylau, from 1807 he commanded a division. During the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-09 he commanded a corps; led a successful crossing through the Kvarken Strait in the winter of 1809. In 1809-10, the Governor-General of Finland. From January 1810 to September 1812, the Minister of War, did a lot of work to strengthen the Russian army, singled out the intelligence and counterintelligence service into a separate production. In the Patriotic War of 1812 he commanded the 1st Western Army, and he, as Minister of War, was subordinate to the 2nd Western Army. In the conditions of a significant superiority of the enemy, he showed the talent of a commander and successfully carried out the withdrawal and connection of the two armies, which earned such words from M.I. Kutuzov as THANK YOU FATHER !!! SAVE THE ARMY!!! SAVE RUSSIA!!!. However, the retreat caused discontent in the noble circles and the army, and on August 17, Barclay handed over the command of the armies to M.I. Kutuzov. In the Battle of Borodino, he commanded the right wing of the Russian army, showing stamina and skill in defense. He recognized the position near Moscow chosen by L. L. Bennigsen as unsuccessful and supported the proposal of M. I. Kutuzov to leave Moscow at the military council in Fili. In September 1812 he left the army due to illness. In February 1813 he was appointed commander of the 3rd, and then the Russian-Prussian army, which he successfully commanded during the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-14 (Kulm, Leipzig, Paris). He was buried in the Beklor estate in Livonia (now Jõgeveste Estonia)
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
Well, who else if not him - the only Russian commander who did not lose, who did not lose more than one battle !!!
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
To a person to whom this name does not say anything - there is no need to explain and it is useless. To the one to whom it says something - and so everything is clear.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. The youngest front commander. Counts,. that of the army general - but before his death (February 18, 1945) he received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
He liberated three of the six capitals of the Union Republics captured by the Nazis: Kyiv, Minsk. Vilnius. Decided the fate of Keniksberg.
One of the few who pushed back the Germans on June 23, 1941.
He held the front in Valdai. In many ways, he determined the fate of repelling the German offensive on Leningrad. He kept Voronezh. Freed Kursk.
He successfully advanced until the summer of 1943. Having formed the top of the Kursk Bulge with his army. Liberated the Left Bank of Ukraine. Take Kyiv. Repelled Manstein's counterattack. Liberated Western Ukraine.
Carried out the operation Bagration. Surrounded and captured by his offensive in the summer of 1944, the Germans then humiliatedly marched through the streets of Moscow. Belarus. Lithuania. Neman. East Prussia.
Field Marshal Ivan Gudovich
The assault on the Turkish fortress of Anapa on June 22, 1791. In terms of complexity and importance, it is only inferior to the assault on Izmail by A.V. Suvorov.
A 7,000-strong Russian detachment stormed Anapa, which was defended by a 25,000-strong Turkish garrison. At the same time, shortly after the start of the assault, 8,000 mounted mountaineers and Turks attacked the Russian detachment from the mountains, who attacked the Russian camp, but could not break into it, were repulsed in a fierce battle and pursued by Russian cavalry.
The fierce battle for the fortress lasted over 5 hours. Of the Anapa garrison, about 8,000 people died, 13,532 defenders were taken prisoner, led by the commandant and Sheikh Mansur. A small part (about 150 people) escaped on ships. Almost all artillery was captured or destroyed (83 cannons and 12 mortars), 130 banners were taken. To the nearby fortress of Sudzhuk-Kale (on the site of modern Novorossiysk), Gudovich sent a separate detachment from Anapa, but when he approached, the garrison burned the fortress and fled to the mountains, leaving 25 guns.
The losses of the Russian detachment were very high - 23 officers and 1,215 privates were killed, 71 officers and 2,401 privates were wounded (slightly lower data are indicated in Sytin's Military Encyclopedia - 940 killed and 1,995 wounded). Gudovich was awarded the Order of St. George of the 2nd degree, all the officers of his detachment were awarded, a special medal was established for the lower ranks.
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (November 4 (November 16), 1874, St. Petersburg, - February 7, 1920, Irkutsk) - Russian oceanographer, one of the largest polar explorers of the late XIX - early XX centuries, military and political figure, naval commander, active member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (1906), admiral (1918), leader of the White movement, Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Member of the Russo-Japanese War, Defense of Port Arthur. During the First World War, he commanded the mine division of the Baltic Fleet (1915-1916), the Black Sea Fleet (1916-1917). Georgievsky Cavalier.
The leader of the White movement both on a national scale and directly in the East of Russia. As the Supreme Ruler of Russia (1918-1920), he was recognized by all the leaders of the White movement, "de jure" - by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "de facto" - by the Entente states.
Supreme Commander of the Russian Army.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Chairman of the GKO, Supreme Commander of the USSR Armed Forces during the Great Patriotic War.
What other questions might there be?
Margelov Vasily Filippovich
The author and initiator of the creation of technical means of the Airborne Forces and methods of using units and formations of the Airborne Forces, many of which embody the image of the Airborne Forces of the USSR Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces that currently exists.
General Pavel Fedoseevich Pavlenko:
In the history of the Airborne Forces, and in the Armed Forces of Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, his name will remain forever. He personified a whole era in the development and formation of the Airborne Forces, their authority and popularity are associated with his name, not only in our country, but also abroad ...
Colonel Nikolai Fedorovich Ivanov:
Under more than twenty years of Margelov's leadership, the landing troops became one of the most mobile in the combat structure of the Armed Forces, prestigious service in them, especially revered by the people ... The photograph of Vasily Filippovich in demobilization albums went from the soldiers at the highest price - for a set of badges. The competition for the Ryazan Airborne School blocked the figures of VGIK and GITIS, and applicants who failed their exams for two or three months, before snow and frost, lived in the forests near Ryazan in the hope that someone would not withstand the stress and it would be possible to take his place .
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
He was the Supreme Commander of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War! Under his leadership, the USSR won the Great Victory during the Great Patriotic War!
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
A person who combines the totality of knowledge of a naturalist, scientist and great strategist.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
The great Russian commander, who did not suffer a single defeat in his military career (more than 60 battles), one of the founders of Russian military art.
Prince of Italy (1799), Count of Rymnik (1789), Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Generalissimo of the Russian land and sea forces, Field Marshal of the Austrian and Sardinian troops, grandee of the Sardinian kingdom and prince of royal blood (with the title "king's cousin"), knight of all Russian orders of their time, awarded to men, as well as many foreign military orders.
G.K. Zhukov showed the ability to manage large military formations numbering 800 thousand - 1 million people. At the same time, the specific losses suffered by his troops (that is, correlated with the number) turned out to be lower over and over again than those of his neighbors.
Also G.K. Zhukov demonstrated remarkable knowledge of the properties of military equipment in service with the Red Army - knowledge that is very necessary for the commander of industrial wars.
Generals of Ancient Russia
Since ancient times. Vladimir Monomakh (fought with the Polovtsy), his sons Mstislav the Great (campaigns against Chud and Lithuania) and Yaropolk (campaigns against the Don), Vsevood the Big Nest (campaigns against the Volga Bulgaria), Mstislav Udatny (battle on Lipitsa), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (defeated knights of the Order of the Sword), Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir the Brave (the second hero of the Mamaev battle) ...
K.K. Rokossovsky
The intelligence of this marshal connected the Russian army with the Red Army.
Not a bad biography of Trotsky, I'm even considering including it in the main post, after making minor additions. My additions in square bracketsLev Davidovich Trotsky(real name Bronstein) (1879-1940) - Russian and international politician, publicist, thinker. (A. B. Rakhmanov)
In the social democratic movement since 1896. From 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905, Trotsky basically developed the theory of "permanent" (continuous) revolution: in his opinion, the proletariat of Russia, having carried out the bourgeois stage, would begin the socialist stage of the revolution, which would win only with the help of the world proletariat.
During the revolution of 1905-07, Leon Trotsky showed himself to be an outstanding organizer, orator, publicist; the de facto leader of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies, editor of his Izvestia. He belonged to the most radical wing in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. In 1908-12 he was the editor of the Pravda newspaper. In 1917, chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, one of the leaders of the October armed uprising.
In 1917-18, Leon Trotsky was People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs; in 1918-25 people's commissar for military affairs, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic; one of the creators of the Red Army, personally led its actions on many fronts of the Civil War, widely used repression. Member of the Central Committee in 1917-27, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee in October 1917 and in 1919-26.
At the pinnacle of power
After the Bolsheviks came to power, Leon Trotsky became People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Participating in separate negotiations with the powers of the “fourth bloc”, he put forward the formula “we stop the war, we don’t sign peace, we demobilize the army”, which was supported by the Bolshevik Central Committee (Lenin was against it). Somewhat later, after the resumption of the offensive of the German troops, Lenin managed to achieve the acceptance and signing of the terms of the "obscene" peace, after which Trotsky resigned as people's commissar.
In the spring of 1918, Leon Trotsky was appointed to the post of people's commissar for military and naval affairs and chairman of the revolutionary military council of the republic. In this position, he showed himself to be an extremely talented and energetic organizer. To create a combat-ready army, he took decisive and cruel measures: taking hostages, executions and imprisonment of opponents, deserters and violators of military discipline, and no exception was made for the Bolsheviks.
L. Trotsky did a great job of attracting former tsarist officers and generals (“military experts”) to the Red Army and defended them from the attacks of some high-ranking communists. During the Civil War, his train ran on railways on all fronts; The People's Commissar for Military Affairs directed the actions of the fronts, delivered fiery speeches to the troops, punished the guilty, rewarded those who distinguished themselves.
In general, during this period, there was close cooperation between Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin, although on a number of political issues (for example, a discussion about trade unions) and military-strategic (the fight against the troops of General Denikin, the defense of Petrograd from the troops of General Yudenich and the war with Poland) nature there were serious disagreements between them.
At the end of the civil war and the beginning of the 1920s. Trotsky's popularity and influence reached a climax, and a cult of his personality began to take shape.
In 1920-21, Leon Trotsky was one of the first to propose measures to curtail "war communism" and move to the NEP.
[Trotsky's biography always mentions the story of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, where he generally screwed up, but almost never mentions where he was just right. And the borders of the USSR in the end were, by the way, established precisely by the Riga, and not by the Brest peace
In addition, it is necessary to mention the most important role of Trotsky in the Rappal Agreement, the basis of the technical equipment of the Red Army.]
Fight with Stalin
Before Lenin's death, and especially after it, a struggle for power flared up among the leaders of the Bolsheviks. Trotsky was opposed by the majority of the country's leadership, led by Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin, who suspected him of dictatorial, Bonapartist plans. In 1923 Trotsky, with his book The Lessons of October, began the so-called literary discussion, criticizing the behavior of Zinoviev and Kamenev during the October Revolution. In addition, in a number of articles, Trotsky accused the "triumvirate" of bureaucratization and violation of party democracy, advocated involving young people in solving important political problems.
The opponents of Leon Trotsky relied on the bureaucracy and, having shown great determination, unscrupulousness and cunning, speculating on the topic of his previous disagreements with Lenin, dealt a strong blow to Trotsky's authority. He was removed from his posts; his supporters were ousted from the leadership of the party and the state. Trotsky's views ("Trotskyism") were declared hostile to Leninism by a petty-bourgeois trend.
In the mid-1920s, Leon Trotsky, joined by Zinoviev and Kamenev, continued to sharply criticize the Soviet leadership, accusing it of betraying the ideals of the October Revolution, including abandoning the world revolution. Trotsky demanded the restoration of party democracy, the strengthening of the regime of the dictatorship of the proletariat and an attack on the positions of the Nepmen and kulaks. The majority of the party again turned out to be on the side of Stalin.
In 1927 Trotsky was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee, expelled from the party, and in January 1928 exiled to Alma-Ata.
[Here the role of Trotsky in the industrialization of the country must be mentioned. industrialization program]
Last exile
By decision of the Politburo in 1929, Leon Trotsky was expelled from the USSR. Together with his wife and eldest son Lev Sedov, Trotsky ended up on the island of Prinkipo in the Sea of Marmara (Turkey). Here Trotsky, continuing to coordinate the activities of his followers in the USSR and abroad, began to publish the Bulletin of the Opposition, wrote his autobiography "". The memoirs were a response to anti-Trotskyist propaganda in the USSR and a justification for his life.
His main historical work, “”, dedicated to the events of 1917, was written on Prinkipo. This work was intended to prove the historical exhaustion of tsarist Russia, to substantiate the inevitability of the February Revolution and its development into the October Revolution.
In 1933, Leon Trotsky moved to France, in 1935 - to Norway. Trotsky tirelessly criticized the policies of the Soviet leadership, refuted the claims of official propaganda and Soviet statistics. The industrialization and collectivization carried out in the USSR was sharply criticized by them for adventurism and cruelty.
In 1935, Trotsky wrote his most important work on the analysis of Soviet society, The Revolution Betrayed, where it was considered in the focus of the contradiction between the interests of the main population of the country and the bureaucratic caste headed by Stalin, whose policies, according to the author, undermined the social foundations of the system. Trotsky proclaimed the need for a political revolution, the task of which would be to eliminate the dominance of the bureaucracy in the country.
At the end of 1936, Leon Trotsky left Europe, finding refuge in Mexico, where he settled in the house of the artist Diego Rivera, then in a fortified and carefully guarded villa in the city of Coyocan.
In 1937-38, after the unfolding of trials against the opposition in the USSR, in which he himself was tried in absentia, Trotsky paid much attention to exposing them as falsified. In 1937, in New York, an international commission of inquiry into the Moscow trials, chaired by the American philosopher John Dewey, delivered a verdict of not guilty against Trotsky and his associates.
All these years, Leon Trotsky did not give up attempts to rally supporters. In 1938, the Fourth International was proclaimed, which included small and scattered groups from various countries. This brainchild of Trotsky, which he considered the most important for himself during this period, turned out to be unviable and fell apart shortly after the death of the founder.
The Soviet secret services kept Trotsky under close surveillance, having agents among his associates. In 1938, under mysterious circumstances in Paris, his closest and tireless colleague, the eldest son Lev Sedov, died after an operation in a hospital. News came from the Soviet Union not only about the unprecedentedly cruel repressions against the "Trotskyists". His first wife and his youngest son Sergei Sedov were arrested and subsequently shot. The accusation of Trotskyism in the USSR became at that time the most terrible and dangerous.
Last days of life
In 1939, Stalin ordered the liquidation of his old enemy. Turned into a Coyocan recluse, Leon Trotsky worked on his book about Stalin, in which he considered his hero as a fatal figure for socialism. From his pen came an appeal to the working people of the Soviet Union with a call to overthrow the power of Stalin and his clique, articles in the Bulletin of the Opposition, in which he, sharply condemning the Soviet-German rapprochement, justified the war of the USSR against Finland and supported the entry of Soviet troops into the territory Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. Anticipating imminent death, in early 1940 Trotsky wrote a testament, where he spoke of satisfaction with his fate as a Marxist revolutionary, proclaimed an unshakable faith in the triumph of the Fourth International and in the imminent world socialist revolution.
In May 1940, the first attempt on the life of Leon Trotsky, which ended in failure, was made, led by the Mexican artist Siqueiros. On August 20, 1940, Ramon Mercader, an NKVD agent who penetrated Trotsky's entourage, mortally wounded him. [less known is that Trotsky is in fact] Leon Trotsky died August 21, 1940 in Coyocan, Mexico. He was buried in the courtyard of his house, where his museum is now located.
Leiba Bronstein was born on October 26 (November 7), 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Kherson province, in the family of landowner David Bronstein. In 1888 he entered St. Paul's School in Odessa, graduated from his graduation classes in Nikolaev. Lev Bronstein, 1888
The Second Congress entered my life as a great milestone, at least for the mere fact that it separated me from Lenin for a number of years.
Trotsky L.
"My life"
In 1904 Trotsky left the Menshevik Party. He came to Munich with his wife and settled in the apartment of Alexander Parvus. In Trotsky, having learned about the strike movement that had begun in Russia, he illegally arrived in St. Petersburg, where, together with Parvus, they actually led the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies. During the workers' strike in October, Trotsky was in the thick of things.
The fifty-two days of the existence of the first Soviet were full of work: the Soviet, the Executive Committee, incessant meetings and three newspapers. How we lived in this whirlpool is not clear to me.
Trotsky L.
"My life"
On December 3, Trotsky was arrested for the "Financial Manifesto", which called for hastening the financial collapse of tsarism. In 1906, at the widely publicized trial of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies, Trotsky was sentenced to permanent settlement in Siberia with the deprivation of all civil rights. In 1907, he fled from the stage through Germany to Vienna, where he settled with his wife and children. 
Trotsky in the cell of the Peter and Paul Fortress, 1905
During this period, his relationship with Lenin heated up. Trotsky publishes the newspaper Pravda for the workers and the opposition intelligentsia, and actively promotes the idea of uniting the Social Democrats. A hostile campaign was launched against the Vienna Pravda by the Bolsheviks. Lenin called Trotsky a "Jewish" in the article "On the paint of shame in Judas Trotsky", which was published only in 1932 in the newspaper Pravda in the USSR. Lenin sent letters and articles to party organs and the press in which he wrote that Trotsky and "Trotskyism" were dangerous. As a result, Lenin borrowed the name of Trotsky's newspaper and began to publish the Bolshevik Pravda in St. Petersburg. It became the most influential newspaper in the Soviet Union.
On July 28, 1914, the First World War began. Trotsky becomes a war correspondent and is actively published. For revolutionary propaganda in the newspaper Nashe Slovo in September 1916 he was expelled from France.
In January 1917, Trotsky arrived in New York by ship, where he worked for the Russian newspaper Novy Mir. Having received the news about, he went to Russia by ship with his family. In Canadian Halifax, he and several other socialists were dropped off and sent to a concentration camp for prisoners of war. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, Milyukov, under pressure from the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, requested the release of the detainees. 
French passport of Leon Trotsky
Trotsky arrived in Petrograd through Sweden and Finland, where he joined the Interdistrict Organization and became its leader. By mid-1917, the group had grown from a few hundred to four thousand members. Lenin sought to unite with the Mezhrayontsy. The unification took place at the Sixth Congress of the RSDLP (b), at the same time Trotsky was elected to the Central Committee of the party.
Lenin and Trotsky at the celebration of the second anniversary of the October Revolution, 1919
In this struggle, Trotsky was defeated - on January 26, 1925, he was deprived of military leadership. In 1926, Trotsky forms an opposition bloc with Kamenev and Zinoviev, his former opponents, and begins to openly oppose the Stalinist line. Soon the opposition platform went underground. There was organized persecution against her.
accept the Mexican authorities. Trotsky settled in Coyoacán, first in the "Blue House" of the artist Frida Kahlo, and then in a villa nearby.
Leon Trotsky (second from left) with Frida Kahlo.
In the meantime, a show trial was arranged in Moscow, at which Trotsky was called an agent of Hitler and sentenced to death in absentia.
Trotsky, on the other hand, began to write a book about Stalin, met with journalists from various publications, and proclaimed the creation of the Fourth International, a Trotskyist international organization that set as its main goal the world revolution and the victory of the working class.
Trotsky, in response to the Moscow trials, recorded a video message to the world community, in which he accused Stalin of despotism. “It was not communism and socialism that gave birth to this court, but Stalinism,” says Trotsky. He claims that the trial of him and his former comrades in the opposition (Kamenev, Zinoviev, Pyatakov and others) is based on false evidence in the interests of the ruling elite.
There were two assassination attempts on Trotsky. On May 24, the Mexican artist, Stalinist Jose David Alfaro Siqueiros, with a group of militants drove up to Trotsky's villa and fired about two hundred bullets into the walls, doors and windows of the house. Trotsky and his family survived. In parallel with the Siqueiros group, the NKVD agent instilled confidence in Trotsky. He entered his house and on August 20, 1940, dealt a fatal blow with an ice pick, from which Trotsky died the next day.
Lev Davidovich Trotsky (real name Leiba Davidovich Bronstein; October 26, 1879, Yanovka farm, Kherson province, Russian Empire - August 22, 1940, Villa Coyacana, Mexico) - figure in the international workers' and communist movement, Marxist theorist, ideologist of one of its currents - Trotskyism. One of the organizers of the October Revolution of 1917 and one of the creators of the Red Army. One of the founders and ideologists of the Comintern, a member of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. In the Soviet government - People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs; in 1918–1925 - People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, then the USSR. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU(b) in 1919-1926.
encyclopedic reference
From the family of a wealthy colonist, he was educated at the Nikolaev real school. He joined a circle of revolutionary-minded youth, who tried to conduct propaganda among the workers. Together with the Sokolovsky brothers, in 1897 he formed the Social Democratic South Russian Workers' Union. Arrested in January 1898. He spent about 2 years in prison, after which he was sentenced to 4 years in the settlement. Initially, he served the link in the village of Ust-Kutsky (since August 1900), from February 1901 - in Nizhneilimsky, then in Verkholensk, Irkutsk province. Here L.D. Trotsky actively studied Marxism and was engaged in literary activities. The newspaper Vostochnoye Obozreniye published his articles under the pseudonym Antid Oto.
In February 1902 L.D. Trotsky arrived in , where he delivered a lecture to the local Social Democrats, and in August, with the help of the Siberian Social Democratic Union, he fled to Samara. In , before entering the train car, he entered the name Trotsky on a blank passport form.
In the autumn of the same year he went to V.I. Lenin in London. After January 9, 1905, he returned to Russia, joined the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies, and then, after the arrest of G. S. Nosar (Khrustalev), was elected its chairman. In December 1905 he was arrested and in October 1906 exiled to Obdorsk, Tobolsk province, but fled to Finland from the road.
In 1907-1917 he tried to distance himself from both the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, taking his own position on the issues of the socialist revolution. On September 25, 1917, at the suggestion of the Bolsheviks, he was again elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, took an active part in preparing the coup, and was a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
After the October Revolution, L.D. Trotsky was People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Communications, Military and Naval Affairs, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. He was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), took part in a number of all-Russian discussions. In November 1927 he was expelled from the party, in 1928 he was expelled from Moscow, and a year later from the country. Abroad L.D. Trotsky continued to fight against Stalin. Organizer of the IV International (1938). He spent the last years of his life in Mexico. On August 19, 1940, he was mortally wounded by GPU agent R. Mercader.
Irkutsk. Historical and local lore dictionary. - Irkutsk, 2011
Trotsky in Siberia
Almost two years at the very beginning of the 20th century, Trotsky spent in exile in the Irkutsk province (his daughters were born here). It was on the Irkutsk land that Leiba Bronstein, thinking before escaping, what name to enter in the handed over false passport, remembering his prison guard, entered in the passport: "Trotsky". In Irkutsk, through which he fled (to Samara), his comrades brought him a suitcase with underwear, a tie, and, as he put it, " other attributes of civilization". In the book" My life. The experience of autobiography" he recalled:
Biography
Childhood and youth
Leiba Bronstein was born the fifth child in the family of David Leontievich Bronstein (1843-1922) and his wife Anna (Annetta) Lvovna Bronstein (nee Zhivotovskaya) - wealthy landowners from among the Jewish colonists of an agricultural farm near the village of Yanovka, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province (now the village of Bereslavka Bobrinetsky district of the Kirovohrad region, Ukraine). Leon Trotsky's parents came from the Poltava province. As a child, he spoke Ukrainian and Russian, and not the then widespread Yiddish. He studied at St. Paul's School in Odessa, where he was the first student in all disciplines. During the years of study in Odessa (1889-1895), Leon Trotsky lived and was brought up in the family of his cousin (on the maternal side), the owner of the printing house and scientific publishing house "Mathesis" Moses Filippovich Shpentzer and his wife Fanny Solomonovna, the parents of the poetess Vera Inber.
Beginning of revolutionary activity
In 1896, in Nikolaev, Lev Bronstein participated in a circle, together with other members of which he conducted revolutionary propaganda. In 1897, he participated in the founding of the South Russian Workers' Union. January 28, 1898 was first arrested. In the Odessa prison, where Trotsky spent 2 years, he becomes a Marxist. “A decisive influence,” he said on this occasion, “two studies by Antonio Labriola on the materialistic understanding of history had on me. Only after this book did I move on to Beltov and Capital. The appearance of his pseudonym Trotsky dates back to the same time, it was the name of the local jailer who impressed the young Lyova (he would write it in his fake passport after escaping). In 1898, in prison, he married Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who was one of the leaders of the Union. Since 1900, he was in exile in the Irkutsk province, where he established contact with Iskra agents and, on the recommendation of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, who gave him the nickname "Pen" for his obvious literary gift, was invited to cooperate in Iskra. In 1902 he fled from exile abroad; “at random” entered the name Trotsky in a fake passport, after the name of the senior warden of the Odessa prison.
Arriving in London to Lenin, Trotsky became a regular employee of the newspaper, spoke with essays at meetings of emigrants and quickly gained fame. A. V. Lunacharsky wrote about the young Trotsky:
“... Trotsky struck the foreign audience with his eloquence, education, significant for a young man, and aplomb. ... They didn’t take him very seriously because of his youth, but everyone resolutely recognized his outstanding oratorical talent and, of course, felt that this was not a chicken, but an eagle.”
First emigration
Insoluble conflicts in the editorial board of Iskra between the “old men” (G. V. Plekhanov, P. B. Axelrod, V. I. Zasulich) and the “young” (V. I. Lenin, Yu. O. Martov and A. N. . Potresov) prompted Lenin to propose Trotsky as the seventh member of the editorial board; however, supported by all members of the editorial board, Trotsky was voted down by Plekhanov in an ultimatum form.
At the II Congress of the RSDLP, in the summer of 1903, he supported Lenin so ardently that D. Ryazanov dubbed him "Lenin's club." However, the new composition of the editorial board proposed by Lenin: Plekhanov, Lenin, Martov - the exclusion of Axelrod and Zasulich from it prompted Trotsky to go over to the side of the offended minority and criticize Lenin's organizational plans.
In 1903, in Paris, Trotsky married Natalya Sedova (this marriage was not registered, since Trotsky never divorced A. L. Sokolovskaya).
In 1904, when serious political differences emerged between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, Trotsky moved away from the Mensheviks and became close to A. L. Parvus, who fascinated him with the theory of "permanent revolution". At the same time, like Parvus, he advocated the unification of the party, believing that the impending revolution would smooth out many contradictions.
Revolution of 1905-1907.In 1905, Trotsky illegally returned to Russia with Natalia Sedova. He was one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies, joined its Executive Committee. Formally, G. S. Khrustalev-Nosar was the chairman of the Council, but in fact the Council was led by Parvus and Trotsky; after the arrest of Khrustalev on November 26, 1905. The Executive Committee of the Soviet officially elected Trotsky chairman; but on December 3 he was arrested along with a large group of deputies. In 1906, at the widely publicized trial of the St. Petersburg Soviet, he was sentenced to permanent settlement in Siberia with the deprivation of all civil rights. On the way to Obdorsk (now Salekhard) he fled from Berezov.
Second emigration
In 1908-1912, he published the newspaper Pravda in Vienna (in 1912 the Bolsheviks founded their own newspaper Pravda with the same name, which caused much controversy). Trotsky recalled in 1923:
« During several years of my stay in Vienna, I came into fairly close contact with the Freudians, read their works and even attended their meetings at that time.».
In 1914-1915 he published the daily newspaper Nashe Slovo in Paris.
In September 1915 he took part in the work of the Zimmerwald Conference together with Lenin and Martov.
In 1916 he was expelled from France to Spain, from where he was already exiled by the Spanish authorities to the United States, where he continued his journalistic activities.
Return to Russia
Immediately after the February Revolution, Trotsky headed from America to Russia, but along the way, in the Canadian port of Halifax, he and his family were removed from the ship by the British authorities and sent to an internment camp for sailors of the German merchant fleet. The reason for the detention was the lack of Russian documents (Trotsky had an American passport issued personally by President Woodrow Wilson, with attached visas to enter Russia and a British transit visa), as well as British fears about Trotsky's possible negative influence on stability in Russia. However, soon, at the written request of the Provisional Government, Trotsky was released as a well-deserved fighter against tsarism and continued his journey to Russia. On May 4, 1917, Trotsky arrived in Petrograd and became the informal leader of the Mezhraiontsy, who took a critical position in relation to the Provisional Government. After the failure of the July uprising, he was arrested by the Provisional Government and accused, like many others, of espionage; while he was charged with passing through Germany.
In July, at the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b), the “mezhraiontsy” united with the Bolsheviks; Trotsky himself, who at that time was in the "Crosses", which did not allow him to speak at the congress with the main report - "On the Current Situation", - was elected to the Central Committee. After the failure of the Kornilov speech in September, Trotsky was released, along with other Bolsheviks arrested in July.
Exile from the USSR
In 1929 he was exiled outside the USSR - to Turkey on the island of Buyukada or Prinkipo - the largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul. In 1932 he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. In 1933 he moved to France, in 1935 to Norway. Norway, fearing to worsen relations with the USSR, tried with all its might to get rid of the unwanted immigrant, confiscating all the works from Trotsky and placing him under house arrest, and Trotsky was also threatened to extradite him to the Soviet government. Unable to withstand the harassment, Trotsky emigrated to Mexico in 1936, where he lived in the house of the family of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
In early August 1936, Trotsky finished work on the book The Revolution Betrayed, in which he called what was happening in the Soviet Union "Stalin's Thermidor." Trotsky accused Stalin of Bonapartism.
Trotsky wrote that " the lead backside of the bureaucracy outweighed the head of the revolution', while he stated that ' with the help of the petty bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy managed to tie the proletarian vanguard hand and foot and crush the Bolshevik opposition»; the strengthening of his family in the USSR aroused real indignation in him, he wrote: “ The revolution made a heroic attempt to destroy the so-called “family hearth”, that is, an archaic, musty and inert institution ... The place of the family ... was supposed to be, according to the plan, taken by a complete system of public care and service…».
In 1938 he proclaimed the creation of the Fourth International, whose heirs still exist.
In 1938, Trotsky's eldest son, Lev Sedov, died in a hospital in Paris after an operation.
Trotsky archive
During his exile from the USSR in 1929, Trotsky was able to take out his personal archive. This archive included copies of a number of documents signed by Trotsky during his time in power in the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, the Central Committee, the Comintern, a number of Lenin's notes addressed personally to Trotsky and not published anywhere else, as well as a number of valuable information for historians about the revolutionary movement before 1917, thousands letters received by Trotsky, and copies of letters sent to him, telephone and address books, etc. Based on his archive, Trotsky in his memoirs easily quotes a number of documents he signed, including sometimes even secret ones. In total, the archive consisted of 28 boxes.
Stalin turned out to be unable to prevent (or he was allowed, which Stalin later called in personal conversations a big mistake, like expulsion) Trotsky to take out his archive, however, in the 30s, GPU agents repeatedly tried (sometimes successfully) to steal some of their fragments, and in March 1931, part of the documents burned down during a suspicious fire. In March 1940, Trotsky, in dire need of money and fearing that the archive would still fall into the hands of Stalin, sold most of his papers to Harvard University.
At the same time, a number of other documents related to Trotsky’s activities are, according to the historian Yu. G. Felshtinsky, also in other places, in particular, in the archive of the President of the Russian Federation, in the archive of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, etc. .
Murder
In May 1940, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Trotsky's life. The assassination attempt was led by a secret agent of the NKVD Grigulevich. The group of raiders was led by the Mexican artist and staunch Stalinist Siqueiros. Bursting into the room where Trotsky was, the attackers casually shot all the cartridges and hastily disappeared. Trotsky, who managed to hide behind the bed with his wife and grandson, was not hurt. According to Siqueiros, the failure was due to the fact that the members of his group were inexperienced and very worried.
Early in the morning of August 20, 1940, the NKVD agent Ramon Mercader, who had previously penetrated Trotsky's entourage as a staunch supporter, came to Trotsky to show his manuscript. Trotsky sat down to read it, and at that time Mercader hit him on the head with an ice pick, which he carried under his cloak. The blow was struck from behind and from above on the seated Trotsky. The wound reached 7 centimeters in depth, but Trotsky, after the wound he received, lived for almost a day and died on August 21. After cremation, he was buried in the courtyard of a house in Koyokan.
The Soviet authorities publicly denied their involvement in the murder. The killer was sentenced by a Mexican court to twenty years in prison; in 1960, Ramon Mercader, who was released from prison and arrived in the USSR, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin.
Compositions
- Trotsky L. My life. Experience of autobiography, in 2 volumes. Berlin: Granit, 1930.
Literature
- Shaposhnikov V. N. Trotsky - an employee of the "Eastern Review" // Izv. Sib. Department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR: Ser. history, philology and philosophy. 1989. Issue. 3.
- Startsev V.I. L. D. Trotsky: Pages watered, biographies. M., 1989;
- Ivanov A. Leon Trotsky in Siberian exile // Irkutsk Land. 1998. No. 10.
- Trotsky L.D. My life. Autobiographical experience. M., 1991.
Links
- Trotsky, Lev Davidovich. // Wikipedia
