Kazakhstan Encyclopedia - User contributions [en]

Ural Mountains in Nazi planning

2017-04-23T05:08:57Z

Italia2006:

[[File:UralMountains1.png|thumb|upright|Map of the Ural mountains.]]
The [[Ural Mountains]] played a prominent role in [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] planning. [[Adolf Hitler]] and the rest of the Nazi German leadership made many references to them as a strategic objective of the Third Reich to follow a decisive victory on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] against the [[Soviet Union]].

==As a geographic concept==
{{Further|Boundaries between continents#Europe and Asia}}
In 1725 [[Philip Johan von Strahlenberg]] first used the [[Ural Mountains]] as part of the eastern demarcation of Europe. Since c. 1850 most [[Cartography|cartographers]] have regarded the Urals and the [[Ural River]] to the south of them as the eastern boundary of [[Europe]], [[Geography|geographically]] recognized as a [[subcontinent]] of [[Eurasia]].

The [[Nazi Party|Nazis]] rejected the notion that these mountains demarcated the border of Europe, at least in a [[Culture|cultural]] if not in a geographic sense. [[Nazi propaganda]] and Nazi [[leader]]s repeatedly labelled the Soviet Union as an "Asiatic state" and equated the [[Russians]] both with the [[Huns]]<ref name="hitler3">Hitler, 5–6 January 1942</ref> and with the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]],<ref>Kater, Michael H. (2004) ''Hitler Youth'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=v9xJPe0QchcC&pg=PA174 p. 174]. [[Harvard University Press]]</ref> describing them as ''[[Untermensch]]en'' ("sub-humans"). German media portrayed the German campaigns in the east as necessary to ensure the survival of European culture against this "Asian menace".<ref name="hitler3"/><ref name="himmler">[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English22.pdf Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933–1945 Excerpt from Himmler's Speech to the SS-Gruppenführer at Posen (October 4, 1943).] German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.</ref> In a major conference on 16 July 1941, where chief aspects of German rule in the [[German-occupied Europe|occupied territories]] of [[Eastern Europe]] were laid out, Hitler emphasized to the attendees ([[Martin Bormann]], [[Hermann Göring]], [[Alfred Rosenberg]], and [[Hans Lammers]]) that "the Europe of today was nothing but a geographical term; in reality [[Asia]] extended up to our frontiers".<ref name="bormann">[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1549 Martin Bormann's Minutes of a Meeting at Hitler's Headquarters (July 16, 1941).] German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.</ref>

Hitler also expressed his belief that in [[ancient times]] the concept of "Europe" was limited to the southern tip of the [[Greek peninsula]], and was then "brought into confusion" by the expanding borders of the [[Roman Empire]]. He stated that if Germany won the war, the boundary of Europe "would extend eastward to the furthest [[Lebensraum|German colony]]".<ref>[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler, Adolf]] (2000). [[Martin Bormann|Bormann, Martin]]. ed. ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944'', trans. Cameron, Norman; Stevens, R.H. (3rd ed.) Enigma Books. ISBN 1-929631-05-7.</ref>

In an attempt to influence Nazi policy, the Norwegian fascist politician [[Vidkun Quisling]] produced a memorandum for the Germans - "[[Aide-mémoire]] on the Russian Question" (''Denkschrift über die russische Frage'') - which expressed his own ideas on the "Russian question", which he described as "the main problem in world politics today".<ref name="dahl">Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1999). ''Quisling: A Study in Treachery'', p. 294. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> He advocated the [[Dnieper River]] as a general division-line between [[Western Europe]] ("Germania") and Russia. This would necessitate the division of [[Ukraine]], but he argued that this "could be defended from geographical and historical perspectives".<ref name="dahl"/>

==Planning for a border==
[[Albert Speer]] recounted a 1941 episode in his [[Inside the Third Reich|post-war memoirs]] wherein he observed Hitler's early ruminations about the Urals.<ref name="speer">Speer, Albert (1970). ''Inside the Third Reich'', p. 257. Macmillan Company, New York.</ref> The [[Soviet Foreign Minister]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[German–Soviet Axis talks#Molotov travels to Berlin|traveled to Berlin in mid-November 1940]] to discuss [[Germany–Soviet Union relations before 1941|German–Soviet relations]] with Hitler and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]. Already before this meeting Hitler determined that he would attack the Soviet Union the following spring, ordering the [[Wehrmacht]] to draw up a military plan which would later become [[Operation Barbarossa]].<ref>[[Horst Boog|Boog, Horst]] (1996). ''Germany and the Second World War: The attack on the Soviet Union'', p. 45. [[Oxford University Press]]/Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt GmbH, Stuttgart.</ref> A few months later an army adjutant pointed out to Speer an ordinary [[pencil]] line which Hitler had drawn on [[Hitler's Globe|his globe]] at the [[Berghof (residence)|Berghof]], running north-south along the Ural mountains, signifying the future boundary of Germany's [[sphere of influence]] with that of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].<ref name="speer"/>

Hitler also mentioned the Urals in his recorded [[Hitler's Table Talk|table talks]] several times; on one occasion he recounts how others questioned him if they were a sufficiently eastward boundary for the Germans to advance to.<ref name="hitler1">Hitler (2000), 5–6 July 1941.</ref> He confirmed this objective, but emphasized that the primary goal was to "eradicate [[Bolshevism]]", and that further military campaigns to ensure this would be carried out if necessary.<ref name="hitler1"/> He later stated that [[Joseph Stalin]] would be prepared to lose [[European Russia]] if he did not succeed at "solving its problems" and thereby "risked losing everything".<ref name="hitler2">Hitler (2000), 12–13 July 1941.</ref> He expressed his belief that it would be impossible for Stalin to retake Europe from [[Siberia]], comparing it to himself hypothetically retaking Germany if he were driven back to [[Slovakia]], and that the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] which was then under way would "bring about the [[Societal collapse|downfall]] of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet Empire]]".<ref name="hitler2"/> In a discussion with the Danish Foreign Minister [[Erik Scavenius|Scavenius]] on 2 November 1942, German Foreign Minister [[Ribbentrop]] stated that the Germans expected [[Asian Russia]] to eventually split up into several harmless "peasant republics" after Germany had occupied the country's European parts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kroener|first1=Bernhard R.|last2=Müller|first2=Rolf-Dieter|last3=Umbreit|first3=Hans|title=Germany and the Second World War:Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of power. Wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources 1939-1941|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2000|page=100|isbn=0-19-822887-2}}</ref>

On 16 September 1941 Hitler mentioned to [[Otto Abetz]], the German ambassador in Paris, that "the new Russia as far as the Urals" would become Germany's [[British Raj|India]], but that due to its geographic proximity to Germany was far more favorably located for the Germans than India was for Britain.<ref>Kay, Alex J. (2006). ''Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941", p. 80. Berghahn Books.</ref>

In the above-mentioned conference of 16 July 1941, it was codified as policy that in order to "secure the safety of the [[Reich]]" no non-German [[Great power|military power]] would ever again be allowed west of the Urals (including non-Russian native [[militia]]s), even if it meant war for the next hundred years.<ref name="bormann"/> Hitler's future successors were to be instructed of this, if necessary.<ref name="bormann"/> This was to be done to prevent any western powers hostile to Germany from conspiring against it with its eastern neighbors in the future, like [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|the French had supposedly done with the Turks]], and which [[Anglo-Soviet Agreement|the British were alleged to be doing with the Soviets]].<ref name="hitler4">Hitler, 27 July 1941.</ref> No organized Russian state would also be allowed to exist west of this line, which Hitler clarified as actually meaning a line 200–300 km east of the mountains,<ref name="hitler4"/> approaching the [[70th meridian east|70° east longitude]] line the Japanese had proposed as the westernmost limit [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|of their own influence]].

[[Heinrich Himmler]] went into some effect about how he envisaged the mountains during the 1943 [[Posen speeches]].<ref name="himmler"/> He stated that the "Germanic race" would have to gradually expand to this border so that in several generations time this "[[master race]]", as the leader of Europe, would again be ready to "resume the battles of destiny against Asia", which were "sure to break out again".<ref name="himmler"/> He stated that Europe's defeat would mean "the destruction of the creative power of the earth".<ref name="himmler"/>

The Urals were noted as a distant objective of ''[[Generalplan Ost]]'', the overall Nazi colonization scheme of [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>Madajczyk, Czeslaw (1962). [http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/GPO/gpoarticle.HTM ''General Plan East: Hitler's Master Plan For Expansion'']. Polish Western Affairs, Vol. III No 2.</ref>

==="Living wall"===
{{Further|Wehrbauer}}
Hitler later rejected the mountains as an adequate border, calling it absurd that "these middle-sized mountains" represented the boundary between the "European and Asiatic worlds", stating that one might as well accord that title to one of the large [[Rivers of Russia|Russian rivers]].<ref>Hitler (2000), 23 September 1941.</ref> He explained that only a "living [racial] wall" of Aryan fighters would do as a frontier, and to keep a [[Perpetual war|permanent state of war]] present in the east in order to "preserve the vitality of the race".

{{blockquote|"The real frontier is the one that separates the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic world]] from the [[Slavic peoples|Slav world]]. It is our duty to place it where we want it to be. If anyone asks where we obtain the right to extend the Germanic space to the east, we reply that, for a nation, its awareness of what it represents carries this right with. It is success that justifies everything. The reply to such questions can only be of an [[empirical]] nature.

It is inconceivable that a higher people [[Volk ohne Raum|should painfully exist on a soil too narrow for it]], while [[Untermensch|amorphous masses]], which contribute nothing to civilization, occupy infinite tracts of [[Chernozem|a soil that is one of the richest in the world]]... We must create conditions for our people that favour [[Population growth|its multiplication]], and we must at the same time build a dike against the Russian flood [...] Since there is no natural protection against such a flood, we must meet it with a living wall. A [[permanent war]] on the [[Eastern Front (WWII)|eastern front]] will help form a [[Master race|sound race of men]], and will prevent us from relapsing into the softness of a Europe thrown back upon itself. It should be possible for us to control this region to the east with two hundred and fifty thousand men plus a cadre of good administrators... This [[Lebensraum|space]] in Russia must always be dominated by [[Germans]]."|Adolf Hitler|<ref name="rich">Rich, Norman (1974). ''Hitler's War Aims: the Establishment of the New Order'', pp. 327–329.</ref>}}

The theme of a "living wall" was used by Hitler as early as ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' (published 1925-1926).<ref name="rash">Rash, Felicity J. (2006). ''The Language of Violence: Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=r-AgnPTl2i4C&pg=PA97&dq=hitler+living+wall&hl=nl&ei=nmLzTYS3MYHrOcP_0aUH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hitler%20living%20wall&f=false p. 97].
Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York.</ref> In it he presented the future German state under [[Nazism|National Socialist]] rule as a "father's house" (''Vaterhaus''), a safe place which would keep in the [[Nazism and race|"right human elements"]], and keep out those which were undesirable.<ref name="rash"/> This metaphorical building was to have solid and supportive foundations (''Fundamente'') and walls (''Mauern''), and could only be protected by a living wall (''lebendige Mauer'') of [[patriotic]] and [[Führerprinzip|fanatically devoted]] German people.<ref name="rash"/>

The idea became more prominent in Hitler's mind as the war went on.<ref name="mineau">Mineau, André (2004). ''Operation Barbarossa: Ideology and Ethic against Human Dignity'', p. 36. Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York. ISBN 90-420-1633-7.</ref> On 10 December 1942 (as the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] was turning unfavourably against the Germans) he told [[Anton Mussert]], a [[National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands|Dutch Nazi]] [[Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II|collaborator]], that the "Asiatic waves were threatening to overrun Europe and exterminate the higher races", and that this threat could only be countered by wall-building and long-term fighting.<ref name="mineau"/> On 20 April 1943 (Hitler's birthday) he had a discussion with [[Albert Speer]] and [[Karl-Otto Saur]] on a design he had personally drawn for a six-person [[Bunker#Pillbox|bunker]] that was to be used in the [[Atlantic Wall]], featuring [[machine gun]]s, an [[anti-tank gun]], and [[flame thrower]]s.<ref name="speerq">Speer, Albert (1976). ''[[Spandau: The Secret Diaries]]'' Macmillan Company, p. 58</ref> He indicated that this design was also to be used for defence purposes at Germany's "ultimate eastern border deep within Russia"<ref name="speerq"/> — if the Axis had completely defeated the Soviets, there might have existed the possibility of either only any remnant Soviet forces, or the northwesterly mainland Siberian-located extremities of Imperial Japan's [[Co-Prosperity Sphere]] territories, going eastwards beyond such a frontier.

==Related plans==
Various German agencies assumed a number of different boundaries in the east.

The administrative planning carried out by [[Alfred Rosenberg]] from April to June 1941 in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Central Treatment of Questions of the Eastern European Space (basis of the future [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]]) for the territories that were to be conquered in the Soviet Union based the envisaged civil districts of the
''[[Reichskommissariat]]e'' to a large extent on the borders of the pre-existing Soviet [[Oblasts of the Soviet Union|oblasts]] and [[Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union|autonomous republics]], particularly in [[Reichskommissariat Moskowien]].<ref name="dallin">(German) Dallin, Alexander (1958). ''Deutsche Herrschaft in Russland 1941–1945: Eine Studie über Besatzungspolitik'', p. 67. Droste Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf.</ref> This included even territory to the east of the mountains, such as the [[Sverdlovsk Oblast|Sverdlovsk]] (Yekaterinburg) region.<ref name="dallin"/>

The German [[Wehrmacht]] assumed an eastern boundary at the [[A-A line]] (a limit along the [[Volga river]] between the cities of [[Archangelsk]] and [[Astrakhan]]), which was the military objective of Operation Barbarossa.

In the [[Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War II|later treaty with Japan]], the Japanese proposed allocating all of [[Afro-Eurasia]] west of the [[70th meridian east]] to the Germans and [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Italians]] in the case of a total Soviet collapse, but after negotiations the boundary was changed to the [[Yenisei river]].

==See also==
* [[A-A line]]
* [[Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War II]]
* [[East Wall (defensive line)]]
* [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]
* ''[[Lebensraum]]''
* [[Ural bomber]], a mid-to-late 1930s design competition for a ''Luftwaffe'' strategic bomber with the Urals as its maximum range.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ural mountains in Nazi planning, The}}
[[Category:Military of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Ural Mountains]]
[[Category:Soviet Union in World War II]]
[[Category:History of the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia]]

Lavr Kornilov

2017-04-23T05:04:00Z

Italia2006: /* Russian Civil War */

{{Infobox military person
| name = Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov
| image = Kornilov1916.jpeg
| image_size =
| caption = General Lavr Kornilov in 1916
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|8|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Oskemen|Ust-Kamenogorsk]], [[Russian Turkestan|Turkestan]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|4|13|1870|8|18|df=y}}
| death_place = near [[Krasnodar|Ekaterinodar]]
| placeofburial =
| allegiance = {{flag|Russian Empire}}
| branch = {{plainlist|
*[[Imperial Russian Army]]
*[[White Movement]]}}
| serviceyears = 1892–1918
| rank = [[General]]
| unit =
| commands = {{plainlist|
*[[Black Sea Fleet]] (1916–1917)
*[[White movement#Structure|Russian Army]] (1918–1920)}}
| battles = {{plainlist|
*[[Russo-Japanese War]]
*[[World War I]]
*[[Russian Civil War]]}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
*[[Order of St. George]] (twice)
*[[Order of Saint Anna]]
*[[Order of Saint Stanislaus]]}}
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}

'''Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov''' ({{lang-ru|Лавр Гео́ргиевич Корни́лов}}, {{IPA-ru|ˈlavr kɐrˈnʲiləf|IPA}}; 18 August 1870 – 13 April 1918) was a [[military intelligence]] officer, explorer, and general in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] during [[World War I]] and the ensuing [[Russian Civil War]]. He is today best remembered for the [[Kornilov Affair]], an unsuccessful endeavor in August/September 1917 that purported to strengthen [[Alexander Kerensky]]'s [[Russian Provisional Government, 1917|Provisional Government]], but which led to Kerensky eventually having Kornilov arrested and charged with attempting a [[coup d'état]], and ultimately undermined the rule of Kerensky; strengthening the claims and power of the soviets, and the Bolshevik party.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1917kornilov&Year=1917|title=Kornilov Affair |website=Soviethistory.org|accessdate=2014-04-30|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20140330015438/http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1917kornilov&Year=1917|archivedate=2014-03-30}}</ref>

==Pre-revolutionary career==
One story relates how Kornilov was originally born as a Don Cossack [[Kalmyk people|Kalmyk]] named Lorya Dildinov and adopted in [[Ust-Kamenogorsk]], [[Russian Turkestan]] (now [[Kazakhstan]]) by the family of his mother's brother, the [[Russians|Russian]] [[Cossacks|Cossack]] [[Chorąży|Khorunzhiy]] George Kornilov, whose wife was of [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] origin.<ref>
A. L. Bauman. Governors of Saint-Petersburg. Saint-Petersburg, 2003. p. 409 Бауман А. Л. Руководители Санкт-Петербурга. стр. 409
</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://reporter-ufo.ru/996-kalmyk-ili-ne-kalmyk....html|title=Калмык или не калмык... » Общероссийская независимая газета Южный репортер|website=Reporter-ufo.ru|accessdate=2014-04-30}}</ref> But his sister wrote that he had not been adopted, had not been a Don Cossack, and that their mother had [[Poles|Polish]] and [[Altay people|Altai Oirot]] descent. (Though their language was not a Kalmyk/Mongolian one, but because of their Asian race and their history in the Jungar Oirot (Kalmyk) state, Altai Oirots were called Altai Kalmyks by Russians. They were not Muslims or Kazakhs.) But [[Boris Shaposhnikov]], who served with Petr Kornilov, the brother of Lavr, in 1903, mentioned the "Kyrgyz" ancestry of their mother - this name was usually used in reference to Kazakhs in 1903.<ref>Shaposhnikov. Memoirs. 1982. p. 92 (Шапошников Б. М. Воспоминания. М., 1982, с. 92).</ref> Kornilov's [[Siberian Cossacks|Siberian Cossack]] father was a friend of [[Grigory Potanin|Potanin]] (1835-1920), a prominent figure in the Siberian autonomy movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dk1868.ru/statii/kornilov1.htm|title=Цветков В. Ж. Лавр Георгиевич Корнилов. Часть 1|website=Dk1868.ru|accessdate=2014-04-30}}</ref>

Kornilov entered military school in [[Omsk]] in 1885 and went on to study at the [[Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy|Mikhailovsky Artillery School]] in [[St. Petersburg]] in 1889. In August 1892 he was assigned as a lieutenant to the [[Turkestan Military District]], where he led several exploration missions in [[Xinjiang|Eastern Turkestan]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iran|Persia]], learned several Central Asian languages, and wrote detailed reports about his observations.

Kornilov returned to St. Petersburg to attend the [[General Staff Academy (Imperial Russia)|Mykolayiv General Staff Academy]] and graduated as a captain in 1897. Again refusing a posting at St. Peterburg, he returned to the Turkestan Military District, where he resumed his duties as a military-intelligence officer.

During the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904-1905 Kornilov became the [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of staff]] of the 1st Infantry Brigade, and was heavily involved in the [[Battle of Sandepu]] (January 1905) and the [[Battle of Mukden]] (February/March 1905). He was awarded the [[Order of St. George]] (4th class) for bravery and promoted to the rank of [[colonel]].

Following the end of the war, Kornilov served as [[military attache]] in [[China]] from 1907 to 1911. He studied the [[Chinese language]], traveled extensively (researching data on the history, traditions and customs of the Chinese, which he intended to use as material for a book about life in contemporary China), and regularly sent detailed reports to the General Staff and Foreign Ministry. Kornilov paid much attention to the prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in the Far East and met with the future president of China, [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. In 1910 Kornilov was recalled from Beijing, but remained in St. Petersburg for only five months before departing for western Mongolia and [[Kashgar]] to examine the military situation along China's border with Russia. On 2 February 1911 he became Commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment of [[Estonia]], and was later appointed commander of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed in [[Vladivostok]].

In 1914, at the start of [[World War I]], Kornilov was appointed commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which saw combat in [[Galicia (eastern Europe)|Galicia]] and the [[Carpathians]]. In 1915, he was promoted to the rank of [[major general]]. During heavy fighting, he was captured by the Austrians in April 1915, when his division became isolated from the rest of the Russian forces. After his capture, [[Field Marshal]] [[Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf|Conrad]], the commander of the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]], made a point of meeting him in person. As a major general, he was a high-value prisoner of war, but in July 1916 Kornilov managed to escape back to Russia and return to duty.

After the overthrow of [[Czar Nicholas II]], he was given command of the [[Petrograd]] Military District in March 1917. On 8 March, Kornilov placed the Empress [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alexandra]] and her children under house arrest at the [[Alexander Palace]] (Nicholas was still held at [[Stavka]]), replacing the [[Cossacks|Tsar's Escort]] and Combined Regiments of the [[Imperial Guard (Russia)|Imperial Guard]] with 300 revolutionary troops.<ref>Rappaport, Four Sisters (2014), p. 295</ref> In July, after commanding the only successful front in the disastrous Russian offensive of June 1917, he became Supreme [[Commander-in-Chief]] of the Provisional Government's armed forces.

==Kornilov Affair==
{{Main|Kornilov Affair}}

In the mass discontent following the [[July Days]], the Russian populace grew highly sceptical of the Provisional Government's abilities to alleviate the economic distress and social resentment among the lower classes. Pavel Milyukov, the Kadet leader, describes the situation in Russia in late July as, "Chaos in the army, chaos in foreign policy, chaos in industry and chaos in the nationalist questions".<ref name=autogenerated1/>
Kornilov, appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army in July 1917, considered the Petrograd Soviet responsible for the breakdown in the military in recent times, and believed that the Provisional Government lacked the power and confidence to dissolve the Petrograd Soviet. Following several ambiguous correspondences between Kornilov and [[Alexander Kerensky]], Kornilov commanded an assault on the Petrograd Soviet.<ref name=autogenerated1/>

Because the Petrograd Soviet was able to quickly gather a powerful army of workers and soldiers in defence of the Revolution, Kornilov's coup was an abysmal failure and he was placed under arrest. The Kornilov Affair resulted in significantly increased distrust among Russians towards the Provisional Government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-56_u-427_t-1086_c-4199/the-petrograd-soviet-and-the-kornilov-affair/qld/sose-history/the-russian-revolution/revolution|title=The Petrograd Soviet and the Kornilov affair, Revolution, The Russian Revolution, SOSE: History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia|website=Skwirk.com.au|date=1999-03-26|accessdate=2014-04-30}}</ref>

==Russian Civil War==
After the alleged coup collapsed as his troops disintegrated, Kornilov and his fellow conspirators were placed under arrest in the [[Bykhaw|Bykhov]] jail. On 19 November, a few weeks after the proclamation of Soviet power in Petrograd, they escaped from their confinement (eased by the fact that the jail was guarded by Kornilov's supporters) and made their way to the [[Don River, Russia|Don]] region, which was controlled by the [[Don Cossacks]]. Here they linked up with General [[Mikhail Alekseev]]. Kornilov became the military commander of the anti-Bolshevik [[Volunteer Army]] with Alekseev as the political chief.<ref>Evan Mawdsley (2008) ''The Russian Civil War'': 27</ref>

Even before the Red Army was formed, Lavr Kornilov promised, "the greater the terror, the greater our victories." He vowed that the goals of his forces must be fulfilled even if it was needed "to set fire to half the country and shed the blood of three-quarters of all Russians."<ref>{{cite book |last=Mayer |first=Arno J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gveBKGhmskAC&pg=PA254&dq=Greater+terror+greater+our+victories+Kornilov|title=The Furies|page=254|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2000|isbn=0-691-09015-7}}</ref> In the Don region village of Lezhanka alone, bands of Kornilov's officers killed more than 500 people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Serge |first=Victor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuFoAAAAMAAJ&q=Victor+Serge+Year+One+Revolution+Troitsk&dq=Victor+Serge+Year+One+Revolution+Troitsk&pgis=1Victor|title=Serge, Year One of the Russian Revolution|date=1 January 1972|place=Soviet Union|publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston|page=299|isbn=0-713-90135-7}}</ref>

On 24 February 1918, as [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]] and the Don Cossack capital of [[Novocherkassk]] fell to the Bolsheviks, Kornilov led the Volunteer Army on the epic '[[Ice March]]' into the empty steppe towards the [[Kuban]]. Although badly outnumbered, he escaped destruction from pursuing Bolshevik forces and laid siege to [[Ekaterinodar]], the capital of the [[Kuban Soviet Republic]], on 10 April. However, in the early morning of 13 April, a Soviet shell landed on his farmhouse headquarters and killed him. He was buried in a nearby village.

A few days later, when the Bolsheviks gained control of the village, they unearthed Kornilov's coffin, dragged his corpse to the main square and burnt his remains on the local rubbish dump.<ref>Evan Mawdsley (2008) ''The Russian Civil War'': 29.</ref>

The Kornilov Division, one of the crack units of the [[White Army]], was named after him, as well as many other autonomous White Army formations, such as the Kuban Cossack Kornilov Horse Regiment. The Kornilov Division became recognizable for its [[Totenkopf]] insignia, which appears on the division's flags, pennants, and soldiers' sleeve patches.

==Honours and awards==
*[[Order of St. Stanislaus]], third degree (1901), 2nd degree (1904 and 1906 with swords)
*[[Order of St. Anna|Order of St. Anne]], 3rd degree (1903) and 2nd degree (6 December 1909)
*[[Order of St. George]], 4th degree (9 August 1905) and 3rd degree (28 April 1915)
*[[Gold Sword for Bravery]] (9 May 1907)
* Badge of the 1st Kuban (Ice) campaign (1918)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Asher, Harvey. "The Kornilov Affair: A Reinterpretation." ''Russian Review'' (1970) 29#3 pp: 286-300. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/127537 in JSTOR]
*Katkov, George. ''Russia 1917, the Kornilov Affair: Kerensky and the Break-up of the Russian Army'' (Longman, 1980)
*Mawdsley, Evan. ''The Russian Civil War'' (2008)
*White, James D. "The Kornilov affair—a study in counter‐revolution," ''Europe‐Asia Studies'' (1968) 20#2 pp 187–205.

===Historiography===
*Moncure, James A. ed. ''Research Guide to European Historical Biography: 1450-Present'' (4 vol 1992) 3:1082-90
* Yang, Ho-Hwan. "Different Ways of Interpreting the Kornilov Affair: A Review of George Katkov's The Kornilov Affair: Kerensky and the Break-up of the Russian Army, London and New York: Longman, 1980" ''The SNU Journal of Education Research'' (1993) pp 17–28. [http://s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/72662/1/(3)The%20SNU%20journal-02.pdf online]

==External links==
{{commons category|Lavr Georgevich Kornilov}}
* {{cite EB1922 |last=Danilov |first=Yuri |authorlink=Yuri Danilov |last2=Vinogradoff |first2=Paul |authorlink2=Paul Vinogradoff |wstitle=Kornilov, Lavr Georgievich |short=x}}

{{Supreme Commanders of the Russian Army during WWI}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kornilov, Lavr Georgevich}}
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