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{{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 &#124; 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}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Oskemen]]
[[Category:People from Semipalatinsk Oblast]]
[[Category:Commanders-in-chief of the Russian Army]]
[[Category:Russian Cossacks]]
[[Category:People of the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Sword for Bravery]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Fourth Degree]]
[[Category:Russian people of Kazakhstani descent]]
[[Category:Russian Provisional Government generals]]
[[Category:Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War]]
[[Category:Russian generals]]
[[Category:Russian anti-communists]]
[[Category:Russian explorers]]
[[Category:Russian military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:Russian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:World War I prisoners of war held by Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Imperial Russian prisoners of war]]
[[Category:Russian escapees]]
[[Category:White Russian (movement) generals]]
[[Category:Kalmyk people]]