Early life and career Kolchak was born in
Saint Petersburg on 4 November 1874. His family was of
Moldavian origin, and both his parents were from
Odessa. His father was a former major-general of the marine artillery and a veteran of the
1854 siege of Sevastopol, who after retirement worked as an engineer at an ordnance works near St. Petersburg. Kolchak was educated for a naval career, entering the
Naval Cadet Corps in 1888 and graduating in 1894 with honors. After being commissioned as a
midshipman in the
Imperial Russian Navy he served in the Baltic and Pacific Oceans on several ships between 1895 and 1899, during which time he published articles on
hydrology. After becoming a
lieutenant, Kolchak took part in Baron
Eduard von Toll's
Russian Polar expedition on the ship
Zarya as a hydrologist and cartographer. During the winter of 1901, Kolchak and Toll rode on dog sleds for 500 km to make a topographic survey of the
Taymyr Peninsula, and in the spring they took dog sleds to make a geologic and hydrographic study of the
New Siberian Islands. In 1902 he studied the
East Siberian Sea while he was onboard
Zarya. After considerable hardship, Kolchak returned in December 1902; Toll, along with three other explorers continued further north and were lost. Kolchak took part in two Arctic expeditions to look for the explorers but could not find them and for a while was nicknamed "Kolchak-Poliarnyi" ("Kolchak the Polar"). For his explorations Kolchak received the Constantine Medal, the highest award of the
Imperial Russian Geographical Society. In December 1903, Kolchak was en route to St. Petersburg to marry his fiancée, Sophia Omirova, when, not far from
Irkutsk, he received notice of the start of war with the
Empire of Japan and hastily summoned his bride and her father to
Siberia by telegram for a wedding, before heading directly to
Port Arthur. In the early stages of the
Russo-Japanese War, he served as a watch officer on the
cruiser , and later commanded the
destroyer Serdity. He made several night sorties to lay
naval mines, one of which succeeded in sinking the Japanese cruiser . He was decorated with the
Order of St. Anna 4th class for the exploit. As the blockade of the port tightened and the
Siege of Port Arthur intensified, he was given command of a
coastal artillery battery. He was wounded in the final battle for Port Arthur and taken as a
prisoner of war to
Nagasaki, where he spent four months. His poor health (
rheumatism, a consequence of his polar expeditions) led to his repatriation before the end of the war. Kolchak was awarded the
Golden Sword of St. George with the inscription "For Bravery" on his return to Russia. Returning to Saint Petersburg in April 1905, Kolchak was promoted to
lieutenant commander and took part in rebuilding of the Imperial Russian Navy, which had been almost completely destroyed during the war. He served on the Naval General Staff from 1906, helping draft a shipbuilding program, a training program, and developing a new protection plan for St. Petersburg and the
Gulf of Finland. Kolchak took part in designing special
icebreakers
Taimyr and
Vaigach, launched in 1909 and spring of 1910. Based in Vladivostok, these vessels were sent on a cartographic expedition to the
Bering Strait and
Cape Dezhnev. Kolchak commanded the
Vaigach during this expedition and later worked at the Academy of Sciences with the materials collected by him during expeditions. His study,
Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas, was printed in the Proceedings of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences and is considered the most important work on this subject. Extracts from it were published under the title "The Arctic Pack and the Polynya" in the volume issued in 1929 by the American Geographical Society,
Problems of Polar Research. In 1910 he returned to the Naval General Staff, and in 1912 he was assigned to the
Russian Baltic Fleet.
First World War The onset of the First World War found him on the flagship
Pogranichnik, where Kolchak oversaw laying of extensive coastal defensive minefields and commanded the naval forces in the
Gulf of Riga. Commanding Admiral
Essen was not satisfied to remain on the defensive and ordered Kolchak to prepare a scheme for attacking the approaches of the German naval bases. During the autumn and winter of 1914–1915, Russian destroyers and cruisers started a series of dangerous night operations, laying mines at the approaches to
Kiel and
Danzig. Kolchak, feeling that the man responsible for planning operations should also take part in their execution, was always on board those ships which carried out the operations and at times took direct command of the destroyer flotillas. He was promoted to
vice-admiral in August 1916, the youngest man at that rank, and was made commander of the
Black Sea Fleet, replacing Admiral
Eberhardt. Kolchak's primary mission was to support General
Yudenich in his operations against the
Ottoman Empire. He also was tasked with countering the
U-boat threat and planning the invasion of the
Bosphorus (never carried out). Kolchak's fleet was successful at sinking Turkish colliers. Because there was no railroad linking the coal mines of eastern Turkey with
Constantinople, the Russian fleet's attacks on these Turkish coal ships caused the Ottoman government much hardship. In 1916, in a combined Army-Navy assault, the Russian Black Sea fleet aided the Russian army's capture of the Ottoman city of Trebizond (modern
Trabzon). One notable disaster took place under Kolchak's watch: the
dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya exploded in port at
Sevastopol on 7 October 1916. A careful investigation failed to determine whether the cause of the disaster was accident or sabotage.
Revolution naval uniform The Black Sea fleet descended into political chaos after the onset of the 1917
February Revolution. Kolchak was relieved of command of the fleet in June and traveled to Petrograd (St. Petersburg). On his arrival at Petrograd, Kolchak was invited to a meeting of the
Provisional Government. There he presented his view on the condition of the Russian armed forces and their complete demoralisation. He stated that the only way to save the country was to re-establish strict discipline and restore capital punishment in the army and navy. During this time many organisations and newspapers of a conservative inclination spoke of him as a future dictator. A number of new and secret organisations had sprung up in Petrograd with the goal of suppressing the
Bolshevik movement and removal of the extremist members of the government. Some of these organisations asked Kolchak to accept the leadership. When news of these plots found their way to then Naval Minister of the Provisional Government,
Alexander Kerensky, he ordered Kolchak to leave immediately for America. Admiral
James H. Glennon, a member of American mission headed by Senator
Elihu Root, invited Kolchak to the United States to brief the American Navy on the strategic situation in the
Bosphorus. On 19 August 1917 Kolchak with several officers left Petrograd for
Britain and the United States as a quasi-official military observer. When passing through London he was greeted cordially by the First Sea Lord, Admiral
Sir John Jellicoe, who offered him transport on board a British cruiser on his way to
Halifax in Canada. The journey to America proved unnecessary, as by the time Kolchak arrived, the US had given up the idea of any independent action in the
Dardanelles. Kolchak visited the American Fleet and its ports, and in San Francisco he decided to return to Russia via Japan.
Russian Civil War The
Bolshevik revolution in November 1917 found Kolchak in
Japan. His offer was referred up to the Foreign Secretary,
Arthur Balfour, and accepted on 29 December. He was instructed to join the British military mission in Baghdad, but when he reached Singapore, was ordered to turn back and go via Shanghai and Beijing to
Harbin, to take command of Russian troops guarding the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria, which the British government had decided could be a base for overthrowing the Bolshevik government and getting Russia back into the war with Germany. Arriving in
Omsk, Siberia, en route to enlisting with the
Volunteer Army, he agreed to become a minister in the (White)
Siberian Regional Government. Joining a 14-man cabinet, he was a prestige figure; the government hoped to play on the respect he had with the Allies, especially the head of the British military mission, General
Alfred Knox. Knox wrote that Kolchak had "more grit, pluck and honest patriotism than any Russian in Siberia". According to historian
Richard Pipes, Kolchak was a man with poor social skills, being moody, melancholic, taciturn, and very uncomfortable in dealing with people. Arriving at a dinner, Colonel
John Ward described him as "a small, vagrant, lonely soul without a friend enter unbidden to a feast". One who knew him wrote: The character and soul of the Admiral are so transparent that one needs no more than one week of contact to know all there is to know about him. He is a big, sick child, a pure idealist, a convinced slave of duty and service to an idea and to Russia. An indubitable neurotic who quickly flares up, exceedingly impetuous and uncontrolled in expressions of displeasure and anger; in this respect he has assimilated the highly unattractive traditions of the naval service, which permit in high naval ranks behavior that in our army has long since passed into the realm of legend. He is utterly absorbed by the idea of serving Russia, of saving her from Red oppression, and restoring her to full power and to the inviolability of her territory. For the sake of this he can be persuaded and moved to do anything whatever. He has no personal interests, no
amour propre: in this respect he is crystal pure. He passionately despises all lawlessness and arbitrariness, but because he is so uncontrolled and impulsive, he himself often unintentionally transgresses against the law, and this mainly when seeking to uphold the same law, and always under the influence of some outsider. He does not know life in its severe, practical reality, and lives in a world of mirages and borrowed ideas. He has no plans, no system, no will: in this respect he is soft wax from which advisers and intimates can fashion whatever they want, exploiting the fact that it is enough to disguise something as necessary for the welfare of Russia and the good of the cause to be certain of his approval. Another who knew him wrote of Kolchak: He is kind and at the same time severe, responsive and at the same time embarrassed to show human feelings, concealing his gentleness behind make-believe severity. He is impatient and stubborn, loses his temper, threatens and then calms down, making concessions, spreads his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He is bursting to be with the people, with the troops, but when he faces them, has no idea of what to say. Politically naive and an inept administrator, Kolchak described himself as a "military technician" who knew nothing of politics, described power as a "cross", and in a letter to his wife wrote about the "terrifying burden of Supreme Power" and admitted that as "a fighting man he was reluctant to face the problems of statecraft". The American historian Richard Pipes wrote that Kolchak's only strengths were his courage, patriotism, integrity, and a strong sense of honor, writing that he was "...in many ways, along with Wrangel, the most honorable White commander in the Civil War", but his weaknesses, such as his tendency to suffer from
manic depression and inability to "understand people or communicate with them", made him into "an execrable administrator in whose name were committed unpardonable acts of corruption and brutality that he personally found utterly repugnant." In November 1918, the unpopular regional government was overthrown in a British-sponsored ''
coup d'etat. Kolchak had returned to Omsk on 16 November from an inspection tour. He was approached and refused to take power. The Socialist-Revolutionary (SR) directory leader and members were arrested on 18 November by a troop of Cossacks under ataman Krasilnikov. The remaining cabinet members met and voted for Kolchak to become the head of government with emergency powers. He was named Supreme Ruler (Verkhovnyi Pravitel''), and he promoted himself to full
admiral. The arrested SR politicians were expelled from Siberia and ended up in Europe. The program of the Kolchak government included: ending Bolshevism and restoring law and order; re-establishing the Russian armed forces; convoking a new Constituent Assembly; introducing economic reforms; and maintaining the territorial integrity of Russia. Kolchak issued the following appeal to the population: The Left SR leaders in Russia denounced Kolchak and called for his assassination. Their activities resulted in a small revolt in Omsk on 22 December 1918, which was quickly put down by
Cossacks and the
Czechoslovak Legion, who summarily executed almost 500 rebels. Subsequently, the SRs opened negotiations with the Bolsheviks and in January 1919 the SR People's Army joined up with the
Red Army. Kolchak pursued a policy of persecuting revolutionaries as well as Socialists of several factions. His government issued a decree on 3 December 1918 stating, "In order to preserve the system and rule of the Supreme Ruler, articles of the criminal code of Imperial Russia were revised, Articles 99 and 100 of which established capital punishment for assassination attempts on the Supreme Ruler and for attempting to overthrow his government." Insults written, printed, and oral, are punishable by imprisonment under Article 103. Bureaucratic sabotage under Article 329 was punishable by hard labour from 15 to 20 years. and General
Alfred Knox (behind Kolchak) observing a military exercise in 1919 Although the news of Kolchak's ascension to power spread very slowly behind Bolshevik lines, it caused considerable excitement among anti-communist Russians living there.
Ivan Bunin wrote in his diary, "4/17 June 1919. The Entente has named Kolchak the
Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Izvestia wrote an obscene article saying: 'Tell us, you reptile, how much did they pay you for that?' The devil with them. I crossed myself with tears of joy." On 11 April 1919, the Kolchak government adopted Regulation no. 428, "About dangers to public order due to ties with the Bolshevik Revolt". The legislation was published in the Omsk newspaper
Omsk Gazette (no. 188 of 19 July 1919). It provided a term of 5 years imprisonment for "individuals considered a threat to the public order because of their ties in any way with the Bolshevik revolt." In the case of unauthorized return from exile, there could be hard labour from 4 to 8 years. Articles 99–101 allowed the death penalty, forced labour and imprisonment, repression by military courts, and imposed no investigation commissions. In March 1919 Kolchak himself demanded of one of his generals that he "follow the example of the Japanese who, in the
Amur region, had exterminated the local population."
Sovietskaya Rossiya, an official organ of the
Soviet Bureau established by
Ludwig Martens, quoted a
Menshevik organ,
Vsegda Vperyod, alleging that Kolchak's men used mass
floggings and razed entire villages to the ground with artillery fire. 4,000 peasants allegedly became victims of field courts and punitive expeditions and that all dwellings of rebels were burned down. Kolchak also allowed
Boris Annenkov to massacre 2,000 to 3,000 Jews. In an excerpt from the order of the government of Yenisei county in Irkutsk province, General. S. Rozanov said: British historian
Edward Hallett Carr wrote, On the contrary, a former
chief of staff to Admiral Kolchak wrote,
White Terror of Kolchak. (In the
crown) Kolchak's government issued a broadly worded decree on December 3, 1918, revising articles of the criminal code of
Imperial Russia "in order to preserve the system and rule of the Supreme Ruler". Articles 99 and 100 established capital punishment for assassination attempts on the Supreme Ruler and for attempting to overthrow the authorities. Under Article 103, "insults written, printed, and oral, are punishable by imprisonment". Bureaucratic sabotage under Article 329 was punishable by hard labor for 15 to 20 years. Additional decrees followed, adding more power. On April 11, 1919, the Kolchak government adopted Regulation 428, "About the dangers of public order due to ties with the Bolshevik Revolt", which was published in the Omsk newspaper
Omsk Gazette (no. 188 of July 1919). It provided a term of five years of prison for "individuals considered a threat to the public order because of their ties in any way with the Bolshevik revolt". In the case of an unauthorized return from exile, there could be hard labor for four to eight years. Articles 99–101 allowed the death penalty, forced labor and imprisonment, and repression by military courts, and they also imposed no investigation commissions. Even the Czech-Slovaks, who had spearheaded the anti-Bolshevik uprising in Siberia, became appalled by Kolchak's regime in Omsk. On November 15, 1919, they delivered a memorandum to the Allied representatives in
Vladivostok:The military authorities of the Government of Omsk are permitting criminal actions that will stagger the entire world. The burning of villages, the murder of masses of peaceful inhabitants, and the shooting of hundreds of persons of democratic convictions and also those only suspected of political disloyalty occurs daily. Two days later, Czech General
Radola Gajda led a revolt in Vladivostok against Kolchak's authority. Travelling a section of track controlled by the Czechoslovaks, Kolchak was sidetracked and stopped; by December his train had only reached Nizhneudinsk. In late December Irkutsk fell under control of a leftist group (including SRs and Mensheviks) and formed the
Political Centre. One of their first actions was to dismiss Kolchak. When he heard of this on 4 January 1920, he announced his resignation, giving his office to Denikin and passing control of his remaining forces around Irkutsk to an ataman,
G. M. Semyonov. The transfer of power to Semyonov proved a particularly ill-considered move. Kolchak was then promised safe passage by the Czechoslovaks to the British military mission in Irkutsk. Instead, he was handed over to the Left SR authorities in Irkutsk on 14 January. On 20 January the government in Irkutsk surrendered power to a Bolshevik military committee. The White Army under the command of General
Vladimir Kappel advanced toward Irkutsk while Kolchak was interrogated by a commission of five men representing the
Revolutionary Committee (REVKOM) during nine days between 21 January and 6 February. Despite the arrival of a contrary order from Moscow, Kolchak was sentenced to death along with his Prime Minister,
Viktor Pepelyayev. Both prisoners were brought before a firing squad in the late night of 6 February. According to eyewitnesses, Kolchak was entirely calm and unafraid, "like an Englishman". The Admiral asked the commander of the firing squad, "Would you be so good as to get a message sent to my wife in
Paris to say that I bless my son?" The commander responded, "I'll see what can be done, if I don't forget about it." A priest of the
Russian Orthodox Church then gave the
last rites to both men. The squad fired and both men fell. The bodies were kicked and prodded down an escarpment and dumped under the ice of the frozen
Angara River. Their bodies were never recovered. When the White Army learned about the executions, its remaining leadership decided to withdraw farther east. The
Great Siberian Ice March followed. The Red Army did not enter Irkutsk until 7 March, and only then was the news of Kolchak's death officially released. ==Awards and decorations==