After the
October Revolution of November 1917, Semyonov stirred up a
sizable anti-Soviet rebellion but was defeated after several months of fighting, and he fled to the northeastern Chinese city of
Harbin. He then moved to
Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia, where the
Chinese Eastern Railway met the
Chita Railway, expelled the Bolshevik garrison guarding the rail junction, and recruited an army, mainly from Buryat and Chinese recruits. In January 1918, he invaded Transbaikal, but by February, had been forced by Bolshevik partisans to retreat back to Manzhouli, where he was visited by R.B.Denny, British Military Attache in Beijing, who formed an "extremely favourable impression of him". On his recommendation, the Foreign Office in London agreed to pay Semyonov £10,000 a month, with no conditions attached,. The French government also decided to give him financial aid, while the Japanese placed an intelligence officer, Captain Kuroki Chikayochi, in Semyonov's headquarters. The British subsidies ended, by which time "Japanese influence was so strong that Semyonov was for practical purposes a puppet." The region under his control, also called
Eastern Okraina, extended from
Verkhne-Udinsk near
Lake Baikal to the
Shilka River and the town of
Stretensk, to Manzhouli and northeast some distance along the
Amur Railway. He handed out copies of the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the Japanese troops with whom he became associated. (right) With Japanese protection, he recognised no other authority. When
Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, who was based in
Omsk, in Siberia, was declared Supreme Ruler by the
White Armies, Semyonov refused to submit to him. They had met once, in Manzhouli, in May 1918, when Semyonov insulted Kolchak by failing to be at the railway station to greet him. Kolchak considered sending an army into Transbaikal to remove Semyonov, but had to abandon the idea because Semyonov was protected by the
Japanese, who had 72,000 troops in Siberia. In October 1919, Kolchak recognised Semyonov as commander-in-chief of the Transbaikal region. When Kolchak resigned on 4 January 1920 he transferred his military forces in the
Far East to Semyonov. However, Semyonov was unable to keep his troops in Siberia under control: they stole, burned,
murdered, and raped, developing a reputation for being little better than thugs. In July 1920, the Japanese Expeditionary Corps started a limited withdrawal in accordance with the
Gongota Agreement, which was signed on 15 July 1920 with the
Far Eastern Republic and undermined support for Semyonov.
Transbaikal partisans,
internationalists, and the 5th Soviet Army under
Genrich Eiche launched an operation to retake Chita. In October 1920, units of the
Red Army and
guerrillas forced Semyonov's army
out of the Baikal region. He escaped by plane to Manchuria. In late May 1921 Semyonov travelled to Japan, where he received some support. He returned to the
Primorye in the hope of continuing to fight against the Soviets, but was finally forced to abandon all of Russian territory by September 1921. == In exile ==