Troubles. 1920 year. 100 years ago, on the night of February 7, 1920, the "Supreme Ruler of All Russia" Admiral Alexander Kolchak and the chairman of his government Viktor Pepelyaev were shot. In liberal Russia, Kolchak was turned into a hero and a martyr who was killed by the "bloody Bolsheviks."
The fall of the Siberian government
In the face of complete defeat of Kolchak's army, complete collapse of the rear, general flight, activation of partisans and peasant rebels, widespread uprisings against the Siberian government in Irkutsk, the Political Center rebelled. It was a political union of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Zemstvos. The political center set the task of overthrowing Kolchak and creating a "free democratic" state in Siberia and the Far East. They received the support of a significant part of the rear garrisons, who did not want to fight, and the Entente, for which the end of the Kolchak regime was obvious.
On December 24, 1919, the uprising of the Political Center began in Irkutsk. The rebels were led by Captain Kalashnikov, who then led the People's Revolutionary Army. At the same time, the uprising was raised by local Bolsheviks and workers, who were supported by partisans. But initially the preponderance of forces was in favor of the Political Center. Kolchak appointed Ataman Semyonov commander of the troops of the Far East and the Irkutsk District and ordered to restore order in the city. Semyonov sent a detachment, but it was insignificant and could not break into the city. In addition, the Czechoslovakians opposed the Semyonovites, so they had to retreat.
The "supreme ruler" Kolchak at that time was blocked in Nizhneudinsk, 500 km from Irkutsk. The uprising also began here. The representative of the High Inter-Union Command and the commander-in-chief of the allied forces in Siberia and the Far East, General Zhanin, ordered not to let the Kolchak train and the golden echelon pass further. The Czechs uncoupled and hijacked steam locomotives. Kolchak protested, but he did not have the military strength to resist the violence. The remnants of the combat-ready Kolchak troops under the command of Kappel were far from Nizhneudinsk, making their way through the snow and forest, repelling the attacks of the enemy. The "Nizhneudin sitting" began. The station was declared "neutral", the Czechoslovakians acted as guarantors of the admiral's safety. The rebels did not get in here. Kolchak was offered to flee: he had a convoy, he could take as much gold as they took away and leave in the direction of Mongolia. However, he did not dare to do so. It is possible that he still hoped to "come to an agreement", did not believe that he would be surrendered. Kolchak gave the soldiers and officers of the convoy freedom of action. Almost everyone dispersed. The Czechs immediately took the gold under protection. The connection was in their hands, and the "supreme" was cut off from the outside world.
At this time, negotiations were under way in Irkutsk between General Zhanen, the Political Center and the Council of Ministers on the transfer of power to the Political Center. Kolchak was represented by the "extraordinary troika" - General Khanzhin (Minister of War), Cherven-Vodali (Minister of Internal Affairs) and Larionov (Ministry of Railways). The negotiations were on the initiative of Janin, under his chairmanship and on his train. In fact, the Entente forced the Kolchak government to resign. Kolchak was specially cut off from Irkutsk so that he could not influence events there. At first, Kolchak's ministers resisted, but under strong pressure from Zhanin, they were forced to accept the Political Center and its conditions. On January 4-5, 1920, the Political Center won a victory in Irkutsk. The Provisional Council of the Siberian People's Administration, created by the Political Center, declared itself power in the territory from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk.
Betrayal and arrest of the supreme ruler
The Western allies demanded that Kolchak renounce the supreme power, guaranteeing in this case a safe trip abroad. However, this was originally a hoax. The issue of extraditing the admiral had already been resolved. Formally, Janin at this price ensured the free passage of foreign missions and troops and the supply of echelons with coal. In fact, the forces of the Provisional Council were weak to thwart the movement of the Westerners. Only the Czechoslovakians had a whole army, armed and equipped to the teeth. In particular, when necessary, the Czechs easily neutralized the Semyonovites who stood in their way, destroyed their armored trains. In fact, it was a political decision: Kolchak was written off, "the Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave." The political center needed an admiral to bargain with the Bolsheviks.
Only the Japanese took a different position at the beginning. They tried to help the "supreme" in order to preserve the regime of their puppet Semyonov with his help. But under pressure from the French and Americans, the Japanese were forced to abandon the admiral's support. In addition, in the Irkutsk region, they did not have serious forces to defend their position.
But before the arrest, Kolchak had to renounce the supreme power, even formal. It was a tribute to decency: it is one thing to extradite the head of the union state, and another to hand over a private person. Kolchak's position became hopeless. He missed the last chance when he refused to run. Partisans and the Red Army were advancing in the west, rebels in Nizhneudinsk, and enemies in the east. On January 5, 1920, Kolchak signed an abdication, he appointed Denikin the supreme ruler. In the Russian East, the supreme power was transferred to Semyonov.
On January 10, the movement to Irkutsk began: the cars of Kolchak and the head of the government of Pepeliaev were hitched to the echelon of the 6th Czech regiment, followed by the golden echelon. When the trains arrived in Cheremkhovo, the local revolutionary committee and the workers' committee demanded that Kolchak be handed over to them. After negotiations with the Czechs, they agreed to further movement, but local vigilantes joined the admiral's guard. On January 15, the trains arrived in Irkutsk. Allied missions have already departed further east. In the evening, the Czechoslovakians handed Kolchak over to representatives of the Political Center. Kolchak and Pepelyaev were placed in the building of the provincial prison. In the Kolchak case, a commission of inquiry was created.
Transfer of power to the Bolsheviks
The political situation in Irkutsk changed rapidly. The political center could not hold on to power. From the very beginning, he shared power with the Irkutsk Provincial Committee of the RCP (b). The Bolsheviks were asked to create a coalition government, but they refused. Power was already passing to them. They have already seized control of the troops, workers' squads, and pulled the partisans over to their side. The Political Center quickly ceased to be reckoned with. On January 19, the Military Revolutionary Committee (VRK) was created. The extraordinary commission was headed by the Bolshevik Chudnovsky, who was already a member of the commission of inquiry in the Kolchak case.
The Czechs, seeing that the real power was passing to the Bolsheviks, surrendered the "democrats" from the Political Center. The Bolsheviks entered into negotiations with the Czechoslovakians to liquidate the Political Center and transfer all power to them. The Czechs agreed on the condition that their agreement with the SRs on the free passage of the Czechoslovak troops to the east with all their good would remain in force. On January 21, the Political Center ceded power to the VRK. Kolchak and Pepeliaev automatically came under the jurisdiction of the Bolsheviks.
The offensive of the Kapelevites. The death of the admiral
At this time, news began to arrive about Kappel's troops. After the Battle of Krasnoyarsk (the Battle of Krasnoyarsk), where the Whites were defeated and suffered heavy losses, the Kolchakites barely broke through behind the Yenisei and retreated in several groups. General Sakharov's column retreated along the Siberian highway and the railway. Kappel's column went north along the Yenisei below Krasnoyarsk, then along the Kan River to Kansk, planning to enter the railway near Kansk and there to join up with Sakharov's troops. The Kolchakites managed to break away from the Reds, who stayed in Krasnoyarsk for rest. The remnants of the white units were to be finished off by the partisans.
As it turned out, the White Guards were written off early. Small groups remained from the former white armies. But these were the "irreconcilable", the best soldiers and officers, the Kappelites, the Votkinskites, the Izhevskites, part of the Orenburg and Siberian Cossacks, all who did not want to defect and be taken prisoner. They fought their way through the partisan lands, died of typhus, cold and hunger, but stubbornly made their way to the east. Having learned about the uprising in Kansk and the transition of the garrison to the side of the Reds, Kappel bypassed the city from the south on January 12-14. Further, the troops moved along the Siberian tract and on January 19 occupied the Zamzor station, where they learned about the uprising in Irkutsk. On January 22, the Kappelevites drove the Red partisans out of Nizhneudinsk. Kappel was already dying - during a hike along the Kan River, he fell into a wormwood, froze his legs. The amputation of the legs and pneumonia finished off the general. At the military council, it was decided to go to Irkutsk and free Kolchak. On January 24, the Kolchak attack on Irkutsk began. On January 26, Kappel died at the Utai railway junction, transferring command to General Voitsekhovsky.
The Whites had only 5-6 thousand combat-ready soldiers, several active guns and 2-3 machine guns per division. It was even worse with ammunition. Sick, exhausted, already beyond human capabilities, they moved to Irkutsk, terrible in their impulse. The Bolsheviks tried to stop them and sent troops to meet them. But in the battle at the Zima station on January 30, the Reds were defeated. After a short rest on February 3, the Kappelevites continued to move and took Cheremkhovo on the move, 140 km from Irkutsk.
In response to the Red ultimatum to surrender, Voitsekhovsky put forward his ultimatum: the general promised to bypass Irkutsk if the Bolsheviks surrender Kolchak and his entourage, supply the White Guards with food and fodder and pay an indemnity of 200 million rubles. It is clear that the Bolsheviks refused. The Kappelevites went to the assault, broke through to Innokentievskaya, 7 km from the city. Irkutsk was declared a state of siege, mobilized everyone they could, built a solid defense. However, the Kolchakites continued to rush forward. The battle was rare in fury. Both sides fought desperately, taking no prisoners. Contemporaries recalled that they did not remember such a fierce battle.
Under the pretext of the threat of the fall of the city, Admiral Kolchak and Pepelyaev were shot on the night of February 7, 1920. They were shot without trial, by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee. The bodies of the dead were thrown into an ice-hole on the Angara. On the same day, the Bolsheviks signed an agreement on neutrality with the Czechs. At this time, the White Guards took Innokentievskaya, broke through the city defense line. But the further assault lost its significance. Learning about the execution of Kolchak, Voitsekhovsky stopped the attack. In addition, the Czechs demanded not to continue the offensive. Fighting fresh Czechoslovak troops was suicide.
The Kappelevites walked around the city and moved to the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye on the shore of Lake Baikal. Then the White Guards crossed Lake Baikal on the ice, which was another feat of the Great Ice Campaign. A total of 30-35 thousand people crossed the lake. From the Mysovoy station, the White Guards and refugees continued their march (about 600 km) to Chita, which they reached in early March 1920.
New Kolchakism
After the collapse of the USSR and the victory of the liberals, who are considered the heirs of the White movement, a creeping rehabilitation of the enemies of the Red Army and Soviet power began. Denikin, Wrangel, Mannerheim, Kolchak and other enemies of Soviet Russia became "heroes" of the new Russia.
The problem is that Kolchak was an enemy of the people and a mercenary of foreign capital. First, the admiral betrayed Tsar Nicholas II (along with other generals), joined the Februaryist revolutionaries. That is, he became an accomplice in the destruction of "historical Russia." Then the admiral entered the service of the Entente. He recognized himself as a "condottier", that is, a mercenary, an adventurer in the service of the West. It was used in the war against the Russian people. The fact is that Kolchak and many other generals and officers chose the wrong side. They chose the camp of the capitalists, the big bourgeoisie, big capital, foreign predators who were tearing Russia apart. At the same time, there was a choice. A significant part of the Russian officers, many generals chose the people, although many personally disliked the Bolsheviks, therefore they fought as part of the Red Army, for the future of workers 'and peasants', people's Russia.
As a result, white generals (even personally interesting, strong personalities, talented commanders who have many services to the Fatherland) came out against the people, against Russian civilization. They fought for the interests of our geopolitical "partners" - enemies, who sentenced Russia and the Russian people to destruction, the country to dismemberment and plunder. For the interests of domestic "bourgeois" who wished to preserve factories, factories, ships and capital.
Alexander Kolchak, without a doubt, was a protege of the West. He was assigned to "save" Russia in London and Washington. The West generously supplied the Kolchak regime with weapons, for this it received Russian gold, control over the Siberian railway (in fact, over the entire eastern part of Russia. The West, as long as it was profitable for it, turned a blind eye to the atrocities and war crimes of Kolchakites. After six months of rule by the "supreme ruler" General Budberg (chief of supplies and Minister of War of the Kolchak government) wrote:
"The uprisings and local anarchy are spreading throughout Siberia … the main areas of the uprising are the settlements of the Stolypin agrarian - sent sporadically punitive detachments … burn villages, hang them and, where possible, misbehave."
When “the Moor did his job,” it was already possible to reveal part of the truth. Thus, General Greves, a representative of the American mission in Siberia, wrote:
“In Eastern Siberia, there were terrible murders, but they were not committed by the Bolsheviks, as is usually thought. I will not be mistaken if I say that in Eastern Siberia for every person killed by the Bolsheviks, there were 100 people killed by anti-Bolshevik elements."
The command of the Czechoslovak Corps noted:
“Under the protection of the Czechoslovak bayonets, the local Russian military authorities allow themselves actions that will horrify the entire civilized world. Burning out villages, beating up peaceful Russian citizens by hundreds, shooting without trial of representatives of democracy on a simple suspicion of political unreliability are commonplace …"
Although in reality the Westerners, including the Czechs, themselves were marked by terrible atrocities and looting in Russia.
Thus, while Kolchak was needed, he was supported, when his regime was exhausted, he was handed over as a used disposable instrument. The admiral was not even taken out in order to give the estate and a pension for a good job. He was cynically surrendered and sentenced to death. At the same time, Kolchak himself helped the Western "allies" - he gave them control over the Siberian Railway, the key artery of the region and his army.
Modern attempts to whitewash the admiral and other white military and political leaders are associated with the desire to permanently establish in Russia a semi-capitalist (comprador, oligarchic), neo-feudal regime with a caste-caste society, where “new nobles”, “masters of life,” have appeared, and there is a common people - “Losers” who did not fit into the “market”. Hence the new historical mythology with "white heroes" and "Bolshevik bloodsuckers" who destroyed abundant and prosperous Russia and established a slave system. What this mythology and ideology leads to is clearly seen in the example of the former post-Soviet republics, where de-Sovietization has already won. This is collapse, blood, extinction and total idiocy of the masses.
