Alexander Kolchak

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vasilyevich and the family name is Kolchak.
Alexander Kolchak
Александр Колчак
Kolchak in 1919
Supreme Ruler of Russia[a]
In office
18 November 1918 – 7 February 1920
Preceded byPosition established[b]
Succeeded byAnton Denikin (de facto)
Minister of War and Navy of the Provisional All-Russian Government
In office
4 November – 18 November 1918
Prime MinisterPyotr Vologodsky
Vice prime ministerVladimir Vinogradov
Preceded byAleksandr Verkhovsky[c] and Dmitry Verderevsky[d]
Succeeded byNikolai Stepanov[e] and Mikhail Smirnov[f]
Personal details
Born16 November 1874
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died7 February 1920(1920-02-07) (aged 45)
Irkutsk, Russian State
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
SpouseSophia Fedorovna Omirova
Children1
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service1886–1920
RankAdmiral
Battles/warsRusso-Japanese War
World War I
Russian Civil War

Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Колча́к; 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a Russian military leader and polar explorer who held the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia from 1918 to 1920 during the Russian Civil War, though his actual control over Russian territory was limited. Previously, he served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.[1]

The son of a naval artillery officer, Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps and went on to become an accomplished oceanographer and Arctic explorer. He was involved in several expeditions to northern Russia, including the New Siberian Islands, and became the youngest vice admiral in the Imperial Navy. He was wounded and taken prisoner during the Russo-Japanese War at the siege of Port Arthur, and upon his return he advocated for strengthening the fleet to the State Duma, including with the introduction of submarines and aircraft. Kolchak was the Baltic Fleet chief of operations when World War I broke out and was made the commander of the Black Sea Fleet shortly before the February Revolution.[2][3] When Emperor Nicholas II asked the commanders of each army group and fleet for their opinion on abdicating the throne, Kolchak was the only one who opposed his abdication.[4]

During the events of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was popular among conservative newspapers, who saw him as a potential military dictator.[2] Early in the civil war, Kolchak briefly served as the Minister of War and Navy in the Provisional All-Russian Government – the first government that was recognized by all White military and political forces east of Urals, at least nominally – until a November 1918 coup saw him installed as leader and all authority was transferred to his own government.[5] His authority was eventually recognized by the other leaders of the White movement,[6][5] and he served as its principal leader,[5] although Anton Denikin enjoyed more power than Kolchak.[5] His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia.

After initial successes in early 1919, Kolchak's forces lost ground due to a lack of support by the local populace and a failure to unite the leaders of counterrevolutionary movements.[7] Omsk fell to the Red Army in November 1919 during the Great Siberian Ice March, leading to Kolchak to transfer his headquarters to Irkutsk.[7] In December, he was betrayed and detained by the chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia, Maurice Janin, and the Czechoslovak Legion, who handed him over to local Socialist-Revolutionaries in January 1920;[8][9][10] the Bolsheviks executed him the next month in Irkutsk.[11]


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  1. ^ Yegorov, O. (27 December 2019). "Meet Russian Imperial officers who almost stopped the Bolsheviks". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b Beevor 2022, p. 45.
  3. ^ Boyakova 2005, p. 1109.
  4. ^ "The last Russian emperor Nikolai II abdicated the crown". Presidential Library of Russia.
  5. ^ a b c d Smith, Stephen Anthony (2017). Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928. Oxford University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-19-873482-6.
  6. ^ Jon Smele (2006) Civil War in Siberia: The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521029074. p.77
  7. ^ a b Schild, Georg (27 June 1995). Between Ideology and Realpolitik: Woodrow Wilson and the Russian Revolution, 1917–1921. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-313-29570-6.
  8. ^ Хандорин, В. Г. Мифы и факты о Верховном правителе России Archived 29 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. – М.: Общество развития русского исторического просвещения «Двуглавый орёл»; Издательство М. Б. Смолина (ФИВ), 2019. – 200 с. – ISBN 978-5-91862-057-1., p.235
  9. ^ Мельгунов С. П. Трагедия адмирала Колчака: В 2 книгах. – Книга вторая: Часть III. – М.: Айрис-пресс, Лагуна-Арт, 2005. – 496 с. + вклейка 8 с. – (Белая Россия). – ISBN 5-8112-0547-3. – С. 443, 461.
  10. ^ Флеминг, Питер Судьба адмирала Колчака. 1917—1920 / Пер. с англ. Л.А. Игоревского. – М.: ЗАО Центрполиграф, 2006.— 252 с. – (Россия в переломный момент истории). ISBN 5-9524-2530-5, p. 235
  11. ^ N. G. O. Pereira, "White Power during the Civil War in Siberia (1918–1920): Dilemmas of Kolchak's 'War Anti-Communism'", in: Canadian Slavonic Papers (1987) 29#1 pp 45–62.