General Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin was born on March 17, 1848 in the Sheshurino estate in the Pskov province. His father was a retired captain. The military man gave his son the appropriate education, sending him first to the First Cadet Corps, and then to the Pavlovsk Military School, which he graduated in 1866.
Military career
Having released the rank of lieutenant, the future General Kuropatkin went to Turkestan, where he served in the 1st Turkestan Rifle Battalion. At a young age, he took part in combat sorties in the Kokand Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate. The Khiva campaign became a serious test for him. The first combat experience only reinforced the desire of the young man to pursue a career in the army.
In 1871, staff captain Alexei Kuropatkin entered the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. He graduated from this institution first on the list. Having automatically got to the General Staff, Kuropatkin went on an international business trip, during which he visited France, Germany and even Algeria. In Africa, an officer participated in an expedition to the Sahara. He assisted the French army in suppressing the resistance of local rebels. For this, the military received the Legion of Honor. Impressions from the journey formed the basis of the book "Algeria", published in 1877.
In the service of the Fatherland
After the Nikolaev Academy, Kuropatkin is no longer the captain, but the captain. Returning to his homeland from Algeria, he voluntarily abandoned a career in the General Staff and in 1875 again went to Turkestan. There, meanwhile, the Kokand campaign began against Putal Bek. The future General Kuropatkin was the first to enter the Uch-Kurgan fortress, for which he received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree. Its leader was Colonel Mikhail Skobelev, who commanded the forces of the Ferghana region.
The second time they had to meet on the sidelines of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. At this time, Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin was already a lieutenant colonel. He commanded the headquarters of the 16th Infantry Division, and the very same Skobelev led the division. Together they took part in the battles of Plevna and Lovech. After the famous passage through the Balkans, Kuropatkin gratefully wrote that he had learned a lot from Skobelev, primarily impudence and decisiveness. In the battle of Plevna, Alexei Nikolaevich was seriously wounded (a box full of charges exploded next to him) and was out of order.
After treatment and recovery, Kuropatkin did not work long in the General Staff. In 1879, he took command of the 1st Turkestan Rifle Brigade. This was followed by a period of diplomatic and military missions in France, Iran and China. In the years 1880-1881. Kuropatkin participated in the Akhal-Tekinsky campaign. After this began a seven-year period of work in the General Staff, where the military held various important posts.
From administrator to minister
Since 1890, Kuropatkin - Lieutenant General. In this rank, he commanded the troops located in the Trans-Caspian region. Here, the military had to show his administrative abilities - the region experienced serious Russification. Under his leadership, industry, trade, agriculture flourished in the region, villages and cities grew. The colonization of Transcaspia by Russian settlers began, for whose children special Russian schools were built.
The administrative effectiveness of Kuropatkin did not go unnoticed. In 1898 he was appointed Minister of War of Russia. General Kuropatkin held this position for six years, right up to the outbreak of war with Japan. Alexei Nikolayevich met the campaign with the rank of Adjutant General.
War with japan
It was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. became for Kuropatkin the main challenge of his entire career. Until the last moment, there were rumors that he would be made commander in chief at the very beginning of the conflict. However, Tsar Nicholas II appointed Admiral Alekseev to this post.
Kuropatkin was never his own man at the imperial court. The outbreak of war allowed to make his resignation more honorable and smooth. In February 1904, the former Minister of War became the commander of the important Manchurian army, and in October - the commander in chief in the Far East instead of the injured fiasco Alekseev.
Even before this appointment, Kuropatkin faced a serious test, which he failed ineptly. They became the battle of Liaoyang, which began on August 24 and ended on September 3, 1904. It began with the shelling of Russian positions, arranged by the advanced units of Marshal Oyama. Then the Japanese made a quick throw and captured several important heights.
A new attack occurred on the night of August 26. The Japanese hit the 3rd Siberian and 10th Army Corps. The massive and furious assault on the Japanese ended in failure. They suffered very heavy losses on Mount Kustarnaya, where a significant number of soldiers fell under the shelling of Russian artillerymen.
In the current situation, Kuropatkin could take an effective strike to the rear against the scared enemy. However, the general decided to retreat. His troops left a mountainous-hilly position convenient from the point of view of defense. The battle site was drowned in torrential rain, the soldiers moved knee-deep in sticky mud, losing artillery and dying horses.
The battle of Liaoyang showed a high level of Japanese intelligence. Using accurate data on the enemy’s movement, Marshal Oyama did not interfere with the Russians, expecting that their tactical miscalculation would only benefit him. The Japanese were waiting for a terrible rain in tents.
However, in the following days, despite the uncomfortable positions, the Russian units successfully beat off more and more attacks. On September 20, Oyama began to prepare for a retreat. Kuropatkin was several hours ahead of him. He was afraid of flanking coverage, which the Japanese could not even dream of, and the first to leave his position, moving to Mukden.
Oyama did not pursue the Russians, fearing that they had prepared some kind of complicated and not completely clear maneuver. However, soon the Japanese were even more surprised when they got the Liaoyang left by Kuropatkin for no reason. Here they seized significant stocks of equipment, clothing, food, shells. All these things were brought to the Far East from European Russia and were supposed to help with the Port Arthur release operation. However, due to the indecision of General Kuropatkin, all these strategic plans are in the past.
Battle on the Shah
The next major battle for General Kuropatkin was the battle on the Shah River (also called the Shahei battle). The battle began on 5, and ended on October 17, 1904. The king was unhappy with the failure of Liaoyang and demanded that Kuropatkin attack the forces of Marshal Oyama.
The attack lasted two days. Then the Japanese command decided to seize the strategic initiative. On October 10, it launched its own counteroffensive. The main blow fell on the 10th and 17th army corps. The fights were with varying success. After several days of confrontation, both armies began to strengthen their positions. The formed front stretched for 60 kilometers. For military art, this was a completely new phenomenon, which later became commonplace during the First World War. As a result of attacks and counterattacks, none of the parties set their tasks.
The Battle of Sandepu
The battle on the Shah River led to the fact that near the Mukden the Russian army was concentrated in the amount of 320 thousand people. This army was completely ruled by General Kuropatkin, who became the commander in chief in the Far East. In the Russo-Japanese War, there were already enough defeats and ruined operations. Now the military leadership had no right to make a mistake.
It was under such circumstances that the battle of Sandep began on January 25, 1905. The Russian army organized its next offensive, even despite the fact that at that time it was not customary to conduct active military operations in the winter. By the end of the first day of the operation, the Siberian Rifle Corps captured Heigoutai, the most important stronghold of the army of Marshal Oka. Japanese reserves moved there. The Siberian Rifle Corps had to stop and take up defensive positions.
The next day (January 26), the Japanese repulsed the attack of the 14th Infantry Division. With the onset of night, two regiments once again moved to the neighboring village, taking it for a key goal - Sandepu. However, in the dark, the maneuver failed. Russian troops captured a completely different village and were eventually forced to retreat.
Another attempt to seize Sandep was scheduled for January 28. The Japanese, however, did not intend to give up the initiative and went on the offensive themselves. The main target of their attack was the restless 1st Siberian Corps. By the end of the day, stubborn battles culminated in the success of the Russian army, or rather the 31st Infantry Division. Her soldiers occupied several villages around Sandepu. Moreover, they went to the rear of the Japanese, putting them in an extremely uncomfortable position. In fact, the enemy was on the verge of encirclement and defeat.
At this very decisive moment, a conflict broke out between the Russian military leaders. Kuropatkin considered the actions of his army too risky. One of the successful attacks was generally carried out contrary to his instructions. The initiative of the junior generals of the commander in chief did not please. He dismissed several key individuals, including Oscar-Ferdinand Grippenberg, who was at the head of the 2nd Manchu Army. This general from infantry was so outraged by the actions of Kuropatkin that he accused him of disrupting the operation and left for Petersburg.
Due to staff disagreements, the battle at Sandep actually ended in nothing. The Russian army again failed to defeat the Japanese and change the course of the war. The status quo has been preserved.
Mukden disaster
No matter how large and insulting the previous failures of the Russian army in the war with Japan, the most important battle for it remained ahead. This culmination of the entire campaign was the battle of Mukden (February 19 - March 10, 1905). Bloodshed was carried out at a front length of 150 kilometers. About half a million people were drawn into it from both sides. 250 new machine guns were used for military affairs and another 2,500 artillery pieces. The fighting claimed the lives of 24 thousand people (more than 130 thousand were injured).
The Mukden battle was not one battle in the classical sense of the word. It consisted of many small clashes that took place in different parts of a huge front. The meat grinder began with the Japanese offensive, and it was the Japanese who set the course for the entire battle for a month. Despite the courage of the Russian soldiers, the onslaught of the enemy continued to increase. After a roundabout maneuver of the 3rd Japanese Army, Alexei Kuropatkin gave the order for retreat. Soon the enemy occupied Mukden. What happened in Russia was regarded as a disaster.
The disappointing results of the battle infuriated the authorities. Alexey Kuropatkin was deprived of the rank of commander in chief. He spent the rest of the war at the head of the 1st Manchu army. In his place came Nikolai Linevich. The campaign, however, had already been lost by then. Soon, Japan was able to impose terms of a peace treaty convenient for her.
Error analysis
The ended Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 became the cause of the first Russian revolution. The infamous Portsmouth world made many military men think about the reasons for the unprecedented defeat in the history of the country from the enemy, which until recently no one took seriously. In the wake of these moods, General Kuropatkin retired to his estate and set about writing a book about the past campaign. His four-volume “Notes on the Russo-Japanese War” was published in 1906.
The conflict with the eastern neighbor demonstrated that the previous tactical and strategic experience of the 19th century became irrelevant. In his work, the former Minister of War of Russia noted the key organizational shortcomings of the Russian army, which ultimately led to an extremely painful defeat. They consisted of improper training of soldiers, mobilization, technical equipment, etc. The war with Japan led to disaster, but the whole world was hurriedly preparing for an even larger-scale war. In these conditions, Russia needed a comprehensive army reform. Although Kuropatkin resigned, he remained a member of the Council of State and tried to contribute to the modernization of the armed forces.
Again at the front
In 1914, the First World War began. Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin, whose military ranks were preserved, despite the insulting defeats, immediately asked for service in the army, which was rejected by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. The first months of the conflict, he was organizing assistance to seriously wounded officers.
Only in September 1915, when Nicholas II became commander in chief, Alexei Kuropatkin was appointed to command the grenadier corps. The following February, the general was placed at the head of the entire Northern Front, located on the banks of the Western Dvina. In this position, he immediately set about preparing for the offensive. The operation unfolded near Riga, where the 12th Army operated. The soldiers took possession of several lines of carefully guarded trenches, however, due to pressure on the flanks, they retreated to their previous positions.
Despite everything, General Kuropatkin, whose biography consisted of many ups and downs, did not lose hope of success in the fight against the Germans. From March 21 to March 26, 1916, the offensive of his forces continued in the vicinity of Jakobstadt, where a bridgehead was formed. During this operation, the Russian troops managed to advance only a few kilometers.
On April 14, Kuropatkin attended a meeting of the General Headquarters, which was chaired by the emperor. The general made a presentation on the circumstances of the failure of the recent offensive. The reasons for the failure of the operation were named bad weather conditions, broken roads and erroneous use of artillery.
In the summer, the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough began in the south. Kuropatkin, who remained in the Baltic states, remained inactive for several weeks and only in July launched an attack on Bauska, in which the same 12th army took part. The compound lost 15 thousand people, but even after six days of fighting, it could not take over the city. Kuropatkin’s failure went unnoticed amid the euphoria of the Brusilovsky breakthrough.
End of service and recent years
In July 1916, Kuropatkin was sent to Turkestan, which he already knew, where he became governor-general and commander of the troops. In this rank, he met the February Revolution. The new government retained his position, confirming it with a special telegram. However, to his misfortune, General Kuropatkin, whose awards were of little interest to anyone, came into conflict with the council of soldiers and workers' deputies of Tashkent. The commander was first placed under house arrest, and then, having lost his post, was sent to Petrograd.
In the summer of 1917, the Alexander Committee on the Wounded worked at full strength. Having the experience of caring for disabled officers, General Kuropatkin also entered. After the revolution, he returned to his native Pskov province, where he lived the rest of his old age. Alexey Nikolaevich organized a village school and ran a local library, in which he placed his own significant funds. Later, his materials, including after working on a book on the Russo-Japanese War, were transferred to the Russian State Military Historical Archive. Alexei Kuropatkin died on January 16, 1925 at the age of 76.
Awards
For heroism and courage near Plevna in 1878, Kuropatkin received a gold saber marked “For Bravery”, as well as the Order of St. Anne and St. Stanislav of the 2nd degree. After the war with Turkey, he also received many foreign awards. Among them was the order of the Tacovsk Cross handed to the Serbian authorities. Then Kuropatkin received the medal "For Courage" from Montenegro. Later, from the Balkan countries, he also received the Order of the Star of Romania, as well as the Order of St. Alexander of Bulgaria.
Kuropatkin received no awards for the failed Russo-Japanese War. But in the 1890s he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. On the eve of the war with Japan, special diamond signs were added to this award, demonstrating the special merits of the general to the state.