According to a huge number of historiographers, it was this man who played a decisive role in overthrowing the autocracy in Russia. General Ruzsky, being a convinced monarchist, was one of the first to offer Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, instead of supporting and helping the tsar to remain on the throne. The sovereign counted on the help of his general, and he simply betrayed him.
In military affairs, Ruzsky (infantry general) established himself as a talented commander, so the Bolsheviks who came to power wanted him to continue to command the army, but already on their side. But he refused such an offer, as a result of which he was subjected to brutal reprisal.
Who is General Ruzsky? A traitor to the king or defender of the Fatherland, to whom fate has made a difficult choice? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Years of childhood and youth
Nikolai Vladimirovich Ruzsky - a native of the Kaluga province, was born on March 6, 1854.
A number of sources indicate that the future general was a distant relative of the poet Lermontov, who wrote the well-known poem "Mtsyri". In support of this, they cite data according to which, one of the ancestors of Mikhail Yuryevich, who in the XVIII century was the governor of the city of Ruza near Moscow, became the father of a child born out of a legal marriage. Soon this offspring received a surname in honor of the city in which he headed the affairs of Lermontov.
But it is unlikely that General Ruzsky attached serious importance to the theoretical fact of kinship with the famous poet. Then he would have fully received the classical education, the rules of which were the same for all children from noble families, but Nikolai lost his father early. After that, employees of the capital's board of trustees began to intervene in his life, but this circumstance did not particularly bother the future general. Already in his youth, Nicholas dreamed of a military career.
Years of study
To begin approaching his dream, Ruzsky becomes a student of the first military gymnasium, which is located in the city on the Neva.
After some time, he was already a cadet of the second Konstantinovsky military school, whose graduates became infantry officers. It is noteworthy that at the end of the 19th century Russian military universities began to put into practice the reforms initiated by Tsar Alexander II and historian Dmitry Milyutin. That is why General Ruzsky, whose photo is available in many textbooks on the art of fighting, as well as in this article, received a quality education that corresponds to the realities of the time.
The beginning of a military career
After graduating from college, the young man joined the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment as an officer. A few years later, the Russo-Turkish war began, and the future General Ruzsky showed himself on the battlefield exclusively on the positive side. In gratitude for the courage and courage shown, Ruzsky received the Order of St. Anne of the IV degree. At the end of hostilities, the officer decided to improve his qualifications and was trained at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. His teachers were eminent V. Sukhomlinov and A. Kuropatkin. Then the officer put the acquired knowledge into practice, alternately replacing the headquarters of the military districts. Nikolai Vladimirovich became a real expert in rear and operational work.
The next milestone of his career was the service in the Kiev military district as a quartermaster general. After some time, Ruzsky will receive the rank of major general and will head the headquarters himself.
Russian-Japanese war
At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was involved in a military conflict with Japan. General Ruzsky, whose biography is of great interest to historians, will lead the headquarters of the second Manchu army. He will show his best qualities as a military commander by competently organizing the defense of the troops entrusted to him on the Shahe River. But sometimes success was accompanied by failure. In particular, we are talking about the operation on the offensive near Sandep, which was failed due to the indecisive actions of the commander in chief.
Further service
After the war, Ruzsky was entrusted with commanding 21 army corps. At the end of the XIX century, Nikolai Vladimirovich was already in the status of general from infantry, while being a member of the Military Council. He will provide practical assistance in the work on the development of reforms in the army. General Ruzsky is a co-author of a number of instructions and charters. The officers praised his contribution to the creation of the Field Manual of 1912. After this work, Nikolai Vladimirovich returned to service in the Kiev Military District, where he served as assistant commander of the troops until the outbreak of the First World War.
1914 year
After the war broke out between the Entente and the political alliance, which included Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Russian command sent Ruzsky to fight on the South-Western Front, entrusting him with command of the 3rd Army.
The strategic battlefield in this area was the Battle of Galicia, in which Nikolai Vladimirovich, joining forces of General Brusilov, helped push the enemy away from the territory of Bukovina and Eastern Galicia. But the task was also set to capture Lviv and Galich. Already at the end of the summer of 1914, General Ruzsky Nikolai Vladimirovich significantly approached its implementation: the enemy was retreating, despite attempts to stop the Russian army at the rivers of Rotten Lipa and Golden Lipa. In the end, Lviv was captured, after which Brusilov praised the actions of his colleague in arms. He described Ruzsky as a brave, brave, and clever warlord. But on the territory of the conquered Galicia, another quality of the military commander appeared. There he demonstrated overt anti-Semitism. Why did the ancient people in Galicia begin to destroy General Ruzsky? The Jew, in his opinion, is primarily a spy, whose actions suffer the interests of Russian people, so this nation must atone for its atrocities with blood.
New challenge
Nikolai Vladimirovich was promoted for success in military operations, and soon he was entrusted with command of the North-Western Front, whose troops were defeated in East Prussia. The situation was characterized by the fact that the German army was prepared much better than the Austro-Hungarian one, therefore, to normalize the situation, an experienced commander was required, whose role was ideally suited by General Ruzsky. He managed to restrain the onslaught of the enemy in the battles on the middle Vistula and under the Polish Lodz. Moreover, the enemy was not only stopped in the implementation of his plans, but also pressed back.
Then the German command decides to strengthen its position in the North-West direction in order to repulse the Russian general. As a result of bloody battles, the enemy nevertheless managed to conquer the city of Augustow, but attempts to subjugate the Polish capital failed.
In the confrontation that unleashed near the city of Prasnysh, Nikolai Vladimirovich was able to competently build defense tactics, as a result of which the enemy again appeared on the territory of East Prussia. General Ruzsky was about to attack the enemy and smash the German troops to smithereens. But the Russian military commanders take a different decision: to concentrate their main forces on the fight against the Austro-Hungarians, and the North-Western Front was to fulfill the function of holding back the German offensive.
Relaxation
Frustrated by such an illogical strategy of military operations, tired commander morally and physically, transferred the command of the front to another general and went on vacation to restore strength. After some time, Nikolai Vladimirovich already commanded the army unit, which provided protection for Petrograd. Then, after the "dismemberment" of the North-Western Front into the Northern and Western General, he will become the head of the first.
But even when the autocrat Nicholas II will directly lead the military operation, he will not give up defensive tactics, which will ultimately disappoint Ruzsky and he will again go on vacation under a formal pretext.
1916 year
Having rested for about six months, the holder of the Order of St. Anne of the IV degree, will again take command of the Northern Front. He still hoped that the Russian command would go on the offensive and deal a serious blow to the Germans. But the combat readiness of the army suddenly began to melt before our eyes: the soldiers were tired of an incomprehensible war and wanted to return to their families faster. When during the attack in the territory of the Baltic countries the soldiers rebelled and refused to go on the offensive, Nikolai Vladimirovich had to threaten the spirit of the rebellious under the threat of the tribunal.
However, these efforts ultimately failed to change the course of the operation, and the offensive plan failed. A little later, the war itself ended.
Attitude to power
Historians still argue about why General Ruzsky betrayed the king? In the winter of 1917 he enthusiastically supported the initiative of the State Duma deputies to stop the “weak-willed” and “ineffective” policies of the current government in the person of the Russian monarch. Nikolai Vladimirovich, who stood firmly in defense of the autocratic system, was critical of the policies pursued by the tsar. Recently, in fact, he has not ruled, having transferred a significant part of sovereign affairs to the peasant Grigory Rasputin, who became a kind of “gray cardinal” during the reign of Nicholas II. He also saw how the discontent of the masses was growing, concerned about the state of affairs both within the empire and beyond. The general wanted Russia to be ruled by a new autocrat, more proactive, ready for the transformations that have long been brewing in the system of state administration. Perhaps this is partly why General Ruzsky betrayed the king.
Offer to remove the crown
On the first day of spring 1917, the autocrat arrived from the station Dno in Pskov, where the headquarters of the Northern Front. But no one met the monarch when his blue train with golden eagles arrived on the platform. Only after some time Nikolai Vladimirovich appeared, who proceeded to the carriage where the tsar was. The very next day, Ruzsky invited the emperor to voluntarily resign his powers as a monarch. After some time, the general acquainted Nicholas II with a document that contained the answers of military men and sailors to the only question: “Who is for or against the abdication of Romanov from the throne?” Almost everyone chose the first option, with the exception of General Kolchak, who took a neutral position. Already at midnight, the sovereign handed over manifestos to Nikolai Vladimirovich and representatives of the State Duma, in which he transferred tsarist powers to brother Mikhail. Contemporaries today have the right to say that perhaps General Ruzsky is a traitor, but is this really so - a debatable question.
Resignation
When Nikolai Vladimirovich realized that the autocratic system had finally collapsed in Russia, he submitted a letter of resignation, which was eventually granted. To restore health, the general goes to the Caucasus. Power in the country passed to the Provisional Government and in the summer of 1917 Ruzsky took part in a meeting of the high command of the Armed Forces, which was also attended by representatives of the new government.
The general demanded that members of the government restore order in the country, eliminating the anarchy that dominated the army and the country. Alexander Kerensky then harshly criticized Ruzsky for trying to reverse history and restore the monarchy.
The coming to power of the Bolsheviks
When the power in the country passed to the "left", the military commander received the news with indignation. Where was General Ruzsky at that moment? Pyatigorsk became for him the last refuge. Soon this city was occupied by the “reds," who arrested an experienced commander of the Russian army. The Bolsheviks knew about his valiant merits, so they suggested that Nikolai Vladimirovich fight on their side. But he refused, for which he was executed at the Pyatigorsk cemetery. General Ruzsky, whose death occurred on October 19, 1918, did not recognize the victory of the left under the name "Great October Socialist Revolution," positioning it as a "massive robbery." One way or another, but the eminent commander made a significant contribution to the coup and was able to partially ensure the victory of the "left", who ultimately thanked him for taking the life.