Alexander Stepanovich Antonov is one of the prominent figures during the Civil War in Russia. He led the Tambov uprising, in his name it was called "Antonovism." Before the revolution, he was an opponent of the tsarist regime, had a criminal record for attempted murder of a city and forester. He was even sentenced to death, but the execution was canceled by order of Stolypin, sending the prisoner to hard labor. Having gained the will, he soon quarreled with the Bolsheviks and again found himself underground. His struggle against the Red Army was large-scale, but ended in the complete defeat of the Tambov uprising.
At the beginning of a revolutionary career
Alexander Stepanovich Antonov was born in 1889 in Moscow. In his youth he was subdued by the ideas of the social revolutionaries. At the same time, it is practically unknown what he did until 1907. Having joined the party, he was actually in an illegal situation.
He soon entered a radical movement that was engaged in the robbery of various government agencies. Formally, he was a member of the Tambov group of independent socialist revolutionaries. He had a party nickname Shurka. He was engaged in the fact that he brought money for the Socialist-Revolutionaries with the help of robberies, carried out the execution of death sentences, which were imposed on officials.
Imprisonment
For a long time, the activities of Alexander Stepanovich Antonov remained virtually unpunished, although the police wanted him. After the arrest of Anton's sister, the gendarmes managed to find out that behind the nickname Osinovy was hiding the hero of our article.
In particular, he was charged with the robbery committed at the Inzhavino station. They could not find him for a long time, but as a result he betrayed himself when in 1909 he revealed his identity, trying to establish contact with members of the same party. He was arrested so suddenly that Alexander Stepanovich Antonov did not even have time to get the revolver that was with him.
The court's decision
Telling even a brief biography of Antonov Alexander Stepanovich, it is necessary to mention this lawsuit. He was tried by the Tambov interim military court. During the closed-door trial, the defendants pleaded guilty. Antonov and his three accomplices were sentenced to hang.
None of the convicts began to file a petition for clemency, but he still had to be approved by the commander of the Moscow military district. As a result, Peter Stolypin, who at that time was the commander of the district, replaced the death penalty with indefinite penal servitude.
In hard labor
Even in the brief biography of Alexander Stepanovich Antonov there are many bitter and tragic pages. At first he was imprisoned in the Tambov prison, in the end, he was transferred to the Vladimir Central.
He spent there from 1912 to 1917, gaining a certain authority among prisoners. On the very first day, he was sent to a punishment cell to inflict bodily harm to a cellmate who tried to explain to him by what rules it is necessary to live in this prison.
February revolution
A sharp turn in the life of A. S. Antonov, whose biography is the subject of our review, occurred in February 17th. Already on March 4, a telegram from Petrograd arrived in prisons and penal servitude throughout the country, in which Kerensky, who led the Provisional Government, granted freedom to all political prisoners.
Antonov regained his strength in Tambov for a month, and then went to serve in the local police, becoming a junior assistant to the head of the unit. He gained political weight, he quickly moved up the career ladder, soon becoming the head of the first police unit in Kirsanovsky district.
At this post, A. S. Antonov, a brief biography of which is given in this article, achieved certain successes. In particular, he managed to lower the crime rate, several trains were disarmed at once, on which the military of the Czechoslovak corps moved. For this he was noted and even awarded a Mauser.
Over time, his situation worsened. Especially after the October Revolution, when the Communists began to replace representatives of other parties in leadership positions with Bolsheviks. This led to the rebellion of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, which took place in the middle of the summer of 1918. Unrest began in Kirsanov. There, the Communists began to actively deprive the Social Revolutionaries of power.
Antonov was not there when they came to arrest his assistant. They were accused of impending counter-revolutionary rebellion.
Underground again
Having managed to avoid arrest, Antonov went to Samara, where he decided to fight against the Bolsheviks in the People’s Army of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly. But he first moved to another city, and then was dispersed by Kolchak.
During the Civil War, Alexander Stepanovich Antonov at first about three months rushed aimlessly along the front until he arrived in Kirsanovsky Uyezd. On the eve of his arrival, unrest began among the peasants due to the arbitrariness of local authorities and the robberies that organized food detachments. The Bolsheviks hastened to blame Antonov for everything, sentencing him to death in absentia.
Led by a fighting squad
Antonov did not put up with this and gathered a fighting squad, which began to crack down on the Communists. In total, the hero of our article gathered about 150 well-trained military men who defeated the food detachment on August 21, 1919.
Antonov then declared himself the people's leader, saying that he was ready to fight for the interests of the peasants. In fact, this is how the time period in Russian history began, known as "Antonovism."
Antonov began to create a large number of partisan detachments. By 1920, their number had increased to 20 regiments. They were organized in two armies with a total number of 50 thousand people. Antonov began to carry out active actions against the Soviet government. Interestingly, the formations led by the hero of our article often combined the methods of guerrilla warfare and field combat. As a boss, he was tough and severe, did not give subordinates a descent. He also behaved with the Red Army, who were captured, and local residents. Corporal punishment was introduced in the shelves and even executioners were appointed.
Apogee of rebellion
The uprising reached its peak after the hateful surplus-appraisal for peasants was canceled. At the same time, the Red Army tried in every possible way to compete with Antonovism. Already in the summer of 1921, peasants who did not give up a place for the location of the Antonov troops and their weapons began to be shot.
To defeat the army gathered by Antonov, Soviet troops had to send troops led by Tukhachevsky to the Tambov province.
The end of the uprising
Despite the good prerequisites for being able to confront government forces, the uprising was still crushed. Moreover, until the end of May 1922 it was unknown to many where Antonov disappeared. As a result, it was discovered by employees of the Cheka.
The revolutionaries received information about him from a former Socialist-Revolutionary railwayman Firsov, whom an unknown young teacher from the village of Nizhniy Shibryay Sofya Solovyova asked to get quinine powders. She also informed who needs the medicine. The Bolsheviks created a capture group, which received operational information that Antonov and his brother remained in the house of Natalia Katasonova for a day. Until then, he tried to hide in different places. There was Alexander Antonov in Dyatkovo too, for some time he managed to remain uncaught.
Trojan horse
The legend described below closely resembles the story of the Trojan horse. The fact is that the participants in the uprising - 3 Cheka employees and 6 former Antonovites who knew their commander in person - changed their clothes, becoming ordinary carpenters. About 20 hours, the “carpenters”, together with the police, arrived at the address. The house was quickly surrounded. Soon Antonov, noticing his former associates who were going to shoot him, began to shame them.
At this time, Pokalyukhin gave the order to set fire to the house and intensify shelling of windows. Antonov and his brother ran out of the house and tried to get to the forest, for which it was necessary to cross the potato field. Following them, the Chekists opened fire. Dmitry fell: a bullet hit his leg. Alexander shouldered his brother and carried it. But to shoot a man slowly wandering in the open field with a burden, even a very bad shooter, can.
The exact burial place of the hero of our article remains unknown until now. His body was transported to Tambov. Initially, he was placed in a former Kazan monastery, where at that time the GPU department was located. The further fate of the body of the opposition remains unknown.
In history, Antonovism is one of the most large-scale revolts of the Civil War that took place in Russia. It lasted from 1920 to 1921. Its organizers sought to overthrow the power of the Soviets. According to historians, this is one of the first cases in world history when chemical weapons were used against a rebellious civilian population.
After its defeat, repressions began, which began with Tukhachevsky. Terror began against the local population, people were taken hostage, entire villages and villages were destroyed, mass executions were carried out, concentration camps were created. So, for example, the village of Koptevo and several other settlements in the Tambov province were destroyed by artillery fire.
Under the provincial administration, concentration camps for hostages were created, in which not only adults but also children gathered. In 1921, after a large-scale campaign to unload the camps, it was possible to estimate the total number of peasants who were subjected to repression. This is from 30 to 50 thousand people.
Various methods were used to intimidate the local population. Hostages were massively shot. On June 27, the Osinovka village was cordoned off by the Red Army. orders were issued for a two-hour deadline for the issuance of bandits, otherwise the Bolsheviks threatened to shoot hostages, of which there were 40 people.
When the allotted time expired, in the presence of a peasant gathering, fighters of the Red Army shot 21 hostages. After this, the peasants had no choice but to set off in search of the so-called bandits and their weapons, which were hidden in hiding places. They managed to surrender 5 rebels and 3 rifles. Families of hostages who managed to be shot were forcibly sent to concentration camps.
Another 36 civilians taken hostage were shot in the village of Bogoslovka. This happened on July 3 and 4, 1921. If the situation was such that the threat of execution did not work, all the villagers were evicted, the property was nationalized, and the village itself was burned to the ground. In particular, this situation arose in the village of Second Kareevka, in which there were up to 70 houses. The soldiers of the Red Army were often ruthless to those who did not obey them.
Personal life
Antonov's biography and personal life interested his supporters and followers. In early November 1917, the 28-year-old Antonov married his 25-year-old Tambov citizen Sofia Vasilievna Orlova-Bogolyubskaya. There were no children in this marriage.
When Antonov was hiding from the Chekists in the village of Nizhny Shibryay, there he met Natalya Katasonova. She gave birth to a girl in December 1922, in prison, when Antonov himself was already killed. The girl was named Eve. After serving her term, her mother wrote her in her surname and gave her middle name to Fedorovna (by her brother's name).
Famous namesakes
Antonov, a participant in the Civil War, has many famous namesakes, many of whom also left a mark in the history of our country. For example, the author of the book "Army tracked vehicles. Part 2" (1964) A. S. Antonov. He is a renowned specialist in the field of military automotive.
He also authored the books Army Cars. Theory, Army Cars. Design and Calculation. His work on caterpillar vehicles, perhaps, has become the most popular and in demand in army universities. It was on it that many studied caterpillar movers and platforms.
The book by A. S. Antonov "Army cars. Theory" is still actively used in military educational institutions of our country, as well as in some republics of the former Soviet Union.