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Nikolai Russky

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"NIKOLAI RUSSKY (18J4-1918), Russian general, was horn in 1854. On leaving the infantry military school in St. Petersburg in 1874 he was given a commission in the Guard. Graduating from the Academy of the General Staff in 1881, he served as an officer of the general staff in the Kiev military district, and by 1896, after commanding an infantry regiment, had reached general's rank. During the war with Japan in 1 9 04-5 he was the head of the staff of the II. Army, and planned the offensive carried out by Gen. Grippenberg which led to the prematurely abandoned offensive of Sandepu. In 1909 he was assistant commander of the Kiev military district. He enjoyed the special friendship of the War Minister, Sukhomlinov. At the beginning of the campaign of 1914 he commanded the III. Army, which attacked in Galicia, and after the vicissitudes of the bloody heavy battles about Krasnik and Rava Ruska advanced to Lvov (Lemberg), through which it passed in the further advance to the San-Dniester line. The dramatic entry of the III. Army into Lvov created for Gen. Russky a popularity and prestige out of proportion to the real importance of his success. In Oct. 1914 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the north-western and afterwards of the northern " front" (i.e. group of armies), but, suffering from very bad health, he had on more than one occasion to leave the front for a time. He continued, however, to hold the command, and it was at his headquarters that the final scenes of Nicholas II.'s reign and his abdication took place in March 1917. Soon after the Revolution Russky retired and in 1918 he was reported killed by the Bolsheviks.