Pyotr Krasnov

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Lore & Background

Pyotr Krasnov was born on 22 September 1869 (old style: 10 September) in Saint Petersburg, son of lieutenant-general Nikolay Krasnov and grandson to general Ivan Krasnov. In 1888 he graduated from Pavlovsk Military School and joined the Ataman regiment of the Life Guards of the Imperial Russian Army. In April–May 1902, a series of articles were published in Russkii Invalid containing his impressions of a trip to Mongolia, China and Japan as the East Asia correspondent. In his article 'Fourteen Days in Japan', Krasnov painted the Imperial Japanese Army in a negative light, calling the Japanese soldier 'a weak and an indifferent marksman' and declaring 'to destroy all 13 regiments of the Japanese cavalry would be a very easy task'. One staff officer of the Main Staff called his article 'poorly founded, extraordinarily hasty and far from the truth', though Emperor Nicholas II was said to have read and enjoyed it. During World War I, he commanded the 2nd Combined Cossack Division from 1915 to 1917, and during the Brusilov offensive in the summer of 1916 his division was the first to achieve a breakthrough at the Battle of Lutsk, where Krasnov was injured by a bullet to the leg. In September–October 1917 he commanded the 3rd Cavalry Corps. During the October Revolution, the deposed head of the Russian Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, appointed Krasnov commander of the 700 Cossacks who marched on Petrograd from Pskov to suppress the Bolshevik revolt. On 15 November, Bolshevik troops surrounded Gatchina Palace and took Krasnov prisoner, but he was soon released by Leon Trotsky, whereupon he made his way to the Don.

Reader's Guide

Krasnov's legacy is deeply controversial. In May 1918, in Novocherkassk, he won election as the Ataman of the Don Cossack Host. The American historian Richard Pipes described Krasnov as an 'opportunist and an adventurer', primarily interested in using the Civil War to advance his own interests. Though the White movement was officially committed to overthrowing the Bolsheviks to resume the war with Germany, Krasnov entered negotiations with the Germans occupying Ukraine, portraying himself as willing to serve as a pro-German warlord. On 11 July 1918 he wrote a letter to Wilhelm II declaring that the Cossacks had always been friends of the Reich, comparing their courage to that of the Boers. With German support, he equipped his army, which ousted the Soviets from the Don region in May–June 1918; by mid-June a Don Army of 40,000 men, 56 guns and 179 machine-guns was in the field. His relations with General Anton Denikin became strained due to his pro-German views and his demand to be made Supreme Commander-in-Chief of all White forces, which was rejected. After the civil war, he lived in exile. During World War II, he collaborated with Nazi Germany, who mobilized Cossack forces to fight against the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Captured by British forces in 1945, he was forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union and subsequently tried in Moscow for high treason and executed on 17 January 1947.

Did You Know?

• Krasnov's 1902 article 'Fourteen Days in Japan' was called 'poorly founded, extraordinarily hasty and far from the truth' by a Main Staff officer, but Emperor Nicholas II was said to have read and enjoyed it.
• During the Brusilov offensive in 1916, Krasnov's 2nd Combined Cossack Division was the first unit to achieve a breakthrough at the Battle of Lutsk, where he was injured by a bullet to the leg.
• On 11 July 1918, Krasnov wrote to Wilhelm II comparing the courage of the Don Cossacks to that of the Boers, saying 'the Cossacks have fought with a courage only equaled by that displayed against the English by a people of Germanic stock, the Boers'.
• Krasnov was captured by Bolshevik troops at Gatchina Palace on 15 November 1917 but was soon released by Leon Trotsky.
• After the Russian Civil War, Krasnov lived in exile, but during World War II he spearheaded the Cossack collaboration with Nazi Germany, who mobilized Cossack forces for Operation Barbarossa.