Overview
Aleksandr Vasilievich Kolchak
(1874—1920)
Quick Reference
(b. 16 Nov. 1874, d. 7 Feb. 1920).
Russian admiralBorn in St Petersburg, of Tartar descent, he joined the Russian Imperial Navy and rose steadily in rank. A commander in the unsuccessful Russo‐Japanese War (1904–5), he helped to reform the Russian navy. During World War I he commanded the Black Sea fleet. He opposed the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917, and became War Minister in a counter‐government set up at Omsk in western Siberia. On 18 November 1918 he proclaimed himself supreme ruler of Russia. With Denikin he led the White Russian forces, and at first managed to drive back his enemies from Siberia. His forces collapsed, however, and he was handed over to his enemies by his allied Czechoslovak forces. He was shot by the Red Army in Irkutsk in February 1920.
