General Nikolai Ruzsky: biography and death

In the opinion of 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 invite Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, instead of supporting and assisting the tsar to stay on the throne. The Emperor was counting on the help of his general, but the latter simply betrayed him.

In military affairs, Ruzsky (a general from the infantry) has established himself as a talented commander, so the Bolsheviks who came to power wanted him to continue commanding the army, but on their side. But he refused such an offer, as a result of which he was subjected to severe reprisals.

Who is this General Ruzsky? The traitor of the king or the defender of the Fatherland, to whom fate has prepared a difficult choice? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Years of childhood and adolescence

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 Yurievich, who in the 18th century was the governor of the town of Ruza near Moscow, became the father of a child born outside of a legal marriage. Soon this offspring received a surname in honor of the city where he was in charge of Lermontov's affairs.

But it is doubtful that General Ruzsky attached serious importance to the theoretical fact of kinship with a famous poet. Then he would have fully received a classical education, the rules of which were the same for all children from noble families, but Nikolai lost his father early. After that, the employees of the capital's trusteeship council interfered in his life, but this circumstance was not particularly burdensome for the future general. Already in his youth, Nikolai 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, graduates of which became infantry officers. Noteworthy is the fact that at the end of the 19th century, Russian military universities in Russia began to apply in practice the reforms initiated by Tsar Alexander II and historian Dmitry Milyutin. That is why General Ruzsky, whose photo is in many textbooks on the art of fighting, and also is in this article, received a high-quality education corresponding to the realities of time.

The beginning of military career

After graduation, the young man entered the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment as an officer. A few years later, the Russian-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. After the end of hostilities, the officer decided to upgrade his skills and trained in the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. His teachers were the eminent V. Sukhomlinov and A. Kuropatkin. Then the officer applied the received knowledge in practice, alternating successively the headquarters of military districts. Nikolay Vladimirovich became a true expert in logistical and operational work.

The next milestone in his career was serving in the Kiev Military District as a quartermaster general. After some time, Ruzsky will be promoted to the rank of Major-General and will head the headquarters himself.

The Russo-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 Manchurian army. He will show his best qualities of a military leader, having competently organized the defense of the troops entrusted to him on the Shah River. But sometimes successes were accompanied by failures. In particular, we are talking about the operation to attack Sandeep, which was failed due to the indecisive actions of the commander-in-chief.

Further Service

After the war, Ruzsky was entrusted with the command of 21 army corps. At the end of the XIX century, Nikolai Vladimirovich was already in the status of general from the infantry, while joining the Military Council. He will provide practical assistance in the work on developing reforms in the army. General Ruzsky is a co-author of a number of manuals and charters. The officers highly appreciated his contribution to the creation of the Field Regulations of 1912. After this work, Nikolay Vladimirovich returned to the service in the Kiev military district, where he served as an assistant to the commander of troops until the outbreak of World War I.

1914

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 to command the Third Army.

Strategic in this direction of the theater of military operations was the Battle of Galicia, in which Nikolai Vladimirovich, joining forces with General Brusilov, helped to drive the enemy 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 retreated, despite attempts to stop the Russian army near the rivers Gnila Lipa and Zolotaya Lipa. Eventually, Lviv was captured, after which Brusilov praised the actions of his colleague in arms. He described Ruzsky as a brave, brave and intelligent military commander. But in the territory of the conquered Galicia, another quality of the military commander was manifested. There he demonstrated frank anti-Semitism. Why did General Ruzsky begin to exterminate the ancient people in Galicia? The Jew, in his opinion, is primarily a spy, from the actions of which the interests of Russian people suffer, therefore this nation must redeem its atrocities with blood.

New task

Nikolai Vladimirovich was promoted to military service for success in military operations, and soon he was entrusted with the 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 much better prepared than the Austro-Hungarian one, so an experienced commander was needed to normalize the situation, the role of which was ideally suited to General Ruzsky. He managed to contain the onslaught of the enemy in the battles in the middle Vistula and under the Polish Lodzem. And the enemy not only was stopped in the implementation of their plans, but also pushed back.

Then the German command decides to strengthen its positions in the North-West direction in order to repel the Russian general. As a result of bloody battles, the enemy still managed to conquer the city of Augustus, but attempts to subdue the Polish capital were fiasco.

In the confrontation that broke out under the town of Prasnysh, Nikolai Vladimirovich managed to competently build tactics of defense, as a result of which the enemy again found himself in the territory of East Prussia. General Ruzsky was going to attack the enemy and smash the German troops to pieces. But the Russian military commanders are taking a different decision: to concentrate the main forces on the struggle against the Austro-Hungarians, and the North-Western Front was to serve as a deterrent shield for the German offensive.

Recreation

Disappointed by such an illogical strategy of military operations, tired morally and physically commander, he transferred the command of the front to another general and went on vacation to regain strength. After some time, Nikolai Vladimirovich already commanded an army unit, which provided protection for Petrograd. Then, after the "dismemberment" of the North-Western Front, the North and the West will take the lead at the head.

But even when the military operation is led directly by the autocrat Nicholas II, he will not abandon the defensive tactics, which ultimately disappoint Ruzsky and he already under a formal pretext will go on vacation again.

1916

After resting for about six months, the owner 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 an active offensive and deal a serious blow to the Germans. But the fighting ability 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 quickly. When during the attacking operations in the Baltic countries the soldiers mutinied and refused to go on the offensive, Nikolai Vladimirovich had to moralize the spirit of recalciters under the threat of the tribunal.

However, these efforts ultimately failed to change the course of the operation, and the offensive plan was failed. A little time later, the war itself ended.

Attitude to power

Historians are still arguing about why General Ruzsky betrayed the king? In the winter of 1917, he enthusiastically supported the initiative of Duma deputies to stop the "weak-willed" and "inefficient" policies of the current government in the person of the Russian monarch. Nikolai Vladimirovich, who stood firmly on the defense of the autocratic system, was critical of the policy pursued by the tsar. He recently, in fact, did not rule, passing a significant part of the sovereign affairs to the peasant Grigory Rasputin, who became a sort of "gray cardinal" during the reign of Nicholas II. He also saw the growing discontent of the popular masses, concerned with the state of affairs both inside the empire and beyond. The general wanted Russia to be governed by a new autocrat, more initiative, ready for change, which has long been ripe in the system of state administration. Perhaps, in part, that's why General Ruzsky betrayed the tsar.

The proposal to remove the crown

On the first day of spring of 1917 the autocrat arrived from Tsarskoe Selo to Pskov, where the headquarters of the Northern Front was located. But no one met the monarch when his blue train with golden eagles arrived on the platform. Only after some time appeared Nikolai Vladimirovich, who proceeded to the car, where the king was. The very next day Ruzsky invited the emperor to voluntarily relinquish the monarch's authority. After some time, the general acquainted Nicholas II with a document that contained the answers of servicemen and sailors to the single question: "Who is" for "or" against "the renunciation of Romanov from the throne?" Almost all chose the first option, with the exception of General Kolchak, who took a neutral position. Already at midnight the Tsar handed the manifesto to Nikolai Vladimirovich and representatives of the State Duma, in which he transferred royal authority to his brother Mikhail. Contemporaries today have the right to say that, perhaps, General Ruzsky is a traitor, but is this really a debatable question.

Resignation

When Nikolai Vladimirovich realized that the autocratic system had finally collapsed in Russia, he submitted a petition for resignation, which in the end was satisfied. To restore health, the general is sent to the Caucasus. The power in the country passed to the Provisional Government and in the summer of 1917 Ruzsky took part in the meeting of the high command of the Armed Forces, at which representatives of the new government also attended.

The general demanded from members of the government to restore order in the country, eliminating the anarchy that dominated the army and the country. Alexander Kerensky then severely criticized Ruzsky for trying to reverse history and restore the monarchy.

The coming to power of the Bolsheviks

When the power in the country went to the "left", the military leader received this news with indignation. Where was General Ruzsky at that moment? Pyatigorsk was his last refuge for him. Soon this city was occupied by the "reds", who arrested the 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 came on October 19, 1918, did not recognize the Left's victory as the Great October Socialist Revolution, positioning it as a "large-scale robbery." One way or another, but the eminent military commander made a significant contribution to the coup d'état and was able to partially secure a victory for the "left", who ultimately rewarded him by depriving him of life.