Peter Nikolaevich Krasnov: biography and creativity

Petr Nikolaevich Krasnov is a rather rare and very, it is worth noting, successful intertwining of the strict discipline of character, expressed in a vivid military career, and creative nature, which allowed its carrier to become a well-known writer. Devotion to military affairs as he understood him, led him to emigration, where his literary talent flourished.

Defining history

A brief biography of Peter Krasnov can be expressed in a few words - nobility, military valor and courage, definitely "white movement" and emigration, erroneous assessment of the Nazis and death. But between these bloody milestones of the 20th century, which spread human lives on different sides of the barricades, which re-enacted whole states and peoples, each of their participants had a life. And throughout the twentieth century, life urged a person to make a choice. Petr Nikolaevich Krasnov, having made this choice once, remained faithful to him until the end of his days.

Family tree

Nobleman Peter Krasnov, whose biography is full of bright events, was born in St. Petersburg in 1869, was a hereditary Don Cossack and belonged to the most famous Cossack family of Vyoshenskaya village, which is located in the northern part of the Rostov region. In addition to hereditary talents for a military drill, the family displayed literary talents. In the family of the St. Petersburg Reds, the first servant of the pen was the grandfather of Peter Nikolayevich - Ivan Ivanovich. He fought in the Caucasus and commanded the Cossack divisions of the Imperial Guard. Grandfather Krasnov wrote poems, as well as historical and ethnographic works, for example, "Lower and upper Cossacks", "Little Russians on the Don", "Dontsy in the Caucasus" and others.

Father Nikolai Ivanovich rose to lieutenant-general also in the Cossack troops. Not less eminent were representatives of the third generation. Both brothers Peter Nikolaevich went down in history. Andrei Nikolaevich was a well-known scientist biologist-botanist, as well as a traveler. Platon Nikolayevich was engaged in writing, was in indirect kinship with Alexander Blok - he was married to the aunt of the famous poet Ekaterina Beketova-Krasnov, also a writer.

Years of study

At the age of 11 he was identified in the First Petersburg Gymnasium. After completing his studies in the fifth grade, he moved to military training at the Aleksandrovsky Cadet Corps. The first stage of military education was completed in the rank of vice-noncommissioned officer, at the age of 19 he successfully graduated from the First Military Pavlovsky School. The results he achieved were so brilliant that his name was written in gold letters on a marble plaque.

It is known that he also entered the Academy of the General Staff, but because of poor progress he was expelled after a year of study. And yet at the age of 39 he graduated from the school of cavalry officers.

The beginning of military career

Military service Peter Nikolaevich Krasnov began at the age of twenty in the rank of cornet, when he was seconded to the Ataman regiment of the heir of the Tsarevich. A year later he was already enrolled in this regiment. In 1897, a Russian diplomatic mission was sent to Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia), the convoy of which was headed by Krasnov, Pyotr Nikolaevich, whose biography has since been dazzled by various exotic places of the planet and incredible twists of fate.

A year later he made a difficult transition on a mule to a city in northeast Africa with the goal of delivering paper, then went no less difficult to St. Petersburg. This march-throw earned the officer considerable fame and brought several awards at once: the Order of Stanislav of the second degree, the officer's cross of the Ethiopian star of the third degree and the Order of the Legion of Honor of France.

The first samples of the pen

The first of his work, Peter Nikolaevich Krasnov began to publish at the age of 22 years. His fiction and materials on military theory began to appear regularly in newspapers and magazines. In particular, among his first works can be identified such books as "On the Lake", "Ataman Platov" and others. Devoting his life entirely to the military path, he invariably raised military themes in his works, told about the peculiarities of the life of the Don Cossacks. And, of course, a lot of romanticized.

His exploits during the African trip also acquired a poetic artistic form. After his return, he wrote two books at once: "Cossacks in Africa: Diary of the Chief of the Convoy of the Russian Imperial Mission in Abyssinia in 1897 - 1898." and "Love of Abyssinian and Other Stories."

Returning from Africa, he married Lydia Fyodorovna Gruneisen, the daughter of a Russified real state counselor.

Service in prerevolutionary Russia

In addition to direct participation in hostilities, Krasnov Peter Nikolaevich, whose brief biography is set forth here, has repeatedly acted as a war correspondent. In this capacity, he participated in the Ihatuan uprising in China, better known as the Boxer Uprising, which took place from 1898 to 1901. At the same time he was sent to Manchuria, India, China and Japan to study the peculiarities of their life.

He also documented the events of the Russo-Japanese confrontation of 1904-1905. As a military man, he was awarded several distinctions: the Order of St. Anne of the fourth degree and St. Vladimir of the fourth degree. In the diary of Emperor Nicholas II there is a record about him on January 3, 1905, where the head of state describes how he tells about war and tells about it. He worked with the magazines "Military invalid", "Scout" and others.

After the end of the war, he quickly began to grow in the service. In 1906 he received the title of commander of hundreds of Ataman regiments, a year later - the captain, later - the army sergeant-major. In 1910 he received the rank of colonel. A year later he was appointed to command the first Siberian, and then the Don Cossack regiment.

In parallel, his literary career was developing quite actively. So, following the results of the Japanese war, he published a historical novel "The Year of War. 14 months in the war: Essays on the Russian-Japanese War "and other works in the same style of patriotic literature. In addition, he writes and artistic things. It is worth noting that before the October Revolution, he published more than 600 various works, both publicistic, and artistic and historical.

The First World War and the Revolution

At the beginning of the war, as commander of the regiment, he was sent in August 1914 to East Prussia. And after three months he was promoted to the rank of major general and put at the head of the First Brigade of the Don Cossack, then the Caucasian native cavalry division. Then he was awarded the St. George's weapon. In May 1915, he was awarded the Order of St. George of the fourth degree for a successful military operation in the region of the Dniester River, when they managed to throw the Austrians back across the river. In 1916 he was seriously wounded.

Carrying out all the time until the first February revolution of 1917 on the fronts of the war, Cossack commander, General Krasnov Pyotr Nikolaevich reacted to the first coup ambiguously and negatively assessed the actions of the Provisional Government. He did not participate in politics. However, he was one of the few who supported Alexander Kerensky after the Bolshevik coup. Having fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks, he fled to the Don, where he led the resistance of the Cossacks. Being ataman of the All-Great Donskoi Army, he concluded an alliance with Emperor of Germany Wilhelm II. However, the defeat of Germany forced him to abandon the idea of the Don Caucasus. He agreed to transfer to the full submission of Anton Denikin, joining with his Volunteer Army. In 1919, Denikin forced Krasnov to resign because of ideological and political disagreements.

Realizing that in Russia he was already holding nothing, he left Russia and stopped in Estonia in the North-Western army of General Nikolai Yudenich. He became the head of the army newspaper Prinevsky Krai. Its editor was famous in Russia writer Alexander Kuprin.

Emigration

In 1920 he emigrated to Germany, three years later he moved to France. In those years, the first wave of emigration was unfolding. In various quarters, because of the large number of emigrated officers, she wore the name "White Russia", Krasnov Pyotr Nikolaevich started active political and public activities. He collaborated with various organizations related to the Russian emigration, including the Russian All-Military Union. In addition, he was a member of the Supreme Monarchist Council. He, in particular, acted as one of the founders of the "Brotherhood of Russian Truth." This movement led active subversive activity in Soviet Russia. However, it later emerged that the structure was initially controlled by the State Political Department (GPU) of the NKVD.

One of the leaders of the white movement was Krasnov Pyotr Nikolayevich, his books were quite popular and were published in English, French, German, Russian and other European languages. For more than twenty years of his life in exile, he published about 40 books. Among them one can distinguish in particular a fantastic novel about the Russian Bolshevik future "For the Thistle." In addition, he published an autobiography novel in four parts entitled "From the Two-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner."

The Second World War

Take revenge ataman Peter Krasnov decided during the Second World War and collaborated with the Nazis. In 1943 he was appointed commander of the Central Directorate of Cossack troops in Germany. At the end of the war, he surrendered to the British, but they gave it to the Soviet army leadership. The Supreme Court of Soviet Russia sentenced him to death by hanging. He was 77 years old.