Alexander Kolchak

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (Russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Колча́к; 16 November [O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who held the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia from 1918 to 1920 during the Russian Civil War, though his actual control over Russian territory was limited. Previously, he served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.

Early in the civil war, Kolchak briefly served as the minister of war and navy in the Provisional All-Russian Government until he was installed as leader and all authority was transferred to his own government in late 1918; his authority was eventually recognized by the other leaders of the White movement, and he served as its principal leader, although Anton Denikin enjoyed more power than Kolchak. His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia.

After initial successes in early 1919, Kolchak's forces lost ground due to a lack of support by the local populace and a failure to unite the leaders of counterrevolutionary movements. Omsk fell to the Red Army in November 1919 during the Great Siberian Ice March, leading to Kolchak to transfer his headquarters to Irkutsk. In December, he was betrayed and detained by the chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia, Maurice Janin, and the Czechoslovak Legion, who handed him over to local Socialist-Revolutionaries in January 1920; the Bolsheviks executed him the next month in Irkutsk.