Information about Nikolai Ivanov

Nikolai Judovich Ivanov (1851–1919) was a Russian commander and counter-revolutionary.

Biography

Ivanov's military career began in the Russo-Japanese War, a war in which the Russians performed disastrously. In 1908 he was promoted to the task of commanding the Russian forces in Kiev, part of Russian Ukraine, a post which he held until the start of World War I in 1914.

During 1914 he was given command of the Russian army on the Southwestern Front, responsible for much of the action in Galicia. Ivanov was able to hand the Austrians a defeat at the Battle of Lemberg in August of 1914 and a month later had repelled the Austro-Hungarians 100 miles back to the Carpathian Mountains, surrounded Przemyśl, and inflicted 300,000 casualties on the Austrians. In 1915 Ivanov was sacked by the Russian High Command and replaced with Alexei Brusilov, arguably the best Russian commander during the war, who planned and coordinated the Brusilov Offensive.

Due solely to his high political standing, he became a military advisor to Tsar Nicholas II in the Stavka, but his plans and suggestions were completely overshadowed by Mikhail Alekseev. When, in 1916, the Russian forces collapsed and the October Revolution ensued, Ivanov's military career with a united Russia came to an end.

A convinced royalist from the beginning, Ivanov fought with the White Army against the communist Red Army in the Russian Civil War, only to be killed in action in 1919.

References

• First World War.com — Who's Who — Nikolai Ivanov
• MSN Encarta — World War I — Operations in Galicia