Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov is a rather rare and, it is worth noting, successful interweaving of a tough discipline of character, expressed in a bright military career, and creative nature, which allowed its bearer to become a famous writer. Devotion to military affairs as he understood it led him to emigrate, where his literary talent flourished.
Defining history
Pyotr Krasnov's short biography can be expressed in a few words - nobility, military prowess and courage, unambiguously "white movement" and emigration, erroneous assessment of the Nazis and death. But between these bloody milestones of the 20th century, which carried human lives on different sides of the barricades, which reshaped entire states and peoples, each of their participants had their own life. And throughout the twentieth century, life has urged man to make choices. Petr Nikolaevich Krasnov, having made this choice once, remained faithful to him until the end of his days.
Family Tree
Nobleman PeterKrasnov, 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 the Vyoshenskaya village, which is located in the northern part of the Rostov region. In addition to hereditary talents for military drill, literary talents also appeared in the family. In the family of the St. Petersburg Krasnovs, the grandfather of Peter Nikolayevich, Ivan Ivanovich, became the first servant of the pen. He fought in the Caucasus and commanded the Cossack units of the Imperial Guard. Grandfather Krasnov wrote poetry, as well as historical and ethnographic works, for example, "Grassroots and riding Cossacks", "Little Russians on the Don", "Donets in the Caucasus" and others.
Father Nikolai Ivanovich rose to the rank of lieutenant general also in the Cossack troops. Representatives of the third generation were no less eminent. Both brothers of Peter Nikolaevich went down in history. Andrey Nikolayevich was a well-known botanist and biologist, as well as a traveler. Platon Nikolaevich was engaged in writing, was in indirect family ties with Alexander Blok - he was married to the aunt of the famous poet Ekaterina Beketova-Krasnova, also a writer.
Years of study
At the age of 11, he was assigned to the First St. Petersburg Gymnasium. Having completed his studies up to the fifth grade, he switched to military training in the Alexander Cadet Corps. He completed the first stage of military education with the rank of vice non-commissioned officer, at the age of 19 he successfully graduated from the First Military Pavlovsk School. The results he achieved were soshiny that his name was inscribed in gold letters on a marble plaque.
It is known that he also entered the Academy of the General Staff, but due to 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 a military career
Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov began military service at the age of twenty with the rank of cornet, when he was seconded to the Ataman regiment of the heir to Tsarevich. A year later, he was already enrolled in this regiment. In 1897, a Russian diplomatic mission was sent to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), the convoy of which was headed by Petr Nikolaevich Krasnov, whose biography since that time is replete with various exotic places on the planet and incredible twists of fate.
A year later, he made a difficult journey on a mule to a city in northeast Africa in order to deliver papers, then went to St. Petersburg by no less difficult route. This forced march gained 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.
First pen trials
Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov began publishing his first works at the age of 22. His fiction and military theory began to appear regularly in newspapers and magazines. In particular, among his first works, one can single out such books as "On the Lake", "Ataman Platov" and others. Having devoted his life entirely to the military path, he, in his worksHe invariably raised military topics of his own, spoke about the peculiarities of the life of the Don Cossacks. And, of course, romanticized a lot.
His exploits during his African trip also took on a poetic artistic form. After his return, he wrote two books at once: "Cossacks in Africa: Diary of the head of the convoy of the Russian imperial mission in Abyssinia in 1897 - 1898." and “Love of the Abyssinian and Other Stories.”
Returning from Africa, he married Lydia Fyodorovna Gruneisen, the daughter of a Russified State Councilor.
Service in pre-revolutionary Russia
In addition to direct participation in hostilities, Krasnov Petr Nikolaevich, whose brief biography is set out here, has repeatedly acted as a war correspondent. In this capacity, he participated in the Yihetuan uprising in China, better known as the Boxer Rebellion, which took place from 1898 to 1901. Then 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. Anna of the fourth degree and St. Vladimir of the fourth degree. In the diary of Emperor Nicholas II, there is an entry about him dated January 3, 1905, where the head of state describes how much and interestingly he talks about the war. He worked with the magazines Military Disabled, Scout and others.
After the end of the war, he quickly began to rise in the service. In 1906, he received the rank of commander of a hundred Ataman regiment, a year later - captain, later - military foreman. 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.
At the same time, his literary field also developed quite actively. So, following the results of the Japanese war, he published the historical novel “The Year of the War. 14 Months at War: Essays on the Russo-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 different works, both journalistic and artistic and historical.
World War I and Revolution
At the beginning of the war, he was sent as a regiment commander in August 1914 to East Prussia. And three months later he was promoted to the rank of major general and placed at the head of the First Brigade of the Don Cossack, then the Caucasian native cavalry division. Then he was awarded the St. George weapon. In May 1915, he was awarded the Order of St. George, fourth degree, for a successful military operation in the Dniester region, when they managed to push the Austrians back across the river. In 1916 he was seriously wounded.
Spending all the time until the first February revolution of 1917 on the fronts of the war, the Cossack commander, General Krasnov Pyotr Nikolaevich, reacted ambiguously to the first coup and negatively assessed the actions of the Provisional Government. In politics, heparticipated. 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 the ataman of the All-Great Don Army, he entered into an alliance with the German Emperor Wilhelm II. However, the defeat of Germany forced him to abandon the idea of the Don-Caucasian Union. He agreed to go into complete submission to Anton Denikin, joining his Volunteer Army. In 1919, Denikin forced Krasnov to resign due to ideological and political differences.
Having realized that nothing was holding him back in Russia, 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". The well-known Russian writer Alexander Kuprin was its editor.
Emigration
In 1920 he emigrated to Germany, three years later he moved to France. In those years, the first wave of emigration was just unfolding. In different circles, due to the large number of emigrated officers, it bore the name "White Russia", Krasnov Petr Nikolayevich began active political and social 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, was one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Russian Truth. This movement led active subversive activities in Soviet Russia. Howeverlater it turned out that the structure was initially controlled by the State Political Directorate (GPU) of the NKVD.
One of the leaders of the white movement was considered Krasnov Petr Nikolaevich, his books were quite popular and were published in English, French, German, Russian and other European languages. For more than twenty years of living in exile, he published about 40 books. Among them, one can single out in particular the fantasy novel about the Russian Bolshevik future, "Behind the Thistle". In addition, he published an autobiographical novel in four parts en titled "From the Double-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner".
World War II
Ataman Peter Krasnov decided to take revenge during the Second World War and collaborated with the Nazis. In 1943, he was placed in command of the Main Directorate of the Cossack troops in Germany. At the end of the war, he surrendered to the British, but they handed him over to the Soviet army leadership. The Supreme Court of Soviet Russia sentenced him to death by hanging. He was 77 years old.
