During the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923, a number of former Tsarist officers joined the Red Army, either voluntarily or as a result of coercion. This list includes officers of the Imperial Russian Army commissioned before 1917 who joined the Bolsheviks as commanders or as military specialists.
Overview Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the ruling communist Bolsheviks, in the fashion of most traditional Marxists, hoped to disband the standing Imperial Russian Army of the deposed Tsardom and replace it with a militia system. The outbreak of civil war led them to opt for a regular military in 1918 and they created the Red Army to oppose the anti-revolutionary White movement. The pre-existing army had a 250,000-strong officer corps. Of these, 75,000 were inducted into the Red Army, most of them being drafted and many not supportive of the Bolsheviks' political agenda. However, a large number joined out of a desire to maintain Russian territorial integrity (they believed that only the Bolsheviks could govern effectively) and to curb foreign influence in the country (the White leadership had promised foreign governments special privileges under their rule in exchange for support). As such, the overwhelming majority of the officers in the Red Army had formerly served in the Imperial military, much to the chagrin of Bolshevik leaders who were anxious to assert their authority over the armed forces. They were forced to rely on the ex-Tsarist officers, dubbed "military specialists" (), due to a deficit of trained commanders among the revolutionaries. Throughout the war the Red Army's command staff, the Stavka, was dominated by Tsarist officers. In spite of his colleagues' wariness, Vladimir Lenin praised them for their contributions to the Bolshevik war effort: "You have heard about the series of the brilliant victories won by the Red Army. There are tens of thousands of old colonels and other officers in its ranks. If we had not taken them into service and made them work for us, we could not have created the Army...only with their help was the Red Army able to win the victories that it did." Immediately following the conflict the former Tsarists made up the majority of the General Staff Academy's faculty and constituted over 90 percent of all instructional and administrative staff at military schools. The Stavka was organised in a manner very similar to its Tsarist predecessor, and much of the military curriculum was copied from the Imperial General Staff Academy.
The Bolsheviks reformed the Red Army in the mid-1920s. In an attempt to reduce the reliance on the mistrusted ex-Tsarists they reduced the officer corps and educated new cadets. Leon Trotsky's removal from the Commissariat of Defence was in part driven by his perceived over-reliance on Tsarist officers. His replacement, Mikhail Frunze, further decreased their number in army. By 1930, ex-Tsarists made up only about 10 percent of the officer corps.
Flag officers Vasili Altfater - Rear Admiral in the Imperial Navy, joined the Bolsheviks from the beginning of the October Revolution, became first Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy.Admirals of the world Leonid Artamonov - General, military engineer and explorer of Africa. In 1897-98 he was military adviser to Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. From 1911 until 1914 he was the commander of the First Russian Army Corps, relieved of his duties after the Battle of Tannenberg. After 1917, he continued his scientific, engineering and military activity for the Soviet government. In 1927, he was the expert of the Moscow city government. The state gave him an honorable pension. He preferred to live in Leningrad, there he died in 1932. Andrejs Auzāns - The highest-ranking Latvian officer of the Imperial Army, major general and commander of the Latvian Riflemen during the legendary Christmas Battles of 1916. In 1917 he became Chief of the Russian General Staff Topographical Section and he kept this position in the Red Army until 1920. Auzāns returned to Latvia in 1923 and served as a general in the Latvian Army. After the occupation of Latvia in 1940 he did not collaborate with the Nazis or the Soviets. In 1944 he was allowed to emigrate and he died in Stockport, England in 1953. Dmitry Bagration - A descendant of the Georgian royal family and of Prince Pyotr Bagration. During World War I, he was appointed commander of the 1st Brigade of the Savage Division in 1914. He was twice an acting commander of the division and became a lieutenant-general in 1916. After the fall of the Russian monarchy in the February Revolution, Bagration played a role in the Kornilov affair in August 1917, in which he stepped back from supporting General Aleksandr Krymov's planned march against the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd. Under the Soviet regime, he joined the Red Army in December 1918. In 1919, he directed the High Cavalry School and took part in organizing cavalry units of the Red Army. He died the same year and was buried at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Aleksei Baiov - Major-general from 1911. He joined the Red Army in the first two years of the Revolution, then defected to the Whites, and after 1920 he served in the Estonian Army. Pyotr Baluyev - General in the Imperial Russian Army, commanding the Southwestern Front from 24 July 1917 to 31 July 1917. He became an inspector and an instructor in the Red Army under Bolshevik command after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Vasily Boldyrev - Lieutenant-General, veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, in World War I he commanded the 5th Army. He first joined Kolchak's army and government in the Far East and stayed in Vladivostok, and after the capture of the city by the Red Army on 5 November 1922 he was arrested. In prison, he declared his willingness to serve the Soviet government. In the summer of 1923 he was released. After that, he became a teacher and a research assistant at the West-Siberian Institute of Industrial Economic Research. Aleksei Brusilov - Led Russian cavalry during Russo-Japanese War, and launched the successful Brusilov Offensive of 1916. Joined the Red Army in 1920 and died in 1926. Brusilov's son, a cavalry lieutenant, joined the Red Army in 1917, but was killed by White Army counterrevolutionaries early in Russia's civil war. Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich - Promoted to major general in Imperial Russian army August 1917. Lieutenant general in the Red Army 1944–45.The foe within Nikolai Danilov - Lieutenant-general in 1911, corps and army commander in World War I. After the October Revolution, he entered the service of the Soviet Red Army. Yuri Danilov - General in charge of the Military Intelligence section of the Imperial Army and Quartermaster-General at the Stavka in World War I. In early 1918 he joined the Red Army and took part in the negotiations for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but later that year he defected to the Whites and after the end of the Civil War he emigrated to Paris, France, where he remained until his death on 3 November 1937. Nikolai Fedorovich Drozdov - Major General in Tsarist army 1910–18. Red Army commander 1918–53, promoted to Colonel-General of artillery 1944. Konstantin Lukich Gilchevsky - General, veteran of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), the Russo-Japanese War, and commander of the 11th Army Corps in World War I. After the October Revolution he settled in Tbilisi, and after the Soviet invasion of Georgia he served in the Red Army in 1921–22. Aleksei Gutor - Lieutenant-general (1914) of noble origin, he was distinguished in the Brusilov offensive in 1916. Shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution he was commander of the Southwestern Front. He voluntarily placed himself at the disposal of the Red Army in 1918. A military specialist during the Civil War, he became a professor of Strategy and Tactics at the Military Academy of the Red Army afterwards.Other fronts, other wars Yevgeni Iskritsky - Long-serving General of the Imperial Army, commanded many armies and fronts during World War I and decorated multiple times for bravery. After joining the Red Army, he took command of the 7th Army amongst other commands in the Civil War. He died in 1949, having earned 10 medals (Imperial and Soviet).Evgeni Iskritsky Fyodor Kostyayev - Major-General, chief of staff of 1st Siberian Army Corps in 1917, after the revolution chief of staff of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Republic, teacher of tactics in the Frunze Military Academy until his death. Pyotr Kitkin - Admiral in Tsarist Navy 1916–18. Oversaw research on mine clearing for Soviet Navy during Great Patriotic War.Kitkin Vladislav Klembovsky - The penultimate Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Russian Army. Voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1918.Klembovsky biography Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev - Major General since 1915. Refused to join White Army, and was appointed chief of staff by Lenin.Historical dictionary of Russian civil war Alexander Litvinov - General of the cavalry, veteran of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Commander of the 1st Army in World War I, he was dismissed from the service with uniform and pension in 1917. From 1918 he served in the Red Army. Samad bey Mehmandarov - Azerbaijani General of the Artillery in the Russian Imperial Army, served in the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I, commanding the elite 21st Infantry Division. He was decorated with the Order of Saint George of III degree for the battles of 27–29 September 1914, and Saint George Sword decorated with diamonds for the battle near Ivangorod on 14 February 1915. The latter was a very rare military award, only eight Russian commanders received it during the entire course of the World War I. From 1918 to 1920 he was the last Minister of Defense of independent Azerbaijan. After the Soviet invasion of Azerbaijan he taught in military schools and was an advisor to the Commissariat of Military and Naval Forces of the Azerbaijan SSR until his retirement in 1928. Dmitry Nikolayevich Nadyozhny - Russo-Japanese War veteran, promoted to major general in 1915. Served in the Red Army during Russian Civil WarEstonian war of independence and as an instructor in the early years of the Great Patriotic War.Russians in WWI Alexander Nemits - Promoted to rear admiral three months before the Revolution.European powers in WWI Commander in chief of Red Fleet since 1921, and head of naval academy during World War II.The rise and fall of the Soviet navy in the BalticStalins oceangoing fleet Vasily Fedorovich Novitsky - A tsarist general noted for his liberal and progressive views already from the late 19th century. Commander of the Kiev gendarmes in the 1900s. During World War 1, Novitsky was part of the Northern Front, responsible for fighting the Central Powers from Riga in the north down to northern Belarus. When the Russian Revolution destroyed Imperial Russia, Novintsky came to accept the new social and political change. In Soviet history, he is credited by historians with having made "a notable contribution to the rise and evolution of Soviet military art." His brother Fedor Fedorovich (1870–1944) was also a Tsarist and Red Army general. Fyodor Ogorodnikov - Lieutenant-General in the Tsarist Army. He commanded successively the 26th Infantry Division, the 17th Army Corps and the Southwestern Front, where he succeeded Anton Denikin. After joining the Red Army, he was head of department at the Military Transport Academy and Professor at the Frunze Military Academy. Author of books on history and tactics. He died in Moscow in 1939. He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery. Dmitri Parsky - The first Tsarist general to join the Bolsheviks, commanded Northern Front during Russian Civil War.