* Kornilov Affair

He is today best remembered for the Kornilov Affair, an unsuccessful endeavor in August / September 1917 that purported to strengthen Alexander Kerensky's Provisional Government, but which led to Kerensky eventually having Kornilov arrested and charged with attempting a coup d ' état.

In what became known as the Kornilov Affair, Kornilov directed an army under Aleksandr Krymov to march toward Petrograd with Kerensky's agreement.

Another issue for Kerensky, the Kornilov Affair, arose when Commander-in-Chief of the army, General Lavr Kornilov, directed an army under Aleksandr Krymov to march toward Petrograd with Kerenky's agreement.

Denikin supported the attempted coup of his commander, the Kornilov Affair, in September 1917 and was arrested and imprisoned with him.

Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the Kornilov Affair were the Bolshevik Party, who enjoyed a revival in support and strength in the wake of the attempted coup.

Another important consequence of the Kornilov Affair is that it severed the tie between Kerensky and the military.

Several schools of thought surrounding the Kornilov Affair offer contrasting interpretations and have provoked debate among historians.

One take on the Kornilov Affair was put forward by Aleksandr Kerensky himself, the main target of the coup.

In his 1970 work, The Kornilov Affair: A Reinterpretation, Harvey Asher suggests that Kerensky and Kornilov had an agreement to use the military to restore order within Russia.

* H. Asher – The Kornilov Affair: A Reinterpretation ( 1970 ) Russian Review XXIX

During the Kornilov Affair in late August, Nekrasov first supported Kerensky, but at one point suggested that Kerensky's resignation may present a way out of the crisis, which resulted in his exclusion from the next coalition government in September.

His goal was to prevent the Kornilov movement ( see Kornilov Affair ) from developing into civil war.

Although it took its form and inspiration from the earlier Committee for Struggle Against the Counter-Revolution of the Kornilov Affair, the Military Revolutionary Committee itself was only formed during the last weeks, and indeed days, of the Provisional Government's existence.

She was fiercely critical of the Bolsheviks ' anti-war agitation but also condemned the Constitutional Democrats for their involvement in the Kornilov Affair.

Kornilov () and Kornilova ( feminine ; ) is a common Russian surname derived from the baptismal name Kornil ().

What is clear however, is that on his return to Petrograd on August 26, Lvov informed Kerensky and the Provisional Government that of the three proposed strategies Kornilov had responded most favourably to the idea of a military dictatorship with himself at the helm.

Another interpretation of the Kornilov affair is that it was the result of a misunderstanding between Kerensky and Kornilov, caused by the interference of Vladimir Lvov.

" It is frightful to think what might have happened ," wrote Vice-Admiral Kornilov, " had it not been for this cardinal error of the enemy's.

The Central Committee recognizes that the international position of the Russian revolution ( the revolt in the German navy which is an extreme manifestation of the growth throughout Europe of the world Socialist revolution ; the threat of conclusion of peace by the imperialists with the object of strangling the revolution in Russia ) as well as its military position ( the indubitable decision of the Russian bourgeoisie and Kerensky and Co. to surrender Petrograd to the Germans ), and the fact that the proletarian party has gained a majority in the Soviets – all this, taken in conjunction with the peasant revolt and the swing of popular confidence towards our Party ( the elections in Moscow ), and, finally, the obvious preparations being made for a second Kornilov affair ( the withdrawal of troops from Petrograd, the dispatch of Cossacks to Petrograd, the surrounding of Minsk by Cossacks, etc.

After an unsuccessful pro-Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd, Trotsky was arrested on 7 August 1917, but was released 40 days later in the aftermath of the failed counter-revolutionary uprising by Lavr Kornilov.

Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (, ; August 18, 1870 – April 13, 1918 ) was a military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and the ensuing Russian Civil War.

Originally a Cossack born in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Russian Turkestan ( now Kazakhstan ) in a family of Cossack Chorąży and his wife of kazakh origin, Kornilov entered military school in Omsk in 1885 and went on to study at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg in 1889. in August 1892, he was assigned as a lieutenant to the Turkestan Military District, where he led several exploration missions in Eastern Turkestan, Afghanistan and Persia, learned several Central Asian languages, and wrote detailed reports about his observations.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 Kornilov became the Chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Brigade, and was involved heavily at the Battle of Sandepu and the Battle of Mukden.

In 1910 Kornilov was recalled from Beijing, but remained in St. Petersburg for only five months, before departing for western Mongolia and Kashgar to examine the military situation along China's border with Russia.

In 1914, at the start of World War I, Kornilov was appointed commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which saw combat in Galicia and the Carpathians.

Being a major general he was a high value prisoner of war, but in July 1916 Kornilov managed to escape back to Russia and return to duty.

Kornilov was critical of the Russian monarchy and, after the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II he was given command of the Petrograd Military District in March 1917.

Although critical of the Tsar, General Kornilov felt that Russia, as part of the Triple Entente, was committed to continue the war against the Central Powers, and he shared the widespread belief of some Russians that after the February Revolution the country was descending into anarchy and that military defeat would be disastrous for Russia.

Kornilov, convinced that Kerensky had been taken prisoner by the Bolsheviks and was acting under duress, replied by issuing a call to all Russians to " save their dying land.

Even before the Red Army was formed, Lavr Kornilov promised, " the greater the terror, the greater our victories.

The Kornilov Division, one of the crack units of the White Army, was named after him, as well as many other autonomous White Army formations, such as the Kuban Cossack Kornilov Horse Regiment.

* In 1918 the body of Lavr Kornilov, the Russian general, was exhumed from the ground by a pro-Bolshevik mob, beaten, trampled down and burned.

Kornilov was killed in April 1918 near Ekaterinodar and the Volunteer Army came under Denikin's command.

Leading these calls were the officers of the Russian Army, Kornilov amongst them, who feared that ill discipline amongst their troops was responsible for the continued poor performance of the army during the First World War.

It has been thought that after Kerensky had heard reports that a Bolshevik coup was being planned ( which he knew to be false ) that he could use this as an excuse to get rid of Kornilov who he saw as a threat, he ordered Kornilov to send the Third Cavalry Corps to Petrograd to deal with the ' threat '.

After the alleged coup collapsed as his troops disintegrated, Kornilov and his fellow conspirators were placed under arrest in the Bikhov jail.

That evening Kerensky, alarmed at the thought of a coup being directed at him, attempted to gain confirmation from Kornilov of his intentions.

Rakovsky later stated that he had friendly relations with the Bolsheviks from early autumn 1917, when, during the attempted putsch of Lavr Kornilov, he was hidden by these in Sestroretsk.

Kornilov attempted to set up a military dictatorship by staging a coup in late August 1917.

Following the failed coup, Kornilov was removed from his position as Commander-in-Chief and incarcerated in the Bykhov Fortress alongside 30 other army officers accused of involvement in the conspiracy.