Overview
Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov (, tr. ; 1851 – 27 January 1919) was a Russian artillery general in the Imperial Russian Army. In July 1914, Ivanov was given command of four armies in the Southwestern Front against the Austro-Hungarian army. During the Russian Revolution of March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II ordered Ivanov to suppress the revolutionaries but as promised reinforcements failed to come to his aid, he canceled the aborted mission. In 1917, he retired but a year later took command of the White Army. In 1919, Ivanov died of typhus in Southern Russia.
Family
Ivanov's family origin was debatable, some sources say that Ivanov came from a noble family originated from the Kaluga Governorate, but other sources told that he was the son of a cantonist. Despite all of these sources about his family, the true identity of where his family originated from is still a mystery.
Early life
Ivanov was born on 22 July 1851 (based on the old calendar at use in the Russian Empire at that time), in Mosalsk in the Kaluga Governorate. He attended the 2nd Cadet Corps and the Pavlovsky Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg at an early age, and graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in 1869, and served in the 3rd Grenadier Guards and artillery brigades. He first saw action during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), and was promoted to colonel in mid August 1877. After which he subsequently remained in Romania to serve as an instructor to the Romanian Army. In late July 1884, he was commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Imperial Guards Artillery, and in early April 1890, was appointed commandant of the fortress artillery of Kronstadt. In mid-December 1899, he was selected to be an aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Michael. He also participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China during the beginning of the century, after which he was promoted to lieutenant-general in early December 1901.
Russo-Japanese War
General Ivanov participated in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, he was appointed to the 1st Manchurian Army. In mid-July 1904, he was appointed commander of the Eastern Detachment, after its commander, Lieutenant General Fyodor Keller was killed at the Battle of Motien Pass, and was later appointed to the 3rd Siberian Army Corps, and commanded the corps during retreating from Liaoyang after the battle ended. Later during the Battle of Shaho, he was ordered to bypass the left flank of the Japanese Army and repulse them back to Korea.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).