Lavr Kornilov - Pre-revolutionary Career

Pre-revolutionary Career

Originally born in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Russian Turkestan (now Kazakhstan) in a family of Russian 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. He returned St. Petersburg to attend the Mykolayiv General Staff Academy and graduated as a captain in 1897. Again refusing a posting at St. Peterburg, he returned again to the Turkestan Military District, where he resumed his duties as a military intelligence officer.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 Kornilov becam the Chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Brigade, and was involved heavily at the Battle of Sandepu and the Battle of Mukden. He was awarded the Order of St. George (4th class) for bravery and promoted to the rank of colonel.

Following the end of the war, Kornilov served as military attache in China from 1907–11. He studied the Chinese language, traveled extensively researching the history, traditions and customs of the Chinese, which he intended to use as material for a book about life in contemporary China, and regularly sent detailed reports to the General Staff and Foreign Ministry. Kornilov paid much attention to the prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in the Far East and met with the future president of China, Chiang Kai-shek. 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. From February 2, 1911 he was made Commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment of Estonia, and was later appointed commander of the 9th Siberian Rifle Division, stationed in Vladivostok.

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. In 1915, he was promoted to the rank of major general. During heavy fighting he was captured by the Austrians in April 1915, when his division became isolated from the rest of the Russian forces. After his capture, Field Marshal Conrad, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army, made a point of meeting him in person. 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. In July, after commanding the only successful front in the disastrous Russian offensive of June, 1917, he became Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Provisional Government's armed forces.