Military officer.
One of the greatest White Army commanders of the Russian Civil War. His army was the last to stand up against Bolsheviks. Wrangel later unsuccessfully organized resistance from abroad.
Background
Lived: 1878-1928.
Pyotr Wrangel was born in Lithuania to an aristocratic family of Baltic Germans. His remote relative was the Arctic explorer Ferdinand von Wrangel. Pyotr was well educated at the Mining Institute and the Imperial General Staff Academy.
Life
Wrangel took part in the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 in Galicia. He bravely commanded a cossack division and earned a nickname “Black Baron”. When the revolution broke out, he returned home to Crimea, where he narrowly escaped execution by Bolsheviks.
Civil War
In August 1918, General Denikin invited Wrangel to join the White Movement. Wrangel joined Denikin’s Volunteer Army, based in Yekaterinburg.
Denikin had the idea of attacking Moscow straight ahead but Wrangel preferred to join the forces of Kolchak beforehand. Wrangel did not join Denikin’s offensive to Moscow and founded his own Caucasus Volunteer Army. The White cause was successful until October 1919.
Commander-in-Chief
In spring 1920 Denikin resigned and Wrangel took his place. In April he was proclaimed Commander-in-Chief of the White forces. He endorsed land reform and other liberal reforms in Crimea. But it was already too late.
Additional Red Army forces were brought from the Polish front and by November 1920 Wrangel had to begin mass evacuation from Crimea. Every soldier was given a choice to join Wrangel’s retreating navy or to stay in Soviet Russia.
After Civil War
Wrangel’s army evacuated peacefully to Constantinople. He stayed for some time in his yacht Lucullus until an attempt was made to murder him. He then moved to Serbia and tried to organize anti-Bolshevik resistance named Russian All-Military Union in 1924.
In 1928, Wrangel died mysteriously in Brussels. His family members suspect poisoning by Soviet secret agents.
Pyotr Wrangel
Military officer.
One of the greatest White Army commanders of the Russian Civil War. His army was the last to stand up against Bolsheviks. Wrangel later unsuccessfully organized resistance from abroad.
Background
Lived: 1878-1928.
Pyotr Wrangel was born in Lithuania to an aristocratic family of Baltic Germans. His remote relative was the Arctic explorer Ferdinand von Wrangel. Pyotr was well educated at the Mining Institute and the Imperial General Staff Academy.
Life
Wrangel took part in the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 in Galicia. He bravely commanded a cossack division and earned a nickname “Black Baron”. When the revolution broke out, he returned home to Crimea, where he narrowly escaped execution by Bolsheviks.
Civil War
In August 1918, General Denikin invited Wrangel to join the White Movement. Wrangel joined Denikin’s Volunteer Army, based in Yekaterinburg.
Denikin had the idea of attacking Moscow straight ahead but Wrangel preferred to join the forces of Kolchak beforehand. Wrangel did not join Denikin’s offensive to Moscow and founded his own Caucasus Volunteer Army. The White cause was successful until October 1919.
Commander-in-Chief
In spring 1920 Denikin resigned and Wrangel took his place. In April he was proclaimed Commander-in-Chief of the White forces. He endorsed land reform and other liberal reforms in Crimea. But it was already too late.
Additional Red Army forces were brought from the Polish front and by November 1920 Wrangel had to begin mass evacuation from Crimea. Every soldier was given a choice to join Wrangel’s retreating navy or to stay in Soviet Russia.
After Civil War
Wrangel’s army evacuated peacefully to Constantinople. He stayed for some time in his yacht Lucullus until an attempt was made to murder him. He then moved to Serbia and tried to organize anti-Bolshevik resistance named Russian All-Military Union in 1924.
In 1928, Wrangel died mysteriously in Brussels. His family members suspect poisoning by Soviet secret agents.
Nikolay Yudenich