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Nikolai Yudenich

Nikolai Yudenich was appointed chief of staff of the Russian Caucasus Army in 1913. When Turkey entered the war in 1914, he was second in command to General Myshlayevski.

On December 22 1914, with winter well settled in the mountains, the Russians learned that Turkish War Minister Enver Pasha was in the Turkish fortress at Erzurum, convincing Yudenich that the Turks were preparing a major offensive. On December 24, Yudenich and his superior Myshlayevski arrived in Sarikamish. While Yudenich prepared for a Turkish attack, Myshlayevski visited Russian General Bergmann who was preparing his own offensive against the Turks. Leaving Bergmann, Myshlayevski was fired upon by a Turkish patrol, and panicked, cancelling Bergmann's offensive, and calling for a general retreat to the Russian fortress at Kars. As some Russian forces retreated on December 25, others held their positions with Yudenich keeping as many as he could. Myshlayevski fled.

The weather and Yudenich's forces decisively defeated Enver's Turkish army. After his victory in the Battle of Sarikamish, Yudenich was promoted to General of Infantry and was appointed Commander of the Caucasus Campaign.

He remained field commander after the transfer of Grand Duke Nicholas to the Caucasus.

In 1916, Yudenich was the victor in the Battle of Erzerum in February, in the Trebizond Campaign in April, and in the Battle of Erzincan in July (where he faced Mustapha Kemal, a Turkish hero in the defense against the Allied invasion of Gallipoli).

In 1917 after the February Revolution that deposed the Tsar, Yudenich returned to Petrograd. After the failed Kerensky Offensive, Yudenich supported the failed and short-lived Kornilov Revolt in July. He fled to Finland after the October Revolution, and later led a White Army in the Russian Civil War.

Russia

Roles held by Nikolai Yudenich

Role Start Date End Date
Combatant - General