White Against Red: The Life of General Anton Denikin

Description

Denikin came from a poor family and rose by merit through the army ranks. A brilliant field officer, he became a national hero in 1916 as commander of the "Iron Division" in the Brusilov offensive against the Austro-German armies. Churchill later credited the survival of the Allies to Russia's gallant efforts in this campaign. In the chaos following the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917, Denikin saw his duty as the defense of Russia and her people against Germany. Although he shared the liberal views of the Russian intelligentsia, he became an outspoken critic of the provisional government for its failure to maintain army discipline, and when the Bolsheviks, who were willing to sacrifice Russian soil to political ends, seized power, Denikin helped form the White Army to oppose them. Shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in 1918, Denikin assumed political and military command of the White movement in South Russia, which at its high tide in 1919 governed forty-two million people. In this definitive biography the author uses Denikin's letters and unpublished papers to show us firsthand the terrible winter campaigns on the steppes, the diplomatic maneuvers, and the personalities of the period. Denikin himself emerges as a sensitive man, isolated by unsought responsibility for the lives of his countrymen. CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS INTRODUCTION THE DISTANT PAST BETWEEN TWO WARS THE FIRST WORLD WAR THE YEAR OF RECKONING NEW TRENDS DISINTEGRATION THE BATTLE AGAINST CHAOS THE STAVKA PLANS COUNTERMEASURES TRANSITIONAL PHASE “NIGHT FELL- A LONG, SLEEPLESS NIGHT” THE KORNILOV AFFAIR, I THE KORNILOV AFFAIR, II CONFINEMENT IN BYKHOV BIRTH OF THE WHITE MOVEMENT THE FIRST KUBAN CAMPAIGN AFTER THE FIRST CAMPAIGN THE SECOND KUBAN CAMPAIGN SUMMER AND FALL, 1918 HOPE AND DISILLUSIONMENT STRUGGLE FOR A UNIFIED COMMAND AND CHANGES IN SIBERIA DENIKIN’S BIG OFFENSIVE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF SOUTH RUSSIA “THE RING AROUND MOSCOW” BEHIND DENIKIN’S FRONT EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND INTERNAL SETBACKS THE TURNING OF THE TIDE STRUGGLE FOR POWER IN THE WHITE CAMP MORAL SOLITUDE IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER ENGLAND DENIKIN WRITES HIS MEMOIRS AMONG WRITERS INVOLVEMENT FROM A DISTANCE SOVIET AGENTS BETWEEN TWO EVILS UNDER THE GERMANS, I UNDER THE GERMANS, II JOY AND GRIEF ARRIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX