Sergey Markov (August 1938 – January 1939)
Sergey Markov, born 1878, was a career officer in the Russian Army. He fought bravely in the Russo-Japanese War and was a highly decorated officer heading into the Waltkreig where he fought under General Denikin. He supported General Kornilov’s coup attempt in 1917, was arrested, and later fled to southern Russia to join with Denikin in organizing the Volunteer Army.
Following the Civil War he continued to serve in the Army rising to the rank of General in 1934. He had a falling out with Denikin over their disagreements regarding the organization in the Army and in 1937 Markov replaced Denikin as Chief of Staff and Chief of Army and given the task to modernize Russia’s army. A gifted administrator he organized a large and efficient operation to resupply and re-equip the army and by August of 1938 the Russian Army was a capable fighting force.
When the war against Don-Kuban started Markov and his officers were in Novosibirsk on the border with Kazakhstan preparing for a war against Mongolia. He quickly ordered redeployment of all available troops to Volgograd and taking over control of the military operations there. By September 3rd the Russian military was ready to begin operations against the Cossacks.
Markov’s second in command at the front was Marshall Wrangel with whom Markov had an uneasy relationship. Wrangel was assigned to Volgograd following the January Crisis in 1936 and was rumored to be planning action against the Government. Nevertheless, Wrangel was a brilliant strategist and he designed a plan to cross into Kotelnikovo with Markov’s support and then to quickly strike towards Krasnodar using Wrandel’s cavalry army while Markov advanced towards Grozny. The attacks begun on September 5th.
Wrangel advanced with incredible speed, overrunning Cossack forces in the first weeks of the war. His and Markov’s advance was slowed down by the arrival of snow in early October, but regardless, their plan went perfectly. By the beginning of October Wrangel was in control of Novorossiysk and Markov was advancing on Grozny. The Cossacks appeared to be in disarray.
Wrangel arrived in Krasnodar on October 18th, and took the city without resistance. He was riding down one of the streets when he and some of his officers were ambushed by a group of men, presumably Cossacks. Wrangel was severely injured in the ensuing firefight and was taken by train to Moscow two days later. His command was transferred over to Marshal Voronets.
Just a few weeks before Markov arrived in Grozny the Georgian socialists crossed the border into Cossack-held lands and occupied Stavropol. Tensions with them were high but there was no open combat. Grozny surrendered to Markov on October 30th and most of the Cossack leadership surrendered. The remainder of them was hunted down by Russian forces in the countryside.
While Markov was away at the front there were some disturbances in Moscow. Pavel Milyukov passed away in mid-October and the Government was thrown into disarray. There were constant rumors of a military coup by Wrangel or some of his supporters, and it was not clear who would succeed Milyukov as Chairman of the Government. Milyukov’s preferred candidate was Smirnov, but he had serious disagreements with President Chernov. As a result a number of opportunists, both in Russia and abroad, decided to capitalize on the perceived Russian weakness.
Grigory Gershuni was still fostering his Faith and Nation movement. After the fiasco in Don-Kuban he was hoping for a better outcome in Georgia. He organized an Orthodox movement there that demanded a creation of a Georgian Monarchy in the country. Unfortunately the movement was weak and did not really pose a threat to the Georgian Government, which promptly ignored it. Unhappy, Gershuni had his operatives loot and burn a collective farm near Tbilisi, to which Georgia promptly responded with a declaration of war against Russia. The Georgians thought that the chaos in Russia’s Government would make this an ideal time to secure their foothold in the Caucuses.
Unfortunately for the Georgians, even if the Russian Government was in disarray the Russian Army was not. Markov and Voronets quickly organized the forces already present in the Caucuses and begun an offensive into Georgia in mid-December. Using some newly created Special Forces and simple overwhelming numbers Voronets advanced into Maikop while Markov slowly but surely fought his way towards Tbilisi.
The war was fought in the mountains over winter, so it lasted a very long time. Markov’s progress especially was very slow on his way to Tbilisi, as he had to fight off numerous Georgian counter attacks. It was not until January 14th that he arrived in the city. Georgian Socialists realized that their cause was lost and begun escaping the country after the fall of the city. After securing the city Markov installed a new Government in Georgia and begun withdrawing forces from the country.
Unfortunately in neighboring Azerbaijan the events did not favor Russia as they did in Georgia. There, the Azeri Government rebuffed offers by Russian businessmen to invest in Azerbaijan and protect the Azeri Government and instead the Azeri begun a military buildup to attempt a resistance against Russia. Whatever oil Russia bought from Azerbaijan beforehand stopped flowing and Russia suddenly found itself with a shortage. The situation would have to be resolved soon, but the Government crisis in Moscow prevented a solution just yet.
Finally, Admiral Kolchak in Transamur was the last person to try to take advantage of the crisis in Russia. He has been under pressure from the Transamur business community to find a way to bring his breakaway state closer to Russia. He approached Wrangel and a number of other Russian officers with an offer to bring Transamur into Russia, as long as the officers supported a coup and installed him as Russia’s leader. Thankfully Markov found out about the request quickly and cut off all ties with Transamur and ordered two Russian infantry armies to march into Vladivostok and arrest Kolchak. The city and the Admiral were seized a few days later.
The Japanese response was mixed. On one hand Japan did not want to see Transamur lost, but on the other hand it appeared to be too late – Vladivostok was already Russian. A war appeared to be counter-productive, and perhaps the resourcefulness that the Russian Army displayed in the Caucuses made the Japanese think twice about it. Instead they approached Markov about a possible alliance against China, but being a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War Markov refused outright. Still, Vladivostok remained Russian and the Japanese could only grumble.
Markov returned to Moscow in mid-January and found the city in a state of disarray. He moved quickly to sit down with Chernov and Smirnov and to help them (some say force them) to make an agreement. Chernov agreed to remove Gershuni from his post as Intelligence Minister and Smirnov agreed to keep the SR-Kadet Coalition together. The deal was announced a few days later and order restored soon thereafter. Now Chernov, Smirnov, and Markov could focus on what was next for the country.