Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (Russian: Лавр Гео́ргиевич Корни́лов; 18 August 1870 – 16 December 1933) was a Russian politician, military intelligence officer, explorer, and general. He served as Prime Minister of the State of Russia officially between 1928 and his death in 1933, although as leader of the Nationalist Army he was effectively leader of vast swathes of the country beforehand. Under his administration, Russia became a one-party state governed by the National Russian People's Party (NRNP). Ideologically, Kornilov was a Russian nationalist, although he had little political direction as Prime Minister, with most governance of the country conducted by his advisors and allies.
Born in Turkestan in 1870, Kornilov entered military school in Omsk in 1885 and 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 continued as a military intelligence officer after graduating from Mykolayiv General Staff Academy as a captain. He served in the Russo–Japanese War and was promoted to colonel as a result, before travelling to China and meeting Chiang Kai-shek, future President of China. He continued military expeditions until the start of World War I in 1915, during which he saw action in Galicia and the Carpathian Mountains. He was captured by the Austrians but later managed to escape and returned to Russia in 1918. After Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown in 1919, as part of the Republican Army he was placed in charge of the Petrograd District. He remained a general in the Republican Army, reporting directly to the government in Petrograd, before he grew disillusioned with the democratic leaders. He helped plan the failed 1921 coup d'état, and following the capture and execution of many of his former colleagues, led a mass revolt in the capital. Using his influence, he managed to persuade the military to turn on the government and trigger the beginning of the Russian Civil War.
He was the leader of the Nationalist Army during the civil war, leading many of the war's major campaigns. He helped found the political vehicle of the Army – the NRNP – and became its first General Secretary, a position he held until his death. He was declared Prime Minister in 1923, but did not officially hold the role until the Nationalist victory in 1928. As Prime Minister, he was tasked with helping rebuild the country in the aftermath of a deadly civil war and he chose to implement policies that encouraged rapid industrialisation through an increasingly centralised economy. His administration was brutal, imprisoning and executing political opponents, suppressing revolt savagely and implementing what is now known as the White Terror, where over 100,000 political enemies were killed between 1927 and 1930. His economic policies led to the Donbass Famine of 1932–35, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million people. He was in generally good health until the final year of his life and passed away at his home in Russia's new capital Moscow at the end of 1933.
Kornilov was the posthumous subject of a pervasive personality cult within Russia, perpetuated by his successor, and was seen as the father of the State of Russia. His political ideology of Russian nationalism is seen as the precursor to Russian fascism, which dominated political life in Russia after his death.
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– World War I
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