August 23, 1918 – Semyonov Becomes Bandit-King of Baikal
Pictured – Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov, the Japanese-supported White warlord who controlled much of the southeastern Siberian steppe.
The Russian Revolution brought a host of colorful characters to the forefront of history, many of them unsavory. A chief example was Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov, a Cossack cavalryman who established himself as a major warlord throughout the Russian far east. The outbreak of the Czech Revolt in May 1918 liberated much of Russia from the Bolsheviks, and allowed new political movements to organize behind the shield of the disciplined Czechs. Some of these were principled groups with ideological aims, like politicians who gathered in Omsk to discuss Siberian independence.
Semyonov was not one of them. A minor figure in the Russian war effort posted near Lake Baikal, the 28-year old Cossack sensed an opportunity amid his country’s chaos. Although a monarchist who hated the Bolsheviks, Semyonov cared more about plunder than ideology, and although Semyonov became a satrap of the White Siberian leader Admiral Kolchak, he was essentially a bandit chieftan of Transbaikal. He owed his success to Japanese arms, which the Tokyo government was happy to supply, hoping to keep Russia in a state of anarchy while they stripped it of its eastern resources. In August Semyonov drove Red troops out of Transbaikal entirely, shoring up his rule. It lasted until the very end of the civil war, after which Semyonov fled for exile in China, only to be captured finally by the Red Army and executed in 1945.
Semyonov, Cosaque
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