Chernyayev, Mikhail Grigoryevich

Mikhail Grigoryevich Chernyayev, Chernyayev also spelled Cherniaev, (born Oct. 22 [Nov. 3, New Style], 1828, Bendery, Bessarabia, Russian Empire [now Bendery, Moldova]—died Aug. 4 [Aug. 16], 1898, Tubyshki, Belorussia [Belarus]), Pan-Slavist and Russian general noted for expanding the Russian Empire into Central Asia and for his leadership of the Serbs against the Turks in 1876.

Chernyayev attended the Military Academy of the General Staff and then served as a junior officer in the Crimean War (1853–56). In 1864 he was sent on a minor mission to Central Asia, where he captured Aulie Ata and Chimken and then exceeded his instructions by conquering Tashkent (1865). In 1865 the conquered territories were incorporated into the Russian Empire, and Chernyayev was appointed military governor of this new province named Turkestan; however, he was removed from his post in 1866 after defeat in further campaigns of expansion.

An insurrection against the Turks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1875) spread throughout the Balkans, and the Turkish rulers reacted by attempting brutally to suppress the Balkan Slavs. Chernyayev was part owner of a conservative, nationalistic periodical, Russky Mir, in which he supported the Balkan Slavs’ rebellions and promoted Pan-Slavism, advocating Russia’s mission to free the Slavs from subservience to Turkey while spreading Russian culture and influence in the Balkans. When Serbia declared war on Turkey (1876), the Serbian government asked the Pan-Slav hero Chernyayev to lead Serbian forces. He accepted and was aided by 5,000 Russian volunteers. Contrary to Serbia’s expectations, however, Russia did not officially enter the war and Chernyayev’s forces were decisively defeated. Chernyayev was given only a staff position in the Caucasus during the subsequent Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. In 1882, following the accession of the conservative Slavophile emperor Alexander III, Chernyayev returned to favour, was promoted, and again served as military governor-general of Turkestan (1882–84) until his bellicose expansionist plans finally forced his retirement.