Kaledin, Aleksey Maksimovich

Aleksey Maksimovich Kaledin, (born Oct. 24 [Oct. 12, Old Style], 1861, Ust-Khopyorskaya, Russia—died Feb. 11 [Jan. 29], 1918, Novocherkassk, Russian S.F.S.R., U.S.S.R.), Russian Imperial Army officer and Cossack leader who was one of the first to organize military resistance against the Bolsheviks after their accession to power in Russia (October 1917, Old Style).

The son of a Don Cossack officer, Kaledin became a professional soldier and served in World War I as commander of a cavalry division operating in Galicia, then as commander of the 8th Army, which waged an offensive at Lutsk (in Ukraine) in 1916. He opposed the military reforms instituted by the Russian provisional government that replaced the tsarist regime (February 1917, Old Style), however, and he was forced to resign from the army (May 1917). He then returned to the Don region, where, after displaying sympathy for the Cossack movement for local autonomy, he was elected the Don Cossacks’ hetman (governor) on June 8 (May 26, Old Style), 1917.

After the Bolsheviks seized control of the Russian government, the Don territory became virtually independent and was used as a refuge by conservative and liberal politicians and military officers who were fleeing from the revolutionary centres of Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and Moscow. Kaledin not only welcomed the refugees but also allowed them to organize the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army in his territory. He himself had organized new Cossack military detachments and included representatives of the underprivileged, non-Cossack population in his government to broaden his base of political support; he also had the military support of the Volunteer Army. But when, in December 1917, the Bolsheviks dispatched an army to destroy Kaledin’s centre of opposition, he lacked the critical support of many regular Cossack regiments and the industrial workers.

Forced to abandon Taganrog (late January 1918) and threatened with the loss of the Don part of Rostov after several military defeats, he resigned and shot himself.