Krasnov, Pyotr Nikolayevich

Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov, (born Sept. 10 [Sept. 22, New Style], 1869, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Jan. 17, 1947, U.S.S.R.), imperial Russian army officer and a commander of anti-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War. During World War II he helped organize anti-Soviet Cossack units for the Germans and urged the creation of a Cossack state under German protection.

The son of a Cossack general, Krasnov rose to divisional commander during World War I and was appointed head of a cavalry corps in August 1917 under the Provisional Government. At the time of the October Revolution, he was ordered to lead loyal troops from the front to Petrograd in what proved to be a failed attempt to defeat the Bolsheviks. Taken prisoner, he was released after promising not to oppose the new Soviet government.

Krasnov was nevertheless soon active in anti-Soviet efforts in the Don River region. Selected as commander of the so-called White forces, he organized a Cossack army and enjoyed initial military successes against the Soviets with the aid of German arms. After the Armistice (Nov. 11, 1918), however, the situation deteriorated, and in January 1919 Krasnov’s forces suffered a major defeat. Resigning his command, Krasnov left Russia, later working with anti-Bolshevik Cossack groups in Europe and eventually becoming allied with the Nazis.

In 1944 the Germans established a Cossack puppet state in the Italian Alps, which Krasnov joined in 1945. Surrendering to the British in May, he was returned to the Soviet Union in accord with an agreement made at the Yalta Conference. In 1947 he was hanged by order of a Soviet military court.