SKONELEV, MIKHAIL DIMITRIIVICH (1843-1882)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 194 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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SKONELEV, MIKHAIL DIMITRIIVICH (1843-1882) , Russian general, was born near Moscow on the 29th of September 1843. After graduating as a staff officer at St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

he was sent to Turkestan in 1868 and, with the exception of an

interval

INTERVAL

of two years, during which he was on the staff of the grand duke Michael in the Caucasus, remained in Central

Asia

ASIA

until 1877. He commanded the advanced guard of General Lomakine's column from Kinderly Bay, in the Caspian, to join General Verefkin, from Orenburg, in the expedition to Khiva in 1874, and, after

great

GREAT

suffering on the desert

march

, took a prominent part in the capture of the Khivan

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

. Dressed as a Turkoman, he intrepidly explored in a hostile country the route from Khiva to Igdy, and also the old bed of the Oxus. In 1875 he was given an important command in the expedition against

Khokand

KHOKAND

under General Kaufmann, showing

great

GREAT

capacity in the action of Makram, where he out-man ceuvred a greatly superior force and captured 58 guns, and in a brilliant night attack in the

retreat

RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

from Andijan, when he routed a large force with a handful of cavalry. He was promoted to be major-general, decorated with the order of St George, and appointed the first

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Fergana. In the Turkish War of 1877 he seized the bridge over the Sereth at Barborchi in April, and in June crossed the Danube with the 8th corps. He commanded the Caucasian Cossack Brigade in the attack of the Green Hills at the second battle of Plevna. He captured Lovtcha on the 3rd of September, and distinguished himself again in the desperate fighting on the Green Hills in the third battle of Plevna. Promoted to be a lieutenant-general, and given the command of the 16th Division, he took part in the investment of Plevna and also in the fight of the 9th of December, when Osman Pasha surrendered, with his army. In January 1878 he crossed the Balkans in a severe snowstorm,
Ii
194
defeating the Turks at Senova, near Schipka, and capturing 36,000 men and 90 guns. Dressed with care in white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the " White General." He returned to Turkestan after the war, and in 188o and 1881 further distinguished himself in retrieving the disasters inflicted by the Tekke Turkomans, captured Geok-Tepe, and, after much slaughter, reduced the Akhal-Teke country to submission. He was advancing on

Askabad

ASKABAD, or ASKHABAD

and Kalat i-Nadiri when he was disavowed and recalled. He was given the command at Minsk. In the last years of his short life he engaged actively in politics, and made speeches in Paris and in Moscow in the beginning of 1882 in favour of a militant Panslavism; predicting a desperate strife between Teuton and Slay. He was at once recalled to St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

. He was staying at a Moscow hotel, on his way from Minsk to his estate close by, when he died suddenly of heart disease on the 7th of July 1882.

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