Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich - Definition and Overview

Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich (Николай Николаевич Юденич) (1862–1933), Infantry General (1915), leader of the counterrevolution in Northwestern Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920.

He graduated from the Alexandrovsky Military College in 1881 and the General Staff Academy in 1887. Yudenich commanded a regiment during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Kazan (1912) and Caucasus (1913) military districts. In the beginning of the World War I of 1914–1918 Yudenich was appointed Chief of Staff of the Caucasus army, and later in January 1915 was appointed its commander. He successfully carried out Erzurum and Trapezund (today's Trabzon) operations in 1916. After he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Kavkaz front in March–April of 1917, he retired.

A year after the October Revolution of 1917, Yudenich emigrated to France and then Estonia. In July of 1919 he was appointed head of the Northwestern White Army, which was advancing towards Petrograd (October–November, 1919). At the same time he became a member of the counterrevolutionary Northwestern "government", created with the help of Great Britain.

After the failure of the Petrograd campaign, the remains of the Yudenich army retreated to Estonia. In 1920 Yudenich emigrated to Great Britain, where he never played any significant role among White Army émigrés.