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“I have Come to the Don Bearing a Decent Name of a Warrior…”

It is the 150^th anniversary of A.M. Kaledin, the ataman of the Don Army (Voysko Donskoye), cavalry general, the head of the Cossack counterrevolution of 1917-1918 at the Don.

Kaledin was the Don ataman less than eight months, but having burdened himself with such a serious responsibility in the hardest times for the Don Army he entered into the history as a Russian patriot, a man, who loved the Don dearly.

In the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” by M.A. Sholokhov Alexey Maximovich Kaledin is introduced under his real surname. In the chapters about Kornilov’s revolt broken out in August of 1917, Grigoriy Melekhov, the central figure of the novel, retired to the middle ground for long, with the historic personages of generals Kornilov, Kaledin, Krasnov and Denikin introduced in the foreground.

A.M. Kaledin was born on October, 12 (24), 1861, to the family of hereditary military men in Stanitsa Ust-Khopyorskaya (now Serafimovich district the Volgograd Region). He graduated from the Mikhailovsky artillery school (1882) and the Academy of General Headquarters (1889). In the years of the World War I he commanded a cavalry division, the 12^th army corps, the 8^th army. In 1916 he was awarded a rank of cavalry general.

As a combatant commander Kaledin was scrupulous and brave. A.I. Denikin noted in 1918 in his book “Essays of the Russian Times of Troubles. The Fight of General Kornilov. August, 1917”, that Kaledin “did not send, but led the troops to the battle”.

General Kaledin did not embrace the February Revolution of 1917, and, according to A.A. Brusilov, “has lost his heart and does not comprehend the air of the time”. The general did not fulfil the orders of the Provisional Government about democratization in the army, so because of it he was removed from commanding the army.

Though the commander-in-chief of the Russian army Alexeyev made him the member of the Military Council in Petrograd, Kaledin soon retired and left for home, to the Don. He said: “All my service entitles me with the right to be treated not like a plug for different holes and situations without asking for my opinion”.

General Kaledin came to Novocherkassk at the session time of the Don Army Circle (Krug) (on May, 26 – June, 18). The chairman of the Circle M.P. Bogayevskiy and the Cossack public persuaded Alexey Maximovich to agree to being elected Army Ataman. Thus, he became the first elective ataman of the Don Army after abolishing the appointment by election in 1709 by Peter I.

Comprehending his position the Don ataman noted: “… I have come to the Don bearing a decent name of a warrior, but may be cursed at leaving”.

On October, 25, 1917, Alexey Kaledin addressed to the public to declare the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks to be criminal and that the Military government assumed a responsibility of a complete power in the Don Province. On October, 27, a state of martial law was declared in the Don Province.

To organize a fight against the Bolsheviks the members of the Provisional Government and Provisional Council of the Russian Republic came to Novocherkassk. They were followed then by the former commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, general M.V. Alexeyev, the founder of “Alexeyev’s Organization” (from December, 27, 1917, it was the Volunteer Army).

On November, 26, 1917, when the power in Rostov and Taganrog was taken by the Bolsheviks, Kaledin tried to avoid the first bloodshed, but yet he had to enter into the armed battle, and as at the outset the Cossacks did not want to be drawn into the battles, he applied to general Alexeyev for help. Together with generals Alexeyev and Kornilov, Kaledin set up a triumvirate with Kaledin possessing a complete power in the Don Province.

M.A. Sholokhov in his novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” narrates about the meeting in Novocherkassk: “Accompanied by Bogayevskiy, Kaledin, stooping slightly, approached the table with a firm wolfish stride. … Every movement and gesture expressed resolute, deliberate confidence, and mature strength. His manner was that of a man who had tasted power and in the course of many years had acquired a poise that distinguished him from others”. This portrayal shows us Kaledin to be a strong and proud man.

But then the developments at the Don failed to favour the Cossacks. On January, 28, 1918, general Kornilov informed Kaledin about his decision of drawing off the Volunteer Army towards the Kuban, as under the conditions of the Red Guards closing in and no support by  the Cossacks, it was exposed to ruin. The novel goes about it: “At 9 a.m. on the 29^th, an extraordinary session of the Don Government was held in the Ataman’s Palace. Kaledin was the last to arrive. He sank heavily into a chair and drew a pile of documents towards him. His face was drawn and sallow from lack of sleep; there were blue shadows under his faded sombre eyes, and a film of decay seemed to yellow his haggard face. … Carefully smoothing out a pile of telegrams with his broad white palm, he said dully: “The Volunteer Army is retreating. We have only 147 bayonets with which to defend the region and Novocherkassk… Our situation is hopeless. The population, far from supporting us, is hostile… I want no unnecessary casualties, no unnecessary bloodshed. I propose that we resign and turn the power over to someone else”.

On that very day general Kaledin committed suicide by a shot in his heart. In his death letter to general Alexeyev he explained his retreat from life by “the rejection of Cossacks to follow their ataman”.

“Kaledin, who was inly related with the Cossacks and loved the Don, could go only together with the Don army. When he lost his belief in his strength and in the reason of the Don, he died. He had no strength to wait for the Don, he died. He had no strength to wait for the Don to recover,” – this was the opinion of general Denikin about his deed.

For his contemporaries Kaledin was known to be a man of honour and high culture, a great Russian patriot, who was ready to defend his Country sparing no life of his own.

Tatiyana Krikun