Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov occupies a special place among Russian political and military leaders. Unlike many other representatives of the royal family, Grand Duke Alexander Romanov not only "lived a secular life", but also made a huge contribution to strengthening the defense capability of the Russian Empire. He stood at the origins of the Russian military aviation, initiating the opening of an aeronautical school in Sevastopol. As an admiral of the Russian fleet, Alexander Romanov advocated the construction of new battleships, contributed to the extent of his strength in the development of naval affairs. But even this is not the most surprising thing in the biography of the Grand Duke. His "Book of Memoirs", published after the emigration of the Grand Duke from Russia, as well as interviews during the emigration period, are striking in their attitude to the Bolsheviks and the post-revolutionary transformations in Russia.
Alexander Romanov managed to see how Russia developed after the 1917 revolution - he lived until 1933 and observed the gradual restoration of the state destroyed by the Civil War, the expansion of its borders, the revival of the army and navy, and industrialization. All this made an indelible impression on the Grand Duke. Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov was one of the few high-ranking emigrants who was not afraid to openly express respect for the actions of the Bolsheviks to restore the power of the Soviet / Russian state and fight against the enemies of Russia.
Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov was born in 1866 in the family of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich and Olga Fedorovna and was the grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. Alexander Mikhailovich retained the deepest respect for his grandfather, considering him a true patriot and collector of the Russian state. The last Russian emperor Nicholas II, Alexander Mikhailovich, was a great-uncle, although he was only two years older than him. The slight difference in age between uncle and nephew led to the fact that Alexander Mikhailovich and Nikolai Alexandrovich were close childhood friends.
In 1885, Alexander Mikhailovich graduated from the Naval School with the rank of midshipman and began serving in the Navy. Unlike Nicholas II, he served in full - he passed all positions and promoted in the service may be faster than officers of less noble blood, but quite usually. In 1886, Alexander Mikhailovich participated in the circumnavigation of the corvette "Rynda", and in 1892 he was entrusted with commanding the destroyer "Revel". In 1893, eight years after graduating from college, he still held the rank of senior lieutenant (recall that Nicholas II became colonel in 1892).
In 1894, the Grand Duke was finally promoted to captain of the 2nd rank. In addition to serving in the navy, Alexander Mikhailovich was actively involved in the development of a program to strengthen the country's navy and in general paid great attention to the development of the navy. Since 1899, the Grand Duke, who was already 33 years old, served as a senior officer on the coastal defense battleship General-Admiral Apraksin. Only in 1903 did he receive the rank of Rear Admiral of the Fleet and the post of junior flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.
It was at the suggestion of Alexander Mikhailovich that a military aviation school was organized in Sevastopol. In 1908, Alexander Mikhailovich became the chairman of the Imperial All-Russian Aero Club, and then - the chief of the Imperial Air Force. In this position, he did a lot for the development of Russian aviation. Among the officers and sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, military pilots and soldier aviators, Alexander Mikhailovich enjoyed well-deserved respect. Perhaps it was precisely this circumstance in 1918 that allowed him to avoid that terrible fate that awaited many of his relatives after the revolution, who fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks.
Thus, we see that for most of his life Alexander Mikhailovich really did business, serving for the good of his native country. Perhaps it was patriotism and great life experience that helped the Grand Duke, who emigrated from Russia during the Civil War, to take a different look at Bolshevik politics. By the time of the revolution, Alexander Mikhailovich, who held the rank of admiral, commanded the country's Air Force. Like all other representatives of the Romanov dynasty, he was immediately dismissed from military service and soon moved to the Crimea, from where he emigrated to Europe on December 11, 1918, settling in France.
Promotional video:
At first, Alexander Mikhailovich tried to participate in the white movement, seeking support from the European powers. Then he focused on the organizational issues of the societies that helped the Russian emigrants. He somewhat changed his position both in relation to post-revolutionary events and in relation to European allies. So, in his "Book of Memoirs" Alexander Mikhailovich directly wrote that the British and other members of the Entente undertook such adventures in Russia, which contributed to the transformation of the Bolsheviks from revolutionary rebels into defenders of Russian independence. For example, the British created independent Azerbaijan in order to gain control over the Baku oil. Batum was turned into a "free city" under British protectorate - precisely with the aim of ensuring the delivery of Baku oil to Great Britain.
The allies also supported the independence of Georgia in order to gain access to its natural resources, and the French fortified themselves in Odessa, which at that time was the most important port of South Russia. Thus, yesterday's allies turned into predators, tearing apart the "remnants" of the Russian Empire in their own interests. It became clear to a significant part of the true patriots in the White movement that the allies in fact are not such, but are pursuing only their own interests. In turn, the Bolsheviks turned into defenders of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state, which by 1918 was in a state of almost complete disintegration.
This behavior of the allies was a powerful blow to the White movement. Many generals and officers, not to mention ordinary soldiers and Cossacks, realized that a little more and the country simply would not exist, it would be divided between the European powers, the United States and even Japan. In this situation, the Bolsheviks did not look as terrible as before. If before 1918 they were considered the overthrowers of the Russian state, then the attitude towards the Bolsheviks among many white officers began to change. Alexander Mikhailovich also wrote about the tragedy of Admiral Kolchak - everyone recognized as a hero, navigator and commander, who discredited himself by signing a document with the allied powers, in which he promised not only to compensate the allies for the damage suffered by "forced" actions on the territory of Russia, but also to recognize the independence of all statesemerged on the fragments of the Russian Empire. Thus, Admiral Kolchak agreed to recognize the disintegration of Russia - the disconnection of the Caucasus, the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Central Asia. It is noteworthy that Kolchak himself was betrayed by the allies who promised him help, and the money collected by Kolchak was appropriated. The direct culprits of Admiral Kolchak's death were not so much the Reds, whose hatred of the admiral is understandable, as traitors - the French general Janin and the leaders of the Czechoslovak corps, who "surrendered" the admiral.whose hatred of the admiral is understandable, how many traitors - the French general Janin and the leaders of the Czechoslovak corps, who "surrendered" the admiral.whose hatred of the admiral is understandable, how many traitors - the French general Janin and the leaders of the Czechoslovak corps, who "surrendered" the admiral.
"The guardian of Russian national interests was none other than the internationalist Lenin, who in his constant speeches spared no effort to protest against the partition of the former Russian Empire, appealing to the working people of the whole world," wrote Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov in his "Book of Memoirs", - and it was precisely this circumstance, in the opinion of the Grand Duke, that made the position of the whites very difficult. Real patriots in their camp were thinking more and more about what maybe they shouldn't go along with their "allies" who think only about the division and robbery of Russia.
The subsequent history of the country only confirmed the correctness of the words of Alexander Romanov. The Bolsheviks, having come to power, almost immediately set about restoring the Russian state within its former borders. At a time when the Western powers recognized the sovereignty of a number of self-proclaimed states that appeared on the fragments of the empire, the Bolsheviks made enormous efforts to ensure that the lands of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine, the Far East, and Eastern Siberia remained part of a single state. Of course, they could not do without losses - the Baltic states were disconnected, Bessarabia was under the control of Romania, and Poland, which received sovereignty, retained control over the regions of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine.
When, in 1920, Alexander Mikhailovich, who was by this time in France, saw the headlines of newspapers informing in the usual "shabby" manner that the Polish regiments of Jozef Pilsudski would soon take Kiev and establish control over Ukraine, the Grand Duke, as he admitted in an interview, he began with all his heart to wish the Red Army victory over the Poles - and this despite the fact that his family, his closest relatives were killed by the Bolsheviks. Concern for the territorial integrity of Russia turned out to be more important for the Grand Duke than personal accounts. He understood that if the Poles managed to win, then Russia would be deprived of the most important territories in the west of the country and it would become even more difficult to restore the country's former borders.
The Grand Duke noted that the Soviets, willy-nilly, continued the very policy that had been going on for centuries, since the time of Ivan the Terrible, and consisted in collecting lands around Moscow, in expanding the borders of the Russian state. Through the mouth of Alexander Romanov, the truth was spoken, because in the shortest possible time the Bolsheviks managed not only to restore Russia after the catastrophes of the First World War and the Civil War, but also to turn it into an even more powerful state than before. Already in the 1930s, the Soviet Union had become an industrial power capable of adequately resisting the West.
The role of the Bolsheviks in the restoration of Russian statehood was difficult not to admit, and this was perfectly understood by that part of the Russian political emigration, which was real, and not pretended patriots of their homeland. It is very gratifying that among the real patriots was a representative of the royal family of the Romanovs, all the more so honored as the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.
Another thing is that there were also those among the emigrants for whom personal grievances - for relatives and friends, for lost estates and funds overshadowed everything else. They continued to grudge against the Soviet regime and continued to count on the fact that it would be possible to overthrow it, even with the help of foreign invaders. After the death of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov, this part of the Russian emigration showed its true face when it took the side of the terrible aggressor - Hitlerite Germany, which brought death and destruction to Russian soil. Although Hitler hoped to destroy a significant part of the Slavic population and enslave the other part, these representatives of the political emigration saw in him, first of all, the most important ally in the struggle against the Bolsheviks. For this they were ready to forgive Hitler for the destruction of millions of Russian people,the seizure of Russian lands, the destruction of the country's economic infrastructure. Krasnov, Shkuro, Sultan Girey Klych and other similar figures by their actions during the Second World War only contributed to the further discrediting of white emigrants.
But there were other people among the emigration representatives.
Suffice it to recall the same Lieutenant-General Pyotr Semenovich Makhrov - the former chief of staff of the All-Union Soviet of Yugoslavia. When Hitler's Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Makhrov did not run to enlist in the Wehrmacht, but wrote a letter to the Soviet ambassador to France Bogomolov asking him to enroll in the Red Army. The 65-year-old general was ready to serve in the Red Army even as a private, just to take part in the defense of his homeland. But the letter was intercepted by the Vichy censorship and General Makhrov was arrested and found himself in a concentration camp. Fortunately, thanks to connections in the French military leadership, on December 7, 1941, he was released and lived for a long time, having died already at a very old age in 1964.
Unfortunately, Lieutenant General Pavel Alekseevich Kusonsky was unlucky enough to be released. A former quartermaster general of the Volunteer Caucasian Army, and then the chief of staff of the corps at Wrangel, Kusonsky was active in the Regional Military Alliance after emigrating from Russia. On June 22, 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of working for Soviet intelligence. On August 22, 1941, he died in a concentration camp from beatings. These were true patriots - Russian officers from among the white emigrants, but for some reason there is no talk of monuments to Makhrov or Kusonsky in Russia, just as opponents of the Soviet regime and the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov are not fond of recalling.
Author: Ilya Polonsky