Richard Iosifovich Termen ( February 4, 1870 , St. Petersburg , Russian Empire - July 5, 1937 , Sofia , Bulgaria ) - Major General of the General Staff, participant in the First World War, white emigrant. Orientalist, geopolitician.
| Richard Iosifovich Termen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | February 4, 1870 | |||||
| Place of Birth | Saint Petersburg , Russian Empire | |||||
| Date of death | August 5, 1937 (67 years old) | |||||
| A place of death | Sofia , Bulgaria | |||||
| Affiliation |  Russian empire | |||||
| Type of army | infantry | |||||
| Years of service | 1887-1917 | |||||
| Rank | major general (1915) | |||||
| Commanded | 80th Kabardian Infantry Regiment | |||||
| Battles / wars | World War I | |||||
| Awards and prizes |
| |||||
Content
- 1 Brief biography
- 2 track record
- 2.1 Education
- 2.2 Ranks
- 2.3 Service Pass
- 2.4 Awards
- 3 Theremin as a geopolitician
- 4 notes
- 5 Sources
Short Biography
Richard (Richard) Iosifovich Termen came from a Huguenot family who moved to Russia. Born February 4, 1870 in St. Petersburg . For most of his life he firmly adhered to the Reformed (Calvinist) religion, but before his death he converted to Orthodoxy, taking the name of Alexei. He was married, had three children. Brother - Russian officer Alfred Theremin.
Being seconded from the 35th artillery brigade in 1893, Richard Termen entered the Officerβs courses in Oriental languages at the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he graduated in 1896. He perfectly mastered the Arabic and Turkish languages.
In the years 1901-08. Theremin served in the Caucasus. In 1908-13 - in Siberia. In addition to the officer service, in 1910-1913. consisted of the director of the Nikolaev public library of the Amur department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society . In March 1914 he returned to the Caucasus.
Shortly before the First World War, Richard Termen was sent to the border commission to check the state border between Russia and Turkey. The Commission relied in its activities on the recent (1911) results of the work of the quadripartite commission (Russian-British-Turkish-Persian) on the Turkish-Persian demarcation [1] .
Throughout World War I, Theremin fought and served in the Caucasus Theater of War. During the heroic defense of Sarykamysh, the shock detachment, under the command of Colonel Theremin (including the 153rd Baku infantry regiment and the 15th Turkestan infantry regiment ), overturned the enemy with a powerful counterattack, and this was the beginning of the end of the 11th Turkish corps (December 1914).
In 1920-1921, Theremin lived in Georgia , in Batumi . Through Turkey, he emigrated from Georgia to Bulgaria [2] . He was an assistant director of the cadet "Native Corps" in Sofia. In this position, he wrote a military pedagogical book "Cadet Traditions: to sacrifice oneself for a powerful and holy Russia" (Sofia, 1930), where he described the traditions of the cadet corps as
| An extract of the whole worldview of the former Great and Holy Russia ... |
In September 1931, Termen made a jubilee report in Sofia on the historical merits of General N.N. Yudenich , under whose leadership he made his most famous military achievements.
Richard Termen died on August 5, 1937 in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
Track record
Education
- Alexander Cadet Corps (1887)
- Mikhailovsky Artillery School (1890, 1st grade, to the 35th Artillery Brigade),
- Oriental language courses at the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1895)
- Nicholas Academy of the General Staff (1901, 1st rank)
Ranks
- entered service (08/31/1887)
- second lieutenant with Art. 08/09/1888 (08/10/1890)
- lieutenant (08/09/1892)
- staff captain (07/28/1896)
- captain (05/23/1901) lieutenant colonel (6/12/1904)
- renamed as outland advisers (05/20/1905)
- renamed lieutenant colonels (04/12/1908)
- Colonel (6.12.1908)
- Major General (08/12/1915).
Walkthrough
- in the 35th artillery brigade (1890-1901)
- studied at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff (1898-1901)
- served a camp camp in the Caucasian Military District (1901)
- served the censored company command in the 16th Grenadier Mingrel Regiment (11/11/902 - 10/11/1903)
- senior adjutant of the headquarters of the 20th Infantry Division (2.04.1903 - 11/18/1903), chief officer for special assignments at the headquarters of the 2nd Caucasian Army Corps (11/18/1903 - 6/12/1904)
- staff officer for special assignments under the commander of the troops of the Caucasian Military District (6.12.1904 - 05.20.1905)
- Imp. Russian Vice Consul in Van (05/20/1905 - 04/12/1908)
- Senior Adjutant of the Headquarters of the Irkutsk Military District (04/12/1908 - 07/07/1908)
- Head Officer for errands at the headquarters of the Irkutsk Military District (07/07/1908 - 11/30/1908)
- and. D. Chief of Staff of the 6th Siberian Rifle Division (11/30/1908 - 12/13/1909)
- served the qualified command of the battalion in the 24th East Siberian Rifle Regiment (05.16.1909 - 09.17.1909)
- Chief of Staff of the 6th Siberian Rifle Division (12/13/1909 - 4/02/1912)
- Chief of Staff of the 52nd Infantry Division (02/02/1912 - 03/31/1914)
- Chief of Staff of the Kuban Plastun Brigade (03/31/1914 - after 01/06/1914)
- commander of the 80th Kabardino Infantry Regiment (01/20/1915 - after 05/17/1915)
- in the reserve of ranks at the headquarters of the Caucasian military district (11.29.1915 - ??. 01.1916)
- Chief of Staff of the 5th Turkestan Rifle Division (??. 01.1916 - 06/20/1916)
- Chief of Staff of the Azerbaijan-Van Detachment (06/20/1916 - 07/26/1916)
- Chief of Staff of the Governor-General of the Regions of Turkey engaged in the law of war (07.26.1916 - after 3.01.1917)
- division commander (from 07.10.1917)
Rewards
- Order of St. Stanislav 3 degrees (04/23/1898)
- Order of St. Anne 3 degrees (01.16.1905)
- Order of St. Stanislav 2 degrees (1911; 02/19/1912)
- St. George's weapons (VP 17.05.1915).
Theremin as a Geopolitician
In the summer of 1906, during the period of another aggravation of Russian-Turkish relations, the headquarters of the Caucasian military district sent the Russian vice consul in Van Theremin to the high mountain Sanjak Hakkari , under the Ottoman sovereignty, inhabited by Assyrian-Nestorians.
In July 1906, court counselor Theremin received an audience with the Nestorian patriarch Benjamin Mar-Shimun . This was 11 years after the Turks massacred the Assyrians and Armenians in Diyarbekir in 1895 ( Diyarbakir [3] ). The energetic 20-year-old patriarch made a very favorable impression on the diplomat - and Theremin asked him directly: whose side will the Nestorians take in the event of the expected conflict between Russia and Turkey? Mar-Shimun replied:
| If Russia occupies the Van , we will be able to put up a 40,000th army and conquer territory from Bitlis to Mosul for Russia. I can send 20 thousand soldiers to where Russia will most need it, while the remaining 20 thousand will remain here for the defense of the Assyrians. |
Commenting on the words of the patriarch in the official report, Theremin expressed a deep personal conviction that the real success of the Assyrian case is possible only
| in the event that they will fight for their semi-independence, which they need to give like Khiva and Bukhara . |
In the then geopolitical context, this decision could give the Russian Empire a serious advantage over the Ottoman Empire . During the First World War, Patriarch Benjamin Mar-Shimun proved to be one of the most reliable allies of the Russian Empire. From the first days of the war, he began to form self-defense units. To put pressure on the patriarch, the Young Turkish authorities arrested his sibling Hormizd, who studied in Constantinople. At the same time they delivered an ultimatum: the young man would be hanged if the Assyrians did not immediately surrender their weapons. Mar-Shimun replied that after all the horrors perpetrated by the Turks over the Assyrians, disarmament was impossible, and added:
| Since my brother is alone, and my people are many, I have to choose to lose my brother, but to save my people! |
Theremin already in 1906 paid great attention to the geopolitical aspirations of Great Britain , which had established its influence in southern oil-bearing Iran, and now was trying to penetrate into Eastern Anatolia .
Notes
- β See: V.F. Minorsky Turkish-Persian delimitation. // Proceedings of the IRGO. - vol. LII, no. V - Petrograd, 1916.
- β Presumably in 1921.
- β Gunter, Michael. The Kurdish Predicament in Iraq: A Political Analysis . - P. 8.
Sources
- Zalessky K. A. Who was who in the First World War. - M., 2003.
- βMilitary Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George. Biobibliographic reference "- RGVIA, M., 2004.
- List of senior military commanders, chiefs of staff: districts, corps and divisions and commanders of individual combat units. - St. Petersburg. Military Printing House. 1913.
- Theremin R.I. Report on a trip to Sanjak Hekkiari , Van province, in 1906. - Tiflis, 1910.
- Theremin R.I. To sacrifice oneself for Russia powerful and holy. - Sofia, 1930. (reprinted in the journal Spiritual and moral education. - No. 1 / 2009.)
- Matveev (Bar-Mattai) K.P. - Assyrians and the Assyrian problem in modern and recent times. M., 1979.
- List of the General Staff. Fixed on 06/01/1914. - Petrograd, 1914
- List of the General Staff. Corrected on 01/01/1916. - Petrograd, 1916
- List of the General Staff. Fixed on 01/03/1917. - Petrograd, 1917
- List of the General Staff. Corrected on 03/01/1918.//Ganin A.V. Corps of officers of the General Staff during the Civil War of 1917-1922. - M., 2010.
- List to the generals by seniority. Compiled on 07/10/1916. - Petrograd, 1916
- Unforgettable Graves: Russian Abroad: Obituaries 1917-1999. - Pashkov House: Moscow, 2004-2007, in 6 volumes.
- RGVIA, f. 409, s / s 265-519 (1915)
- http://www.regiment.ru/bio/T/104.htm