Grodekov, Nikolai Ivanovich

Nikolai Grodekov was born on September 22, 1843 in Elizavetgrad , released from the 2nd Military School of Konstantinovsky on June 13, 1862, as a lieutenant in the 3rd Grenadier Rifle Battalion and participated with him in pacifying the Polish rebellion . Then transferred to the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment , Grodekov in 1868 graduated from the General Staff Academy and until 1873 served in the Caucasus Military District . The first literary work of Grodekov: “The Upland Strip of the Kuban Region” dates back to this time.

Central Asia

In 1873, he took part in the Khiva campaign as chief of staff of the Mangyshlak detachment, Colonel Lomakin, and for military distinctions was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 2nd degree and a golden weapon with the inscription "For courage . " Grodekov described this expedition in his excellent work Khiva Campaign of 1873. Actions of the Caucasian detachments ”(1883). In 1876, Grodekov was appointed chief of staff of the Ferghana region , whose military governor was then M.D. Skobelev . At the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. when England threatened Russia with a war by deploying its troops on the Indian border, the Turkestan governor-general, adjutant general K.P. Kaufman was instructed to make a special detachment on a march to the village of Dzham, on the border of the Bukhara khanate , with Grodekov being appointed head of the field the headquarters of this detachment. Immediately after the end of this expedition, Grodekov took a risky horseback ride for that time, accompanied by only two horsemen, to scout neighboring countries, through northern Afghanistan and northeastern Persia , making about 2 thousand miles.

This trip was commanded by the Highest to consider Grodekova as a campaign, and, in addition, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 3rd degree. Horse riding was described by Grodekov in the book “Through Afghanistan” (1879), which survived 2 editions and was translated into English, French and German. In 1880, Grodekov participated in the Akhal-Tekinsky expedition of M. D. Skobelev as the head of the advanced detachment, and then as the chief of staff of the Trans-Caspian region , and again on the eve of the expedition he visited the border regions of Persia. On July 6, 1880, Grodekov was promoted to major general and in 1881 received the Order of St. 4th degree George (1881)

The Akhal-Tekin expedition was described in detail by Grodekov in the four-volume work “The War in Turkmenistan . Skobelev’s campaign in 1880–81 ”(1883–84), also translated into English and French. In 1883, Grodekov was appointed military governor and commander of the troops of the Syr-Darya region , whose ten-year management contributed to his gaining a wealth of administrative experience. In 1890, Grodekov was promoted to lieutenant general. In the last year of his Syr-Darya governorship (1893), Grodekov initiated a translation into Russian (and personally translated individual chapters) of the book of the medieval Persian-Tajik lawyer Burhanuddin al-Marginani from Rishtan “Khoida. Comments of Muslim Law ” ^[1] .

Defender of the Far East

In 1893, Grodekov was appointed assistant to the Amur governor and commander of the Amur Military District . And on this outskirts, Grodekov strove to come to the aid of society in the development of enlightenment and familiarization with a vast, little-studied region. Through his efforts in Khabarovsk, the Amur department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society was formed, a public library was opened, and a museum with rich collections of archeology , ethnography and the fauna of the region was set up.

On March 28, 1898, Grodekov was appointed Governor-General of Amur, Commander-in-Chief of the Amur Military District and Military Ataman of the Amur Cossack Troops. On May 15, 1898, the new Governor-General ordered the closure of the odious Carian penal servitude . N.I. Grodekov was among those who discovered the Oriental Institute in Vladivostok in 1899. He was the chairman of the Council of the Amur Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society , in which he took an active part. Under N.I. Grodekov, the first public library in the region (now the Far Eastern National Library of National Economy) , the Natural History Museum (now the Khabarovsk Regional Museum named after N. I. Grodekov ) began to work, in the creation and organization of the work of which he invested a lot of effort and personal funds. At the direct instruction of N.I. Grodekov, Shmakovsky mineral springs were investigated, a clinic was opened in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky . N. I. Grodekov, as the supreme administrator of the region, contributed to the founding of the Holy Trinity Monastery near the Shmakovka railway station; He petitioned for the opening of a theological seminary in Vladivostok, and repeatedly transferred his personal savings to the church. The Governor-General personally sponsored the Sobriety Society, which was born in the coastal village of Osinovka, and helped equip the school and the reading room there. N. I. Grodekov supported the research activities of V. K. Arsenyev , approved the first project to protect Amur’s fish wealth, drawn up by the ichthyologist V. K. Brazhnikov, and contributed to the laying of the future Arsenal plant (now the Daldizel plant). Ahead were severe trials ...

In 1899, the Ihehtuan (Boxing) uprising broke out in the Qing Empire . The uprising continued until 1901 inclusively ^[2] . On June 23, 1900 , the Ihe-Tuan Chinese attacked the builders of the Chinese Eastern Railway and proceeded to destroy the railway track and station buildings. Grodekov was called up for responsible defense of the Amur Region and the suppression of Chinese unrest in northern Manchuria . Sending a detachment of Major General Sakharov to Harbin’s rescue, Grodekov gave the chiefs instructions in which he indicated that weapons should be used

In the midst of hostilities, on the initiative of Grodekov, a cadet corps was opened in Khabarovsk. He drew the Amur Shipping Company vessels for transporting troops.

Due to the energetic and decisive measures of Grodekov and the brilliant mobilization carried out under his leadership, by July 5 (18), 1901, temporary movement of trains and transportation of goods along the entire length of the not yet “pacified” CER was opened. On July 22, the main communication line of the region - Amur - was cleared of the enemy, and the free navigation of ships was resumed, part of the Sino-Eastern Railway line was freed up and work resumed on it, and by August 20, after the capture of Girin , Tsitsikar and Ninguta , the entire highway , for 1200 miles, again firmly held by Russian troops, and military operations in northern Manchuria could be considered over. Grodekov was granted a golden, decorated with diamonds, checker with the inscription: "For victories in Northern Manchuria in 1900." In the same year, Grodekov was promoted to infantry general.

On August 30, 1902, Grodekov resigned from the posts of Governor-General of the Amur Region, Commander-in-Chief of the Amur Military District and Military Ataman of the Amur Cossack Cossacks and was appointed a member of the State Council, and in 1905 he was appointed a permanent member of the State Defense Council , which position he performed until February 3, 1906, when he was appointed commander of troops in the Far East with the rights of commander in chief. At this post, Grodekov had to do a tremendous job of eliminating the rear of the army, bringing it to a peaceful position and sending spare and military units to Russia.

Recent years

On September 22, 1906, Grodekov was appointed Turkestan Governor-General and Commander of the Turkestan Military District , which position held until March 8, 1908. He retired for health reasons. Even when he was the Governor-General of Amur, Grodekov decided to give the Northern Capital a military trophy of the Chinese War. It was possible only after 6 years. On the pedestals of the sculptural Shi-tzu lions installed in St. Petersburg, a dedicatory inscription is carved: “The Shi-tzu from the city of Jilin in Manchuria was transported to St. Petersburg in 1907. Gift of the general from the infantry N. I. Grodekov. "

The valiant general died in 1913 in St. Petersburg, was buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery , the original tombstone was not preserved. The location of the grave was established by the name of the burial scheme in this cemetery, published in the reference book “All Petrograd” ^[4] . In the fall of 2013, the tombstone was restored ^[5] .

Literary activity

Grodekov’s literary activity is not limited to the listed works; at the same time he published a number of articles of military, political and geographical content in the Military Collection , Russian Disabled , New Time and other publications ...

In honor of N.I. Grodekov, the railway station Grodekovo I in the Primorsky Territory was named - the first passenger station at which the train from Moscow to Vladivostok, which crossed Manchuria on the CER , would again enter the territory of Russia - and the village with it (in 1958 the district the center was renamed the village of Border ), as well as the cargo station Grodekovo II .

One of the villages in the Dzhambul region of the Kazakh SSR is called Grodekovo .

Also in Primorye in the Anuchinsky district there is a village of Grodekovo .

Another settlement named after N.I. Grodekov is the village of Grodekovo in the Blagoveshchensky district of the Amur Region , which, before the eviction of Qinsko-subjects from the so-called. The “ Zaisei District ” was the Daurian village of Bordeaux. ^[6]

In honor of Nikolai Ivanovich, the Ussuri Cossacks named the village of Grodekovskaya, newly formed in 1903, which during the years of Soviet power was renamed the town of Pogranichny.

In the Khabarovsk Territory, in honor of N. I. Grodekov, the village of Grodekovo of the Lazo district is named .

The Khabarovsk Museum of Local Lore is also named after N.I. Grodekov. ^[7]

On the pedestals of the Shih Tzu sculptures in St. Petersburg brought by Grodekov from China and donated to the city, a dedicatory inscription is carved: “The Shih Tzu from the city of Jilin in Manchuria was transported to St. Petersburg in 1907. Gift of the General-from-Infantry N. I. Grodekov . "

The initiative group raised almost 400 thousand rubles to restore the gravestone to Grodekov in St. Petersburg and to the monument in the village of Pogranichnoye (railway station Grodekovo) of the Primorsky Territory. In 2013, a bronze sculpture of Grodekov of Vladivostok sculptor George Sharoglazov was cast in a foundry art workshop in Zhukovsky near Moscow. September 12, 2013 the board of the Ministry of Emergency Situations delivered gypsum and bronze busts of Nikolai Ivanovich Grodekov to the Khabarovsk military airfield ^[4] . The first stayed in Khabarovsk, the second - a bronze bust - went to the village of Pogranichny.

• The war in Turkmenistan. Skobelev’s campaign in 1880-1881 T. 1-4. SPb., 1883-1884
• The most comprehensive report of the Amur Governor General. Khabarovsk, 1901
• A note on the routes from the Trans-Caspian region to Herat // Collection of geographical, topographic and statistical materials on Asia. Vol. V.
• Kyrgyz and Kara-Kyrgyz Syr-Darinskoy area. Tashkent, 1889
• On the opening of the Troitskosavsko-Kyakhtinsky branch of the Amur department of the Russian Geographical Society. Irkutsk, 1894
• A trip from Samarkand through Afghanistan to Herat // Collection of geographical, topographic and statistical materials on Asia. Vol. V.
• Strategic review of the Khiva Khanate. Tashkent, 1882 (together with L. N. Sobolev)
• Khiva campaign of 1873. The actions of the Caucasian troops. SPb., 1883 (2nd, means. Add., Ed .: SPb., 1888)
• Through Afghanistan. Travel notes of the colonel of the General Staff. SPb., 1880

translation from English:

• Hidaya. Comments of Muslim law. Per. from English under the editorship of N. I. Grodekova. T. 1-4. Tashkent, 1893
• “What if we find in Afghanistan not friends, but enemies?” General N.I. Grodekov on Russian politics in Central Asia // Source. Documents of Russian History, No. 5 (59). 2002 (neopr.) . Eastern literature . Date of treatment February 12, 2011. Archived February 24, 2012.

• Editorial Board N.I. Grodekov // World illustration : journal. - 1894. - T. 51 , No. 1303 . - S. 43 .
• In memory of 1900. Dedicated to the pacifier of the boxing movement in Manchuria, General-from-Infantry N.I. Grodekov. Collection. Harbin, 1906.
• Grodekov, Nikolai Ivanovich // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
• Terentyev M.A. Conquest of Central Asia. T. 2-3. SPb., 1903
• Grodekov Nikolai Ivanovich // Part 3. List of seniority generals who are in service outside the military department // List of seniority generals . Part I, II and III. Done on January 1, 1912. - St. Petersburg: Military Printing House, 1912. - S. 5.
• Dubinina N.I. Amur Governor-General N.I. Grodekov: Historical and Biographical Essay. - Khabarovsk: Ed. House Amursky Vedomosti, 2001. - 352 p., ill.

• Site dedicated to the memory of N. Grodekov