Sobolev, Leonid Nikolaevich

Leonid Sobolev was born in 1844 in the village of Kaptsev, Meshchovsky district, Kaluga province . His father, Colonel Sobolev, was a participant in the Russo-Turkish War of 1829, received George for the capture of Varna, and his grandfather was an associate of Suvorov in the capture of Ochakov. Leonid Nikolayevich studied at the 1st Cadet Corps and the Mikhailovsky Artillery School , from the last of May 23, 1864 he was released into the 7th Horse-Artillery Brigade; in 1868 he graduated from the course at the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff and was seconded to the headquarters of the troops of the Syr-Darya region in Turkestan , in 1871 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel for the difference in the Shakhrisyabz expedition ^[1] . During his stay in Turkestan, he wrote a study on the Zarafshan district of the Syr-Darya region. This work was noted by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

In 1877–78 he was in the army on the Balkan Peninsula, was at the disposal of Adjutant General F.F. Radetsky , participated in battles near Plevna , near Shipka , on January 31, 1878 he was awarded the Order of St. 4th degree George :

For the Turkish campaign he was also awarded a golden saber with the inscription "For courage" (1877) and the orders of St. Anne of the 2nd degree with swords (1878) and St. 3rd degree Vladimir with swords (1879). In 1881 he received the Order of St. Stanislav 1st degree.

August 30, 1880 promoted to major general. In 1882, the Bulgarian prince Alexander Battenberg appealed to the Russian government to support him through the appointment of several Russian military men to the highest posts in Bulgaria , since his position in the country was greatly shocked by the coup d'etat of 1881. The request was fulfilled: General Sobolev was appointed Minister-President and Minister of the Interior, Baron A.V. Kaulbars , War Minister, and Prince M.I. Khilkov , Minister of Public Works. Sobolev distributed the remaining portfolios among the Bulgarians of the conservative party, at the direction of the prince: Vlkovich (who was later replaced by Stoilov ), Nachevich , Grekov , Agur and others. All these were the leaders of the coup of 1881, and at first it seemed that the policy of Sobolev would be a continuation of the policy of his Russian predecessor, who committed the coup, General Ernrot . Indeed, Sobolev signed the new election law, drafted by the conservative party, abolishing the universal suffrage, and allowed pressure on the elections held in the fall of 1882 on the basis of this law. Subsequently, in his memoirs, he spoke of this event as follows: “I was begged to sign the (electoral) law; required the signature of the Russian general. I signed it, because by itself, with its honest application, it could not cause much damage to the people. There were good sides to the law. But I stated that I would demand compliance with the law. However, in the elections of the autumn of 1882, I was not able to fulfill my promise - and in this I see the biggest mistake I made in Bulgaria. " It soon became apparent that Sobolev did not want to play into the hands of conservatives; alien to the political parties of Bulgaria and not very familiar with the Bulgarian conditions, but at the same time determined to act independently, on the basis of his own convictions, he conscientiously sought to study the mood of various groups in the country and allowed very considerable freedom of the press; he returned from exile Dragan Tsankov and became close to many members of his party. Stoilov and other ministers were extremely unhappy with this. Their clashes with Sobolev took place on the budget issue, since the ministers extremely generously spent public funds, and Sobolev sincerely sought to save. He wanted the government to reserve the construction of railways, while the Bulgarian ministers insisted on concessions that were extremely unprofitable for the country, Sobolev insisted on maintaining the gendarmerie, which, as subordinate to the Minister of War, that is, Kaulbars, Stoilov and his friends wanted to destroy. On questions of the budget and railways, the prince was on the side of his conservative ministers, but on the question of the gendarmerie he acted in agreement with Sobolev. The dismissal of the cabinet became inevitable. March 3, 1883 Sobolev formed a new cabinet, which, in addition to Kaulbars and Khilkov, included several moderately liberal Bulgarians: Kiriak Tsankov (nephew of Dragan Tsankov), Burmov , Agur , etc.

By this time, Sobolev had a definite conviction that the coup d'etat of 1881 was carried out by Prince Alexander and the Stoilov group exclusively in self-interested interests, that General Ernrot, who had facilitated this coup, made a mistake, and that the restoration of the Tarnovo constitution and legal order would generally be in the interests of both Bulgaria and Russia. This conviction was consistent with the policy of Sobolev. She aggravated his relationship with the prince. In May 1883, Prince Alexander, in Moscow , where he arrived to celebrate the coronation, asked the Russian government to recall Sobolev and Kaulbars, but received a categorical refusal. Sobolev also arrived in Moscow and had a meeting with the emperor. On September 6, 1883, the prince restored the Tarnovo Constitution with a special manifesto; on the same day, Sobolev and Kaulbars, considering their mission completed or seeing the impossibility of ruling the country together with Prince Alexander, resigned, which was accepted. Sobolev returned to Russia and was the commander of the 1st brigade of the 37th Infantry Division (10.27.1883-17.2.1891), the chief of staff of the Vilnius military district (17.2.1891-14.3.1895), the chief of staff of the Moscow military district (14.3.1895 -1.6.1904) ^[1] .

At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the infantry general (from December 6, 1903) Sobolev was appointed commander of the 6th Siberian Army Corps (1.6.1904 - May 1906 ^[1] ) and participated in the battles of Shahe and Mukden. After retreating to Thelin, he served as commander of the 2nd Manchu Army. For the Manchu campaign, he was awarded a diamond saber and on March 26, 1905, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with diamond signs . Upon his return from the war, he retired. He entered into a tough polemic with General A.N. Kuropatkin, who accused the generals surrounding him of the failures. His voluminous work Kuropatkin and Generals was a kind of response to Kuropatkin's memorandum on the war. Sobolev’s book came out after a duel between two generals that failed (for non-permission).

In 1886, Sobolev published in “Russian Antiquity” very interesting materials: “Toward the Recent History of Bulgaria”. These materials also called for a correspondence between Generals Ernrot and Sobolev, which was also published in Russian Antiquities of 1886. Of the numerous printed works of Sobolev, we indicate: “Geographical and statistical information about the Zeravshan district” (St. Petersburg, 1874) ; “A page from the history of the eastern question. Anglo-Afghan conflict ”(4 vols., St. Petersburg, 1880–85) ; "Materials on the study of Bulgaria" (under the editorship of Sobolev, 4th edition, Bucharest, 1877); as well as the novel "State criminals" (under the pseudonym R. Skiff) , in which he depicted the revolutionary upheavals of 1905-1906. His last printed works were the brochures “Russian Campaign in India” and “Section of Russia” , written in response to the famous Hungarian tycoon and friend of the Austrian heir to the throne, Nikolai Semera, who proposed on the eve of the First Balkan War a joint Austro-Turkish campaign against Russia. Almost all his life Sobolev kept a diary, excerpts from which were published before the 1917 revolution in Russian Antiquity and the Historical Bulletin.

Leonid Nikolaevich Sobolev died on October 13, 1913 in the village of Znamensky of the Toropetsky district of the Pskov province ^[2] . The cause of death is a brain hemorrhage.

He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Family

He was married to Maria Nikolaevna Shcheglova, the daughter of Nikolai Ivanovich Shcheglov (d. 1904) and Alla Andreevna ^[3] .

Children ^[3] :

• Anna (married to Tolmachev);
• Vera (married to Lev Lvovich Volkov);
• Cyril (11.5.1888 - 02/05/1934, Beijing, China); Page Corps graduate (1908), participant in the First World War; Chief of Staff of the 8th Kama Rifle Admiral Kolchak Division (1918-1920), Colonel (1920), participant in the battles near Ufa and Chelyabinsk, Siberian Ice Campaign; Chief of Staff of the 1st Rifle Corps as part of the Troops of the Russian Eastern Outskirts (1920), Major General (1921); with the chieftain G. M. Semenov went to Shanghai, lived in Beijing and Harbin ^[3] .

• Sobolev L. N. Anglo-Afghan strife: (Essay on the war of 1879-1880): [Page from the history of the eastern question]: Issue. 1-8. - SPb. : type of. Dr. M.A. Khan, 1880-1885. - 6 t.
• Sobolev L. N. Is a Russian Campaign Possible in India? - M .: type. Okr. headquarters, 1901. - 27 p. - (article posted in 1888 in the "Rus. Antiquity")
• Sobolev L.N. Geographic and statistical information about Zeravshan district with an appendix of the list of settlements of the district. - SPb. : type of. Imp. Acad. Sciences, 1874. - 561 + 7 s. - (From t. 4 “Western Journal of Statistics of the Russian Geographic Island”)
• Sobolev L. N. State criminals: Roman / R. Skiff. - SPb. : typical lit. t-va "Light", 1908. - 2 + 344 p. - (The author is installed according to the publication: Masanov I.F. Dictionary of pseudonyms. - M., 1958. - T. 3. - P. 116)
• Sobolev L. N. Railways in Russia and the participation of the Zemstvo in their construction. - SPb .: type. J. Stauf, 1868 .-- 23 p.
• Sobolev L. N. India: historical outline / [comp. L.N.S.]. - [SPb.]: In type. V. Bezobrazova and Comp., 1887. - [71] p. - (Ott. From the Encyclopedia of Military and Marine Sciences, vol. 3, issue 3. - 1888. - S. 324-355)
• Sobolev L.N. To the recent history of Bulgaria: materials on the domestic policy of 1881-1883. // Russian antiquity . - 1886. - No. September . - S. 704–752 (file pages = 223–271) .
• Sobolev L. N. Kuropatkin strategy: Krat. notes ex. commander 6 Sib. army army. Bldg. - SPb .: Rus. Skoropech., 1910. - 12 + 477 p., 5 l. kart.
• Sobolev L.N. Last battle for Shipka: Regarding the memoirs of V.V. Vereshchagin: Essay: 1877-1878. - [St. Petersburg, 1889]. - [2], 413-450 p. - (From "Rus. Antiquities" ed. 1889, v. 62. May)
• Sobolev L.N. Section of Russia. - SPb .: type. A.S. Suvorin, 1911 .-- 16 p.
• Sobolev L. N. Russia and England in the Far East: East. certificate for the opening day of Casp.-Samarkand. g. May 15, 1888 - [St. Petersburg]: typ. V.S. Balasheva, 1888. - 20 p. - (Ott. From the historical. Zh. "Rus. Antiquity", ed. 1888)
• Sobolev L. N. Timur (Tamerlan): [biographical sketch / L.N. S.]. - [SPb.]: Type. V. Bezobrazova and Co. °, 1895. - 8 p. - (Ott. From the "Encyclopedia of Military and Naval Sciences", v. 7. - 1895. - S. 483-490)
• Sobolev L. N. Genghis Khan: [biographical sketch / L.N. S. - St. Petersburg.]: Type. V. Bezobrazova and Co. °, 1896. - 18 p. - (Ott. From the Encyclopedia of Military and Naval Sciences, vol. 8, issue 2. - 1897. - S. 305-310)
• Sobolev L.N., Grodekov N.I. Strategic review of the Khiva khanate: Ed. as a manuscript. - Tashkent: type. rented by F.V. Bazilevsky, 1882. - 2 + 83 s. - (Mater. For a description of the Khiva campaign of 1873, compiled by the General Staff of Lieutenant General V.N. Trotsky )

• Order of St. Stanislav 3rd degree (1866)
• Order of St. Anne of the 3rd degree (1870)
• Golden weapon “For courage” (1877)
• Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree (1872)
• a small gold medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society - for the work “Geographical and Statistical Information on the Zarevshan District, with the Appendix of the List of Populated Places of the District” (1873)
• Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree with swords (1877)
• Order of St. George 4th degree (1878)
• Order of St. 3rd degree Vladimir with swords (1878)
• Order of St. Stanislav 1st degree (1882)
• Order of St. Annes of the 1st degree (1886)
• Order of St. Vladimir 2nd degree (1889)
• The highest favor (1892)
• Order of the White Eagle (1896)
• The highest gratitude (1898, 1900, 1902; for the review of troops near Kursk - 1902; 1903, 1904, 1904)
• rent for 6 years at 1500 rubles. per year (1900)
• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1902)
• swords and diamond signs to the order of sv. Alexander Nevsky (1905)

Foreign:

• Serbian Order of the First Degree (1883)
• Bukhara Order of the Golden Star of the 1st degree (1896)
• Persian Order of Leo and the Sun 1st Art. (1898)
• Bulgarian Order "St. Alexander" 1st degree (1899)

• B. V — c. Sobolev, Leonid Nikolaevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. - T. 30a. - S. 645-646.
• Glinotsky N.P. Historical outline of the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. - St. Petersburg, 1882.
• List of generals by seniority for 1886. - SPb., 1886.

• Sobolev Leonid Nikolaevich (neopr.) . Russian imperial army. Date of appeal September 30, 2016.
• Sobolev Leonid Nikolaevich (neopr.) . necropolural. Date of appeal September 30, 2016.