M. D. Bonch-Bruevich — One of the Founders of the Red Army: Pages of a Biography Cover Image

Бонч-Бруевич — один из основателей Красной Армии: страницы биографии
M. D. Bonch-Bruevich — One of the Founders of the Red Army: Pages of a Biography

Author(s): Valera V. Kaminskiy, V. A. Veremenko
Subject(s): Military history, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today)
Published by: Издательство Исторического факультета СПбГУ
Keywords: Bonch-Bruevich; noble family; divorce; officer; General Staff; OGPU; Red Army

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the separate, little-known facts from the life of one of the founders of the Work- ers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (RKKA) Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich. The authors draw attention to the will- ingness and ability of the Major General to adapt to various changing circumstances, calmly stepping through the rules of morality. In his offi s youth for the sake of successfully continuing his career, he could expose his ex-wife in an extremely “unprofitable light” by going through a divorce procedure and making the circumstances of his personal life the subject of discussion not only of the spiritual court, but also of the higher authorities. Sim- ilarly, already being under arms in the Red Army, our hero could calmly report on his colleagues. Such forms of behavior no longer contradicted the “code of offi s honor” and did not seem to be anything inappropriate to contemporaries. On the contrary, they were supported in every possible way by the people in power, regardless of the type of state structure that existed in the country. A real, far from rare, type refl the priority of private and material interests, which was formed in the imperial era among Russian offi for the achievement of which personal “ties” and “profi acquaintances” were used. With “correct and skillful” use, interested individuals could “get out of the water”, from the seemingly most critical situations — from family breakdown and criminal prosecution, to the destruction of the state administration.

  • Issue Year: 8/2018
  • Issue No: 22
  • Page Range: 57-69
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Russian