Alexei Polivanov

Alexei Polivanov
Алексей Поливанов
13th Minister of War of the Russian Empire
In office 13 June 1915 – 15 March 1916
Monarch	Nicholas II
Prime Minister	Ivan Goremykin Boris Stürmer
Preceded by	Vladimir Sukhomlinov
Succeeded by	Dmitry Shuvayev
Assistant Minister of War
In office 27 April 1906 – 7 May 1912
Monarch	Nicholas II
Prime Minister	Ivan Goremykin Pyotr Stolypin Vladimir Kokovtsov
Minister of War	Alexander Roediger Vladimir Sukhomlinov
Personal details
Born	16 March [O.S. 4 March] 1855 Krasnoye-na-Volge, Kostroma Governorate. Russian Empire
Died	25 September 1920(1920-09-25) (aged 65) Riga, Latvia
Military service
Allegiance	Russian Empire  Russian SFSR
Branch/service	Imperial Russian Army Red Army
Years of service	1871–1920
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Russo-Turkish War Russo-Japanese War World War I

Alexei Andreyevich Polivanov (Russian: Алексей Андреевич Поливанов); 16 March [O.S. 4 March] 1855 – 25 September 1920) was a Russian military figure, infantry general (1915). He served as Russia's Minister of War from June 1915 until the Tsarina Alexandra forced his removal from office in March 1916.

Polivanov was born to an aristocratic family. He graduated from the Nikolaevsky Military Engineering Academy in Petersburg, present-day Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University (Nikolaevsky), from which he graduated in 1880. He served in the 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War. He later became a member of the Russian General Staff (1899–1904), rising in 1905 to become its chief the following year.

Following the disastrous defeat in the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War, he was appointed assistant Minister of War and quickly recommended extensive political and military reforms. However, he was dismissed in 1912 because of his cooperation with liberal factions within the Duma.

Polivanov was appointed to the State Council in 1912 and served until June 1915 when he replaced Vladimir Sukhomlinov as Minister of War; and at once started transforming the Russian army's training system and tried with limited success to improve its supply and communications systems.

However, in August 1915 he became aware of Tsar Nicholas II's plan to replace Grand Duke Nikolai as commander-in-chief of the army and personally lead the Russian armies at the front, and made strenuous efforts to persuade him not to.

This helped alienate Polivanov from the Tsarina, who then conspired to have him sacked, and achieved this when Tsar Nicholas dismissed him in March 1916. He was succeeded by Dmitry Shuvayev.^[1]

Following the Russian Revolution, Polivanov joined the Red Army in February 1920, participating in the Soviet-Polish peace talks in Riga later that year but died of typhus during the talks.

He was awarded Order of Prince Danilo I and other decorations.^[2]

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• "Alexei Polivanov". FirstWordWar.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
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