Alexander Samsonov

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Alexander Samsonov

Aleksandr Vassilievich Samsonov (November 2, 1859 – August 29, 1914) served as a Russian military

Military history of Imperial Russia

The Military history of Imperial Russia encompasses the period of history in which Russian Empire Imperial Russian Army, Imperial Russian Navy and Imperial Russian Air Service forces participated from its creation in 1721 by Peter I of Russia, until the Russian Revolution , which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union....
commander during World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

Samsonov joined the Russian Army at age 18 and fought in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78. After this war Samsonov attended the Nikolaevsky Military Academy in St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
. He commanded a cavalry unit during the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, or more properly Boxer Uprising, was a violent anti-foreign, anti-Christian movement by the "Righteous Fists of Harmony,? Yihe tuan or Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists in China....
(1900) and the Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War or the Manchurian Campaign in some English sources, was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialism ambitions of the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over Manchuria and Korea....
(1904–1905).

Through these conflicts Samsonov gained a reputation as an energetic and resourceful leader, but some observers criticized his strategic abilities.

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Encyclopedia

Aleksandr Vassilievich Samsonov (November 2, 1859 – August 29, 1914) served as a Russian military

Military history of Imperial Russia

World War I

Saint Petersburg

Boxer Rebellion

Russo-Japanese War

Battle of Mukden

The Battle of Mukden , the last major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden in Manchuria....
in 1905 he accused General Paul von Rennenkampf

Paul von Rennenkampf

Paul von Rennenkampf was a Russian general who served in the Imperial Russian Army for over 40 years, including during World War I.Of Baltic German extraction, he joined the Russian Army at 19 and attended the Nikolaevsky Military Academy in Saint Petersburg from 1879 to 1882....
of failing to assist him during the fighting and the two came to blows. After the Russo-Japanese War Samsonov became (in 1906) Chief-of-Staff of the Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
Military District and later an administrator in Turkestan

Turkestan

Turkestan is a region in Central Asia, which today is largely inhabited by Turkic peoples. It has been referenced in many Turkic and Persian sagas and is an integral part of Turan ....
.

At the start of World War I Samsonov received the command of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia refers to the main part of the Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Sea from the 13th century to 1945. From 1772?1829 and 1878?1945, the Province of East Prussia was a province of the Germany state of Prussia....
. He advanced slowly into the south-western corner of East Prussia, intending to link up with General Rennenkampf's forces, which had started advancing from the north-east section. However, lack of communication between the two would hinder co-ordination.

General (later Field Marshal) Paul von Hindenburg

Paul von Hindenburg

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a German Generalfeldmarschall and statesman....
and General Erich Ludendorff

Erich Ludendorff

Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a Imperial Germany Army Officer , victor of Battle of Li?ge, and, with Paul von Hindenburg, one of the victors of the battle of Battle of Tannenberg ....
, who arrived on the Eastern Front to replace General Maximilian von Prittwitz

Maximilian von Prittwitz

Maximilian von Prittwitz was a Germany general....
, engaged Samsonov's advancing forces. They made contact on August 22 and for six days the Russians, possessing numerical superiority, had some successes. However, by August 29 the Germans, who were intercepting Russian wireless communications, had surrounded Samsonov's Second Army at Tannenberg

Tannenberg

Tannenberg may refer to* Tannenberg, Saxony, a town in the district of Annaberg in the Germany state of Saxony.* The German language name for the village of Stebark in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland....
.

General Samsonov attempted to retreat, but with his army now trapped in a German encirclement, the German Eighth Army

German Eighth Army

The 8th Army was a World War I and World War II field army....
killed or captured most of his troops; see Battle of Tannenberg (1914)

Battle of Tannenberg (1914)

The Battle of Tannenberg was a decisive engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I, fought by the Russian First Army and Second Army |Second Armies and the Eighth Army between 23 August and 2 September 1914....
. Only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian soldiers managed to escape the cordon. Shocked by the disastrous outcome of the battle and unable to face reporting the scale of the disaster to Tsar Nicholas II, Samsonov committed suicide by a shot to the head near Willenberg on August 29 or August 30, 1914.