Hryhorii Ivanovych Makhno ( uk, Григорій Іванович Махно; 24 January 1886 – 18 September 1919) was a Ukrainian rebel commander and brother of

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, The surname "Makhno" ( uk, Махно́) was itself a corruption of Nestor's father's surname "Mikhnenko" ( uk, Міхненко). ( 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ("Father Makhno"),; According to ...

Biography

Hryhorii was born into a peasant family in the village of

Huliaipole Huliaipole ( uk, Гуляйполе ; ) is a city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno. In 2021, it had a population of Huliaipole was Battle of Huliaipole ...

on 24 January 1886 to Ivan Rodionovych Mikhnenko and Evdokiia Matveevna Perederyi. His father died in 1889, leaving he and his brothers in the sole care of their mother. Hryhorii was married to a peasant woman Khristina, with whom he had two daughters: Maria and Elizabeth. In 1907, he joined the anarcho-communist

Union of Poor Peasants The Union of Poor Peasants ( uk, Спілка бідних хліборобів), also known as the Peasant Group of Anarcho-Communists or the Huliaipole Anarchist Group, was an underground anarchist organization, operating in the years 1905–190 ...

. When his brother

was arrested for participating in the group, Hryhorii visited him in prison and told him of the death of their comrade Oleksandr Semenyuta. In the same year he was drafted into the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

, in which he fought during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1918 he took part in the defense of the Donets-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic as part of an anarcho-communist detachment, with which he retreated to

Tsaritsyn Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

. In Tsaritsyn, Hryhorii was appointed chief of staff of the 37th Brigade of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

on the Tsaritsyn front. In the spring of 1919, he returned to his native Huliaipole and joined the

Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine ( uk, Революційна Повстанська Армія України), also known as the Black Army or as Makhnovtsi ( uk, Махновці), named after their leader Nestor Makhno, was a ...

(RIAU). When the Insurgents separated from the

and began their retreat westward, Hryhorii joined the small detachment around his brother Nestor. For some time Hryhorii served as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of the united rebel troops of

and

Nykyfor Hryhoriv Nykyfor Oleksandrovych Hryhoriv (né Nychypir Servetnyk, 1884 – 27 July 1919) was a Ukrainian paramilitary leader noted for repeatedly switching sides during the Ukrainian Civil War. He was commonly known as "Otaman Hryhoriv." In some historic ...

, then as a member of the

Military Revolutionary Council The Military Revolutionary Council (russian: Военно-революционный Совет , VRS) was the ''de facto'' executive of the Makhnovshchina, empowered to act during the interim between sittings of the Regional Congresses. Fun ...

(VRS). In early September 1919, the Insurgents clashed with the White movement around Pomichna, with the insurgent cavalry carrying out a series of raids into the White rear. According to

Peter Arshinov Peter Andreyevich Arshinov (russian: Пётр Андре́евич Арши́нов; 1887–1937), was a Russian anarchist revolutionary and intellectual who chronicled the history of the Makhnovshchina. Initially a Bolshevik, during the 1905 ...

, on 18 September 1919, Hryhorii Makhno was killed in battle with the Whites, alongside

Petya Lyuty Isidor Lyuty ( uk, Ісидор Лютий, ), better known by his ''nom de guerre'' Petya Lyuty ( uk, Петя Лютий), was a Ukrainian military commander in the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. An early member of the insurgent staff ...

. After receiving news of his brother's death, an enraged Nestor responded by massacring the wounded White officers that the insurgents had captured.

Memory

Following the Insurgent victory over the Whites at the

battle of Peregonovka The Battle of Peregonovka was a September 1919 military conflict in which the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeated the Volunteer Army. After retreating west across Ukraine for four months and 600 kilometers, the Insurgent Army turned ...

, the insurgents captured an armored train, which they dubbed the “ Memory of Hryhorii Makhno”. "Armored train in memory of the freedom fighter comrade Hryhorii Makhno" was written in red paint on the armored train, over the old inscription.

References

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Biography

Memory

References

Bibliography

Further reading